Readers Comments and Queries


I hope you have found this ramble through Bartlett history informative and interesting and would invite any comments or queries you may have.

Please email me if you have your own Bartlett family history to relate, if you have genealogical inquiries that can be pursued here, or if there are any particular Bartlett stories that you would like to pass on. We will post them all here.

Colin Bartlett Shelley

nottshell@btinternet.com


Comments and Queries


14 April, 2010.  Betty Bartlett – from Wales to Yorkshire 

I am researching the life of Betty Bartlett – a woman born in Wales who moved to Yorkshire   As a trainee schoolteacher, she was evacuated from Yorkshire to Cardiff during the Second World War where she met Tony Ambatielos – the leader of the Greek Seamen’s Union . The union had their wartime base in Cardiff. He was later imprisoned in Greece for 16 years for his political beliefs – during which time she campaigned for his release. 

I wonder if anyone has heard of her or the family and may be able to give me any leads? 

With best wishes
Helena Drakakis (Helena.Drakakis@bigissue.com)  


23 January, 2010.  Related to Captain Bob Bartlett? 

I have been told for as long as I can remember that our family is related.  I have been trying to find any uncles or cousins to Capt. Bob.   My grandfather's name was William Henry Bartlett, born about 1884 or 5 in the Brigus area.  He was married to Lucretia Stokes and they had one son, my father George Nelson.  The only uncle of my father that I heard of was George Bartlett, a policeman or possible chief in St John's.

 If you have any information re this request or know where I might find it I would appreciate it. 

George Bartlett (george.bartlett@sympatico.ca)
 

8 January, 2010.  John Vigar Bartlett in Marlsford 

Just noticed the question about John Vigar Bartlett living in Marlsford outside Sydney.  "Marlsford" was the name of the residence he built in Campbelltown when he was appointed Colonial Architect, Surveyor and District Engineer in the Campbelltown/Airds District.  The c1890 building remains at the corner of Sturt and Stewart St, a little altered. 

Regards,  
James Nicholson (jamesn'heritage-architects.com) 


13 November, 2009.  Bartletts in Barbados and Panama 

My name is Milton Bartlett and alive in Panama, desconectados of our roots since my grandfather Milton Bartlett came with his brother Sincler Bartlett to Panama in 1907 over the building of the Panama Canal. They came from Barbados and cut off their connections from there.  Let me know if you know something of the Bartletts in Barbados. 

Milton (arqui_bartlett@hotmail)


10 November, 2009.  Bartletts in South Wales? 

My mother grew up in South Wales, but was told her family had emigrated from Cornwell in the late 1800s. Does anyone have any information about the Bartlett family in South Wales (Glamorgan) or Cornwall? 

Thank you. 
Ann Shortell (annshortell@me.com)


9 November, 2009.  Bartletts in Cokeham (Sussex) 

This history is regarding an old house, No.47 Cokeham Lane, in Lancing, Sussex which was pulled down in 1964/5.  The reason that I am asking is that, according to the Worthing Herald in 1964, the house was built by a Mr. Bartlett and I wondered if you knew anything about the house or the man?  I would also be interested to hear of any other Bartletts in the Cokeham area. 

Many thanks 
Steve Newport  (newport47@ntworld.com)

 

6 July, 2009.  Bartletts in Seaford (Sussex) 

Just a little piece of info that you might not have relating to the Bartletts in Seaford.  Betty Bartlett (b 1795) married Richard Ockenden (b 1793) on August 23, 1815 at St. Leonards Church, Seaford.  Sadly, she died on December 2 that same year and Richard, my great great grandmother's brother who was a Coastguard, moved onto Selsey and re-married there in 1820.  Hope this might be of use to you! 

Kind regards 
Geoff Ockenden (


23 May, 2009.  Bartletts of Somerset 

I was hoping you could post this request on your website.  It does not look like there is a connection.  However someone looking may see a link.  I have been researching the family name for 30 years or so, but can always do with some help. 

My great grandfather was Robert Bartlett of Burcott, Wells in Somerset and he was born in 1845.  He had two brothers and two sisters, John, Edward, Emily and Susan. Robert emigrated to NZ around 1864.  Their father was Joseph Bartlett, born 1820, who had two sisters, Eliza and Martha, and a brother John born in 1824.  I believe their father was also Joseph.   All settled in around Wells, with Robert’s sister Susan going to Wales. 

I know of no living relatives in the UK and would really like to make contact with anyone related living in the UK or elsewhere for that matter.  My only connection to Somerset is a school exercise book of my great grandfather Robert Bartlett from his school in 1859 at Cherry Orchard, Burcott, Wells in Somerset.  I wonder if the school is still there. 

Look forward to hearing from anyone with an interest in this family.
Rex Bartlett 
Havelock North, New Zealand  (



26 February, 2009.  Captain Charles Bartlett and a Samoan Family Legacy 

I am trying to trace my family history of sorts.  My great great grandfather was Charles Bartlett.  His name is on my great grand other’s death certificate, Carolyn Stehr, who died in Australia in 1938.  She had been evacuated from New Guinea at the beginning of WW2.  She was born in Samoa.  Her mother I believe was a Samoan woman Sa who also bore queen Emma, issue from Jonas Coe. 

My great grandmother was Emma's half sister.  I have a photo of them together.  I have always been told Charles was an Irish American sea captain.  Can you or any of your visitors shed any light on his life and where Charles Bartlett died?

Lynn Wade  (


22 February, 2009.  Bartletts from Somerset 

My name is Jeremy Bartlett, and I can trace my family back to Reverend James Bartlett, a Bible Christian Minister, who was born in 1816 in Somerton, Somerset.  His great grandfather is thought to have been called Timothy Bartlett, resident in Somerton, but I have no proof of this.  You may be interested in a website I've just created called "The Last Bartlett" (last-bartlett.co.uk) which has information on various family members, including James and his son James Elijah, who was latterly a town councillor in Beverley, East Yorkshire, and had a street named after him (Bartlett Avenue). 

There is probably a connection between my ancestors and some of the Somerset / Dorset / Devon family members you mention, though I don't recognize any of the names. 

Best wishes 
Jeremy Bartlett 
Norwich, Norfolk ( 

 

14 January, 2009.  Bartletts from Italy? 

I am James Bartlett, born in Margate, Kent in 1968 and I am doing some research in the family history. While we have quite a lot of info going back maybe 3 generations, it gets foggy from there.  My father says he understands that the family may have originated from northern Italy (probably late 1700's before Italy was united) and the original name was Bartoletti.  I am just wondering if you have you heard of any immigrants coming from Italy with the Bartlett / Bartoletti surname. 

Thanks again for the interesting reading. 
James (


20 November, 2008.  Bartletts in Sussex (from Stopham)


My father was Maurice Stevenson Bartlett (you can look him up on Google), and just before he died in early 2002 I began trying to trace his Bartlett family and ancestors - alas, he died before I'd got very far. Thinking I knew nothing, and not knowing where to begin, I then began an amazing tour of exploration and discovery through all the ups and downs of his Bartlett forebears. 

I have traced our family lines back to one Richard Bartlett who married Mary Daw in Lamberhurst in 1762, and I've been trying to find out more, going further back. There were certainly Bartletts around the Lamberhurst/Wadhurst area by the end of the 17th century, and in 1738 a Richard Bartlett of Church Settle Lane (Wadhurst) fell ill.  It sounds as if he and his young family were taken into care at the instruction of George Courthop, a local big landowner.  I've seen a pitiful list of the contents of his cottage at the East Sussex Records Office.  George Courthop also had other connections with the Bartletts.  He had a John Bartlett working for him earlier in the 18th century (who died very young) and George Courthop was the executor of his will. 

Perhaps it wasn't the Church Settle Richard's son who married Mary Daw in 1862 (she was only 15), but another Richard who was a bit younger and who was born in Bignor - and definitely of Stopham stock!  Their first baby - whichever Richard was the father - was baptized a week or two after the wedding. Anyway, the thing is that the Barttelots of Stopham certainly gravitated out eastwards as well as westwards.  There were Barttelot/Bartlett descendants in Hurstpierpoint and many of the children of William (yeoman farmer of Barttlot sideways/younger son descent) and Elizabeth Legge, his wife, were born in Brighton for some reason. 

I mention all that because it seems likely to me that your 19th century Bartletts of Seaford must also have come originally from the same branch of the family. 

Meanwhile, my Kent 19th century Bartletts certainly were in and out of the Poor House early on in the century, but got themselves out of it and Stephen, cousin to the Richard who emigrated to Australia on the Lallah Rookah, did well and became a farm bailiff, though he was in the Poor House as a child.  But James, his eldest son - my great-grandfather - became a butler to some very grand households, which fascinates me!  I wish he'd left a diary or some letters, but nothing seems to exist.  One of his daughters emigrated to South Africa, and another to Canada. 

I'd better stop now, or I could ramble on indefinitely! 

With best wishes
Penny Robinson (


1 August 2008.  Bartlett Family from Kent to Australia in 1841  


My name Is Ricky McKenzie and I am descended From a Bartlett family that came to Australia In 1841 on The "Lallah Rookh" that arrived In Sydney, Australia on December 26, 1841. The members of the family were Richard Bartlett, his wife Lydia and their 18 month daughter Sarah Ann.  

Richard Bartlett was born In 1821 in Aldington, Kent and was the son of Richard Bartlett (d.1841) and Anne Payne (m.1799) who were both alive at the time of Richard's journey to Australia. 

Lydia Bartlett nee Quested was born 1822 in Hythe, Kent and was the daughter of Samuel Quested (1767-1827) and Sarah Ransely nee Berry (m.1819, d. 1841) who both were deceased by the time of Lydia's movement to Australia.  

They moved onto Milton Ulladulla, New South Wales, after Sydney and had thirteen children.  Their youngest Joseph Bartlett is whom I am descended from.  I can only go as far as Richard Bartlett's (the one that left for Australia) father before the Bartlett line goes cold   I was wondering that in your geneological research if there Is any mentions of this line of Bartlett's.  

Thanks,
Ricky McKenzie (rickymckenzie@live.com)


27 June 2008.  Charles Hughbert Bartlett 

I have tried without any luck to trace my paternal grandfather and his second family.  My father was Charles Hughbert Bartlett, a unitarian minister, who died in 1966 when I was eight.  He was living in Manchester at the time but came from Liverpool (born around 1907). 

His father had taken young Charles and his mother, Lillian, to Saskatoon in Canada around 1908.  After Lillian’s alleged death in around 1915, Sydney remarried and had another son.  My father was sent back to Liverpool and was cared for by maiden aunts, never hearing from his father again.  We did hear he had moved to Sydney, Australia but we can find no trace. The step-brother may still be living or his descendents. Any light would be gratefully received. 

Regards 
Sarah (sarah.wright@virgin.net)


1 June, 2008.  Alexander Bartlett, late 1700’s in Kent 


This is a great site and I enjoyed reading about all the Bartletts.  I wonder if you could include my query please as I’ve run out of options to find my great great great grandfather, Alexander Bartlett.  Perhaps someone will read the Bartlett site and have a connection with the name Alexander Bartlett and Mary in the late 1700's.  I’m searching for an Alexander Bartlett who had two sons – Jabus or Jabes (born in 1799) and John (born 1789), and possibly daughter Hetty.  The mother of these children is shown in parish registers in Kent as Mary. 

Thank you.
June Farley (junef@iprimus.com.au)


11 May 2008.  A Bartlett Sea Captain from New York?

My name is Michael Bartlett Mahaffie and I wonder of you can help me. I am trying to trace my portion of a Bartlett line back past my great-great-grandfather Robert Bartlett (not the explorer, I think). 

I believe he was born about 1842, probably in New York state. He may have been married to a woman named Agnes. He was believed to have been a sea captain, according to a letter my grandfather left his kids (he had married Robert Bartlett's granddaughter). 

I have two children of Robert Bartlett, Nellie, who married a man named Leary, and Susan, who married Augustus Charles Becker and had at least two children: Robert, who died young and Roberta, my maternal grandmother, who was named for her late brother Robert. Susan apparently died when Roberta was a toddler.  Roberta married Redmond Farrar, a minor jazz-age composer. 

I have very little to go on, since Susan died when my grandmother was quite young.  Do any of these names/relationships ring any bells? 

Mike and Karen Mahaffie (mmahaffie@comcast.net)


25 March 2008.  Bartletts in Australia 

Hello from Australia.  My name is Robert Bartlett and I'm an Australian author, and before that I worked for some multi-nationals.  I noticed on your web site re. Bartletts in Australia, that you mention that a John Vigar Bartlett lived in Marlsford outside Sydney. I can't seem to find that suburb.  Could you advise where it is please? 

I've been keeping a family tree and you might wish to know the following: 
 - William Bartlett - my great grandfather(1847-1939) died in Tenterfield, NSW
 - Charles Arthur Bartlett - my grandfather (1882-1943) born Tenterfield - died Newcastle NSW
 - William Douglas Bartlett - my father (1907-1987) born Tenterfield - died Sydney

My father thought we might have been related to the British Poet Milton?  But have no further information before my great grandfather. 

Regards
Robert Bartlett (robertwb@primus.com.au) 


3 March, 2008.  Captain Bartletts Related? 

I noticed on your Bartlett website that you mention as examples of Bartlett mariners the names of the Arctic explorer Captain Robert A. Bartlett and the master of the Britannic Captain Charles Bartlett.  With Captain Bob's Newfoundland family coming from Dorset and Captain Charles family from Devon, do you know if there is any family connection between these men?  

The Historic Sites Association of Newfoundland and Labrador are planning a program of events and activities in 2009 to celebrate the life and career of Captain Bob Bartlett.  HSA operates Hawthorne Cottage, Bartlett's home, in Brigus Newfoundland.  2009 is the centenary of Bartlett taking Robert Peary to within 133 miles of the North Pole and, of course, Peary's famous claim to have been the first to reach the Pole. 

Though Bartlett is perhaps best known for that 1909 Polar expedition, he also has an incredible life story that HSA plans to make better known in this province and elsewhere.  His science and research expeditions into the Far North during the 20s, 30s and 40s earned him international recognition and support from the Smithsonian, National Geographic, and many of the North America's great institutions. 

The Bartletts of Brigus were famous mariners and explorers long before Bob came along.  There are at least eight geographic names in the Arctic named after Bartletts.  His ancestors were well known to explorers who for 300 years were trying to reach the Pole or find their way through a Northwest Passage. 

Regards
Dean Williams (williamsdean@nl.rogers.com),
Celebrating Bartlett 2009, Historic Sites Association of Newfoundland and Labrador


8 December, 2007.  Bartletts and the Knights of the Round Table? 

Early researches of Harry Bartlett and Ann Wall of Somerset have linked the name Bartlett to Sir Henry Barralot, one of the Knights of the Round Table.  As this is a distant branch I have not followed it up. 

My own history: The 1861 Census has family living at 19 Whites Hill, Bristol Gloucestershire.  They came to Brisbane Australia in 1863.  The eldest daughter Lydia married Herbert Eli Daniels in Brisbane in 1881. 

Kevin Egan (pkegan4@bigpond.net.au)


23 August 2007.  Bartelot Memorial in Stopham Church


At Stopham church in Sussex, there is a memorial to 29 year old Major Edmund Musgrave Bartelot, killed while on an expedition to the Congo with Henry Morton Stanley who, seventeen years earlier, had found Dr. David Livingstone in the African jungle.  The party had split up.

The inscription reads:

"Major Bartelot left England in 1887 and, while in charge of a large expedition in search of Stanley and for the relief of Emin Pasha, was treacherously shot at Unaria in Central Africa, 19th July 1889, by Senga, a native Manyema carrier provided by Tippoo Tib."