MANNERS & MORALS: Great Expectations

MANNERS & MORALS

To William and Elizabeth Swift of Sandwich, Mass., in the late 17th century, were born a third son named Joseph and a fourth named Gireh. Joseph begat Thomas, who begat Nathaniel, who begat Gustavus, who founded one of the biggest meatpacking firms in the U.S.: Swift & Co. Gireh begat Zephaniah, who begat Perez, who begat Jesse, who begat Jehiel, who begat Orville. who begat Frank B. Swift, a prosperous wholesale merchant in New York. But while the better-known branch of the family from Sandwich went in for ham, Frank...

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