Dr. Welborn and Louisa Adeline Barton

Duane's take

Here's how the official marker tells it, and I'm gonna give it to you straight with a little room to breathe. Now, Bell County's got stories buried in every stretch of shade, and this one starts clear across the country, down in South Carolina, where a young man named Welborn Barton was born in 1821. He didn't stay put long.

He went and got himself a degree from the medical department of Kentucky's Transylvania University, which is the kind of institution name that sounds like it belongs in a gothic novel but sits right there in the record. And with that diploma in hand, Dr. Welborn Barton pointed himself toward Texas, arriving sometime in the late 1840s.

He set up his practice in Bastrop County, spent two years tending to folks out there, and then, well, he turned right back around. Went all the way back to South Carolina. Now, you could speculate about why a man would do that, but the story tells you exactly why.

There was a woman. Louisa Adeline Cox, born in 1835, and she was the reason. He married her, and then the two of them came back, this time with other South Carolinians, and they settled in Burnet County in 1854.

That's a committed man right there. Dr. Barton served in the Confederate army, and when that was done, he and Louisa moved to Salado in 1865.

That's where they planted themselves for real. He was a doctor, a trustee of Salado College, and a Mason. Louisa served as his nurse, which means she wasn't just keeping the home fires burning, she was right there in the work alongside him, and she was involved in the Amasavourian Literary Society on top of it all.

Between the two of them, they were active in the First Baptist Church, and together they raised ten children. Ten. Louisa Adeline Barton lived all the way to 1920.

Welborn passed in 1883. Between the two of them, they left quite a mark on Salado, and now Salado returns the favor.

What the marker says

A graduate of the medical department of Kentucky's Transylvania University, South Carolina native Dr. Welborn Barton (1821-1883) came to Texas in the late 1840s. After two years of practicing medicine in Bastrop County, he returned to South Carolina to wed Louisa Adeline Cox (1835-1920). They came with other South Carolinians to Burnet County in 1854 and moved to Salado in 1865 after he served in the Confederate army. He was a doctor, a trustee of Salado College and a Mason. Louisa served as his nurse and was involved in the Amasavourian Literary Society. The parents of ten children, the Bartons were also active in the First Baptist Church. (2003)