Jared Pierpont Barnes, a retired capitalist of Topeka, Kan., represents a type of culture and refinement characteristic in those descended from New England ancestors. His great-great-grandfather, Thomas Barnes, was born at Hartford, Conn., June 21, 1703, and died about 1744. He was the second in a family of sixteen children of Ebenezer Barnes, the youngest son of Thomas Barnes, of Hartford, Conn. The latter was one of the pioneers of Connecticut. He and his son, Ebenezer, and grandson, Thomas, were among the leaders of their day in advancing the cause of civic and religious liberty. Thomas Barnes married Hannah Day and they became the parents of eight children, of whom Phineas, the great-grandfather of Jared P., was the third in order of birth. He was born at Southington, Conn., July 7, 1730, was reared there and married Phebe Bement. They resided in Southington, Conn., until 1770, when they removed to West Stockbridge, Mass., which remained their home until their emigration westward, about 1790, when they became pioneers of Pompey, N. Y. They were the parents of twelve children, of whom Asa, the grandfather of Jared P., was the fourth, his birth occurring at Southington, Conn., Sept. 23, 1760. He was reared there and at West Stockbridge, Mass., married Mary Day, and they became the parents of nine children, of whom Asa Barnes, the father of Jared P., was the eldest. He was born at West Stockbridge, Mass., Nov. 18, 1788, and on March 10, 1813, married Amanda Hall, who was born April 1, 1794, and died Nov. 14, 1830. His second marriage occurred on Jan. 17, 1831, when Miss Amanda Belding became his wife. She was born Oct. 23, 1811, and died Jan. 5, 1861. There were eight children born to Asa and Amanda (Belding) Barnes, viz.: Friend Belding, Jared Pierpont, Elias Day, Philetus, Eliza M., Amanda E., Ransom Root and Mary C. After a long and useful life the father passed away at Warners, N. Y., Jan. 11, 1871.

Jared Pierpont Barnes is a native of Warners, N. Y., where he was born on Feb. 19, 1834. He received his early educational training in the common schools and later attended Fulton Seminary at Oswego, N. Y. He initiated his independent business career in 1855, when at the age of twenty-one he engaged in the mercantile business at Baldwinsville, N. Y. After two years he disposed of his business and resolved to investigate the great possibilities of the West, which at that time was heralded as the "mecca" for the ambitious youth of the East. He accordingly made the trip to Leavenworth, Kan., expecting an older brother to follow and form a partnership in any prospective venture that appeared to be safe. While waiting for those plans to materialize, he decided to do some personal investigating of the possibilities of the surrounding country. He visited Kansas City, Quindaro, Weston and Liberty in Missouri and was not long in discovering that his every movement was being watched with suspicion by the pro-slavery men. He then returned to Leavenworth and resolved on a trip into Kansas. After visiting several points, among them being Grasshopper Falls and Cedar, he finally decided to locate at Rock Creek, Jefferson county, twenty miles northeast of Topeka, where he purchased a quarter section of fine land and bargained for forty acres more adjoining, making in all 200 acres. A squatter had improved about twelve acres, but with that exception, the entire tract was virgin prairie and timber land, much of the latter being grown up with walnut and other hard woods of inestimable value to the pioneer. This was in the spring of 1857, and in the fall of that year Mr. Barnes attended the land sales at Ozawkie, the county seat, and there bought twelve lots, on which he built a small house. He then decided to return to New York State, where he persuaded Miss Sara Reed, a fair maiden of that state, to become his wife and share with him his far western home. In the spring of 1858 he brought his bride to Ozawkie and they began housekeeping in the little "shack" he had previously built. There they resided while improving the homestead at Rock Creek, and as soon as he had put up a substantial log house they moved into it. As time passed they persevered and prospered, and finally the log house was supplanted by a more pretentious frame structure, in which the doors, window casements and baseboards were made of native walnut lumber. This building was erected in 1868 and for some years was regarded as the best residence in that locality. Mr. Barnes devoted his time and attention to farming and stock raising, in each of which he was successful, and ere long he had added to his original purchase until he had acquired some 3,000 acres of choice grain and grazing lands in Jefferson and Shawnee counties, all of which is still in the possession of the family. While Mr. Barnes had adopted the great basic industry of agriculture as his life's vocation, still his success with it and its allied industries induced him in 1880 to become interested in the banking business at Valley Falls, Kan., to which place he removed and partially retired from active business. In 1892 he removed to Topeka, where he has invested largely in real estate and loans. Mr. Barnes has always been interested in the best literature of the day and is a voluminous reader of biography, history and political economy. His leisure time during life has been employed in building up an education of which the hardships of the early days deprived him in his youth. During the later years he has traveled extensively, and at different times has visited nearly all of the states in the Union, Mexico and the Dominion of Canada. In the United States he has toured the Yellowstone National Park and the Rocky mountain regions as well as the Great Lakes. In Canada he has visited British Columbia and the Canadian rockies, and is thoroughly familiar with the natural resources of that country, which are now attracting thousands of American settlers.

Politically, Mr. Barnes has been a lifelong Republican, casting his first vote for John C. Fremont for president. His sympathies were with the free-state party in Kansas, and during the Civil war, when Price proposed to "wipe Kansas off the map," he participated with the Kansas troops in driving the Confederates out of the state. Mr. Barnes filled various offices of honor and trust while residing in Jefferson county. He served as county commissioner three years during the Civil war, and later in the '70s he held the same office six years in succession. In 1874-5 he represented Jefferson county in the state legislature. Fraternally, Mr. Barnes is an Odd Fellow, having joined the order at the age of twenty-one. He has been a Master Mason since 1865, when he joined the Valley Falls Lodge, in which he holds his membership at the present time. He is also a member of Lincoln Post, No. 1, Grand Army of the Republic.

Jared Pierpont and Sara (Reed) Barnes became the parents of seven sons and daughters, of whom Emma died in infancy. The children that grew to maturity are Ida C., now deceased, Gertrude E., Fred Belding, Eugene Reed, Maude A. and Mabel A. Each child was afforded excellent school advantages and each received a college training. The two sons, Fred B. and Eugene R., having been reared to farm life and agricultural pursuits, have adopted the life of a ranchman and at present each owns and operates a fine ranch. Both are extensively engaged in farming and raising stock.

The eldest child, Dr. Ida C. Barnes, was born Jan. 23, 1861, and died at Topeka, Kan., July 21, 1911. She was one of the most prominent and successful medical practitioners in the city of Topeka, and was also well known beyond the limits of the state. She graduated from the University of Kansas in 1885 and then took up the study of medicine in the Woman's Medical College, Philadelphia, Pa., from which she graduated in 1890. After one year as a resident physician in her Alma Mater, a position she won by competitive examination, she came to Topeka and entered private practice. From the time she began the practice of medicine she kept abreast of the most advanced thought of the profession by taking post-graduate work in medicine and electro-therapeutics in New York, Philadelphia and Chicago. She was a member of the American Medical Association and was state secretary of the public health educational committee of that association. She was active and interested in other professional societies, including the Shawnee County, the Kansas State and the Missouri Valley medical societies, and the Surgeons' Club, of Rochester, Minn. She was examiner for several fraternal life insurance companies, and the Pennsylvania Mutual Life Insurance Company. Dr. Barnes was a leader in the church and social life of Topeka. She was an active member of the First Baptist Church and for thirteen years served as chairman of the state executive committee of the Young Women's Christian Association of Kansas. For ten years she had conducted a normal training class for teachers of the Sunday school, and she was also instrumental in securing for the new edifice of the First Baptist Church the magnificent boulders of which it is built. She was a member of the Collegiate Alumnae; of the Good Government Club; president of the College Equal Suffrage Association; member of the Kansas branch of the Archaeological Association of America, and evinced her interest in the general welfare of Topeka by her membership in the Commercial Club. Death had previously entered the family circle when, after thirty years of faithful companionship, the beloved wife and mother was called to the life beyond on March 29, 1888. The city home of the Barnes family is at the corner of Thirteenth and Clay streets, where, after a long and active career, Mr. Barnes has retired to secure a well earned rest from business cares. He is a man of fine character, of wealth and influence, and possesses a literary culture far above the average.