Son of James T Barton and Susan B Davenport


ORLANDO D. BARTON
A great-grandson of a soldier of the Revolutionary war and a grandson of a soldier of the war of 1812, his progenitors in the pa­ternal line, Orlando D. Barton was born in La Salle County, Ill., in 1847, a son of James and Susan (Davenport) Barton, natives of Morris County, N. J., the former born November 2, 1819, and the latter on October 30, 1823. James Barton crossed the plains with his fam­ily in 1865, following the North Platte river route to Salt Lake and the Austin & Walker's lake route from there on. The Sioux Indians were then at war and caused the train of which the Bartons were members considerable trouble.. However, the family arrived safely at Visalia October 6, that year, and camped near the present site of the Santa Fe depot. The father took up land at the site of Auckland and raised cattle there on four hundred and forty acres for fourteen years. In 1879 he moved to Three Rivers, where he lived until his death, September 2, 1912, except during the periods of his incum­bency of the office of supervisor of Tulare County, when his home was in Visalia.

The elder Mr. Barton was honored by election to the office in the County for five terms and was prominent in the management of County affairs. The court house was built under his supervision and he had charge of the erection of the old and the new County jails. He reached the advanced age of ninety-two years and ten months, his wife dying January 19, 1912, aged eighty-eight years and two months, and died on the sixty-ninth anniversary of their marriage. Both were honored as pioneers who braved the hardships of the overland trail to pave the way for the present civilization of California. Of their children we mention the following: Hudson D. married Sarah Harmon and they have six children—James, who married Nellie St. Clair and has two daughters; Frank, who mar­ried Miss Foucht, who has borne him two children; Albertus, -who- married Miss Downing and has three children; and Royal V., Hugh and Orlena. Orlando D. is the immediate subject of this sketch. Enos D. was the next in order of birth. Jane married J. B. Weath­ers, of Visalia, and they have two children, Grover and Mrs. Carrie Sweet. Adelaide is the wife of J. H. Butts, of Hanford, and they have two children, Dell and Mrs. Ida Hamilton. Melissa married R. C. Hardin of Visalia and they have three children, Norman, Mrs. Blanche Young and Benjamin. James and Susan (Davenport) Bar­ton had, all counted, about fifty descendants.

It is as a writer that Orlando D. Barton is perhaps best known, his articles about the Indians and other western subjects having been widely read. In the days of his youth he ranched with his father and brothers, helped to build sawmills and to get out lumber in the mountains, and taught three terms of school in the Cottonwood district. Later he settled on a ranch at Three Rivers, which is now the site of the River Inn, and raised cattle and hogs there eight years. In the period since he has been interested in mining and oil, being a practical mineralogist of many years' study and experience. He is the owner of quite extensive oil interests in the Lost Hills and in the Devil's Den mining- district of Kern and Kings counties.

In 1880 Mr. Barton married Miss Maggie Allen, a- native of California, who died in 1888, leaving two children. Their daughter Phoebe, wife of Alexander McLennan, of Visalia, has a son. Their son Cornelius is employed by the San Joaquin Light and Power Company.


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