Eugene Monroe Bartlett was born at or near Waynesville, Pulaski County, Missouri on
December 24, 1883 (or 1885).[i] He was the son of Hiram F. Bartlett and Elizabeth
Atwell. At some time before the 1900 census, the family had moved to Sebastian
County, Arkansas. (Hiram and Elizabeth had previously been in Sebastian County
during the 1880 census enumeration, but had returned to Missouri.) Bartlett
furthered his education at the Hall-Moody Institute in Martin, Tennessee, and
William Jewell College in Liberty, Missouri. In 1913 he married Joan Tatum and they
had at least two children. E. M. Bartlett died January 25, 1941. At the time of his
death, E. M. Bartlett was a member of the Baptist Church at Siloam Springs. The
Bartletts are buried at the Oak Hill Cemetery in Siloam Springs, Benton County,
Arkansas.
With David Moore and John A. McClung, E. M. Bartlett partnered to established the
Hartford Music Company in Hartford, Arkansas in 1918.[ii] In 1921 E. M. Bartlett
started the Hartford Music Institute, a shape-note singing school. He also served as
editor of a monthly musical magazine called The Herald of Song. Bartlett was
inducted into the Gospel Music Hall of Fame in 1973.
He wrote the song Victory in Jesus published in 1939.
Bartlett’s Everybody Will Be Happy Over There is a popular shape-note convention
song. He also wrote some humorous songs, such as Take an Old Cold Tater and Wait, a
song about the country practice of kids having to wait to eat at the “second table”
when the family had company. This song was recorded by country music singer Little
Jimmy Dickens.
[ii] On his World War I draft registration, he called this company the
Bartlett-Moore Music Company. This was apparently the original name.
Song writer/Publisher
[From R. L. Vaughn Blog - Ministry and Music - Seeking the Old Paths. Scanned and
formatted by Jim Duvall]
Baptist History Homepage