Thomas Bartlett (1745 - 1805)

Born 22 Oct 1745 in Nottingham, Rockingham, New Hampshire

Ancestors

Husband of Sarah (Cilley) Bartlett — married 19 Aug 1773 in Nottingham, Rockingham, New Hampshire

Descendants

Died 30 Jan 1805 at age 59 in Nottingham, Rockingham, New Hampshire, United States

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Biography

This profile is part of the Bartlett Name Study.

Colonel Thomas Bartlett served with General Stark's Brigade, New Hampshire Militia during the American Revolution.

Thomas Bartlett is a DAR Patriot Ancestor, A007054.

(VI) Thomas (2), third child and second son of Israel and Love (Hall) Bartlett, was born October 22, 1745, in Nottingham, New Hampshire, and died in Nottingham, New Hampshire, January 30. 1805. His death was caused by heart failure, and occurred while he sat in his chair reading his Bible. He had previously been in apparent good health.

General Bartlett was educated in the public schools of Massachusetts, and was especially apt in mathematics, which led him to the study of surveying. He was employed for many years in surveying the lands through the tangled woods of Nottingham, and his estimate of the number of acres in any tract was very accurate. His nature was very positive, and when he had once formed an opinion nothing could change him. He was something of a student of the law, and after the Revolution he was much employed in the drawing of writs and with prosecutions before the justices of the peace. In due time he was appointed associate judge, and his familiarity with the courts made his services valuable in this capacity. He was clear-headed, and was ever found on the side of justice. He was elected chairman of the board of selectmen of Nottingham, in 1769, when he was but twenty-three years old and was annually re-elected to that position with the exception of the years 1782 until 1802, a period of thirty-four years. He was elected town clerk in 1776, and continued to serve in that capacity until 1802, a period of twenty-seven years. In neatness of penmanship, clearness of statement and careful spelling, the records are the equal of any in the state. These records were made in the midst of arduous labors in other capacities in the care of his personal affairs. No man in Nottingham was ever more popular with the people or more honored by them than was General Bartlett, and he never betrayed the confidence placed in him. A little before seventeen hundred and seventy he built a store at the northwest corner of the square in Nottingham, and in this he conducted a general merchandise business until his death. When the people of Nottingham began to talk about resistance to the tyranny of the mother country, their meetings were invariably held at this store, and were warmly welcomed by its proprietor. At that time, General Bartlett was a lieutenant in the militia, and he always had the latest news from Portsmouth and Boston concerning the important events that preceded the attack of the British forces on the Americans at Lexington and Concord. General Bartlett was not an orator or much given to speech-making, but he was a good talker and was able to express his views in a forcible manner whatever the occasion. The drilling of troops by his cousin, Dr. Henry Dear born, later a colonel in the Revolutionary war, took place in front of the Bartlett store oh the square. On the 20th of April they received news of the battle of Lexington, and before sunrise had organized a company with Dearborn as captain, and started on the march to Cambridge.

General Bartlett began his military service as a private, and was subsequently a minor officer in the Tenth foot company of the Fourth regiment of the Province militia, beginning about 1767. He became a first lieutenant June 11, 1771, being then twenty-five years of age. His commission, signed by Governor John Wentworth, is preserved by his grandson, Hon. John C. Bartlett, of Lee. In 1775, in the fourth congress of New Hampshire, he was the representative from Nottingham, and was then called Lieutenant Thomas Bartlett. He was an intimate friend of General John Sullivan, and helped to secrete powder stored by the colonists which was later used in the prosecution of the Revolutionary war. He was later known as Major Bartlett, and on July 4, 1776, was appointed by the provincial legislature as muster master for certain sections of the state. With others he joined General Washington's army in Pennsylvania, and assisted in the capture of the Hessians at Trenton, and participated in the battle at Princeton, New Jersey. Among the officers in charge of the regiment raised by New Hampshire in the summer of 1777 to reinforce the army of the north was Colonel Thomas Bartlett. He was subsequently a general of the state militia.^[1]

He was a man of fine appearance, with dark hair, dark eyes, a high forehead and fine face. He was of medium height, stout built, weighing about two hundred pounds. His manners were kind and courteous and he was universally esteemed.

He was married August 19, 1773, to Sarah Cilley, born October 16, 1757, daughter of General Joseph Cilley, of Nottingham. (See Cilley, IV). She survived her husband more than twenty-eight years, dying December 7, 1833. They were the parents of eleven children: Israel, Joseph, Thomas, Jonathan, Bradbury, Sarah, Josiah, David, Betsey, Jacob and Patty Cilley.^[2]

Thomas Bartlett was appointed a judge of the court of common pleas, a county court, in 1790, and continued until 1805^[3]

Birth

Bartlett, Thomas, s. Capt. Israel and Love, at Nottingham, NH, Oct. 22, 1745.^[4]

Children

Children of Sarah Cilley and Honorable Thomas Bartlett

1. Israel Bartlett b. 18 Jan 1774, d. 28 Apr 1859
2. Joseph Bartlett1 b. 22 Mar 1776
3. Thomas Bartlett b. 24 Apr 1778, d. 29 Sep 1842
4. Jonathan Bartlett b. 2 Jul 1780, d. b 1878
5. Bradbury Bartlett b. 21 Jan 1783, d. 1 Sep 1869
6. Sarah Bartlett1 b. 26 Jul 1785, d. 30 May 1786
7. Josiah Bartlett b. 31 Mar 1787, d. b 1878
8. David Bartlett b. 27 Apr 1789, d. 27 Jul 1868
9. Enoch Bartlett b. 6 Jul 1791, d. 20 Dec 1818
10. Betsey Bartlett b. 6 Aug 1793, d. 3 Nov 1845
11. Jacob Bartlett1 b. 16 Jun 1796, d. 18 Feb 1841
12. Patty Cilley Bartlett b. 7 Nov 1798, d. 6 Jul 1803 ^[5]

Burial

Nottingham Square Cemetery, Nottingham, Rockingham, New Hampshire (Find A Grave)

Sources

1. ↑ Daughters of the American Revolution, DAR Genealogical Research Databases, database online, (http://www.dar.org/), "Record of 22 Sep 2021", Ancestor # A007054.
2. ↑ Stearns
3. ↑ Cogswell
4. ↑ http://ma-vitalrecords.org/MA/Essex/Newbury/aBirthsB.shtml
5. ↑ http://www.cilley.net/thecilleypages/cilley-en-o/p136.htm

• Cogswell, Elliot. History of Nottingham, Deerfield, and Northwood, N. H. (J. B. Clarke, New Hampshire, 1878) Page 254.
• The Granite Monthly A New Hampshire Magazine (The Granite Monthly Co., Concord, NH, April 1879) "Men of Old Nottingham at the Battle of Bunker Hill" by John Scales, Dover, NH, Vol. 2, No. 7, Page 206.
• Stearns, Ezra S. Genealogical and Family History of the State of New Hampshire (Lewis Publishing Company, 1908) Vol. 1, Page 159-160.
• https://www.findagrave.com/memorial/82762419/thomas-bartlett
• Scales, John. General Thomas Bartlett of Nottingham, N.H. (New Hampshire Historical Society, Concord, NH, 1917) Page 3.
• New Hampshire, U.S., Marriage and Divorce Records, 1659-1947, Image 726-7. Marriage 19 Aug 1773 Nottingham, New Hampshire.
• Vital Records of Newbury, Massachusetts, to the End of the Year 1849 (Essex Institute, Salem, Mass., 1911) Vol. 1, Page 44. He was born in Nottingham, New Hampshire, and his birth was recorded in Newbury, Massachusetts.