Annals of Smith of Cantley, Balby, and Doncaster, County York; Embracing Elaborate Pedigrees of the Connected Families and Biographical Notices of their More Eminent Members (1878), by Henry Ecroyd Smith (online here). A section of interest is extracted below:

pp241-245

"BARTON OF CARLISLE.


BARNARD BARTON of Ive Gill, a secluded hamlet a few miles distant from Carlisle, was quite the Patriarch of the place, and likewise was a Cumbrian "statesman," i.e. one living upon his own land or estate, sufficiently large to procure for his family all requisites for a comfortable subsistence. Although a humble yeoman in the eye of the world, he yet erected, at his sole cost, an extra-parochial chapel in connection with the Established Church, of which he was a member; the chapel is yet standing. Having previously to walk from four to six miles in order to attend a place of worship, this chapel must have been no small boon to his fellow-dalesmen. Later in life, and possessing an ingenious turn of mind, he removed into the city, and there commenced the spinning of linen and the printing of calico. No length of time elapsed before — about the year 1765 — he invented a peculiar spring-wheel, whereby twelve young girls were enabled to spin simultaneously; its inception being the result of a benevolent concern for increasing the means for youthful female employment. The invention is thus noticed by the well-known antiquary and tourist, Pennant:— "Saw at Mr. Barnard Barton's a pleasing sight, of twelve little girls spinning at once, at a horizontal wheel, which set twelve bobbins in motion, yet so contrived that should any accident happen to one, the motion of that might be stopped without any impediment to the others." For this invention Barnard Barton was awarded a gold medal by the Royal Society; and it is an interesting fact that, although his family has long been forgotten within "fair Carlisle's wa's," the tradition of spinning-wheels worked by females, still survives there. In a very scarce little work — our copy came from the library of the poet Cowper, and bears his autograph signature, crest, arms, and book-plate — which was written by Mrs. Trimmer and published in 1789, being intituled "Oeconomy of Charity," this invention is mentioned and lauded (p.72), and at the end of the book — virtually an appendix, but without the name — a description of its machinery will be found, illustrated by two folding diagrams. The latter were in all probability furnished by the son of the worthy inventor, who had now been deceased many years. In the church-yard of St. Cuthbert's, in Carlisle, lies a gravestone, inscribed : — " Erected to the memory of Barnard Barton, who died Jan. 6th, 1773. aged 45 years ; also of Mary his wife, who died May 20th, 1786, aged 54 years; also of five of their children, viz., George, William, Abraham, Henry, and Barnard, who died in their infancy." Below appears: — "Repaired and re-erected by Barnard and John Barton, grandsons of the first-named deceased, 1846."
So far as we can learn, Barnard Barton left but one surviving son —
JOHN BARTON of Carlisle, who inherited his father's businesses, but did not continue them for any lengthened period.
He mar. firstly, about the year 1775, Mary Done, a member of the Society of Friends, but whether he joined this religious community before or after the union we have been unable to discover, for the registers of the Society, excellent at a later period, prove at this time to have been most imperfect and unreliable. We also greatly regret that our endeavours to obtain information relative to Mary Done's parentage have hitherto proved fruitless ; her own history, however, opens a page of no common interest, but one which has not hitherto appeared in print. Somewhere about the year 1770, three young ladies were residing in the neighbourhood of Northwich, in the district of Cheshire known as Delamere Forest. Their parents were deceased, and shortly after this date the second of the trio becoming the wife of Thomas Bewley of Rockliffe, near Carlisle, her sisters likewise abandoned the ancestral home, and took up their abode with or near the newly-married couple. Sarah, the younger, mar. 22 XII. 1772, John Holmes of Carlisle, and had issue a son Done Holmes, who died cir, 1830. Mary Done, the eldest of the three, whilst upon a visit to some relatives in Liverpool, there met at the house of mutual friends William Roscoe, the refined young poet, then just ripening into manhood, having been born in 1753. The new acquaintances were well calculated for close assimilation, each possessing a strong and ardent poetic temperament, combined with great intellectual power, and guarded by high principle. They soon consorted much, rambled together in the woods, and alternately read Shenstone, until the impassioned Roscoe, upon declaring his devoted attachment, was equally mortified and astonished to find that it elicited no vital response. His inamorata, whilst possessing every regard and esteem that mind could entertain for mind, or intellect for intellect, had never once during their intimacy looked upon Roscoe in the light of a lover or possible husband — only in fact as a friend of strong kindred tastes — greatly to the surprise of her own relatives, who, considering the young people "might have been made for one another," could scarcely realise the fact. The several poetical effusions he addressed to her — copies of which now lie before us — breathe his passionate attachment in most ardent strains, and though obliged through its lack of reciprocity, to "cast her image from its base" as regards his heart, it never lost its place in his mental esteem — one reciprocated through life. Mary Done inscribed to him her chief poem, intituled "Pride;" whilst, on the other hand, Roscoe frequently visited her when the happy wife of John Barton, whom he learnt to esteem and associate with in the Anti-Slavery cause, being also a great favourite with their children. Our readers will look in vain for any allusion to this amorous episode in Henry Roscoe's Life of his father; in this instance, at least, the biographer has belied the promise of his preface, to produce everything conducive to the formation of his parent's character and intellect ; he completely ignores the love-passage, but, obliged to recognise the lady as a literary acquaintance, he thus acknowledges her elevation of mind and character (though giving both her name and residence incorrectly), see vol. I. p. 28 : — "To the friends already mentioned, in whose society Mr. Roscoe spent many of the happiest years of his early life, may be added a young lady, who, to the usual accomplishments of her sex, united high cultivation of mind and considerable poetical talents. Miss Maria Done, with her sisters, Mrs. Bewley and Mrs. Holmes, resided in Westmoreland ; but an intimacy with some of Mr. Roscoe's friends in Liverpool, and temporary visits to that place, led to an acquaintance with him, which gradually ripened into friendship. They occasionally corresponded and exchanged the productions of their muse. Several of Mr. Roscoe’s early pieces are addressed to this lady; and to her he originally inscribed his poem of "Mount Pleasant, " in some lines which do not appear in the printed copy. The character of Miss Done was of the most admirable and elevated class, as appears both from her poetry and her correspondence. She afterwards married Mr. John Barton. Subsequent to this event, she, with her sisters, still continued on the same friendly footing with Mr. Roscoe and his family for many years; and Mr. Barton became one of his warmest friends and most frequent correspondents. Her son, Mr. Bernard Barton, to whom her poetical talents have descended, and her daughter, Mrs. Hack, the author of many valuable works for children, are well known in the literary world. Some idea of her powers as a poet, and of her feelings as a friend, as well as of her fine discernment and just appreciation of the promise held out by Mr. Roscoe's early years, may be formed from the following lines. They occur at the conclusion of a poem ‘On Pride,’ dedicated to him, and written in the year 1774:—
'But cease my Muse! unequal to the task,
Forbear the effort, and to nobler hands
Resign the lyre — thee, Roscoe, every Muse
Uncall'd attends and uninvok'd inspires.
In blooming shades and amaranthine bowers
They weave the future laurel for thy brow,
And wait to crown thee with immortal fame.
Thee Wisdom leads in all her lonely walks;
Thee Genius fires, and moral Beauty charms:
Be it thy task, to touch the feeling heart.
Correct it's passions, and exalt it’s aims;
Teach Pride to own, and owning to obey
Fair Virtue’s dictates, and her sacred laws;
To brighter worlds show thou the glorious road,
And be thy life as moral as thy song. '”
This is all very well so far as it goes, but the biographer had neither the desire nor the candour to acknowledge a flame which he was well aware of. Not only the world, but his own family, were completely hoodwinked on this point, and his descendants consequently assert that the amatory verses we have alluded to — and addressed to Maria, this being her nom de plume — were mere Shenstonian exercises. On the other hand, the facts of the passionate attachment and offer of marriage have been handed down from one generation to another of the lady's descendants, in common with the family surprise at the non-acceptance of this offer. Roscoe, the noble old gentleman, was never ashamed of this his early love, and even gave his friends, and later his children, copies of the effusions which he addressed to her, and we have little doubt they would ere this have been given to the world, had he lived a couple of years longer. It had long been his intention "to publish a selection from his own poems," and "to include ‘Mount Pleasant,’" ‘The Wrongs of Africa,’ and some other of his early pieces," and he had even fixed upon the title "Poems, Original and Fugitive, written between the years 1770 and 1830," but health rapidly failing, he died 30th June, 1831. The above-mentioned pieces addressed to Mary Done came within the limit given, and though decried as juvenile by the family, are no more so than 'Mount Pleasant’ and several other effusions, which were, no doubt, intended by their author to appear in his projected volume, but these latest literary wishes were never carried out by his literary executor, Henry Roscoe. Although he cannot but have keenly felt the rejection of his suit by Mary Done — and the last of the series evinces this — Roscoe was before very long, most happily married.
Mary Done continued to write pieces, which, signed "Maria," and dated from Eden Banks, appeared from time to time in the Cumberland Packet, and later in the Carlisle Journal, till her premature decease, which occurred shortly after giving birth to the incipient poet, Bernard, early in 1784. Her descendants possess most of her poetical effusions in MS. A portrait of Mary, and another of John Barton, are preserved in the family ; the former, a miniature in oils, depicts the poetess in a dress-cap, with the hair gathered up over a cushion, the features being regular and interesting. That of John Barton is described by his son, the poet (Letter No. I of a series pub. 1824), as representing him seated at a round table, surrounded by his favourite books, with a manuscript, headed "Abstract of Locke, " lying expanded before him; the features small but fair, handsome, and full of thought, though only 20 to 21 years of age when limned, or very shortly before his marriage. Although brought up at the manufactory, he early showed as great impatience with its trammels as his worthy sire had experienced with those of husbandry. Of a literary turn of mind, he could not reconcile himself to the drudgery of the mill he inherited. "I always," he wrote, "perused a Locke, an Addison, or a Pope with delight, and ever sat down to my ledger with a sort of disgust." He yet never wholly relinquished business, though he repeatedly changed its kind, scope, and scene of operation. After the decease of his wife, in 1784, he disposed of his business and property at Carlisle, and, removing into the South of England, there married secondly, Elizabeth Home, by whom he had an only child —
John Barton, who joined the Established Church, and died under 40 years of age, having been twice married ; his first wife was Ann Smith, by whom he had issue a dau. —
Ann Barton, who mar. Rev. William Harvey, s.p.
John Barton the elder had issue by his first wife Mary Done, besides two or three children, ob. inf., a son and 2 daus. —
1 Bernard Barton, the poet, born at Carlisle 31 I. 1784.
As stated, his mother died a few days after giving him birth, and his father shortly removing into the South of England and remarrying, young Bernard was brought up by his step-mother, and taught by his sister Mary, whom he is said to have much resembled in feature. When a young man he became tutor in the family of Nicholas Waterhouse, p.231, and resided at Everton cir, 1808-10. Entering the service of a banking company at Woodbridge, in Suffolk, he there died in harness 19 II. 1849, and was bur. in the Friends' burial-ground at that place, where, we hear, a memorial stone is about to be erected. His volumes of poetical effusions, chiefly short pieces, are well known. He mar. Lucy Barton, who mar. . . . Fitzgerald, and edited Memoirs and Letters of Bernard Barton, published in 1849, from which we have extracted several items of the family history, others being supplied by friends.
1 Mary Barton, born at Carlisle 16 II. 1677.
She resided, after John Barton’s decease, with her step-mother at Chichester, and there being another Mary in the family was, for distinction's sake, called Maria, a name she retained as a nom de plume, and by which — beyond her family circle — she has since been only known. Author of Familiar Illstrations of the Principal Evidences and Design of Christianity; Winter Evenings, and several historical works for the improvement of the young. She mar. Stephen Hack of Chichester, who died in 1823; she died in 1844, having had issue by him —
i John Barton Hack, of Magill, So. Australia, born at Chichester 2 VII. 1805; mar. Bridget, dau. of William and Martha Watson of Liverpool ; issue, p. 238.
ii Stephen Hack, emigrated to Australia; mar. 1841, Elizabeth Wilton ; issue —
I Wilton Hack, I Julia Hack, mar. Rev. . . . Cutler.
i Margaret Emily Hack, mar. Thomas Gates Darton, son of Samuel Darton of London, (died 1838,) by his wife Ann Gates of Staines, who died 1869.
Thomas G. Darton is a grandson of William Darton, the well-known publisher of Gracechurch Street, who died 18 19, by Hannah his wife. Thomas Gates and Margaret E. Darton have had several children; their eldest son, Edward Hack Darton, mar. Adeline, dau. of John and Margaret Johnson of Stoke Newington ; issue — Hugh; Oscar ; Ethel ; Gertrude ; Margaret Emily.
2 Elizabeth Barton, bom at Carlisle 10 VII. 1779; joined the Established Church ; died about 1836, unmar."