Ara Bartlett
Ara Bartlett (born Bethany, Pennsylvania, 1825 – died Harper, Kansas, November 17, 1883)[1] was an American lawyer and judge who was the second Chief Justice of the Supreme Court of the Dakota Territory.
Biography[edit]
Bartlett moved to Kankakee, Illinois in 1853, the second lawyer to set up practice there.[2] By 1858 he was serving as the police magistrate in Kankakee.[3] He was elected judge of Kankakee County in 1861, serving until he was appointed an associate justice of the Dakota Territory Supreme Court by president Abraham Lincoln in June 1864.[4] In 1865 he was appointed Chief Justice by Lincoln. After his term expired, Bartlett practiced law for a time and then moved to Kansas; in 1880 he was living in the town of Wellington.
Bartlett married Lucinda Jane Eldred (1832–1871) on December 8, 1856; she was the daughter of Nathanial Eldred, a prominent Pennsylvania judge and politician. Her sister Mary Eldred married E. O. Hamlin, also a lawyer and judge. Bartlett's daughter Mary Hamlin Bartlett (1858–1896) married Joseph Adams Smith, who became Paymaster General of the Navy and a notable lecturer on naval history.[5]
References[edit]
- ^ "Obituary". Harper Sentinel (Harper, Kansas). November 24, 1883.
- ^ 1876 Kankakee city directory, p. 97
- ^ Illinois state gazetteer and business directory for 1858 and 1859, entry "Kankakee", list of city officers
- ^ "Kankakee Circuit Court History". Archived from the original on 2007-07-16. Retrieved 2011-06-29. Kankakee County Bar Association history page
- ^ transcription of bio of Nathanial Eldred, from Egle's Notes and Queries, 1895