Joseph Henry Sweney

Joseph Henry Sweney (October 2, 1845 – November 11, 1918) was a one-term Republican U.S. Representative from Iowa's 4th congressional district in northeastern Iowa.

Born in Warren County, Pennsylvania, Sweney attended the public schools of Pennsylvania and Iowa. During the Civil War enlisted in the Union Army and served as a sergeant in Company K, 27th Iowa Volunteer Infantry Regiment. After the war, he served as colonel of the Sixth Regiment of the Iowa National Guard for four years and brigadier and inspector general of the State.

He was graduated from the University of Iowa College of Law in 1881. He was admitted to the bar the same year and commenced practice in Osage, Iowa. He also engaged in banking and agricultural pursuits.

He was twice elected to the Iowa Senate, serving as president pro tempore in 1886. He was elected to two four-year terms (beginning in 1883 and 1887), but left the Senate in 1889 following his election to Congress.

In 1888, Sweney was elected as a Republican to the Fifty-first Congress, following the decision of incumbent Republican William E. Fuller not to seek a third term. However, his re-election bid was thwarted when he was upset by Democrat Walter Halben Butler as part of a Democratic landslide in 1890. He served in Congress from March 4, 1889 to March 3, 1891.

After leaving Congress, he resumed the practice of law in Osage. He died while on a visit in Norfolk, Virginia, on November 11, 1918. He was interred in Osage Cemetery.

References

• United States Congress. "Joseph Henry Sweney (id: S001112)". Biographical Directory of the United States Congress. 

Members of the U.S. House of Representatives from Iowa
1st	W. Thompson Miller Henn A. Hall S. Curtis J. F. Wilson McCrary Stone McCoid B. Hall Gear Seerley Gear S. Clark Hedge Kennedy Kopp Eicher Martin Schwengel Schmidhauser Schwengel Mezvinsky Leach Nussle Braley Blum
2nd	Leffler L. Clark J. P. Cook Thorington Davis Vandever Price Smyth W. Wolf Cotton Tufts Price Farwell Murphy Hayes G. Curtis Lane Rumple Wade Dawson Pepper Vollmer Hull Letts B. Jacobsen W. Jacobsen Talle L. Wolf Bromwell Culver Blouin Tauke Nussle Leach Loebsack
3rd	Allison Donnan Ainsworth Burdick Updegraff Henderson Birdsall Pickett Connolly Sweet Robinson Willford Gwynne Gross Grassley Evans Nagle Lightfoot Boswell Latham Young
4th	Grinnell Loughridge Walden Pratt Deering Weller Fuller Sweney Butler Updegraff Haugen Biermann Talle Le Compte Carter Kyl Bandstra Kyl N. Smith Ganske Latham King
5th	Kasson G. Dodge Palmer J. Wilson R. Clark W. G. Thompson J. Wilson Frederick Kerr J. Hamilton Cousins Good Cole Thurston Le Compte Cunningham N. Smith Scherle Harkin Lightfoot Grandy Latham King
6th	A. Hubbard Pomeroy Orr Loughridge Sampson Weaver Cutts J. C. Cook Cutts J. C. Cook Weaver Lacey White Lacey D. Hamilton Kendall Kirkpatrick Ramseyer Dowell Utterback Dowell Goodwin Cunningham Gilchrist J. I. Dolliver Coad Hoeven Greigg Mayne Bedell Grandy
7th	Kasson Cummings E. Gillette Kasson H. Smith Conger Hays Hull Prouty Dowell Wearin Jensen Hansen Scherle
8th	McDill Sapp Hepburn Anderson Flick Hepburn Jamieson Towner Evans Thurston Gilchrist Hoeven
9th	Orr Oliver Carpenter Pusey Lyman Reed Bowman Hager McPherson W. Smith Green Vincent Swanson G. Gillette Harrington Narey
10th	Holmes J. P. Dolliver Conner Woods Dickinson Gilchrist
11th	Struble Perkins Thomas E. Hubbard Scott Steele Scott Boies Campbell
AL	Hastings and Leffler
Terr	Chapman A. Dodge

 This article incorporates public domain material from the Biographical Directory of the United States Congress website http://bioguide.congress.gov.