A signer of the
Declaration of Independence; born in
Amesbury, Mass., Nov. 21, 1729; educated in a common school and taught the science of medicine by a practitioner in his native town, he began practice in
Kingston, N. H., in 1750, and soon became eminent.
He was a member of the New Hampshire legislature from 1705 until the breaking out of the
War of the Revolution.
In 1770 he was appointed by the royal governor lieutenant-colonel of the militia, but on account of his patriotic tendencies he was deprived of the office in 1775.
He was a member of the committee of safety, upon whom for a time devolved the whole executive power of the of government of the
State.
A delegate to Congress in 1775-76, he was the first to give his vote for the
Declaration of Independence, and its first signer after the
President of Congress.
He was with
Stark in the
Bennington campaign (see
Bennington, battle of), in 1777.
as agent of the
State to provide medicine and other necessaries for the
New Hampshire troops.
In Congress again in 1778, he was active in committee duties: and in 1779 he was appointed chief-justice of the
Common Pleas in his State.
In 1782 he was a judge of the Superior Court of
New Hampshire, and chief-justice in 1788.
Judge,
Bartlett retired from public life
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in 1794, on account of feeble health, having been president of the
State from 1790 to 1793, and, under the new constitution, governor in 1793.
He was the chief founder and the president of the New Hampshire Medical Society, and received the honorary degree of M. D. from Dartmouth College.
He died May 19, 1795.
