Robert T. Burton
Born: 25 October 1821
Called as Second Counselor in the Presiding Bishopric: 9 October 1874
Called as First Counselor in the Presiding Bishopric: 5 October 1884
Died: 11 November 1907
Called as Second Counselor in the Presiding Bishopric: 9 October 1874
Called as First Counselor in the Presiding Bishopric: 5 October 1884
Died: 11 November 1907
Biographical Articles
Biographical Encyclopedia, Volume 1
Biographical Encyclopedia, Volume 3
Juvenile Instructor, 1 October 1901, Lives of Our Leaders - The Presiding Bishopric: Robert T. Burton
Young Woman's Journal, January 1908, Bishop Robert Taylor Burton
Biographical Encyclopedia, Volume 3
Juvenile Instructor, 1 October 1901, Lives of Our Leaders - The Presiding Bishopric: Robert T. Burton
Young Woman's Journal, January 1908, Bishop Robert Taylor Burton
Jenson, Andrew. "Burton, Robert T." Biographical Encyclopedia. Volume 1. pg. 238-241.
BURTON, Robert Taylor, second counselor to Bishop Edward Hunter from 1875 to 1883, and first counselor to Bishop Wm. B. Preston since 1884, is the son of Samuel Burton and Hannah Shipley, and was born Oct. 25, 1821, at Amersberg, Canada West. He was the tenth in a family of fourteen children seven of whom were born in England and the rest in America. His parents emigrated to America in 1817, and after residing two or three years in New York State they removed to western Canada. Some time in the autumn of 1837 two "Mormon" missionaries came into the neighborhood where the Burton family resided. Robert T. Burton, then only sixteen years of age, persuaded his father to entertain the Elders and provide a place in which they could expound their views. Soon after this the youth visited some relatives in the State of Ohio, spending the winter at school and the next summer in helping his widowed sister, Mrs. Jane Layborne, upon her farm. During his absence from home his father's family was converted to "Mormonism." He was informed of this fact by his mother, who in September visited him and her kindred in Ohio, and requested him to accompany them in their proposed migration to the far west. This meant at that time the State of Missouri, where the Latter-day Saints were gathering in large numbers. He consented to do so, though not without some reluctance, the result of certain rumors unfavorable to the Saints that were afloat concerning them in Ohio. Returning to Canada he was himself converted to the faith which his parents had espoused, and was baptized by Elder Henry Cook, October 23, 1838. In the latter part of that month he left Canada, with his father's family, for Far West, Caldwell county, Missouri, and had gone as far as Walnut Grove,Knox county, Illinois, when he learned of the terrible persecutions of the Saints in the adjoining State. He therefore concluded, with others, to remain at Walnut Grove, where a branch of the Church was organized, and there the Burton family resided for about two years. They then removed to Nauvoo. From June, 1843, to 1844, Robert T. Burton, who had been ordained an Elder, was absent from Nauvoo on a mission in Illinois, Michigan and Ohio, in company with Elder Nathaniel V. Jones. Having baptized a goodly number and organized branches in the two latter States, they returned home. Elder Burton's arrival being just two weeks before the martyrdom of the Prophet and Patriarch. Right at this time he performed his first, military duty, enlisting in Captain Gleason's cavalry company, Nauvoo Legion. He was on guard duty in Nauvoo at the lime of the Carthage jail tragedy and for some time afterwards was constantly on duty there and in the vicinity, endeavoring to protect the lives and property of his persecuted people from rapine and robbery. A lover of music and possessing talent in that line, he became a member of the Nauvoo Brass Band, and also connected himself with the Nauvoo Choir, besides performing other public duties. In January, 1845, he was called on a. special mission, with Elder Samuel W. Richards, to travel through some of the central counties of Illinois for the purpose of allaying prejudice in the minds of the people, the result of falsehoods circulated by apostates and others in the vicinity of Nauvoo. He returned in time to be married on the 18th of December, to Miss Maria S. Haven, the ceremony uniting the young couple being performed by President Brigham Young at the home of the Havens in Nauvoo. The nearest approach to a wedding tour experienced by Bro. and Sister Burton was the tragic exodus of the ensuing spring, when the Saints began to leave Nauvoo upon their long and toilsome pilgrimage into the unknown West. The Burtons were in one of the first companies that started, crossing the Mississippi on the ice, February 11, 1846 and encamping on the western bank. The snow was about eighteen inches deep and the weather intensely cold—so cold that many of the homeless pilgrims were compelled to cross and recross the frozen river several times, with teams and wagons, for additional supplies of clothing, bedding and provisions. The Burtons left Sugar Creek in the general move westward. Progress was slow and difficult, owing to the absence of roads and the prevailing wet weather, the country being covered with water and mud almost the entire distance to the Missouri river, where they arrived about the middle of June. The main camp was at Council Bluffs, but Bro. Burton with his wife and his aged parents made a temporary home at a point lower down the river. There his mother died, a victim to the hardships and exposures of the enforced exodus, and was buried in a lonely grave on the banks of the Missouri. The survivors of the family, after accumulating the necessary teams and supplies for the .journey across the plains, left their Missouri home, and on May 20, 1848, rejoined the main body of the Saints at Winter Quarters. By .this time the Pioneers had been to the Rocky Mountains and returned, and President Young and his associates were now organizing the main emigration. Robert T. Burton and his family were in the company led by Pres. Brigham Young, with whom they came to Salt Lake valley, arriving there in the latter part of September. During the journey Bro. Burton acted as bugler for the camp. He and his family lived in the Old Fort until January, 1849, when, Salt Lake City having been laid out and divided into ecclesiastical Wards, they moved into the Fifteenth Ward. Elder Burton first lived with his brother-in-law, William Coray, but on the 15th of August removed to the corner of Second West and First South streets, where he still resides. In the fall of that year the local militia was organized, under the reminiscent title of "Nauvoo Legion." In the first company of cavalry that was formed—the one commanded by Captain George D. Grant—Robert T. Burton was appointed bugler. Early in 1850 this company was called into active service to defend the settlers in Utah county against hostile Indians Leaving Salt Lake City on the evening of February 7th, they traveled all night, and arriving at Provo early on the morning of the 8th, found the Indians strongly fortified on the south bank of Provo river, where they stoutly defended themselves for three days against the attack of Captain Grant's "Minute Men" and others of the militia. On the third day a little company of cavalry made a determined assault upon the enemy's position, and after receiving the Indian fire, which momentarily checked their charge, rallied, swept on and captured a barricade formed by a double log house, from which the savages fled precipitately after defending it as long as possible. In the very thick of the fray, two of the cavalry men—Robert T. Burton and Lot Smith—heedless of the bullets that whistled past their ears and splintered the wood-work in every direction, rode round to the front of the house and spurred their horses into the passage way between the log buildings. They were the first of the troopers inside the house, most of their comrades entering by sawing through the logs at the rear. The campaign was quite successful, the Indians being driven from the valley into the mountains. in September of the same year Elder Burton was one of a company ordered north against the Shoshone Indians, and in November he and his comrades again went to Utah county against a remnant of the tribe they had fought there the previous spring. While on this campaign he was elected lieutenant. In December he was ordered to Tooele county in pursuit of marauding savages. This trip was a very trying one, the company having no tents or other shelter, and being without sufficient bedding or clothing. After a hard experience they returned to Salt Lake City, having accomplished very little. In June, 1851, he accompanied another expedition against the Indians on the western desert, and though the men suffered much for want of water, they were entirely successfu4, killing, in a battle fought at the edge of the desert west of Skull valley, nearly all the members of this hostile tribe. In the spring of 1852 Tie took a small company of men to Green river to serve papers issued from the District court and protect the settlers in that section from Indians and renegade white men. The following year he was elected captain of company "A"'—the original cavalry corps—and on March 1st, 1855. he received his commission as major. His commission as colonel came on June 12th, two years later. In October. 1856, he accompanied the relief corps that went out to meet and help in the belated handcart companies, struggling through the snow five or six hundred miles east of Salt Lake City. The weather was extremely cold, and not only the immigrants but their rescuers ran short of provisions and were reduced to one-fourth rations, until the arrival of further relief. After the companies had been provided for as well as possible under the circumstances. Major Burton was placed in charge of the train and conducted it to Salt Lake City. arriving there on the last day of November. "This." says he. "was the hardest trip of my life. Many of the immigrants died from cold and hunger and were buried by the wayside." The next fall found him in the midst of the trouble known as the "Echo Canyon War." On the 15th of August, pursuant to orders previously issued, he started eastward at the head of a small company of mounted men. numbering about eighty in all, to assist the immigration then en route to the Valley, take observations as to the movements of the United States troops also on the way to Utah, and report the information to headquarters. He faithfully carried out his instructions. Meeting, at Devils Gate, on the 21st of September, the vanguard of Johnston's army, commanded by Colonel Alexander. Colonel Burton and his scouts hovered in the vicinity of the advancing troops, watching and reporting their movements until they arrived on Ham's Fork, twenty miles northeast of Fort Bridger. At the latter point. Colonel Burton joined General Wells, the commander of the Legion, now opposing, by order of Governor Brigham Young, the further advance of the invading army. About the middle of October Colonel Burton, with a heavy force of cavalry, intercepted Colonel Alexander, who. finding his way through Echo Canyon blocked by ice, snow and hostile militia, was supposed to be attempting a detour to the northward, thinking to enter Salt Lake valley by the Fort Hall route. Alexander was compelled to return southward and camp on Black's Fork, where he was joined in November by General Johnston. The Federal army having gone into winter quarters at Fort Bridger, Colonel Burton rejoined General Weils in Echo Canyon. He remained there until the 5th of December, and then returned to Salt Lake City. In the spring of 1858, when the people in general moved south to avoid a possible collision with the government troops, who were making preparations to march through Salt Lake City, Colonel Burton was left with a force of militia to guard the property of the absent community. In 1862, by order of Acting- Governor Fuller, he proceeded with a company of picked men as far east as the Platte river, for the purpose of protecting the mails from Indians and lawless white men, who, taking advantage of the outbreak of the Civil War, were attacking and burning mail stations, driving off stock, way-laying stage coaches, killing passengers, cutting open mail sacks and scattering the contents, and committing various other depredations. This duty he performed to the entire satisfaction of the governor and other authorities. In June of the same year occurred the "Morrisite War," in which Colonel Burton played a very prominent part, commanding, as deputy of the Territorial marshal, the posse sent against the Morrisites by order of Chief Justice Kinney of the Third District Court, whose writs the Morrisite leaders had treated with contempt, and with their followers were in armed rebellion against the execution of the laws. The details of this affair, including General Burton's trial on a trumped-up charge of murder—a vexatious proceeding instituted many years afterwards—with his triumphant acquittal (March 7th, 1879) by a jury composed equally of "Mormons" and non- "Mormons," are related in Volumes two and three of Whitney's History of Utah. Robert T. Burton received his commission as major-general from Governor Durkee in 1868. In all the military history of Utah up to the disbandment of the Nauvoo Legion in 1870. General Burton, under Lieutenant-General Wells, was one of the principal men in perfecting the organization and directing the operations of the Territorial militia. In addition to his military offices, he has held civic positions as follows: Constable of Salt Lake City in 1852; U. S. Deputy marshal in 1853 and for many years thereafter; sheriff, assessor and collector of Salt Lake county from 1854 to 1874; deputy Territorial marshal from 1861 until several years later; collector of internal revenue for the District of Utah, by appointment of President Lincoln, from 1862 to 1869; assessor of Salt Lake county in 1880; a member of the Salt Lake City Council from 1856 to 1873; and a member of the Legislative Council from 1855 to 1887. While serving in the legislature, he was appointed in 1876 one of the committee of three to arrange, compile and publish all the laws of the Territory of Utah then in force, his associates in this important labor being Hon. Abraham O. Smoot and Hon. Silas S. Smith. From 1880 to 1884 Hon. Robert T. Burton was a member of the Board of Regents of the University of Deseret. His ecclesiastical record since coming to Utah is as follows: In 1859 he was appointed counselor to Bishop Andrew Cunningham of the Fifteenth Ward, and in 1867 he became the Bishop of that Ward. In November, 1869, he went upon a mission to the Eastern States, and during his absence spent some time in the city of Washington, assisting Utah's delegate, Hon. William H. Hooper, in the interests of his constituency. In May, 1873, he left for Europe, to fill a mission placed upon him at the previous April conference. He visited various parts of Great Britain and the neighboring continent, spending some time in the principal cities of Germany, Austria, Italy, France and 'Switzerland. On returning to England he was appointed president of the London conference. July, 1875, found him again in Utah. While in England in 1875 he was chosen second counselor to Edward Hunter, the presiding Bishop of the Church, but continued to act as Bishop of the Fifteenth Ward until 1877. After the death of Bishop Hunter, he became First Counselor to his successor. Bishop William B. Preston. The date of this appointment was July 31, 1884. Since that time he has acted continuously in this capacity. Bishop Burton was one of the first of our citizens to engage in home manufacturing. Associated with A. O. Smoot and John Sharp, he built the Wasatch Woollen Mills on Parley's Canyon creek, near the southeastern part of Salt Lake City. He has a fine farm on State street, below the southern suburbs and for many years has been engaged in farming and stock raising. He has been thrice married and is the father of a numerous family of children, mostly sons. In his seventy-ninth year, Bishop Burton is still active in his labors, and may be seen daily at his post of duty in the presiding Bishop's office.—Orson F. Whitney.
BURTON, Robert Taylor, second counselor to Bishop Edward Hunter from 1875 to 1883, and first counselor to Bishop Wm. B. Preston since 1884, is the son of Samuel Burton and Hannah Shipley, and was born Oct. 25, 1821, at Amersberg, Canada West. He was the tenth in a family of fourteen children seven of whom were born in England and the rest in America. His parents emigrated to America in 1817, and after residing two or three years in New York State they removed to western Canada. Some time in the autumn of 1837 two "Mormon" missionaries came into the neighborhood where the Burton family resided. Robert T. Burton, then only sixteen years of age, persuaded his father to entertain the Elders and provide a place in which they could expound their views. Soon after this the youth visited some relatives in the State of Ohio, spending the winter at school and the next summer in helping his widowed sister, Mrs. Jane Layborne, upon her farm. During his absence from home his father's family was converted to "Mormonism." He was informed of this fact by his mother, who in September visited him and her kindred in Ohio, and requested him to accompany them in their proposed migration to the far west. This meant at that time the State of Missouri, where the Latter-day Saints were gathering in large numbers. He consented to do so, though not without some reluctance, the result of certain rumors unfavorable to the Saints that were afloat concerning them in Ohio. Returning to Canada he was himself converted to the faith which his parents had espoused, and was baptized by Elder Henry Cook, October 23, 1838. In the latter part of that month he left Canada, with his father's family, for Far West, Caldwell county, Missouri, and had gone as far as Walnut Grove,Knox county, Illinois, when he learned of the terrible persecutions of the Saints in the adjoining State. He therefore concluded, with others, to remain at Walnut Grove, where a branch of the Church was organized, and there the Burton family resided for about two years. They then removed to Nauvoo. From June, 1843, to 1844, Robert T. Burton, who had been ordained an Elder, was absent from Nauvoo on a mission in Illinois, Michigan and Ohio, in company with Elder Nathaniel V. Jones. Having baptized a goodly number and organized branches in the two latter States, they returned home. Elder Burton's arrival being just two weeks before the martyrdom of the Prophet and Patriarch. Right at this time he performed his first, military duty, enlisting in Captain Gleason's cavalry company, Nauvoo Legion. He was on guard duty in Nauvoo at the lime of the Carthage jail tragedy and for some time afterwards was constantly on duty there and in the vicinity, endeavoring to protect the lives and property of his persecuted people from rapine and robbery. A lover of music and possessing talent in that line, he became a member of the Nauvoo Brass Band, and also connected himself with the Nauvoo Choir, besides performing other public duties. In January, 1845, he was called on a. special mission, with Elder Samuel W. Richards, to travel through some of the central counties of Illinois for the purpose of allaying prejudice in the minds of the people, the result of falsehoods circulated by apostates and others in the vicinity of Nauvoo. He returned in time to be married on the 18th of December, to Miss Maria S. Haven, the ceremony uniting the young couple being performed by President Brigham Young at the home of the Havens in Nauvoo. The nearest approach to a wedding tour experienced by Bro. and Sister Burton was the tragic exodus of the ensuing spring, when the Saints began to leave Nauvoo upon their long and toilsome pilgrimage into the unknown West. The Burtons were in one of the first companies that started, crossing the Mississippi on the ice, February 11, 1846 and encamping on the western bank. The snow was about eighteen inches deep and the weather intensely cold—so cold that many of the homeless pilgrims were compelled to cross and recross the frozen river several times, with teams and wagons, for additional supplies of clothing, bedding and provisions. The Burtons left Sugar Creek in the general move westward. Progress was slow and difficult, owing to the absence of roads and the prevailing wet weather, the country being covered with water and mud almost the entire distance to the Missouri river, where they arrived about the middle of June. The main camp was at Council Bluffs, but Bro. Burton with his wife and his aged parents made a temporary home at a point lower down the river. There his mother died, a victim to the hardships and exposures of the enforced exodus, and was buried in a lonely grave on the banks of the Missouri. The survivors of the family, after accumulating the necessary teams and supplies for the .journey across the plains, left their Missouri home, and on May 20, 1848, rejoined the main body of the Saints at Winter Quarters. By .this time the Pioneers had been to the Rocky Mountains and returned, and President Young and his associates were now organizing the main emigration. Robert T. Burton and his family were in the company led by Pres. Brigham Young, with whom they came to Salt Lake valley, arriving there in the latter part of September. During the journey Bro. Burton acted as bugler for the camp. He and his family lived in the Old Fort until January, 1849, when, Salt Lake City having been laid out and divided into ecclesiastical Wards, they moved into the Fifteenth Ward. Elder Burton first lived with his brother-in-law, William Coray, but on the 15th of August removed to the corner of Second West and First South streets, where he still resides. In the fall of that year the local militia was organized, under the reminiscent title of "Nauvoo Legion." In the first company of cavalry that was formed—the one commanded by Captain George D. Grant—Robert T. Burton was appointed bugler. Early in 1850 this company was called into active service to defend the settlers in Utah county against hostile Indians Leaving Salt Lake City on the evening of February 7th, they traveled all night, and arriving at Provo early on the morning of the 8th, found the Indians strongly fortified on the south bank of Provo river, where they stoutly defended themselves for three days against the attack of Captain Grant's "Minute Men" and others of the militia. On the third day a little company of cavalry made a determined assault upon the enemy's position, and after receiving the Indian fire, which momentarily checked their charge, rallied, swept on and captured a barricade formed by a double log house, from which the savages fled precipitately after defending it as long as possible. In the very thick of the fray, two of the cavalry men—Robert T. Burton and Lot Smith—heedless of the bullets that whistled past their ears and splintered the wood-work in every direction, rode round to the front of the house and spurred their horses into the passage way between the log buildings. They were the first of the troopers inside the house, most of their comrades entering by sawing through the logs at the rear. The campaign was quite successful, the Indians being driven from the valley into the mountains. in September of the same year Elder Burton was one of a company ordered north against the Shoshone Indians, and in November he and his comrades again went to Utah county against a remnant of the tribe they had fought there the previous spring. While on this campaign he was elected lieutenant. In December he was ordered to Tooele county in pursuit of marauding savages. This trip was a very trying one, the company having no tents or other shelter, and being without sufficient bedding or clothing. After a hard experience they returned to Salt Lake City, having accomplished very little. In June, 1851, he accompanied another expedition against the Indians on the western desert, and though the men suffered much for want of water, they were entirely successfu4, killing, in a battle fought at the edge of the desert west of Skull valley, nearly all the members of this hostile tribe. In the spring of 1852 Tie took a small company of men to Green river to serve papers issued from the District court and protect the settlers in that section from Indians and renegade white men. The following year he was elected captain of company "A"'—the original cavalry corps—and on March 1st, 1855. he received his commission as major. His commission as colonel came on June 12th, two years later. In October. 1856, he accompanied the relief corps that went out to meet and help in the belated handcart companies, struggling through the snow five or six hundred miles east of Salt Lake City. The weather was extremely cold, and not only the immigrants but their rescuers ran short of provisions and were reduced to one-fourth rations, until the arrival of further relief. After the companies had been provided for as well as possible under the circumstances. Major Burton was placed in charge of the train and conducted it to Salt Lake City. arriving there on the last day of November. "This." says he. "was the hardest trip of my life. Many of the immigrants died from cold and hunger and were buried by the wayside." The next fall found him in the midst of the trouble known as the "Echo Canyon War." On the 15th of August, pursuant to orders previously issued, he started eastward at the head of a small company of mounted men. numbering about eighty in all, to assist the immigration then en route to the Valley, take observations as to the movements of the United States troops also on the way to Utah, and report the information to headquarters. He faithfully carried out his instructions. Meeting, at Devils Gate, on the 21st of September, the vanguard of Johnston's army, commanded by Colonel Alexander. Colonel Burton and his scouts hovered in the vicinity of the advancing troops, watching and reporting their movements until they arrived on Ham's Fork, twenty miles northeast of Fort Bridger. At the latter point. Colonel Burton joined General Wells, the commander of the Legion, now opposing, by order of Governor Brigham Young, the further advance of the invading army. About the middle of October Colonel Burton, with a heavy force of cavalry, intercepted Colonel Alexander, who. finding his way through Echo Canyon blocked by ice, snow and hostile militia, was supposed to be attempting a detour to the northward, thinking to enter Salt Lake valley by the Fort Hall route. Alexander was compelled to return southward and camp on Black's Fork, where he was joined in November by General Johnston. The Federal army having gone into winter quarters at Fort Bridger, Colonel Burton rejoined General Weils in Echo Canyon. He remained there until the 5th of December, and then returned to Salt Lake City. In the spring of 1858, when the people in general moved south to avoid a possible collision with the government troops, who were making preparations to march through Salt Lake City, Colonel Burton was left with a force of militia to guard the property of the absent community. In 1862, by order of Acting- Governor Fuller, he proceeded with a company of picked men as far east as the Platte river, for the purpose of protecting the mails from Indians and lawless white men, who, taking advantage of the outbreak of the Civil War, were attacking and burning mail stations, driving off stock, way-laying stage coaches, killing passengers, cutting open mail sacks and scattering the contents, and committing various other depredations. This duty he performed to the entire satisfaction of the governor and other authorities. In June of the same year occurred the "Morrisite War," in which Colonel Burton played a very prominent part, commanding, as deputy of the Territorial marshal, the posse sent against the Morrisites by order of Chief Justice Kinney of the Third District Court, whose writs the Morrisite leaders had treated with contempt, and with their followers were in armed rebellion against the execution of the laws. The details of this affair, including General Burton's trial on a trumped-up charge of murder—a vexatious proceeding instituted many years afterwards—with his triumphant acquittal (March 7th, 1879) by a jury composed equally of "Mormons" and non- "Mormons," are related in Volumes two and three of Whitney's History of Utah. Robert T. Burton received his commission as major-general from Governor Durkee in 1868. In all the military history of Utah up to the disbandment of the Nauvoo Legion in 1870. General Burton, under Lieutenant-General Wells, was one of the principal men in perfecting the organization and directing the operations of the Territorial militia. In addition to his military offices, he has held civic positions as follows: Constable of Salt Lake City in 1852; U. S. Deputy marshal in 1853 and for many years thereafter; sheriff, assessor and collector of Salt Lake county from 1854 to 1874; deputy Territorial marshal from 1861 until several years later; collector of internal revenue for the District of Utah, by appointment of President Lincoln, from 1862 to 1869; assessor of Salt Lake county in 1880; a member of the Salt Lake City Council from 1856 to 1873; and a member of the Legislative Council from 1855 to 1887. While serving in the legislature, he was appointed in 1876 one of the committee of three to arrange, compile and publish all the laws of the Territory of Utah then in force, his associates in this important labor being Hon. Abraham O. Smoot and Hon. Silas S. Smith. From 1880 to 1884 Hon. Robert T. Burton was a member of the Board of Regents of the University of Deseret. His ecclesiastical record since coming to Utah is as follows: In 1859 he was appointed counselor to Bishop Andrew Cunningham of the Fifteenth Ward, and in 1867 he became the Bishop of that Ward. In November, 1869, he went upon a mission to the Eastern States, and during his absence spent some time in the city of Washington, assisting Utah's delegate, Hon. William H. Hooper, in the interests of his constituency. In May, 1873, he left for Europe, to fill a mission placed upon him at the previous April conference. He visited various parts of Great Britain and the neighboring continent, spending some time in the principal cities of Germany, Austria, Italy, France and 'Switzerland. On returning to England he was appointed president of the London conference. July, 1875, found him again in Utah. While in England in 1875 he was chosen second counselor to Edward Hunter, the presiding Bishop of the Church, but continued to act as Bishop of the Fifteenth Ward until 1877. After the death of Bishop Hunter, he became First Counselor to his successor. Bishop William B. Preston. The date of this appointment was July 31, 1884. Since that time he has acted continuously in this capacity. Bishop Burton was one of the first of our citizens to engage in home manufacturing. Associated with A. O. Smoot and John Sharp, he built the Wasatch Woollen Mills on Parley's Canyon creek, near the southeastern part of Salt Lake City. He has a fine farm on State street, below the southern suburbs and for many years has been engaged in farming and stock raising. He has been thrice married and is the father of a numerous family of children, mostly sons. In his seventy-ninth year, Bishop Burton is still active in his labors, and may be seen daily at his post of duty in the presiding Bishop's office.—Orson F. Whitney.
Jenson, Andrew. "Burton, Robert T." Biographical Encyclopedia. Volume 3. pg. 746.
BURTON, Robert T., first counselor to Presiding Bishop Wm. B. Preston (continued from Vol. 1:238), died Nov. 11, 1907, in Salt Lake City, Utah, leaving an honorable name and a large family.
BURTON, Robert T., first counselor to Presiding Bishop Wm. B. Preston (continued from Vol. 1:238), died Nov. 11, 1907, in Salt Lake City, Utah, leaving an honorable name and a large family.
"Live of Our Leaders - The Presiding Bishopric: Bishop Robert T. Burton." Juvenile Instructor. 1 October 1901. pg. 577-579.
LIVES OF OUR LEADERS.—THE PRESIDING BISHOPRIC. BISHOP ROBERT T. BURTON. ROBERT TAYLOR BURTON, first counselor to William B. Preston, Presiding Bishop of the Church of Jesus Christ of Latter-day Saints, who has figured so prominently in the civil, ecclesiastical and military affairs of Utah, was born October 25th, 1821, at Ambersberg, Canada West. He was the son of Samuel and Hannah Shipley Burton. His parents emigrated to America in 1817, sailing from the town of Hull, Yorksire, England, and locating in Poultneyville, Wayne County, New York, where they resided for two or three years. From New York they moved to Canada and remained until 1828 when they returned to the United States and settled in Lucas County, Ohio. From here they moved to Adrian, Michigan, and later returned to their home in Canada. Here in the autumn of 1837 the Burton family were visited by two Mormon missionaries who had been refused entertainment by members of the religious denominations. Robert T. Burton, then about sixteen years of age—in the interest of fairness, love of justice and hospitality— persuaded his father to entertain the strangers and provide a place in which they could expound their views. This little incident led to the family embracing the Gospel. Shortly after this event Robert T. Burton visited relatives in Ohio, and attended school during the winter of 1837 and 1838. In September, at the request of his parents, he returned to their home in Canada and was baptized into the Church October 23rd, 1838, by Elder Henry Cook. A few days later the family left Canada to join the Saints in their gathering place in Far West, Missouri. In November of this year the Saints, being expelled from that state, established their headquarters at Nauvoo, Illinois, and to this place the Burton family subsequently moved; there they remained until the spring of 1846. In June, 1843, Elder Burton left Nauvoo in company with Elder N. V. Jones, to labor as a missionary in the states of Illinois, Michigan and Ohio. After a year of successful work he returned to Nauvoo a few days before the martyrdom of the Prophet Joseph Smith and his brother Hyrum, and enlisted in Captain Gleason's cavalry company of the Nauvoo Legion. He was on guard in the city at the time of the assassination of the Prophet. For some time after he struggled constantly to protect the lives and property of the Saints from mob violence and robbery. About this time he became a member of the Nauvoo brass band and Nauvoo choir. In January, 1845, Elder Burton was called on a special mission with Elder Samuel W. Richards to some of the central counties of the state of Illinois for the purpose of allaying the prejudice that had arisen in the minds of the people in consequence of the falsehoods circulated by apostates in the vicinity of Nauvoo. In December of the same year Elder Burton was married to Maria S. Haven, the ceremony being performed by President Brigham Young. In the following spring (1846) the Saints were driven from Illinois, and he left with the first company who crossed the Mississippi, and encamped on the west bank. The snow was about eighteen inches deep and the weather intensely cold—so cold, in fact, that the people crossed and recrossed on the ice for provisions preparatory to their journey towards the Rocky Mountains. The company arrived at Council Bluffs in June and the main camp settled there, but Elder Burton, with his aged parents, moved down the Missouri River some forty or fifty miles where they made a temporary home. Under the trying circumstances then existing many of the Saints succumbed to hardships and exposure, and were buried by the wayside. Among this number was Elder Burton's mother, who fell a prey to disease and was buried in a lonely grave near their temporary home on the Missouri River. In May, 1848, the Burton family were organized in the company of President Brigham Young, and after a toilsome journey across the plains, they arrived in Salt Lake Valley September 23rd of the same year. They spent the winter in the Old Fort, subsequently moving to the corner of Second West and First South streets, Salt Lake City, where they still reside. In the fall of 1849 the organization of a territorial militia was commenced, and early in the following year this company was called into active service by the governor to defend the settlers of Utah County against the hostile Indians. This was Elder Burton's first active service, and the cavalry to which he belonged played a very important part in an engagement with the Lamanites, which lasted three days. In September, 1850, this same company was ordered north against the Shoshone Indians, and again in November went to Utah County against a remnant of the tribe whom they had fought the previous spring. While on this campaign he was elected lieutenant. In the following June he accompanied another expedition against the Indians on the western desert, and although the men suffered much from thirst, they were successful in the battle fought in the desert west of Skull Valley. In the spring of 1852 he took a small company east to Green River to protect the settlers from Indians and renegade white men. The following year he was elected captain of company A. Then followed his commission as major, colonel and major general. In October, 1856, he took a company of brethren east to rescue a hand cart company who were in great distress some five or six hundred miles east of Salt Lake. The immigrants were stranded on the Platte River. The weather was extremely cold, the snow deep, in consequence of which they ran short of provisions and suffered untold hardships (being reduced to one-fourth rations, until relief came from Salt Lake.) “This,” says Bishop Burton, “was the hardest trip of my life, so many of the Latter-day Saints dying on the journey from hunger and cold." In August of 1858, Colonel Burton was again ordered to take a company to assist the immigrants and take observation of the movements of the approaching United States army, which was said to be coming for the purpose of exterminating the Mormons. He spent the remainder of the year in this campaign. In 1862 he was sent by Governor Fuller to protect the U. S. mail between Fort Bridger and the Platte River where stations had been burned, mail sacks cut open and stock driven off by Indians and lawless whites. This duty he performed to the entire satisfaction of the Governor and other authorities. In all the military history of Utah, General Burton was one of the principal men in perfecting the organization and operations of the militia in the Territory of Utah. Since the disbanding of the Nauvoo Legion, he has been more prominent in our history as counselor to the Presiding Bishop of the Church. In 1852 General Burton was elected constable of Salt Lake City, was appointed U. S. deputy marshal in 1853, sheriff, collector and assessor of Salt Lake County in 1854, and deputy territorial marshal in 1861. Was appointed by President Abraham Lincoln collector of internal revenue in 1862, occupying said office until 1869, Besides these duties he was elected a member of the Salt Lake City council in 1856, in which capacity he served until 1873. He was a member of the board of regents of the University of Deseret from 1878 to 1884, and a member of the legislative council of Utah from 1875 to 1878. General Burton was one of a committee of three members appointed by the Legislature of 1876 (with Hons. A. O. Smoot and S. S. Smith) to arrange, compile and publish all the laws of the Territory of Utah then in force. He was also among the first to engage in home manufacture, being associated with Bishops A. O. Smoot and John Sharp in the erection of the Wasatch Woolen Mills near the southeast corner of Salt Lake City. Bishop Burton has also performed several missions in behalf of the Church of Jesus Christ of Latter-day Saints. In addition to those previously mentioned, he has performed missions in the Eastern States and England. During the latter mission, he visited most of the important cities of Europe, and upon his return to England was chosen president of the London Conference. In 1859 Elder Burton was appointed counselor to Bishop Cunningham of the Fifteenth Ward, Salt Lake City, and in 1867 was appointed Bishop of that ward, which position he held until 1877, when he was released to fill the position of counselor to Presiding Bishop Edward Hunter. After the death of Bishop Hunter he was appointed first counselor to Presiding Bishop William B. Preston, which office he still fills. |
BISHOP ROBERT T. BURTON.
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"Robert Taylor Burton." Young Woman's Journal. January 1908. pg. 37.
Bishop Robert Taylor Burton.
“Blessed are the dead which die in the Lord from henceforth: yea, saith the Spirit, that they may rest from their labors; and their works do follow them.”—Revelation xiv: 13.
When, on November 11, 1907, the spirit of Bishop Robert T. Burton left its mortal tabernacle to re turn to its heavenly home, the Church mourned the demise of one of its stalwart veterans and untiring workers; yet there was joy and satisfaction mingled with the sorrow for his friends realized that he had fought a good fight, had finish ed his course, had kept the faith and that there was prepared for him a crown of righteousness.
Only those who knew him well realized the power and ability that mingled with his unassuming demeanor and gentle kindness. He was one of the few survivors of that loyal band who associated with the Prophet Joseph Smith. In the Nauvoo Legion, he gained that military training which was so helpful in building up this common wealth. He always commanded the respect of those who were under him. In his military career he was not autocratic: he never sent others where he was not willing to go himself, hence all were ready and glad to follow when he called, “Come on, boys!”
Over this “general in the army of righteousness” the grave has no victory, neither has death any sting.
Bishop Robert Taylor Burton.
“Blessed are the dead which die in the Lord from henceforth: yea, saith the Spirit, that they may rest from their labors; and their works do follow them.”—Revelation xiv: 13.
When, on November 11, 1907, the spirit of Bishop Robert T. Burton left its mortal tabernacle to re turn to its heavenly home, the Church mourned the demise of one of its stalwart veterans and untiring workers; yet there was joy and satisfaction mingled with the sorrow for his friends realized that he had fought a good fight, had finish ed his course, had kept the faith and that there was prepared for him a crown of righteousness.
Only those who knew him well realized the power and ability that mingled with his unassuming demeanor and gentle kindness. He was one of the few survivors of that loyal band who associated with the Prophet Joseph Smith. In the Nauvoo Legion, he gained that military training which was so helpful in building up this common wealth. He always commanded the respect of those who were under him. In his military career he was not autocratic: he never sent others where he was not willing to go himself, hence all were ready and glad to follow when he called, “Come on, boys!”
Over this “general in the army of righteousness” the grave has no victory, neither has death any sting.