Grundy County IL Archives Biographies.....Barton, John 
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Deb Haines ddhaines@gmail.com March 26, 2006, 1:09 am

Author: Bio/Gen Record LaSalle/Grundy 1900

JOHN BARTON.

The number of residents of Grundy county of English nativity is not large, but 
in this county, as elsewhere, residents of English birth have demonstrated 
their capacity for good citizenship. The Englishman is usually enterprising, 
and he is always intelligent, liberal and patriotic. He is imbued with the 
same spirit of progressiveness that animates his cousin, the Yankee, and 
readily and cordially joins hands with the latter in the work of civilization 
and development. John Barton, of Gardner, Grundy county, Illinois, has 
illustrated this fact in his everyday life and proven it by his success. Proud 
that he is an Englishman,—for when you look the world over you come to the 
conclusion that it is a good thing to be an Englishman,—he is no less proud 
that he is an American also,—an American in progressiveness, in patriotism, in 
love for humanity.

He first saw the light in Lincolnshire, England, one day in 1844. His father, 
Samuel Barton, never came to this country. Francis, a brother, came 
previously, and is now living at Wheaton, Illinois. John was educated in his 
native England and learned the trade of milling. In 1871 he came to America, 
and, making his way west to Illinois, located at Keithsburg, in Mercer county, 
where he lived four years, and after that he engaged in farming near that 
village. In 1881 he became a resident at Gardner, and until 1888 was employed 
by Louis Germain in the operation of the machinery of the elevator at that 
place.

Mr. Barton was the assessor of Greenfield township from 1891 to 1897, 
inclusive. He has been a justice of the peace since 1892 and notary public 
since 1893. He is a local preacher of the Methodist Episcopal church, and in 
the year immediately preceding his coming to Gardner he was the pastor of a 
church near Bushnell, Illinois. He still occasionally fills appointments. In 
his political affiliations he is a Republican. His public spirit has caused 
him to take an interest in many movements planned for the good of the public, 
and he is regarded as a worthy and most useful citizen. As a Christian and a 
preacher of the word of God, he naturally feels a deep interest in all 
religious work, which he aids so far as possible whenever opportunity is 
presented. The moral example of his life is of high utility in the community, 
and as a public official he perhaps exemplifies the highest conception of 
official integrity and faithfulness as brilliantly as any public functionary 
in the country.

In 1872 Mr. Barton was married, at Keithsburg, Illinois, to Miss Emma Ball. 
Mr. and Mrs. Barton have five children,—one son and four daughters,—named as 
follows: George, Mary, Lizzie, Lottie and Lulu. All of them except the 
youngest are graduates of the high school at Gardner. George has been 
bookkeeper for the Gardner-Wilmington Coal Company since 1893.

Additional Comments:
Source:  Biographical and Genealogical Record of La Salle and Grundy County, 
Illinois, Volume 11, Chicago, 1900, p604-605

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