Ara Bartlett was an American lawyer and judge who was the second Chief Justice of the Supreme Court of the Dakota Territory

Dakota Territory

The Territory of Dakota was an organized incorporated territory of the United States that existed from March 2, 1861, until November 2, 1889, when the final extent of the reduced territory was split and admitted to the Union as the states of North and South Dakota.The Dakota Territory consisted of...

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Bartlett moved to Kankakee

Kankakee, Illinois

Kankakee is a city in Kankakee County, Illinois, USA. As of the 2000 census, the city population was 25,561, and 26,840 as of a 2009 estimate. It is the county seat of Kankakee County...

, Illinois

Illinois

Illinois is the fifth-most populous state of the United States of America, and is often noted for being a microcosm of the entire country. With Chicago in the northeast, small industrial cities and great agricultural productivity in central and northern Illinois, and natural resources like coal,...

 in 1853, the second lawyer to set up practice there. By 1858 he was serving as the police magistrate in Kankakee. He was elected judge of Kankakee County

Kankakee County, Illinois

Kankakee County is a county located in the U.S. state of Illinois. According to the 2010 census, it has a population of 113,449, which is an increase of 9.3% from 103,833 in 2000. Its county seat is Kankakee....

 in 1861, serving until he was appointed an Associate Justice of the Dakota Territory Supreme Court by president Abraham Lincoln

Abraham Lincoln

Abraham Lincoln was the 16th President of the United States, serving from March 1861 until his assassination in April 1865. He successfully led his country through a great constitutional, military and moral crisis – the American Civil War – preserving the Union, while ending slavery, and...

 in June of 1864. In 1865 he was appointed Chief Justice by Lincoln. After his term expired, Bartlett practiced law for a time and then moved to Kansas

Kansas

Kansas is a US state located in the Midwestern United States. It is named after the Kansas River which flows through it, which in turn was named after the Kansa Native American tribe, which inhabited the area. The tribe's name is often said to mean "people of the wind" or "people of the south...

; in 1880 he was living in the town of Wellington

Wellington, Kansas

Wellington is a city in and the county seat of Sumner County, Kansas, United States. As of the 2010 census, the city population was 8,172.-19th century:...

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Bartlett married Lucinda Jane Eldred (1832-1871) on December 8, 1856; she was the daughter of Nathanial Eldred, a prominent Pennsylvania judge and politician. Her sister Mary Eldred married E. O. Hamlin, also a lawyer and judge. Bartlett's daughter Mary Hamlin Bartlett (1858-1896) married Joseph Adams Smith, who became Paymaster General of the Navy and a notable lecturer on naval history.