Carl Anton Swanson (May 1, 1879 – October 9, 1949) was a Swedish-American businessman, who was the founder of the U.S. national food production company

Swanson Swanson is a brand of TV dinners, broths, and canned poultry made for the North American and Hong Kong markets. The former Swanson Company was founded in Omaha, Nebraska, where it developed improvements of the frozen dinner. The TV dinner busi ...

Background

Carl Anton Svensson was born in

Karlskrona Karlskrona (, , ) is a locality and the seat of Karlskrona Municipality, Blekinge County, Sweden with a population of 66,675 in 2018. It is also the capital of Blekinge County. Karlskrona is known as Sweden's only baroque city and is host to ...

Blekinge County Blekinge County () is a county or '' län'' in the south of Sweden. It borders the Counties of Skåne Scania ( ), also known by its native name of Skåne (), is the southernmost of the historical provinces of Sweden, provinces () of Sweden ...

, Sweden. He came to the United States in 1896 at the age of 17, arriving with a tag around his neck where it was written "Carl Swanson, Swedish. Send me to Omaha. I speak no English." He then settled in

Omaha, Nebraska Omaha ( ) is the List of cities in Nebraska, most populous city in the U.S. state of Nebraska. It is located in the Midwestern United States along the Missouri River, about north of the mouth of the Platte River. The nation's List of United S ...

's community of immigrant Swedish-Americans.

Career

In 1899, Swanson became a partner with John O. Jerpe in a small wholesale company. Jerpe Commission Company purchased eggs and cream from local farmers which they processed and sold. In 1905, Swanson bought the company from Jerpe under a partnership with John Hjerpe and Frank Ellison. They operated a commission business hauling eggs, milk and poultry they bought from local farmers and selling them to the grocery stores and hotels in

. The enterprise was eventually incorporated. Frank Ellison died in 1918 and John Hjerpe in 1928. After John Hjerpe's death, Swanson became the sole owner of the corporation. By 1938, the Swanson enterprise was one of the larger creameries in the United States and during

World War II World War II or the Second World War (1 September 1939 – 2 September 1945) was a World war, global conflict between two coalitions: the Allies of World War II, Allies and the Axis powers. World War II by country, Nearly all of the wo ...

became a major supplier of poultry and egg products to the

U.S. military The United States Armed Forces are the military forces of the United States. U.S. federal law names six armed forces: the Army, Marine Corps, Navy, Air Force, Space Force, and the Coast Guard. Since 1949, all of the armed forces, except th ...

. In 1945, the company's name was officially changed to C.A. Swanson and Sons. After Carl Swanson died in 1949, his two sons, Gilbert Carl (1906–1968) and W. Clarke Swanson, took over the company.

Personal life

Carl Swanson was married to German-born immigrant Caroline Swanson (''née'' Gerock). He was the father of Gilbert Carl Swanson, Walter Clarke Swanson, and Gretchen Velde. Carl Swanson's noted descendants include, Veronica Swanson Beard,

Tucker Carlson Tucker Swanson McNear Carlson (born May 16, 1969) is an American conservative political commentator who hosted the nightly political talk show '' Tucker Carlson Tonight'' on Fox News from 2016 to 2023. Since his contract with Fox News was term ...

(by adoption) and in-laws, Dick Carlson, Charles H. Price II and

Reed Jobs Reed Paul Jobs (born September 22, 1991) is an American venture capitalist and founder of Yosemite venture fund. He is the son of Apple Inc. co-founder Steve Jobs. Early life Reed was born to Steve Jobs and Laurene Powell Jobs. Reed was study ...

Background

Career

Personal life

References

External links

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