My Genealogy Hound

Thomas J. Burton, postmaster at Layton, was born in Mississippi, March 15, 1847. His parents were Thomas F. and Nancy (Burton) Burton, who came to Arkansas in 1869. The father was born in Halifax, Va., in 1808, and the mother in Rockingham County, N. C., in 1808. In their family there were seven children: William F., John A., Sarah Jane (wife of S. J. Moore), Mary S. (wife of D. A. Kimbrough), Henry J. and Thomas J. The father died in 1878, the mother in 1879. The subject of our sketch received his education in Kemper County, Miss., and made his first purchase of land in 1869, on Sections 26 and 27, in Cache Township. There were 220 acres in the tract, thirty-five of which were under cultivation, and fenced with rails. Thomas cleared twenty acres more, and erected a good double-box house, hauling lumber from Augusta, Woodruff County, a distance of twenty miles, and paying $20 per thousand. At various times Mr. Burton has cleared fifty acres of land. At the age of sixteen, Thomas J. enlisted in the Confederate service, served two years, participating in all the battles from Resaca to Atlanta, leaving Hood’s army at Dalton, on his return to Tennessee, after the campaign at Atlanta. He was in Gen. J. E. Johnston’s army at the time of the surrender, at Gainsborough, in April, 1865, and still has in his possession the parole received at that time. In 1878, in partnership with Mr. D. A. Kimbrough, he opened a stock of general merchandise at Layton (now Bower’s Ridge), and continued till 1882, when he sold out to his partner. In 1885, after farming three years, he again engaged in business with Mr. Hite, but in January, 1889, Mr. Kimbrough bought Mr. Hite’s interest. In connection with this he carries on his farming enterprises. Mr. Burton’s first wife was Miss Narcie Otey, of Arkansas; they had one child, Augustus, born June 22, 1873. Obtaining a divorce, in 1874, they separated, and December 2, 1879, Mr. Burton married Miss Ada Murphy. They have had four children: T. Ewing, deceased; Beenie, born June 21, 1883; Willie May, born January 5, 1885; David Henry, born April 2, 1888. Mr. Burton is now the owner of eighty acres of land. His wife is a member of the Methodist Episcopal Church. He has served three terms as justice of the peace in Jackson County, Ark., or for six years.