Children: John Heath, Joseph Heath, Joshua Heath, Hannah Heath, Josiah Heath, Elizabeth Heath, Benjamin Heath, and Elizabeth Heath.

His parents, as linked, are highly probable, based on onomastics and provenance, but not 100% conclusive. Some records show that Bartholomew Heath was born in Nazeing Essex, England; others show that he was born in Salisbury St. Martins, Wiltshire, England as were his father and brother.

At the age of 17 he came to America on the ship Lyon that sailed from London on June 22, 1632 along with his uncle, William of Roxbury, William's wife Mary, and their five children.

Soon after their arrival in America, Bartholomew and his uncle William took up residence in the small village of Roxbury, Massachusetts, (now a district of Boston.) Within a few years Bartholomew moved from Roxbury to Newbury, Massachusetts, and remained there until sometime after 1640. He married Hannah Moyce about 1640 in Newbury, Massachusetts.

After their wedding Bartholomew and Hannah Moyce Heath resided in Newbury, Massachusetts, where their first child was born. They moved to Haverhill, Massachusetts as early as 1642, where he was an innkeeper. Haverhill was a new village, founded in 1640, and then considered to be in the wilderness and controlled by Indians. Bartholomew and Hannah were some it's first inhabitants. Bartholomew was appointed Constable and Selectman there.

Hannah and Bartholomew had the following children:

John Heath (1643-? ) who married Sarah Partridge;

Joseph Heath (1645- abt. 1673), who married Martha Dow;

Joshua Heath (1646-1647);

Hannah Heath, (1648-1668);

Josiah Heath (1651-? ), whose first wife was Mary Davis, and whose second wife was Martha (Kimball) Chase;

Elizabeth Heath (1653-1654);

Benjamin Heath (1656-1657);

Elizabeth Heath (1658-1659).

Only three of Bartholomew's children lived to adult age and married, and one of those died shortly after marriage.

It's possible that Bartholomew and his brother financed their journey to the New World by becoming indentured servants, as did about 1/3 of all emigrants to the northern colonies in the 17th century. The master would pay the way and they would serve him for a period of time before being freed. They may have been younger brothers in the family and not eligible for any inheritance as was the custom. He would have been about 15 when the Puritan migration started in 1629 and continued heavily through 1642. Their records showed up in 1643. Upon arriving in the colonies, John and Bartholomew both settled in Newbury Massachusetts, about 30 miles north of Boston. In colonial New England, it was forbidden for single men or women to live alone. It's most likely that the young men lived among a family that they traveled with from England, or for whom they were working.

Hannah Moyce's family lived just across the Merrimack River in Salisbury. She and Bartholomew married sometime around 1640-42 both in their mid-twenties. Her parents were Joseph and Hannah (possibly Folcord) of Salisbury. She had been born in England and records show her father received land in the 1st division of Salisbury and again in 1640 and 1641. The wedding they had would have been a simple and solemn affair - there would have been no festivity as there would be today. The Puritans didn't believe marriage was a religious rite, but rather a contract. They would be married by a magistrate after the parents discussed a dowry and the couple had a engagement period.

Bartholomew and Hannah Heath started their married life in Newbury, where records show they had their first son, John, in 1643. Around 1644, they moved to Haverhill, MA, where their second son was born about a year later. Records show that Newbury was one of the first colonies but getting well populated (23,000) by 1640 and getting overcrowded, so that may have been the cause of their move. Also records show that 1643 were bad years for the colonists. "Corn was very scarce...and many families had none to eat by the end of April, but were forced to live on clams, mussels, dry-fish and so forth."

Early Haverhill records show that: "...[any man] that was worth 200 pounds should have twenty acres to his houselott." In 1645 Bartholomew owned land in Haverhill by the Merrimac River that by 1650, was estimated to have a value of 140 pounds or about $750. It's possible that, with the addition of personal property, he may have been worth 200 pounds or more. He appears to be quite prosperous. Out of 36 men owning property, only 3 had property worth more than Bartholomew. He gained more land throughout the next few years (1661).

He also was heavily involved in the community. He took the freeman's oath of fidelity about 1646, which gave the right to vote for all town offices. He served as constable, appraiser, grand juror and selectman. His office as selectman had him often settling disputes among the townspeople and sat on committees for the meetinghouse construction and to lay out land. At one point he owned a tavern because records show that his tavern license was renewed in 1662. They didn't have freedom of religion. Only those who lived and believed in the Puritan values and beliefs could hold such positions and so we must conclude that Bartholomew, for the most part, lived in accordance with Puritan ideals. Also, everyone was well aware of what economic station they were in and if you did not have enough you weren't to wear or show opulence. That was reserved only for the very wealthy. Puritans dressed very plainly unless their social or economic position permitted them to wear fancier attire. Laws were very stringent. Bartholomew himself was presented for two acts of drunkenness in 1677, but It's interesting to note that these offenses took place the same year that his wife died.

(The Heath Family of Maine, Massachusetts, and Minnesota.)

Another biographical sketch:

HEATH

This is not an uncommon name in New England, although the Heaths have not been a prolific family. The name comes here from England, the mother country, and was planted on this side of the Atlantic ocean some time previous to the middle of the seventeenth century. John Heath, brother of the immigrant, appears to have received greater attention from chroniclers of the family history, but it is doubtful if he occupied a higher station in early town affairs than his brother. Both of frequently mentioned as Heth, but similar errors on the part of town and parish clerks are not infrequent, and they need not be surprising when we consider the very limited education of those of our New England ancestors who came here to dwell among Indians, in a wilderness region, without more than the plainest comforts of life, and when schools for several years were almost unheard of.

Bartholomew Heath, brother of John above mentioned, was first of Newbury, Massachusetts Bay colony, and afterward of Haverhill, where the greater part of his life was spent. Savage says he was born about 1600, but other authorities say, with more accuracy, that he was born about 1615; and he died in January, 1681. Chase, in his "History of Haverhill," says that in 1645 "considerable land was this year granted to individuals west of Little river, on the Merrimack, and Hugh Sharratt, Bartholomew Heath, James Fiske and John Chenarie had liberty to lay down their land on the plain, and have it laid out over Little river, westward." In 1646 he owned lands which were estimated as of the value of one hundred and forty pounds, and when plans were made for another distribution of the town's territory, called the "second division of plough-lands," Bartholomew Heath was allotted lot number four. He was one of the signers of the petition praying that the penalty imposed on Mr. Pike on account of his religious exhortations be remitted him, and in this and many other respects he appears to have been a leading man in the town. In 1665 with one Andrew Grealey he entered into an agreement with the town to set up and keep in repair the corn mill, operate it, and in consideration of the expense they might be put to in placing the mill in repair, the town voted them the right "to have so much privilege of the land in the street on both sides of the brook at the end of Michael Emerson's lot as may be convenient to set up another mill on, or any other place on the town's land"; and the town did also "engage that no other man shall set up a mill or mills upon any land that is the town's, with any order from the town." In other words the town ordered that Bartholomew Heath and Mr. Grealey have an exclusive mill privilege in Haverhill, and it may be said here that they carried on this business for several years, to their own profit and to the great convenience of the inhabitants.

Mr. Heath's wife was Hannah, daughter of Joseph Moyce, and she died in Haverhill, July 9, 1677. There does not appear to be any record of their marriage, and from the fact that they had a son Samuel, whose name is not given among their children born in Newbury or Haverhill, it may be assumed that they married in old Guilford, Surrey, England whence they came to this country; and it is probable that this son Samuel either remained in England at the time of his father's immigration or subsequently returned there, married and lived there some years before coming over again. As shown by the Newbury, Haverhill and other records the children of Bartholomew and Hannah (Moyce) Heath were

Samuel, John, Joseph, Joshua, Hannah, Josiah, Elizabeth (died young), Benjamin and Elizabeth.

Samuel, son of Bartholomew Heath, was born in England, married there, and had children, among them a son John.

John the second child, was born in 1643, and Elizabeth, the youngest, was born September 5, 1658.

(Genealogical and Family History of the State of Maine, Vol. III, compiled by George Thomas Little, A.M., Litt.D., et al. New York: Lewis Historical Publishing company, 1909.)