Bartlett, Josiah, 1729-1795

<ul><b>RACES</b>
<li>03/12/1793 NH Governor Won 74.97% (+61.72%)</li>
<li>03/13/1792 NH Governor Won 96.46% (+92.92%)</li>
<li>03/08/1791 NH Governor Won 96.79% (+93.58%)</li>
<li>03/09/1790 NH Governor Won 21.59% (-19.49%)</li>
<li>03/10/1789 NH Governor Lost 11.34% (-31.51%)</li>
<li>03/13/1787 NH Governor Lost 6.84% (-32.81%)</li>
<li>03/08/1785 NH Governor Lost 10.17% (-25.10%)</li>
<li>12/31/1777 NH Continental Congress Won 100.00% (+100.00%)</li>
<li>12/31/1776 NH Continental Congress Won 100.00% (+100.00%)</li>
<li>12/31/1775 NH Continental Congress Won 100.00% (+100.00%)</li>
<li>12/31/1774 NH Continental Congress Won 100.00% (+100.00%)</li>
</ul>

<p>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.</p>

<p>Josiah Bartlett was born at 276 Main Street in Amesbury, in the Province of Massachusetts Bay, to Stephen and Hannah-Mary (Webster) Bartlett. His father Stephen was the son of Richard and Hannah (Emery) Bartlett. He was their fifth child and fourth son. By age 17, he had learned some of both Latin and Greek. He also began the study of medicine, working in the office of Dr. Ordway of Amesbury at the same time. Before Bartlett turned 21, in 1750, he moved to Kingston, New Hampshire, in Rockingham County, and began his practice. Kingston at that time was a frontier settlement of only a few hundred families, and Bartlett was the only doctor in that part of the county at the time. He purchased land and a farm.</p>

<p>On January 15, 1754, he married Mary Bartlett of Newton, New Hampshire. She was his cousin, the daughter of his uncle, Joseph. They would remain married until her death on July 14, 1789. Josiah and Mary had three sons and seven daughters: Mary (1754), Lois (1756), Miriam (1758), Rhoda (1760), Hannah (who died as an infant in 1762), Levi (1763), Josiah (1768), Ezra (1770), Sarah (1773), and Hannah (1776, also died as an infant). All three of his sons and seven of his grandsons would follow him as physicians.</p>

Josiah Bartlett was born at Amesbury, Massachusetts, in November, 1729. He studied medicine, and practiced as a physician at Kingston, in New Hampshire. He became involved in politics and was elected a member of the Colonial Legislature. He was noted as a principled legislator, not susceptible to pressure from the Royal Governor, and as an active advocate against British oppression. He was a member of a Committee of Safety, and served as commander of a militia regiment in 1775. In that year he was also elected to represent New Hampshire in the Continental Congress. He voted for independence, and was the first to sign the Declaration, after John Hancock. He continued to serve in 1777 and participated in the ratification of the Articles of Confederation. He later filled the offices of Judge of Common Pleas and of the Supreme Court of his state, and joined the federal Constitutional Convention in 1787. He was elected president, and then governor, of New Hampshire. He died May 19, 1795.