Seth Barton (attorney)

Seth Barton (December 5, 1795 – December 29, 1854) was an attorney and government official who was active in Alabama and Louisiana. He served the federal government as Solicitor of the United States Treasury and Chargé d'affaires in Chile.

Biography

Barton was born in Baltimore, Maryland on December 5, 1795, the son of shipping merchant Seth Barton and Sarah Emerson (Maxwell) Barton.[1][2] He attended Washington and Lee University, studied law and attained admission to the bar.[3]

In 1821 he relocated to Tuscaloosa, Alabama, where he continued to practice law and became involved in the newspaper business.[4][5] He apparently served in the militia, in that he was often referred to in correspondence and press accounts as "Colonel", though the exact details of his military service are not currently known.[6][7]

Barton was elected to the Alabama House of Representatives in 1825.[8]

In 1828 Barton was an unsuccessful candidate for the United States House of Representatives.[9]

Barton moved to New Orleans, Louisiana in 1830, where he continued to practice law[10][11] as a partner of Judah P. Benjamin.[12] In 1843 he ran unsuccessfully for the Louisiana House of Representatives,[13] and in 1844 he supported James K. Polk for President, including writing letters to the editor under the pen name John Randolph of Roanoke.[14]

As President, Polk rewarded Barton with appointment as Solicitor of the Treasury, and he served from 1845 to 1847.[15][16][17][18]

Barton served as U.S. Chargé d'affaires in Chile from 1847 to 1849.[19] While in this post he created controversy by marrying a local woman in a Protestant service. The leaders of Chile's Catholic Church were angered because as a Protestant and a man who had been divorced, they believed Barton to be violating church tenets by marrying Isabel Astaburruaga, who was Catholic.[20][21][22]

After leaving office, Barton resumed practicing law in New Orleans as the partner of Pierre Soulé.[23] He died of yellow fever in New Orleans on December 29, 1854.[24]

References
  1. The United States in Latin America: A Historical Dictionary, by David Shavit, 1992, page 18
  2. "Dictionary of Louisiana Biography". LA History.org. Baton Rouge, LA: Louisiana Historical Association. September 26, 2017.
  3. Catalogue of the Officers and Alumni of Washington and Lee University, published by the University, 1888, page 68
  4. Callahan, James Morton (1945). "Matrimonial Problems of Seth Barton: An Ante-Bellum American 'Diplomat' in Chile". Arkansas Historical Quarterly. 4 (4): 285–306. doi:10.2307/40018363. JSTOR 40018363.
  5. Memorial Record of Alabama, published by Brant & Fuller, Chicago, 1893, page 170
  6. Shurbutt, Thomas Ray (1991). United States-Latin American Relations, 1800-1850: The Formative Generations. Tuscaloosa, AL: University of Alabama Press. p. 253. ISBN 9780817304829. President James Polk had already appointed Colonel Seth Barton as the new chargé to Santiago.
  7. Oeste, George Irvin (1966). John Randolph Clay: America's First Career Diplomat. Philadelphia, PA: University of Pennsylvania Press. p. 278. Colonel Seth Barton, a personal friend of the President, was of a quarrelsome disposition and totally unfitted for a diplomatic post.
  8. Seth Barton entry, History of Alabama and Dictionary of Alabama Biography, by Thomas McAdory Owen and Marie Bankhead Owen, Volume 3, 1921, page 109
  9. Robert Emmett Bledsoe Baylor entry, History of Alabama and Dictionary of Alabama Biography, by Thomas McAdory Owen and Marie Bankhead Owen, Volume 3, 1921, page 117
  10. The Papers of Henry Clay, by Henry Clay, edited by James Franklin Hopkins and Robert Seager, 1973, page 672
  11. Alabama, Her History, Resources, War Record, and Public Men: From 1540 to 1872, by Willis Brewer, 1872, pages 566 to 567
  12. Shurbutt, Thomas Ray (1991). United States-Latin American Relations, 1800-1850: The Formative Generations. Tuscaloosa, AL: University of Alabama Press. p. 253. ISBN 9780817304829.
  13. Niles, Hezekiah (July 15, 1843). "The States of the Union: Louisiana". Miles' Weekly Register. Baltimore, MD. p. 310.
  14. "Biography: Barton, Seth". Dictionary of Louisiana Biography. Louisiana Historical Association. Archived from the original on October 13, 2010. Retrieved November 10, 2015.
  15. Correspondence of James K. Polk: July-December 1845, by James Knox Polk, 2004, page 93
  16. The Bench and Bar of the South and Southwest, 1876, by Henry Stuart Foote, pages 203 to 204
  17. Register of the Department of Justice, published by United States Department of Justice, 1885, page 4
  18. The Papers of Jefferson Davis: June 1841-July 1846, by Jefferson Davis, 1975, page 524
  19. The Mission of Colonel Seth Barton, United States Chargé D'Affaires to Chile, 1847-1849, by Thomas Ray Shurbutt, 1967
  20. Parley P. Pratt: The Apostle Paul of Mormonism, by Terryl L. Givens and Matthew J. Grow, 2011, page 308
  21. Rendering Unto Caesar: The Catholic Church and the State in Latin America, by Anthony James Gill, 1998, page 124
  22. Freedom and Religion in the Nineteenth Century, by Richard J. Helmstadter, 1997, page 310
  23. "Death of Hon. Seth Barton". The Daily Union. Washington, DC. January 6, 1855. p. 2 – via Newspapers.com.
  24. American Biographical Notes, by Franklin Benjamin Hough, 1875, page 19
Legal offices
Preceded by
Charles B. Penrose		 Solicitor of the United States Treasury
1845–1847		 Succeeded by
Ransom H. Gillet
Diplomatic posts
Preceded by
William Crump		 U.S. Chargé d'affaires in Chile
January 5, 1848–May 22, 1849		 Succeeded by
Balie Peyton
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