Photograph, 1913-1931, Collection of U.S. House of Representatives

ASWELL, James Benjamin, a Representative from Louisiana; born near Vernon, Jackson Parish, La., December 23, 1869; attended the public schools; was graduated from Peabody Normal College, Nashville, Tenn., in 1892 and from the University of Nashville in 1893; taught in country schools and high schools, and later attended Chicago University; State institution conductor 1897-1900; president of the Louisiana Polytechnic Institute 1900-1904; State superintendent of public education 1904-1908, and while serving in that capacity reorganized the public-school system of Louisiana; president of the Louisiana State Normal College at Natchitoches 1908-1911; elected as a Democrat to the Sixty-third and to the nine succeeding Congresses and served from March 4, 1913, until his death in Washington, D.C., March 16, 1931; interment in Rock Creek Cemetery.