John Bartlett
Known in later years as "old Jack Bartlett".
Family tradition recounts that John is the son of John Bartlett and Mary Endacott, both of whom had lost their partners in first marriages and who each had earlier children from their previous marriages. No record has been located of John Bartlett Senior's first marriage and Mary's first husband died in 1837 in Exeter in Devon, England. John Bartlett Senior and Mary Endacott married in Exeter in 1841. While no record has been located of John Bartlett Junior's birth in England, his gravestone in Australia states that he was aged 75 years when he died in 1909. From this information, it has been calculated that he was born in approximately 1836. If the birth date is correct, it becomes less likely that he was the son of Mary Endacott as there is no suggestion that she had been unfaithful to her husband in his lifetime and her second marriage in 1841 was after a socially acceptable period of mourning for her first husband. An alternative possibility is that John Bartlett's age at death was seriously erroneous. The informant for the registration of his death was his 21-year-old son, Edwin, who may have guessed or been misinformed about Jack. The report that he was known in later years as "old" Jack Bartlett might suggest that he looked and behaved beyond his actual years. The death certificate also records an incorrect name for Jack's first spouse - young Edwin, the informant for the registration did not know the correct name of the mother of his older half-brothers. The death certificate states that he was age 33 and 46 years respectively at the times of his two marriages in 1868 and 1880 - consistent with his having been born in 1835 or 1836.
In the registration of his death, the identities of the parents is stated to be unknown. And yet the Merrendee area was thick with Endacott relatives and it is difficult to believe that they would not have known if indeed "old Jack's" mother was their shared Endacott matriach. One fact that is stated on the death certificate is that he had been born at Land's End, Cornwall, in England. The only record located for a John Bartlett born in Land's End (Penzance) was a birth in December 1843 to parents named William Bartlett and Mary Binmore and this record has therefore been discounted. However, if John Bartlett was born in Land's End, this other Bartlett may be a cousin from the same extended family group.
Compulsory registration of births, marriages and deaths was mandated in England from September 1837 and the inability to find a record of his birth suggests that it may have occurred prior to that date when the only near-birth records were christenings, if they occurred. Christenings were recorded in parish registers, many of which (but not all) have been organised and indexed. It supports the possibility that "old Jack Bartlett" was born prior to September 1837 which would be consistent with the age stated on his gravestone and death certificate. It leads towards the possibility that he was the step-son of Mary Bartlett rather than her biological son.
Family legend is that Mary and John Bartlett Senior migrated to New South Wales between 1848 and 1850, and were accompanied by some of their children, including John Bartlett Junior. Once again, no documents have been located in regard to the migration of any of the members of this family group.
His step-brother, possibly half-brother, James Hooper Endacott crossed the Blue Mountains in the New South Wales gold rush and John Bartlett apparently accompanied or followed. They settled in the area then known as Merrendee, later re-named Yarrabin, between Mudgee and Wellington.
On 26 October 1868, John Bartlett, bachelor and gold miner of Merrendee, married Grace Lawrence, a spinster and domestic assistant also of Merrendee. The age of neither partner nor details of any parents were included in the registration. However a footnote states that Nathaniel Lawrence consented to the marriage as his daughter was under twenty-one years of age. (A record of Grace's birth in 1851 was found : NSW registration V18511777 141/1851).The ceremony was conducted at St John the Baptist church, Mudgee, according to the rites of the Church of England.
Grace Bartlett, aged only 22, died in 1873 (registered twice NSW regn numbers 5317/1873 and 5322/1873) which must have coincided closely with the birth of the third son. It left John Bartlett a grieving widower with three young sons although, as noted below, the infant son was raised by someone else. Their three sons were:
- John Bartlett, born 1870 (NSW registration 12834/1870); married Nina Rose Jones in 1900 and they had a large family. He died 18 September 1943 and was buried at Mudgee, NSW. Nina died on 30 September 1974, aged 92 years and also buried at Mudgee.
- James Bartlett, born 1871 (NSW registration 13338/1871); never married; died 10 January 1939; buried Mudgee NSW.
- William Bartlett, born 1873 (NSW registration 13999/1873). He was reared by Mrs Tritton and became known as Billy Tritton. A search of records has thus far identified only one record that might relate to this son. NSW death registration 1896/9295 records the death of "William Stretton, otherwise Tritton", a carrier by occupation, on 30 July 1896 "on the road from Bourke to Louth, 20 miles from Bourke". The record states that the verdict of the coroner was "accidentally run over by loaded waggon whilst in a state of intoxication." Details of the deceased person's parents are stated as "unknown". The death certificate states the deceased was aged between 30 and 35 years but young William Tritton would have been only 23 at this time. However if there was no family present, his parentage etc. was unknown and he had had a hard life, possibly with extensive intoxication, it may have been difficult to estimate the age of the corpse at the time of death. While other leads might yet eventuate, it seems probable that the young William Bartlett, who lost his biological mother at the time of his birth and was raised away from his biological family, died in a road accident while intoxicated in outback New South Wales. If so, he was not much older at death than his mother would have been when she died.
On 18 September 1880, john Bartlett, widower and gold miner of Merrendee, married Mary Jane Finlay, spinster and servant of Mudgee, in St Paul's Manse, Mudgee, according to the rites of the Presbyterian Church (NSW registration 4077/1880).
The children of this marriage were:
- George H. Bartlett, born approx. 1882 (probably NSW registration 21815/1882 in which the child's name is stated to be John H. Bartlett born in Mudgee district, son of John and Mary J Bartlett); died 1962 at age 80, buried at Mudgee NSW. Married Mildred Mabel Everingham who died 27 October 1971 aged 84 years.
- Arthur J. Bartlett, born 1884 (NSW registration 25621/1884); served in AIF; died 26 July 1968 and buried at Mudgee, NSW.
- Edwin Augustus Bartlett, born 1887 (NSW registration 28021/1887); married Eliza Ilma Mogg. At one time he became mayor of Mudgee. Died 29 April 1939. (Eliza died 02 April 1979 aged 91 years)
- Ernest R. Bartlett, born 1889 (NSW registration 27420/1889), died at age 13 years and 3 months at Merrendee on 25 January 1903 (NSW death regn 2613/1903). The story handed down in the family is that the siblings were all cleaning weapons on the verandah of the family home when one of the guns accidentally discharged. The grave at Merrendee cemetery includes the phrase "Why should our tears run down.";
- Elsie M. Bartlett, born 1891 (NSW registration 23299/1891);
- Donald W. Bartlett, born 1894 (NSW registration 22274/1894 ), died 24 August 1894 at age 5 months at Merrendee (NSW death regn 8806/1894);
- Rose E. Bartlett, born 1895 (NSW registration 24595/1895); and
- Herbert D. Bartlett, born 1898 (NSW registration 5240/1898).
John died in 1909 and his widow, although much younger than him, survived him by only three years. Mary Jane Bartlett died on 3 October 1912 in a mining accident at Merrendee where she was prospecting. The Index to Miners Accidents Reported in the Annual Reports of the NSW Department of Mines, 1906-1914, compiled by John Berry, records that Mary J. Bartlett, a prospector, was killed in the Merrendee Mining Reserve by a "fall of ground". Buried at Yarrabin cemetery. Her youngest children were still teenagers at the time.
Gravestones at Merrendee (now renamed Yarrabin) read:
|
In loving memory of our dear father, JOHN BARTLETT Died 16th July 1909 aged 75 years Peace Perfect Peace |
In loving memory of our dear mother, MARY JANE BARTLETT Died 3rd October 1912 aged 54 years old Rest in Peace |
Gravestone transcriptions provided by Lynly Boyle,
a descendent of John Bartlett.
