The Bartram family of Connecticut had a history in the maritime industry starting with the patriarch Thomas Bartram (1771-1838) who was a shipmaster from Black Rock (Bridgeport), Connecticut, commanding the schooner, Live Oak. Thomas had two sons Joseph Burr Bartram (1800-1881 )and Capt. Thomas Burr Bartram (1803-1886) who joined their father and later succeeded him in the business. The Bartram’s became very wealthy between becoming money lenders and being captains and owners of ships that traded in the West Indies.

In 1864 Joseph Burr Bartram’s sons Joseph Burr Bartram (1839-1902) and Thomas William Bartram (1837-1888) established Bartram Brothers, a New York shipping and commission merchant firm. In 1888 Joseph’s son Joseph Percy Bartram (1870-1948) joined the firm later becoming its president. Bartram Brothers began its shipping and commission merchant business handling commodities, especially Caribbean raw sugar for sale in the U.S. market. The firm’s location in New York gave it access to the rapidly growing U.S. sugar refining and import sector there. Under Joseph Percy Bartram’s leadership, the firm strengthened its sugar trade ties, bridging New York finance with Caribbean plantations in St. Croix and the Dominican Republic.

In 1884, Bartram Brothers expanded their operations by settling in St. Croix, which was then owned by Denmark. There they were involved in the acquisition of real estate for investment purposes and mercantile houses. Their agent in St. Croix was A. James Blackwood who despite lacking prior experience in the sugar industry, was appointed to oversee the construction of a modern sugar factory at an estate named "Lower Love". The successful completion of the sugar factory earned Capt. Blackwood praise for his work. In 1897 the Strawberry Hill sugar estate was sold to Blackwood for $97,000 dollars. Blackwood role in Strawberry was that of an intermediary: estates were often put in his name to avoid absentee ownership taxes. Under the Bartram Brother's ownership, Strawberry Hill Estate continued to produce sugar; usually carting it to Lower Love for processing. In 1911, Bartram sold out to Aktiustskaet, another holding company, who kept the estate in production, processing sugar at their new factory at Upper Bethlehem. By the time the Bartram Brothers acquired their estates in St Croix, the era of sugar production on the island was well into a long decline. After facing economic headwinds in St. Croix, the Bartram brothers, like other foreign investors, shifted more of their focus to the Dominican Republic, where larger-scale "central" mills were becoming the norm.

The first Bartram Brothers acquisition in the Dominican Republic was Ingenio San Isidro acquired by foreclosure in the 1890s. Ingenio San Isidro was established in 1882 by Cuban immigrant Mariano Hernandez and also Cuban immigrant of British descent José Eleuterio Hatton (1854-1916) in the immediacies of what today is the San Isidro Air Force Base in the capital city of Santo Domingo. The exact date Bartram Brothers foreclosed on Central San Isidro from Hatton is uncertain, but it is was on or before 1896 when it is reported that Bartram Brothers acquired a locomotive for Central San Isidro built in 1881 by Harron & Co.

Ingenio Consuelo history dates back to 1881 when the company Padrón y Solaún y Cía. established it as Ingenio Agua Dulce in the San Pedro de Macoris community that would become the town of Consuelo. The mill’s first manager was US born William Louis Bass who played a crucial role in the mill's early development, with many of its original wooden structures built during his tenure.  In 1886 Bass acquired the mill and continued its success, building additional structures and expanding the complex.  He renamed it as Ingenio Consuelo in honor of his mother. In 1910 Bartram Brothers purchased Ingenio Consuelo from Bass who had fallen into financial duress due to excessive debt incurred for new machinery. Ingenio Consuelo had undergone significant upgrades under the Bass ownership and was known as one of the most modern and largest central sugar mills in Santo Domingo. Edwin E. Kilbourne, who was the manager under the Bass ownership, continued in his role with Bartram Brothers, providing continuity in operations and management.

In 1920 Bartram Brothers sold their Dominican sugar holdings consisting of Ingenio Consuelo and Ingenio San Isidro to the Cuban-Santo Domingo Sugar Development Syndicate. This sale was part of a larger trend of consolidation in the Caribbean sugar industry, where smaller players were bought out by larger syndicates and corporations.  The sale occurred during and shortly after a period known as the "Dance of the Millions," a massive sugar boom that swept the Caribbean from 1918 to 1920. With European beet sugar fields devastated by World War I, demand for Caribbean sugar soared, causing prices to spike and fueling speculative investment. Bartram Brothers' sale allowed them to profit from this market high.

The family’s wealth from shipping and sugar was eventually placed into Bartram Brothers Corp., a Connecticut holding company. This corporation the firm no longer ran ships or plantations but managed legacy assets held in securities and investments through family trusts.