John A. Burton, Ouachita County, AR

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SOURCE: Chicago: The Goodspeed Publishing Co., 1889.
Contributed by Carol Smith.
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Ouachita County, Arkansas - from Goodspeed's History of Arkansas

John A. Burton, one of the oldest and best known settler of Ouachita County, Bridge Creek Township, was born March 3, 1825, in Spartanburg
District, South Carolina, a son of Jesse and Lea (Bomer) Burton, natives of South Carolina. His father was a farmer by occupation and moved to
Henry County, Tennessee in 1826, where he lived until his death, which occurred about 1870, at the ripe old age of eighty years. He and wife
were members of the Missionary Baptist Church. The mother of the subject of this sketch was a daughter of Reuben Bomer, and by her marriage
with Mr. Burton, was the mother of twelve children, two of whom only survive. They are John A., the subject of this sketch, and Lemuel H., a
mechanic of Dallas, Texas. Mr. Burton knows nothing of his parents' history. Mr. Burton was reared in Tennessee on his father's farm. In 1848
he came to Arkansas, locating in this county, where he entered a tract of wild land, on which he lived for three years. He then purchased a farm
in the township and engaged in farming, and also owned and operated a saw and grist mill (water power), which was known and patronized
throughout the township. In 1879 he moved to Columbia County, where he was engaged in the saw-mill business until 1884, when he came back
here, and has since been living with his son, Jacob W. Burton. Mr. Burton was married January 3, 1844, to Miss Carolina Travis, a native of
North Carolina, born in 1825, a daughter of Jacob and Mary (Miller) Travis, and by this union has had seven children, five of whom are still
living, viz: Jacob W., (whose sketch immediately follows this), Mary L. (now Mrs. Smith, of this township), Thomas A. (owner of 200 acres of
land), Jesse (a farmer of Columbia County). Mr. and Mrs. Burton are members of the Cumberland Presbyterian Church. Socially Mr. Burton is a
member of the Masonic order, the I. O. O. F., and the County Wheel. Politically, he is a staunch Democrat, and takes an active interest in
politics, as well as all work for the good of the community.