Riley Bartholomew was a Minnesota

Minnesota

Minnesota is a U.S. state located in the Midwestern United States. The twelfth largest state of the U.S., it is the twenty-first most populous, with 5.3 million residents. Minnesota was carved out of the eastern half of the Minnesota Territory and admitted to the Union as the thirty-second state...

 state senator

State Senator

A state senator is a member of a state's Senate, the upper house in the bicameral legislature of 49 U.S. states, or a legislator in Nebraska's one house State Legislature.There are typically fewer state senators than there are members of a state's lower house...

 from 1859 to 1860.

Riley Bartholomew married Fanny A. Watkins in 1829. He became a merchant in Geneva, Ohio

Geneva, Ohio

Geneva is a city in Ashtabula County, Ohio, United States. The area which would become Geneva was originally settled in 1805, and was incorporated as a city in 1958. It is named after Geneva, New York. The city's population was 6,595 at the 2000 census....

, selling clocks and later operating a hotel before the family moved to Jefferson, Ohio

Jefferson, Ohio

Jefferson is a village in Ashtabula County, Ohio, United States. The population was 3,572 at the 2000 census. It is the county seat of Ashtabula County. Modern-day Jefferson sports the world's only perambulator museum and a historical complex including several restored 18th century buildings....

, the Ashtabula County

Ashtabula County, Ohio

Ashtabula County is the northeasternmost county in the state of Ohio. As of 2010, the population was 101,497, its county seat is Jefferson. The county is named for a Native American word meaning "river of many fish"....

 seat. In 1848 he was elected sheriff

Sheriff

A sheriff is in principle a legal official with responsibility for a county. In practice, the specific combination of legal, political, and ceremonial duties of a sheriff varies greatly from country to country....

. During his Ohio years Riley joined the state militia

Militia

The term militia is commonly used today to refer to a military force composed of ordinary citizens to provide defense, emergency law enforcement, or paramilitary service, in times of emergency without being paid a regular salary or committed to a fixed term of service. It is a polyseme with...

, rising through the ranks to the status of general.

The Bartholomew family were among the first settler

Settler

A settler is a person who has migrated to an area and established permanent residence there, often to colonize the area. Settlers are generally people who take up residence on land and cultivate it, as opposed to nomads...

s in 1852 to establish a land claim in Richfield, Minnesota

Richfield, Minnesota

As of the census of 2000, there were 34,439 people, 15,073 households, and 8,727 families residing in the city. The population density was 4,993.9 people per square mile . There were 15,357 housing units at an average density of 2,226.9 per square mile...

. The Bartholomews, in their mid-forties, determined to move their family and begin a new life in the Northwest. Riley came from stock that did not fear a challenge. His grandfather fought Native Americans and Tories on the New York frontier during the Revolutionary War

American Revolutionary War

The American Revolutionary War , the American War of Independence, or simply the Revolutionary War, began as a war between the Kingdom of Great Britain and thirteen British colonies in North America, and ended in a global war between several European great powers.The war was the result of the...

, and his father was a veteran of the War of 1812

War of 1812

The War of 1812 was a military conflict fought between the forces of the United States of America and those of the British Empire. The Americans declared war in 1812 for several reasons, including trade restrictions because of Britain's ongoing war with France, impressment of American merchant...

. Bartholomew's parents, Benjamin and Susannah, settled in Ohio's northeast corner in 1807, the year of Riley's birth.

Upon arrival in Minnesota Territory, Riley claimed a piece of land on the east side of Wood Lake

Wood Lake Nature Center

Wood Lake Nature Center is a nature preserve within Richfield, Minnesota. In addition to Wood Lake, the park contains mixed lowland forest, cattail marsh and restored prairie habitats. Three miles of walking trails and boardwalks surround the lake as well as observation shelters,docks, a picnic...

 straddling the western boundary line of the original Fort Snelling

Fort Snelling, Minnesota

Fort Snelling, originally known as Fort Saint Anthony, was a military fortification located at the confluence of the Minnesota River and Mississippi River in Hennepin County, Minnesota...

 reservation. He constructed a two-story wooden house which was placed 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...

 on November 28, 1978 and is now run as the Riley Lucas Bartholomew House Museum

Riley Lucas Bartholomew House

The Riley Lucas Bartholomew House was constructed of sawed lumber. In 1852 when Fort Snelling was greatly reduced in size, the area that would become the city of Richfield became available for settlement. General Riley Lucas Bartholomew came to the area and filed a claim on the shores of Wood Lake...

 by the Richfield Historical Society.

After establishing their claim, Riley quickly became involved in the work of building a new community. He helped construct the first school and church in 1854. He became a justice of the peace for Hennepin County

Hennepin County, Minnesota

Hennepin County is a county located in the U.S. state of Minnesota, named in honor of the 17th-century explorer Father Louis Hennepin. As of 2010 the population was 1,152,425. Its county seat is Minneapolis. It is by far the most populous county in Minnesota; more than one in five Minnesotans live...

, a position he held from 1854 to 1863. His neighbors chose him as a territorial delegate to the state's 1857 constitutional convention

Constitutional convention (political meeting)

A constitutional convention is now a gathering for the purpose of writing a new constitution or revising an existing constitution. A general constitutional convention is called to create the first constitution of a political unit or to entirely replace an existing constitution...

, and Riley later became a District Four representative in the state senate from 1859 to 1860.

The four Bartholomew children ranged from eleven to twenty years of age when the family reached Richfield. The two eldest daughters, America and Virginia, married in 1855 and moved out to establish their own households. Youngest son, Rollin, married and left home in 1863. Oldest son, Winfield, farmed in Richfield and later took over the homestead from his parents.