John C. Tarsney

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John Charles Tarsney
The Lexington Intelligencer (Lexington, MO), September 22, 1894
Member of the U.S. House of Representatives
from Missouri's 5th district
In office
March 4, 1889 – February 27, 1896
Preceded byWilliam Warner
Succeeded byRobert T. Van Horn
Personal details
Born(1845-11-07)November 7, 1845
4th Michigan Volunteer Infantry Regiment
Battles/warsAmerican Civil War

John Charles Tarsney (November 7, 1845 – September 4, 1920) was an American politician from Missouri 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

Hatcher's Run and Five Forks. He also participated in the surrender of Appomattox. Tarsney was discharged from the army in June 1865.[3]

Education and career

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

U.S. Representative from Michigan. In 1888, he was elected as a representative to the U.S. Congress
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 Mary Tarsney (née Behan)

Tarsney married Mary Behan, a native of Michigan.[4] Although the couple had seven children, none lived to the age of adulthood.[5]

In 1888, Tarsney was elected as a

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 was succeeded by Robert T. Van Horn
, who had contested his election.

Tarsney was appointed by

U.S. President Grover Cleveland to serve as an associate justice of the Supreme Court of Oklahoma Territory in 1896 where he replaced Justice John H. Burford.[6] 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.[7]

Tarsney died on September 4, 1920.

Tarsney is the namesake of the community of Tarsney, Missouri.[8]

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

Cleveland Federal Building, U.S. Post Office and Courthouse in Baltimore, Maryland, and U.S. Customhouse in San Francisco, California (which are all now on the National Register of Historic Places) 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 picked Cass Gilbert for the New York Customs job, as Taylor and Gilbert had both been members of the Gilbert & Taylor architecture firm in Saint Paul, Minnesota. In 1913, the act was repealed.[9]

References

  1. ^ "Biographical Directory of the U.S. Congress - Retro Search".
  2. ^ Gast, Phil (4 May 2014). "'We did this to ourselves': Death and despair at Civil War prisons". CNN. Retrieved 2020-06-01.
  3. ^ "Hon. John C. Tarsney." Medico-Legal Journal.Vol. 27. June 1909. p.79. Accessed March 28, 2020.
  4. ^ "Obituary from the Kansas City Times". The Kansas City Times.
  5. ^ Hinman, Ida (1895). The Washington Sketch Book.
  6. ^ "Hon. John John C. Tarsney." Medico-legal Journal. vol. 27, No. 1. June 1909. p. 1. Accessed August 27, 2019.
  7. ^ Campbell, William P. "Oklahoma Territorial Supreme Court." Historia. Vol. 8, No. 5. pp. 1-2. April 1920. Accessed August 27, 2019.
  8. ^ "Jackson County Place Names, 1928–1945 (archived)". The State Historical Society of Missouri. Archived from the original on 24 June 2016. Retrieved 16 October 2016.{{cite web}}: CS1 maint: bot: original URL status unknown (link)
  9. ISBN 0-19-512822-2

External links

U.S. House of Representatives
Preceded by
United States Representative for the 5th Congressional District of Missouri

1889–1896 		Succeeded by
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