Hon. John Russell Bartlett

John Russell Bartlett (October 23, 1805 – May 28, 1886) was an American historian and linguist.

Family

John Russell Bartlett was the son of Smith Bartlett and Nancy (Russell) Bartlett. He married Eliza Allen Rhodes of Pawtuxet, Rhode Island on May 15, 1831. They had seven children, including four daughter: Elizabeth Dorrance (1833-1840), Anna Russell (1835-1885), Leila (1846-1850), and Fanny Osgood (1850-1882). The last daughter was named for the poet, Frances Sargent Osgood, a friend of the family. Their three sons were Marine Corps Major Henry Anthony (1838-1901), George Francis (1840-1842), Captain, and later Rear Admiral on the Retired List, John R. Bartlett, USN, who served in the Civil War and Spanish–American War and who was also a noted oceanographer. Eliza died in 1853. On November 12, 1863, Bartlett married his second wife, Ellen Eddy, of Providence. [10]

Biography

John Russell Bartlett, who was born at Providence, Rhode Island, on the 23d of October, 1805. He was educated in Canada, and at Lowville Academy in the State of New York he was placed in a banking-house at an early age, and was for six years cashier of the Globe Bank, Providence. In 1837 Mr. Bartlett removed to New York, and entered a large commission house in that city. The business proving unsuccessful, he turned his attention from commercial pursuits, and with the aid of Mr. Charles Welford, established a book-store for the importation and sale of choice foreign works. In those days there was no better or more popular resort for literary men than the book-store of Bartlett Welford.

He became an active member of the New York Historical Society, and was for many years its Foreign corresponding Secretary. In 1842 he also, in conjunction with the Hon. Albert Gallatin, founded the American Ethnological Society, of which he was for several years the Corresponding Secretary. The meetings of the Society were frequently held at his house, No. I Amity Place, and were well attended by the cultivated residents of New York and vicinity. Travellers of intelligence, and distinguished literary gentlemen visiting the city, were invited to these gatherings, and were always welcomed at his hospitable home. In 1849, Mr. Bartlett retired from the book business, and the next year was appointed, by President Taylor, commissioner to fix the boundary line between the United States and Mexico, under the treaty of Guadalupe Hidalgo. He remained in this service until January, 1853, making surveys and explorations, accompanied by elaborate astronomical, magnetic, and meteorological, as well as geological, and botanical observations; but for want of the necessary means he was obliged to suspend operations, and return home before the boundary line was fully completed.

In 1854, he published a narrative of his explorations, and the incidents which occurred during these three years. This work of Mr. Bartlett is replete with interest, from the novelty of the region visited, and the happy manner in which he has jotted down his observations. The style is simple and unpretending, and all the more graphic and attractive on that account. The incidents, many exciting, some amusing, others humorous, and all entertaining evidently were recorded while they were fresh in the mind of the author; and in the same fresh way they will reach the mind of the reader." Previous to this he had published the "Progress of Ethnology," and "A Dictionary of Americanisms; A Glossary of Words and Phrases usually regarded as peculiar to the United States." In 1855, Mr. Bartlett was elected Secretary of State of Rhode Island, to which office he was re-elected annually for seventeen consecutive years; on one occasion receiving every vote polled in the State, being upwards of twenty-five thousand in number, from four political parties. His contributions during this period have been chiefly of a local nature connected with the State. Upon assuming the duties of his office he made an examination of the records which extend back to the foundation of the city of Providence, in 1636, by Roger Williams and his associates. Finding the old manuscripts in a perishable condition, he recommended the General Assembly of the State to have them put in order and the records printed. His plan met with the approval of that body and authority was given him to arrange the State Papers in books, so as to be accessible, as well as to edit and print the State "Records. He began his labors and brought out a volume of the Records every year, the tenth and last ending with the adoption of the Constitution of the United States by the State in 1792.

In 1866, Mr. Bartlett issued a work entitled "The Literature of the Rebellion," a catalogue of books and pamphlets relating to the late Civil War. With few exceptions the works described are in the collection of Mr. Bartlett. In 1867 was published in large quarto, and illustrated with portraits, his work entitled "Memoirs of Rhode Island Officers who have rendered distinguished Service to their Country in the Contest with the Great Rebellion of the South." We may also mention a costly work in four volumes, being a catalogue of the valuable library of Mr. John Carter Brown, of Providence, in the collection of which Mr. Bartlett rendered important aid. The fourth edition of his "Americanisms," revised and enlarged, was issued about Christmas, 1877, by Little, Brown & Co., Boston. The long and valuable services in behalf of his native State, as well as in the furtherance of the various societies with which he is connected, deserve to be held in grateful remembrance.

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From http://www.brown.edu/Facilities/John_Carter_Brown_Library/jrb/about...

About John Russell Bartlett

Born in Providence in October 1805, Bartlett was raised in Kingston, Ontario, by Smith Bartlett, a successful businessman, and his wife Nancy (neâe Russell). Without much exposure to formal education, Bartlett nevetheless applied his talents to learning and became a skilled draftsman, artist and bookkeeper by the time he was twenty. He returned to Providence at the age of 18 to work in his uncle's dry goods business and was subsequently employed as a teller and bookkeeper for several banks in the city. In 1831, at the age of twenty six, he married Eliza Allen Rhodes of Patuxent (Rhode Island) with whom he would have seven children between 1833 and 1850.

Bartlett's career in the book world is legendary. He was a co-founder of the Providence Athenaeum in the early 1830s, and served that institution as its first treasurer, librarian, and cataloger of books. After an ill-fated move to New York for a business venture that would fail in the Panic of 1837, Bartlett decided to devote himself to a career in books. He embarked on a partnership with Charles Welford under the name Bartlett & Welford, which dealt in British and foreign books as well as publishing. The Bartlett & Welford bookshop became the meeting place for the literary circles of New York City. Through the bookshop, Bartlett also established a link to John Carter Brown, then embarked on his venture to collect every publication published about the Americas from the time of Columbus. He served as the official librarian for John Carter Brown's library collection from 1856 until his death on May 28, 1886.

Bartlett was equally devoted to scientific study and scholarship. He joined a number of societies devoted to the advancement of human knowledge, including the Franklin Society (for the study of natural science), the Royal Society of Antiquarians, the American Geographical Society; the American Oriental Society, and a number of historical societies. While still in New York, he encountered former Treasury secretary Albert Gallatin, the "patriarch of scholars and public men in New York." Bartlett, through his acquaintance with Gallatin, went on to co-found the American Ethnological Society, an organization devoted to study of geography, archaeology, philology, and related fields. Bartlett also assisted in research for Gallatin's book, "Peace with Mexico," which was published by Bartlett & Welford in 1847. Bartlett returned to Providence in 1849, but was appointed to the Commission for the Mexican Boundary Question by President Taylor soon afterward. He served as Commissioner for three years before the funding for this project ran out. An account of his adventures, entitled "Personal Narrative of Incidents & Explorations in Texas, New Mexico, California, Senora, etc." was published in 1854. He returned to Providence in 1852, this time for good.

From 1855 to 1872, John Russell Bartlett undertook the part of his career for which he is perhaps best remembered in Rhode Island: his service as Secretary of State. During his seventeen years in this post, Bartlett undertook a wide variety of important tasks, including the establishment of a collection of portraits of the Governors of Rhode Island; raising funds for a monument to Gen. Ambrose Burnside, Rhode Island's most distinguished contribution to the Civil War; the preservation of early Rhode Island records, including those of Roger Williams; and the preparation and publication of state papers and records every year for ten years. In addition to his important role in promoting public records, Bartlett had an independent writing career that began in 1847 with the publication of the first volume of his "Dictionary of Americanisms," and eventually encompassed nineteen published works.

• Marriage 2 Ellen E. Eddy b: 1833 in Providence, RI
• Married: 12 Nov 1863 in Providence
• Person ID I60857 Nauset

http://capecodhistory.us/genealogy/getperson.php?personID=I60857&tr...

• https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/John_Russell_Bartlett
• http://www.gaspee.org/BartlettGaspee.html
  • Reference: MyHeritage Family Trees - SmartCopy: Dec 21 2016, 1:02:11 UTC
• Residence: 1850 - Warwick, Kent, Rhode Island, USA
  • Reference: 1850 United States Federal Census - SmartCopy: Dec 21 2016, 1:25:02 UTC