He came with the expedition of Pedro de Valdivia at the beginning of the Spanish conquest of Chile.
Bartholomew, known in Chile as Bartolomé Flores, was born 1506 or 1511 in the Franconian town of Nuremberg.
Bartholomew came about 1528 to America and stayed first in La Española, Santo Domingo and Nicaragua, from where he travelled to Peru, to support Francisco Pizarro.
There he participated in the defense of the settlement of Santiago, when it was attacked by local tribes led by chief Michimalonco on 11 September 1541.
In Chile he married Elvira, the only daughter of Tala Canta Ilabe, the Cacique of Talagante.