The Bartlett Name Website

Welcome to the Bartlett Name Website. The name is not that common; but it is not that rare either. It started in England and at specific locations within England and spread, as migrations started, first to America and then to Australia and elsewhere where English-speaking people went.

I can see three strands to this journey:

A Lineage.  The name can be said to have a pedigree, both in England and America. In England, a Bartlett lineage can reputedly be traced back to the Norman Conquest in 1066; in America, to the Mayflower generation of colonists that first landed on Plymouth Rock in the 1620's.

Sea Farers.  Many Bartletts were seafarers.  That perhaps is their Dorset heritage.   Two prime examples are Captain Bob Bartlett, the Arctic explorer, and Captain Charles Bartlett who captained ocean liners and was known as "Iceberg Charlie."

And An Underclass.  There were, however, many more Bartletts who were poor and struggling and whose stories were rarely handed down. They existed in the underclass of society in the eighteenth and nineteenth centuries and they probably exist there today as well. They need celebrating too. My own Bartlett connection in all likelihood comes into this category; and that is why perhaps I wanted to remember, where I could, these Bartletts too.

This, in any case, is my own personalized rambling through the Bartlett history. It is meant more as a good read for Bartlett enthusiasts like myself. Some good stories are to be found (there are links from the text to the web story page).  And those tracing their roots and ancestors may find some useful pointers here.

I welcome your feedback and your queries and comments.

Colin Bartlett Shelley