Alva Young Bartlett

     Alva Young Bartlett was born on 4 October 1881 at Claiborne County, Tennessee.¹ He married, at age 23, Emily Cleva Sharp, age 19, daughter of Isaac James Sharp and Mary Ann McBee, on Sunday, 23 October 1904.^1,2 Alva Young Bartlett died on 16 August 1954 at Hazard, Perry County, Kentucky, at age 72 years, 10 months and 12 days.¹
     Memories of Papaw, (Barbara Bartlett Thomas-Granddaughter)

Alva Young Bartlett was the son of Isaac Anderson & Minerva Orlena Smyth Bartlett.

Papaw met Mamaw at a square dance. Papaw had brought another girl to the dance but after meeting Mamaw, Emily Cleva, he decided that she was the girl he intended to take home. Every time I hear the song "Tennessee Waltz", sung by Patti Page, I think it could have been written by the girl Papaw took to that dance. He married Emily Cleva Sharp Oct. 23, 1904. Their first child Clarence was born in 1906 and Papaw worked at a dry goods store owned by Gibson Brothers in Middlesboro, Kentucky. A few years later they moved to Greensburg, Indiana where Papaw farmed. Times were hard during those years. They moved to Perry County, Kentucky when Papaw's brother Tillman was building the houses for the coal camps there. Papaw got a job with the Columbus Mining Company and worked for more than 30 years in Allais. Later, he also had a small grocery store below the road from their house.

I was not quite eight years old when Papaw died. We had just moved from Hazard, KY to Middletown, OH. I have some memories of him and remember him being gentle and soft spoken. My Aunt Edith, she is my mother's sister and no relation to the Bartletts, told me he was such a positive person, always looking for something good despite the circumstances. She told me that she stayed with my mom during WWII and while everyone around worried and talked about all the bad things, Papaw would find something GOOD to remind everyone of. That, despite the fact that he had three sons all serving during that war, my dad Cecil M., Howard and Eugene "Jude." She also told me how much time and interest he took in my brother, Cecil Vernon during the years Dad was away and serving in the Navy.

Papaw was known for his generosity and patience and was very well respected and admired by those who knew him. Dad told me that at his funeral that there were those that came and shared with him stories of how Papaw had supplied food for them many times knowing they would never be able to repay. One woman in particular said "Had it not been for Mr. Bartlett I would have gone to school many a day hungry and with no lunch."

The most important thing about Papaw was his love for the Lord. He raised his children in church and passed values to his children that they have passed on to their children and grandchildren, "A Heritage of Faith" for all his descendants.

Papaw and Mamaw are buried in Riverside Cemetery in Hazard, KY in the Bartlett Plot.