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- Their son Tom became famous as "French Tom" because he went off to Bordeaux in France and founded the famous wine firm of B. and G. or Barton and Guestier which is today one of the most famous wine firms in France. "French Tom" claimed that he acquired his business acumen from his uncles Thomas and William Dickson who were merchants in Ballyshannon. The town of Ballyshannon was a notable port at this time and there was quite a lot of trade between the west of Ireland and the west of France. Brandy, wine and silk was imported and wool, fish and agricultural produce were exported. In times of strain between France and England trade was officially stopped but smuggling was ever present.
"French Tom" was born on the 21st of December, 1695, at his father's house at Curraghmore and sent to school in Ballyshannon. He was married on the 1st of November 1722 to Margaret Delap of Ballyshannon and his only child William was born in Anna Delap's house in Ballyshannon on the 5th of August 1723. When Thomas Barton emigrated to France he worked as a factor at Marseille and Montpelier before moving to Bordeaux and founding his wine firm when he was about thirty years old. It was not until the period of the French Revolution that the name Guestier became associated with that of Barton the wine merchants. The Reign of Terror, as it is called during the French Revolution, engulfed Bordeaux as much as it did Paris and other cities in France and many were imprisoned or sent to the guillotine where their heads were cut off. Hugh Barton who was then owner of the Barton firm was imprisoned along with many other leading merchants and like them, his offices and books were sealed with the seal of the Revolutionary Committee. He was imprisoned in Fort du Ha but escaped with the aid of his wife and before fleeing the country assisted in burning the guillotine in Bordeaux. As an alien he was no longer allowed to hold property in France or have a business there and he arranged with Daniel Guestier to manage his business in Bordeaux while he managed it's affairs in Britain. Barton placed great trust in Guestier for at any time Guestier could have seized the business as his own. Eventually when some degree of normality returned a partnership was drawn up between the two men in 1802 which continues between their descendants today. In 1830 both men brought their eldest sons into the partnership and descendants of these remarkable men still control the firm of Barton and Guestier.
Back in Ireland the Barton lands came into the possession of the descendants of "French Tom" and indeed were added to locally and in other places in Ireland. In1754 Sir James Caldwell sold the lands of Coolacha near amounting to 115 acres to Thomas Barton of Bordeaux i.e. "French Tom" and he also bought the Kilmore Estate of 15,500 acres and until this the Bartons did not really have much land in Ireland. "French Tom" and his only son William did not see eye to eye and he moved to the Grove Estate, Fethard, Co. Tipperary. He married there and left 6 sons and 3 daughters. The sons were Thomas, William, Charles, Hugh, Robert and Dunbar while the girls were Lady Palliser, Lady Massey and Lady Fitzgerald.
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Barton Family History
1694 - 1780 (85 years)
