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History of Clarion County, Pennsylvania
Edited by A. J. Davis
Pub. D. Mason & Co., Syracuse, N.Y. - 1887

         [p. 664]
         
         SWENY, HON. JAMES, was born in Fayette county, Pennsylvania,
       near Uniontown, the county seat, June 14, 1811. He is of Irish
       ancestry, his father, CHARLES SWENY, and his mother, MARY (GRIFFIN)
       SWENY being natives of Ireland. He was brought up in the faith of
       the Roman Catholic Church and has ever held that faith.
       
         When he was six years old, his father moved with his family to
       Butler county, Pa. At the age of eighteen, JAMES went to Butler
       town, where he served an apprenticeship at cabinet-making. He
       continued working at his trade and at carpentering until 1844,
       when he was elected justice of the peace in Clarion borough,
       whither he had come three years before.
       
         For fifteen successive years, or three consecutive terms, MR.
       SWENY served as justice, and, after an interval of ten years,
       was again elected to the same office, but only served one and
       one-half years, when he was chosen associate judge of Clarion
       county.
       
         JUDGE SWENY held his office two full terms, or ten years, and
       vacated the bench, January 1st, 1882. Since the close of his
       official career, MR. SWENY has led a retired life, and, with 
       the exception of three trips across the continent, to Denver,
       Colorado, he has spent most of his time in the town where had
       served his neighbors in responsible positions during so many
       years.
       
         JUDGE SWENY was one of the pioneers in the county seat of
       Clarion county, and is one of the very small number yet re-
       maining who came here "when the town was in the woods." His
       integrity and his careful attention to the business of the
       several public positions which he has filled have won for him
       the esteem of his fellow citizens.
       
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