BARTON, LESLIE

BARTON, HUGHES

Posted By: Jean Kramer (email)
Date: 5/26/2004 at 14:57:01

Biography reproduced from page 314 of Volume II of the History of Kossuth County written by Benjamin F. Reed and published in 1913:

Leslie Barton during his life was one of the highly respected and successful farmers of Kossuth county. He was born in Janesville, Hocking county, Ohio, May 1, 1842, and while yet a lad came with his parents to Illinois. At the age of nineteen years he enlisted in the Civil war in Company I, Twenty-Seventh Illinois Volunteer Infantry, and continued in the service for three years. He was severely injured in the leg and carried the bullet in his body the rest of his life. In the fall of 1865, in company with his brother, Leander, and comrade A. A. Godfrey, he came to Humboldt county, Iowa, where he located a homestead near the present town of Luverne and established his home in which he continued to reside during the remaining years of his life, his death occurring March 24, 1911.

Mr. Barton was united in marriage to Miss Elizabeth Hughes, September 13, 1868, and to them four children have been born; Elva, who was in California because of ill health at the time of her father’s death, and by his personal request remained there during his last illness, as he feared that the long journey might endanger her chances for complete recovery; Franklin; Martin; and Roy. The mother of this family maintains her residence at the old homestead near Luverne.

Leslie Barton had served for many years as a member of the school board of the district in which he lived and at the time of his death left an estate of several hundred acres of valuable agricultural land. His religious history is one of peculiar interest, not only to his family, but to his friends and associates as well. At the age of fourteen years he was converted and united with the Baptist church and for many years was a faithful member of that denomination. He later drifted away from the faithful observance of his religious duties and after many years was reclaimed to the consolation of the faith in a protracted meeting conducted by Rev. F. F. Franklin in the little schoolhouse near his farm, when, at the close of the awakening, he united with the Methodist Episcopal church and from that time until he passed away, was a faithful and loyal defender of the faith. The death of Mr. Barton was not altogether an unexpected event as he had been struggling ineffectually against the illness which ultimately resulted in his death. The close of his earthly life removed from the community one of its most influential and highly esteemed citizens. He was a man of rare devotion to the schools and churches throughout his portion of the state and found his greatest delight in making less burdensome the heavy loads carried by the weary and unfortunate. The funeral services were held on Monday, March 27, 1911, a short service being held at the house and the principal service at the church at 2:30, P.M., the services being conducted by the Rev. Mr. Bain and attended by a large concourse of his neighbors and friends, who gathered in sorrow and sympathy for his bereaved widow and children, to pay their last respects to one for whom they had so many years justly cherished a deep and lasting regard.