Bartlett, Josiah, 1729-1795

Josiah Bartlett (December 2, 1729 [O.S. November 21, 1729] – May 19, 1795) was an American Founding Father, physician, statesman, a delegate to the Continental Congress for New Hampshire, and a signatory to the Articles of Confederation and the Declaration of Independence. He served as the first governor of New Hampshire and chief justice of the New Hampshire Superior Court of Judicature.

Born in Amesbury in the Province of Massachusetts Bay, by age 17, he had learned some of both Latin and Greek and began the study of medicine, working in the office of Dr. Ordway of Amesbury at the same time. Before Bartlett turned 21, he moved to Kingston, New Hampshire, in Rockingham County, and began his practice. Bartlett actively practiced medicine for 45 years. Bartlett became active in the political affairs of Kingston, and in 1765 he was elected to the colonial assembly. In 1767, he became the colonel of his county's militia, and Governor John Wentworth appointed him justice of the peace. As the Revolution neared, his Whig policies brought him into opposition with Wentworth.

In 1774, Bartlett joined the Assembly's committee of correspondence and began his work with the revolutionary leaders of the other 12 colonies. Later that year, when Wentworth dismissed, or prorogued, the Assembly, Josiah was elected to its revolutionary (and illegal) successor, the Provincial Assembly. When the assembly appointed Bartlett and John Pickering as delegates to the Continental Congress, he declined because he wished to attend to his family, but remained active in New Hampshire's affairs. In one of Governor Wentworth's last acts before being expelled from New Hampshire in 1775, he revoked Bartlett's commissions as justice, militia colonel, and assemblyman. Bartlett was selected as a delegate again in 1775, and attended that session as well as the meetings in 1776. Indeed, for a time in late 1775 and early 1776, he was the only delegate attending from New Hampshire. Much of the work of the Congress was carried out in committees. The most important of these had a delegate from each state, which meant that Bartlett served on all of them, including those of safety, secrecy, munitions, marine, and civil government. In 1777, he declined a return to the Congress, citing fatigue. But when trouble threatened, he used his medical skills and accompanied John Stark's forces to the Battle of Bennington in August. He was re-elected to Congress in 1778 and served on the committee that drafted the Articles of Confederation. But, after the articles were adopted, he returned to New Hampshire to attend to personal business.

Although he remained in the state after 1778, in 1779 he returned to his role as a judge, serving in the Court of Common Pleas. Then in 1782 he was appointed to the New Hampshire Supreme Court. In 1788, Bartlett was made the chief justice of the state supreme court. That same year he was a delegate to the New Hampshire convention for adoption of the U.S. Constitution, serving part of the time as its chairman. He argued for ratification, which took place on June 21, 1788. The legislature of the new state of New Hampshire selected him to be a U. S. Senator, but he declined the office. When the new state constitution took effect in 1792, he became governor. He resigned in 1794 after four years because of declining health. He retired to his home in Kingston and died there on May 19, 1795. The cause of death was paralysis. He is buried next to his wife Mary in the Plains Cemetery, also at Kingston.