1. John Bartlett was born in 1816. in Dibden. Hampshire England and was baptized 1st December 1816 at Dibden Parish Church, at an early age his great interest was Horses; as soon as the opportunity presented itself ,he obtained employment as a Post-boy, in which he carried the Royal Mail between Hythe and Lymington, during which time he acquired a knowledge of the ailments of Horses and the remedies for them, becoming well known in the New Forest as a Horse doctor.
Another skill he acquired at this time, was the ability to estimate fairly accurately the value of timber that could be obtained from any given tree, and he made a good financial return hiring himself out to Timber Merchants when buying timber in the forest.
These activities brought him enough money to buy some land at Dibden , on which to breed his favourite type of horse - a cross between a "Shire" and a "Hack" - a very useful horse at that period of time, a horse that was quite at home drawing a van or a plough.
He then leased a section of the Hythe foreshore from the Drummond family and set up as a Coal Merchant, using the horses he bred at Dibden to draw coal to the big house and other houses in the Forest and load back with ballast to build a wharf on the foreshore. That wharf is still the "The Coal Wharf" and is in use today. He built a pair of cottages on the foreshore for himself and his surviving son William. John was buried in the Dibden Parish Church 19th February 1897 aged 81
John married (1) Elizabeth Stevens on 8th October 1839. Elizabeth was born in 1814.she was baptized 10th April 1814 at Dibden Parish Church She was the Daughter of John and Mary Stevens nee Rann. She died of Cancer 14th March 1847 at Dibden. Hampshire England and was buried in the Parish of Dibden on 21st March 1847
They had the following children:
+ 2 M i William Bartlett was born on 10 Aug 1841 and died 1896 and was buried on 16th July 1896 at St John's Church Hythe 3 M ii John Bartlett was born on 9 Sep 1840 in Dibden Hampshire. he lived for only 1 week 4 iii Sarah Bartlett was born on 5 Feb 1843 in Dibden. Sarah died of Scarlatina on 27 May 1849 at Dibden Hants.
John also married (2) Mary Stevens.Mary was Elizabeth's sister and John married her at All Saints Church Southampton on 7th January 1849.This Marriage was considered not legal and caused a good deal of resentment from his son William. Mary died of Senile Decay (Cardiac Failure) Mar 17th 1911 at White House Dibden Hants