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Bolton Ct. Genealogy
Family Reports

Samuel Bartlett
Submitted by:
Ruth Bartlett   TILADY@aol.com

Descendants of Samuel (II) Bartlett 

Generation No. 1

1.  SAMUEL (II)¹ BARTLETT¹ was born August 26, 1677 in Northampton, Hampshire County, Mass², and died November 19, 1746 in Bolton, Tolland Co. CT..  He married SARAH WARD April 09, 1706 in Marlborough, Middlesex County, Mass^2,3.  She was born January 29, 1680/81 in Marlborough, Middlesex Co., Mass³, and died  in Bolton, (Tolland Co) CT⁴.

Notes for SAMUEL (II) BARTLETT:

At the County court, held in Northampton, December 1708, Samuel Bartlett, Preserved Bartlett and Thomas Clapp, were fined 40 Shillings for "Deceit" in some barrels of Turpentine sent to Hartford and sold. The Turpentine was confiscated and sold the proceeds, including the fines were distributed. One half to the informer and the other half to the poor of Northampton. In addition, the parties had the costs to pay.

More About SAMUEL (II) BARTLETT:

Military service: Revolutionary War

Children of SAMUEL BARTLETT and SARAH WARD are:

                   i.    SARAH² BARTLETT, b. March 12, 1706/07, Bolton, Tolland Co., CT.

                  ii.    HAZEDIAH BARTLETT, b. September 22, 1708, Bolton, Tolland Co., Conn; m. JAMES SAWYER, April 04, 1739, Lyme, Connecticut; b. December 07, 1712, Lyme, Connecticut; d. January 02, 1795, East Haddam, CT.

                 iii.    EXPERIENCE BARTLETT, b. August 03, 1710, Bolton, Tolland Co CT; d. March 21, 1748/49, Colchester, New London, CT; m. PELEG CHAMBERLAIN, May 08, 1735, Colchester, Connecticut; b. November 25, 1713, Colchester, New London, CT; d. Aft. 1766, Kent, Litchfield Co., CT.

Notes for PELEG CHAMBERLAIN:

Peleg was a soldier in the French and Indian War. He married a second time after the death of Experience Bartlett. She died not long after her only daughter Experience was born.

                 iv.    SAMUEL (III) BARTLETT, b. July 18, 1712, Bolton Tolland Co. CT; d. July 07, 1740, Bolton, Tolland Co., CT; m. MARGARET TUDOR, Bef. 1732, Bolton, Tolland Co., CT; b. November 17, 1697, East Windsor, CT.

Notes for SAMUEL (III) BARTLETT:

Probate Record : Will dated July 3, 1740

I, Samuel Bartlett Jr. of Bolton, in the County of Hartford, do make this my last will and testament: I give to my wife Margaret Bartlett I/2 of my estate during the term of her natural life, and then to descend to my daughter Abigail Bartlett. In case of her death before the decease of my wife Margaret Bartlett, she shall have the whole estate, she paying my hond mother, Sarah Bartlett L 100 in money or out of my estate at inventory price. The other half of my estate I give to my daughter Abigail Bartlett. I appoint Rev. James White of Bolton, executor.

Witness: John Bissell, Joseph Olmsted, Martha Olmsted

Court Record Page 86 April 7 1741, Will now exhibited by the executor, who refused the trust. Adms to Margaret Bartlett, widow, with the will annexed.  Recogn with Theophilius Smith of Bolton.

1800 Census

Bolton, Tolland Co., CT 

1 Male age 10 - 16 yrs

2 Males age 16-26 yrs

1 Male age 45 yrs and Up

2 Females age 16-26 yrs

1 Female age 45 yrs & Up

                  v.    EDMUND BARTLETT, b. June 17, 1714, Bolton, Tolland Co., CT; d. February 05, 1800, Ellington, CT; m. ELIZABETH FIELD, June 27, 1745, Bolton Tolland Co., Conn; b. January 03, 1721/22, Deerfield, Franklin, Mass; d. Ellington, CT.

                 vi.    CAPT. JONATHAN (CAPT.) BARTLETT, b. August 01, 1716, Bolton, Tolland County, CT; d. March 29, 1799, East Windsor, Hartford Co., CT; m. HANNAH A. WATSON, January 26, 1742/43, East Windsor, CT; b. April 04, 1713, Windsor, CT; d. September 21, 1806, East Windsor, Hartford Co., CT.

Notes for CAPT. JONATHAN (CAPT.) BARTLETT:

Revolutionary War activities:

Jonathan signed the Association Test and furnished supplies for the army.

Cementary Stone Marker

Sacred to the memory of

Capt. Jonathan Bartlet (note one "T")

Who died March 29th 1799

In the 85th year of his age

My God, my great redeemer lives

And his omniscient eyes

Attend to watch my sleeping dust (drift?)

Till he re animates the just

Then will he bid it rise

1790 Census

East Windsor, Hartford Co., CT

1 Male 16 yrs and Up

1 Female including head of household

More About CAPT. JONATHAN (CAPT.) BARTLETT:

Burial: Scantic Cementary on Cementary Rd

Fact 6: Revolutionary War PS CT

Notes for HANNAH A. WATSON:

Cementary Stone

Sacred to the memory of

Mrs. Hannah. Rel. of

Capt. Jonathan Bartlett (note 2 "T"s)

who died sept. 21st 1806

age 93 years

Most five score years I saw

Beheld this world as vain

Resigned to natures law

Immortal life to gain

More About HANNAH A. WATSON:

Burial: Scantic Cementary on Cementary Rd

                vii.    ELEANOR BARTLETT, b. March 03, 1718/19, Bolton, Tolland Co., CT; d. March 06, 1796, Bolton, Tolland Co., CT⁵; m. JAMES HARPER, Abt. 1730, Bolton, Tolland Co., CT; b. Abt. 1719, Bolton, Tolland Co., Conn; d. East Windsor, Hartford Co.,  CT.

More About ELEANOR BARTLETT:

Cause of Death: Pleurisy

               viii.    EUNICE BARTLETT, b. January 20, 1720/21, Bolton, Tolland Co, CT; d. February 07, 1724/25, Bolton, Tolland Co, CT.

More About EUNICE BARTLETT:

Burial: November 09, 1748, death date

                  ix.    GERSHOM BARTLETT, b. February 19, 1722/23, Bolton, Tolland Co., CT; d. December 12, 1798, Norwich, Windsor County, Vermont; m. MARGARET DARTE, Bef. 1748, Bolton, Tolland Co., CT; b. 1725, Bolton, Tolland, CT⁶; d. September 20, 1778, Norwich, Windsor Co., Vermont.

Notes for GERSHOM BARTLETT:

Founding Father of Norwich, VT

Capt Stoughton's Company

Campaign of 1757

Bartlett Gershom 215 Pitkin's Pitkins, Joseph Col. Stoughton's Stoughton, Samuellll Capt. Service at time of alarm for relief of Ft.William. Henery and parts adjacent August 1757.

Capt. Samuel Stoughton (of Windsor) Capt.

Moses Thrall (Of Bolton) Lieutant

George Cooley (Of Somers) Ensign

Samuel Chapman (of Tolland) Ensign

D Coloney of Connecticut to Capt. Sam Stoughton and the Comp under his command in Col Joseph Pitkins Refiment for their service at the Time of Alarm Relief of Fort William Henry and parts adjacent August Anno 1757

Samuell Bartlett         Served 15 days..

Job Strong                    Served 15 days

Gershom Bartlett         Served 15 days

Charles Kellogg          Served 15 days

Twenty four of the men rode horses from Tolland, Twenty-one walked from Bolton, Twenty one from Litchfield, and three from Windsor..

Gershom Bartlett(1723-1798)

The gravestone carvings of Gershom Bartlett are among the most bizarre and strikingly original of any produced during the eighteenth century. His stones are easily recognized by the bulbous noses, turned down mouths, row of vestigial teeth at the bottom of the face, raised eyebrows, usually a four-lobed crown, three curved wings of curls beside the face, or sometimes large puffy mushroom-like protuberances from the sides of the head. The finials are most frequently pinwheels or four-leafed clovers, and the border panels are in the form of double anchors. Frequently a small heart is present near the bottom of the stone. Bartlett is often called the "hook-and-eye man." Bartlett footstones usually have three or four diamonds cut into the stone surface. He most often worked in granite, although a few of his early stones are in red sandstone. Examples of these may be seen in the Edwards burying ground (S. Windsor) and in Ellington, Somers and Enfield. In the Oneco and Plainfield yards are several Bartlett stones carved on a white stone common in the area. He was a native of Bolton, Connecticut, the son of Samuel and Sarah Bartlett who came from Northampton, Massachusetts. During one period of his early carving career, he apparently lived in Windsor and possibly also in East Windsor. Bartlett stones are found throughout eastern Connecticut but are most common west of Mansfield and become very scarce in the northeast and in coastal communities. They continue until 1772 when Bartlett moved to Pompanoosuc, Vermont, where he continued to carve (but on slate) until late in the eighteenth century. He was a Revolutionary War soldier and is buried in the Pompanoosuc burying ground. There are no known signed Connecticut stones. Probate records exist for Isaac Bigelow (1751) and Abner Kellogg (1755) of Colchester and Abraham Pease (1750) of Enfield.

From: Slater, James A. The Colonial Burying Grounds of Eastern Connecticut and the Men Who Made Them. Memoirs of the Connecticut Academy of Arts & Sciences, vol. 21. Hamden, Connecticut: Archon Books, 1987.

*Homer Babbidge Library call number f/Q/11/C85/v.21

Period of Significance: 1693-c.1800

Significant Date(s): 1693

Description:

Mansfield Center Cemetery is a small 18th-century burying ground with an estimated 300-400 headstones (Photograph 1), more than 130 of which are 18th-century monuments attributed to specific stone carvers. The cemetery is located along a busy state highway in a part of the village of Mansfield Center that is primarily characterized by 19th and 20th-century buildings, many of them residences that are now in commercial use. The cemetery is separated from the road by a narrow green swath planted with widely spaced tall shade trees, and is surrounded by a fieldstone wall. Granite gate posts frame a break in the center of the west wall, where there is a portion of a wooden- picket gate. The yard within the wall is generally level, and all the burials are oriented eastward, so that the carved sides of the headstones face the west.

The character of the buying ground is created by row upon row of closely spaced 18th-century monuments, most of which are tablet-shaped and carved with winged cherubim, geometric figures, and vine-like designs; death-heads and coffin carvings also appear, but in smaller numbers. Most stones are lettered with the person's name, age, and date of death; many also list the virtues of the decedent, and some add an epitaph in verse. Although almost all the stones are in a tradition that scholars have labeled the Eastern Connecticut Ornamental Style, they vary greatly in detail according to the distinctive personal styles of the individual carvers. Several prominent Connecticut carvers are represented, most by several examples. Among the markers with credible attributions are those by John Hartshorne, who is credited with bringing the style from Essex County, Massachusetts; Obadiah Wheeler, in both his early geometric and mature "moon-faced" styles (Photograph 3); the Collins family; and Gershom Bartlett, also known as the Hook and Eye Man. The single most prevalent style is that of the Manning family of carvers, whose bat-winged, pompadour-coifed, pouting cherub is found on almost 80 stones (Photograph 2).

Statement of Significance:

Mansfield Center's old cemetery has significance for the history of American art (Criterion C) because it contains a large number of 18th- century gravestones that, collectively, illustrate a major tradition within New England stonecarving. Headstone carvings are today recognized as one of the principal artistic expressions of early New England culture. The rich variety of cherubim, geometric designs, vines, and funerary symbols found in the Mansfield Center Cemetery represents a vibrant folk-art tradition that, while deeply rooted in Puritan culture as well as earlier English precedents, had a life of its own, as individual carvers refined their styles and influenced each other. Gravestone-carving was always a practical art, serving the explicit purpose of satisfying a family's need to memorialize the dead, yet high artistic values, such as inventiveness, composition, and proportion, are everywhere evident on these stones. The individual stonecarvers represented in the cemetery, including John Hartshorne, Obadiah Wheeler, Benjamin and Zerubbabel Collins, the Manning family, and Gershom Bartlett, were all artists with distinctive styles and highly refined technical skills; their stones can thus be termed recognizable works by masters." Although there are several eastern Connecticut cemeteries with comparable collections of headstones, Mansfield Center Cemetery ranks among the foremost in the number, concentration, and diversity of its markers; it has been described by a leading scholar of colonial gravestones as one of the "premier granite burying grounds of eastern Connecticut . . . one that must not be missed."'

Related to the gravestones' artistic significance is their significance as keys to the culture of the Puritans and their descendants. Although burial was not conceived of as a religious rite, both the markers and the cemetery itself shed light on the ideas about life and death that permeated New England in that period (Criterion A). The orientation of the burials, facing the rising sun, expressed faith in resurrection, as did much of the iconography carved on the stones. The inscriptions on the monuments, emphasizing familial devotion, piety, and service to the community, reveal the virtues that were valued in the period. Even the materials present in the burying ground suggest the cultural ties that linked eastern Connecticut with other places in New England: although the vast majority of markers were carved on local stone by artists who lived in eastern Connecticut, the presence of Connecticut Valley brownstone, Rhode Island and Boston-area slate, and Vermont marble show that the area was far from isolated. Finally, Mansfield Center Cemetery has historical significance as a symbol of the early 18th- century origins of the town. This site, chosen for a burying ground as early as 1693, when Mansfield was still part of Windham, served along with the Congregational meetinghouse as a central focus for the community, a role that it continued for at least: a century and in some respects still plays today. Virtually nowhere else in town are there visible remains from as far back as the 1720s, and as a common burying ground, the cemetery is certainly the oldest surviving expression of community life in Mansfield.

Cemeteries are ordinarily not eligible for listing on the National Register. However, the artistic value inherent in the stones, their significance in illuminating the culture of the period, and the site's importance as an early town institution justify its inclusion

Historical Background

Mansfield was settled from Windham in the 1690s and was known as Pond Place, after the small body of water just to the east of the old cemetery. As early as 1693 a committee was chosen to select a burying ground, with Captain William Hall agreeing to trade the cemetery plot for two acres elsewhere in town. Mansfield became a separate town in 1703, and this plot remained the central burying ground until the Storrs cemetery was laid out in 1744. The original cemetery plot was enlarged with additions at the south end in 1752, 1796, and 1840. It was first enclosed by a stone wall in 1794, with the present gate posts probably dating from 1859. Although the civil authority of the town purchased the land, the cemetery was administered by the Congregational church's Ecclesiastical Society. After church and state were separated in 1818, the First Congregational Church continued managing the cemetery, finally turning it over to a private association in 1936.

Along with the Congregational church, the cemetery served as a focal point for the community. The earliest settlers of Mansfield are buried there, including William Hall. New England cemeteries were commonly visited on a weekly basis, in between services on the Sabbath. They thus served to reaffirm people's social connections, not only with their own families, but also with people from other parts of town, whom they might see only on Sundays. Even after other cemeteries were established in Mansfield, the Center Cemetery continued to be used by people from all parts of town, even those who lived in far outlying areas.

Cultural Significance

The headstone carvings in Mansfield Center Cemetery illustrate the degree to which Christian ideas of death and resurrection permeated everyday life in the 18th century. Some of the floral and geometric designs appear to have little significance; they are similar to the carved motifs found on Early American furniture and probably represent long-established traditions in English carved decoration. Most of the designs, however, have their origin in Christian iconography. Hartshorne's bird/serpent, for example, is derived from a common 17th-century Puritan allegory, in which the perfect Christian (symbolized by the wings of resurrection) is composed of the emotional heart of the dove and the rational head of the serpent. The triumph of resurrection is also symbolized by vegetative designs intended to suggest laurel leaves (Photograph 4) and by the many varieties of crowns on the Manning stones (Photograph 2). The winged cherubs themselves symbolize resurrection, both as angels of God and as effigies for the souls of the departed. These highly stylized depictions were meant to suggest the disembodied soul as an otherworldly, transformed spirit. Finally, the stones depict, more than any other plant, the vines, leaves, and fruit of the grape, a rich and complex Christian symbol. First and foremost, the grapevine symbolized the unbreakable continuum between Christ and his followers--"I am the vine, you are the branches"--and thus made an implicit connection between the deceased and those still alive. Secondly, the grape symbolized salvation, as the source of the Last Supper's wine. Finally, the grapevine, as the vineyard, symbolized earthly existence in which the Christian labored for God.

The legends on the headstones also offer clues to the virtues that were valued in 18th-century Connecticut. Piety and faith were extolled, but also familial devotion, parental tenderness, and public spiritedness. In general, these burials lack the emphasis on sudden death found in Massachusetts Bay-area burying grounds, both in legends and in iconography. At the same time, the Christian hopefulness of the majority seems to be challenged by the grim agnosticism of Bridget Snow's monument. Not only is the soul effigy shown in the coffin, rather than taking wing, but the legend offers some disturbing verse:

My Lover, Friend, Familiar, all --

Remov'd from Sight & out of Call,

to dark Oblivion is retir'd,

Dead, or at least to me Expir'd.

** If you would like to see some of the examples of Gershom's works.. You can see them in the following Cementaries: New London Ancient Burial Ground, Mansfield Center Cementary, Mansfield East Cementary, Eastbury Cementary (Glasbury, Hartford C

More About GERSHOM BARTLETT:

Burial: Waterman Hill Cementary⁷

Fact 6: Revolutionary War

Occupation: Stone Carver /Cementary/

More About MARGARET DARTE:

Burial: Waterman Hill Cementary

Marriage Notes for GERSHOM BARTLETT and MARGARET DARTE:

1790 Census

Norwich Windsor County, Vermont

3 White Males age 16 yrs and up including heads of families

Gershom Sr., sons: Jarius and Moses

2 Free White Females including Heads of families

Margaret, daughter: Mary

                   x.    EUNICE BARTLETT, b. April 14, 1725, Bolton, (Tolland County) Conn; d. November 09, 1748, Northampton, Hampshire Co., Mass.

                  xi.    JOSEPH BARTLETT, b. April 14, 1725, Bolton, Tollard, CT; d. November 22, 1747, Norwich, Windsor County, Vermont⁸.

Notes for JOSEPH BARTLETT:

BARTLETT, Joseph, Bolton. Private, Capt. John BAYLEY's co., Col. Michael JACKSON's Regt.; pay roll for service from March 2, 1777, to May 26, 1777, 3 mos. 2 days; also, Capt. PEIRCE's co., Col. JACKSON's regt.; Continental Army pay accounts for service from Jan. 1, 1780, to March 12, 1780.

Endnotes

1.  Clapp Family Memorial.

2.  New England Marriages Prior 1700  By Clarence Almon Torrey

3.  Marlborough, Mass City Hall and Court House Records

4.  Charles Hudson, History of the Town of Marlborough, Middlesex County, Mass..

5.  Connecticut Church Records,  (Bolton Church Records 1725-1922).

6.  Vital Records from Bolton, CT.

7.  Norwich Historical Society.

8.  Bolton Town Clerk, Bolton Vital Records.

This page was created by Linda Pingel on Aug. 25, 2005
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