Thomas Barton (1787 - 1870)

Husband of Margaret (Sample) Barton — married 4 Nov 1824 in Washington, District of Columbia, United States

Died 23 Mar 1870 at age 82 in Newark, New Castle County, Delaware, United States

Problems/Questions Profile manager: Dennis Barton [send private message]

Biography

Please see the Research Note on the profile for Thomas' father, Samuel Barton, for additional information about the evolution of this profile.

Date of birth from Sources ^[1][2][3].

Death Records

● Interred at London Tract Old School Baptist Cemetery, Landenberg, Chester County, PA. ^[4]

Tombstone inscription:

"Elder Thomas Barton / Pastor of the Old school Baptist Church at Welsh Tract, London Tract, and Rocksprings / Died March 23d 1870 In his 83d Year. / He preached the Gospel of the Grace of God, 58 years. / For I know that my redeemer liveth, and that he shall stand at the latter day, upon the earth."

● Text of newspaper obituary: ^{[5] [6]}

"Death of a Venerable Clergyman: Elder Thomas Barton, of the Old School Baptist Church, died at his residence near Newark, Del., on the 23d ult., in the 83d year of his age. In No. 9 of "Fulton Papers," published in the Oxford Press of the 16th ult., Mr. Barton was alluded to as follows: "Elder Potect commenced to preach to members of this church (Rock Spring, in Fulton township, Lancaster county,) in 1819, and remained in the charge until 1824, when he was succeeded by Elder Thomas Barton, who still continues as pastor at the Rock Springs. Mr. Barton is now in his eighty-third year. He has charge of three congregations, namely: that at Welsh Track, near Newark, Del., London Tract, near Strickerville, Chester county, Pa., and the Rock Spring. For forty-six years he has presided over the last named congregation. Of late, on account of age and feeble health, he has been unable to attend with a regularity of former years. Within a comparatively recent period Mr. Barton has been aided in his ministerial labors by an assistant pastor -- Rev. William Grafton. He was a very active minister in his day, and frequently visited Oxford, where his son, Dr. B.J. Barton, resides."

● Data base, "Pennsylvania and New Jersey, U.S., Church and Town Records, 1669 - 2013," Lancaster County, Pa. Gravestone Inscriptions [includes other counties], Dr. Albert Gerberich Collection, Genealogical Society of Pennsylvania, Hall of the Historical Society, Philadelphia, Pa., listing for London Tract Baptist Church ("Old School" or "Hard Shell" Baptist), Little Britain Twp., Chester County, Pa., p. 49: ^[1]

Barton, Elder Thomas, Pastor of the Old School Baptist Church at Welsh Tract, London Tract, & Rocksprings, in 83d [year], 3231870 [died 3/23/1870].

● Text of death notice: ^[7]

"Another faithful watchman has finished his course, laid aside his armor, and gone to receive his crown.

"DIED - At his late residence, at Welsh Tract, Del., on Wednesday, March 23d, ELD. THOMAS BARTON, aged about 83 years. He has been a faithful minister of the gospel more than fifty years, greatly beloved by all the saints who had the pleasure of all his acquaintance. This sad announcement will not fail to convey a thrill of sorrow to thousands who have known and loved him as a most precious brother, and an able and firm defender of the truth; but the blow falls with the most crushing weight on the churches which he has so long and so faithfully served. A more full and appropriate obituary will be prepared for our next issue. [Ed.]"

[There is a full two-column tribute to Elder Barton on a later page of the same publication, and we believe that is the "more full and appropriate obituary" promised. The byline credits his friend T.L.J. Baldwin of London Tract, Pa., for the article, dated 26 March 1870. It unfortunately does not identify any of Thomas' family members,]

● Extract from the Baldwin tribute: ^[7]

"MOURNING IN THE CHURCHES.

"DIED - At the parsonage of the Welsh Tract Church, near Newark, Del., March 23, 1870, Elder Thomas Barton, aged 82 years. ...

"It was the oft expressed wish of Elder Barton that he might quit living and preaching at the same time. But this was denied him; for many months before his death it pleased the Master to lay very heavy his afflicting hand upon him. The pains of disease racked his feeble body, while his nervous system was so unstrung by sickness, that even the pleasure of seeing and conversing with his friends was in a great measure lost to him. All this he took with an unwavering resignation to the will of the divine Master ..."

Last Will and Testament

● Transcription: ^[8]

"I Thomas Barton, of Pencader Hundred New Castle County State of Delaware, being of sound mind and memory, do now make and ordain this instrument as and for my last will and Testament in manner and form following. Item, I wish all my just debts and funeral expenses to be paid as soon as [illegible] after my decease. Item, I give and bequeath to my son Bennet J. Barton the sum of one dollar. Item, I give and bequeath to my son Thomas H. Barton the sum of one dollar. Item, I give and bequeath to my son Davis W. Barton the sum of thirty dollars and one suit of my clothing and the remainder of my clothing to be divided in the family of my daughter Susan Ann Alexander.

"Item, I give and bequeath to my son in law George Alexander my horse [illegible] with the plows harrows and harness one cart and one [illegible] wagon and all my stock horned cattle. Item, I give and bequeath to my daughter Mary J. Alderson the value of one third of my house hold furniture with the exception of one bed and bedding which I give and bequeath to my grand daughter Mary E. Alexander. Item, I give and bequeath to my daughter Susan Ann Alexander all the residue of my household goods and lastly I nominate and hereby apoint [sic] John R. Rees executor of my last will hereby revoking all other wills by me made. In witness whereof I have hereunto set my hand and seal dated the 14th day of February in the year of our lord one thousand eight hundred and seventy.

/s/ Thos Barton [seal]

"Signed sealed and announced by the said testator Thomas Barton as and for his last will and testament in his presence, and in the presence of each other attest the same as witnesses.

/s/ Alexander Coulter

/s/ John Brady"

[Based on the dates shown, Thomas executed his will roughly five weeks before his death. From the description of his physical condition given in the Baldwin tribute above, it seems likely that Thomas may have sensed that his death was imminent.]

Biographical Sketch

[There is quite a bit of coverage of Thomas in Primitive Baptist literature, including some biographical information and very complimentary tributes to him and his ministry. We include some excerpts from the published works here.]

"Elder Barton was born Sept. 10, 1787, the place of his nativity I am not able to state, but think it was in the vicinity of Washington city. His conviction as a sinner in the sight of God was sudden almost as lightning, and also as effectual. He told me that he was in the ball-room, engaged in the festivities of the dance, when he was shocked and astounded by a sense of the divine presence and his own guilty condition, and all further interest in the amusements of the hour was at once ended. This was in early youth." ^[2]

"His baptism appears to have been in the year 1810, and his ordination two years later." ^[2][3]

"In the early years of his ministry he attended a school in Philadelphia for a time -- a school which seems to have been designed to better qualify and fit young preachers for their work. He told me that in this he had acted upon the advice of others, and he was free to say that the schooling obtained there had been of no real benefit to him as a gospel preacher." ^[2]

"He was pastor of a Baptist church in Washington City for a time, but I think not very long,. He traveled much over rough, rocky and mountainous districts in Maryland and Pennsylvania, on horseback, preaching for small, destitute churches, at private houses, and any and all places where there was a door opened. He said that he was weakly and frail, and thought that his time here would be short, and he wanted to preach all he possibly could while he was able. He shrank from no hardship, no exposure to winter storms and snows, but went everywhere, and at all seasons, preaching the word." ^[2][3]

"In 1824 he accepted a call from the London Tract Church, one of the churches of the Delaware Association. ... Soon after his settlement with the church at London Tract, Rock Springs and Welsh Tract were added to his charge, which arrangement continued without interruption until he was called hence. His connection with these churches, counting from his first settlement at London Tract, was about forty-six years." ^[2]

[Research Note: The London Tract Church is located in Landenberg, Chester County, PA; the Rock Springs Church ^[9] in southern Fulton Township, Lancaster County, PA, near the Mason-Dixon line; and the Welsh Tract Church near Newark, New Castle County, DE. All are Primitive or "Old School" Baptist churches. Thomas' home was at the Welsh Tract site and he apparently circulated among these three churches on horseback.]

"The following is a list of the pastors of the [Welsh Tract] church, with dates indicating the period of their service, and in the order of their succession, as far as we can ascertain: ...

"Elder Thomas Barton, from 1839 until his death in 1869 or 1870. He had then been sixty years in the Christian ministry, forty-five of which were spent within the bounds of the Delaware Association as Pastor of three of its churches." ^[10]

Marriage Records

● Data base, "District of Columbia Marriages, 1811 - 1950." Marriage of Thomas Barton, male, and Margaret Sample, female, 04 Nov 1824, District of Columbia, United States. pp 45, 285. (Three entries, accessed 16 Oct 2021. No images available.) ^[11]

● Data base, "Washington, D.C., U.S., Compiled Marriages, 1801 - 1825." Marriage of Thomas [Rev] Barton and Margaret Sample, 4 Nov 1824, Washington, District of Columbia. (Accessed 16 Oct 2021. No image available.) ^[12]

● Data base, "Maryland Marriages, 1666 - 1970." Marriage of Thomas Barton, male and Eleanor Jarrett, female, 04 Nov 1817, Baltimore, Maryland, United States. Source detail, p. 91, Record 381. (Accessed 18 Dec 2023. No image available.) ^[13]

[See the Research Note below.]

Census Data

● U.S. 1860 Census (Thomas Barton). Residence, Pencader Hundred, Newcastle County, DE. Post Office, Newark. Age 73, born MD. Occupation, OSB Clergy [illegible]. Value of personal estate, $276). Head of household with Margaret Barton (65), Davis Barton (25), Ruth Griffin (80), Bridget Garrimon (20), Hannah Combs (16), and George Sampson (15). (Enumerated 10 Jul 1860. Accessed 04 Jul 2021.) ^[14]

[In a religious context the abbreviation "OSB Clergy" would normally indicate "Order of Saint Benedict," but based on the other descriptions of Thomas' church affiliation, we suspect in this case it might be a census enumerator's shorthand for "Old School Baptist".]

● U.S. 1850 Census (Thomas Barton). Residence, London Britain Township, Chester County, PA. Age 61, born PA. Occupation, Clergyman. Value of real estate, $2000. Head of household with Margaret Barton (57) and David W. Barton (17). (Enumerated 10 Oct 1850. Accessed 05 Jul 2021.) ^[15]

Research Note

It appears that Thomas was married twice and fathered one child by his first wife, who died young. There are multiple records that indicate Dr. Bennet Jarrett Barton, a dentist, of Oxford, Chester County, PA was the son of this Thomas. Bennet was born in 1818, six years before Thomas' marriage to Margaret Sample, and he is also identified as a son of Eleanor (or Ellen) (Jarrett) Barton (not profiled). (Eleanor's father was named Bennet Jarrett.) Note that there is a Find A Grave memorial ^[16] at Congressional Cemetery in Washington, D.C. for an Eleanor Barton (unknown - ~ 19 May 1820) that would fit this scenario, and Thomas' later marriage to Margaret also occurred in Washington, D.C.

Thomas' Last Will and Testament also identifies another son, Thomas H. Barton, who is not yet profiled. There are a number of records available under that name, including one in Rhode Island, one in Ohio, and Thomas Hammond Barton of Frederick County, MD, the son of Elder Thomas' brother Samuel. There are many military records, including civil war records, under that name as well. One possible candidate is a Thomas H. Barton listed in an 1850 census record as an 18-year old clerk in Duck Creek Hundred, Kent County, DE, but he is not living with a Barton family, and he does not appear in later records in that area. Unfortunately we found nothing to associate any of the people named in these records with the family of Elder Thomas and Margaret.

This profile is a collaborative work-in-progress. Can you contribute information or sources?

Sources

1. ↑ ^{1.0 1.1} Ancestry.com. Pennsylvania and New Jersey, U.S., Church and Town Records, 1669-2013 [database on-line]. Lehi, UT, USA: Ancestry.com Operations, Inc., 2011. Original data: Historic Pennsylvania Church and Town Records. Philadelphia, Pennsylvania: Historical Society of Pennsylvania. Methodist Church Records. Valley Forge, Pennsylvania: Eastern Pennsylvania United Methodist Church Commission on Archives and History. Accessed on ancestry.com, 04 July 2021.
   • View Ancestry Record 2451 #2021843716 (requires subscription).
   • View free Ancestry Sharing Image.
2. ↑ ^{2.0 2.1 2.2 2.3 2.4 2.5} Rittenhouse, E., a biographical sketch of Elder Thomas Barton in "The Gospel Messenger" (a periodical "Devoted to the Primitive Baptist Cause"), Vol. 9, No. 10, October 1887, Butler, GA, pp. 477 - 481. Scan provided 26 July 2021 from the collection of The Primitive Baptist Library of Carthage, Illinois, (<http://www.pblib.org>) by Elder Robert Webb.
3. ↑ ^{3.0 3.1 3.2} Pittman, Reden Herbert, Ed., "Biographical History of Primitive or Old School Baptist Ministers of the United States," Primitive Baptist Publications, Anderson, Ind., Herald Printing Co., 1909 (reprinted 1984, 2017), pp. 27 - 28. Scan provided 26 July 2021 from the collection of The Primitive Baptist Library of Carthage, Illinois, (<http://www.pblib.org>) by Elder Robert L. Webb. (Publication also available online at <https://archive.org/details/biographicalhist01pitt/page/26/mode/2up>, accessed 27 July 2021). Content of the sketch largely duplicates that of the Rittenhouse source listed above.
4. ↑ Find A Grave: Memorial #39575730. Find a Grave, database and images (www.findagrave.com/memorial/39575730/thomas-barton : accessed 04 July 2021), memorial page for Elder Thomas Barton (1787–23 Mar 1870), Find a Grave Memorial ID 39575730, citing London Tract Old School Baptist Cemetery, Landenberg, Chester County, Pennsylvania, USA ; Maintained by 47117651 (contributor 47117651).
5. ↑ Lancaster (PA) Intelligencer Journal, Friday 15 Apr 1870, p. 3.
6. ↑ Lancaster (PA) Daily Evening Express, Wednesday 13 Apr 1870, p. 2.
7. ↑ ^{7.0 7.1} "Signs of the Times" news publication ("Devoted to the Old School Baptist Cause"), 23 March 1870, pp. 81, 95, includes a death notice and a tribute to Elder Barton by T.L.J. Baldwin. Scan provided 26 July 2021 from the collection of The Primitive Baptist Library of Carthage, Illinois, (<http://www.pblib.org>) by Elder Robert Webb.
8. ↑ Ancestry.com. Delaware, U.S., Wills and Probate Records, 1676-1971 [database on-line]. Provo, UT, USA: Ancestry.com Operations, Inc., 2015. Original data: New Castle County Probate Records, Ca 1682-1925; Author: New Castle County (Delaware). Register of Wills; Probate Place: New Castle, Delaware Accessed on ancestry.com, 12 July 2021.
   • View Ancestry Record 9044 #351902 (requires subscription).
   • View free Ancestry Sharing Image.
   Transcription by Dennis Barton, 11 July 2021.
9. ↑ Southern Lancaster County Historical Society, "Rock Springs Old School Baptist Church, Fulton Township, Lancaster County, Pa," citing another publication entitled "Churches of Today and Yesterday in Southern Lancaster County" by Fellowship of Solanco Churches, Raymond Dunlap, George Herbert, and Richard Yates, Sr., 1968. (Online record at <sites.rootsweb.com/~paslchs/rspringsbaphis.html>, accessed 28 July 2021.)
10. ↑ "New Castle County, Delaware, Genealogy and History," Baptist Church News, The Early Baptist Churches, The Welsh Tract Church, 1701. (Online article at <http://genealogytrails.com/del/newcastle/churches_news.html#bap>, accessed 26 July 2021.)
11. ↑ "District of Columbia Marriages, 1811-1950," database with images, FamilySearch (https://familysearch.org/ark:/61903/1:1:VNT9-4G6 : 9 March 2021), Thomas Barton and Margaret Sample, 04 Nov 1824; citing p. 285, Records Office, Washington D.C.; FHL microfilm 2,079,172.
12. ↑ Ancestry.com. Washington, D.C., U.S., Compiled Marriages, 1801-1825 [database on-line]. Provo, UT, USA: Ancestry.com Operations Inc, 1997. Original data: Dodd, Jordan R, et. al.. Early American Marriages: Washington D.C. to 1825. Bountiful, UT, USA: Precision Indexing Publishers, 19xx. Accessed on ancestry.com, 16 October 2021.
    • View Ancestry Record 2084 #4509 (requires subscription).
13. ↑ "Maryland Marriages, 1666-1970", , FamilySearch (https://familysearch.org/ark:/61903/1:1:F4N5-D3K : 16 January 2020), Eleanor Jarrett in entry for Thomas Barton, 1817.
14. ↑ "United States Census, 1860", database with images, FamilySearch (https://familysearch.org/ark:/61903/1:1:M4SW-F76 : 18 February 2021), Thomas Barton, 1860.
15. ↑ "United States Census, 1850," database with images, FamilySearch (https://www.familysearch.org/ark:/61903/1:1:M4HM-Q47 : 21 December 2020), Thomas Barton, London Britain Township, Chester, Pennsylvania, United States; citing family , NARA microfilm publication (Washington, D.C.: National Archives and Records Administration, n.d.).
16. ↑ Find A Grave: Memorial #112860287. Find a Grave, database and images (https://www.findagrave.com/memorial/112860287/eleanor-barton: accessed 18 December 2023), memorial page for Eleanor Barton (unknown–19 May 1820), Find a Grave Memorial ID 112860287, citing Congressional Cemetery, Washington, District of Columbia, District of Columbia, USA; Maintained by Paul Hays (contributor 47393402).

• Williams, Thomas John Chew, and Folger McKinsey, "History of Frederick County Maryland from the Earliest Settlements to the Beginning of the War between the States," Volume II, L.R. Titsworth & Co., 1910, p. 1505. (Full text of the original 1910 version available online at <https://babel.hathitrust.org/cgi/pt?id=chi.56019657&view=1up&seq=1169>, accessed 23 Mar 2021.)

• Genealogy Notes of Samuel Glenn Barton.

• https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Welsh_Tract_Baptist_Church

• http://genealogytrails.com/del/newcastle/churches_news.html

• https://deahgp.genealogyvillage.com/newcastle/pencader_hundred_new_castle_county_delaware.html

Acknowledgement

The Profile Manager sincerely thanks Elder Robert L. Webb of the Primitive Baptist Library of Carthage, Illinois, (<http://www.pblib.org>) for his work to identify library holdings applicable to Thomas and provide scans of the relevant documents. His contribution was very helpful in filling out some of the details of Thomas' life and understanding his ministry, and the effort is very much appreciated.