Page:Appletons' Cyclopædia of American Biography (1889, volume 6).djvu/26

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6
SWAYNE
SWEENY

receiving a good education in Waterford, Va., studied Taw in Warrenton, was admitted to the bar in 1823, removed to Ohio, and in 1825 opened an office in Coshocton. In 1826-'9 he was prosecuting attorney of the county, and he then entered the Ohio legislature, to which he was elected as a Jefferson Democrat. He was appointed U. S. district attorney for Ohio in 1831, removed to Columbus, and served until 1841. In 1833 he declined the office of presiding judge of the common pleas. Subsequently he practised law until he was appointed, with Alfred Kelly and Gustavus Swan, a fund commissioner to restore the credit of the state. He also served on the commission that was sent by the governor to Washington to effect a settlement of the

boundary-line between Ohio and Michigan, and in 1840 was a member of the committee to inquire into the condition of the blind. The trial of William Rossane and others in the U. S. circuit court at Columbus in 1853 for burning the steamboat "Martha Washington," to obtain the insurance, was one of his most celebrated cases. He also appeared as counsel in fugitive-slave cases, and, owing to his anti-slavery opinions, joined the Republican party on its formation, liberating at an early date the slaves that he received through his marriage in 1832. In 1862 he was appointed by President Lincoln a justice of the supreme court of the United States, and he served until 1881, when he resigned on account of advanced age. The degree of LL. D. was conferred on him by Dartmouth and Marietta in 1863, and by Yale in 1865.—His son, Wager, lawyer, b. in Columbus, Ohio, 10 Nov., 1834, was graduated at Yale in 1856, and at the Cincinnati law-school in 1859. On his admission to the bar he practised in Columbus. He was appointed major of the 43d Ohio volunteers on 31 Aug., 1861, became lieutenant-colonel on 14 Dec, 1861, colonel on 18 Oct., 1862, served in all the marches and battles of the Atlanta campaign, lost a leg at Salkahatchie, S. C, and was brevetted brigadier-general, U. S. volunteers, on 5 Feb., 1865, becoming full brigadier-general on 8 March, 1865, and major-general on 20 June, 1865. He was made colonel of the 45th regular infantry on 28 July, 1866, and on 2 March, 1867, was brevetted brigadier-general, U. S. army, for gallant and meritorious services in the action of Rivers Bridges, S. C, and majorgeneral for services during the war. He was mustered out of the volunteer service on 1 Sept., 1867. Gen. Swayne was a commissioner of the freedmen's bureau in Alabama, where he commanded the U. S. forces, and was also intrusted with the administration of the reconstruction acts of congress, organizing an extensive system of common schools for colored children, who had none, and establishing at Montgomery, Sol ma. and Mobile important highschools, which still remain, and also Talladega college. He retired on 1 July, 1870. and practised law in Toledo, Ohio, but in 1880 he removed to New York city, where he is counsel for railroad and telegraph corporations.


SWEAT, Margaret Jane Mussey, author, b. in Portland, Me., 28 Nov., 1823. She is the daughter of John Mussey, was educated in Portland and Roxbury, and in 1849 married Lorenzo D. M. Sweat, who was elected to congress as a Democrat from Maine and served from 7 Dec., 1863, till 3 March, 1865. Since 1866 she has been vice-regent for Maine of the Mount Vernon ladies' association. She has contributed to the " North American Review," her first paper appearing in 1856, and is the author of " Ethers Love-Life? ' (New York, 1859), and "Highways of Travel, or a Summer in Europe " (Boston, 1859).


SWEATMAN, Arthur, Canadian Anglican bishop, b. in London, England, 19 Nov., 1834. He was educated at London university, graduated at Cambridge in 1859, and ordained priest in 1860. In 1862 he became curate of St. Stephen's, Canonbury, and master of the modern department of the Islington proprietary school; and in 1865, on the invitation of Dr. Hellmuth, the bishop of Huron, he accepted the head-mastership of Hellmuth boys' college, London, Ont. In 1872 he resigned this post to become rector of Grace- church, Brantford, where he ministered two years, and in 1874 he resumed the mastership of Hellmuth college, which he held till 1876. He was chaplain to the bishop of Huron, and secretary to the synod of the diocese of Huron in 1872-'9, secretary to the house of bishops of the province of Canada in 1873-9, canon of London (Ont.) cathedral in 1875, and soon afterward archdeacon of Brant. He was also acting rector of St. Paul's church, Woodstock, in 1876-'9. In March, 1879, he was appointed bishop of Toronto in succession to Alexander Neil Bethune. He received the degree of D. D. from Cambridge in 1879, and in 1885 was appointed president of the London society for the promotion of Christianity among the Jews.


SWEENY, John, Canadian R. C. bishop, b. in Clones, Ireland, in May, 1821. When a boy he emigrated with his father to St. John, New Brunswick. He was educated at St. Dunstan's college, Prince Edward island, and at Quebec college, where he was graduated in 1844. and ordained a priest the same year. He was afterward stationed at St. John, Sussex, Chatham, and Barachois, was appointed vicar-general, and in 1860 was consecrated bishop of the southern diocese of New Brunswick, with the seat of his see at St. John. Bishop Sweeny visited Rome in 1866, in 1870 (when he attended the Vatican council), and again in 1881. During his episcopate St. John's cathedral has been completed, and the bishop's palace and St. Malachi's and St. Joseph's school buildings have been erected. He also established the charity hospital and St. Patrick's industrial school, -and was one of the projectors and founders of St. Joseph's college, St. John.


SWEENY, Thomas William, soldier, b. in Cork, Ireland, 25 Dec, 1820. He came to the United States in 1832, and at an early age was apprenticed to the printing business. When a young man he joined the Baxter blues, a military organization in New York city, and in 1846, at the beginning of the war with Mexico, he became 2d lieutenant in Ward B. Burnett's 1st New York volunteers. He participated in the campaign under Gen. Winfield Scott from the siege of Vera Cruz to the storming of Churubusco, where he received wounds that necessitated the amputation of his right arm. On his return to New York city he was given a reception ball at Castle Garden by the printers of the city, and he received the brevet of captain from the governor of the state and a silver