Bartlett Family Group Record and sketch — Robert Earl Wildermuth's research, 1990

Three sheets from Robert Earl Wildermuth’s genealogical research: a two-page LDS Family Group Record, form number 0094, printed 11 July 1990 and submitted from his address in Casselberry, Florida, together with a typed narrative sketch of the same ancestor.

Where the Bailey Family Group Record (0019) gave Thomas Bartlett only as a name in a parent field, this record gives him a household, a death date, thirteen children, and — in the sketch, though not on the form — a father’s name.

The narrative sketch

THOMAS BARTLETT

Thomas Bartlett, one of seven sons of William Bartlett, came to Western Virginia shortly after the Revolutionary War. He was among the early pioneers west of the Alleghany Mountains. He settled in the Glades of what is now Preston County, West Virginia.

Thomas married Sarah ( ) and to this union the following children were born:

Nancy who married Thomas Bailey · Elizabeth who married David Cleavenger · Catherine who married Joab Wolverton · Edith who married ( ) Hopkins · Mary who married Thornsberry Bailey · Sarah who married George Brown · Starling · Charlotte who married John Maulsby · Amelia who married John Maulsby after Charlotte’s death · Benjamin · William · Elijah · Thomas L.

Little research has been done on this ancestor but the Bartlett records are said to be better than average.

Thomas Bartlett died in Preston County, Virginia (West Virginia) in June 1836.

The form

Husband — Thomas Bartlett (0314). Birth, christening and marriage lines are blank. Died June 1836, and buried June 1836, both at Preston County, Virginia. Father and mother fields are blank on the form — the father’s name, William Bartlett, appears only in the sketch.

Wife — Sarah (0315). Every field blank. No surname, no dates, no parents.

Children (0137, 0316–0327), in the order listed:

#	Child	Spouse	Marriage
1	Nancy Bartlett (0137)	Thomas Bailey (0136)	21 Oct 1803, Monongalia Co., Virginia
2	Elizabeth Bartlett (0316)	David Cleavenger (0331)	—
3	Catherine Bartlett (0317)	Joab Woolverton (0332)	—
4	Edith Bartlett (0318)	— Hopkins (0333)	—
5	Mary “Polly” Bartlett (0319)	Thornsberry Bailey (0334)	24 Aug 1806, Glades, Preston Co., Virginia
6	Sarah Bartlett (0320)	George Brown (0335)	—
7	Starling Bartlett (0321), m.	—	—
8	Charlotte Bartlett (0322)	John Maulsby (0336)	—
9	Amelia Bartlett (0323)	John Maulsby (0336)	—
10	Benjamin Bartlett (0324), m.	—	—
11	William Bartlett (0325), m.	—	—
12	Elijah Bartlett (0326), m.	—	—
13	Thomas L. Bartlett (0327), m.	—	—

Page 1 — the household head, the blank line for Sarah, and children 1 through 5.

Page 2 — children 6 through 13. Charlotte and Amelia carry the same spouse ID (0336): John Maulsby married one sister after the other died.

What is new here

A death, and a named piece of ground. Thomas Bartlett died June 1836 in Preston County, and the family’s land is named: the Glades, the upland wet meadows of what is now Preston County, West Virginia. He arrived in western Virginia shortly after the Revolutionary War, which puts his migration in the 1780s and makes him the earliest arrival documented anywhere in this archive.

Twelve siblings for Nancy, where the archive previously had none, and marriages for nine of them.

Two Bartlett sisters married two Baileys. Nancy married Thomas Bailey in Monongalia County in October 1803; three years later, in August 1806, her sister Mary “Polly” married Thornsberry Bailey in the Glades. Robert Earl gave that Thornsberry a fresh ID (0334) rather than reusing the number he had assigned to Thornsberry Bailey Jr. (0310), Thomas and Nancy’s own son born in August 1804 — so he understood them as two different men, and the arithmetic agrees: a two-year-old cannot marry. FamilySearch independently dates Mary’s husband to 1782–1853, near-contemporary with Thomas Bailey (b. c. 1780), which fits brothers. Neither source says so outright.

Where it conflicts with the FamilySearch tree

The family GEDCOM already carried this household when these sheets came to light, under the name Thomas L. Bartlett Jr. It agrees on Sarah, on the Glades, on Preston County, and on all thirteen children. It disagrees on two things:

	Wildermuth sheets, 1990	FamilySearch, synced 2026
Father	William Bartlett of Loudoun County, b. 1720	Thomas Bartlett (b. 1733, Richmond Co.) and Anne Settle
Death	June 1836, Preston County	1832, Preston County

FamilySearch also supplies what the sheets leave blank: born 21 December 1756 in Fauquier County, Virginia, married Sarah about 1783 in Fauquier, buried at Union Baptist Church Cemetery, Simpson, Taylor County. The Fauquier marriage answers a question the sketch raises without settling — where the family stood before it crossed the mountains: the Virginia Piedmont, east of the Blue Ridge.

A second Wildermuth sheet, form 0118, surfaced after this one and largely resolves the parentage: it gives William Bartlett of Loudoun County a birth year, seven named sons, and the place each of them settled — Thomas in the Glades. Loudoun borders Fauquier; Richmond County does not come near it. This archive follows the Loudoun line, with the reasoning set out on Thomas Bartlett’s page. The death year remains unresolved.

What is still open

Sarah’s surname. Thomas Bartlett’s father and death year. Any dates at all for twelve of the thirteen children. And Robert Earl’s own closing note — “the Bartlett records are said to be better than average” — reads as a research lead he never got to follow.

Source: Robert Earl Wildermuth’s research papers, dated 11 July 1990; photographed 2026. Companion sheet: the Bailey Family Group Record (0019).