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ROBERT BARTLETT
ORIGIN: Unknown MIGRATION: 1623 on Anne FIRST RESIDENCE:Plymouth OCCUPATION: Wine cooper CHURCH MEMBERSHIP: On 1May 1660 at Plymouth court "Robert Bartlett appeared, beingsummoned in answer for speaking contemptuously of singingof psalms, and was convict of the fact ..." [PCR 3:185-86].FREEMAN: In the "1633" Plymouth list of freemen inproximity to those admitted on 1 January 1632/3 [PCR 1:4].On list of 7 March 1636/7 [PCR 1:53]. In Plymouth sectionof lists of freemen of 1639 and (apparently) 1658 [PCR8:174, 197]. EDUCATION: Signed all deeds by mark. Inventoryincluded books valued at 7s. OFFICES: Committee to lay outhighways, 2 May 1637 [PCR 1:58]; Plymouth petit jury, 6June 1643, 28 October 1645, 7 June 1648, 6 March 1649/50, 4October 1653, 7 March 1653/4, 3 October 1654, 3 May 1659[PCR 2:126; 7:35, 41, 47, 67, 70, 72, 93]; Plymouth grandjury, 5 June 1644, 2 June 1646, 17 May 1649, 7 June 1652, 8June 1655 [PCR 2:71, 102, 3:9, 78; PTR 1:28]; surveyor ofhighways, 4 June 1645, 4 June 1661 [PCR 2:84, 3:215];committee to lay out land, 24 May 1660 [PTR 1:41]. InPlymouth section of 1643 list of men able to bear arms [PCR8:189]. ESTATE: In the 1623 Plymouth land division grantedone acre as a passenger on the Anne [PCR 12:6]. In the 1627Plymouth division of cattle "Robert Bartlet" was thetwelfth person in the tenth company [PCR 12:12].
Assessed 9s. in the Plymouth tax lists of 25 March 1633and 27 March 1634 [PCR 1:10, 27].
On 1 July 1633 it was ordered that "Mrs. Warren &Rob[er]t Bartlet mow where they did last year ..." [PCR1:15]. On 28 May 1635 "Thomas Litle came before theGovernor and acknowledged that he had given unto RobartBartlet a parcel of land at the end of his lot beyond EelRiver," and describes himself as brother-in-law to Bartlett[PCR 1:34]. On 14 March 1635/6 it was ordered that "Mrs.Warren, Rich. Church, Tho. Litle, & Rob[er]t Bartlet mowwhere they did last year ..." [PCR 1:41]. On 20 March1636/7 it was ordered that "Richard Church, Rob[er]teBartlet, & Thomas Little, [have] hay ground where they hadthe last year, and to take further supply where they canfind it, in places not granted to others, and Rob[er]teBartlet to have the swamp or pit at the head of Mr.Bradford's ground" [PCR 1:56]. On 5 May 1640 "RichardChurch, Rob[er]te Bartlett, Thomas Little, & Mrs. ElizabethWarren are granted enlargements at the heads of their lotsto the foot of the Pine Hills ..." [PCR 1:152].
On 7 February 1637 "Mrs. Elizabeth Warren of the EeleRiver widow for and in consideration of a marriagesolemnized betwixt John Cooke the younger of the RockeyNooke and Sarah her daughter" granted to the said JohnCooke "eighteen acres or thereabouts and lying on the northside of Robert Bartlett's lot formerly also given the saidRobert in marriage with Mary another of the said Mrs.Warren's daughters" [PCR 12:27]. On 11 November 1637 JohnCooke exchanged this eighteen acre parcel with RobertBartlett for a "lot of land of like quantity lying onDuxborrow side betwixt the lots of Thomas Morton andJonathan Brewster" [PCR 12:28].
On 9 April 1649 Richard Church sold to Robert Bartlettfor £25 a "house and housing and land with all the meadowground with the addition that he had of Goodman Kemton atthe Eel River" [PCR 12:165-66].
On 7 March 1652 Robert Bartlett held a full share as apurchaser of Dartmouth [MD 4:185-88, citing PCLR2:1:106-07].
On 30 January 1653 Samuel Hicks of Plymouth, planter,sold to Robert Bartlett of Plymouth, cooper, for £18 elevenacres of upland on the south side of Plymouth [MD 5:94-95,citing PCLR 2:1:97].
Robert Bartlett appears in a March 1651 Plymouth townlist of those "that have interest and proprieties in thetown's land at Punckateesett over against Road Iland" [PTR1:37]. On 22 March 1663 the lots at "Puncateesett" weredescribed, Robert Bartlett sharing the 24th lot with JamesCole Sr. [PTR 1:67]. On 8 March 1668/9 Robert Bartlett ofPlymouth, cooper, sold to John Almey of Portsmouth, RhodeIsland, merchant, for £3 his share in land granted by thetown of Plymouth in 1649 "lying over against Rhode Islandaforesaid, at the place commonly called and known by thename of Punckateesett" [PCLR 3:328].
On 27 June 1659 Robert Bartlett of Plymouth, cooper,engaged to pay to Benjamin Foster, the son of RichardFoster, £8 when he reaches the age of twenty-one, on thecondition that Bartlett would have the use of RichardFoster's land for the term of ten years; and "Mary the wifeof the said Richard Foster deceased" engages to bring upthe said Benjamin Foster, who is now four years old [MD14:15-16, citing PCLR 2:2:28].
In 1660 the town of Plymouth granted to Robert Bartlettfifty acres "lying between the sea and the fern swampbetween the Eelriver and Mannomett ponds" [PTR 1:43]; thebounds of this grant were described on 20 February 1662[PTR 1:54]. On 26 January 1663 the town of Plymouth grantedto those living at Eel River a quarter-mile extension ontheir lots, towards the pine hills [PTR 1:59]. On 21February 1663 the town of Plymouth granted to RobertBartlett eight acres of meadow that had been in dispute[PTR 1:61, 62]. On [blank] July 1667 the town of Plymouthgranted to Robert Bartlett "a piece of swamp ... to makemeadow of lying adjoining to his meadow at the Eelriver"[PTR 1:89].
On 14 July 1670 Robert Bartlett of Plymouth, winecooper, gave to "my son-in-law James Barnabey, cordwinder"of Plymouth and "my daughter Lydia Barnabey his wife"twenty acres "by me purchased of the said my brother-in-lawRichard Church," and four acres of upland meadow added toit [MD 3:112, citing PCLR 3:297].
On 17 February 1670/1 Robert Bartlett of Plymouth,cooper, sold to Thomas Burge Jr. of Newport, Rhode Island,for £50 half his share of land at Acushena in Dartmouth andhalf his share of land at Pascomansucke in Dartmouth(reserving one-third of the last named share) [MD 3:112,citing PCLR 5:118; RILE 1:140].
On 14 July 1673 "Robert Bartlett of the town of Plymouth... wine cooper" granted to "my son Joseph Bartlett" forlove and affection "all that my farm, messuage, tenementand seat, which I now live in and am possessed of, in thetownship of Plymouth aforesaid, situate and being at aplace or river commonly called Eel River: viz: all that myhouse and land there"; four acres of marsh meadow there;and two acres of fresh or upland meadow; to be entered uponby his son on the death of the grantor and his wife [MD3:112-13, citing PCLR 3:301].
On 19 September 1676 Robert Bartlett made a nuncupativewill, bequeathing to "my wife all my estate yet undisposedof whether it be in lands or movables, goods, chattels,debts. I give all unto my wife to be absolutely at herdispose among my children" [MD 3:114, citing PCPR 3:2:87].The inventory of the estate of Robert Bartlett was taken 29October 1676 and totalled £170 16s. 6d., including £100 inreal estate: "2 dwellinghouses and a barn, upland andmeadow" [MD 3:114, citing PCPR 3:2:87]. On 6 March 1676/7"Letters of administration is granted by the Court untoMary Bartlett & Joseph Bartlett to administer the estate ofRobert Bartlett, deceased" [PCR 5:220].
On 13 February 1677 "Mary Bartlett widow and late wifeunto Robert Bartlett deceased" sold to "my son JosephBartlett" for £300 all the estate which was reserved to heruse for life in the deed of gift from her husband RobertBartlett to the said Joseph Bartlett, as well as fiftyacres of upland "near a place commonly called the saltmarsh ... between the Eelriver and Mannomett Ponds," fiftyacres of upland lying between the land of Ephraim MortonJr. and the land that did belong to James Barnabeydeceased, a parcel of meadow on the Eelriver, and allpersonal estate given her by husband Robert Bartlett in hiswill [MD 3:115-16, citing PCLR 4:223]. BIRTH: Born by about1604 based on estimated date of marriage. DEATH: Plymouthbetween 19 September 1676 (date of will) and 29 October1676 (date of probate). MARRIAGE: By about 1629 MaryWarren, daughter of RICHARD WARREN (on 7 March 1636/7Elizabeth Warren, widow of Richard Warren, was made apurchaser in his stead, in part because "of the lots oflands given formerly by her unto her sons in law, RichardChurch, Robert Bartlett, and Thomas Little, in marriagewith their wives, her daughters" [PCR 1:54], and this wasconfirmed on 5 October 1652 [PCR 3:19]); she died between13 February 1677/8 [PCLR 4:223] and 1683 [PLR 1:132].CHILDREN (all born Plymouth): i BENJAMIN, b. say 1629;m. (1) by 1654 Susanna Jenney, daughter of JOHN JENNEY (inher will of 4 April 1654 Sarah Jenney, widow of JohnJenney, bequeathed to "my son Benjamin Bartlett," and toMr. Thomas Cushman "the bible which was my daughterSusanna's" [MD 8:171-75, citing PCPR 1:17-21]); m. (2)after 4 April 1654 Sarah Brewster, daughter of LOVEBREWSTER [MFIP Warren 10-12, citing PCR 4:80, 173-4]; m.(3) before 21 January 1678 Sissilla _____ (named in hiswill of 21 August 1691 [MFIP Warren 10-12, citing PCLR4:281; MQ 51:131-34]).
ii REBECCA, b. say 1631; m. Plymouth 20 December 1649William Harlow [PCR 8:8].
iii MARY, b. say 1633; m. (1) Plymouth 10 September1651 Richard Foster [PCR 8:13]; m. (2) Plymouth 8 July 1659Jonathan Morey [PCR 8:22 (marriage contract dated 27 June1659 [MD 14:16, citing PCLR 2:2:28a])].
iv SARAH, b. say 1636; m. Plymouth 23 December 1656Samuel Rider [PCR 8:17].
v JOSEPH, b. about 1639; m. by about 1663 Hannah Pope,daughter of THOMAS POPE [MD 19:24, citing PLR 1:84]; "Marchthe 12, 1710 My dear wife Hannah Bartlet died being near 72years of age, myself being six months younger than she whenshe died ..." [NEHGR 101:279 (from family Bible)]. (If thedate given for the death of Hannah is 12 March 1710/1, thenshe was probably born in the first half of 1639, whichwould place her husband's birth late in 1639.)
vi ELIZABETH, b. say 1641; m. Plymouth 26 December1661 Anthony Sprague [PCR 8:23].
vii LYDIA, b. 8 June 1648 [PCR 8:4, 291 (despite thefact that this is published as a birth of 1647, it is clearfrom the sequence of the records that it should be for1648)]; m. (1) by about 1670 James Barnaby [PCLR 3:297]; m.(2) shortly after 30 October 1677 John Nelson as his secondof three wives [TAG 56:33-34; MFIP Warren 16-17]; she d.Plymouth 11 September 1691 [PVR 135].
viii MERCY, b. 10 March 1650/1 [PCR 8:11]; m. Plymouth25 December 1668 John Joy of Boston [MFIP Warren 17; PCR8:32 (not Ivey)]. COMMENTS: In 1959 John G. Hunt suggestedthat Robert Bartlett of Plymouth was the same as a RobertBartlett baptized at Puddletown, Dorsetshire, on 27 May1603, and twenty years later Paul Prindle published afuller pedigree of this Dorsetshire family, but at themoment this proposed identification remains only apossibility [TAG 35:214, 55:164-70]. Robert of Puddletownhad brother Benjamin and sisters Mary, Lydia and Elizabeth,all names used by Robert of Plymouth.
Clues as to the ages of the children of Robert Bartlettare sparse, and several attempts have been made todetermine the birth order of the children. Aside from theevidence of birth dates for the last two children, the dateof freemanship for son Benjamin and the age at death forson Joseph, our most useful information comes from themarriage dates for the older daughters. The statement hasfrequently been made that Benjamin must have been born by 6June 1633, since he was made free on 6 June 1654 [PCR3:48]. But he had by 4 April 1654 already married andburied one wife, and was soon to marry a second, whichsuggests a man a few years older than twenty-one in thatyear. If we place the birth of Benjamin in 1629, then wehave a gap of about six or seven years in which to placedaughters Rebecca and Mary (1629-1636), but to do this wemust assume that they both married when they were abouteighteen, rather than rely on our usual rule of marryingdaughters at age twenty in the absence of other evidence.There would be nothing unusual about this, and theresulting sequence of births for the elder children is inagreement with the evidence. Note also that under almostany interpretation there is a gap of about six yearsbetween the births of the sixth and seventh children ofthis couple.
On 25 December 1635 Robert Bartlett took RichardStinnings as an apprentice for nine years, his time tobegin on 1 December 1635 [PCR 1:35]. On 4 August 1638, for£6 10s. and twenty bushels of Indian corn, John Barnesassigned to Robert Bartlett the remaining term of serviceof Thomas Shreive (being three years from the first day ofAugust instant), Robert Bartlett also paying Shreive £3 6s.8d., and Shreive agreeing to serve an additional year foranother £5 [PCR 12:32]. BIBLIOGRAPHIC NOTE: The mostcomplete treatment of Robert Bartlett and his family may befound in George E. Bowman's account of the descendants ofRICHARD WARREN in MD 3:105-17. This article includesabstracts of all records relating to Robert Bartlett andcomplete transcripts of the probate documents and somecritical deeds, and is only slightly marred by a misguidedeffort to represent dates in both Old Style and New Style.A shorter but also excellent account may be found in MooreAnc 60-72. Paul W. Prindle included a solid version of thefamily in his limited edition Ancestors and Descendants ofTimothy Crosby Jr. (Orleans, Mass., 1981), 2:342-50. For amore recent brief presentation of this family see Robert S.Wakefield, Janice A. Beebe, et al., Richard Warren of theMayflower ... (MFIP, 4th ed., 1991 [referred to above asMFIP Warren]), which carefully presents the evidence forthe marriages of the children. |
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