Morning journal and courier., 1884-09-04
Thursday, Ser Member 4, 1854
RARTHOLom FEW REUNION

BARTHOLOm FEW REUNION
 At stony Creek, Sel etember 3rd, 1SS4-
 Very Successf u1 .Ahafr-Speeches
 and SonE-The Historical Address The Bartholomew Ancestry.
 A reunion of the Bartholomew family took place yesterday at Stony Creek, Branford, and was very successful affair. Connecti- cut has large representation of the Bar tholomew family and New Haven county has many families of the name. The town of Branford has special historical interest for the Bartholomew family as is told below The reunion was held at Frink's Indian Point House where the reunion of the family of 1882 was held. There were about 125 per sons at the dinner and many States in the Union were represented, some of the visitors having come hundreds of miles to attend. In a conspicuous place at the hotel engraT- ings of prominent members of the family were displayed. Among these were the fol- lowing: The late J. H. Bartholomew, presi- dent of the Derby railroad, who resided dur ing the summers in this vicinity in hand some cottage; General Thomas L. Bartholo- mew, an officer in the late war; Prof. William w. Bartholomew, the painter and publisher, Boston; Erastus B. Bartholomew, one of the fathers of printing in this country; George w.. Bartholomew ofBristol, Ct., now in his 80th year, but who would pass for man of 6O, hale, active and energetic, and who was one of the pioneers in clock manufacturing in this country; W. w. Bartholomew, promi- nent pork packer of Bury, Pike Co.,, Illinois, having a branch wholesale house in Meriden, Ct.; George w. Bartholomew, jr., promi7 nent dealer in hardware in Austin, Texas and author of the genaoIogy of the Bartholo new family, valuable work of 750 pages, now being published in Salem, Mass. There was also to be seen view of the Bartholo- new manor house at WestalIhill, Burford, England, the home of the Bartholomews from 1900 to TOO; also a cut of the Bartholomew coat of arms was shown.
 The chief officers of the association were Francis c. Bartholomew of Wallingford president; William w. Bartholomew of Mer- iden, secretary, and George w. Bartholomew, jr., of Austin, Texas, statistical secretary.
 Previous to the dinner a meeting was held under Frink's canvas pavilion on the lawn in front of the house. President Bartholomew presided. Prayer was offered by Prof. D. N. Camp, of the State Normal school, New Britain. Music by the Bartholomew quar- tette An excellent address of welcome by the president Remarks by George w. Bar tholomew, of Austin, Texas. Following came dinner After dinner the exercises were as follows, the president presiding: Reading of an elaborate poem, the author of which is MT. Timothy Bartholomew Brown, of Boston. Speeches by Samuel A. Barthol- omew of North Blandford Mass, Andrew Bartholomew of Springfield, Judge F. P. Dewees of Pottsville, Penn., and Ransom D. Bartholomew of Whitehall, N. Y. The last named gave a short and interesting account of the Bartholomews in his section. Messrs. Samuel A. Bartholomew and Andrew Bar tholomew spoke with vigor and point, mak- ing good impression and adding to the life of the occasion. Judge Dewees, portly, fine looking lawyer of middle lfe made an extremely happy off-hand speech, 1ningling the historical and the eu1ogistic with subtle hunor and fine patriotic sentiment. Judge Dewees was chairman of the National Greenback committee for two years and has been chairman of the Pennsylvania Green back committee. Following the speeches came the historical address of the day by Dr. s. B. Bartholomew, of Springfield, Mass. After sprightly introductory the address took up the ancestral record of the family and said:
 There is a strong probability that we can claim an apostolic descent, clear, at least, 41o of 41o r1;e1, IN,1co Catholic churches can claim an unbroken line of apostolic succession from St. Mark or St. Peter. There certainly is 8 strength of character in our blood that produces men equal to any emergency in the wide fields of human enterprise. As our name has been given to hundreds of thousands since theChris- tian era commenced, and as mon of our clan have been found bearing the burdens in every walk in life, save that of sovereigns and rulers of empire, l may greet you as descend ants of St. Bartholomew of Cana of Galilee, one of the apostolic see and one of the earliest martyrs of the Christian church. Lest this may seem to some of you aprocryphal, we will pass over the centuries, and take only what was left in the chapel of St. Johns church at Burford, England, after its desecra- tion by the soldiers of Cromwell.
 Here was buried William Bartholomew, in the year 1884. From him. and even far back of him, the line of descent is clear, and
 uafh6u Dy the eAClGlnS cuafdc- teristics of the different periods through which it has come down. I know of no strong CT or more determined iron will, when aroused, than that of a religionist. That will was not lacking in our early En- glish ancestors, whether in those of the Els tablished church, or later in he Dissenters. That determined individuality has always been prominent against which opinions might surge, as seas against rocks, leaving them unmoved. This iron will was not with out it's influence in shaping the future of our clan. The children of men with good, healthy physiques and ordinary brain power, born at period of great commotion, period when strong passions. are aroused, when men are apt to mistake their will for conscience, are stamped with 8 quicker mental and nervous force.that will be felt through generations.
 William Bartholomew, of Burford, Eng land, father of the American branch of the clan, was a churchman, who believed that heresy against any of the doctrines of the established English church was 8 Eime of the blackest dye, which William, his name sake and second son, was made to feel. For this let us devout1y thank God, who seemed to have this rejected and despised son of his father in special care and training to be the head of stock that has proved to be one of the best among the dissenters, sent by divine Providence into the early wilds of New Eng land life to help found new empire of re Hgion and self government.
 Three sons of William Bartholomew-Wil- liam, Henry and Richard-came to this coun- try with the earlier Pilgrims. They were sons whom any father of any stock would be proud at the present day to number as his own-grand boys all "Yet that divini- ty that shapes our ends, rough hew them as we may,'' and seemingly lets the rain fall alike on the just and the unjust, has his favorites. This fayoritism does not, however, come by accident, but is manifest under the strictest rules of justice William, the son, was Puritan, and suffered with the Rev. John Lathrop and Anne Hutchinson. Disowned by his father and dishonored by his country because in his heart burned the spirit of the martyred saint; because he saw with clear eye, be- yond the night of sounding brass and tink- ling symbols, and caught upon his ear the music of the new birth that was to break the shackles of creeds that had been forged by church and State, and make the new world, and through it the old, yet blossom as the garden of the Lord. Although Henry who settled in Salem, was greatly blessed in store and personal influence, giving some 40 years to public life in the interest of the colony by services in the military, in the legislature, and finally rounding out and completing, at 80 years of age, his services by revising, oT 4lo