Mark Garton (Senior) was born on 4 September 1819, the son of Elizabeth Condra and John Garton. Three days before Christmas 1840, Mark Garton married Gincy Tidwell. Mark and Gincy had five children, but then Gincy died, on 22 September 1851.

Mark remarried six years later, on 6 January 1857. His new wife was Elizabeth Greer, the daughter of Joseph Greer and Martha Tennison. With Elizabeth Greer, Mark had ten more children.

For a few years, Mark Garton moved away from the old home place on Turnbull Creek. By 1870, Mark and his family were living near the old White Bluff Iron Furnace, some miles to the south.

Then, in August of 1871, Mark purchased 170 acres on Turnbull Creek from Sherrod Thompson.

The Sherrod Thompson tract was enclosed on three sides by a wide sweep of the creek, and there was also a natural spring. Another advantage of this farm was that it was only a mile or so east of Spencer's Mill, on Parker's Creek.

Right after Mark Garton and Elizabeth Greer bought the property, they built a 24 foot by 24 foot log house for their family. About 1877, the family built a larger home, and converted the original cabin into a stock barn.

The new house was a double log cabin, each room twenty feet square, with a dog-trot passage between. The logs were joined with half-dovetail notches. There were cut-stone chimneys at both ends. There was a front porch running the full length of the structure, and the roof was made of wood shakes. The home still exists.

Mark Garton Sr. purchased several other tracts of land, and eventually he owned nearly a thousand acres along Turnbull Creek – at a time when the average farm in Dickson County was only about 160 acres.

Mark Garton Sr. died at age 72, on 30 October 1891, and was buried on the farm, overlooking the Turnbull Creek valley. Other family members were buried there later, and the place is now called the Mark Garton Cemetery.