Miles Benjamin McSweeney (April 18, 1855September 29, 1909) was the 87th governor of South Carolina from June 2, 1899, to January 20, 1903. McSweeney was born in Charleston and was forced to become a

paperboy A paperboy is someoneoften an older child or adolescentwho distributes printed newspapers to homes or offices on a regular route, usually by bicycle or automobile. In Western nations during the heyday of print newspapers during the early 20th ce ...

at the age of 10 in order to help support his family when his father died. He went to Lexington, Virginia to attend

Washington and Lee University , mottoeng = "Not Unmindful of the Future" , established = , type = Private liberal arts university , academic_affiliations = , endowment = $2.092 billion (2021) , president = William C. Dudley , provost = Lena Hill , city = Lexington ...

upon being awarded the Typographical Union of Charleston Scholarship, but later had to withdraw due to lack of funds. He published the ''Ninety-Six Guardian'' at the age of 22 and he moved to

Hampton Hampton may refer to: Places Australia *Hampton bioregion, an IBRA biogeographic region in Western Australia *Hampton, New South Wales *Hampton, Queensland, a town in the Toowoomba Region * Hampton, Victoria Canada * Hampton, New Brunswick *Ha ...

two years later to start the ''Hampton County Guardian''. In 1894, McSweeney was elected to the

South Carolina House of Representatives The South Carolina House of Representatives is the lower house of the South Carolina General Assembly. It consists of 124 representatives elected to two-year terms at the same time as U.S. congressional elections. Unlike many legislatures, seati ...

and additionally served as the chairman of the

Hampton County Hampton County is a rural county located in the U.S. state of South Carolina. As of the 2020 census, the population was 18,561. Its county seat is Hampton. It was named for Confederate Civil War general Wade Hampton, who in the late 1870s, with ...

Democratic Party. He successfully ran for Lieutenant Governor in 1896 and was elevated to the

governorship A governor is an administrative leader and head of a polity or political region, ranking under the head of state and in some cases, such as governors-general, as the head of state's official representative. Depending on the type of political ...

following the death of Governor William Haselden Ellerbe on June 2, 1899. A proponent of the state Dispensary and backed by Senator Ben Tillman, McSweeney won a term on his own in the gubernatorial election of 1900. However, many in Hampton were in favor of prohibition and the ''Hampton County Guardian'' lost advertising revenue and subscriptions because of McSweeney's support of the Dispensary. Upon the completion of his term as governor in 1903, McSweeney returned to Hampton and continued as editor of the ''Hampton County Guardian''. He died in

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on September 29, 1909, and was buried at Hampton Cemetery in Hampton.

External links

SCIway Biography of Miles Benjamin McSweeney

NGA Biography of Miles Benjamin McSweeney

History of the ''Hampton County Guardian''
{{DEFAULTSORT:McSweeney, Miles Benjamin 1855 births 1909 deaths Washington and Lee University alumni Democratic Party governors of South Carolina University of South Carolina trustees American newspaper founders 19th-century American newspaper publishers (people) American newspaper publishers (people) Democratic Party members of the South Carolina House of Representatives Lieutenant Governors of South Carolina