|
Josiah Bartlett Josiah Bartlett was born 21 November 1729 in Amesbury, Essex County, Massachusetts. He was the son of Stephen and Mary Webster Bartlett. A Revolutionary patriot, Josiah was the first to give his vote for the declaration of independence, and was the second to sign it. He received the rudiments of a classical education, and when only sixteen began the study of medicine with his relative, Dr. Ordway, of Amesbury. He was married on Jan. 15, 1754, to his cousin Mary Bartlett of Newton, Mass. They had twelve children, and three of his sons and seven of his grandsons became physicians  Josiah Bartlett began political life in 1765 as a delegate to the legislature, an office which he held until the revolution. In 1767 he was appointed by the royal governor, John Wentworth, as justice of the peace and soon after a colonel of a regiment of militia, but when, during the progress of the controversy between Great Britain and the colonies, he took the side of the people with vigor and unfaltering courage, he was soon dismissed from these offices, in February 1775. A Revolutionary patriot, Josiah was the first to give his vote for the declaration of independence, and the second to sign it. During the year of 1774 he was recognized as an active patriot by his appointment on the important Committee of Correspondence of the Provincial Assembly and by his election to that Assembly’s Revolutionary successor, the first Provincial Congress, which chose him as one of two delegates from New Hampshire to the first Continental Congress. Because of the recent destruction of his house by fire, believed to have been set due to his activity in the popular cause he was unable to accept this election. In 1775-76 he was again chosen as a delegate to the Continental Congress, and in the latter year was the first to give his vote in favor of the adoption of the Declaration of Independence, to which his name was duly affixed. Although reelected to the Continental Congress for 1777 he was unable to service, because he was worn out by his arduous duties in that body during the previous year, but while at home he was still busy with public affairs.
He became chief justice of the court of common pleas in 1779, muster master of troops in 1780, justice of the superior court in 1782, and chief justice in 1788. In 1788 he was an active member of the state convention that adopted the federal constitution. In 1789 the death of his wife greatly depressed him, and he declined an election to the United States senate because of his advanced age. He was, however, chosen president of the state by the legislature in 1790 and in 1791 and 1792 by popular election. During 1790 Dartmouth College had conferred upon Josiah Bartlett, whose keen interest in his profession had not abated during the long period when his preoccupation with public affairs had interrupted his regular practise, the honorary degree of Doctor of Medicine. In 1793 he became the first governor of New Hampshire under the new state constitution, which office he held till 1794. At the close of his term of office in 1794, because of ill health he withdrew from politics. Josiah died on 19 May 1795. Josiah Bartlett is described by his contemporaries as a tall man of fine figure, affable but dignified in his manner, and very particular in his dress. He wore his auburn hair in a queue, a white stock at his throat, ruffles at his wrists, short clothes, silk hose, low shoes with silver buckles. Birth: Nov. 21, 1729 Death: May. 19, 1795 Burial: Kingston |