Biography

03/22/1791 - 02/18/1834

Major General Isaac Dutton Barnard (Democrat2) Chester and Delaware Counties 1820 -1822 (Democrat4) Chester and Delaware Counties 1822 -1824

Early Life:            

Major General Isaac Dutton Barnard, born March 22, 1791, Aston, Delaware County, Pennsylvania; son of James Barnard and Susanna Dutton; public school education; captain, War of 1812; appointed, Deputy District Attorney General of Chester County, 1817-1821; elected, Democrat Republican, Pennsylvania State Senate, 1820-1824; married, Harriet Darlington, 1820; appointed, Major General, State Militia, 1821; unsuccessful campaign, United States House of Representatives, 1824; unsuccessful campaign, United States Senate, 1825; appointed, Secretary of the Commonwealth, 1826; unsuccessful campaign, Governor, 1828; elected, United States Senate, 1827- resigned, December 6, 1831; died, February 18, 1834 (aged 42), West Chester, Chester County, Pennsylvania interment, Oaklands Cemetery, West Goshen Township, Chester County, Pennsylvania. 

Early Career: 

After withdrawing from school, worked father’s office, who held combined positions of Prothonotary, Register of Wills, Recorder of Deeds, and Sheriff of Delaware County; studied law, father, age 13.  Age 14, Clerk of the Prothonotary Delaware County; Clerk of the Prothonotary of Philadelphia County, 1809; studied of law again 1811, under the auspices of William Graham. After War of 1812, admitted, Bar Associations, Chester and Delaware Counties, 1816, law practice with Archibald T. Dick. After the partnership disbanded, he continued.  

Enlisted, War of 1812, United States Army, commissioned, Captain, 14th Infantry, 1812-1815. Organized the “Republican Artillerists” Pennsylvania Militia [National Guard] 1817, helped secure the monument and grounds for the Paoli Battlefield. Colonel, First Regiment of the Chester County Volunteers, 1821.  

Appointed, Major General, State Militia, 1821.

Unsuccessful campaign, Governor, 1828. 

Pennsylvania Politics: 

Appointed, Deputy District Attorney General of Chester County, 1817-1821. 

Elected, Democrat, Pennsylvania State Senate, 2nd district, Chester and Delaware Counties, 1820-1822. 

Elected, Democrat, Pennsylvania State Senate, 4th district, Chester and Delaware Counties, 1822-1824. 

Appointed, Governor John A. Schulze, Secretary of the Commonwealth, 1826. 

Continued Government Service/National Politics: 

Unsuccessful campaign, United States House of Representatives, 1824.

Unsuccessful campaign, United States Senate, 1825; William Marks would eventually be elected on the 32nd ballot.

Elected, Jacksonian, United States Senate, 1827 - December 6, 1831, resigned due to health; Chairman, Committee on Militia, 21st, 22nd congresses. 

Legacy: 

William Everhart, wealthy merchant, friend of Barnard's, named a street in West Chester after the summer of 1830. In 1854, a monument in Oakland’s Cemetery, erected in his memory. 

Harriet Darlington, died in childbirth, leaving him childless, never remarried. She was the daughter of the Honorable Isaac Darlington of West Chester who was both a member of member of the Pennsylvania House of Representatives and United States House of Representatives.

Cited:  

Cox, Harold. "Senate Members D". Wilkes University Election Statistics Project. Wilkes University.

A New Nation Votes (tufts.edu)

Isaac Dutton Barnard (1791-1834) - Find a Grave Memorial