Bartlett, Lewis I.

The following data is extracted from Biography and Genealogy of Western Massachusetts, 1639-1925.

President of the Springfield Motors Specialties Company, Incorporated, was born in Holyoke, Massachusetts, May 3, 1887, the son of William Cornelius Bartlett and Harriet I. (Wolcott) Bartlett, of Holyoke. He is a great-great-grandson of Elijah Bartlett, who was a soldier of the Revolution. Elijah Bartlett, his son Oliver, his son Lewis H., and his son, William C., were all of Northampton, Massachusetts. William C. Bartlett located in Springfield, in 1873, and after a successful career as builder withdrew to engage in the automobile business. He died in 1923. He was the victim of a peculiar accident about forty years ago. which apparently had no bearing in regard to his death. While a carpenter and working at his trade, he fell from a building in Holyoke, Massachusetts, and had a piece of timber thrust entirely through his body. His life then was despaired of, but surgical and hospital work saved him.

The Bartlett family of New England dates back to Richard Bartlett, a native of Wiltshire, England, where he was born in 1575. He was able to trace descent through twelve generations of Englishmen to Adam Bartlett, an esquire who came to England in the train of William the Conqueror, had estates in Sussex, and died and was buried in Stopham. The family bore arms, and in the sixteenth century a crest was granted them, viz.: A swan in commemoration of the right granted Sir John Bartlett to keep Swans on the River Arum. From this ancestor descended a numerous and influential family, including Josiah Bartlett, of New Hampshire, a member of the Continental Congress and a signer of the Declaration of Independence. Robert Bartlett, his descendant, was in Cambridge in 1632; moved to Northampton in 1655, and was killed by the Indians in 1676. Elijah Bartlett, of Northampton, was among his descendants. Oliver Bartlett, son of Elijah Bartlett, was born in the city of Northampton, Massachusetts, in 1793, and died there January 2, 1857. He was a millwright by trade and, as the result of an accident, was so badly crippled that he was helpless for the last twenty years of his life. He married Eunice Munyon, and they were the parents of eight children: Augustine, born October 17, 1814; Chauncey, born December 27, 1816; Lewis H.; Jane, born April 15, 1822; Catherine, born February 27, 1824; Oliver W., born March 9, 1826; Anson, born October 7, 1830; and Horace, born April 24, 1834. All since deceased.

Lewis H. Bartlett was born in Northampton, May 23, 1819, and died in Easthampton, Massachusetts, in 1892. He learned the carpenter's trade and until 1869 continued in the contracting business in Northampton. In 1869 he moved to Westfield, Massachusetts, and went from there to a farm he purchased in West Holyoke, remaining there until his death. He was a man of clear brain and mind, deeply interested in educational matters, and took an active part in the Lyceum debates common at the time in rural communities. He married Julia Ann Jane Hastings, of Northampton, daughter of Ozias Hastings. They were the parents of: 1. Helen M., born in 1846, married Ashley W. Dickinson, since dead; she resides in Westfield. 2. Chauncey 1., born in 1849. 3. William Cornelius, of whom further. 4. Dwight. 5. Elizabeth, born in 1856, since dead. 6. Minnie, born October 21, 1859, married A. S. Eldridge, of Westfield. 7. Lewis H., Jr.. born June 3, 1861. 8. George 0., born July 7, 1864, died in 1925. Lewis H., Jr., George 0., and William C., are residents of Springfield.

William Cornelius Bartlett was born in Northampton, October 18, 1852, and was there educated in the public schools. After leaving school he passed four years with his father, learning the trade of carpenter, and following that service with four years more passed in learning the trade of mason. This trade he followed in different places until 1883, when at thirty-one years of age he came to Springfield. He engaged in the carpenter and builders trade for a number of years, and with his brothers organized the firm of Bartlett Brothers, who executed many large contracts for building and other construction. Among the important buildings they erected while William C. Bartlett was an active member of the firm were: Holyoke Young Men's Christian Association; two paper mills in Holyoke; Warren Thread Mills, of Westfield; the Allen Brothers' Building, in Westfield; Taber Prang Art Company Building in Springfield, and many factories and dwelling houses in Westfield, Holyoke, and Springfield. Bartlett Brothers finally retired from the field as contracting builders, and engaged in business as dealers in lumber and builders' supplies. This continued until 1912, when the firm was dissolved. William C. Bartlett then engaged in the automobile business, and erected the Forest Park Garage at Belmont and Dickinson streets, and became general agent for the Oldsmobile Company, of Detroit. For several years he conducted the Forest Park Garage and agency successfully. He thereupon sold the entire business and organized the Springfield Motor Specialties Company, Incorporated, becoming president and treasurer. During the years 1893, 1894, and 1895, Mr. Bartlett represented the ward where he lived as councilman in the Springfield City Government. He was a member of Roswell Lee Lodge, Free and Accepted Masons, and of De Soto Lodge, Independent Order of Odd Fellows, both of Springfield. Mr. Bartlett married (first), October 17, 1884, Harriet 1. Wolcott, of Holyoke, a daughter of Noah and Lucy T. (Elsey) Wolcott. He married (second), Isabella Kendall. The children of the first marriage were: t. Lucy 1., twin with Lewis 1. She married George H. Powers, who died in 1918, leaving two children, Florence B. and Doris I. 2. Lewis I., twin with Lucy I., of whom further.

Lewis I. Bartlett was educated in the public schools of Springfield and the Springfield High School. He engaged in business in 1911 with George H. Powers, his brother-in-law. They conducted the Forest Park Garage until the death of Mr. Powers in 1918. Mr. Bartlett also organized the Automotive Electrical Service Station, at No. 147 Chestnut Street, Springfield, which he has conducted to the present time. He is president of the Springfield Motor Specialties Company, Incorporated, while Charles I. Weston is vice-president, and Ralph S. Graves, treasurer. He is a Republican in politics, and was elected a member of the Common Council for the terms 1924, 1927, to represent Ward Seven of Springfield. He is on the important committee of City Property. He is a member of Melha Temple, Ancient Arabic Order Nobles of the Mystic Shrine; member of all Scottish Rite bodies, including the Consistory, thirty-second degree; of the Chamber of Commerce, of the Nayasset Club, the Kiwanis Club, and the Young Men's Christian Association. He attends Trinity Methodist Episcopal Church, in Springfield.

Lewis I. Bartlett was married in Springfield, July 6, 1912, to Carrie E. Jones, born March 28, 1888, in Plymouth, Massachusetts. She was the daughter of Ebenezer Jones, born in Baliston Spa, New York, and of Mary (Frost) Jones, born in Albany, New York. Mr. and Mrs. Bartlett are the parents of Irving Henry Bartlett, born in Springfield, Massachusetts, February 2, 1923. Mr. Bartlett's business address is No. 147 Chestnut Street, Springfield.

Source: Biography and Genealogy of Western Massachusetts, 1639-1925

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