BIOGRAPHICAL SKETCHES, BELMONT COUNTY, OHIO

"History of the Upper Ohio Valley" Vol. II, 1890.

Presented by Linda Fluharty from hard copies provided
by Mary Staley & Phyllis Slater.


Page 622.

THOMAS BURTOFT

Thomas Burtoft, a prominent farmer of Richland township, Belmont county,
was born at West Wheeling, Septemoer 2, 1846, son of Charles and Drusilla
(Walker) Burtoft. His father, a son of George Burtoft, a native of England,
was born in that country in 1813, and in 1839 came to America. He lived
at Bellaire a short time and then removed to West Wheeling, where he estab-
lished a lime kiln which has been in operation since with slight inter-
ruption. He came to America without money or education, but by industrious
application acquired both, and became a valued citizen of the county. In
1854 he removed to a farm near Wheeling, and in 1858 to the Abraham Lash
farm between St. Clairsville and Bridgeport, and thence in 1862 to the
farm north of St. Clairesville, where he died in 1865. His wife was born
near Bedford, Penn., in 1816, and came to Ohio with her parents about 1821.
Thomas Burtoft received his education in the common schools and the business
college at Wheeling, and in 1864 enlisted in Company E, One Hundred and
Seventieth regiment Ohio volunteers, and though then hardly more than a boy
served faithfully, never missing roll-call and being one of the very few of
his command who were able to stack arms after the forced march from Boliver
Heights through the pleasant valley of Maryland. After the war he remained
at home until 1870, when he made an extended and protracted tour through the
west, spending one year in Iowa, four in Texas and five in Arizona. Then
returning to West Wheeling he em barked in the grocery business, at which he
was engaged five years. He was also the first postmaster of the town, serving
two or three years. In 1883 he was married to Caroline Kelsey, daughter of
James and Mary (Boyles) Kelsey. Her father was a ron of James Kelsey, Sr.,
who came to this country about the year 1800, and settled three miles west
of Bellaire. Here Mrs. Burtoft's father was reared and given an education
much above the average of those times. He was the tax collector in the days
when it was customary to ride through the country and convey the collected
taxes in saddlebags. He also served as a justice of the peace forty years,
an office which his father held before him. He died in this county in 1885.
After the marriage of Mr. and Mrs. Burtoft they made a tour of nine months,
to the Yellowstone park, and through Oregon to Glacier bay, Alaska, returning
by steamer to San Francisco, and thence by Los Angeles and Galveston to New
Orleans, and thence home by the river. He then purchased a beautiful place
of 127 acres, upon which he has erected one of the most handsome and com-
pletely appointed dwellings in this region. Mr. Burtoft's a member of the
Masonic order, of the degree of Knight Templar, and also of the I. O. O. F.