John Burton Biography


	This biography is from "Memorial and biographical record; an illustrated
 	compendium of biography, containing a compendium of local biography,
	including biographical sketches of prominent old settlers and 
	representative citizens of South Dakota..." Published by G. A. Ogle & 
	Co., Chicago, 1899. Pages 605-606

	Scan, OCR and editing by Maurice Krueger,mkrueger@iw.net, 1998. 

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JOHN BURTON, for many years a resident of Bath township, Brown county, 
has been a resident of South Dakota from the early days of its 
settlement. He has engaged extensively in general farming and stock 
raising, and is now retired from active labors and makes his home with 
his son, Robert K. Burton, on section 22, township 123, range 62. They 
are the owners of one of the finest farms in the vicinity, and also a 
large and prosperous ranch in Day county. 

John Burton was born in the town of Gowdall, Yorkshire, England, in 
July, 1831, and was one of a family of six children, four sons and two 
daughters, born to John and Anna (Mitchell) Burton. His father was 
engaged in farming and our subject worked out at farm labor until he 
was nineteen years of age, when the family moved to America, in 1850. 
They proceeded from New York city to Buffalo, New York, and there 
secured employment at various occupations for about one year, removing 
from there to Walworth county, Wisconsin. The father engaged in farming 
on his own account, and the boys worked with various farmers in the 
vicinity. From Wisconsin, in 1855, our subject end his brother, George, 
drove with an ox team to Minnesota, a journey which occupied six weeks. 
On their arrival they took up pre-emptions in Carver county, our 
subject taking one hundred and sixty acres of land. They continued 
their residence there for twenty-eight years, and engaged in farming 
with marked success. Their first home was a log house which they 
erected on reaching there and where our subject, with his wife and two 
children, lived until better quarters could be provided. At the desire 
of his children in 1882 he sold his Minnesota possessions and the 
family removed to Brown county, South Dakota, where they have thrived 
in their farming interests. Our subject became a member of Company G, 
Minnesota Heavy Artillery, in February, 1865, and joined his regiment 
at Fort Snelling. He went to Chattanooga, where he was stationed for 
nine months, and at the close of hostilities received an honorable 
discharge. He was not wounded during the service, but was confined to 
the hospital by sickness for several weeks. 

John Burton was married in 1852, in East Troy. Wisconsin, to Mrs. 
Elizabeth Roberts (nee Bakehouse). Mrs. Burton was born in. Yorkshire, 
England, in 1 828, and died in Bath, South Dakota, December 10, 1895. 
She was the mother of two sons and five daughters, and two of the 
daughters preceded her to the life beyond. She was an earnest and 
faithful Christian worker, and did much to advance the Redeemer's 
Kingdom, and was loved and respected by a large circle of friends and 
acquaintances. Her last illness was of long duration, but she bore her 
suffering with true fortitude, waiting for the summons to the better 
life. Mr. Burton is a member of the Methodist Episcopal church and is 
living quietly and peacefully in his declining years. 

Robert K. Burton, the youngest son and third in the family of seven 
children born to Mr. and Mrs. John Burton, is now in partnership with 
his father and is the manager of the estate. They own five quarter-
sections of land, through which the Jim river flows, and have about 
four hundred acres under cultivation, and the balance in pasture and 
hay land. They formerly kept a herd of thoroughbred Herefords, but now 
confine themselves to grade cattle, of which they have about three 
hundred head on their stock ranch in Day county, which ranch comprises 
about three and a half sections of land, and in addition to that they 
rent seven hundred acres of land. Their home farm and ranch are among 
the finest in South Dakota. Robert K. Burton, in 1887, secured a small 
herd of thoroughbred Hereford cattle from the herd of C. N. Cosgrove in 
southern Minnesota, and from the original purchase secured a herd of 
fifty or sixty head. From that herd most of the cattle of that breed in 
South Dakota have come. 

Robert Burton was married in December, 1894, to Miss Elizabeth Bland, a 
native of England, who came to America in 1892. Mr. Burton is a member 
of A. O. U. W., also a member of Modern Woodmen of America, and himself 
and wife are members of the M. E. church at Bath, and in politics he is 
a Republican. He is one of the rising young men of Brown county, and 
enjoys the respect of his associates. He has faithfully devoted himself 
to the work, and the management of the estate and he has succeeded to a 
marked degree.