George H. Bartlett, a prosperous manufacturer of Sunapee, was born in that town, September 28, 1841, son of John and Sarah (Sanborn) Bartlett, natives respectively of Deering and Springfield, N.H. He belongs to an old family. One of his ancestors was a signer of the Declaration of Independence. John Bartlett, his grandfather, was a farmer in Deering, and died at a good old age. John’s son, also named John, was a pioneer of Sunapee. This John came here on horseback, and took up new and almost wild land. The remainder of his life was spent in Sunapee, where he left the reputation of an energetic man. He lived to the ripe age of eighty-three years, and his wife lived to be eighty-two. They were both supporters of the Methodist John Bartlett, the present Representative to Concord from the town of Sunapee. General Charles H. Bartlett, of Manchester, N.H., is another.
George H. Bartlett passed his boyhood in his native place, receiving the education afforded by the common schools, supplemented by a course at New London Academy. His first experience in business was obtained in a sash and blind factory in Manchester, and he was a box-maker there for some time. Later on he returned to Sunapee, and engaged in his present business-the manufacture of hames. He and Mr. W. H. H. Cowles established the industry there in 1865, and it was started on a small scale compared with its extent at the present time. At first they made the Concord hame. They continued in business till 1882, when Mr. Cowles sold his interest to Irving G. Rowell, who is now in business with Mr. Bartlett at Sunapee in the same concern. The firm name was Bartlett & Rowell until January, 1896, when the firm was again enlarged, and incorporated under the name of the Consolidated Hame Company. This latter company has the largest hame plant in the United States to-day, and is at present composed of the two firms of Bartlett & Rowell, of Sunapee, and Baker, Carr & Co., of Andover, N.H. They employ about sixty hands at each factory, and generally run for the greater part of the year. The original factory at Sunapee was destroyed by fire in January, 1893. It was immediately rebuilt on a much larger and improved plan. There is now a very good set of new, neat frame buildings and excellent water-power drawn from the Sugar River. To this the firm has added a brass foundry. At present they manufacture the common wood hame, also a fancy hame and an iron one. The factory in Andover, N.H., while made up of older buildings, is about the same in the other details.
Mr. Bartlett has always been actively interested in the affairs of his native town. From 1888 to 1892 he was Treasurer of Sullivan County. He is now a member of the Sunapee School Board, and he held the office of Sergeant-at-arms in the State Senate in the year 1880-81. He has been quite active in political matters, and is a stanch Republican. His religious belief is the Methodist Episcopal creed, and for the past sixteen years he has been the superintendent of the Sunday-school connected with the local society. He is rightly classed among the leading men of his town, and has been largely instrumental in the upbuilding of the Consolidated Hame Company in Sunapee. He is a man of courteous, affable address, and stands very high in the estimation of his townspeople. Mr. Bartlett was married in 1864 to Sarah A. Cowles, of Claremont, N.H. They have two children-Ernest P. and Mary I.