Jacob Swoope


Jacob Swoope was an eighteenth and nineteenth century politician from Virginia.

Biography

Born in Philadelphia, Pennsylvania, Swoope attended the common schools as a child. He moved to Staunton, Virginia in 1789 and held several local offices before being elected the first mayor of Staunton under the new charter of 1801. He was reelected mayor in 1804 before being elected a Federalist to the United States House of Representatives in 1808, serving from 1809 to 1811 having defeated Democratic-Republican Daniel Smith. Swoope died in Staunton in 1832 and was interred there in Trinity Episcopal Churchyard.