Wright Bartlett

Wright married Rachel Pamelia Ellwood on 6 Sep 1870 in Royal Oak, Oakland, Michigan, USA. Rachel (daughter of Hiram Ellwood and Phoebe Hall) was born on 26 Apr 1848 in Royal Oak, Oakland, Michigan, USA; died on 28 Jul 1935. [Group Sheet] [Family Chart]

Other Events and Attributes:

• FindaGrave ID: 24195459

Notes:

James Ellwood Bartlett

It was still the horse and buggy era. Fuel for the horses, of course, was needed on a daily basis. The feed and grain trade was a lucrative profession, if you were a shrewd merchant. James Elwood Bartlett was certainly such a businessman. He owned feed and grain mills, retail stores where he sold his finished products and grain elevators.

He was the largest individual feed and grain operator in the state of Michigan. Being the astute merchant that he was, maybe he foresaw the horseless future that was rapidly approaching. Or maybe he was just bitten by the warm weather sunshine bug.

Whatever the reason, in 1915, at the age of 43, he sold his large and tremendously successful business and said to his wife Nellie, "Let's take the whole winter off and go down to this place we're hearing about, Boca Grande." The Bartletts arrived in Boca Grande with their four children and another on the way.

Leah Lasbury, longtime Englewood resident, is the youngest daughter of Nellie Allen and J.E. Bartlett. She recalls her father was immediately taken with Florida. He travelled all over the state, exploring different areas before he started investing.

He bought extensive orange groves in Fort Ogden, property in Venice and Winter Park. He opened offices in Tampa, Sarasota and Winter Park, but he was most partial to the Lemon Bay area. He thought the bay spectacular and the fishing fabulous. So in the early 1920s, as the Florida boom was going strong, he started buying land here in Englewood. At one point in time, he was one of the largest land owners in our area. He owned about 40,000 acres altogether, some of which is now Manasota Key and Casperson Beach.

One part of his holdings included 16,000 acres that started on the north side of Dearborn Street and meandered unevenly northward beyond Forked Creek. On the east side of State Road 776, there still is an area that is on the record as Bartlett Subdivision. He owned the 5,000 acres that today is platted as the Overbrook Gardens Development. It was probably 1922 when Bartlett bought that piece of land for a total of $700,000 or about $43 an acre. "His land also encompassed what is now Englewood Isles and Alameda Isles" says Leah Lasbury.

"But then the debacle hit Florida in 1927. Everybody in Florida lost everything. The Brotherhood of Locomotive Engineers, the BLE, went broke also. They had built the town of Venice, and the town really became a true ghost town.

"Now this is really interesting," continues Leah, "There was one master mortgage on the town. All of those little houses and all the various component parts were included in one mortgage. So, when things began to pick up a little bit, nothing could be purchased because of this one mortgage. My father found out Kingsbury Curtis, he owned Curtis Publishing Company that put out the Saturday Evening Post, held the mortgage. He lived somewhere in the east and my Dad went up there and explained to him that the whole town was being held back. Not one piece of property could be released. Well, my dad got him to agree to break the condition and release individual parcels.

"I think that was my father's greatest contribution to the area. He was the one who broke the log jam and opened things up in the whole Venice area."

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The Bartlett Family

James Elwood Bartlett was the largest individual feed and grain operator in the state of Michigan. Being the astute merchant he was, maybe he foresaw the horseless future that was rapidly approaching. Or maybe he was just bitten by the warm weather sunshine bug. What ever the reason by 1915 he had sold his very successful business and relocated with his wife Nellie and their four children to Boca Grande.

Soon another child was born who would later become a prominent Englewood citizen, Leah Bartlett Lasbury. She said her father bought extensive orange groves in several parts of Florida, hotels and in the early 1920s started buying land here in Englewood. At one point in time, he was one of the largest land owners in our area. He owned about 40,000 acres altogether, some of which is now Manasota Key and Casperson Beach.

One part of his holdings included 16,000 acres that started on the north side of Dearborn Street and meandered unevenly north beyond Forked Creek. It encompassed what are now the residential areas of Alameda Isles, Englewood Isles and Overbrook Gardens. Mr. Bartlett once took Sgt. Alvin C. York, the famous W.W.I hero, on a fishing trip out of Englewood.

Dearborn Street and Olde Englewood Village
http://www.oldeenglewood.com/site/history/pioneers/258-the-bartlett-family.html

A Legacy Continues

James Elwood Bartlett was the patriarch of the Lasbury-Tracy family, one of the early pioneers of Englewood.

J.E. and his wife Nellie took the daring step of moving to Englewood from Michigan in 1915 after selling his successful tackle and feed stores. J.E's adventure south lead him through several Florida communities of interest where he purchased land but it was Englewood and Venice that finally settled him down. No one is really sure what the final attraction to Englewood was. The people? Lemon Bay? Or was it simply the price and availability of land that hooked J.E.

Family stories totaled J.E.'s land purchases as well over forty thousand acres that included large tracts of Venice and Englewood. Manasota Key was purchased but quickly resold because of the limited access and the rugged environment. Venice airport military bunkers were purchased and moved into Englewood for housing. Subdivisions were platted, lots were sold while family members grew up and moved away to pursue higher education, marriage and raise families. J.E. had five children, two boys, James and Alan and three girls, Leah Lois and Ruth. Leah B. Lasbury, Ruth Kuykendall and Lois B. Tracy returned to Englewood years later.

Leah Lasbury founded Englewood's first Real Estate office in 1951 called Lee Lasbury Realty later purchased by Red Branning then Nathan B. Tracy III and renamed to Lasbury Tracy Realty Inc. Leah was a very active supporter of the Englewood community: she served as the president of the Chamber of Commerce, was one of the founders of the Elsie Quirk Community Library, the Englewood Water District and was actively involved in many organizations, including the Business and Professional Women's Organization and many other community and art organizations. Ruth Kuykendall, the youngest of the family settle into Venice working with her father J.E. as his personal secretary and married Kirk. Lois B. Tracy became a renowned abstract painter. Her artwork and her musings made her one of Englewood's most celebrated citizens. Some of Lois' works inducted into the Smithsonian and Metropolitan Museum of Art. Read more about Lois Bartlett Tracy.

Blood lines may thin but in print, photos and canvas, the Bartlett's, Lasbury's and Tracy's will always be part of Englewood past, present and future.

James married Nellie Bethune Allen on 16 Aug 1898 in Jackson, Jackson, Michigan, USA. Nellie (daughter of William Duncan Allen and Ella Maria Wood) was born on 27 Apr 1875 in Lodi, Kalkaska, Michigan, USA; died on 11 Oct 1977 in Sarasota, Sarasota, Florida, USA; was buried in Winter Park, Orange, Florida, USA. [Group Sheet] [Family Chart]

Other Events and Attributes:

• Also Known As: June Bartlett
• FindaGrave ID: 131844020
• Residence: Minneapolis, Hennepin, Minnesota, USA

Julia married Lloyd Dix Cooper on 21 Nov 1906 in Jackson, Jackson, Michigan, USA. Lloyd (son of Edmund L. Cooper and Ada Ann Clark) was born on 12 Dec 1878 in Grass Lake, Jackson, Michigan, USA; died on 21 Mar 1941 in Minneapolis, Hennepin, Minnesota, USA; was buried in Minneapolis, Hennepin, Minnesota, USA. [Group Sheet] [Family Chart]

Notes:

Died:
Lois Bartlett Tracy

Lois Bartlett Tracy was born was born on December 9, 1901 and died on April 8, 2008 at the age of 106. Hers is an artist's legacy. Her work hangs in some of the worlds finest art museums. She left the world a more colorful, richer place. Rather than tell you her story, we thought that she could do a better job. This section of the site introduces you to the woman who was called a visionary by many... we called her "Granny".

I was born in Jackson, Michigan on December 9, 1901. By age three my favorite activity was picking up gravel and stones and watching their colors and shapes when placed in jars of water. I spent hours admiring how beautiful they looked. Even now I love rocks. They talk to me. Trees have always talked to me too. I believe my paintings came into being from my feeling one with nature.

Because Mother's health was poor, we could not spend winters in the North. When I was young, we often traveled to Florida by train with a change in Chicago. I remember when I was about six or seven, jumping off the train and running towards the Chicago Museum. There was one particular painting on the first floor to the right that was painted with very thick layers of paint. I fell in love with that thick texture. It left me with a glow of satisfaction. I decided right then and there I was going to be a painter.

For the most part, we children were taught at home but we learned History by traveling to Civil War battlefields where my father paid old men to tell local stories. We learned Geography by learning the names of rivers and cities as we explored them. We had an art teacher once when I was about six, but there was no color. The only material we had was sepia, and that did not inspire me.

College in the 1920's

I didn't have another art teacher until I was a freshman at Florida State College for Women in 1920- '21. Since the College was for women only, all subjects were simply branches of Home Economics. Painting was not taught. We were not allowed to speak to any male, not even the father of a roommate. They would line us up to go to the picture show and count us off as we came out. I often felt like I was in prison. I rebelled against these attitudes towards the education of women by cutting my long wavy golden hair to a short bob. I left and entered Michigan State College soon after women were first admitted there.

At Michigan, my painting teacher just let me go ahead on my own. I started using oil paints and would paint everything I saw. We were both startled by my work. To the amazement of us both, he soon informed me that I was painting just the way those wild men in Paris (Van Gogh, Cezanne, etc.) were painting.

Selling Art in the Early Days

By the time the Depression came along, I was married and living in Winter Park, Florida, attending Rollins College. To help with our support, I sold pictures of palm trees, five dollars a tree. If there were three trees in the painting, it was fifteen dollars. Then I painted the buildings on Rollins campus for my 1929 yearbook.

In the 30's, in Venice, Florida, certain scenes would just cry out to be painted. When a field of cabbages asked me to paint it, I realized that cabbage leaves are just as beautiful as a field of flowers. Mostly, I painted the Florida jungles. In the morning I used to ride out to a Florida ranch on a cow pony (a rather small, tough, horse used to drive the cattle - Florida used to have the second largest number of cattle of all the States). The cowboys would leave me in a hammock and continue on to their day's work. I would paint there all day until they would pick me up on their way back in the afternoon. I would usually have enough done on two 30x 36 or 36x 40 canvases that I could finish them up at home.

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ENGLEWOOD - Lois Bartlett Tracy not only lived to create art, but to bring out the best in other artists.

Tracy, whose paintings have hung in some of the nation's foremost art museums, created an artists colony in Englewood in the 1960s to inspire others and taught college-level art courses at several universities.

In honor of Tracy, who died April 8 at 106, the Arts Alliance of Lemon Bay plans to exhibit a collection of her works this Friday and Saturday.

"For at least 75 years, painting was a must for me," she told a reporter at 99. "A day without painting was a day lost."

Tracy, whose images of landscapes and the cosmos favor intangible but natural forces over realism, continued to paint into her 90s even as macular degeneration robbed her of sight.

A fire in 1941 that destroyed her home and most of her early works -- including many of her Florida jungle paintings that earned her a gold medal at the 1939 World's Fair in New York -- prompted her to seek out the essence of the subjects in her works.

"Having lost everything, I realized that objects were not important, only qualities, which cannot be destroyed," she told a Herald-Tribune reporter in 1991. "I decided from then on that I would only paint the basic substance of things rather than their outward appearance."

She liked to say that she would "go to her window every morning and take a great big breath of air and recharge her little 5-watt lightbulb with the energy of the universe," said her grandson, Bart Tracy of Englewood.

Her paintings have been displayed at New York's Metropolitan Museum of Art, the Guggenheim Museum and the Museum of Modern Art, as well as the Smithsonian Institution's Air and Space Museum in Washington, D.C.

Born Dec. 9, 1901, in Michigan, Lois Bartlett first came to Southwest Florida as a teenager with her father, who enjoyed fishing off Boca Grande, and her mother and four siblings.

Soon thereafter, her parents moved from the Midwest to Winter Park, just north of Orlando, and her father began investing in real estate. At one point, he owned more than 40,000 acres in the Englewood area and DeSoto and Highlands counties, her grandson said.

Tracy studied art at several colleges and received a master's degree from Rollins College. During the 1930s, she and her husband operated the Myakka Hotel in Venice and started an art colony in Laconia, N.H., where they spent the summers.

They later platted Artists Acres in Englewood on land her father owned and named the streets Artists Avenue, Van Gogh Road and for various colors on an artist's palette. In addition to her own home and art studio and gallery, the colony included nine cottages for visiting artists in a wooded setting.

"If you get eight or 10 creative people living in close proximity, it helps get everyone's creative juices flowing," said her grandson. "One man was a sculptor. Another was a talented collage artist. They had a fabulous talent pool there."

The longtime resident became a doyenne of Southwest Florida's arts community and served as president of the Florida Artists Association for several years.

During her career, Tracy taught at Rollins College, the University of Virginia, the University of Kentucky and Edison Community College in Fort Myers. She also wrote two books, "Painting Principles and Practices" in 1960 and "Adventuring in Art" in 1990.

She moved to North Carolina six years ago to live near one of her sons.

In addition to her grandson, she is survived by two sons, Donald Walker of Rives Junction, Mich., and Nathan of Waynesville, N.C.; a sister, Leah Lasbury of Englewood; nine grandchildren; and 12 great-grandchildren.

Her family will welcome relatives and friends to a reception in her honor from 6 to 8 p.m. Thursday at the Arts Alliance of Lemon Bay, 477 W. Dearborn St. The public is invited to an exhibition of her works at the Arts Alliance from 6 to 8 p.m. Friday and from noon to 2 p.m. and 6 to 8 p.m. Saturday.

Memorial donations may be made to the Arts Alliance of Lemon Bay, 477 W. Dearborn St., Englewood, FL 34223; or the Englewood Art Center, 350 S. McCall Road, Englewood, FL 34223.

http://www.heraldtribune.com/article/20080430/NEWS/804300430?p=1&tc=pg

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Tracy, Lois Bartlett
Dec. 9, 1901 - April 8, 2008

Lois Bartlett Tracy, 106, Englewood, died April 8, 2008.

The services will be private.

Survivors include her sister, Leah Lasbury of Englewood; sons Donald Walker of Michigan and Nathan of North Carolina, 9 grandchildren; and 12 great-grandchildren.

She inspired us all and will be missed.

Lois Tracy was a well-known artist and educator with a spirit of adventure. She published two books, earned a master's degree and traveled the world with her husband, Harry Tracy, until his death in 1985. Her paintings hang in the Smithsonian Museum, New York Museum of Modern Art and many private collections.

The Englewood Arts Alliance will have a collection of her paintings on display starting May 1, 2008, for three days. The family will be on hand to welcome her friends on opening night from 6 to 8 p.m. at 477 W. Dearborn St.

See more at: http://www.legacy.com/obituaries/heraldtribune/obituary.aspx?n=lois-bartlett-tracy&pid=108321484#sthash.Q3itF2Or.dpuf

Lois married Donald Leroy Walker, Snr. in 1926 in Winter Park, Orange, Florida, USA. Donald was born on 24 Aug 1900 in Jackson, Michigan, USA. [Group Sheet] [Family Chart]

Lois married Herbert Harry Tracy on 21 Sep 1931 in Florida, Orange, New York, USA. Herbert was born on 4 Jan 1906 in Woodbury, Litchfield, Connecticut, USA; died on 22 Jul 1985 in Clyde, Haywood, North Carolina, USA; was buried on 23 Jul 1985 in Asheville, Buncombe, North Carolina, USA. [Group Sheet] [Family Chart]

Other Events and Attributes:

• FindaGrave ID: 24195450

Allen married Dorothy Aliene Dickson on 3 Jan 1926 in Winter Park, Orange, Florida, USA. Dorothy (daughter of Robert D. Dickson and Leora Cantlon) was born on 24 Jun 1906 in Monaca, Beaver, Pennsylvania, USA; died in Dec 1986 in Littleton, Arapahoe, Colorado, USA. [Group Sheet] [Family Chart]

Family/Spouse: Marguerite A. Johnson. [Group Sheet] [Family Chart]

Family/Spouse: Ruth Bourquard. [Group Sheet] [Family Chart]

Notes:

Died:
Ruth Bartlett Kuykendall, 94, Englewood, and formerly of Venice, died March 20, 2002.

She was born Aug. 22, 1908, in Jackson, Mich., and came to Venice in the early 1930s. She was a licensed real estate broker for many years and was past president of American Legion Auxiliary Novel Post 159 and a charter member of Daughters of the American Revolution, both in Venice, and a member of the Magna Charta Society, Mayflower Society and Venice-Nokomis United Methodist Church.

Survivors include her husband, Kirk; sisters Lois B. Tracy and Leah B. Lasbury; and many nieces and nephews.

A celebration of life will be at 10 a.m. April 13 at Farley Funeral Home, Venice Chapel.

Ruth married Hubert P. Kuykendall on 12 Jun 1945 in Sarasota, Sarasota, Florida, USA. Hubert was born on 6 May 1917 in Texas, USA; died on 6 May 2009 in Sarasota, Sarasota, Florida, USA. [Group Sheet] [Family Chart]

Other Events and Attributes:

• FindaGrave ID: 100129497

Notes:

Theodore Strongin - Good friend and companion to Leah Jeanne Bartlett

http://www.nytimes.com/1998/12/03/arts/theodore-strongin-79-a-critic-championed-contemporary-music.html

Died:
Leah Bartlett Lasbury 94, departed this life for her next adventure on June 7, 2009.

Leah was born in Boca Grande, Fla. in 1915 to James and Nellie Bartlett, early real estate pioneers in the area.

She graduated from Rollins College in 1936 and attended Simmons College in Boston, Mass.

Leah and her husband Clyde P. Lasbury came to Englewood in 1951 and established the first real estate business in Englewood, "Lee Lasbury Real Estate."

Her interests varied from accomplished artist to community activist. Her many years of involvement and leadership in local organizations include the Englewood Area Chamber of Commerce, Woman's Taxpayers League, Business and Professional Woman's Club, Englewood Area Board of Realtors, Elsie Quirk Public Library to name a few. She also was involved in the Ringling Museum Members Council and Board of Directors, Asolo Theatre Festival Association Board of Directors and the Florida Artists Group. She was especially proud of her "Secret Society of Smoked Mullets" recognition in 1999.

Leah was married to her best friend Clyde P. Lasbury for 49 years and spent her later years with her friend and companion Theodore Strongin.

She was also a cherished member of her Slick Rock Mountain community in Brevard, North Carolina.

Leah was mother to three daughters Cherick B. Cope, Dana L. Meeks and Leah J. Lasbury, Jr. She was "Mimi" to four grandchildren and six great grandchildren.

Leah lived her life with enthusiasm, optimism and a great sense of adventure. Even though her health declined over the past few years, Leah handled life with courage, grace, humor and dignity, while still bringing joy and love to others as she always did.

She will be dearly missed by not only family but all the people she touched in her life.

Memorial services will be held at the Englewood United Methodist Church on Friday, June 12th at 1:00 p.m. Contributions may be made to the Elsie Quirk Public Library, Englewood, Fla.

Leah married Clyde Pinney Lasbury on 16 Sep 1940 in Sanbornton, Belknap, New Hampshire, USA. Clyde (son of Ralph Chesick Lasbury, Snr. and Eloise Jane Thrall) was born on 11 Aug 1914 in East Windsor, Hartford, Connecticut, USA; died on 21 Jul 1989 in Englewood, Sarasota, Florida, USA; was buried in Englewood, Sarasota, Florida, USA. [Group Sheet] [Family Chart]

Family/Spouse: Patricia P. Giroux. [Group Sheet] [Family Chart]

Other Events and Attributes:

• Also Known As: Cheri

Notes:

Residence:
Cherick Lasbury 3816 1st Av West Brandenton, Florida 34205 USA

Family/Spouse: Malcolm John Pitchford Jones. [Group Sheet] [Family Chart]

Family/Spouse: Bruce Harford Cope. [Group Sheet] [Family Chart]

Notes:

Died:
Dana Lasbury Meeks quietly passed on Monday, January 31, 2022, at the age of 75.

Dana was born in Hartford, Connecticut to Clyde Penny Lasbury and Leah Bartlett Lasbury. Later relocating to Englewood, Florida at the age of four. She attended Ray Vogue College of Design in Chicago, Illinois where she pursued a degree in interior design. Shortly after obtaining her degree, Dana began staging window displays in various department stores. Dana was a devoted artist and often dreamt of travel.

She was preceded in death by her parents, Clyde and Leah Lasbury, sister Cherick Lasbury Cope, late husband Frank Meeks, and son Troy Clyde Cleveland.

Dana is survived by her children Shannon ( Jason) Libhart, Victor ( Amy) Cleveland, Courtney Cleveland, eight grandchildren; six great-grandchildren; sister Leah Lasbury Jr; and many friends. Dana will especially be remembered for her love for life, desire to be different, and spirit served to strengthen everyone she met.

A celebration of life will be held summer of 2022 in Englewood, Florida.

The family requests those who wish to express sympathy to consider making a donation to the Englewood Art Center in Dana Lasbury Meek's name.

Published by Sun Newspapers from Feb. 13 to Feb. 10, 2022.

Family/Spouse: Victor Eugene Cleveland. [Group Sheet] [Family Chart]

Family/Spouse: Charles Francis Meeks. [Group Sheet] [Family Chart]