[subtract 8 hours for Pacific Time]

John Bartlett's current brick wall(s)

or up the tree without a ladder

I have gathered a posie of other men’s flowers, and nothing but the thread that binds them is mine own.

"Familiar Quotations" by John Bartlett 1855 [no relation to me!].

This page serves two purposes. First it is my todo list and a place to clarify my ideas by bouncing them around and second it is something other, more knowledgable people than I, can study, then help me out (I hope). A sequel page has taken over more detailed musings. These things seem to have a life of their own.

I need to find out where gggrandfather Peter Bartlett was born in about 1810. He married Elizabeth (Russell) Kemp at St.Georges and founded my family in Ramsgate. Their son Jonathan married Louisa Jane Hougham in 1860, went to London and from there the family is well documented down to me and my grandchildren. As of May 2002 professional research makes it highly likely that Louisa Jane's grandfather Edward Hougham b.1743 in Stourmouth, Kent, was the same Edward Hougham who was christened 12 Mar 1754 in Stourmouth. This means the family tree goes back many, many generations through the Hougham line according to Robin Young's research.

The 1841 census shows that Peter BARTLETT, aged 30, mariner, was born 'in County' (Kent) as were Elizabeth and all the kids: James 1832, William 1834, Peter 1837, Jonathan 1839 (my ggrandfather) and Philip 1841.
Peter is proving hard to find in Thanet. It was quite common then for fishing families to travel from Devon to Kent, following the fishing seasons, with kids being born in one place but christened in the other. Perhaps Peter was born in Kent and christened in Plymouth. The 1841 census shows two William BARTLETTs, a Jonathan and his sister Susan BARTLETT, all born in Plymouth. One William was even living in the same house so this theory bears checking with a hunt in Devon.

Peter senior died of dropsy (now known as 'congestive heart failure') on 3 Feb 1851. His death certificate has him as a fisherman rather than a mariner. At the census on 30 March Elizabeth had been a widow for less than 2 months. How did she bring up the kids? James 19 and William 17 must have left home but they may have helped to support the family.

Census 1851 Ramsgate HO 107 1630 folio 469 Government Place St George's Parish

First name	Last name	Rel	Mar.	Age	Born abt.	Occupation	Place born	County born
Elizabeth	BARTLETT	Head	Widow	46	1805	Charwoman	Ramsgate	Kent
Peter	"	son	u	15	1836		"	"
Jonathan	"	son	u	13	1838		"	"
Philip	"	son	u	10	1841		"	"
Henry	"	son	u	8	1843		"	"
Mary	RUSSELL	Mother	Widow	77	1774		"	"

John H. Devers is the other mystery and the skeleton in the closet. We have a letter from him to "Dear wife" written in 1870 after he had shipped out of London on the SS Bellona to the US. The ship's manifest shows a John Devers, aged 24, bootmaker, arriving New York 20 May 1870, incidentally the last voyage the ship made under that name.
Once in New York he joined the Temperance Society and the US 8th Cavalry Regiment as a single man.

We are not sure who "Dear wife" was but think she may have been my great grandmother, Mary Mahoney/Devere who gave birth to Catherine on 14 Sept 1870. Were they really married? We can find no record except a certified copy dated 1928 of a baptism certificate which states they were "lawfully married". It was found in Ernest's effects after he died and given to Sue Venamore. The priest's handwriting could be read 'DEVERE' or 'DEVERS'. I wonder who requested it, Catherine or one of her children?

When did Catherine start spelling her name De Vere as on her marriage certificate and was it she or mother Mary who began the family myth that her father was a Captain in the French Cavalry who had been killed at the Battle of Sevastopol? The dates are wrong but it was a romantic story which I believed for many years! See this table which attempts to lay out the problem in a logical manner together with three theories.

John DEVERS was posted to Fort Union, New Mexico as a musician and was dishonourably discharged for desertion after a General Courtmartial. He was described as a "lovable rogue" by family and, if he was her father, as a "bootmaker, deceased" on my grandmother Catherine's wedding certificate. We have the manuscript of the Court Martial proceedings with the defence evidence given by John stating that he did have a wife and child to support and that his father was in distress. We have the letter, given in evidence, from his father Edward Devers in Benton Harbor, Michigan, a bootmaker. Did he ever see his father again?.
A John H Devers (no occupation noted) appears in the 1880 Colorado census in Nederland and in the Leadville Colorado City Directory in 1883 as a bootmaker. The 1885 census does not show any John Devers in Leadville so he must have moved on again or died. He is not in the 1907 City Directory either.
There is a John H Devers, shoemaker in the City Directory for Louisville Kentucky in 1887 and a John H Devers died in Kentucky in 1935 at 88. A death certificate has been ordered. Watch this space!!

22 Jan 2002 False alarm - this one was a farmer born in Kentucky. However, the John H. Devers, shoemaker, may still be my guy.
Does anybody want a death certificate? This 'going forward in time' is for the birds! I need help from someone going the other way from 19?? back to John H Devers, ex musician US Cavalry.

To summarize:

BARTLETT Peter - 1810 born exactly where? Married, lived and died in Ramsgate, Isle of Thanet, Kent
KEMP (RUSSELL), Elizabeth - Ramsgate, Isle of Thanet 1805
HOUGHAM Louise Jane - St Lawrence, Isle of Thanet 1860
DEVERS John, County Clare, Eire, mid 1800's
MAHONEY, Mary b. mid 1800's
DEVERE/DEVERS Catherine b. 1870 bap. 1871 Our Lady of La Salette, Melior St. SE1
HURREN Christopher b. abt 1876 d. 1938 Enfield Middx
WHITE Mary "Polly" d. 1939 Enfield Middx
ANDREWS, Harry/Emily - Bulcomb, Leiston, Suffolk. Emily abt.1883-1984 was born Mary Ann dau of Nathaniel Woolner.

To do:

Get Peter's baptismal record to find his parents. St Lawrence registers don't show it but surrounding parishes should (might?).
Next task - order film for St Laurence Thanet. FHL# 1850280
I may have missed something as this was the first film I ever saw on 25 April 2001.
Register of Seamen 1835-36 BT 120/1 Index A-C FHL # 1483219
Register " " Tickets [Alphabetical] 1845-54 FHL 1850280 FHL # 1502069
Register of Seamen/s Tickets 1845-54 BT113
[select after getting details from 114/1] FHL # ???
Memo - beware assumptions!

Here is another 'to-do' page of musings and queries about research. One day I might get around to consolidating it with this page ....

My two main lines of enquiry can be tracked in my Peter BARTLETT and John H DEVERS research calendars.

I used to have a visitor counter but nobody came!