JOHN LAWTON (deceased) was a successful agriculturist and an energetic, useful citizen. His father, Joseph Lawton, was born in Rhode Island, and in early life was married to Mary Alma, of the same State, who bore him the following children: Amy (wife of William Rankin), Pardon, Samuel, Sarah, Peter, Joanna, Anna and John. In 1819 Joseph Lawton and his family came to Washington county, Penn., the journey necessarily a tedious one, having to be made with ox- teams being accomplished in seven weeks. They settled on a farm in Cross Creek township where Joseph Lawton died in 1839. In his political preferences he was an old-school Democrat. John Lawton was born June 7, 1816, in Rhode Island, and was consequently three years of age when the family moved to Pennsylvania. On August 6, 1835, he married Margaret Miniken, daughter of William Miniken, who came from England in 1803, settling in Pittsburgh; in 1805 he married Margaret Powell, and they had children as follows: Mary (Mrs. Barlow Folk), John, Nancy (deceased), William, Sarah (wife of Harvey Lawton), Hannah, William, Margaret (married to John Lawton) and Julia (wife of Joseph Maxwell). Mr. Miniken made his first home in the New World in Pittsburgh, Penn., where he resided several years, and then removed to Washington, this county, where he conducted an extensive bakery and confectionery. He was a leading politician in the ranks of the Whig party, and in religious connection a zealous member of the Episcopal Church. He died in 1827, and in January, 1853, his wife was laid beside him. John and Margaret (Miniken) Lawton passed the earlier portion of their married life in Butler county Penn., afterward settling on the home place in Cross Creek township, this county, where they remained several years. They then moved to West Middletown, and some years later proceeded to Wisconsin, thence to Minnesota (residing there two years), finally returning to the home farm in Cross Creek township. Mr. Lawton was a successful farmer, and for forty years was a resident of Cross Creek township. Politically he was originally a Democrat, afterward becoming an active worker in the ranks of the Republican party. He died January 9, 1882, aged sixty-four years six months, and was laid to rest in Brownsville Cemetery, West Middletown, Penn. He was a prominent member of the Presbyterian Church at Upper Buffalo, of which his widow is also a member.

Text taken from page 686 of: Beers, J. H. and Co., Commemorative Biographical Record of Washington County, Pennsylvania (Chicago: J. H. Beers & Co., 1893). Transcribed June 1997 by Dale E. Enlow of Lake Havasu City, AZ as part of the Beers Project. Published June 1997 on the Washington County, PA USGenWeb pages at http://www.chartiers.com/.

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