FLOYD BATON

The following bio was taken from page 105 of the book entitled "Rusk County History" compiled and edited and used with permission of the Rusk County Historical Commission.

Transcribed by Shirley Koym

Submitted by Gloria Briley Mayfield, Rusk County TX Coordinator

Floyd Baton married Alma Meyer in 1937. They have one daughter, Christine. At this time they live on Highway 259, two and one half miles south of Kilgore, Texas. In the year 1790 – with an alert lookout for wild animals, poisonous plants, and unfriendly Indians – W. D. Baton moved from South Carolina to Rusk County, Texas, where his offspring has lived continuously to the present time. He purchased land approximately two miles south of what later became the town of Kilgore.

The name "Rosa Lee" has been carried down through several generations. Rosa Lee Baton married a man named George Cato Friar. He was eccentric, but wealthy by the local standards. He owned a Stradivarius violin and a home in Florida to which they often traveled by boat from Galveston. On one occasion while vacationing in Florida, Rosa Lee witnessed an alligator grab her little dog and drag it into the water. After this episode they moved permanently to Rusk County, Texas, about two miles from what is now Kilgore. Kilgore, when founded, was entirely in Rusk County. In the year 1877 William T. Baton and his wife, Mariah, as shown by deed recorded Volume 29, page 433, Deed Records of Rusk County, Texas, purchased from R. W. Wynn and W. F. Thurmond 111.3 acres of land out of the Mary Cogswell Survey in Rusk County. In the year 1889 William T. Baton departed this life survived by Mariah Baton and five children.

William T. and Mariah Baton also purchased a forty-nine acre tract of land in the Chisum Survey in Rusk County, on which they lived at the time of William T. Baton’s death. Later in 1892 Mariah Baton took possession of the 111.3 acres of land above mentioned and fenced, cleared and constructed a dwelling where she and her children resided until her death in 1912. Her survivors included Hosea, O. R., and W. D. Baton. Surviving heirs of Hosea Baton include: Floyd, father of Christine, Rosa Lee and Winnie, heirs of O. R. Baton, and Janie and David, and wife Ruth, heirs of John D. Baton – all still residing in Rusk County with the exception of Rosa Lee, Gilmer, Texas, and Winnie, Breckenridge, Texas.

Floyd Baton attended Baton school on Peterson Road in Rusk County, about three miles southwest of Kilgore. This school consolidated with other schools around 1925 and ceased to exist. It was a typical country school in which several grades were taught in one room. A story goes that one time when the teacher’s back was turned, a boy threw a large torpedo firecracker against the wall. All the students wore solemn faces and none ever told who this boy was. At another time some boys "kidnapped" two teachers and went on a picnic, so the whole school was dismissed and all went to the picnic.

Some of the teachers and students walked or rode a mule to school three or four miles. There was no running water at school. All students carried lunches in a bucket.

Submitted by J. Floyd Baton