The three families of Ball, Bartlett, and Fitch found their separate ways to Wisconsin from the eastern United States; the Ball family arrived in East Troy around 1860, the Bartletts arrived in Milwaukee in 1870, and the Fitch family settled in Milwaukee sometime before 1859. In 1874 Dr. Edwin Wilcox Bartlett married Helen Francis Ball.
The Bartlett and Fitch families were both wealthy and socially prominent with well-educated family members, both male and female, attending private preparatory or east coast boarding schools and receiving their college degrees from institutions like Yale, Vassar, the University of Wisconsin, and the University of Virginia. The Fitch family managed the Marine National and National Exchange Banks of Milwaukee while the Bartlett family was responsible for the Milwaukee Stamping Company. Both families were regularly included in Milwaukee's Social Registers and biographies of many of the men are found in books documenting Milwaukee's history and citizens.
Eliot Fitch Bartlett was born in Milwaukee in 1918, one of two children of Ruth (Fitch) and Walter Bartlett. He attended several east coast boarding schools prior to receiving his college education at the University of Virginia. He served in the Air Force during World War II and in 1948 married Christine Price. They settled in Concord (Mass.) and raised four children. Bartlett, an amateur artist, was involved in a number of community organizations in Concord and was active politically.
Walter Scott Bartlett was one of four children of Dr. Edwin Wilcox Bartlett and Helen Ball. Born in Milwaukee, he relocated to New York in 1923 where he worked as a lawyer for the Cuban American Sugar Company and later the American Sugar Refining Company. W.S. Bartlett married Ruth Fitch in 1917 and they had two sons, Eliot F. and Walter S. Jr. W.S. Bartlett and Ruth were divorced in 1929; he was remarried in 1933, to Mary Clark Holland.
Eliza Eliot Fitch was one of two daughters of Mr. and Mrs. Robert Eliot. She was a lifelong resident of Milwaukee and a leading social figure. Eliot married Grant Fitch in 1887 and had two children, Ruth F. (Bartlett-Boyd) Mason and Eliot Grant Fitch. Eliza Fitch was well known for lavish entertaining and was a member of the Woman's Club of Wisconsin, College Endowment Association, and a patron of Milwaukee-Downer College.
Ruth Fitch Mason, the youngest child of Eliza and Grant Fitch was born in Milwaukee in 1890. She received her undergraduate degree from Vassar College in 1912 and M.A. from the University of Wisconsin in 1914. In 1917 she married Walter Scott Bartlett with whom she had two children, Eliot Fitch and Walter Scott Jr. (Scott). Mason divorced Bartlett in 1929 and married Thomas Boyd, a World War I hero and celebrated author, that same year. In 1937 she married Gregory Mason, a noted explorer, archeologist, and anthropologist.
See the following family charts for the relationships of various family members. The information is not intended to be a complete family history of the Ball, Bartlett, and Fitch families but rather a guide to understanding the family relationships within this collection. Bold lettering indicates the individuals who have materials included in this collection.
- Bartlett Family Chart
- Billa Bartlett (1769-1809) m. Selina Blachley
- ch. Joel B. Martin (1796-1819)
- ch. Mindwell Bartlett (1805-1807)
- ch. Mindwell Ann Bartlett (1808-?)
- ch. Ann Bartlett (1804-1807)
- ch. Maria Bartlett (1799-1853)
- ch. Martin Bartlett (1801-?)
- ch. Elias Bartlett (1795-1865) m. Eliza Wheelock (1801-1860)
- ch. Lucinda (1822-1884) m. Edgar A Parney
- ch. Joel B. Bartlett (1824-1914)
- ch. Betsy (1826-1847)
- ch. Homar Lyman (1830-1905)
- ch. Dr. Edwin Wilcox Bartlett (1839-1913) m. Helen Francis Ball (d. 1920)
- ch. Ferdinand A. Bartlett
- ch. Walter Scott Bartlett (1888-1834)
- m. Ruth Fitch [see Fitch family]
- m. Mary Clark Holland
- ch. Paul Holland Bartlett (1934- ) m. Barbra Ann Tettelbach
- ch. Eliza Wheelock Bartlett [Lila] (1878-1959)
- ch. Edwin Ball Bartlett (1882-1972) m. Julia Reson Foster III
- ch. Edwin Ball Bartlett Jr. m. Manhardt ?
- ch. Barbra Foster m. Robert Floyd Wilson
- ch. Marian Helen m. Robert Wilson Woodland
- ch. Edwin Ball Bartlett III
- ch. Seth Foster Bartlett
- ch. Francis Livingston Bartlett
- ch. David Livingston Bartlett
- ch. Cynthia Bartlett
- Fitch Family Chart
- William Grant Fitch (1834-1891) m. Martha Eliza Curtis (1836-1927)
- ch. Walter A. Fitch
- ch. Grant Fitch (1859-1940) m. Eliza Eliot (1865-1955)
- ch. Eliot Grant Fitch (1895-1983)
- m. Janet M. Fell
- ch. John Grant Fitch (1923-1945)
- ch. Janet Margaret Fitch
- ch. Jared Eliot Fitch
- m. Ruth ?
- ch. Ruth Fitch (Bartlett-Boyd) Mason (1890-1974)
- m. Walter Scott Bartlett (1888-1934) [divorced in 1929]
- ch. Walter Scott Bartlett Jr. (Scott) (1920- ) m. Miram Davie
- ch. Walter Scott Bartlett III
- ch. Eliza Bartlett
- ch. Nathaniel Eliot
- ch. Diana Chase
- ch. Mark E. Bartlett
- ch. Eliot Fitch Bartlett (1918-1993) m. Christine Price [Kit] (1924- )
- ch. Amy Bartlett (1949- )
- ch. Lucia Moore (Bartlett) Connelly (1951- ) m. Todd Watts Connelly (1954-1981)
- ch. John Eliot Bartlett (1953- )
- ch. Susan Bartlett (1956- )
- m. Thomas Boyd (d. 1935) [married in 1929]
- m. Gregory Mason (1889-1968) [married in 1937]
