Josiah Bartlett

He married his cousin, Mary Bartlett, in 1754. The couple had 12 children of whom four died in infancy. Mary was an intelligent and hardworking woman who supported her husband and raised the children well even in his absence.

He suffered from poor health during his later years and died in 1795 at the age of 65.

Josiah Bartlett was born as one of the seven children of Stephen Bartlett and Hannah Mary Webster. His father was a shoemaker who did well in his work and raised his large family comfortably.

He received formal education under the tutelage of an Amesbury school master and also learnt Latin and Greek.

He began to study medicine under Dr. James Ordway when he was only 16 years of age. He received practical instructions from the doctor and read books from the library to supplement his knowledge.

Along with medicine and science, he also had an interest in mathematics and history.

He moved to Kingston in 1750 to begin his career in medicine. He boarded with Rev. Joseph Seccombe who had the custody of an extensive library. Bartlett used this opportunity to acquire vast knowledge, both, from his interactions with Rev. Seccombe and through the use of his library.

He was only 21 at the time he began his practice, but soon became a well-known doctor due to his expertise. At that time, he was the only doctor in the small settlement of Kingston, and hundreds of families depended upon him for medical care.

In 1752, he had a raging fever which threatened to take his life. Going against the conventional practice of those days to keep a patient away from cool liquids, he insisted on drinking cool cider at regular intervals which ultimately cured him.

Kingston was struck by an epidemic of diphtheria, known as ‘throat distemper’ at that time, which killed over 100 people. Small children were especially susceptible to this disease. He used a new procedure, using Peruvian bark and other medicines to successfully treat the patients.

In 1757, he was made the town selectman and he earned the trust and respect of his fellowmen due to his concern for public welfare. He actively participated in public affairs and was known to be a man of high moral principles.

His major achievement as a physician was discovering an effective cure for diphtheria. The disease had claimed over a 100 lives in Kingston, New Hampshire during the 1750s when he found out that Peruvian bark was effective in treating the patients, thereby greatly reducing further causalities.

He was the first person to vote for the adoption of the Declaration of Independence and the second to sign on the Declaration on 2 August 1776.