John Charles Tarsney was a politician from the U.S. state

U.S. state

A U.S. state is any one of the 50 federated states of the United States of America that share sovereignty with the federal government. Because of this shared sovereignty, an American is a citizen both of the federal entity and of his or her state of domicile. Four states use the official title of...

 of Missouri

Missouri

Missouri is a US state located in the Midwestern United States, bordered by Iowa, Illinois, Kentucky, Tennessee, Arkansas, Oklahoma, Kansas and Nebraska. With a 2010 population of 5,988,927, Missouri is the 18th most populous state in the nation and the fifth most populous in the Midwest. It...

.

One of Tarsney's most long lasting contributions was the "Tarsney Act" which permitted private architects to design federal buildings after being selected in a competition under the supervision of Supervising Architect

Office of the Supervising Architect

The Office of the Supervising Architect was an agency of the United States Treasury Department that designed federal government buildings from 1852 to 1939....

 of the United States Treasury. Competitions were held for the Alexander Hamilton U.S. Custom House

Alexander Hamilton U.S. Custom House

The Alexander Hamilton U.S. Custom House is a building in New York City, built 1902–1907 by the federal government to house the duty collection operations for the port of New York. It is located near the southern tip of Manhattan, next to Battery Park, at 1 Bowling Green...

, Ellis Island

Ellis Island

Ellis Island in New York Harbor was the gateway for millions of immigrants to the United States. It was the nation's busiest immigrant inspection station from 1892 until 1954. The island was greatly expanded with landfill between 1892 and 1934. Before that, the much smaller original island was the...

, James Farley Post Office

James Farley Post Office

The James A. Farley Post Office Building is the main post office building in New York City. Its ZIP code designation is 10001. Built in 1912, the building is famous for bearing the inscription: Neither snow nor rain nor heat nor gloom of night stays these couriers from the swift completion of...

, Cleveland Federal Building, U.S. Post Office and Courthouse

Baltimore City Circuit Courthouses

The Baltimore City Circuit Courthouses are located in downtown Baltimore, Maryland. Facing each other in the 100 block of North Calvert Street, the Clarence M. Mitchell, Jr, Courthouse and Courthouse East house the 30 judges of the 8th judicial circuit for the state of Maryland...

 in Baltimore, Maryland, and U.S. Customhouse in San Francisco, California (which are all now on the National Register of Historic Places

National Register of Historic Places

The National Register of Historic Places is the United States government's official list of districts, sites, buildings, structures, and objects deemed worthy of preservation...

) among others. The competitions were met with enthusiasm by the architect community but were also marred by scandal as when Supervisory Architect James Knox Taylor

James Knox Taylor

James Knox Taylor was Supervising Architect of the United States Department of the Treasury from 1897 to 1912. His name is listed ex officio as supervising architect of hundreds of federal buildings built throughout the United States during the period.-Early career:The son of H...

 picked Cass Gilbert

Cass Gilbert

- Historical impact :Gilbert is considered a skyscraper pioneer; when designing the Woolworth Building he moved into unproven ground — though he certainly was aware of the ground-breaking work done by Chicago architects on skyscrapers and once discussed merging firms with the legendary Daniel...

 for the New York Customs job. Taylor and Gilbert had been members of the Gilbert & Taylor architecture firm in St. Paul, Minnesota. In 1913 the act was repealed.

Tarsney was born in Medina Township, Michigan

Medina Township, Michigan

Medina Township is a civil township of Lenawee County in the U.S. state of Michigan. The population was 1,227 at the 2000 census.-Geography:...

 and attended the common school

Common school

A common school was a public school in the United States or Canada in the nineteenth century. The term 'common school' was coined by Horace Mann, and refers to the fact that they were meant to serve individuals of all social classes and religions....

s. During the Civil War

American Civil War

The American Civil War was a civil war fought in the United States of America. In response to the election of Abraham Lincoln as President of the United States, 11 southern slave states declared their secession from the United States and formed the Confederate States of America ; the other 25...

, he enlisted in the Fourth Regiment, Michigan Volunteer Infantry, in August 1862 and mustered out of the service in June 1865. He attended high school in Hudson, Michigan

Hudson, Michigan

Hudson is a city in Lenawee County in the U.S. state of Michigan. The population was 2,307 at the 2010 census. The city is located within Hudson Township, but is politically independent.-Geography:...

 and graduated from the law department of the University of Michigan

University of Michigan

The University of Michigan is a public research university located in Ann Arbor, Michigan in the United States. It is the state's oldest university and the flagship campus of the University of Michigan...

 at Ann Arbor in 1869. He was admitted to the bar the same year and commenced practice in Hudson. In 1872, he moved to Kansas City, Missouri

Kansas City, Missouri

Kansas City, Missouri is the largest city in the U.S. state of Missouri and is the anchor city of the Kansas City Metropolitan Area, the second largest metropolitan area in Missouri. It encompasses in parts of Jackson, Clay, Cass, and Platte counties...

 and served as city attorney of Kansas City in 1874 and 1875. His brother, Timothy E. Tarsney

Timothy E. Tarsney

Timothy Edward Tarsney was a politician from the U.S. state of Michigan.Tarsney was born in Ransom, Michigan and attended the common and high schools. He worked on the Government roads in Tennessee until the close of the Civil War...

 was a U.S. Representative from Michigan

Michigan

Michigan is a U.S. state located in the Great Lakes Region of the United States of America. The name Michigan is the French form of the Ojibwa word mishigamaa, meaning "large water" or "large lake"....

. His sister Mary E. Tarsney married Thomas A. E. Weadock

Thomas A. E. Weadock

Thomas Addis Emmet Weadock was a judge and politician from the U.S. state of Michigan.Weadock was born in Ballygarret, County Wexford, Ireland and immigrated to the United States in infancy with his parents, Lewis Weadock and Mary Weadock, who settled on a farm near St. Marys, Ohio...

 who became a U.S. Representative from Michigan after her death.

In 1888, Tarsney was elected as a Democrat

Democratic Party (United States)

The Democratic Party is one of two major contemporary political parties in the United States, along with the Republican Party. The party's socially liberal and progressive platform is largely considered center-left in the U.S. political spectrum. The party has the lengthiest record of continuous...

 from Missouri's 5th congressional district

Missouri's 5th congressional district

Missouri's 5th Congressional District has been represented in the United States House of Representatives by Democrat Emanuel Cleaver, the former Mayor of Kansas City, since 2005....

 to the 51st United States Congress

51st United States Congress

The Fifty-first United States Congress, referred to by some critics as the Billion Dollar Congress, was a meeting of the legislative branch of the United States federal government, consisting of the United States Senate and the United States House of Representatives. It met in Washington, D.C...

. He was subsequently re-elected to the 52nd

52nd United States Congress

The Fifty-second United States Congress was a meeting of the legislative branch of the United States federal government, consisting of the United States Senate and the United States House of Representatives. It met in Washington, D.C...

 and 53rd

53rd United States Congress

The Fifty-third United States Congress was a meeting of the legislative branch of the United States federal government, consisting of the United States Senate and the United States House of Representatives. It met in Washington, D.C. from March 4, 1893 to March 4, 1895, during the fifth and sixth...

 Congresses, serving from March 4, 1889 to March 3, 1895. He was chairman of the Committee on Labor in the 52nd Congress. He presented credentials as a Member-elect to the 54th Congress

54th United States Congress

- House of Representatives :-Leadership:- Senate :* President: Adlai E. Stevenson * President pro tempore: William P. Frye - Majority leadership :* Republican Conference Chairman: John Sherman- Minority leadership :...

 and served from March 4, 1895, to February 27, 1896, when he was succeeded by Robert T. Van Horn

Robert T. Van Horn

Robert Thompson Van Horn was a lawyer, the owner and publisher of the The Kansas City Enterprise, mayor of Kansas City, Missouri during the parts of the Civil War, member of the Missouri General Assembly, and representative to the Forty-seventh Congress of the United States.Born in East Mahoning...

, who had contested his election.

John Charles Tarsney was appointed by U.S. President Grover Cleveland

Grover Cleveland

Stephen Grover Cleveland was the 22nd and 24th president of the United States. Cleveland is the only president to serve two non-consecutive terms and therefore is the only individual to be counted twice in the numbering of the presidents...

 to serve as associate justice of the supreme court of Oklahoma Territory

Oklahoma Territory

The Territory of Oklahoma was an organized incorporated territory of the United States that existed from May 2, 1890, until November 16, 1907, when it was joined with the Indian Territory under a new constitution and admitted to the Union as the State of Oklahoma.-Organization:Oklahoma Territory's...

in 1896 and served until 1899. That year he returned to Kansas City and resumed the practice of law. He died in Kansas City and is interred in Mount St. Mary’s Cemetery.