Archives West Finding Aid

John James Burton (February 19, 1816-1878) married Margaret Watson (June 21, 1822-October 18, 1899) on May 29, 1839. They had fifteen children: Link C., Herber H., Edward R. Sarah Kate, Lois, William G., Linnoir L., Ben T., Margaret E., Charles W., Kezia, John J., Amy, Jemina, and Eliza. There are several pictures of Margaret in the photograph series; she is identified as "Aunt Margaret." John James was a pioneer of 1844 and had a Donation Farm at Yamhill, Oregon. The family originally left Auckland, New Zealand in 1843.

Sarah "Kate" Burton (October 15, 1846 – January 9 1928) married John Rice Lake October 20, 1870, who died October 20, 1874. Kate Burton Lake was educated at Portland Academy, Tualatin Academy and Pacific College in Forest Grove. Kate was a schoolteacher in Yamhill, Portland, Nehalem, Astoria and Portland areas from approximately 1865-1890. In 1890 she moved to the San Francisco Bay area to be close to her mother and her brother Ben, who was a medical doctor.

In the summer of 1896 Kate began working with her daughter, Margaret, as teacher and matron in the Chinese Misssion of the Methodist Episcopal Church's "WOman's Home Missionary Society." She worked in San Francisco Chinatown for seven years until her dismissal in late 1902 or early 1903.

Kate was a charter member of Taylor Street Methodist Church Sunday School in Portland, Oregon. She was also a member of Sons and Daughters of Oregon Pioneers, Oregon Pioneer's Association and Yamhill County Pioneers. Kate Burton Lake is often referred to as simply Mrs. Lake, Kate B. Lake or Grandma Lake.

Kate Burton and John Lake had one child, Margarita ("Margaret") John Lake Garton (March 30, 1873-October 1968). Margaret was known by several different spellings of her name, the most common of which is Margaret. Other spellings and nicknames present in the collection include: Margarita, Marguerite, Margarite, Lovie, Miss Lake, and Mother Garton. (For the organizational purposes of this collection, she will simply be known as Margaret.)

Margaret Lake studied to be a clasical pianist under Edward Heimburger in San Francisco. and was planning to go to Germany for further study when she was converted during a Salvation Army camp meeting and received the call to missionary work about 1893. In the fall of 1894 she enrolled at the Lucy Rider Meyer Deaconess Training School in Chicago and was ordained deaconess upon completion of her training on May 5, 1896. She wished to become a foreign missionary in China, but was instead chosen to be a home missionary in San Francisco, where she worked with in the Chinese Mission of the Methodist Episcopal Church's "Women's Home Missionary Society". This was later renamed the Oriental Home & School. Here she worked alongside her mother rescuing Chinese women and children from various difficulties that were present in Chinatown.

In early 1903, Margaret was asked to leave her position as decaoness mssionary at the Oriental Home & School in San Francisco in a letter from J.W. Henderson, an attorney for the Oriental Bureau in San Francisco. Shortly therafter Margaret was reassigned as deaconess missionary in the WHMS Home for Japanese and Korean Women and Children in San Francisco, where she worked until her marriage to Ernest Garton in 1910. Margaret later transferred to the Portland Industrial Home in Portland, Oregon, which began operation around 1912. After her husband's death, Margaret returned to California where she was instrumental in helping found the Chinese Baptist Church of San Mateo, California.

Margaret married Ernest H. Garton (February 17, 1869 - December 17, 1938) on June 10, 1910. They raised two children, Marjorie and John. The Gartons moved to Portland around 1912.

Marjorie Garton married Lyle Morgan.

John Garton served in World War II and was stationed in Greenland for a time. John married Carol Ann. They had two children: David William Garton, born on September 24, 1952 and Paul Edward Garton, born October 27, 1957.