JOHN BARTLETT

BARTLETT, TEETER, STARKS

Posted By: Mona Sarratt Knight (email)
Date: 7/3/2009 at 19:01:36

SOURCE: Past and Present of Lucas and Wayne Counties, Iowa; A Record of Settlement, Organization, Progress, and Achievement, Vol. II; Chicago, The S. J. Clarke Publishing Co.; 1913; p. 191-192.

Iowa numbers among her native sons many able, progressive and enterprising business men not the least prominent among whom is John B. Bartlett, proprietor of a feed yard and implement business in Seymour. He was born in Appanoose County in 1855 and is a son of James and Mary Jane (Starks) Bartlett, the former a native of Tennessee and the latter of Indiana. The Bartlett family was founded in Iowa by the grandfather of our subject, Isaac Bartlett, who came to the state from Tennessee in the early '40s and acquired a large tract of government land. On the maternal side, Mr. Bartlett is a descendant of Caleb Starks, who came with his family from Indiana to Iowa in pioneer times. The parents of our subject wre married in Appanoose county and in that section the father followed farming until the outbreak of the Civil war, when he enlisted in the Federal army, afterward meeting death upon southern battlefields. His wife later married Nate Buress, a farmer of Appanoose County, who spent a few years of his life in Kansas. John B. Bartlett was one of a family of five children born to his parents. He acquired his education in the public schools of his native section and began his independent career in 1874, purchasing at that time his first forty acres of land in Appanoose county, Iowa. He was very successful in its development and cultivation and as his financial resources grew he added to his holdings until at the present time he owns four hundred and eighty acres of land. During the course of his agricultural career he bought and sold many acres of farming lands, his transactions along this line being always directed by good business judgment and a knowledge of land values. At one time he owned over five hundred acres but has since disposed of a portion of this property. In 1911 he abandoned agricultural pursuits in favor of a business career and moved into Seymour, where he opened a feed and implement business, in the conduct of which he has already achieved a gratifying measure of success. In 1880 Mr. Bartlett married Miss Ellen Teeter, a native of Appanoose County and a daughter of C.N. Teeter of that section. Mr. and Mrs. Bartlett have become the parents of four children: Frank, a farmer residing in Wayne county; Allie, who married Lester Webb, also engaged in farming in Wayne county; Ray, who is residing upon the old hmestead; and James, whose home is in Montana. Mrs. Bartlett is a devout adherent of the Methodist church. Mr. Bartlett is affiliated with the Modern Woodmen of America, and his political allegiance is given to the democratic party. He is well known in this part of the state, where he has spent many years of his life, and his straightforward and enterprising spirit has gained him widespread esteem and confidence and many friends.