Born in
Gettysburg, Pennsylvania, on December 25, 1827, Swope attended the common schools in Gettysburg and Mount St. Mary's Academy in
Emmitsburg, Maryland. A graduate of
Princeton College in 1847 and then the medical department of the
University of Pennsylvania in
Philadelphia, he subsequently entered the practice of medicine, but discontinued that work after a few years and began mercantile work in
Baltimore, Maryland. He then returned to Gettysburg, where he became president of the Gettysburg National Bank in 1879, and subsequently engaged in manufacturing and agricultural pursuits. Swope was elected in 1884 as a Democrat to the
Forty-eighth Congress to fill the vacancy caused by the death of
William A. Duncan, serving from December 23, 1884, through March 3, 1885. He was then elected in 1885 to the
Forty-ninth Congress to fill the vacancy caused by the death of Mr. Duncan, who had been reelected, and served from November 3, 1885, through March 3, 1887. He was not a candidate for renomination in 1886. ==Later years, death and interment==