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The Barnes Clan of East Texas
Until recently, descendants of the William O. Barnes family of Harrison County, Texas, did not know the origin of their pioneer ancestor, Benedict Barnes, who came to Upshur County, Texas ca. 1847 and, in 1851, married Mary Ann Bass Ford, widow of William Ford, in Harrison County. The origin of this Barnes family line is in Prince George's County, Maryland, and begins with the family of: 1. Henry Barnes and wife, Elizabeth, of St. John's Parish. Henry signed an Oath of Allegiance in 1778 Pr. George's. Henry left probate record dated 2 April 1793 Folio 1-326, Elizabeth left one dated 22 Sept 1794 Folio 1-347. They had a family of at least eight children:
2. Benedict Barnes, Sr. married Sally Lanham 7 March 1801. She was the daughter of Solomon and Charity Lanham. He was still in Prince George's County, Maryland in 1800 as were his brothers, Basil and Reason. John may have gone to South Carolina earlier as there is a deed record for a John Barnes in Edgefield County in 1787. A story on the Lanham family states that the brothers of Sally Lanham came to Edgefield about 1800. (See Lanham Family) Sometime between the time of his marriage to Sally and the 1810 census, Benedict removed to Edgefield County, S.C. where it is believed Benedict, Jr. was born ca. 1810. On the 1810 census of that County, the household of Benedict Barnes, Sr. had 4 males under 10, one male 16 under 26, one male 26- under 45, one female under 10, one f. 26 and under 45. One descendant, David Robertson of Jefferson, Texas, states there were only three known children. But a petition for guardianship by Josiah Landrum (sic) shows two more children and does not mention Elizabeth. Their mother, Sally, was deceased before Benedict, Sr., but it is not known when she died.
Benedict, Sr., was named as a co-executor of the will his brother, John, along with John's sons, Loyd and John. Henry Barnes witnessed it, written the 3 Nov 1815 and recorded 24 Aug. 1816. Benedict, Sr. died 24 October 1817, as shown by estate records in Edgefield District, S.C. (See estate record later) In 1818 Henry Barnes, Jr., his brother, also died in S.C. and about 1819, his widow, Anne Robey Lanham Barnes, migrated to Pintala, Montgomery County, Alabama with her older sons, Elkanah and Hezekiah and other children. Benedict Barnes, Jr. It is probable that Benedict, Jr. moved also at this time. Montgomery County, Alabama marriage records show that Benedict Barnes married Elizabeth Broadwater April 1836. On the 1840 census, he is shown in Montgomery County with 1 male 20-30 1 female under 5 and 1 female 30-40. Near him on that census is Hezekiah Barnes, to whom he must have been very close, as when he is found later in Upshur County, Texas, it is again again near Hezekiah on the Tax records in 1849. No record has yet been found that proves when Benedict's first wife died, or when he might have sold any land in Alabama before coming to Texas. Hezekiah is said to have come to Texas in 1845. The first records of Benedict in Texas are the 1849 tax record, and on an 1851 Upshur County jury list from which he was picked as a grand jury member. On the tax roll he appears on the W.C.Wakeland Survey as did Hezekiah and a William Barnes. In 1849, he witnessed a deed of Anderson Wright, whose wife was Sarah Ann Barnes, Hezekiah's sister. The second wife of Hezekiah was Elizabeth Phillips, daughter of George Phillips and Elizabeth Talley Philips who are believed to have been in the Jonesville area of Harrison County, Texas by 1842; the Wrights were also in Jonesville by 1845 and Upshur Co. by 1846. Hezekiah Barnes, born Dec 13 1802-Jan 2 1874, and his wife are buried in Rosedale Cemetery in Gladewater. Anderson Wright and Sarah Anne Barnes Wright are buried in the Mosely Cemetery near there. Although no deed has been found for Benedict Barnes in Upshur County, he continued to be on the tax roll until 1851 after he married Mary Ann Bass Ford. Mary Ann may have been a sister of L.L. Bass who was not old enough to be her father. She was first married to William Ford. On the 1880 census, Mary Ann gives her birth place as Alabama and her mother and father were born in S.C. They and L.L. Bass were all on the 1840 Talladega County census. L.L. Bass married Mary Ann Davis Barnes, daughter of Person Davis, and widow of Henry Barnes, III, the son of Henry Barnes, Jr. and Ann Lanham Barnes. There is a guardianship filed in Nacogdoches County for Bass as guardian of James F. Barnes, minor and son of of Ann Lanham Barnes. (See later) Bass gives his birthplace as N.C. on the 1860 census. In 1853 Benedict Barnes appears on the tax roll of Harrison County on the E.A. Merchant Survey with 160 acres valued at $448. The total value of his property was $2160. He is on the same survey as L.L. Bass. He is found on the 1854 Harrison County Scholastic Record with M. Barnes and three of the Ford children as Guardian. M. Barnes was probably the child by his first marriage and might have been Mahala Barnes who, in 1850, is found living in the household of a _____ Tate in Upshur County. In 1860 Benedict is found listed at the Freedom Post Office. He is 50 years old; Mary Ann is 36. This corresponds with age on the 1840 Alabama census. At this time he had real estate valued at $800 and a personal estate of $4000; the children's names were all in initials with W. O. the only one easily read. It is not known when Benedict died nor where he or Mary Ann are buried. The last child was born in 1869? according to 1880 census, and B. Barnes was last found on the Harrison County tax rolls in 1876 still on the E.A. Merchant Survey. The map of the old surveys shows this to have been several miles west of the W.O.Barnes property, almost to the Gregg County Line. A deed for this property has not been found, but there are two deeds, one in 1868 where Benedict Barnes bought a tract of land from John Burke of Marion County, Texas on a promissory note (not yet paid) that was part of a tract sold by W.W. Holeman to L.L. Bass and bordered on E.A. King. This land was also on the E.A. Merchant Survey. The deed was dated 25th of January 1869 and recorded March 31 1869. E. Blackwell Clerk. Then, on 26th September 1870, he granted a mortgage deed for three hundred dollars to L.L. Howard and J. Howard, who advanced him "on my growing crop now being grown and culivated on my own plantation upon which I now reside, known as the Barnes place, said advance is made in plantation supplies and for the [purpose] of enabling me to make and cultivate a crop." (It appears the Holeman place and E. A. Merchant Survey were the same.) Tax records show Mrs. Mary Barnes on the Tax Rolls for 1878 on the Holeman property, and in 1885 and 1886, 1887, and 1888 for the property on the E.A. Merchant Survey. On the 1886 roll there was also B.A. Barnes (Benedict Allen?) on the Samuel Porter Survey and W.O. Barnes on the Mijacah Lindsay Survey. It appears Benedict probably died in 1876. The children of Benedict and Mary Ann Ford Bass Barnes:
Mary had four children by William Ford. He died after the 1850 Harrison County Census. Children:
Those marked with asterick were in B.Barnes household on 1860 census. 1860 Federal Census Harrison County, Texas- Freedom P.O P. 505
B.Barnes 50 m Farmer 800 400 S.C. Mary 36 f Al L.A. 16 f. Al J.E. 12 m. Tx A.H. 10 m Tx F.S. 6 f Tx S.E. 4 f Tx W.O. 3 m Tx C.V. 7/12 m Tx. J.G. Ford 11 m. Listed below are L.Bass 48 M 9152 19,995 N.C Below them are F. Barnes f. 20 La. ( Francis Taylor m. James Franklin Barnes) J.F. " 4 Tx. On 1880 census: 374/399
Barnes M.A. w f 55 w K.H. Al. SC SC
W.O. was supposedly living at this time in HH of the Bells, but not shown on census. . The following are found in Upshur County Cemetery Records: Gilmer Cemetery Oldest Part Caroline V. McClelland b. 1860 d. 1936; Dr. Robert H. McClelland b. 1861; d.1906; Eutsley McClelland b. 1889; d. 1907 Sybil V. Mc Clelland wife of Reese Epperson b. 1895;d. 1928. Leila Blanch Stephens b. 14 Nov 1866 ; d.28 March 1944 William Robert Stephens b. 28 Dec. 1863; d. 31 July 1936; Vernon J. Stephens b. 1889 d. 1956 Marie f. Stephens b. 1891; d. 1970, William B. Stephens b. 13 July 1909 d. 29 Aug. 1954. Upshur County Marriage Records: W.R. Stephens and Lula (sic) Barnes 21 Dec. 1884.
4. William Oliver Barnes, born 22 Oct 1858, in Harrison Co., Freedom P.O. married Alice Gray Owen b. 2 Aug 1867. in Harrison County on 20 October 1884 on Hynson Springs Rd. Her parents were Clarissa Sockwell Porter Owens and John Owens. They can be found on the 1850 Carroll County, Ga. census. The Sockwell family were also originally from Maryland. Clarissa Sockwell married (1) John Porter (2) John Owen who disappeared and (3) Austin Choat January 1878. Austin Choat and wife, Jane, age 45, are found on 1880 Harrison County, Texas census in HH 426/4555 with his daughter Louisa, John Porter, Alace, age 12 and John? age 9. W.O and Alice were married in the household of Austin Choat and her mother. (See Remembrances Past by Pauline Scott Barnes). Alice Gray Owen inherited 50 acres of land from J.W. Porter said to be her stepfather, but the marriage to Porter by her mother was before she married Alice's father. Perhaps it was instead her half-brother. Children of W.O and Alice Barnes were:
5. William Roy Barnes was born 26 June 1894 in a log cabin located off Hynson Springs Road about nine miles north west of Marshall, the son of William Oliver Barnes and Alice Gray Owens Barnes. Roy attended Hallsville Public School and studied business at Reddick Business College in Marshall. He worked for Wichita Mill & Elevator Company before joining the the military to serve in the First World War. During the war, he served two years in Europe, 1917-1919, as Corporal, Company M, 359th Infantry, 90th division. Returning home from the war, Roy married 15 Feb.1920 Longview, Texas, by a Methodist Minister, Margaret Louise Hagerty, daughter of Michael Patrick Hagerty and Martha Isabelle Wolfe. By this time he had taken over operation of the Barnes family cotton gin on Marshall's East Grand Avenue for many years. After their marriage, Roy and Margaret purchased the old Erie Austin property on Victory Drive, subdivided a portion of it and sold lots to prospective residents. Indian Springs Drive, established to provide acces to the subdivision, was so named by him because of the many Indian relics found around and near a fresh water spring there. During World War II, Roy also begin working at the munitions plant located at Karnak, Texas, and operated by Thiokol Chemical Corporation. Margaret Barnes died 6 June 1971, and Roy died 19 Oct. 1984. Both are buried in St. Joseph Catholic Cemetery Marshall, Texas. Children :
Marshall News Messenger Obituary Sunday October 21 1984 and Wednesday June 16, 1971, and 5 March 1949.
6. William Roy (Billy) Barnes, Jr. was born 22 February 1921 to W.R. Barnes, Sr. and Margaret Hagerty Barnes at their home on Victory Drive in Marshall, Texas. He attended the public schools in Marshall, Kemper Military Institute, The University of Texas and the College of Marshall. Mary Lee Anderson was born 8 March 1924 to K.G. and Mary Lee Gauntt Anderson in Crockett, Texas. From letters it is known that her grandfather John Wesley Anderson and grandmother, Martha Caroline Anderson, came by train to be there at her birth and also Grandmother Gauntt from Athens, Texas. During the depression, her father and mother moved to Athens, her mother's home town, and she started school here where she graduated in 1941. In September 1942 she enrolled in what was then the College of Marshall, now East Texas Baptist University, and there she met William ( Billy) R. Barnes, Jr., son of Mr. and Mrs. Roy Barnes of Marshall. He was waiting to be called to the Air Force Cadet pilot training program. (Billy was already a pilot, having learned at CPT school held in Marshall in which many of his friends participated.He was called in June of 1942 and went to San Antonio, first. It was while on a visit to see him in August of that year that Billy gave her an engagement ring. They were married in E.St. Louis, Ill. 5th Sept 1942. where he was sent for basic training. In Feb. 1943, he graduated as 2nd Lt. He was sent to Brownsville, Texas for further training to fly in the U.S A. Air Transport Command. He went overseas in June of 1943 and served 16 months flying the " Hump" in the China Burma India theater. A son was born in Dec.22, 1943. Billy did not see him until October 1944. Mary Lee waited in Athens until his return. They, then, were stationed at Love Field in Dallas, then Kansas and in 1947 he went to Warner Robins, Georgia. He had been promoted to Captain while overseas. Another child was born in 1947. On February 28 of 1949 while returning from a Instructors training school at Edwards Air Force Base in California the plane carrying him was lost and crashed in Mexico with all aboard killed. The search lasted for a week before the plane was found in Mexico. THe plane had burned. HIs funeral was held on the March 8, 1949, Mary Lee's birthday. Billy was 28. He was buried in St. JOesph's cemetery in Marshall. A third child was born posthumously, and he was promoted to Major posthumously. Mary Lee returned to school and received a B.S. degree in 1954 in History and English and taught school for 22 years in Trinidad, Marshall, Longview and Kerens. With the aid of her mother, she raised her children. Returning to Athens in 1973 she took early retirement in 1979,and she has since enjoyed the pursuit of family history, is a member of UDC, DAR. and The Athens Genealogical Organization. There are eight grand children. The children of Captain William Roy Barnes, Jr. and Mary Lee Anderson Barnes are:
PROBATE RECORDS OF NACOGODOCHES COUNTY, TEXAS NO. 201- L. L BASS FOR THE GUARDIANSHIP OF JAMES F. BARNES, PETITION Be it remembered that on the twenty-ninth day of March and one Thousand eight hundred and forty-seven a petition was filed in the clerk's office of the probate court March term 1847 Nacogodoches County to the Honorable William hart, Judge of the Probate court in and for the County of Nacogodoches. The Petition of Lawrence L.. Bass, a citizen of Nacogodoches County showeth unto your honor that he was the guardian of James F. Barnes in the state of Alabama, that he has recently removed to Nacogodoches County and settled permanently therein, that he settled with the court before leaving Alabama that James F. Barnes is a minor under the age of twenty-one years and has a considerable estate consisting of negroes and other personal property wherefore your petitioner prays that he maybe appointed guardian of the said James F.Barnes upon such terms as the court may direct and for such other orders decreed as may be necessary. Baird, Cage and Allison, Attys. This application at the said March term of the court to which it is addressed was continued for want of notice and afterward, to wit, at the May Term 1847 of the court aforesaid all prerequisites of the law having been complied with- this application came up for consideration and an entry made in minutes of said court of its acation therein in words following, to wit: Lawrence L. Bass for the guardianship of James F.Barnes. In this case said minor being above age of fourteen years appeared in court and espressed his desire that said Bass be his guardian. Wherefore, it is ordered said Bass be invested with guardianship on his giving bond for twenty thousand dollars, and taking both for faithful performances of the trust which bond was entered into on said day May 31, 1847. by said Bass having William Davis and Wiliam Ford for securities, the same was approved by the Judge of the said court and with an oath endorsed n the back of it- duly administered & filed in said Clerk's office and letters of guardinaship were then issued unto said Bass. Harrison County, Texas Early Marriage Records 1839-1869 Nancy Blakely Ruff. Benedict Barnes m. Mary A.Ford Nov. 28, 1851 James F. Barnes m. Frances Taylor 16 Jan 1855. William Barnes m. Mary E..McKay 10 July 1848 Andrew Ford m.Mary Ann Robinson December 23, 1848. Mahala Barnes m. James M. Tucker Feb 1862 Martha Barnes m. Thomas M. Tate Jan. 12 1854. ( Mahala Barnes was in HH of Thomas Tate in Upshur Co. 1860 census ) Frances Barnes m. E.A. King Nov. 15, 1860 R.B. Barnes m. Anna Brightwell Sept 10, 1867 Mary Jane Ford m. R. P. Taylor Feb 20, 1860 Harriett Barnes m. Stephen L. Terry Jan. 18, 1854. They were on the Marshall County 1860 census. Marriages Implied in Probate Records Edgefield County, S.C.--Barbara Langdon. Elizabeth Barnes, widow of Reason m. Wm. Robertson p. 395, 358, 360, 361 ----1826 Susan Barnes William Robertson box. 512, Pack 1 |