Joseph Henry Sweney was a Representative from Iowa; born in Warren County, Pennsylvania, October 2, 1845. Joseph attended the public schools in Pennsylvania and in Iowa. He graduated from the law department of the University of Iowa, at Iowa City, in 1880, and was admitted to the bar the same year. He began practicing law in Osage, Mitchell County, Iowa, and was also engaged in banking and agricultural pursuits.
During the Civil War he had enlisted in the Union Army, and served as Sergeant in Company K, Twenty-seventh Regiment, Iowa Volunteer Infantry. He was then a Colonel of the Sixth Regiment National Guard of Iowa for four years, and Brigadier and Inspector General of the State.
Sweney was a member of the State Senate from 1883 to 1891, serving as president pro tempore in 1886. He was elected as a Republican to the Fifty-first Congress -- March 4, 1889 to March 3, 1891. He was, however, unsuccessful at winning reelection in 1890. He then resumed the practice of law in Osage, Iowa.
Sweney died while on a visit in Norfolk, Virginia, on November 11, 1918. He was buried in the Osage City Cemetery, Osage, Iowa.
Submitted by Kathy Pike -- August 2004.