Author; born in
Providence, R. I., Oct. 23, 1805.
He was for six years cashier of the Globe Bank in
Providence, and an active member of the Franklin Society for the Cultivation of Science.
He was also one of the projectors of the Athenaeum in
Providence, and for some time corresponding secretary of the New York Historical Society.
Mr. Bartlett was associated with
Albert Gallatin as a projector and founder of the American Ethnological Society.
In 1850 he was appointed by
President Taylor a commissioner, under the treaty of peace with
Mexico in 1848, to settle the boundary-line between that country and the
United States.
He was engaged in that service until Jan. 7, 1853, making extensive surveys and explorations, with elaborate scientific observations; but, owing to a failure of Congress to make the necessary appropriations, he did not complete his work.
He published a personal narrative of his experience in that region in 1854.
In May, 1855, he was chosen secretary of
state of Rhode Island, which post he held until 1872, a period of seventeen years. He edited and published the
Records of the colony of Rhode Island and Providence plantations, in, 10 volumes; also an
Index to the acts and resolves of the General Assembly of Rhode Island from 1758 to 1862.
In 1847
Mr. Bartlett published a little volume on the
Progress of Ethnology; and in 1848 a
Dictionary of Americanisms, since revised and enlarged.
He also published a
Bibliography of Rhode Island;
Literature of the rebellion;
Memoirs of Rhode Island men;
Primerval man, and several other works.
He died in
Providence, R. I., May 28, 1886.
