William Bartlet. From D. Hamilton Hurd's History of Essex County, Massachusetts, 1888. Among those who funded the seminary was William Bartlet (1748-1841) of Newburyport, the son of a shoemaker who had done very well for himself. Initially, he apprenticed in the cobbling trade -- seven years with his father. But “[t]here can be little doubt … that he early conceived the design of becoming rich,” wrote Reverend Daniel Dana in a memorial after his death. [1] The “germ of [Bartlet's] future wealth” was a small share in a vessel, Dana recounted. [2] From there he eventually acquired a fleet and “was known in a hundred ports,” wrote The Newburyport Herald. [3] He traded in both the East and West Indies. “He gave away and lost at sea more property than any estate probated in the county of Essex to that date, and still was a millionaire," claimed D. Hamilton Hurd's History of Essex County. [4] Even after the embargoes “had killed commerce,” Bartlet thrived. [5] For in addition to his shipping business, he had manufactories in Newburyport and Byfield.
He never did go where his ships went. “So busy was this man, so indefatigable in his labors, that in a hundred years, save seven, he never, but once, was seventy miles from the house in which he was born.” [6] The house he lived in as a rich man was a grand one on Newburyport's wide, elegant Federal Street. He apparently never forgot his humble beginnings, however. He "preserved his [cobbler] ‘seat and tools,’ handing them down as a family memorial.” [7]
There are other colorful details to be found about Bartlet, who donated $250,000 to the seminary, a remarkable sum if considered in today's dollars. [8] For example, while his surname is sometimes written with two t's, he is said to have preferred the shorter version, because he was a simple man with simple tastes and had no need for frills. But of his religious beliefs, there hasn't been much recorded, except of course by Reverend Bentley. “His boundless ambition proved vexation even to the fanatic zeal of his patron Mr. Bartlet,” he wrote when the Reverend Edward Dorr Griffin, who had been named the seminary's first Bartlet Professor of Sacred Rhetoric, did not stay long. [9]
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1. Daniel Dana, A Tribute to the Memory of William Bartlet, Esquire (Andover: Gould, Newman, & Saxton, 1841), 17.
2. Ibid.
3. “William Bartlet,” Andover Advertiser, August 4, 1855. Reprinted from The Newburyport Herald.
4. D. Hamilton Hurd, History of Essex County, Massachusetts, with biogra[hical sketches of many of its pioneers and prominent men (Philadelphia: J.W. Lewis & Co., 1888), 1804.
5. "William Bartlet."
6. Hurd, 1806.
7. "William Bartlett."
8. What was valued at $250,000 in 1807 is the equivalent of $6,230,797 today, according to https://www.officialdata.org/us/inflation/1807?amount=250000 Retrieved May 20, 2022.
9. Bentley, April 30, 1815.
He never did go where his ships went. “So busy was this man, so indefatigable in his labors, that in a hundred years, save seven, he never, but once, was seventy miles from the house in which he was born.” [6] The house he lived in as a rich man was a grand one on Newburyport's wide, elegant Federal Street. He apparently never forgot his humble beginnings, however. He "preserved his [cobbler] ‘seat and tools,’ handing them down as a family memorial.” [7]
There are other colorful details to be found about Bartlet, who donated $250,000 to the seminary, a remarkable sum if considered in today's dollars. [8] For example, while his surname is sometimes written with two t's, he is said to have preferred the shorter version, because he was a simple man with simple tastes and had no need for frills. But of his religious beliefs, there hasn't been much recorded, except of course by Reverend Bentley. “His boundless ambition proved vexation even to the fanatic zeal of his patron Mr. Bartlet,” he wrote when the Reverend Edward Dorr Griffin, who had been named the seminary's first Bartlet Professor of Sacred Rhetoric, did not stay long. [9]
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1. Daniel Dana, A Tribute to the Memory of William Bartlet, Esquire (Andover: Gould, Newman, & Saxton, 1841), 17.
2. Ibid.
3. “William Bartlet,” Andover Advertiser, August 4, 1855. Reprinted from The Newburyport Herald.
4. D. Hamilton Hurd, History of Essex County, Massachusetts, with biogra[hical sketches of many of its pioneers and prominent men (Philadelphia: J.W. Lewis & Co., 1888), 1804.
5. "William Bartlet."
6. Hurd, 1806.
7. "William Bartlett."
8. What was valued at $250,000 in 1807 is the equivalent of $6,230,797 today, according to https://www.officialdata.org/us/inflation/1807?amount=250000 Retrieved May 20, 2022.
9. Bentley, April 30, 1815.
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