JOSIAH BARTLETT was
born November 21, 1729 in Amesbury, Massachusetts.He received the rudiments of a classical education and when he
was only sixteen he started studying medicine.He served as an apprentice for five years to a relative, Dr.
Ordway, of Amesbury.In
1750, after gaining the experience he needed, young Bartlett moved to
Kingston, New Hampshire, set up his practice, married a cousin, Mary
Bartlett of Newton, New Hampshire, and was soon busy raising he first of
his twelve children.
Dr. Bartlett's medical practice flourished, in part
due to the fact that in 1752 when drained by a fever, he was cured by a
treatment of his own after that of the local physicians had failed.He learned from this experience the value of freedom from
inflexible rules in practice.During
the prevalence of an alarming throat disease in 1754, he used Peruvian
bark with great success, although other physicians opposed this treatment.
Dr. Bartlett's political career began in 1765 with
his appointment as a provincial legislator, an office which he filled
annually until the revolution.Here
he frequently opposed the royal policy. Governor Wentworth, hoping
to gain his support, appointed him a magistrate and later, in 1770, to
the command of a militia regiment.His staunch support of the cause of the Patriots led to his
dismissal from the post of justice of the peace by the Royal Governor
and presumably, to the burning of his house.In 1774, the loss of his house prevented his serving as delegate
to the first continental congress, but he was reelected to the second
and was present when the Declaration was adopted and signed.As the roll was called from north to south, it was Dr. Bartlett
who cast the very first vote for independence on July 4, 1776 as the
senior member representing New Hampshire.
In June 1776, Dr. Bartlett was appointed general
naval agent, and resigned from congress sometime that fall.In 1777 he was with Stark at Bennington, engaged as agent of the
state in providing New Hampshire troops with medical supplies.In March 1778, Dr. Bartlett was again elected to congress, and
still again the following August.In
October he obtained a leave of absence to attend to his private business, and from that time was prominent in state rather than national
affairs.In 1789 the death
of his wife caused him to suffer a great depression, and he declined an
election to the United States Senate, pleading advanced age.He was, however, chosen president of New Hampshire in 1790 and
served three successive years, and when the title was changed to
Governor, he was the first man to bear it, an office he held until 1794.
Josiah Bartlett died May
19, 1795 in his sixty-sixth year.
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&
The article "The
Declaration of Independence: A History,"
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its preservation today at the National Archives.
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