Jonathan Tarbell (c. 1820 – March 13, 1888)''The Miami Republican'' (April 27, 1888), p. 3. 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 The Supreme Court of Mississippi is the Supreme court, highest court in the state of Mississippi. It was established in 1818 per the terms of the first constitution of the state and was known as the High Court of Errors and Appeals from 1832 to 1 ...

from 1870 to May 10, 1876. Leslie Southwick
Mississippi Supreme Court Elections: A Historical Perspective 1916-1996
18 Miss. C. L. Rev. 115 (1997-1998). He served as a Republican.

Early life and career

Born and raised in

Moriah, New York Moriah is a Administrative divisions of New York#Town, town in Essex County, New York, Essex County, New York (state), New York, United States. Lying within the Adirondack Park, it is situated in the eastern part of the county, by road south-sou ...

, Tarbell was the son of Daniel Tarbell, a Vermont-born landowner and operator of a large

sawmill A sawmill (saw mill, saw-mill) or lumber mill is a facility where logging, logs are cut into lumber. Modern sawmills use a motorized saw to cut logs lengthwise to make long pieces, and crosswise to length depending on standard or custom sizes ...

.
Oswego Historical Society
' (1942), p. 47-51. Tarbell trained as a lawyer but pursued a career at newspapers, purchasing the Oswego ''Daily Times'' on September 3, 1836. Tarbell hired James N. Brown as editor of the paper, and sold the paper to Brown on August 23, 1854. Tarbell kept the printing equipment, however, and ran a printing shop at what had been the offices of the newspaper until 1861. During the American Civil War, Tarbell enlisted as a private with the

24th New York Volunteer Infantry Regiment The 24th New York Infantry Regiment, also known as the Oswego County Regiment, was an infantry regiment in the Union Army during the American Civil War. Organized in Elmira, New York, the regiment was mustered into service on May 17, 1861, for a ...

, but was quickly made a major. 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. Towards the end of the war, he was breveted brigadier general.

Judicial and political service

He settled in Mississippi as a "political adventurer" during the

Reconstruction era The Reconstruction era was a period in History of the United States, US history that followed the American Civil War (1861-65) and was dominated by the legal, social, and political challenges of the Abolitionism in the United States, abol ...

. 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.Thomas H. Somerville, "A Sketch of the Supreme Court of Mississippi", in Horace W. Fuller, ed., '' The Green Bag'', Vol. XI (1899), p. 512. Tarbell was appointed to the court by Governor James L. Alcorn, and " e first bench thus constructed consisted of Chief Justice Peyton, Jonathan Tarbell and Horatio F. Simrall, associate justices". Tarbell served from the date of his appointment in 1870 until 1876, when the Democrats resumed control of the state,A. J. Brown, ''History of Newton County, Mississippi, from 1834 to 1894'' (2000), p. 376. and Tarbell "left Mississippi on account of political persecution". He was succeeded on the court by a Democratic former Confederate officer, Josiah Abigail Patterson Campbell.''A Bicentennial History of Mississippi, 1817-2017'' (2017), p. 488-490. Tarbell returned to

Washington, D.C. Washington, D.C., formally the District of Columbia and commonly known as Washington or D.C., is the capital city and federal district of the United States. The city is on the Potomac River, across from Virginia, and shares land borders with ...

, and resumed the practice of law. In August 1876, he was appointed deputy comptroller of the

United States Department of the Treasury The Department of the Treasury (USDT) is the Treasury, national treasury and finance department of the federal government of the United States. It is one of 15 current United States federal executive departments, U.S. government departments. ...

by President

Ulysses S. Grant Ulysses S. Grant (born Hiram Ulysses Grant; April 27, 1822July 23, 1885) was the 18th president of the United States, serving from 1869 to 1877. In 1865, as Commanding General of the United States Army, commanding general, Grant led the Uni ...

."Washington Items", ''The Brooklyn Daily Eagle'' (September 1, 1876), p. 4. Tarbell remained in Washington, D.C. until his death. He is buried at

Arlington National Cemetery Arlington National Cemetery is the largest cemetery in the United States National Cemetery System, one of two maintained by the United States Army. More than 400,000 people are buried in its 639 acres (259 ha) in Arlington County, Virginia. ...

References

{{DEFAULTSORT:Tarbell, Jonathan 1820s births 1888 deaths Justices of the Supreme Court of Mississippi 19th-century American judges Editors of New York (state) newspapers Burials at Arlington National Cemetery 19th-century American newspaper editors People from Moriah, New York Mississippi Republicans People of New York (state) in the American Civil War United States Department of the Treasury officials Lawyers from Washington, D.C. 19th-century American lawyers Union army colonels