During his tenure, the 18th district represented the Northampton County, Pennsylvania.

As a child, his family moved to Easton, Pennsylvania, where he received a public high school education and didn't attend any college.

He worked as a secretary, treasurer, and sales agent for local manufacturing firms from 1904 to 1933.

[1] Bartlett joined the Pennsylvania National Guard in 1904 and during World War I, achieved the rank of Captain commanding Rainbow Division's 149th Machine Gun Battalion's Company A, as part of the American Expeditionary Forces from 1917 to 1919.

After the war, he also served as a Major of the Pennsylvania National Guard's coastal artillery until 1923.