Transcript:Indiana, United States. Biographical and Genealogical History of Wayne, Fayette, Union and Franklin Counties/B/Burt, Aretus F.

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Aretus Franklin Burt (p 185)

This is one known throughout Union County, for Mr. Burt has passed his whole life, and here his parents lived for many decades. He is now serving his fifth year in the responsible office of County Commissioner, having been twice elected to this position by his Republican friends. He has been active in the councils of the party and generally attends the meetings of the County Central Committee. At various times he has occupied more or less important township offices and has always acquitted himself with credit. There are sixty-seven miles of graded roads in the county to be looked after, and many other quite as important public matters that require his supervision as Commissioner.

The father of our subject was Zenas Burt, whose birth occurred in Fayette County, Pennsylvania, July 1, 1794. He was a son of Zephaniah Burt, two of whose brothers were soldiers in the Revolutionary War. For his wife Zenas Burt chose Miss Phoebe Ratcliff, who was born May 12, 1799, and soon after their marriage, March 6, 1817, the young people started for their new home on the frontier, proceeding down the Ohio River in company with Mrs. Burt's brother, Samuel Ratcliff, and his family. Some years later this brother went to New Orleans on a flatboat and was never heard from again. Zephaniah Burt had made the trip to Union County about 1814 and took up some land here. A few years later he located in Henry County, where he died. Zenas Burt settled on seventy-one acres of the Union County property selected by his father, and this land has never left the family and is now owned by James Morris, a son of our subject. In time Zenas Burt became well-to-do, owned four farms, and for years was a Justice of the Peace. He was an old-line Whig and very active in his party. Religiously he was a strict Presbyterian, concerned about the observance of family prayers and other forms of the church. He was one of the zealous members of the Silver Creek Church, which he assisted in founding and later was influential in the organization of the Presbyterian Church at Liberty. In 1850 he bought the present farm of A. F. Burt, and dwelt here until his death in 1866. His widow survived him several years. He had a brother Daniel, who lived in Union and Henry counties, and they had three sisters, one of whom, Eunice, married John Bradway, of Henry County. In the days of his early settlement here Zenas Burt was obliged to haul his grain to Cincinnati, a four-days trip, and would return with provisions and supplies for his household, enough to last for many months.

Of the children born to Zenas and Phoebe Burt, Laban R. was the eldest. He was born December 28, 1817, and was a farmer of Kosciusko County, Indiana, for several years prior to his death, which event took place when he was in his sixty-sixth year. John Milton, the second son, was born March 5, 1820, and died in Franklin County, this state, where he had been engaged in merchandising. Amzi Elmer, born March 9, 1822, died at the old homestead in this county when a young man, in 1853. Isaiah Grable, born May 23, 1824, died in Coles County, Illinois, where he owned a farm. Hannah Main died at the age of nine years. Rebecca Rittenhouse, born August 15, 1829, never married and died when about thirty-five years of age. Phoebe Caroline, born September 15, 1831, never married, and died when about sixty-five years of age. Joseph Hayward, born September 17, 1833, served under General Lew Wallace in the Eleventh Indiana Regiment during the Civil War, and died while at home on a furlough. Silas Everts, born December 15, 1835, was a farmer of Union County until four years ago when he removed to Taylor County, Wisconsin.

Aretus F. Burt, born October 15, 1840, is the youngest of his parents' large family, and the labors of the farm devolved upon him and his brother Silas when they were quite young, as their father was getting well along in years. Our subject remained on the homestead after his father's death, and when his mother died he became the owner of the place, which comprises eighty acres. He has since added another tract of similar extent, adjoining the old farm on the north; and besides this he cultivates sixty-three acres of the Whitzel Farm (next to his own), thirty acres at the schoolhouse and fifty acres in another tract not far from m his home. He is very enterprising and progressive in his methods, raises from fifty to one hundred acres of wheat and seventy-five acres of corn each year. He keeps a good grade of live stock, feeding from sixty to eighty hogs a year, thirty head of cattle and about forty sheep. He is a member of the Union County Agricultural and Historical Society and for fifteen years has been connected with the Odd Fellows order. He and the members of his household are identified with the Methodist Episcopal Church.

The marriage of Mr. Burt and Miss Juliana Waddell, of this county, was celebrated November 29, 1866. Their eldest child, Josie A., is the wife of Henry Martin, of Center Township; James Morris is a farmer; Carrie Alma is the wife of Lewis Harold, of Liberty; Mary Pearl is the wife of Oscar Martin, a hardware merchant of Liberty; and Emma Lucinda, Royden Hays, Frank and Grace are still living with their parents.