Barton Family Cemetery
Crim's Chapel off CR 246, this cemetery is very hard to find and is easier to approach from the well padGPS Coords: 32.29557, -94.76368
Joan Smith at the Rusk County Historical Commission has sent more information on this burial ground, which was previously listed as Barton Grave. The cemetery is designated as a Texas Historical Commission Historical Cemetery.
The Barton Cemetery holds 5 graves. Elliot Barton has the only headstone, the others are marked with iron-ore rocks. The following individuals are buried there.
Zilpha Baker Barton ** [see note below]
Mary Adelene Reed Vernon Barton died 1873
Elliot Monroe Barton Dec. 24, 1824-Sept. 4, 1898
The Barton Cemetery
The Barton Cemetery is located in the community of Crim's Chapel in the northwestern part of Rusk County. The family cemetery is located on the J. Watkin's Survey[1] There are five graves in the cemetery, with only one headstone that isn't iron ore. Elliot Barton has the only headstone.
Elliot Barton was born Dec. 24, 1824, in Pendleton District, South Carolina. His parents were J. Benjamin and Zilpha Baker Barton. He moved to Harrison County with his parents in 1842. J. Benjamin was murdered while on a horse trading trip to Shreveport, La. He was killed by Regulators only three miles west of Marshall, Tex.[3]
Zilpha moved her family to the Crim's Chapel area of Rusk County. It appears that J. Benjamin came to Texas during the Texas Revolution as he was granted a Texas bounty land grant, certificate number 29, issued by the Board of Land Commissioners of Rusk County.[4]
At the age of 23 in 1847, Elliot Barton joined the U. S. Army to serve in the Mexican-American War. He served under Captain M. B. Lamar and was honorably discharged in June 1847. He would get a pension and grant of land for his service in 1887.
Elliot was the oldest son to live with his mother on the home place.[5] He first married Mary Adelene Reed Vernon. They had seven children. Two of which died in circa 1858, and may have been the first buried in the family cemetery. When she died in 1873, Mary Vernon was also buried in the family cemetery, which is the Barton Cemetery, on the old home place.[6]
Elliot Monroe Barton died Sept. 4, 1898 and was buried next to his first wife in the family cemetery on the old home place. His tombstone alone marks the site, it states that he fought in the Mexican War and belonged to Lamar's Company Texas Mounted Infantry. [7]
[1] Railroad Commission of Texas, oil & gas division, Burton GU1, #1, New Field Exploration Co., 1 of 3 pages.
[3] Remembering Rusk County, 1992, edited by Rusk County Genealogical Society page 124, history # F35.
[4] Headright certificate number 29, looks like a capital H, replacement for one lost, issued in 1855 to heirs of J. Benjamin Barton 640 acres of land in Rusk County.
[5] 1850 United States Census of Rusk County, page 129, taken by Thomas M. Likens.
[6] Remembering Rusk County, page 124, family history # F35, by Evelyn Banda & Kay Munson,
[7] Remembering Rusk County, page 124, family history # F34 by Caroleen Dorsey Williams.
Elliott M. Barton was enlisted as a corporal in Lamar's Co TX Mtd. Inf during the Mexican War. He was a Mason.
More information can be found in the USGW Archives and there is a photo on the Tombstone Photo page.
This photo shows a gate from the well pad to the property where the graves are located.
**From Tracy Rutledge
I am the 4th great granddaughter of Benjamin and Zilpha Barton. I came across your page and just wanted to tell you
that Zilpha is actually buried in Howard Cemetery in Eastland County, Texas. She moved there to live with her son,
Bailey Anderson Barton, and his family. That is where she died in 1890.