Biography: History of Fulton County, 1884, Fulton Co., PA, Barton Family

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___________________________________________________________
                                     
                                     HISTORY
                                       of
                                BEDFORD, SOMERSET
                                       and
                                 FULTON COUNTIES,
                                  PENNSYLVANIA.

                  With Illustrations and Biographical Sketches
                                 of some of its
                           PIONEERS AND PROMINENT MEN.

                     Chicago: Waterman, Watkins & Co., 1884

                                 CHAPTER LXXXVI.

                                   AYR AND TOD.

                                   BIOGRAPHICAL

                                THE BARTON FAMILY

  The Barton family have been quite an important factor in the settlement and 
development of Fulton county.  Some time prior to the revolutionary war, Elijah 
Barton, wife and family left their home in New Jersey, and started for the west 
to carve out for himself a home in the wilderness.  He selected land in Brush 
Creek valley, the title to which he received from William and John Penn.  This 
section was at this time a wilderness, and these worth pioneers endured many 
privations and hardships to which the present generation are strangers.  They 
remained here until their deaths.  A portion of the original purchase is now in 
the possession of his grandson, Malon Barton.  They reared a family of six 
children - Elisha, George, Henry, Rebecca, Rachael and Mary.  George grew to 
manhood's estate under the parental roof, and was then given a portion of his 
father's land, to which he made subsequent additions, and remained here until 
his death, which occurred in 1825.  He married Catharine Morgert, whose father 
was an officer in the revolutionary army, also a prominent settler in what is 
now West Providence township, Bedford county, where he kept a tavern for some 
fifty years.  They became the parents of eleven children, four of whom died when 
young.  The others are: John, Mary A., Peter, Elijah, Phillip, Baltzer and 
George.
  The sons filled many important offices, viz.: George, county commissioner, six 
years, also associate judge for nearly five years; John, county auditor; Peter, 
county commissioner, and Elijah, many of the township officers, mercantile 
appraiser, etc.
  Baltzer Barton was born February 17, 1824, and reared on his father's farm.  
In 1849 he removed to Westmoreland county, and one year later engaged in the 
mercantile business.  In 1854 he returned to Fulton county and engaged in 
farming, which occupation he followed until 1883, when he removed to Bedford, 
Pennsylvania.
  While living in Fulton county, Mr. Barton was among its prominent residents 
and progressive farmers.  He held the office of county commissioner over three 
years, also the various township offices, and has greatly interested himself in 
the cause of education.
  October 15, 1850, he married Nancy J. Chilcote, whose ancestors came from 
England at an early day, and settled on a farm in Massachusetts, where Boston is 
now located.  From there they moved to Huntingdon county, Pennsylvania.  Mr. and 
Mrs. Barton have been blessed with ten children: Joseph F., George, Elijah, 
Humphrey, William, John, Rebecca, Malinda, Albert and Adda.
  Joseph F. Barton, the present superintendent of schools of Fulton county, was 
born in Derry, Westmoreland county, in 1852, and moved with his parents to 
Fulton county when two years old.  He was educated in common and private 
schools, and at the Shippensburg State Normal School, graduating in 1874.  He 
commenced teaching at the age of eighteen, and was engaged in that occupation 
until May, 1881, when he was elected to the office of school superintendent of 
Fulton county.  Mr. Barton's success and popularity as a teacher placed him 
among the foremost instructors of the county.  He was principal of the graded 
schools in McConnellsburg and Hopewell, and taught several terms of private 
normal school in Fulton county.  Since entering upon the duties of his office he 
has performed faithful and earnest work, and under his supervision the schools 
of the county have been efficient and progressive.  Mr. Barton has taken part in 
local politics, making speeches in the county canvass.  Mr. Barton is an able 
and thorough scholar and a graceful and easy speaker.
  It is impossible for the present generation to realize the conditions of 
things that existed at this period.  Markets were few and far between, and even 
the scanty products they were enabled to produce brought insignificant prices 
compared with those of the present time, and, as a consequence, luxuries were 
unknown, while economy and industry were absolutely necessary.  Church and 
school edifices, if they existed at all, were often many miles distant.

                                    ~~~*~~~