HISTORY OF STEPHEN FLETCHER BARTON
Great Grandfather of Halley David Allred
Birth: 23 Sep 1889
Place: Greenville, Beaver Co., Utah
Married: Lelia Farnsworth, Lora Jean Burt Harris, Hazel Blackett Barton
Death: 28 Nov 1975, Logan, Cache, Utah
Parents: Stephen Rollins Barton and Sarah Elizabeth Miller
When Fletcher Barton entered the world, Greenville was a fairly new
community, having been established in 1860. The Millers and Bartons
were among the first to settle the area. He lived in Greenville from
birth until his marriage. Four Barton brothers, Fletcher’s father being
one of them, owned a large track of land jointly. Together they “built
houses, dug wells, and surveyed and made ditches to raise nice
gardens.” They also played a lot together. The whole community would
get together for surprise birthday parties (he particularly remembered
playing Post Office), and holidays. May Day was particularly
festive with a parade, picnic, programs, singing, games and sporting
events (track, high jump, broad jump, pole vaulting, kid races, and a
baseball game between the married and single men).
These games were the beginning of his athletic career. He felt at a disadvantage though because after 8th
grade he was held back from high school for 2 years, having to wait
until his two younger sisters were old enough to attend. During those
two years he took a major role in running the farm. Finally in 1906 he
attended Murdock Academy, graduating with his sisters in 1910. They
boarded in Beaver, going home for most weekends. He was active in track
sports and basketball. He remembered one game in particular: they were
“beat to a frazzle” making only 20 points…he made all of the points!
Summers found him logging and surveying in various places away from
Beaver, yet he somehow found time over the next two years to court and
marry Lelia Farnsworth July 3, 1912. That fall he began teaching, along
with farming in the summer, in Greenville and Sevier County finishing
up in Beaver. He and Lelia moved several times, but never far from
family. They had 4 children together (Margaret, Esther, Penn and Steve)
before she passed away in childbirth November 7, 1927. In 1932 he
married Jean Burt Harris (Lester had died in 1929), Lelia’s best
friend.
They had a good relationship, but between the depression and
trying to meld the two families together things did not work out well.
Even after their divorce, however, they remained good friends.
In 1944 Fletcher married Hazel Blackett Barton and they purchased the
Farnsworth home in Beaver which is still standing.
Fletcher spent his
last years living with his daughters and passed away at age 88 in
November of 1975 in Logan.
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