CACrown ArchivesThe cinema collection
Menu
Research dossier · People & Ideas

John K. Tarbox

American politician (1838-1887)

Correspondence, annotated notebooks and portrait silhouettes prepared for research
People and ideasInterpretive dossier study · Crown Archives visual atlas
Record originEnglish Wikipedia
Text licenseCC BY-SA 4.0
Source revisionSep 1, 2026
Entity authorityQ765133 ↗
Source-derived summary

John Kemble Tarbox (May 6, 1838 – May 28, 1887) was a U.S. representative from Massachusetts.

Biography

Early life and education

Tarbox was born in that part of Methuen, Massachusetts that became incorporated into Lawrence, Massachusetts, Tarbox pursued classical studies, engaged in newspaper work, studied law and was admitted to the bar in 1860 and practiced law.

In May 1859 Tarbox married Sarah Ann Harmon. She died in 1874.

American Civil War service

During the Civil War he served in the Union Army as a first lieutenant in Company B of the Fourth Regiment, Massachusetts Volunteer Infantry. He was mustered out with his regiment on August 28, 1863.

For a time after his military service Tarbox was the political editor of the Lawrence Sentinel.

Early public service career

Tarbox was a delegate at the 1864 Democratic National Convention, and an alternate delegate at the 1868 Democratic National Convention. Tarbox served as a member of the Massachusetts House of Representatives in 1868, 1870, and 1871, in the Massachusetts State Senate in 1872, and as the sixteenth Mayor of Lawrence from 1873 to 1874.

Congressional service

Tarbox was elected as a Democrat to the Forty-fourth Congress (March 4, 1875 – March 3, 1877).

Editorial summary

The public source identifies “John K. Tarbox” as american politician (1838-1887). This brief keeps that definition visible, then builds a research path around John, Tarbox and American.

Editorial reviewA productive starting point for separating a subject’s documented career from later reputation and commemoration. The current lead gives the account dated anchors—1838, 1887, 1860, 1859—that can be checked directly. The linked authority record independently contributes the date 1838-05-06. Its value is orientation rather than verdict, with John, Tarbox and American providing the first useful test.
Editorial analysis

Why this record matters

A short description can identify a subject without explaining its stakes. For “John K. Tarbox”, the useful work is to connect “american politician (1838-1887)” to the records capable of establishing context and consequence.

Evidence profile

The entry’s evidential value lies in the named roles, institutions and publications that can be tested against primary documentation. The source revision retrieved here is dated Sep 1, 2026. The linked authority identifier is Q765133. VIAF identifies the subject as 78996362. The Library of Congress control number is no2009028403. 3 of 3 selected statements include explicit references; 0 carry qualifiers and 0 use preferred rank. The first chronological checks are 1838, 1887, 1860 and 1859.

Critical limits

Later biographies can compress uncertainty and repeat inherited reputations, so apparently settled claims may still require comparison. The source lead contains qualifying language; that uncertainty should survive quotation, summary and reuse. Authority statements aid reconciliation but still require their own references, qualifiers and ranks to be checked.

How to read it

Read biographical claims against dates, named institutions and the cited references. Distinguish a subject’s later reputation from evidence produced during their lifetime.

Best used for
  • Establishing names and roles
  • Building a first chronology
  • Locating cited institutions
Verify next

Personal papers, civil or court records, institutional files and the scholarship cited by the source.

Three-step research path

  1. Establish the record: confirm the title “John K. Tarbox”, its source revision and the description used here.
  2. Expand the search: follow John K. Tarbox primary sources, John K. Tarbox archive and John research across catalogues and specialist indexes.
  3. Test the account: compare the strongest cited source with the responsible institution’s current record and note any disagreement.

Questions for further research

  1. Which source most directly establishes the central claim about “John K. Tarbox”?
  2. Which claims depend on a single source or contested interpretation?
  3. How has the subject’s reputation changed across later accounts?
Subject index

Search terms from this dossier

Source & attribution

This entry incorporates text from “John K. Tarbox” on English Wikipedia. Contributors are listed in the page history. Text is available under the Creative Commons Attribution-ShareAlike 4.0 License. Selected authority identifiers and statements are retrieved from Wikidata under CC0; their references and qualifiers remain part of the verification path.