His father was a Philadelphia-born and Princeton University-educated Presbyterian minister, Samuel Reading Bertron Sr. (1806–1878), and his mother was a German immigrant, Ottilie Mueler (1830–1903).

Berton moved to Port Gibson, Mississippi, in 1835, where he preached in a variety of churches and institutions.

Bertron's wives were Caroline Christie (March 25, 1818 – April 13, 1839), Catherine McRae Crane, widow of Alfred Thomas Barnes (died 1849), and Ottilie Mueler.

Bertron's five children from the three wives were: Mary, Clara, Annie, Francis, and Samuel Jr.

According to the Quarter-centenary Record of the Class of 1885 at Yale University, Bertron did return to Port Gibson after graduating.

Bertron gave up his law practice and left Equitable in 1894 to work for an investment company.

Their one child, a daughter, Elizabeth Maury Bertron, married Snowden Andrews Fahnestock in 1910.