Carl Anton Swanson (May 1, 1879 – October 9, 1949) was the founder of the 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 bu ...

Background

Carl Anton Swanson was born in Karlskrona,

Blekinge County Blekinge County ( sv, Blekinge län) is a county or ''län'' in the south of Sweden. It borders the Counties of Skåne, Kronoberg, Kalmar and the Baltic Sea. The capital is Karlskrona. It is the smallest of the present administrative countie ...

, 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 largest city in the U.S. state of Nebraska and the county seat of Douglas County, Nebraska, Douglas County. Omaha is in the Midwestern United States on the Missouri River, about north of the mouth of the Platte River. List of ...

's community of immigrant Swedish-Americans.

Career

In 1899, Carl 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, often abbreviated as WWII or WW2, was a world war that lasted from 1939 to 1945. It involved the World War II by country, vast majority of the world's countries—including all of the great power ...

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. The armed forces consists of six service branches: the Army, Marine Corps, Navy, Air Force, Space Force, and Coast Guard. The president of the United States is 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 Caroline Swanson. He was the father of Gilbert Carl Swanson, Walter Clarke Swanson, and Gretchen Velde.

Background

Career

Personal life

References

External links

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