Lemuel Bartholomew was born in about 1727 in Branford, New Haven County, Connecticut, the son of William and Mary (Barnes) Bartholomew. His ancestors were among those who emigrated from England during the “Great Migration” to the Massachusetts Colony in the mid-17th century. Lemuel’s ancestors migrated to Connecticut in the later 1600s after a few generations in Massachusetts. 

In 1751, Lemuel married Mary Squire in Litchfield County, Connecticut. Their known children were: 

• Joseph was born in about 1752 and died at 17.
• Jesse was born in about 1753 and married an unknown woman.
• Jepthai [Patriot P-110849] was born in 1755 and married Sarah Earl.
• Lemma [Patriot P-109967] was born on 6 September 1759 and married Anna Wilson.
• Aseneth was born in about 1760 and married William Hurlburt.
• Mary “Polly” was born in about 1762 and married James Willson.
• Anna was born on 16 April 1766 and married Nathaniel Miller [Patriot P-249580].
• Squire was born on 14 September 1768 and married Abigail Jones.
• Justus was born on 20 June 1771 and married Elisabeth Trowbridge.
• William was born on 9 March 1775 and married Susan Powers.
• Susanna was born in about 1777 and married Serano Trowbridge.
• Joseph (2) was born on 9 April 1782 and married Clarissa Norton. 

In 1769 or a little earlier, Lemuel, Mary, and older children born in Connecticut migrated to Skenesborough, Whitehall Township, Charlotte County, New York, near the current Vermont border and about twenty-five due south of Fort Ticonderoga.

Lemuel was a veteran of the Seven Years War (sometimes called the French and Indian War) and is documented as serving as a Private in Colonel David Wooster’s 3rd Regiment, Captain Archibald McNeal’s 8th Company of Connecticut Provincial Militia, Caroline County, which bordered Vermont. 

New York disputed Vermont’s claim and vice versa; these disputes were common in this period, especially in the frontier regions. It was also common to see men serve in regiments in both places, as we’ll see in the service of his son Jeptha. Lemuel and his family lived in the town of Skenesborough. It was named for British officer Peter Skene, who established the town after the Seven Year War; during the Revolutionary War, Skene, a Loyalist, returned to England, and it was renamed Whitehall. In 1772, Albany County was divided up, and Charlotte County was one of the new counties created; in 1784, it was renamed Washington County for George Washington.

Lemuel’s SAR qualifying service is noted as Civil Service, as a Sessor and Commissioner of Roads; he also served in Colonel Alexander Webster’s Regiment of Charlotte County Militia at age 50; he drew pay for active-duty service four times, undated. Of his eldest sons, Lemme (see biography) and Jeptha (see biography) served during the Revolutionary War, and a third son, Jesse, may have also served. There is Jesse Bartholomew on the muster roll of Captain Alexander Waugh’s Fairfield and Norwalk Company of the 17th Connecticut Militia Regt. (Connecticut Revolutionary War Military Lists). This is probably him, but there is not enough documentation to say definitively that he moved to Chautauqua County, New York, at an early date. There are other Bartholomew men serving in Webster’s Regiment, John and Joseph, who have an unknown relationship without doing the genealogy.

The Patriot died on 22 March 1801 at about age 75; he was buried in the Bartholomew Family Cemetery in Whitehall; his wife Mary outlived him by many years, dying on 7 March 1824, and also buried in the family cemetery in Whitehall.

Sources: 

1. Connecticut Soldiers, French & Indian War
2. Early Connecticut Marriages
3. Whitehall local history sketches
4. SAR, Membership Applications 1889-1970
5. U.S. Compiled Rev. Military Service Records