John Langdon Swett, M.D., a leading physician of Newport, was born in Claremont, N.H., February 17, 1810, son of Josiah and Hannah (Healy) Swett. The grandfather, Josiah Swett, a farmer, was an early settler of Wenham and a soldier in the Revolutionary War. He married Prudence Richards, and died at the age of sixty-four years. He was a Baptist and very rigid in his belief. His son Josiah, born in 1768, also followed farming. Josiah went from Wenham to Claremont when about twenty-five years of age, and in the latter town spent the remainder of his life. He owned a good farm, and was an industrious worker. Hannah, born September 24, 1771, died at the age of eighty-three. They had ten children-Sally, Hannah, Elizabeth, Clarissa, Joseph, Mehitable, Marilla, Mary, John L., and Josiah.
Dr. Swett received his early education in the public schools of Claremont and at academies in Meriden, N.H., and Wilbraham, Mass. Subsequently he taught school for two years, after which he began the study of medicine with Dr. Tolles and Dr. Kittridge, of Claremont. Then he took the medical lectures at Dartmouth College and at Philadelphia, and graduated from the Jefferson College in March, 1836. In the summer of the same year he located at Newport, where he now resides. In the forty-five years of his professional career he acquired a most lucrative practice and the reputation of one of the best physicians in the vicinity. He is now practically retired, as he limits his professional visits to a few old friends.
On May 24, 1842, Dr. Swett married Elizabeth Kimball, who was born March 5, 1824, daughter of John Kimball, of Bradford. She died June 7, 1852. They had four children, namely: Frances M., now the wife of Charles C. Shattuck, of California; John K., who died at the age of four months; Elizabeth, who died when thirteen months old; and William K., who died in California, July 15, 1876, at the age of twenty-four. It is further stated of William that he was a physician, that he married July 6, 1873, and that at his death, besides his widow, he left two sons: John Langdon, born August 17, 1874; and William Kimball, born June 10, 1876. Dr. Swett married again June 2, 1853, Rebecca Beaman, of Princeton, Mass., born November 15, 1822, daughter of Ephraim Beaman. She died on June 8, 1891, leaving no children. The Doctor has been a member of the New Hampshire Medical Society for nearly sixty years, and was its President for some time. He is an honorary member of several other medical associations in the vicinity, in California, in the Rocky Mountains, and on the Pacific Coast. He is an old-school Democrat and a member of the F. & A. M., Mount Vernon Lodge, Newport. For many years he has held an honored place in the Congregational church. He is a self-made man, active, energetic, and good. His daughter has had three children: Elizabeth K., who died at twenty-three years of age; Jane; and Charles C., born January 19, 1879.