John Charles Tarsney (November 7, 1845 – September 4, 1920) was an

American politician The politics of the United States function within a framework of a constitutional federal republic and presidential system, with three distinct branches that share powers. These are: the U.S. Congress which forms the legislative branch, a bi ...

from

Missouri Missouri is a state in the Midwestern region of the United States. Ranking 21st in land area, it is bordered by eight states (tied for the most with Tennessee): Iowa to the north, Illinois, Kentucky and Tennessee to the east, Arkansas t ...

and an associate justice of the Oklahoma Territory Supreme Court (1896-1899). He then returned to Kansas City, Missouri, where he had a private law practice until he died in 1920.

Early life and service in the Union Army

Tarsney was born in Medina Township,

Lenawee County, Michigan Lenawee County ( ') is a county located in the U.S. state of Michigan. As of the 2020 United States Census, the population was 99,423. The county seat is Adrian. The county was created in 1822, from territory partitioned from Monroe County. Its g ...

, and attended a

University of Michigan, Ann Arbor , mottoeng = "Arts, Knowledge, Truth" , former_names = Catholepistemiad, or University of Michigania (1817–1821) , budget = $10.3 billion (2021) , endowment = $17 billion (2021)As o ...

. After graduation, he worked on a farm until the outbreak of the

Civil War A civil war or intrastate war is a war between organized groups within the same state (or country). The aim of one side may be to take control of the country or a region, to achieve independence for a region, or to change government policies ...

. He enlisted in the 4th Michigan Volunteer Infantry Regiment in August 1862. During the

Battle of Gettysburg The Battle of Gettysburg () was fought July 1–3, 1863, in and around the town of Gettysburg, Pennsylvania, by Union and Confederate forces during the American Civil War. In the battle, Union Major General George Meade's Army of the Po ...

he was captured and imprisoned at

Belle Isle (Richmond, Virginia) Belle Isle is a small island in the city of Richmond, Virginia. Belle Island lies within the James River, and being owned by the city it serves as a city park. It is accessible to pedestrian and bicycle traffic via a suspension footbridge that ...

, later being moved to Andersonville Prison and Camp Lawton. He escaped from Camp Lawton by temporarily taking the identity of a recently deceased soldier. He returned to his regiment in January 1865 and took part in the battles at Hatcher's Run and Five Forks. He also participated in the surrender of Appomattox. Tarsney was discharged from the army in June 1865."Hon. John C. Tarsney." ''Medico-Legal Journal''.Vol. 27. June 1909.
p.79. Accessed March 28, 2020.

Education and Career

After being discharged from military service, Tarsney attended high school in Hudson,

Michigan Michigan () is a U.S. state, state in the Great Lakes region, Great Lakes region of the Upper Midwest, upper Midwestern United States. With a population of nearly 10.12 million and an area of nearly , Michigan is the List of U.S. states and ...

and graduated in 1867. Subsequently, he studied law at the

University of Michigan Law School The University of Michigan Law School (Michigan Law) is the law school of the University of Michigan, a public research university in Ann Arbor, Michigan. Founded in 1859, the school offers Master of Laws (LLM), Master of Comparative Law (MCL ...

, from which he graduated in 1869. He was admitted to the bar in the same year and practiced in Hudson. In 1872, he moved to Kansas City, Missouri and served as city attorney of Kansas City in 1874 and 1875. In 1875, Tarsney became the attorney for Consolidated Street Railways of Kansas City, where he remained until 1888. His brother, Timothy E. Tarsney, was a

U.S. Representative The United States House of Representatives, often referred to as the House of Representatives, the U.S. House, or simply the House, is the lower chamber of the United States Congress, with the Senate being the upper chamber. Together they c ...

from

. In 1888, he was elected as a representative to the

U.S. Congress The United States Congress is the legislature of the federal government of the United States. It is bicameral, composed of a lower body, the House of Representatives, and an upper body, the Senate. It meets in the U.S. Capitol in Washin ...

and re-elected three more times in 1890, 1892 and 1894. His sister Mary married Thomas A. E. Weadock, who later became a U.S. Representative from Michigan. Mrs John Charles Tarsney

Tarsney married Mary Behan, a native of Michigan. Although the couple had seven children, none lived to the age of adulthood. In 1888, Tarsney was elected as a

Democrat Democrat, Democrats, or Democratic may refer to: Politics *A proponent of democracy, or democratic government; a form of government involving rule by the people. *A member of a Democratic Party: **Democratic Party (United States) (D) **Democratic ...

from

Missouri's 5th congressional district Missouri's 5th congressional district has been represented in the United States House of Representatives by Democrat Emanuel Cleaver, the former Mayor of Kansas City, since 2005. The district primarily consists of the inner ring of the Kansas ...

to the

51st United States Congress The 51st United States Congress, referred to by some critics as the Billion Dollar Congress, was a meeting of the legislative branch of the United States federal government, consisting of the United States Senate and the United States House of R ...

. He was subsequently re-elected to the 52nd and 53rd Congresses, serving from March 4, 1889, to March 3, 1895. He was chairman of the Committee on Labor in the 52nd Congress. He presented credentials as a member-elect to the 54th Congress and served from March 4, 1895, to February 27, 1896, when he succeeded by

Robert T. Van Horn Robert Thompson Van Horn (May 19, 1824 – January 3, 1916) was an American lawyer, the owner and publisher of '' The Kansas City Enterprise'', the 6th mayor of Kansas City, Missouri during parts of the Civil War, a member of the Missouri General ...

, who had contested his election. Tarsney was appointed by

U.S. President The president of the United States (POTUS) is the head of state and head of government of the United States of America. The president directs the executive branch of the federal government and is the commander-in-chief of the United States ...

Grover Cleveland Stephen Grover Cleveland (March 18, 1837June 24, 1908) was an American lawyer and politician who served as the 22nd and 24th president of the United States from 1885 to 1889 and from 1893 to 1897. Cleveland is the only president in American ...

to serve as an associate justice of the Supreme Court of Oklahoma Territory in 1896 where he replaced Justice

John H. Burford John H. Burford (1852–1922) was a justice of the Territorial Oklahoma Supreme Court from 1892 to 1906, serving as the final Chief Justice of that court from 1898 to 1903. After the territorial supreme court was dissolved at statehood, Burford se ...

."Hon. John John C. Tarsney." ''Medico-legal Journal''. vol. 27, No. 1. June 1909. p. 1.
Accessed August 27, 2019. The position necessitated a move to Guthrie, Oklahoma, the then capital of the Oklahoma Territory. He served as an Associate Justice until 1899 before returning to practice law in Kansas City.Campbell, William P. "Oklahoma Territorial Supreme Court." ''Historia''. Vol. 8, No. 5. pp. 1-2. April 1920. Accessed August 27, 2019. Tarsney died on September 4, 1920, and was interred in Mount St. Mary’s Cemetery, Kansas City, Missouri. Tarsney is the namesake of the community of Tarsney, Missouri.

Tarsney Act

One of Tarsney's most long-lasting contributions was the Tarsney Act, which permitted private architects to design federal buildings after being selected in a competition under the supervision of the Supervising Architect of the

United States Treasury The Department of the Treasury (USDT) is the national treasury and finance department of the federal government of the United States, where it serves as an executive department. The department oversees the Bureau of Engraving and Printing and ...

. Competitions were held for the

Alexander Hamilton U.S. Custom House The Alexander Hamilton U.S. Custom House (originally the New York Custom House) is a government building, museum, and former custom house at 1 Bowling Green, near the southern end of Manhattan in New York City, United States. Designed by Cas ...

Ellis Island Ellis Island is a federally owned island in New York Harbor, situated within the U.S. states of New York and New Jersey, that was the busiest immigrant inspection and processing station in the United States. From 1892 to 1954, nearly 12 mil ...

James Farley Post Office The James A. Farley Building is a mixed-use structure in Midtown Manhattan, New York City, which formerly served as the city's main United States Postal Service (USPS) branch. Designed by McKim, Mead & White in the Beaux-Arts style, the structur ...

, Cleveland Federal Building, U.S. Post Office and Courthouse in

Baltimore Baltimore ( , locally: or ) is the List of municipalities in Maryland, most populous city in the U.S. state of Maryland, fourth most populous city in the Mid-Atlantic (United States), Mid-Atlantic, and List of United States cities by popula ...

, Maryland, and U.S. Customhouse in

San Francisco San Francisco (; Spanish for " Saint Francis"), officially the City and County of San Francisco, is the commercial, financial, and cultural center of Northern California. The city proper is the fourth most populous in California and 17th ...

California California is a state in the Western United States, located along the Pacific Coast. With nearly 39.2million residents across a total area of approximately , it is the most populous U.S. state and the 3rd largest by area. It is also the m ...

(which are all now on the

National Register of Historic Places The National Register of Historic Places (NRHP) is the United States federal government's official list of districts, sites, buildings, structures and objects deemed worthy of preservation for their historical significance or "great artistic ...

) among others. The competitions were met with enthusiasm by the architect community but were also marred by scandal as when Supervisory Architect

James Knox Taylor James Knox Taylor (October 11, 1857 – August 27, 1929) was Supervising Architect of the United States Department of the Treasury from 1897 to 1912. His name is listed ''ex officio'' as supervising architect of hundreds of federal buildings bu ...

picked

Cass Gilbert Cass Gilbert (November 24, 1859 – May 17, 1934) was an American architect. An early proponent of skyscrapers, his works include the Woolworth Building, the United States Supreme Court building, the state capitols of Minnesota, Arkansas and ...

for the New York Customs job, as Taylor and Gilbert had both been members of the Gilbert & Taylor architecture firm in

Saint Paul, Minnesota Saint Paul (abbreviated St. Paul) is the capital of the U.S. state of Minnesota and the county seat of Ramsey County. Situated on high bluffs overlooking a bend in the Mississippi River, Saint Paul is a regional business hub and the center ...

. In 1913, the act was repealed.Architects to the Nation: The Rise and Decline of the Supervising Architect's Office by Antoinette J. Lee - Oxford University Press, USA (April 20, 2000)

References

External links

* For an article on Camp Lawton mentioning Tarnsey, see: http://www.cnn.com/2014/05/04/us/civil-war-150th-anniversary-prisons/index.html?hpt=hp_c2 {{DEFAULTSORT:Tarsney, John Charles 1845 births 1920 deaths People from Lenawee County, Michigan People from Kansas City, Missouri University of Michigan Law School alumni Democratic Party members of the United States House of Representatives from Missouri People from Guthrie, Oklahoma Oklahoma Democrats Oklahoma Territorial Supreme Court justices