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Note: Our forefathers were among the early immigrants to the United States of America. Upon arrival they settled in the Carolina States just off the eastern coast. Later members of the family moved inland into Tennessee and Kentucky. In the near years following the close of the civil war between the States, father (Barton) with his family moved from Kentucky to Texas, then one of the newer states in the Union: a frontier of promise and challenge. Father and mother were of Scotch-Irish decent. They were born in Cumberland County, Kentucky, near the county seat of Burksville. Father was born April 22, 1845 and Mother October 24, 1845. Father was one in a family of seven, four boys and three girls. Mother was one in a family of three girls and one boy. Fathers parents died early in life, orphaning the seven children. Under the guidance of relatives and friends the children were largely self supporting. Bother Father and Mother were from farming families as were most of the families in their time. Father and his three brothers served as Federal soldiers in the Civil war between the States. Joe, the eldest, died while in the service. Father and two brothers were honorably discharged following the close of the war. Father and Mother were married November 4, 1869. They began housekeeping on a farm in Cumberland County, Kentucky, in a modest way. In that day only the necessary household needs were available. Living was almost wholly from the farm: raiment as well as food. Only a limited number of things were purchased for the household, for farming or family needs. Farming was on a small scale. A hoe and a single stock plow the farming tools. Tobacco the principal money crop and from that the returns were small. Father and Mother continued to live on the farm in Cumberland mountains of Kentucky until in the year of 1882. Within this period of their marriage seven children had been born, of whom four survived, three having died in infancy or early childhood. Two others born 1882-1885 (Uncle Roy 1885) making a total of nine children. In the spring of 1882 father with his belongings moved by train to Bells, Grayson County, Texas. In the first year in Texas, father and a brother, Bide, jointly farmed as sharecroppers on the Anderson farm about two miles south of Bells, Texas. The two families, of some 12 or 14 lived together in about a four or five room house. The following year father rented a sandy land farm in the edge of Bells, owned by a Tom Dawson. Father with his family lived here three years. Here the only native Texan, Roy, was born.
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