According to one source Bartels had previously met his bride and possibly become engaged to her in December 1790, during his previous stay in the city. In October 1792 his friend and traveling companion, Amandus Abendroth, married Johanna Magdalena von Reck, the sister of his own bride, just twenty days after his own marriage. After returning to Hamburg, Bartels worked as a lawyer. In 1798 he was elected to the senate. During the years of French occupation (1806-1814) he served as President of the Chamber of the Hamburg Imperial Court. Along with this he was a member of the Municipal Council, with responsibility for welfare and penitentiaries. With the end of the French occupation Bartels played a leading role in restoring the city's prewar constitution, devoting particular energy to the structuring of the city police department. On 25 March 1820 he was elected mayor. Bartels was a freemason, and within that organisation 1820 was also the year in which he became honorary Grand Master of the Grand Lodge of Hamburg. As a proponent of the Hamburg Constitution of 1712 he was determined to anchor the traditional order in the hearts of the citizenry. With this in mind, he published a summary of the main points of the 1712 document, using everyday language, and adding notes to provide historical and contextual clarifications. Bartels believed that the strengths of the old constitution lay most especially in the areas of civil liberties, welfare, public order, peace and security. His text from the 1712 constitution has not, to date (2016), been subjected to historical analysis, leaving readers to rely on Bartels' 1823 edition. Bartels went on to publish further articles on Hamburg's constitutional history and law. In 1848, with revolution coming back into fashion in some quarters, Bartels was firmly opposed to the demands of the liberal-nationalist movements of the day. Recognition In 1848 the fiftieth anniversary of Bartel's election to the Hamburg Senate was celebrated with the placing in the city library of a marble bust of him. Later, the final Lightvessel to be stationed at Location Elbe 2 was named "Bürgermeister Bartels" in his honour. Bartelsstrasse ("Bartels Street") in Hamburg is also named after Johann Heinrich Bartels. Family The marriage of Johann Heinrich Bartels and Maria Elisabeth von Reck which took place in 1792 resulted in the recorded births of two daughters and two sons. Their daughter Beata Cecilia Bartels (1799–1869) married