Tunstall Quarles ( – January 7, 1855) was a United States

lawyer A lawyer is a person who practices law. The role of a lawyer varies greatly across different legal jurisdictions. A lawyer can be classified as an advocate, attorney, barrister, canon lawyer, civil law notary, counsel, counselor, solic ...

and politician, as well as one of the pioneer settlers of Somerset, Kentucky in Pulaski County. Quarles was born in King William County, Virginia. He moved to Kentucky in 1786 with his parents, Tunstall and Susanna Edwards Quarles. He married Pamella Stranger and had ten children.Richmond Times-Dispatch, November 22, 1914
/ref> Quarles came to Somerset sometime before 1812, for in May 1812, he was one of a commission to supervise the building of a

County Clerk A clerk is a white-collar worker who conducts general office tasks, or a worker who performs similar sales-related tasks in a retail environment. The responsibilities of clerical workers commonly include record keeping, filing, staffing service ...

's office. Quarles was a lawyer and became a member of the

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in 1811 and 1812. In the War of 1812, he armed and equipped a company of the Second Regiment Kentucky Militia at his own expense and then commanded them. After the war, he served as a circuit court judge. He was elected as a

Democrat-Republican The Democratic-Republican Party, known at the time as the Republican Party and also referred to as the Jeffersonian Republican Party among other names, was an American political party founded by Thomas Jefferson and James Madison in the early ...

to be a member of the Fifteenth and Sixteenth Congresses and served from March 1817 until his resignation in June 1820. Quarles was appointed receiver of public moneys for the Cape Girardeau land district, with offices at

Jackson, Missouri Jackson is a city in and the county seat of Cape Girardeau County, Missouri, United States. It is a principal city of the Cape Girardeau–Jackson, MO- IL Metropolitan Statistical Area. The population of Jackson was 15,481 at the 2020 census ...

, and served from May 1821 to July 1824. Quarles returned to Somerset in July 1824, where he resumed his law practice and agricultural pursuits. Like so many other early figures of Pulaski County history, Quarles was an avid member of the

Freemasons Freemasonry or Masonry refers to fraternal organisations that trace their origins to the local guilds of stonemasons that, from the end of the 13th century, regulated the qualifications of stonemasons and their interaction with authorities ...

. Using funding from the National Freemason Association, he was able to organize the first bank in Somerset, the Farmers Bank, and served as president from 1825 to 1827. Little else is known about the role of Quarles in masonic lore. In 1828, Quarles was again elected to the state House of Representatives, and was

elector Elector may refer to: * Prince-elector or elector, a member of the electoral college of the Holy Roman Empire, having the function of electing the Holy Roman Emperors * Elector, a member of an electoral college ** Confederate elector, a member of ...

on the Democratic ticket of Jackson and Calhoun. He served a term in the state Senate in 1840.

References

* {{DEFAULTSORT:Quarles, Tunstall 1770s births 1855 deaths Kentucky lawyers Kentucky state court judges Kentucky state senators Kentucky Jacksonians People from King William County, Virginia People from Woodford County, Kentucky People from Somerset, Kentucky Democratic-Republican Party members of the United States House of Representatives from Kentucky 19th-century American politicians