“The U.S. House of Representatives - Portraits of Congressmen” (detail), Once a Week newspaper, 1891, Collection of U.S. House of Representatives

SWENEY, Joseph Henry, a Representative from Iowa; born in Warren County, Pa., October 2, 1845; attended the public schools of Pennsylvania and Iowa; was graduated from the law department of the University of Iowa at Iowa City in 1880; was admitted to the bar the same year and commenced practice in Osage, Mitchell County, Iowa; also engaged in banking and agricultural pursuits; during the Civil War enlisted in the Union Army and served as sergeant in Company K, Twenty-seventh Regiment, Iowa Volunteer Infantry; colonel of the Sixth Regiment National Guard of Iowa for four years and brigadier and inspector general of the State; member of the State senate 1883-1891, serving as president pro tempore in 1886; elected as a Republican to the Fifty-first Congress (March 4, 1889-March 3, 1891); unsuccessful candidate for reelection in 1890 to the Fifty-second Congress; resumed the practice of law in Osage, Iowa; died while on a visit in Norfolk, Va., November 11, 1918; interment in Osage Cemetery, Osage, Iowa.