Jonathan Tarbell Explained

Jonathan Tarbell (c. 1820 – March 13, 1888)^[1] was an American lawyer, newspaper editor, and military officer from New York who moved to Mississippi after the American Civil War and served as a justice of the Supreme Court of Mississippi from 1870 to May 10, 1876.^{[2] [3]} He served as a Republican.

Early life and career

Born and raised in Moriah, New York, Tarbell was the son of Daniel Tarbell, a Vermont-born landowner and operator of a large sawmill.^[4] Tarbell trained as a lawyer but pursued a career at newspapers, purchasing the Oswego Daily Times on September 3, 1836.^{[4] [1] [5]} Tarbell hired James N. Brown as editor of the paper, and sold the paper to Brown on August 23, 1854.^[4] Tarbell kept the printing equipment, however, and ran a printing shop at what had been the offices of the newspaper until 1861.^[4]

During the American Civil War, Tarbell enlisted as a private with the 24th New York Volunteer Infantry Regiment, but was quickly made a major.^{[1] [5]} He was transferred to the 91st New York Volunteer Infantry, where he was critical of his commander Jacob Van Zandt, with whom he feuded and eventually succeeded in command of the regiment.^{[6] [7]} Towards the end of the war, he was breveted brigadier general.^{[1] [4]}

Judicial and political service

He settled in Mississippi as a "political adventurer" during the Reconstruction era. Under the Mississippi state constitution of 1869, the state supreme court was reconfigured, with judges appointed by the governor with the advice and consent of the Mississippi Senate.^[8] Tarbell was appointed to the court by Governor James L. Alcorn, and "[t]he first bench thus constructed consisted of Chief Justice Peyton, Jonathan Tarbell and Horatio F. Simrall, associate justices".^[8] Tarbell served from the date of his appointment in 1870 until 1876, when the Democrats resumed control of the state,^[9] and Tarbell "left Mississippi on account of political persecution".^[1] He was succeeded on the court by a Democratic former Confederate officer, Josiah Abigail Patterson Campbell.^{[10] [11]} Tarbell returned to Washington, D.C., and resumed the practice of law.^[8] In August 1876, he was appointed deputy comptroller of the United States Department of the Treasury by President Ulysses S. Grant.^{[1] [12]}

Tarbell remained in Washington, D.C. until his death.^[9] He is buried at Arlington National Cemetery.

Notes and References

1. The Miami Republican (April 27, 1888), p. 3.
2. Mississippi. Dept. of Archives and History, The Official and Statistical Register of the State of Mississippi (1917), p. 327.
3. [Leslie H. Southwick|Leslie Southwick]
4. Oswego Historical Society (1942), p. 47-51.
5. Web site: Civil War Notebook: Brig. Gen. Jonathan Tarbell, A. B.. Jim. Miller. March 26, 2012.
6. Book: Lowry, Thomas Power. Tarnished Eagles: The Courts-martial of Fifty Union Colonels and Lieutenant Colonels. August 5, 1997. Stackpole Books. 9780811715973. Google Books.
7. Web site: 91st Infantry Regiment :: New York State Military Museum and Veterans Research Center.
8. Thomas H. Somerville, "A Sketch of the Supreme Court of Mississippi", in Horace W. Fuller, ed., The Green Bag, Vol. XI (1899), p. 512.
9. A. J. Brown, History of Newton County, Mississippi, from 1834 to 1894 (2000), p. 376.
10. A Bicentennial History of Mississippi, 1817-2017 (2017), p. 488-490.
11. Franklin Lafayette Riley, School History of Mississippi: For Use in Public and Private Schools (1915), p. 380-82.
12. "Washington Items", The Brooklyn Daily Eagle (September 1, 1876), p. 4.