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Thomas W. Bartley

American politician (1812-1885)

Correspondence, annotated notebooks and portrait silhouettes prepared for research
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Record originEnglish Wikipedia
Text licenseCC BY-SA 4.0
Source revisionSep 4, 2026
Entity authorityQ432853 ↗
Source-derived summary

Thomas Welles Bartley (February 11, 1812 – June 20, 1885) was an American Democratic politician from the U.S. state of Ohio. He served as the 17th governor of Ohio. Bartley was succeeded in office by his father, Mordecai Bartley, one of only a few instances of this occurring in high elected office in the United States.

Biography

Bartley was born in Jefferson County, Ohio on February 11, 1812. As a child, he moved to Mansfield, Ohio with his family. Bartley attended Jefferson College and graduated in 1829. He studied law with Jacob Parker in Mansfield, Ohio, and studied law with Elijah Hayward in Washington, D.C.. Bartley was admitted to the bar in 1833, and began practice in Mansfield.

Career

Bartley served in the Ohio House of Representatives from 1839 to 1841 and then in the Ohio State Senate from 1841 to 1845. He was elected Speaker of the Senate in 1843.

Editorial summary

The public source identifies “Thomas W. Bartley” as american politician (1812-1885). This brief keeps that definition visible, then builds a research path around Thomas, Bartley and American.

Editorial reviewA useful biographical orientation record, particularly for establishing names, roles and a first chronology. The current lead gives the account dated anchors—1812, 1885, 1829, 1833—that can be checked directly. The linked authority record independently contributes the date 1812-02-11. Its value is orientation rather than verdict, with Thomas, Bartley 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 “Thomas W. Bartley”, the useful work is to connect “american politician (1812-1885)” to the records capable of establishing context and consequence.

Evidence profile

Chronology provides the most reliable spine for this subject; interpretation should follow only after identities and dates are secure. The source revision retrieved here is dated Sep 4, 2026. The linked authority identifier is Q432853. VIAF identifies the subject as 78036077. The Library of Congress control number is n95121273. 3 of 3 selected statements include explicit references; 0 carry qualifiers and 0 use preferred rank. The first chronological checks are 1812, 1885, 1829 and 1833.

Critical limits

Later biographies can compress uncertainty and repeat inherited reputations, so apparently settled claims may still require comparison. The lead is largely declarative, so disagreement and counter-evidence require a deliberate search beyond the opening account. 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
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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 “Thomas W. Bartley”, its source revision and the description used here.
  2. Expand the search: follow Thomas W. Bartley primary sources, Thomas W. Bartley archive and Thomas 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

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Source & attribution

This entry incorporates text from “Thomas W. Bartley” 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.