SWENSON, AXEL MAGNUS GODFREY (1900-1972). Axel Magnus Godfrey (Swede) Swenson, rancher, was born at Ellerslie Ranch in Jones County, on January 21, 1900, the son of Selma Augusta (Anderson) and Andrew John Swenson.^qv He lived at the ranch until 1907, then lived in Stamford, where he graduated from high school in 1918. He entered the University of Texas, was a four-year letterman on the Longhorn football team, and was elected a member of the Friar's Club; he graduated with a B.A. degree in 1923. Throughout his life he worked for the family-owned Swenson Land and Cattle Company (see SMS RANCHES). He was one of the founders of the Texas Cowboy Reunion^qv of Stamford in 1930 and an organizer of the first official American Quarter Horse Show held in 1940 at the Texas Cowboy Reunion Rodeo. In 1947 Swenson was appointed to the University of Texas board of regents by Governor Beauford Jester.^qv In 1955 Governor Allan Shivers^qv appointed him Texas chairman of the National Cowboy Hall of Fame in Oklahoma City. In 1960 Swenson became a member of the Texas State Historical Association,^qv and in 1964 he was elected to the University of Texas Longhorn Hall of Honor. In 1972 he became a director of the Texas and Southwestern Cattle Raisers Association,^qv following in the footsteps of his father and his brother, Willie (Bill) Gustaf. He was also a member of the school board and the Stamford Hospital board, president of the Stamford Chamber of Commerce, and director of the Stamford Federal Savings and Loan Association. Swenson married Harriet C. Womack on December 2, 1933, in Duncan, Oklahoma; they had three children. Swenson died in Stamford on December 23, 1972, and was buried at Bethel Lutheran Church Cemetery in Ericksdahl, near Stamford.

BIBLIOGRAPHY: Abilene Reporter-News, December 24, 1972. Dallas Morning News, December 27, 1972. Vertical Files, Barker Texas History Center, University of Texas at Austin.