Burton was born in Penobsquis on September 2, 1925; he was the son of the late Heber and Marie (Branscombe) McQuinn. Burton resided in South Branch until 1930 when the family moved to Fairview Farm, Penobsquis where he lived the rest of his life. Educated at Penobsquis Superior School, he joined the Canadian Army Medical Corps in 1941. After his discharge from the Corps, he attended Nova Scotia Agricultural College before coming home to farm with his father. He bought purebred Holsteins and enlarged the Branquinn Herd to over a hundred head so that 1991 he was milking 50+ when he sold the milking cows; the bred heifers were sold in the following years.