If it be true that death loves a shining mark, the invincible archer
found the target he delights in when, on March 15, 1911, his inevitable
shaft pierced the armor of the late John Harris Barton, long widely and
favorably known as one of the most capable, versatile, independent and
resourceful newspaper men in Southern Illinois. His life was an open book to
the people of Carbondale, among whom he lived and labored so long, and it
may seem to some of them an unnecessary task to chronicle it briefly here.
But a work of the character of this, which is designed as a perpetual record
of what the builders and makers of the city and county have attempted and
what they have achieved, would be incomplete without some account of his
contributions to the efforts made and the results accomplished.
John
H. Barton was born in West Carlisle, Coshocton county, Ohio, on January 2,
1837, and began his education in the district schools. Their course of
training and instruction was supplemented in his case by an attendance of
three years at an excellent academy in West Bedford in his native state. At
the age of fifteen years he began to learn the printing trade under Joseph
Medill, late of the Chicago Tribune, who was at that time editor and
publisher of the Democratic-Whig of Coshocton, Ohio. Afterward he passed two
years in printing offices in Zanesville, where he acquired a thorough
mastery of the trade. During 1858, 1859 and 1860, like many other men of his
craft, he wandered from place to place, and worked in many of the large
printing offices of the west and south, in some of which he served as
superintendent or foreman. The war cloud of sectional strife was then
darkening on the horizon, and in October, 1860, Mr. Barton determined to
halt on the northern side of the sectional line until after the presidential
election of that year.
He secured remunerative employment at Cairo,
and a few months later went from that city to Anna, where he took employment
under A. H. Marschalk in the publication of the Union Democrat. But his stay
in Anna was brief. Sterner duties than any pertaining to the font and the
case required his attention. The war cloud broke, and the governor of the
state issued a call for volunteers to aid in preserving the completeness and
integrity of the Union. Mr. Barton had considerable knowledge of military
affairs, and he at once responded to the call by recruiting a company in
Union and Jackson counties, which, on May 19, 1861, was mustered into the
service of the United States as Company I, Eighteenth Illinois Infantry, of
which he was in partial command as first lieutenant.
On November 17,
1861, he resigned this position to accept on the following day a lieutenancy
in the secret service, offered him by General Grant on the recommendation of
General John A. McClernand. He was assigned to duty in Cairo, and there he
remained until July 1, 1865, when he was mustered out of the army. His
ruling passion for journalism was strong with him, however, even during his
military life. While living in Cairo he was associated for a time with M. B.
Harrell on the Cairo Gazette, and afterward founded the Cairo Daily News,
which he eventually sold to a stock company.
Mr. Barton was
accustomed to date the beginning of his real newspaper life with the day
when he and his brother, David L. Barton, purchased the New Era, and removed
to Carbondale. This was on September 12, 1866, and inside of one year the
paper had secured a wide circulation and risen to great influence in the
political affairs of the county. General John A. Logan was its friend, and
his friendship was a great bulwark of strength and of pronounced advantage
in many ways. Through him Mr. Barton came into acquaintance and close touch
with all the leading Republicans of Illinois of that period.
In 1872
the position of postmaster of Carbondale was offered to him, and when he
decided to accept it he sold the New Era to Rev. Andrew Luce, who rebaptized
it as the Carbondale Observer, and conducted it to its ruin, running it hard
up on the shoals of bankruptcy in less than two years. The discredited sheet
was then passed from hand to hand until 1883, when it again became the
property of the man who had made it strong and influential, and he once more
breathed into it the breath of vigorous and productive life.
Mr.
Barton's term as postmaster expired in 1876, and as he had not found the
duties of the position congenial, he did not apply for re-appointment. On
his recommendation Captain Simeon Walker became his successor, and he
experienced great relief in freedom from the cares and responsibilities of
official life. For two years thereafter he worked as a journeyman printer in
Sedalia, Missouri, and Indianapolis, Indiana, while waiting for another
newspaper opening in Carbondale. This came on January 1, 1878, when the
Carbondale Free Press was established. "With his strong hand on the helm and
his clear head directing the course of its problematical voyage on the
uncertain sea of journalism the paper very soon regained the patronage and
power that had been transferred to Mr. Luce five years before and frittered
away and lost by that gentleman.
In April, 1892, Mr. Barton's health
broke down, and he sold the business of the Free Press to W. H. Hubbard, who
had entered the journalistic field a few months previous. Then, on January
1, 1893, the Southern Illinois Herald, which had been living a precarious
life for six months, was purchased by new owners, and by them Mr. Barton was
employed as editor and business manager. In November, 1894, he became its
editor and proprietor, and he remained in charge of it, wrote its editorials
and directed its policy until August, 1910, when he sold the plant and
retired altogether from the domain of journalism. In the meantime, from 1896
to 1900, he was state expert printer, but during this period continued to
edit and publish his paper.
As an editor and writer Mr. Barton was
forceful, plain and sometimes even blunt. But he was never evasive or
equivocal, nor did he ever try to hide or soften the truth with the flowers
of rhetoric. He was a man of strong convictions and outspoken in the
expression of them trenchant to the utmost keenness when occasion required
it, but overflowing with genuine human kindness at all other times. While a
Republican in political faith, he was not always in full accord with his
party, and he always fought corruption in high places fearlessly and
unmercifully, no matter what party was guilty of it, or who was its
beneficiary.
As a citizen he was progressive, and at all times an
earnest and active supporter of everything that would contribute to the
welfare and prosperity of Carbondale and Jackson county. Not only did he use
his influence as an editor and the power of his paper on the side of all
worthy projects for the improvement of this locality, but he contributed
liberally of his means to help them along. The fraternal life of the
community appealed strongly to him as replete with benefits in many ways,
and he gave it attention and service as a member of Shekinah Lodge, No. 241,
Carbondale, from October 11, 1866, when he was raised to the degree of
Master Mason before its altar, until his death, serving it as worshipful
master two terms. He also belonged to Reynolds Chapter of Royal Arch Masons,
and to John T. Lawrence Post, Grand Army of the Republic in Carbondale.
In 1863 Mr. Barton was united in marriage with Miss Joanna Meagher. They
became the parents of six children, David, John Logan, Flora, Eugene, Josie
and Richard. David lives in Washington, D. C. John Logan is a resident of
Winona, Mississippi. Flora died about eighteen years ago, in 1893. Josie,
the wife of F. C. Goodnow, has her home at Salem, Illinois, and Eugene and
Richard are in the Philippines. The father died, as has been stated, on
March 15, 1911, after an acute illness of only three days, although he had
long been in failing health. His remains were laid to rest in Oakland
cemetery with every testimonial of esteem the community could bestow upon
him, and amid manifestations of universal grief.
Extracted 11 Nov 2018 by Norma Hass from 1912 A History of Southern Illinois, by George W. Smith, volume 3, pages 1697-1699.