My lineageChapter VIII / VIII1984–2026

What remains of the name

What crosses from one world to another : memory

After 1984 the name carries on: in American law, on a shop sign in the rue de Castiglione, in civil records, and in Alexander’s work to gather the family’s memory.

The Swann name in American law

In 1988–1989, the case of Benadom v. Colby brought the distribution of Beneficial Corporation shares before the American courts. Doris Sherwood Brown Swann, descended from Mary King Hodson Brown, Clarence’s sister, was among the plaintiffs. The case became a reference on a trust founder’s intent and the powers of its trustees.

The trust after Hodson

Finn M. W. Caspersen, heir to the Beneficial Corporation, chaired the Hodson Trust from 1976 to 2009. Under his leadership, Beneficial’s market value rose from $480 million to $8.8 billion, much to the trust’s benefit. He died in 2009. In 2016, his son Andrew was charged with financial fraud and ended up in federal prison.

Rue de Castiglione, number 6

In October 1998, a Pharmacie Swann was registered at 6 rue de Castiglione — the very address where Valton kept his stationery shop in 1834. Placed in receivership in 2016, it was wound up on 11 May 2018. The sign had lived some hundred and fifty years on the same street, from number 12 to number 6.

Ülker Swann

After Gordon’s death, Ülker ran the school, then held the family together. She died in Gagny on 31 August 2019, aged seventy-four. In 2020, a court decision corrected her name in the civil register: Emine Uctum became Emine Aygün again, after her birth parents. The estate’s affidavit of inheritance was drawn up in 2021. To those who knew her, she remains Ülker Swann — Mme Swann.

The end of the Hodson Trust

The Hodson Trust came to an end on 19 November 2022. Its capital, valued at about $541 million, was distributed to the four Maryland institutions: in October 2023, Hood College announced a $54 million gift, the largest in its history, and Washington College a gift of $54.7 million. Alexander is among the descendants named in the final proceedings.

2026, gathering

In 2026, Alexander is gathering this material: records, archives, accounts handed down, places, names, and the gaps that remain. He works it in successive layers — he calls it reverse engineering — towards a biography. This site is its public part.