Men of the Time, eleventh edition/Bartlett, John Russell
BARTLETT, John Russell, born in Providence, Rhode Island, Oct. 23, 1805. At an early age he was placed in a banking-house, and for six years was cashier of the Globe Bank in Providence. While there he was one of the originators of the Athenæum and an active member of the Franklin Society for the Cultivation of the Sciences, before which he occasionally lectured. In 1837 he became a bookseller in New York, in partnership with Mr. Welford, devoting his leisure hours to the study of history and ethnology. He was one of the founders of the American Ethnological Society, and Secretary of the New York Historical Society. In 1850 he was appointed Commissioner for the survey of the boundary-line between the United States and Mexico. The results of this survey, which occupied three years, and embraced observations in astronomy, ethnology, and natural history, were published by the United States Government in 1857–58. In 1855 he was elected Secretary of State of Rhode Island, and has been continued in that office by repeated elections. In 1861–62 he was acting Governor of Rhode Island. Besides editing and publishing the records of the colony of Rhode Island, he has issued "The Progress of Ethnology," 1847; "Reminiscences of Albert Gallatin," 1849; "Dictionary of Americanisms," 1848; "Personal Narrative of Explorations and Incidents in Texas, New Mexico, California, Sonora, and Chihuahua," 1856; "Index to the Acts and Resolves of the General Assembly of Rhode Island" (1758–1862); "History of the Destruction of H.B.M. Schooner Gasper," 1862; "Bibliography of Rhode Island," 1864; "Bibliotheca Americana," 4 vols., 1865–70; "Literature of the Rebellion," 1867; "Memoirs of Rhode Island Officers in the War of the Rebellion," 1867; "Primeval Man," 1868; "History of the Wanton Family in Rhode Island," 1879; and an enlarged edition of his "Dictionary of Americanisms," 1878.