Galvin, Bartholomew

Submitted by Mike Miller

Bartholomew Galvin, familiarly known as Bat Galvin, is a well-known business man of the city of New Orleans, La., and in the political affairs of his section of the city he exerts a strong influence. He was born in the "Emerald Isle," but when a youth was brought to America, and was reared and educated in New Orleans. In 1861 he espoused the cause of the confederacy, and joined Perseverance company No. 13, with which he served and participated in many hard-fought and bloody battles during that eventful and trying period. His career as a soldier was marked by bravery and valor, and after four years of hard service he returned to his home and began keeping a livery stable. Soon after this, however, he joined the police force, but when the administration changed he resigned his position. He was commissioned captain of the police of the First district of New Orleans in 1873, but became involved in some difficulty with the federal authorities. He entered fully on his duties as captain of the same district in 1874 and served continuously until 1882, frequently as chief of police of the city, but in the latter part of that year he resigned. He had charge of the police during the labor trouble in this city and received, and deserved, great credit for his sound judgment and diplomacy in the management of affairs. Upon resigning from the police force he turned his attention to the general livery business and dealing in horses, and is considered, and justly so, an excellent judge of horse flesh and an authority on all pertaining to them. His vehicles are in excellent condition, and he keep. a stock of superior horses which are always ready for use at reasonable terms. He has owned and handled some of the fastest horses in the South, and is in every way admirably fitted for his business. He is a prominent member of the Olympic club, the Cotton Men's Benevolent association, and politically is a democrat. He was married in New Orleans to Miss Marcella Smith, of Chicago, Ill., by whom he became the father of one child. After her death he married again and his second wife bore him two children. He is a son of James and Bridget Galvin, who came from Ireland to this city when the subject of this sketch was a small boy and here spent the remainder of their days. They became the parents of thirteen children and Bartholomew was the only one alive at the close of the war. He returned home and cared for his parents until their deaths.

Biographical and Historical Memoires of Louisiana, (vol. 1), pp. 428-429. Published by the Goodspeed Publishing Company, Chicago, 1892.