BARTLETT ANCESTRY:

BARTLETT ANCESTRY:

MYTHS DEBUNKED

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There are several popular myths regarding my family's Bartlett ancestry that have been disproved by my research. Unfortunately, it is not usually the case that we discover an ancestral connection with a member of a royal family or some other romantic character in history. More often, it is likely that our family history research will go according to one of the basic tenets of “Murphy's Law of Genealogy Research” (i.e., just as we discover that our ancestor participated in some major historical event held in his honor, we soon also discover that that “event” was a hanging, at which he was the “guest of honor”…).

For instance, I had always been told that we were somehow related to Josiah Bartlett, signer of the Declaration of Independence from New Hampshire. Without the modern day ease of online genealogical resources, however, this ancestry was never proven (although it was acknowledged that this was not a direct descendancy, but some sort of cousin relationship). Still, it was a very strong, widely accepted, theory within the family; so strong, in fact, that I did a major research paper on the life of “Cousin Josiah” while in college, in which I spoke proudly and at some length about my shared ancestry with this early American historical figure.

Therefore, when I first began to get into serious genealogy research several years ago (taking things somewhat beyond my little pile of accumulated scraps of paper on which family history notes had been scribbled, some of which I inherited from my father), I was more than a little surprised and disappointed to discover that a shared ancestry with Josiah Bartlett just was not true, at least not according to the currently known information about the Bartlett family. Oh well…

(Interestingly enough, I found out subsequently that one of my distantly related cousins is actually "blood kin" to Josiah Bartlett, through the Bartlett lineage of "Richard of Newbury, MA." Unfortunately, that still doesn't make me "blood kin" to Josiah! In this case, there is no "If A = B and B = C, then A = C" rule that applies...)

A little bit further into my research project, I discovered Robert Bartlett of Plymouth Colony and his wife, Mary Warren, who had been a passenger on the MAYFLOWER. For a time, I was quite excited at the idea that they were ancestors of ours. This ancestry, at least, looked like it had been proven, and this time, it was direct. Thanks to the DAR's wonderfully complete records, I knew that my Bartlett ancestors could be traced back through the Bartletts who fought in the Revolutionary War (Abner and Obadiah) to Thomas Bartlett (born in 1697), father of Obadiah. Thomas's father was named Joseph, and Robert and Mary Bartlett of Plymouth did, indeed, have a son named Joseph, born at just about the right time. I thought I had put two and two together, so I immediately told all my relatives who have Bartlett ancestry about this new development…turns out I spoke too soon on that one, too! Discrepancies in this information soon started to surface. The Joseph Bartlett that was listed as a son of Robert and Mary Bartlett in many World Family Tree references (which are researched and contributed to a vast online genealogy database by amateur historians like me…) was often listed as being born in Newton, MA, which seemed rather out of place to me, since Newton (a suburb of Boston) is a pretty good distance from Plymouth Colony, particularly by 17^th century standards! It soon became clear that there were at least two Joseph Bartletts at that time, and the one who was our ancestor was not directly related to the Bartletts of Plymouth. Again, oh well…

As I continued my research I found out that the Bartletts in this country did not all stem from one common immigrant ancestor, as is the case with many other early families in this country. Rather, several early Bartletts popped up at various times in different parts of the Colonies, with as yet no discernible connection between them (Robert Bartlett of Plymouth is one of these, as is Josiah Bartlett's early ancestor, Richard of Newbury, MA). As it turns out, our family's Bartlett ancestry does trace down from two of these early American Bartletts -- the aforementioned Joseph of Newton, Massachusetts, and also John Bartlett of Windsor, Connecticut. The intersection of these two Bartlett lines in my family takes place with the marriage in 1719 of Thomas Bartlett (descendant of Joseph of Newton, MA) and Mary Bartlett (descendant of John of Windsor, CT).

I guess it's still possible that someone someday will discover a common European Bartlett ancestor, from whom all of these currently seemingly unrelated Bartletts sprung. That would be great -- I'd love to go back to bragging about “Cousin Josiah,” my noble ancestor who signed the Declaration of Independence. Until that time, however, I guess I will just have to keep searching, attempting to put a positive spin on my proven ancestor collection (some of whom were undoubtedly actually horse thieves and scoundrels!). I'm sure that task will keep me busy for some time to come.

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