John R. Sweney

Born: De­cem­ber 31, 1837, West Ches­ter, Penn­syl­van­ia.
Died: Ap­ril 10, 1899, Ches­ter, Penn­syl­van­ia.
Buried: Ches­ter Rur­al Cem­e­tery, Ches­ter, Penn­syl­van­ia.

Sweney’s mu­sic­al gift showed it­self at an ear­ly age. While still a boy, he be­gan to teach mu­sic in the pub­lic schools and lead Sun­day school per­form­ances. At age 19, he start­ed stu­dy­ing mu­sic in ear­nest un­der Pro­fess­or Bau­er, a cel­e­brat­ed Ger­man teach­er. He took vi­o­lin and pi­a­no les­sons, and about this time be­came a choir lead­er. He was al­so in con­stant de­mand for child­ren’s con­certs and for con­duct­ing glee clubs.

At age 22, Swe­ney was called to teach in Do­ver, Del­a­ware. When the Amer­i­can civ­il war broke out, he took charge of the band of the Third Del­a­ware Reg­i­ment. Af­ter the war, Swe­ney be­came Pro­fess­or of Mu­sic at the Penn­syl­van­ia Mil­i­tary Acad­e­my in West Ches­ter, Penn­syl­van­ia. He worked there over 25 years, and re­ceived the de­grees of Bach­e­lor of Mu­sic (1876) and Doc­tor of Mu­sic (1886).

Sweney com­posed mu­sic for more than 1,000 Gos­pel songs, and col­lab­o­rat­ed on a num­ber of col­lect­ions. His works in­clude:

Goodly Pearls, with John J. Hood (Phil­a­del­phia, Penn­syl­van­ia: John J. Hood, 1875)
Joy to the World, with Tull­i­us O’Kane & C. C. McCabe (Cin­cin­na­ti, Ohio: Hitch­cock and Wald­en, 1879)
The Wells of Sal­va­tion: Songs for the Sab­bath School, with Will­iam Kirk­pat­rick (Phil­a­del­phia, Penn­syl­van­ia: John J. Hood, 1881)
The Roy­al Fount­ain No. 3, with Will­iam Kirk­pat­rick (Phil­a­del­phia, Penn­syl­van­ia: John J. Hood, 1882)
The Ark of Praise, with Will­iam Kirk­pat­rick (Phil­a­del­phia, Penn­syl­van­ia: John J. Hood, 1882)
Melodious Son­nets, with Will­iam Kirk­pat­rick (Phil­a­del­phia, Penn­syl­van­ia: John J. Hood, 1885)
Songs of Joy and Glad­ness, with Will­iam Kirk­pat­rick et al. (Bos­ton, Mass­a­chu­setts: Mc­Don­ald, Gill & Com­pa­ny, 1885)
Precious Hymns: For Times of Re­fresh­ing and Re­viv­al, with Thom­as Har­ris­on & Will­iam Kirk­pat­rick (Phil­a­del­phia, Penn­syl­van­ia: John J. Hood, 1885)
On Joy­ful Wing, with Will­iam Kirk­pat­rick (Phil­a­del­phia, Penn­syl­van­ia: John J. Hood, 1886)
Promises of Per­fect Love, with Kel­so Car­ter (Phil­a­del­phia, Penn­syl­van­ia: John J. Hood, 1886)
Songs of Re­deem­ing Love No. 2, with C. C. Mc­Cabe, Tull­i­us O’Kane & Will­iam Kirk­pat­rick (Phil­a­del­phia, Penn­syl­van­ia: John J. Hood, 1887)
Showers of Bless­ing, with Will­iam Kirk­pat­rick (Phil­a­del­phia, Penn­syl­van­ia: John J. Hood, 1888)
Redemption Songs, with L. W. Mun­hall & Will­iam Kirk­pat­rick (Phil­a­del­phia, Penn­syl­van­ia: John J. Hood, 1889)
The Joy­ful Sound, with Will­iam Kirk­pat­rick (Phil­a­del­phia, Penn­syl­van­ia: John J. Hood, 1889)
Living Hymns, with John Wan­a­mak­er (Phil­a­del­phia, Penn­syl­van­ia: John J. Hood, 1890)
Songs of Joy and Glad­ness No. 2, with Will­iam Kirk­pat­rick et al. (Chi­ca­go, Il­li­nois: Mc­Don­ald, Gill & Com­pa­ny, 1890)
Sunlit Songs, with Will­iam Kirk­pat­rick & Hen­ry Gil­mour (Phil­a­del­phia, Penn­syl­van­ia: John J. Hood, 1890)
Radiant Songs, with Will­iam Kirk­pat­rick & Hen­ry Gil­mour (Phil­a­del­phia, Penn­syl­van­ia: John J. Hood, 1891)
Cheerful Songs, with Will­iam Kirk­pat­rick & Le­an­der Pick­ett (Lou­is­ville, Ken­tucky: Pick­ett Pub­lish­ing Com­pa­ny, 1891)
Winning Songs, with Will­iam Kirk­pat­rick & Hen­ry Gil­mour (Phil­a­del­phia, Penn­syl­van­ia: John J. Hood, 1892)
Songs of Love and Praise (Phil­a­del­phia, Penn­syl­van­ia: John J. Hood, 1894)
Songs of Love and Praise, No. 2, with Will­iam Kirk­pat­rick & Hen­ry Gil­mour (Phil­a­del­phia, Penn­syl­van­ia: John J. Hood, 1895)
Songs of Love and Praise, No. 3, with Will­iam Kirk­pat­rick & Hen­ry Gil­mour (Phil­a­del­phia, Penn­syl­van­ia: John J. Hood, 1896)
Songs of Love and Praise, No. 4, with How­ard Ent­wisle & Hen­ry Gil­mour (Phil­a­del­phia, Penn­syl­van­ia: John J. Hood, 1897)
Songs of Love and Praise, No. 5, with Frank Da­vis & How­ard Ent­wisle (Phil­a­del­phia, Penn­syl­van­ia: John J. Hood, 1898)
The Bow of Promise, with George D. El­der­kin, C. C. Mc­Cabe, Will­iam Kirk­pat­rick & F. A. Har­din (Chi­ca­go, Il­li­nois: R. R. Mc­Cabe & Com­pa­ny, 1898)
Bright Mel­o­dies, with How­ard Ent­wisle (Phil­a­del­phia, Penn­syl­van­ia: John J. Hood, 1899)

--http://www.hymntime.com/tch