Dr. John W. Barton has been selected as the grand marshal for the 2011 Christmas in Comer Parade as recognition for his work in historical preservation for Madison County.
Barton, who was a significant source for items and displays for the Comer Travel Museum, was born and raised in a western suburb of Cleveland, Ohio. After receiving his undergraduate and MD degrees from Duke University, He completed his internship and residency in the Northeast. He returned to the South for a fellowship in Interventional Radiology at Emory University.
Following completion of his training, he joined Athens Radiology Associates and began practice in Athens at ARMC starting in July 1992.
Barton married his wife, Michelle, in 1991. They moved to the Diamond Hill area of Madison County in February 1993 just before the blizzard. They have four active daughters who participate in Equestrian events, soccer and basketball. Michelle is a faculty member of the UGA Veterinary School in the department of large animal medicine.
Barton’s interest in Madison County history began when potential routes for the Hwy. 29 expansion were being considered. It became clear that the historical significance of certain homes and properties was influencing potential routes. While searching for the history of his family’s house and property, Barton aimed to learn more about the county and its history.
While trying to learn more about the Diamond Hill School, Barton realized there wasn’t a public picture archive that to reference historical pictures of schools or other entities. Thus, Barton sought to establish a digital picture archive for the county. Scanning of pictures for the archive began in 2001 and continues as an ongoing project that has also included the collection of the old school records and other historical records.
Initial large sources of images were the Georgia Power Better Community Competition Books that existed for Colbert, Comer and Ila. These are circa 1950-1953 and provide a pictorial time capsule of these communities. Comer had two sets of books, which Barton scanned. A synopsis of those images as well as others that had been collected up to that point were presented at a Comer Historical Society meeting several years ago.
When the search for images for the Comer museum began, Barton was contacted and he made relevant images from the Vanishing Madison County Picture Archive available to the museum.
Recent historical projects include the revised printing of the Madison County Cemetery book, which should be available after Thanksgiving and includes GPS locations for the vast majority of the cemeteries in the county, new revised maps and a personal name index as well as many corrections that have arisen over the years since the book was first published in 1986. This was a collaborative effort of several active members of the Madison County Heritage Foundation, which is the historical society for this county. Additionally, he has been helping two other individuals who both live outside the county and are working to map out all of the original land grants for Original Wilkes County and Madison County respectively, which has provided insight into how easily the knowledge of old boundaries and site locations can be lost.
Barton remembered his grandfather when describing his love of history.
“My historical interest in part arises from my maternal grandfather who collected and restored old guns and was a great story teller,” said Barton. “Whenever we visited, there would always be a story about some aspect of history. He had an ability to make historical events come alive. Interestingly, although I didn’t realize it growing up, at least five generations of my branch of Bartons before my dad had all lived the majority of their lives in Georgia, beginning in Augusta then migrating to Wrens and finally to Dublin.”
Barton said he was contacted by Missy Queen in early 2010 about pictures that could be used in the museum. He said Queen learned about the archive from Jill Fortson, who Barton had assisted in providing pictures for two of the calendars produced by Merchant and Farmers and subsequently First Citizen Bank. Bartson said he has also received a large amount of assistance from Pat Reed over the years with respect to acquiring Comer pictures as well as Margaret Burroughs.
“The establishment of the archive has always included trying to make the pictures available for others to use,” said Barton. “It has been gratifying to know that some of the images were of use for the museum. Additionally, collecting and learning about the individuals and events that helped form this community has helped me form a connection with the community even though I didn’t grow up here as well as a perspective on a lot of the names that I see on the different studies that I interpret as a Radiologist.”
Barton said he regrets not having more time to spend collecting county history.
“Unfortunately, many individuals that would have been tremendous sources of information had died before I took an active interest in the history of this county. Additionally, my free time to actively pursue collecting images and the oral histories is limited by my career and time spent with my family.”
Barton said he believes understanding history is important because it “provides us with a framework in which to learn from past mistakes and successes as well as to put into perspective some of the hardships and trials that we presently face.”
“It (history) has helped serve as a bond with this community and has provided a better understanding of the choices that people have made in the past as well as to understand some of the choices that they are more likely to make in the future,” said Barton. “Additionally, I find it to be a multidimensional puzzle that is both fascinating and perplexing.”
Event organizers said Barton’s historical contributions are significant.
“The inspiration that those like Dr. Barton provide through their love of documenting ‘what and who came before us’ has gone a long way toward helping our society have a better understanding of who we are,” parade leaders said. “The Comer community is sincerely grateful for his efforts.”
