Ellen Ann Beazer Oscar Charles  Nellie Hannah Lillie    Elizabeth Bell Albert Beazer Clara Eunice  Dora Beatrice Laura Marie Peter Herbert   Bertha Luella   Mary Beesley   Lottie   Amelia   Robert H. Spencer J.

Peter Barton, Bishop of Kaysville, Davis county, Utah, is the son of John Barton and Elizabeth Bell, and was born March 21, 1845, at St. Helens, [p.464] Lancashire England. He was baptized by Elder James Barton in 1853; ordained a Deacon and later a Priest while in England. He emigrated to Utah in 1862, crossing the Atlantic in the ship "Manchester," and traveled over the plains in Ansel P. Harmon's ox-train. After his arrival in Utah, he settled in Kaysville, where he has resided ever since. He was ordained an Elder and subsequently a Seventy, and in 1874-76 he labored as a missionary in Great Britain. June 18, 1877, he was ordained a High Priest and Bishop and set apart to preside over the Kaysville Ward, which position he still occupies with honor, both to himself and the Ward. He also served as Ward clerk in Kaysville for a number of years. In February, 1889, he was sentenced to fifteen months' imprisonment for "unlawful cohabitation," but before having served his full term, he was pardoned, being the first "Mormon" ever pardoned by Pres. Benjamin Harrison. Bishop Barton has held a number of civil positions, such as justice of the peace, city recorder of Kaysville, etc. He has also served two terms in the Utah legislature.

LIFE SKETCH OF PETER BARTON

           Peter Barton, son of John Barton and Elizabeth Bell, was born March 21, 1845, at St. Helens, Lancashire, England.  He joined the church in 1855 at the age of ten years.

           At twelve years of age he was in the employ of the London North Western Railway in the ticket department in his home town.  He was often sent to nearby stations to take charge of the ticket selling for a few days or a week at a time.  At fourteen he was in charge of the ticket department at the St. Helens station.  He remained in this position until the age of 17 years, when, for the sake of his religion, he came with his parents to America.

           In May 1862 he and his family set sail for America, crossing the Atlantic in the sailing vessel "Manchester".  After 38 days travel they landed at New York City.  They traveled westward to Florence, Nebraska, where they fitted themselves up with ox teams and provisions, and traveled over the plains in Ansel P. Harmon's ox train.  After 66 days of travel, he driving an ox team and walking the entire distance, they reached Salt Lake City in October 1862, where they made their home for about three weeks.  They moved to Kaysville and lived with John S. Smithe in West Kaysville for a short time.  They afterward moved into an adobe house that stood just west of the Rio Grande track, where he lived and worked on the farm, rode the range after stock, went to the mountain for a week and sawed logs to make lumber for their new home.  Later the family built the first brick house in Kaysville.  The structure still stands west of the Short Line track.

           The Bartons owned land in Syracuse, built the first store, the old store.  It was on the south side of the street, a two-story granary to store the grain in.

           The early home life of the Barton family in England was one of industry.  With patient care the good mother had trained each one of her children to be useful about the house.  The boys could knit, darn, and sew, and in general be helpful in the home.

The seven sons and one daughter soon made places for themselves in the business, political, social and religious life of the community.

           Peter Barton was engaged as a school teacher, holding school in West Kaysville for some time, nearly all of those he taught being older than himself.  Afterward he engaged in farming, and having bought an extensive tract of land lying a mile south of town, he went there and made his home in 1881.  In 1870 Peter Barton was married to Ellen Beazer,  Ten children were born to this union.  In 1878 he married Mary Beesley.   Four children were born to them, and to all he was a kind, understanding, devoted husband and father.

           He was ordained an Elder and subsequently a Seventy, and served as ward clerk to Bishop Christopher Layton until 1874.  He was in that year called by his church to serve as a missionary to his native country.  He was the first man to be sent on a foreign mission from the Kaysville Ward.  While in England he presided over the Sheffield conference under the direction of President Joseph F. Smith, who then was in charge of the European mission.  Returning to his Kaysville home in 1876, he became almost immediately the president of the first Young Men's Mutual Improvement Association ever organized in Kaysville.  This position he held in the winter of 1876-1877, when he was ordained a High Priest.  On June 18, 1877, he was called to the responsible position of Bishop of Kaysville Ward.  Kaysville Ward at that time embraced the district now forming Layton, West Layton, Clearfield, West Point, Sunset, South Weber, Clinton, and Syracuse Wards.  He served in this capacity for thirty years.  During this time, the Layton wards were organized.  He helped survey all this country out here.

           In business he was a prominent figure in Kaysville.  He was associated from the first with the Kaysville Co-op and was its president until he moved to Salt Lake City about a year before he died.  He was a director and president of the Kaysville Milling Company which he was instrumental in promoting.  He was a director and one of the executive committee of the Barnes Banking Company,  and a director of the Kaysville Canning Company and the Kaysville Livestock Company.  He was a member of the first Brass Band of Kaysville.  This band went from Kaysville to Weber Canyon to meet the first train that came into the Salt Lake Valley over the Union Pacific Railroad.  They boarded a flat car and played as the train entered the valley, and at intervals during the day as the rails were laid before them.  He served as recorder of Kaysville City, and was elected for two terms to the territorial legislature where he served with signal credit to himself and to his constituency.

           In 1910 he moved with his family to Salt Lake City where he spent the last year of his life.

           He passed away Thanksgiving day, November 28, 1912, after a week's illness due to leakage of the heart.  Funeral services were held in Kaysville, Sunday, December 1 and internment was made in the Kaysville Cemetery.

THE LIFE OF PETER BARTON, ESQ   
as written by Noel R. Barton

Born:  March 21, 1845, St. Helens, Lancashire, England, son of John Barton and Elizabeth Bell.

Baptized:  1853 by James Barton at St. Helens, Lancashire, England

Deacon:  17 July 1859, by John Cunliffe at St. Helens

Priest:  29 October 1861 by William Mutch at St. Helens

Elder:  7 January 1865 by John V. Long

High Priest and Bishop:  18 June 1877 by Erastus Snow at Kaysville

Married and Sealed:  1878 to Mary Beesley in the Endowment House, Salt Lake City, Utah

Married and Sealed:  Ellen Ann Beazer, 25 December 1870 by Joseph F. Smith at the Endowment House, Salt Lake City.

Mission:  Set apart 20 July 1874 by Orson Pratt in Salt Lake City to British Mission.  He received a telegram asking if he would be ready to leave in three weeks.  He answered that he would.  He was the first man to be sent on a foreign mission from Kaysville.  While in England he presided over the Sheffield Conference under the direction of President Joseph F. Smith.  He returned from his mission 12 November 1876.

Patriarchal Blessings:  20 May, 1866 by Charles W. Hyde at Kaysville, 5 January 1868 by John Smith at Kaysville.

Rebaptized and Reconfirmed:  4 May 1859 by James Barton at St. Helens, Reconfirmed 6 May 1859 by James Isherwood, St. Helens; Rebaptized 21 July, 1877 by Thomas F. Roueche at Kaysville; Reconfirmed 22 July 1877 by John R. Barnes at Kaysville.

Elder's Quorum:  Was Secretary when first organized, 5 February 1865, at Kaysville.  Was counselor later.

Ward Clerk:  Under Christopher Layton until 1874.

President Kaysville YMMIA when first organized in 1877.  Set apart 10 January 1877 at Kaysville.

          At 12 years he was in the employ of the London Northwestern Railway in the ticket office at his home town.  He was often sent to nearby stations to take charge of ticket selling for a week or ten days.  At 14 he was in charge of the ticket department at the St. Helens' Station.  He was called a booking agent.  In addition to this he had the responsible position of carrying large sums of money from one bank to another.  On one occasion he sent out a box of merchandise from the station, which proved to be the first shipment of the well-known Beecham's Pills.  He remained in this position until 17 years, when he came to America.  He came on the ship "Manchester" with his parents, Joseph and Hyrum, Bertha  and a cousin Eliza.

           They crossed the Great Plains which stretched between Council Bluffs and Salt Lake City in Ansel P. Harmon's ox train company.  Peter drove a wild yoke of oxen and walked the entire distance.  Arrived in Salt Lake City October 5, 1862.

           Moved to Kaysville, making their home with John S. Smith and family.  Later moved into an adobe house west of town.  Later they built the first brick house in Kaysville, hauling the brick from Bountiful.  The structure still stands; a 2-story building with French windows, parlor, dining room, bedroom, and kitchen on the ground floor, and 2 large bedrooms on the second floor.

           Meanwhile Peter had been engaged as a school teacher in West Kaysville,  Nearly all his pupils were older and larger than himself

  I REMEMBER PETER BARTON

          I was the oldest grandchild of Peter Barton and Ellen Ann Beazer Barton.   In the fall of 1918 I went to Salt Lake to live with my grandparents and attend the first grade in the Lafayette School there.  The Peter Barton residence was on Canyon Road.  Grandfather insisted on keeping a few hens in the back yard.  My special responsibility was to climb the hill back of the house and go to the B Street home of Uncle William and Aunt Ellen Barton for food scraps which they would save for our chickens.  Aunt Ellen would have the food ready in a small covered lard bucket.  She was a sweet refined woman who talked only in a whisper because of some injury to her voice.  She always had a cookie or other treat for me.  I thought Uncle William just must be a prophet because he looked like the Bible pictures with his long white beard.

           Grandfather died November 28 of that year.  He had been a personal friend of Simon Bamberger (it is said that Mr. Bamberger was the only person Grandfather permitted to smoke in his home) and a special Bamberger train was provided to take the funeral party to Kaysville,  I can remember seeing them hoist grandmother's wheel chair up into the cab for the trip.

           Grandfather died on Thanksgiving day, November 28, 1912.  His brother John died on Thanksgiving day, November 30, 1916, and Grandmother, Ellen Beazer Barton, died November 28, 1918, which was on Thanksgiving day.

                        PETER BARTON AND THE KAYSVILLE BRASS BAND

           The old Kaysville Brass Band was organized in the year 1864 with the following named members:  Joseph Harris, Joseph Barton, Thomas Bennett, Albert Talbot, Robert Wall, James Bodily, Thomas Hudson, Peter Barton, John Talbot, Charles Talbot, and John Barton.  Shortly  after its organization William Allen, Isaac Barton, Oliver Hoskins and John Dale became members.

           Joseph Harris was its first captain, and George Parkman of Ogden, Utah was its first musical director.  He was also the organizer and director of the Old Ogden Brass Band.

           In 1866, George Parkman changed his residence to Salt Lake City and Joseph Barton was chosen captain and director and served as such until 1890, when he moved from Kaysville and made his home in Ogden, Utah.

           The Kaysville Brass Band for a number of years had charge of all public celebrations such as Fourth of July and July 24 Pioneer Days and generally the amusements of Kaysville.

           In the early part of the year 1869, the Union Pacific Railway was being constructed and as the track neared the mouth of Weber Canyon, our Old Kaysville Brass Band went by team to the Canyon and serenaded the track-laying gangs and as the construction train slowly moved down the Canyon on the newly laid track towards Salt lake Valley, it was stopped opposite to where the Brass Band was playing.  When we had finished the piece we were invited "to get aboard."  This we did, and the train moved slowly west, thus riding and playing on the construction train, the old Kaysville Brass Band had the honor of riding upon the first train, in the box car (used as a conductor's caboose) and on the first rails that entered the  Salt Lake Valley, playing all the time.  The Band was invited and went on that train to Morgan in Morgan County, Utah, and then returned on that construction train to the mouth of Weber Canyon.

           The "B" Flat Electro-plated Patent Light Valve Destin Coronet that was used by Captain Joseph Barton in the Old Kaysville Brass Band (and was used up to the year 1890 by him) was presented to the Daughters of the Utah Pioneers Associations of Kaysville, Davis County, Utah, and is now housed in the Kaysville City Hall.

                                        FIRST SCHOOLS IN KAYSVILLE

           In 1851 or 52 the first school in Kaysville was near the John S. Smith home in West Kaysville.  Robert Nell,  teacher.  Pupils:  James Green, R.. Green, Thomas Bennett, John Bennett, Joseph Hill, Sarah Flint, Annie Simpson, Thomas Bloxham, Will Harris, Sarah Harris, Mary Bennett, Henry Roberts, Caroline Roberts and Emily Stewart Barnes.  Fire place, slab benches.

           Moved near Knowlton Place.  John R Barnes taught 1854-55.  $30.00 pay.  Mr. Aldred later taught in fort in the log house next northwest of old meeting house.  Jim Sheffield's home (adobe building).  Mary Grand, teacher, Bro Barnes.  Chris Layton, Hyrum Layton, pupils.

           In 1865 Old Meeting House.  In southwest part basement.  Mr. Wilson and wife taught.  William Burton, Ogden, Harriet Anderson.

           Peter Barton 1863-64.  Joseph Barton, 1875 Brick School House.  Later Mountain Road School, Bro. Barnes.

           Trustees, Bro. Barnes, Bro. Ebz. Williams, Bro. Beezer, and John R. Barnes

(Written by Amelia Barton Cottrell)  

 

Letter to Cousin Amelia 172 W. 7th So. St. Salt Lake City, Utah USA  August 13th, 1910  Dear Amelia, Your welcomed letter of July 26th was received last night.  It was a little longer on the road on account of your failure to put “Utah” on the address.  You put Kaysville, Davis County, USA, so at New York, they put on a red stamp “Deficiency Address Supplied by N.Y. P.O.”  There are other Davis Counties in other states of the Union. I was pleased to hear that Alice would start on her journey here one week from today.  So we shall be able to welcome her here in early September. You will notice that I am writing from Salt Lake City.  I think I mentioned in my last letter a possibility of my moving.  I have let Oscar and Albert take the home and farm in Kaysville, and after much deliberation, finally concluded to move here some four weeks ago.  My daughters, Nellie and Clara ,and Beatrice, my wife, make the family. Kaysville is 22 miles north of Salt Lake City and about 16 miles south to Ogden.  \the railroad from Ogden to Salt Lake passes through my land in Kaysville and only about 300 yards from the house. I will arrange so that she will come on to Salt Lake and will meet her at the depot station.  I will find out at the President’s office today where the company will land (I expect Canada or new York) and will write Alice, so she will get it on arrival there. My brother, William, from the Presiding Bishopric’s office, meets every company of emigrants at the station here and arranges to get them to their destination.  We will try and make Alice feel at home and after getting rested up and a little acquainted with customs.  We will decide what is best to do, as there will be no lack of opportunities for domestic labor. We have had an unusually dry season.  Scarcely any rain all summer, but crops are yielding much better than many anticipated. I was pleased to hear that Cousin Ann had wed William Contimel.  Please remember me kindly to them as well as to the other of my relatives. My brother, John, still resides at Kaysville and was 70 years old on July 24th.  Two days before, William and James, the twins, were 74 years old and are quite active.  They live here also, as does Isaac who is in his 68th year. Forty eight years ago at this date, I was on my way to Utah with Father and Mother, 2 younger brothers, Joseph and Hyrum, and sister, Bertha.  We sailed from Liverpool on May 1st on a sailing vessel.  Was 42 days on the ocean, then by rail and steamship to Florence on the Missouri River.  Then we started out west on the last miles, over the plains and through Indian country, with a wagon, drawn by oxen.  I was driving all the way.  We was 63 days on this part of the journey and arrived in Salt Lake City on October 5th, being 5 months from leaving Liverpool.  What a change from some of the emigrants today; they make it in 10 to 14 days. Our family, on leaving England, were looked upon as foolish and deluded, but the longer I live the more thankful I am that we made the move, although it has not been without it’s trials and privations, which seem to be necessary in this mortal state.  As Isaiah says with regard to the Savior, “\he was a man of sorrow and acquainted with grief”.  Although he was without sin, yet his trials was all he could bear.  It seems that he had to suffer in order that he might know by experience and thus be able to sympathize with others. When we arrive at the condition spoken of in the Bible by the Apostles when we should “see as we are seen and know as we are known” we will understand more fully and see the wisdom of God in many things that are more or less a mystery to us now. I’m so thankful for the testimony of the Gospel, the knowledge and a hope of the future, which it has given me.  It is a perfect plan and reaches and provides for every condition in this and the future lives.  Never mind the sneers and taunts of the world, but continue to attend to your duties and you will have strength from the Lord day by day. We are all well except my wife, who continues quite bad with rheumatism, still better in herself than she was.  Well, I must conclude. With kind love to you, also Janie and James.  Trusting to meet all of you soon. As ever, Your affectionate cousin,   Peter Barton