We
all have Gary Bartlett of Michigan to thank for the information.
"The Revolutionary
War"
Daniel Jr. and
Ann (Collins) Bartlett of North Guilford, Connecticut had
a son, Nathaniel Bartlett (Lineage #4), who attended Yale
at the time when it was under the heavy handed administration
of the Rev. Thomas Clap, who served as its Rector / President
1740-1766. During the 1740s, Rector Clap was assisted by three
tutors. A tutor was assigned to each incoming freshman class
and remained as its only teacher for their sophomore and junior
years as well. The rector taught the senior class. Each student
followed the same curriculum, and was closely supervised.
Nathaniel's time at Yale must have been somewhat less than
pleasant, as Rector Clap was thoroughly disliked by his students
for his despotic ways. There were few quiet moments in Rector
Clap's stormy 26 year career at Yale, but he did succeed in
improving both the curriculum and the administration of the
college, even while stirring up controversy.
Nathaniel Bartlett
studied theology and successfully endured the regimented curriculum,
graduating with a M.A. Degree in 1749. He became a Congregational
minister, and soon after he was licensed to preach the Hartford
South Association recommended him to the Congregational Church
of Farmington, Connecticut as a pastoral candidate. This apparently
did not work out, however, and beginning in January 1753,
he was taken under consideration by the Congregational Church
of Redding, Connecticut for a position there. (What the Rev.
Nathaniel did during the period 1749- 1753 is unknown, but
most likely he was a circuit preacher for small congregations
without pastors, filled in temporarily for pastors who were
ill, or perhaps he taught school, a common practice for recent
college graduates). In April of 1753, the Redding church called
him to be their permanent pastor. He was subsequently ordained
on 23 May 1753. Per the Redding Church Records of that date,
the pastors who assisted in his ordination were as follows:
"The Rev. Mr. Eben White of Danbury gave the opening prayer-
the Rev. Mr. Jonathan Todd of East Guilford preached the sermon-
the Rev. Mr. Elisha Kent (unchurched at that time) gave the
ordaining prayer- the Rev. Mr. Jedediah Mills of Ripston gave
the charge- the Rev. Mr. David Judson of Newtown gave the
right hand of fellowship- the Rev. Mr. Jonathan Ingersoll
of Ridgefield gave the closing prayer". The Rev. Nathaniel
Bartlett served at Redding for the next 57 years- i.e. until
his death in 1810- thought to be the longest continuous pastorate
in the history of the early New England churches up to that
time. (The record was eventually lost, however, to the Rev.
Samuel Nott, who served at Franklin, Connecticut 1782-1852,
an unbelievable 70 years). The Rev. Nathaniel Bartlett succeeded
the first minister at Redding, the Rev. Nathaniel Hunn- and
was in turn succeeded by the Rev. Daniel Crocker. (The Rev.
Nathaniel Bartlett's youngest son, the Rev. Jonathan Bartlett
served as co-pastor with his father for a few years, but resigned
due to ill health prior to his father's death. The Rev. Daniel
Crocker likewise served as co-pastor for a few months, following
the Rev. Nathaniel Bartlett's 22 March 1809 petition to the
church board, that he be released from active service due
to old age and infirmity).
During the Revolutionary
War, the Rev. Nathaniel Bartlett was consistently a firebrand
for the Colonial cause, as were many Congregational ministers
who thundered anti-British tirades from their pulpits week
after week during the conflict. So outspoken was the Rev.
Nathaniel Bartlett in his views, that the local Tories who
were numerous in western Connecticut threatened to hang him
if they could catch him. Due to these frequent and very real
threats to his life, the Rev. Nathaniel was obligated to make
his parochial rounds with a loaded musket in hand, as well
as his Bible. He permitted gunpowder to be stored in a bin
he constructed in the attic of his house, (discovered years
later by his son the Rev. Jonathan Bartlett), which was quite
dangerous- both politically and otherwise.
The atmosphere
in Redding must have been very volatile throughout the war,
as the local Episcopalians with their rector the Rev. John
Beach were generally loyalists while the Congregationalists
with their pastor the Rev. Nathaniel Bartlett were generally
rebels. Those of the Tory persuasion were sufficient in numbers
to form themselves into the "Redding Loyalist Association",
to which the Rev. John Beach lent his continuing support from
the pulpit. The "Redding Loyalist Association" published a
list of resolutions in support of the British Government,
a document which was signed by 141 male residents (some of
whom were minors), of whom 73 were from Redding with the rest
being from outlying areas. With the village of Redding being
split along political and religious denominational lines,
there must have been considerable animosity between neighbors
in so small a community, and no doubt many families experienced
divided loyalities as well. The Bartlett family, however,
was firmly united in support of the American cause.
In addition to
verbal assaults on the enemy, the Rev. Nathaniel Bartlett
supported the war effort by officiating as Military Chaplain
to Putnam's Division during their encampment in Redding the
winter of 1778/79. His two oldest sons served in the Continental
Army: Russell Bartlett (Lineage #5) who enlisted in Danbury
in Capt. Noble Benedict's Company, and Daniel Collins Bartlett
who enlisted in Redding in Capt. Zalmon Read's Company. One
anecdote told about the Rev. Nathaniel Bartlett, was that
on a Sunday morning at the outbreak of the Revolution, he
brought his own sword, newly ground, and presented it to his
second son Daniel Collins Bartlett, instructing him to go
and defend his country. (The eldest son Russell Bartlett had
presumably already left home to serve an indentured apprenticeship,
and was living in nearby Danbury, Connecticut at the time,
as he enlisted in Danbury not Redding, and also got married
there a year later).
The Rev. Nathaniel
Bartlett was a teacher as well as a minister, which was a
common practice in that era, preparing many young men for
higher education. His most noted pupil was the poet Joel Barlow,
one of the "Hartford Wits". While attending the village school
which the Rev. Nathaniel Bartlett taught in Redding, Joel
Barlow composed poetry in his free time. Recognizing his talent,
the Rev. Nathaniel showed the boy's poems to Joel's father,
recommending that a youth with such promise should be prepared
for college. Joel's father agreed, and Joel was tutored by
the Rev. Nathaniel 1772-1773. Joel Barlow went on to write
numerous poems, which were famous in their day. Joel went
to France during the French Revolution, and died during Napoleon's
disastrous retreat from Russia while serving with the French
Army as a special envoy from President James Madison. The
Rev. Nathaniel was said to be a fine scholar and an eloquent
preacher, who tended to the spiritual and temporal needs of
his flock until very near the end of his long productive life.
Upon his death, an inventory of his estate revealed assets
of around $5,000.00 in value, including a small library of
some 24 volumes and 85 pamphlets.
The year 1753 was
an important one for the Bartlett family. In addition to becoming
pastor at Redding, the Rev. Nathaniel married Eunice (Russell),
eldest daughter of Jonathan and Eunice (Barker) Russell of
Branford, Connecticut. Eunice (Barker) Russell was the granddaughter
of Edward Barker Sr., one of the founders of Branford. Eunice
(Russell) Bartlett's uncle, the previously mentioned Rev.
Samuel Russell Jr., was pastor at the Congregational Church
of North Guilford during the time the Rev. Nathaniel Bartlett
was growing up there. Her first cousin, Thomas Russell, was
born the same year as the Rev. Nathaniel and also graduated
from Yale in the class of 1749. It can be presumed therefore,
that Eunice (Russell) and the Rev. Nathaniel Bartlett became
acquainted via the intermediary of these close relatives of
hers in North Guilford.
On her father's
side, Eunice (Russell) Bartlett's lineage was somewhat noteworthy.
Her grandfather was the Rev. Samuel Russell Sr. (Harvard 1681),
in whose house in Branford, according to tradition, a group
of ministers met in 1701 to donate books for the founding
of what was to become Yale University. His father, the Rev.
John Russell Jr. (Harvard 1645), was a well known Connecticut
Valley minister who founded Hadley, Massachusetts. His main
claim to fame, however, was that he hid Major Generals (under
Cromwell) William Goffe and Edward Whalley, fugitive members
of the English High Court of Justice which condemned and executed
England's King Charles I, giving them permanent, clandestine
asylum in his house in Hadley when they fled to North America
after the restoration of the monarchy. Tradition also has
it that these fugitive regicides were also hidden on the property
of Governor Leete in Guilford for a few days prior to their
arrival in Hadley, and regardless of the truth of this legend,
Governor Leete was less than cooperative with Crown authorities
sent to Connecticut to investigate the whereabouts of the
regicides. Another player in the regicide scenario was the
compiler's ancestor John Meigs, who rode his horse from Guilford
to New Haven to warn the regicides that the Royal Commissioners
were on their way to apprehend them, and that it was time
for them to escape. These actions by three of the compiler's
ancestors constituted acts of treason against the British
Crown a century before our Revolution, and this was the legacy
passed down to the Rev. Nathaniel Bartlett and his sons.
Also in the busy
year 1753, the Rev. Nathaniel and Eunice began construction
on a New England salt-box style house in Redding, on 20 acres
of land donated by the church, being a common practice of
the era. Per the Redding Church Records, the property was
deeded over to the Rev. Nathaniel Bartlett on 08 June 1753,
by Deacon Lemuel Sanford. The Bartlett / Sanford house is
still in use today, and is in good condition. In its external
appearance, it remains virtually unchanged from how it must
originally have looked, except for a wing added on to the
east in 1847, and a patio out back. It is located on 10 Cross
Highway, just off Route # 107 in Redding Center, directly
across from the "Heritage House" senior center- near the site
of the original Congregational Church, which burned down on
04 May 1942.
Sometime during
the Revolutionary War period or just afterward (judging from
their age and style of apparel) the Rev. Nathaniel and Eunice
had their portraits painted. The portrait of the Rev. Nathaniel
Bartlett was reproduced in the work The Revolutionary Soldiers
of Redding, Connecticut, by William E. Grumman, which can
be found at the Toledo Public Library. In a letter to the
compiler, a Sanford descendant indicated that the portraits
always hung in the living room of the Bartlett / Sanford House
until it was sold out of the family. She also provided photocopies
of reproductions of the two paintings made by her aunt. Eunice
Bartlett must have loved flowers, as she posed with a rose
in her hand. Unfortunately, the writer has been unable to
determine the present whereabouts of the original paintings,
which likely still exist.
After the deaths
of the Rev. Nathaniel and Eunice in 1810, the house was inherited
by their youngest son, the Rev. Jonathan Bartlett, the only
son who remained in Connecticut. He in turn passed the house
down to his nephew by marriage and second cousin on the maternal
side, Lemuel Sanford IV. (The Rev. Jonathan Bartlett's first
and third wives, Rhoda and Abigail Sanford respectively, were
also his first cousins, daughters of Mary (Russell) Sanford,
his mother's sister). The Bartlett / Sanford House remained
in the Sanford family until being sold to its present owners
on 21 May 1969.
Next in the compiler's
direct surname line, was the aforementioned Russell Bartlett,
the firstborn child of the Rev. Nathaniel and Eunice (Russell)
Bartlett, who bore both family names, being a common practice
in that era. When the news of the Battle of Lexington reached
Danbury, Capt. Noble Benedict began to raise a company of
soldiers. Among its 98 volunteers was Russell Bartlett, who
enlisted as a fifer in what became the 6th Company of the
5th Regiment of the Connecticut Line, which was assigned to
the Northern Army, and was stationed at Lake Champlain along
with the 16th Regiment. Russell's initial enlistment was short
term which was typical for the Continental Army, as he enlisted
on 09 May 1775 and was honorably discharged on 11 December
of the same year when the company was disbanded. Russell returned
home to civilian life and apparently moved to Redding to live,
as he and his new wife renewed their vows in the Redding Congregational
Church on 30 March 1777, having married in Danbury the previous
year. Also on 30 March, they baptized their first child. This
domestic tranquility was cut short, however, when the British
raided Danbury a month later. Russell got caught up in the
war again during the raid on Danbury, when he joined the local
defenders and had the misfortune of being captured by Tryon's
Dragoons.
Early in the war,
Danbury served as a supply depot for provisions stored for
the Continental Army, and as such became a legitimate military
target for the British. On 22 April 1777, regular British
troops numbering around 1550 embarked from New York City on
flat boats for the raid on Danbury. They were joined in transit
in Long Island Sound by some 300 Loyalist militiamen from
"Browne's Provincial Corps", many of whom were originally
from Connecticut. This force of around 1850 men was commanded
by General William Tryon, and their military objective was
the seizure and / or destruction of military stores held at
Danbury.
The British/Loyalist
force disembarked on Saturday, 26 April at the mouth of the
Saugatuck River, near what is today Westport, Connecticut.
Their line of march took them through Redding, where a local
militia company had been hastily mustered by Capt. Zalmon
Read. Presumably, every local man with any previous military
training was called upon to participate in the defense. While
engaged in reconnaissance near what is now the town of Weston,
these Redding militiamen blundered into the main British force,
and several were captured. As this was the same date upon
which Russell Bartlett was known to have been taken prisoner,
it is likely that he was captured during the encounter near
Redding. The British force proceeded onward from there to
the almost deserted Danbury, where prisoners taken thus far
were temporarily confined in a church- including Russell,
who watched from its windows while British troops torched
the house of his father-in-law, Capt. Daniel Taylor Jr., which
was situated across the street. Local legends told years afterward
allege that British soldiers drunk on confiscated rum gutted
Danbury, but realistic estimates in contemporary reports place
the loss at around 20 dwelling houses along with numerous
barns and out buildings found to be containing military stores,
being as such legitimate military targets. After the war,
Capt. Taylor filed a damage claim with the Connecticut State
Legislature in the amount of $4,932.00 covering the loss of
his house and belongings, and received compensation which
took the form of land in Connecticut's "Western Reserve".
Capt. Taylor's house was located on the south side of South
Street, directly facing Main Street which dead-ended there
in that era. Following the raid, he rebuilt on the same site.
The second house is no longer standing either, and today,
the street has been extended through the site where the house
once stood. Most likely, the church in which Russell was detained
was the Episcopal Church, no longer standing either, which
was situated on the other side of South Street from which
the Taylor house could easily have been seen. The church was
still under construction at the time of the raid, and was
filled to the ceiling with military stores. Although the custom
was for British troops to burn the building as well as its
contents, they made an exception in the case of the church.
They instead removed the stores from the church building and
burned them outside, being reluctant to put the torch to the
"Church of England", (in contrast to Puritan/ Congregational
Churches which the British desecrated throughout the war).
From Danbury, the
British force with its prisoners in tow fought their way back
to their flat boats via a different route, fighting several
sharp skirmishes with American militiamen along the way. Having
run the gauntlet back to the Sound, the British weighed anchor
on 29 April. Prisoners taken during the raid were transported
back to New York City aboard the armed sloop HMS Swan, under
the command of British Capt. James Ayscough R.N. which disembarked
on 01 May. The prisoners including Russell Bartlett were identified
by name and village in a letter dated the next day, 02 May,
which was written by James Rogers a prisoner from Redding,
was addressed to Squire Sanford in Redding, and was carried
back to Connecticut from New York City by Colonel Hart. The
letter written on behalf of 43 prisoners who were mostly from
Redding, Danbury, and Fairfield, made an appeal to their friends
back in Connecticut to send them as much hard cash as could
be collected.
Upon his arrival
in New York City Russell Bartlett was confined to the infamous
"Sugar House", a Revolutionary War version of a POW compound.
There were actually three "Sugar Houses"- i.e. sugar warehouses
which the British converted into makeshift prisons. Russell
was confined in Van Cortland's on the northwest corner of
the Trinity Church lot. The other two were Rhinelander's on
William & Duane Streets, and another on Liberty Street which
was the largest and was used the longest. The most vivid accounts
of confinement come from the journals of prisoners confined
in the Liberty Street Sugar House, a five story stone building
which was stifling in summer and frigid in winter. Food rations
were minimal and of poor quality. Sanitation was deplorable
and disease was rampant. Many prisoners died of mistreatment
and / or neglect. Of the 14 prisoners from Redding who were
mentioned in the letter, only half survived confinement to
return home- including Russell Bartlett (fortunately for the
compiler). It is not known exactly how long the Redding prisoners
were imprisoned or the exact conditions for their release,
but it is thought they were home before the close of the Saratoga
campaign in October 1777. Possibly they were ransomed as the
letter suggests, or perhaps they were exchanged for numerous
British soldiers captured by the Americans during the Danbury
raid as Van Cortland's Sugar House was closed down after 1777
when the number of prisoners began to dwindle due to several
POW exchanges.
In Russell's case,
he had to have arrived home prior to 01 February 1778 when
he and his wife were admitted into membership in the Redding
Congregational Church.
News of Russell's
capture during the Danbury raid must have been carried back
to his family virtually immediately by his brother Daniel
Collins Bartlett, who was also among the local defenders at
Redding. (In 1803, Daniel C. & Esther (Read) Bartlett moved
to Amenia, New York, just over the Connecticut border, where
they purchased a farm from Joel Gillett. Their son William
left descendants, some of whom still live in the Amenia area).
Upon his return
to Redding, Russell continued to contribute to the war effort
and to serve the local community. On 22 June 1778, he was
elected Constable of Redding. On 09 August 1779, he was appointed
one of a committee to procure clothing for the Continental
Army, and on 28 November 1780, he was appointed to receive
beef and pork collected for the army. Connecticut received
one of its nicknames, "The Provisions State", as the result
of its sizeable contributions of military provisions during
the war.
In the year 1776,
a new nation was born, and a new Bartlett family came into
existence when Russell Bartlett married Rachel (Taylor), daughter
of the aforementioned Capt. Daniel Jr. and Elizabeth (Boughton)
Taylor who lost their house in the Danbury raid. Capt. Taylor
also served his country in the war as a member of the General
Assembly of Connecticut during the period 1776-1780. He also
served in the Connecticut State Legislature after the war,
during the period 1785-1787. Capt. Daniel Taylor Jr.'s military
rank came not from service during the Revolutionary War, but
from his service in the Danbury Train Band (local militia)
years earlier. He was commissioned an Ensign in May 1752,
and was recommissioned a Captain in May 1754.
Capt. Daniel Taylor
Jr. was a grandson of Thomas Taylor, one of the first settlers
of Danbury, and was the great grandson of John Taylor, one
of the founders of Windsor, Connecticut.
"The Trek Westward"
The close of the
Revolutionary War marked the beginning of the era of westward
expansion, which would last another hundred years. Large numbers
of war veterans began leaving their home communities along
the eastern seaboard, to seek land and opportunity in the
west.
In the case of
Russell and Rachel Bartlett, they stayed in Redding until
early in 1781, when they moved to the tiny village of Sharon,
Litchfield County, Connecticut, in the extreme northwest corner
of the state within walking distance of the New York border.
Their church membership was transferred from Redding to the
Sharon Congregational Church by letter, which was written
into Sharon Church records on 06 May of that year. It is not
known where the Bartletts lived when they first arrived in
Sharon, but on 26 April 1783 they purchased five acres of
land from Abel Patchen with frontage on Main (formerly Town)
Street, on the west side of the street north of the "meeting
house" (i.e.- the old Congregational Church- no longer standing),
on which land records indicate Russell built several buildings,
including possibly a hattery as Russell was a hatter by trade.
Danbury, where Russell apparently lived at the outbreak of
the war, was the center of the hat industry in colonial New
England, and it can be presumed that Russell served an indentured
apprenticeship to a hatter there prior to the war- possibly
to his father-in-law, as Capt. Daniel Taylor Jr. was likewise
a hatter.
Another possible
candidate from whom Russell may have learned the hatter's
trade was Zadock Benedict, a brother of Capt. Noble Benedict
under whom Russell served in the army. There was a family
connection between Russell and Zadock, as the latter was married
to Jerusha (Russell) Benedict, a first cousin of Russell's
mother, Eunice (Russell) Bartlett. Although there were hatters
working in Danbury before the war, Zadock Benedict is given
credit for being the first to start up a "hatting factory"
whose production was marketed outside the immediate Danbury
area. Zadock did not set up his factory operation until 1780
, but he was presumably engaged in hatting on a part time
basis in earlier years and he is known to have employed apprentices,
so he was perhaps Russell Bartlett's mentor.
It will probably
never be definitely established from whom Russell learned
the hatting business, as many of Danbury's early records were
destroyed during Tryon's raid. In general terms, it is known
that training for almost every trade in colonial New England
was gained through an apprenticeship of seven years to a master
tradesman, and most apprentices began not later than their
fourteenth year in order to finish by age twenty one. Such
most certainly was the case with Russell also as the Hat &
Felt Act, passed by Parliament in 1732 to limit hat-making
in the colonies thereby protecting English hatters, required
that colonial craftsmen to serve a seven year apprenticeship,
that master hatters limit their employees to two apprentices,
and that the sale of hats be confined to the colony in which
they were made.
Virtually nothing
is known about Russell and Rachel Bartlett's life in Sharon,
but several of their children were born there before they
finally sold their land to John Hobart on 09 March 1792.
Sometime in the
early 1790's, Russell apparently heard about the founding
of Cooperstown, at that time a rough frontier settlement at
the south end of Lake Otsego in what became Otsego County,
New York. (Russell already had some familiarity with upstate
New York, as the result of his military service). Well known
today as the site of the "Baseball Hall of Fame", Cooperstown
was founded in 1786 by Judge William Cooper, a land speculator
with political aspirations and the father of James Fenimore
Cooper the first American novelist. Judge Cooper moved his
family from New Jersey to Cooperstown in 1790, by which time
he was well on his way to gaining a reputation as the leading
expert on frontier land development . Correctly perceiving
the relationship between land ownership and commitment to
the local community he sold land outright to small farmers,
in contrast to other wealthy landowners of the day who just
leased their land to prospective farmers who were then responsible
for paying rent in perpetuity. Judge Cooper also advertised
in newspapers for skilled tradesmen to help settle his land
patent, offering to sell them as much or as little land as
they wanted on extended credit. As the largest landowner in
the area, Judge Cooper reasoned that skilled tradesmen meant
essential goods and services, essential goods and services
meant more settlers, and more settlers meant a thriving community
and elevated land values, allowing him to increase the return
on his investment. The wisdom of his approach to settlement
was borne out by the fact that this settlement on the upper
Susquehanna succeeded, whereas other previous attempts had
failed. The Bartletts, being among the earliest settlers,
presumably arrived in the village in late spring-early summer
1792, figuring a couple of weeks or so to make arrangements
for their trip from Sharon to Cooperstown, and perhaps a couple
more weeks for the trip itself. Sometime before the end of
the year, Russell purchased a lot in the village, upon which
he built a hattery. Unfortunately, this land sale was not
recorded, so the exact time of their arrival in Cooperstown
cannot be firmly established.
Nevertheless, from
subsequent land transactions it is established that Russell's
hatter's shop was located on the west side of River (formerly
Water) Street, between Main (formerly Second) and Lake (formerly
Front) Streets. The hattery lot was located directly behind,
(i.e.- to the north of- in the direction of Lake Otsego),
the Benjamin Griffin House, the oldest house still standing
on Main Street today , on a site now occupied by a small art
studio. The studio was once the carriage house for the Griffin
house but since the carriage house was known to have been
standing in the 1790's, it can be presumed that the Bartlett
hattery was directly to the north, probably where an alley
runs today.
Then on 01 February
1793, Russell purchased a second lot from Judge William Cooper
and his business partner Andrew Craig. The second lot was
adjacent to the hattery lot, to the south. The land sale in
this second instance was indeed recorded, although not until
1795, and the deed references the first lot, already in possession
of "Russell Bartlett, hatter". The two lots are clearly shown
on the "Cooper Family Land Map", which was on exhibit at the
Smithy's during the Cooperstown Bicentennial in 1986. Russell's
two lots on Water Street were long and narrow, with little
frontage on the street. Lots in Cooperstown were plotted out
in this manner by design, as William Cooper reasoned that
small lots would inhibit village tradesmen from engaging in
part time farming. Judge Cooper wanted tradesmen, who he considered
essential to the local economy, to be totally committed to
their trades, reasoning that tradesmen/farmers would not do
justice to either endeavor . Russell and Rachel also owned
a nearby corner lot which they purchased from Benjamin Griffin
in 1795, situated kitty-corners across from the Griffin house.
Russell and Rachel
sold the second lot to Isaac Cooper, James Fenimore's brother,
in 1812, with their son to Hiram Bartlett (Lineage #6) signing
as a witness. The hattery lot was finally sold by Hiram's
brother, Russell Bartlett Jr., at that time a resident of
Leeds County, Upper Canada (i.e. now Ontario), just prior
to their mother's death in 1835.
There was no church
in Cooperstown for the first decade of its existence, due
in part to the fact that William Cooper, a lapsed Quaker,
had little use for religion, especially the type practiced
by the Calvinist denominations like Baptists, Presbyterians,
and Congregationalists favored by the more devout of his Yankee
settlers, and due also to the fact that the early Cooperstown
residents came from diverse religious backgrounds with no
one denomination having enough support to justify the founding
of a church. Hence, in absence of organized religion to promote
public morality and maintain social order, those functions
fell to the Freemasons, at that time the only organization
in Cooperstown capable of assuming a leadership role in the
local community .
Freemasonry spread
like wildfire during the period just following the American
Revolution, perhaps as a natural extension of the camaraderie
that military veterans had experienced in the army. The "Otsego
(Freemasonic) Lodge" was founded in Cooperstown in 1795 by
six men: Rowland Cotton, Richard Edwards, James Fitch, Benjamin
Gilbert, Elihu Phinney- the first Master, and Russell Bartlett-
the first Secretary. It is believed that all six had been
inducted into lodges elsewhere prior to their arrival in Cooperstown.
In Russell's case, he may perhaps have joined the Freemasonic
Order in Sharon, as there was a lodge there in that era, but
unfortunately the original lodge building burned down years
ago, and the early records went up in smoke. Otsego Lodge,
the timber frame Freemasonic Hall which constructed in 1797,
still stands on its original site at the corner of Lake &
Pioneer Streets (donated by Judge Cooper), and all of the
original lodge minutes taken during Russell's tenure as Secretary
still exist in his own hand, going back to the very first
meeting. Russell also served for a time as Cooperstown Town
Clerk, in the late 1790s.
It is difficult
to imagine what it must have been like living in Cooperstown
at the beginning of the nineteenth century, but a census of
the village taken in 1803 provides valuable statistical information
offering us some insight in that respect. At that time, there
were 24 heads of households in Cooperstown including Russell,
the only Bartlett. The village population totalled 163, which
included six slaves. There were 35 houses and 13 barns. Russell
had a household of five at the time of the census. He had
two houses, one of which was presumably the hattery, and no
slaves or barns. The Bartlett property was close to Lake Otsego,
and it must have been cold in the winter, and damp and muggy
in the summer. At the very center of the Cooperstown of that
era stood Otsego Hall, William Cooper's two story brick mansion
constructed 1796-1799 which replaced his Manor House, a wooden
structure which he had built earlier on that site, from which
he exercised a paternalistic influence over the lives of the
settlers in his village.
As an interesting
side note, it should be mentioned that the Bartlett and Cooper
families became connected by marriage in 1812, when Russell
and Rachel's youngest daughter Elizabeth married Judge William
Cooper's son Samuel. In a letter dated 26 April 1812, James
Fenimore Cooper mentioned his new sister-in-law, saying: "Samuel
was married at Pomeroy's and is at present with his wife at
the Castle- I am pleased with what little I have seen of her".
Samuel & Elizabeth (Bartlett) Cooper had three sons, Isaac,
William, and Samuel, from whom there were descendants. Their
eldest son Isaac Cooper for instance, eventually moved to
Des Moines, Iowa, where numerous of his descendents presumably
still live. Unfortunately, Samuel Cooper died young, and Elizabeth
eventually remarried, her second husband being Miles Benjamin.
On 06 April 1812,
Russell and Rachel Bartlett began preparations for what would
be their final move, when they purchased a farm in Hartwick
Township, Otsego County directly south of Cooperstown from
Samuel Cooper, who became their son-in-law three days later.
Their farm in Hinman Hollow, where both Russell and Rachel
died, was referred to in later years as the "Short Farm",
and their farm house was torn down early in the 20th century.
Next in the compiler's
direct surname line was the aforementioned Hiram Bartlett,
Russell and Rachel's youngest son, who was born in Connecticut,
made the trip to New York as a toddler, learned the "hatter's
trade" in his father's shop as a youth and eventually continued
the family's trek westward. In 1819, Hiram married Mary Ann
(Fisher), daughter of Dexter and Hannah (Walker) Fisher, also
of Hartwick. The Fishers were originally from Windham County,
Connecticut, within walking distance from the Rhode Island
border, and they presumably moved to Hartwick around 1808,
as Hannah was admitted into membership in the Hartwick Baptist
Church (where Hiram and Mary Ann were married) via letter
in that year. Dexter Fisher, like Russell Bartlett, bore both
family names as his parents were Barzillai and Lydia (Dexter)
Fisher. Barzillai Fisher and four of Dexter's brothers served
in the Continental Army- (although in Barzillai's case, he
only marched to Boston on the Lexington alarm- an enlistment
of only seven days).
In the spring of
1826, the Bartletts again moved westward, when Hiram and Mary
Ann left Hartwick for what soon became Port Lawrence Township,
Monroe County, Michigan Territory (now the central core of
Toledo, Ohio), being accompanied by her parents the Fishers.
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