Bartlett Boder: Source of St. Joseph History by Trevor Tutt
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If you've ever opened a copy of the St. Joseph Museums' earlier publication "Museum Graphic" then you've most likely read an article written by Bartlett Boder. Mr. Boder was a dedicated historian and prolific writer who loved St. Joseph and served in several facilities to preserve its past. He was a true son of St. Joseph and kept our history alive for the future.
Bartlett was described as the embodiment of "Melting Pot America. His grandfather, Henri Boder, was a French speaking Swiss man who came to St. Joseph in 1844 from New Orleans and St. Louis. His grandmother, Anne Louise Mattoit, came from St. Sauveur, France. His maternal grandfather, John Bartlett Quimby, was born in the County Cork, Ireland and his maternal grandmother, Sarah Leland Quimby, traced her lineage to two families aboard the Mayflower.
Henri anglicized his name and worked as a bridge and home builder. His wife died in St. Joseph in 1854 and they had two sons, Louis and Henry. With the help of their father, the brothers started a banking business in Troy, Kansas, opening the First National Bank of Troy on February 4, 1870. In 1890, Louis and his family returned to St. Joseph and purchased controlling interest in the Merchant's Bank. Louis served as president of the bank until his death in 1907.
Bartlett Boder was born in 1885 in Troy, Kansas, the middle son of Louis and Fannie Quimby Boder. He attended St. Joseph schools, including the local business college, and studied abroad in England, France, and Germany throughout the early nineteenth century. He worked as a clerk at the family owned bank and intermediately served as a reporter for both the St. Joseph News-Press and Gazette.
These are the historical events acknowledged by Bartlett in his own biographical memory. He mentions attending school in Europe, but the period of his life which we now know centered around his unmentioned first wife, Mary Carter, is largely overlooked by most biographical sketches. Through our research, we know that he married Ms. Carter in Douglas, Colorado on June 1, 1909 and they moved to San Francisco by 1910. They were living together in London in 1911, presumably while Bartlett was attending school. They returned to the states in 1912, but were quickly back in Europe in 1914.
It is here that Bartlett mentions being in 1912 Berlin as the threat of war grew. When war broke out, the couple was in Northern France and made a hasty retreat home. Bartlett is listed as living in New York in 1915, boarding at 338 Madison Ave., New York, New York, listing his occupation as a writer. During this period, Mary was driving ambulances across France for the British troops. Bartlett returned to St. Joseph by 1916 and worked as a reporter for the Gazette. His divorce from Mary Carter was finalized on March 29, 1917 by Judge Allen.
Bartlett joined the army when war was declared by the United States. He trained at Fort Riley, Kansas, and in New Mexico, unsure as to whether he'd be deployed to Europe or left behind to defend the border from Mexico following Pancho Villa's raid the year before. His knowledge of the French language made him an asset to the American Expeditionary Forces. In September of 1918, after a year of training, he was sent abroad and conducted French classes for the troops.
Through his military career, Bartlett was an artillery officer with the 127th and 104th, organized the 35th Tank Company from St. Joseph troops, and gained the rank of Lieutenant Colonel of the 35th Division. He remained in France with the occupying forces and returned home between 1919 and 1920. Back in St. Joseph, Bartlett became city assessor from 1921-1923, city comptroller 1930-1932, and police commissioner from 1932-1933.
He married his "first" wife, Elvira "Vera" Price on April 20, 1930. He became president of the Missouri Valley Trust Company in 1931, financed the construction of a bridge over the Missouri River at Rulo, Nebraska in 1938, was a trustee of the St. Joseph Light and Power Company, and Vice-President of the Tootle-Lacy National Bank in 1949.
As a historian, Bartlett served the city proudly. He was president of the St. Joseph Historical Society and the St. Joseph Museum board. He was fundamental in the development of the Pony Express Museum and a constant contributor to the Museum Graphics magazine. He loved to record biographies of local figures, many of which serve as the main source for our continual historical research, as well as the history of the town from its fur trade origins, through the Civil War, and the Pony Express. He truly laid the ground work for our cities historic preservation.
His wife, Vera, passed away in 1959 and Bartlett remarried a fellow historian, Mary Stauber, who oversaw the preservation of the Missouri Valley Trust building. Throughout his life, Bartlett lived at his families home at 2649 Frederick Ave. He stepped down as president of the St. Joseph Museums in 1966 and passed away the following year, continuing to serve the city to the very end.