Selica Soldier Injured in France Just Before Armistice, Has Died of Injuries, July 1, 1921

Selica Soldier Laid to Rest. . . Ellis F. Barton Died Sunday Night, Ended Long Period of Suffering

Ellis F. Barton died Sunday night at Selica, at the home of his uncle, Henry Barton. He was 29 years of age.

Funeral services were held Monday afternoon at Catheys Creek church, conducted by the pastor, Rev. DuPree, and a former pastor of the deceased, Rev. A.J. Manly, and the interment took place at the church cemetery.

Ellis Barton was the son of G.T. Barton, who now lives on the Clough place. Besides this parent—his mother having preceded him to the grave—he is survived by five brothers and two sisters, who are:

Julius, Rufus, and H.W. Barton of Selica, Seldon Barton of Brevard, and Lewis Barton of Little River; Mrs. Fannie Stepp of Pisgah Forest and Miss Pauline Barton of Greenville.

Ellis Barton was one of those young Transylvanians who answered their country’s call for fit men to defend world democracy against the autocracy of the Germans. He had training at Camp Wadsworth and then went overseas with his division. While fighting on the fields of France late in the fall of 1918, he was gassed and take to a hospital. This was only a few days before the armistice, so that he was among the last of the American boys to be numbered among the casualties of the great war.

After being brought back to this country he was placed in one government hospital after another, the last being the Old Soldiers’ Home at Johnson City, Tenn. Finally he was brought back to his old home at Selica, where he lay for months before the end came.

While dying more than two years after the close of the conflict, young Barton was truly one of the Transylvania boys who made the supreme sacrifice to make the world safe for democracy.

From the Brevard News, Friday, July 1, 1921