William Bartram was a resident of colonial Bladen County by 1732. Some sources suggest he was born in North Carolina, but when his father was attacked and killed during the Tuscarora War, he, his mother, and brother moved to Philadelphia for a short time before William Bartram returned to North Carolina. Bartram was a local justice of the peace and also represented Bladen in the North Carolina colonial assembly for several terms between 1740 and 1768. In addition to his legislative duties, bartam also served on the local freeholders court which heard cases involving enslaved individuals. He seems to have been the uncle of naturalist William Bartram (born in 1739). He died sometime before December 1771.