Adams County Wisconsin Genealogy

Transcribed by Sandy Boudrou

Source: Memorial and Biographical Record and Illustrated Compendium of Biography of Citizens of Columbia, Sauk and Adams Counties, Wisconsin, published 1901 by G. A. Ogle & Co., Chicago, 1901, Pages 429 - 430

John Barton, Sr., whose pleasant and inviting home has been found for many years on section 15, township of Colburn, has long been known as one of the foremost citizens of Adams county. He was born in Muskingum county, Ohio, four miles east of Zanesville, September 25, 1818, and the earlier portion of his life was spent in his native state. In the course of the years he has applied his hand to many labors, and prospered in all; and now as the sunset of life draws near, he can look back with something like satisfaction over his eighty years of honorable and successful labors.

Mr. Barton was married to Mary E. Brelsford, at West Alexander, Pennsylvania, April 7, 1836, and spent the next seventeen years of his life in farming in Morgan county, Ohio. He had a coal mine on his land, which he worked winters; and also built a saw-mill, which he operated some five years. In 1857 he transferred himself and all his belongings and appurtenances to Adams county, Wisconsin, where the year before he had bought eight hundred acres of the government. Of this extensive tract he now holds four hundred acres, and with assiduous tillage he has converted it into a model Wisconsin farm. He lives in a handsome stone house, and has ample and sufficient outbuildings of every kind and character.

Mr. Barton bought an interest in a water power and saw-mill on the big Roach-a-Cree creek, and built a grist-mill at that place in 1863. He carried on these enterprises for some five years, when he sold out to John Comer and returned to his Adams county farm, where he has maintained his home to the present time. Here he has taken much interest in stock raising, and every year puts up a vast amount of hay, not only for use, but for sale. He brought clover seed with him from Ohio, and it was the first ever sowed on Indian land north of the Fox river. He has raised it continuously, since that time, and thinks very highly of it as a stock food. He baled and shipped to Steven's Point the first bale of hay ever put up and sent from Adams county. In the season he has frequently cut a hundred tons of tame hay, and as much more of wild from his place.

In his time Mr. Barton has filled many important local positions, though he has set his face against office seeking. He was county commissioner in 1864, and has filled the various town offices in succession. He was chairman of the town board many years and has exercised a marked influence on town and county affairs. He is a member of the Masonic order, and his name is inscribed on the charter of Wautoma Lodge. Later he was transferred to Edwards Lodge at Hancock. He is much revered in the mystic circles, and for years he was an efficient and hard-working member of the order. He is now a Republican, and in early life was a Whig. He voted for General Harrison in 1840 and has many interesting memories of politics in those early days.

John Barton, the father of the subject of this article, was born in eastern Virginia, where he married Frances Anderson in 1816. They removed soon after their wedding to Ohio, where they spent their lives in farming. He was a soldier in the war of 1812, and was in the battle of Bladensburg. He was at Washington when the British looted the capitol. Levi Barton, the grandfather of John, was born in eastern Virginia, and was a representative farmer and a leading spirit in the revolutionary struggle. He was one of the first men to take up arms against the English, and one of the last to put them down. He served throughout the war with distinction, and he was long a leading character in his own community.

Mr. and Mrs. Barton are the parents of twenty children, eight of whom are now living: Nancy Jane, Margaret Ann, Hayes, Andrew, Laura, Charles Edward, Thomas and John, Jr. They had two sons in the Civil war, William F. and Hayes. John Jr., is in the Philippines.