As it Were: Despite being related and taking similar paths, Swans were quite different Ed Lentz Guest Columnist Because they shared the same last name, practiced in the same profession and spent most of their adult lives in Columbus, Gustavus Swan and Joseph Swan often were mistaken by people unacquainted with them. Columbus in the 1800s was a relatively small town, and most people living in it knew each other reasonably well. And to residents, it was clear that the Swans were two very different men. Gustavus was the older, the more gregarious and certainly the more colorful of the two.