Couple Married Sixty Years

Mr. and Mrs. John Oscar Barton of Mt. Pleasant, who were feted at the sixtieth anniversary of their wedding October 27.

Special to The Tribune.

MT. PLEASANT. – Mr. and Mrs. John Oscar Barton, pioneer couple of Mt. Pleasant, observed the sixtieth anniversary of their wedding, October 27 when more than 125 persons assembled in the First Presbyterian church to honor them at a banquet. This is the first occasion of this kind to be celebrated in Mt. Pleasant.

The church was a bower of late autumn flowers and foliage, and chrysanthemums centered the long dining tables. During the evening a program of songs, music, speeches and readings was enjoyed, and a number of beautiful gifts were presented to the honored guests.

Mr. Barton was born in Pottawattamie county, Iowa, October 29, 1847. His parents, John and Susanna Barton, were residents of Nauvoo, Ill., coming to Utah with their three children in 1848 and locating at Bountiful. In 1861 Mr. Barton came to Mt. Pleasant, and this has been his home almost continuously since. He served five years as first counselor to Bishop Jefferson Tidwell of Indianola, in the late seventies. In 1866 he made a trip to the Missouri river for immigrants. He is a Black Hawk Indian war veteran and was prominent in the upbuilding of the pioneer community.

Mrs. Barton was born in the eighteen ward in Salt Lake, April 13, 1851. Her parents, William and Elizabeth Seely, were 1847 pioneers. They came to Mt. Pleasant with the earliest pioneers in 1859 when, as Mrs. Barton said, “Not a house was to be seen, only wilderness and sagebrush and Indians.” Mrs. Barton’s father was the first bishop of the new settlement.

She was married to Mr. Barton October 30, 1868, and they are the parents of seven children, of whom three are living – W.O. Barton of Sterling, Alberta, Canada; J.C. Barton and Mrs. Leonard Frandsen of Mt. Pleasant. They also have seventeen grandchildren and twenty-nine great-grandchildren. Mrs. Barton has always been an earnest church worker and was relief society teacher for many years.

Relatives and friends from Mt. Pleasant, Helper, Prince, Kenilworth and Canada were in attendance at the celebration.

Published in The Salt Lake Tribune, Sunday, November 4, 1928 page 23