OHIO STATE ARCHAEOLOGICAL AND
HISTORICAL
SOCIETY
REVIEWS, NOTES AND COMMENTS
BY THE EDITOR
THOMAS BARTLEY,
ACTING GOVERNOR AND JUDGE OF THE SUPREME COURT OF
OHIO.
Singular though it may seem, the
biographies of
Judge Bartley that have appeared from
time to time in
Ohio publications are without exception
incomplete.
Beyond the record of the fact that he
served a short
time as governor to fill out the
unexpired term of Wil-
son Shannon who had been appointed
minister to
Mexico, and had served two terms on the
Supreme
Bench of Ohio, these sketches contain
practically no
information in regard to the life of
this eminent jurist.
An extended search recently for the
date of the death of
Judge Bartley led to the discovery that
a biography of
him satisfactory in every particular
except one has been
found in the New England Historical
and Genealogical
Register, Vol. 40, pages 119-120. Through some over-
sight unexplained, this sketch fails to
mention Judge
Bartley's service as a member of the
Supreme Court of
Ohio.
He was elected to this position in 1851 and
served continuously until 1859,
rendering on the bench
his most distinguished service to the
state of Ohio. The
sketch in the Register is as
follows:
Judge Thomas Wells Bartley, of
Washington, D. C.,
* * * was
born in Jefferson County, Ohio, Feb. 11, 1812, and
died in Washington, D. C., June 20, 1885, aged 73.
(213)
214 Ohio Arch. and Hist.
Society Publications
"His father was Hon. Mordecai
Bartley, of Mansfield, Ohio,
who was born in Fayette County, Pa.,
Sept. 8, 1787, and his
mother was Elizabeth, daughter of Thomas Wells, of
Browns-
ville, Fayette County, Pa. She was born
in 1789. They were
united in marriage in 1806. His grandfather Elijah was
born in
Virginia in 1753, and married Rachel
Pearshall. After mar-
riage they removed from Loudoun County,
Va., to Fayette
County, Pa., where all their children
were born. The earlier
ancestors of this Bartley family
(spelled also Barklay and Bar-
clay) lived in Virginia from the early
colonial days.
"Mordecai Bartley was a prominent
man in Ohio. He was
a military officer in the war of 1812,
was member of Congress
eight years, from 1823 to 1831, and was
governor of the state
two years, 1844-46.
"The subject of this sketch, after
his boyhood days were
passed, was fitted for college, and was
graduated at Jefferson
College, Pa., in 1829, and received the
degree of A. M. in 1833.
After studying law one year with Hon.
Jacob Parker, of Mans-
field, and one year with Elijah Hayward,
Esq., of Washington,
D. C., he was admitted to practice in
all the judicial courts of
Ohio in 1833. He soon became a public
man, serving in the
Ohio General Assembly and in the Senate.
As speaker of the
Senate, he became, in 1844, ex-officio
governor of the state, and
in December of that year was succeeded
by his own father, who
had just been elected governor.
"He was united in marriage, October
5, 1837, with Julia
Maria, daughter of William Larwill, of
Wooster, Ohio. She was
born March 30, 1818, and died March 1,
1847. He married
again, November 7, 1848, Susan Sherman,
daughter of Hon.
Charles R. Sherman, Judge of the Supreme
Court of Ohio. She
was a sister of Senator John and General
William T. Sherman.
By his first marriage he had four
children, and by his second
two.
"Judge Bartley was a man eminent
for his legal learning and
his great power of thought. Some of his
decisions occupy a
high place in the estimate of his
brethren of the legal profession.
He was a member of the Jackson
Democratic Association in
Washington, and the resolutions passed
by that body, after his
death, are very strong in their
testimony to his ability and worth
of character. The last words of Judge
Bartley, as reported to
us by one of his friends, were these: 'I
have done my duty to
my country, to my countrymen, to my
children, to all. The
world, the material world, I am going
out of it. But there is a
spiritual world we cannot see with our
material senses.' He
had lifted himself upon his elbow to
utter these words, when he
dropped back upon his pillow and died.