Considered to be the “Dean of Desert Artists,” as well as one of the most influential cartoonists of his time, James Swinnerton’s life spanned nearly a century. In addition to painting hundreds of Southwestern desert scenes, Swinnerton is considered by many to be the inventor of the comic strip and was the creator of numerous cartoon series and characters, including “The Little Bears”, “The Kiddies of the Canyon”, “Mr. Jack,” and “Little Jimmy.” His long journey was in essence a story of two lives, both defined by distinctive and accomplished legacies –one of a cartoonist of historical significance and the other of a fine artist devoted to faithfully portraying the subject matter he loved best.
Swinnerton has been reputed over the years to have been born in either San Francisco, Stockton, San Jose or Eureka. Because no certificate exists to provide documentation, the true location of his arrival in this world is not known. His biographer, Harold Davidson, states that “presumptive evidence” points to Eureka. However his listed date of birth November 13, 1875, was according to Swinnerton himself without dispute.
Swinnerton was descended from true pioneer stock. His grandfather, James Guilford Swinnerton, came to California from Illinois in 1853 in a covered wagon with his wife and four children. Traveling via the Oregon Trail in a single wagon instead of accompanied by a convoy, which was the accepted practice at the time, the elder Swinnerton was initially drawn towards California’s gold country. However when his mining efforts met with only modest success he settled in the Eureka area where he eventually became a prosperous farmer. His oldest son, also named James Guilford Swinnerton, was one of the cofounders of The Humboldt Star newspaper and later became a judge of the Superior court in Stockton.
On September 19, 1871, the younger James Guilford Swinnerton married a “winsome, young ” Canadian named Jennie Wise. Four years later their only child, whom they named James Guilford Swinnerton Jr., was born. When Jennie died fifteen months later young Jimmy was taken in by his grandparents, then living in San Jose, who raised him until his father remarried in 1879. However after being “returned to the original owner” Jimmy disliked his stepmother so much that he bounced back and forth between his grandparent’s and his parent’s home over the next several years. When his grandparents became too old and his dislike for his stepmother too intense, he ran away at the age of fifteen and eventually found a job as an exercise boy at the Bay District Fairgrounds Race Track in San Francisco. After his father tracked him down and took him home Jimmy, who had been drawing since he learned how to hold a pencil, expressed a desire to attend art school in San Francisco. However his father was emphatic that he would never allow his son to become an artist or –curiously enough given his profession as a judge- a lawyer. Jimmy’s response was to run away from home again, this time joining a traveling minstrel show. He recalled that his “large mouth and peculiar face” made him quite a hit as “the negro kid”, but he found the “work of barnstorming” too hard and returned home after a year on the road. Worn down by his son’s determination, his father confessed that while he would rather see his son a minstrel than a lawyer, an artist was preferable to either. In 1891 sixteen year old Jimmy Swinnerton enrolled in the San Francisco Art Association’s art school.
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