Mordecai Bartley

Mordecai Bartley (December 16, 1783 – October 10, 1870) was a Whig politician from Ohio. He served as the 18th Governor of Ohio. Bartley succeeded his son, Thomas W. Bartley as governor, one of only a few instances of this happening in the United States in high offices.

Bartley was born in Fayette County, Pennsylvania. After attending the local school in Virginia, he married Elizabeth Welles in 1804 and moved to Jefferson County, Ohio.

Bartley served as a captain, and then an adjutant during the War of 1812. Following his service under General William Henry Harrison in the War of 1812, Bartley moved to Richland County, Ohio, near Mansfield. Engaged as a farmer, he served in the Ohio State Senate from 1816 to 1818. Elected to the United States House of Representatives in 1822, Bartley served four terms before declining to be renominated in 1830.

Bartley was an Ohio Whig Party Presidential elector in 1836 for William Henry Harrison.

He ran for governor in 1844 as a Whig - his son was a Democrat - after the candidate whom the Whigs had originally nominated, David Spangler, declined the nomination. Bartley served a single term from 1844 to 1846 before retiring once again. While he was Governor, Ohio raised forty companies and 7000 men for the Mexican-American War.