Horton, Bert L.

The following data is extracted from A Standard History of Kansas and Kansans.

Bert L. Horton, whose full name is Hubert Lee Horton, has spent about thirteen years of his life in Kansas and is one of the large oil producers in Montgomery County. His home and many of his business interests are at Wayside.

He is of Pennsylvania birth and ancestry. There were three Horton brothers back in colonial times who came from England. Mr. Horton's grandfather, Thomas Horton, was reared in New York State, where for a time in the early days he conducted a distillery, but subsequently moved to Tioga County, Pennsylvania, where he engaged in farming until his death.

It was in Tioga County, Pennsylvania, that Hubert Lee Horton was born November 23, 1876. His father Hector Horton was born in New York State in 1823, went to Tioga County as a young man, was married there, and followed farming and stock raising until his death in August, 1898. He was a republican. The maiden name of his wife was Permelia Emmick, who was born at Babb's Creek, now Morris, Pennsylvania, and is still living in Butler County of that state. Their children were: Charles A., an oil producer in Butler County, Pennsylvania; Frank, in the pipe pulling business in the Tulsa oil fields and a resident of Tulsa, Oklahoma; Maria, wife of A. C. English, who has a fruit farm at La Porte, Texas; George E., an oil well driller at Bartlesville, Oklahoma; F. J., who is one of the very successful men of Iola, Kansas, where he is known both as a farmer and as an oil and gas producer; May, who died unmarried in 1899 in Tioga County, Pennsylvania; and Bert L.

In his native Pennsylvania County Bert L. Horton acquired his early education, and spent his youthful years on his father's farm. In 1900 he came to Kansas, first to Allen County, where he worked in the gas fields for two years. Since 1902 his home has been at Wayside in Montgomery County. He laid the foundation of his success as a contractor in the drilling of oil and gas wells, and for the past seven years has been an important producer. He now has forty-three producing wells. His prosperity is also reflected in the ownership of considerable real estate, including the old home farm of 160 acres in Tioga County, Pennsylvania. He has 144 acres in Neosho County, Kansas, and his place at Wayside includes a town home and 80 acres of land.

Politically he is a republican and he takes much interest in Masonry, being affiliated with Iola Lodge, Ancient Free and Accepted Masons, Wichita Consistory No. 2 of the Scottish Rite, and Mirzah Temple of the Nobles of the Mystic Shrine at Pittsburg, Kansas.

In November, 1907, at Wayside Mr. Horton married Miss Lillian Frances Jones. Her parents, Thomas H. and Mary Jones are both now deceased, her father having been a pioneer in Montgomery County, a school teacher in early days, and later a farmer. Three children have been born to their marriage: Lucine Permelia, born in April, 1909; Wilma Mary, born in February, 1911; and Ruth, born September 8, 1914.

Source: A Standard History of Kansas and Kansans

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