Lewis Swift discovered 89 objects south of declination -30 with a 16" refractor, mostly from Echo Mountain near Pasadena California.
His most southerly object was the mag 12.7 galaxy IC 4943 at declination -48.4.
Swift was 77 when he found it. Three years later his sight started to fail.
"Professor Lowe heard of the difficulty and invited Dr. Swift to come to California. He offered to move Swift’s whole observatory and rebuild it on Echo Mountain at an elevation of four thousand feet with a great sweeping view of the heavens from the North Star to the southern horizon. Dr. Swift accepted Professor Lowe’s offer, and Lowe set about constructing a new observatory on Echo Mountain in 1893. Swift’s telescope, a 16-inch
Brashear Telespectroscope Polariscope, along with Micrometers, Driving Clock, and other accessories, manufactured in 1882 by Alvan Clark & Sons, of Cambridge, Massachusetts was transported to Echo Mountain and first used in 1894.
Swift continued his work at Echo Mountain until August 11, 1900 when, at the age of 80, his eyesight began to fail. He was replaced by Professor Edgar Lucien Larkin who would carry on Dr. Swift’s work for the next 24 years. Swift’s last days in the observatory he loved so much were very sad. As Professor Larkin led him down the path from the observatory for the last time, the old man broke into tears. He left all his books behind for they were of no use to someone who was blind. Dr. Swift returned to his old home in marathon, New York, where he died on January 5, 1913, at the age of 92."
http://www.aaaim.com/echo/v3n4/v3n4rippens.htm
http://www.klima-luft.de/steinicke/index_e.htm
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