Samuel W. Barnes
Samuel W. Barnes,
the oldest native son of Allamakee county living in the vicinity
of Monona, if not the oldest in the entire county, has been
prominently connected with farming and stock-raising interests
for many years and in advancing his own interests along these
lines has made substantial contributions to general agricultural
development. He owns one hundred and forty acres in Linton
township and upon this property was born January 6, 1853, his
parents being Jones and Mary (Evans) Barnes, the former a native
of Cumberland county, Kentucky, and the latter of Tennessee, born
near the line, on the Cumberland river, in 1830. In his early
life the father was an overseer on a large plantation, this being
in the days of slavery, before the Civil war. In the early
’40s he came north and for a time engaged in rafting cedar
timber from Wabasha to Dubuque, Iowa, having formed a partnership
with his wife’s brother, who had come to this state ten
years previously and who during the Indian troubles here was a
scout under General Miles. The father settled first at Prairie du
Chien, Wisconsin, and then came to Linton township, Iowa, where
he entered from the government the property upon which the
subject of this review now resides and with characteristic energy
he began clearing and developing the land, enduring all of the
hardships and privations of pioneer times and finally evolving
out of the wilderness a profitable and well managed farm. Upon
this property he resided for many years, dying upon his holdings
in March, 1878. His wife survives him and makes her home in
Monroe, Washington, being still active and hearty in the
eighty-third year of her age.
Samuel W. Barnes grew up amid pioneer conditions, acquiring such
education as the little log cabin frontier schoolhouse afforded
and spending a great deal of his time assisting his father with
the clearing and development of the homestead. At the age of
twenty-one he became a farm laborer, working upon properties
throughout Minnesota, Dakota and Nebraska. Not caring to settle
in any of these states, he eventually returned home and purchased
the homestead whereon he has since resided. He owns one hundred
and forty acres of valuable land in Linton township and through
the years has steadily carried forward the work of improvement
and development until it is today one of the best agricultural
properties in this vicinity. Upon it Mr. Barnes engages in
general farming and stock raising and, being a practical and able
agriculturist, has made both branches of his activities
profitable. He is a stockholder in the Monona Creamery and the
Monona Shipping Association and his ability is widely recognized
in business circles.
On the 2d of July, 1880, Mr. Barnes married Miss Rachel Hazelett,
who was born in Clayton county, near Watson, in 1859, a daughter
of George and Jane (Whetlinger) Hazelett, natives of the north of
Ireland. The parents emigrated to America at a very early date
and made the overland journey with ox teams in 1849, having spent
six months upon the way. The father entered government land and
upon this farm resided until his death, which occurred in 1888.
His wife survives him and still resides upon the old homestead.
Mr. and Mrs. Barnes became the parents of three children: Jennie,
who was born in April, 1886, and who married Ray Hancock, a
farmer at Medicine Lake, Montana; a child, who died in infancy;
and Mary, who was born in September, 1896.
Mr. Barnes belongs to the Modern Woodmen of America and he gives
his political allegiance to the democratic party. He has the
distinction of being one of the oldest native sons of Allamakee
county and the oldest in this vicinity and he has borne an active
and honorable part in the work of development which has
transformed this section of the state from a frontier wilderness
into a prosperous and growing community. He began his
agricultural career at a time when the percentage of cultivated
land in this county was less than one-half of what it is today
and he has himself cleared and developed more than one-third of
the cultivated land upon his own farm. The years have brought him
success and a comfortable fortune and a high place in the regard
of his fellow citizens, who respect his prosperity and honor his
integrity of character.
-source: Past & Present in Allamakee County; by
Ellery M. Hancock; S. J. Clarke Pub. Co.; 1913
-transcribed by Linda Earnheart
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