2 Quotes & Sayings By Bartholomew Augustine Santamaria
Bartholomew Augustine Santamaria was born in Little Rock, Arkansas, on 4th October 1874. He attended elementary school in Little Rock and was taught by his mother. In 1882 he moved with his family to Oklahoma City, where he attended high school. In 1892, after completing high school, he obtained a law degree from the University of Oklahoma in Norman, Oklahoma
He married Sarah Jane Newby in 1895 and they had four children. He returned to Little Rock in 1904 and began a law practice that would eventually take him into partnership with J.C. Ellison in 1920. He was a public defender in the city from 1911-1918.
From 1919 to 1936 he was a member of the Arkansas House of Representatives from the First District, which included Pulaski County and Little Rock. In 1919 he became chairman of the Criminal Law Committee and remained in that position until the appointment of a special committee on crime in 1929. In 1932 he served as chairman of the Committee on Labor and Crime and then served as chairman of the Committee on Legislation from 1933-1937.
He served as assistant minority leader and minority floor leader during his time in the legislature and later served as Minority Leader during his time as Attorney General. He served as Attorney General for sixteen years before resigning to become justice of the peace for Pulaski County beginning in 1937 until his death on April 4, 1941 at age seventy-eight years old.