Signer of the Declaration of Independence
JOSIAH
BARTLETT was born November 21, 1729 in Amesbury, Massachusetts. He
received the rudiments of a classical education and when he was only
sixteen he started studying medicine. He
served as an apprentice for five years to a relative, Dr. Ordway, of
Amesbury. In 1750, after
gaining the experience he needed, young Bartlett moved to Kingston, New
Hampshire, set up his practice, married a cousin, Mary Barton of Newton,
Massachusetts, and was soon busy raising he first of his twelve children.
Dr.
Bartlett's medical practice flourished, in part due to the fact that in
1752 when drained by a fever, he was cured by a treatment of his own after
that of the local physicians had failed. He
learned from this experience the value of freedom from inflexible rules in
practice. During the
prevalence of an alarming throat disease in 1754, he used Peruvian bark
with great success, although other physicians opposed this treatment.
Dr.
Bartlett's political career began in 1765 with his appointment as a
provincial legislator, an office which he filled annually until the
revolution. Here he frequently
opposed the royal policy. Governor Wentworth, hoping to gain his support,
appointed him a magistrate and later, in 1770, to the command of a militia
regiment. His
staunch support of the cause of the Patriots led to his dismissal from the
post of justice of the peace by the Royal Governor and presumably, to the
burning of his house. In 1774,
the loss of his house prevented his serving as delegate to the first
continental congress, but he was reelected to the second and was present
when the Declaration was adopted and signed. As
the roll was called from north to south, it was Dr. Bartlett who cast the
very first vote for independence on July 4, 1776 as the senior member
representing New Hampshire.
In
June 1776, Dr. Bartlett was appointed general naval agent, and resigned
from congress sometime that fall. In
1777 he was with Stark at Bennington, engaged as agent of the state in
providing New Hampshire troops with medical supplies. In
March 1778, Dr. Bartlett was again elected to congress, and still again
the following August. In
October he obtained a leave of absence to attend to his private business,
and from that time was prominent in state rather than national affairs. In
1789 the death of his wife caused him to suffer a great depression, and he
declined an election to the United States Senate, pleading advanced age. He
was, however, chosen president of New Hampshire in 1790 and served three
successive years, and when the title was changed to Governor, he was the
first man to bear it, an office he held until 1794.
Josiah
Bartlett died May 19, 1795 in his sixty-sixth year.
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