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TAYLOR COUNTY WEST VIRGINIA
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Submitted to the West Virginia Biographies Project by:
Valerie & Tommy Crook
vfcrook@trellis.net
April 13, 2000
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The History of West Virginia, Old and New
Published 1923, The American Historical Society, Inc.,
Chicago and New York, Volume III,
pg. 405-406
LEONIDAS W. BARTLETT became widely known for his
business and commercial interests at Buckhannon before
he was appointed postmaster of that city. He is now in
his second term, a very capable and efficient administrator
of the office, and a popular citizen as well.
Mr. Bartlett was born at Webster in Taylor County,
West Virginia, June 21, 1859, son of Dr. T. Bailey and
Rhoda A. (Hudkins) Bartlett. His parents were also
born, reared and educated in Taylor County. Doctor Bart-
lett served four years in the Confederate Army. After
the war he returned to his family, completed his course
in medicine, and then located in Harrison County, where
he practiced for some years. Later he bought a farm in
Lewis County. He was a member of the Baptist Church,
and was affiliated with the Masonic Lodge at Lynchburg,
Virginia. Of his five children four are living: Dora D.,
wife of John W. Linger, of Lewis County; Hannah E.,
widow of L. A. Linger; Camdena, wife of Leonidas A. Wet-
sel, of Clarksburg; Florence, deceased; and Leonidas W.
Leonidas W. Bartlett was reared in Harrison County,
attended the common schools, and for a time was in the
mercantile business at Buckhannon. From 1886 for a
period of nineteen years he was a traveling salesman, and
during that time he built up a large acquaintance all over
the state. Mr. Bartlett has been a prominent leader in
the democratic party, and has been a member of both
the county and state committees. On July 1, 1914, Presi-
dent Wilson appointed him postmaster of Buckhannon, and
he was reappointed November 21, 1918.
In April, 1888, Mr. Bartlett married Miss Anna Vir-
ginia Latham. Mrs. Bartlett is a daughter of the distin-
guished Col. George R. Latham, member of an old Vir-
ginia family. Colonel Latham was born on the Bull Run
battlefield in Virginia, March 9, 1832, and at the age of
seventeen accompanied his parents to Taylor County, West
Virginia. Largely by his own efforts he acquired a liberal
education, and taught school for a number of years before
the war. In 1859 he was admitted to the bar, and opened
the first law office at Grafton. He published a paper
there during the campaign of 1860 in behalf of the Bell
Everett ticket. At the beginning of the Civil war he
immediately announced his Unionism, recruited a company,
and took it to Wheeling, where it was mustered in as Com-
pany B of the Second Virginia Infantry. With this com-
pany he participated in the early campaigns in West
Virginia. In the fall of 1864 he was elected a member
of the Thirty-ninth Congress, serving from March 4, 1865,
to March 4, 1867. On account of ill health he refused a
renomination. From 1867 to 1870 he was at Melbourne,
Australia, as United States consul, and in 1875 was elected
superintendent of public schools of Upshur County.
Mr. and Mrs. Bartlett's only living child, Edna L., is
a graduate of Wesleyan College of Buckhannon. Their
son Frank attended a military academy and at the age of
eighteen volunteered for service in the infantry, and while
a sergeant was killed in the battle of Belleau Wood in
France.
Mr. Bartlett is affiliated with Franklin Lodge No. 7,
F. and A. M., Upshur Chapter No. 34, R. A. M., of which
he is a past high priest, and is treasurer of the Knight
Templar Commandery. He is one of the directors of the
Peoples Bank of Buckhannon, and has some valuable real
estate holdings both in Buckhannon and in Maryland. He
and his family are members of the Baptist Church.
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