Josiah BARTLETT

                   SOURCES:   1. This Family Group Sheet was compiled by Marion Grace Jewell
                Nicholls, of Gilbert, Arizona.
             2. DAR Lineage Book-Vol 23 p. 86 Book RG929.2 Bartlett p. 88
             3. Book "Aaron of Brookfield" by Nellie A. Bartlett p. 63
             4. Book-"The Bartletts" by Thomas Edward Bartlett p. 91
             5. Book #929.20973AME American Ancestry Vol I p. 5
                Leesburg Florida Public Library
TITLE: Josiah Bartlett, M.D.
NOTES: Husb was member of Continental Congress; Began politics in 1765; 1st
Governor of Kingston, NH; Associate Justice-Supreme Court.
          Sr. Nicholls has a good picture of husb.
FURTHER NOTES: From "Aaron of Brookfield": Dr. Josiah Bartlett-First Governor
of New Hampshire, Signer of Declaration of Independence.  "He studied medicine,
practiced in Kingston, NH. Was Colonel of 7th Regiment, delegate to Continental
Congress-first to vote for independence, second to sign the Declaration, John
Hancock, President of Congress being the first. He became Chief Justice of
Supreme Court, a member of Convention to devise a plan for government of the
United States and voted for the adoption of the Constitution. Governor of NH
1790-1794. He married his cousin Mary Bartlett, daughter of Deacon Joseph
Bartlett. Had 9 children-3 sons and 6 daughters. His 3 sons were all physicians
of extensive practice". (p. 88)
From same book: (p. 63) "Aftere an imperfect medical education he began the
practice of medicine in Kingston, NH, and soon became eminent. In 1765, and
annually until the Revolution, he was chosen to the Legislature. He was a
delegate to Congress in 1775 and 1776, he first to give his vote for the
Declaration of Independence and its first signer after the President. He was
appointed Chief Justice of the Court of Common Pleas in 1779, a Justice of the
Superior Court in 1784 & Chief Justice in 1788. He was an active member of the
convention called to adopt the Federal Constitution. He was 3 yrs President of
the State, and under the new Constitution, Governor. He was also President of
the New Hampshire Medical Society, which he was chiefly instrumental in
founding. He received an honorary degree of M.D. from Dartmouth College. He was
also a patron. He was also a patron of learning, and a friend to the learned
man.
     He married Mary, dau of Deacon Joseph Bartlett. He died 11 May 1795. His son
Josiah was a physician of extensive practice."
From DAR Magazine-Feb 1970 (p. 143) "While Benjamin Rush was the most renowned
among the physician signers of the Declaration of Independence, a more typical
example of the group is Josiah Bartlett of New Hampshire.  A native of
Amesbury, MA, but a resident of Kingston, NH, at the time of signing, Bartlett
well exemplifies the type of doctor in whom 18th Century Americans had such
confidence. Although not a lawyer, Bartlett served at various times as justice
of the peace, associate justice and chief justice of the NH Supreme Court, and
governor of that state. He received further evidence of public confidence when
he was named to the NH Committee of Correspondence in 1774, and was elect3ed to
both Continental Congresses.
     Bartlett is also more representative of his medical contemporaries in the
sort of training he brought to his profession. He had studied at no medical
schools but had gained his basic training entirely from a five-year
apprenticeship to Dr. Ordway of Amesbury. Yet it would seem that Dr. Bartlett's
medical talents were appreciable."
(p. 144) It would seem that Dr. Bartlett's medical talents were appreciable.
He gained a formidable local reputation for his successful treatment of a throat
disorder, perhaps diphtheria, with cinchona bark extracts. Another notable
medical triumph of Dr. bartlett's was his cure of a fever by drinking cold
cider. While the quinine in cinchona bark is known to have some value as an
antiseptic, and might possibly help in treating diphtheria, the success of the
cider treatment is more difficult to understand. At any rate, however curious
Bartlett's system of therapy, it was highly esteemed in his own times, and
Dartmouth College awarded him an honorary MD in 1790. Perhaps the most
convincing evidence of Josiah Bartlett's dedication to his profession,
however, is the fact that three of his sons and seven of his grandsons followed
him as physicians."