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This biography can also be found in Biographies of Notable and Not-So-Notable Alabama Pioneers VOL VIII
JOHN KEYES BARTON
BIOGRAPHY and GENEALOGY
(1812-1886)
Elmore County, Alabama
John Keyes Barton, pioneer, was born March 12, 1812, Wilkes County, Georgia, the son of Thomas and Sarah (Keyes) Barton, the former a native of Fairfax County, Va., who moved to Morgan County, Georgia in 1794, came to Alabama territory in 1817 and was the first white settler to locate north of the Tallapoosa River, established the first plantation and built the first grist mill in that locality.
He was the grandson of David Barton who commanded a company in the Continental Army, was colonel of Virginia troops, and served with Washington at Valley Forge, and of John and Susan Keyes who lived first at Fairfax Court House, Virginia, and later settled at Madisonville; great-grandson of David Barton who went with Daniel Boone to Kentucky and was killed in Harrodsburg in 1767 by Indians, and whose five sons served in the Revolutionary War.
The Barton family is descended from David Barton, who, with his brother Abraham, came to America from England in 1672. Abraham settled first in Maryland, and subsequently in New England. David settled on the James River, Virginia, and his descendants continued to live in northern Virginia. The ancestors of the Keyes family were early settlers of Virginia of Revolutionary stock.
John Keyes Barton was meagerly educated in the old Augusta field school, on the Tallapoosa River, Montgomery County. He moved to Tuckabatchlee Creek Indian Town and took up farming there. He was a farmer all his life. He was a Democrat and a deacon in the Baptist church.
He married: Elizabeth Chappell Sledge, daughter of Chappell and Jane (Harris) Sledge, who lived near Wetumpka; granddaughter of Absolom and Clara (Jeter) Harris; great-granddaughter of Henry Harris, who moved to Georgia soon after the Revolution and settled in Troup County; great-great-granddaughter of Britan Harris; great-great-greatgranddaughter of Henry Harris; great-greatgreat-great-granddaughter of Henry Harris who came to America in 1692 and located on the James River in Virginia.
Their children were:
1.Sarah Emma Barton (b. 1844 – d. 1912) buried in Greenwood Cemetery, Cedartown, Polk Co., Georgia
2.Col. John Keyes (b. Sep 3, 1846 Tallassee, Elmore Co., AL – d. 1925) m. Clara Jane Trimble (b. 1848 -d. 1902) buried in Greenwood Cemetery, Cedartown, Polk County, Georgia. – He was a Captain in the C.S. A. He attended Deatsville, Academy 1884-86. He was a lawyer in Cedartown, Polk Co., GA
John Keyes Barton died February 20, 1886, at Deatsville and Elizabeth died in March, 1885.
SOURCES
- History of Alabama and Dictionary of Alabama biography, Volume 3 By Thomas McAdory Owen, Marie Bankhead Owen
2.Find A Grave Memorial# 95410432 # 95410384
