Sedgwick County KSGenWeb

Portrait And Biographical Album of Sedgwick County, Kan.

Chapman Brothers 1888

Pages 189 - 190

LEMUEL BARNES.  Among the leading and influential farmers and stock-raisers of Sherman Township who thoroughly understand their business, and pursue the avocation of their chosen calling in a methodical and workmanlike manner, is the subject of this biography.  He resides on section 22, his farm embracing the northeast quarter, and contains 160 acres of land.

     Mr. Barnes is a native of Broome County, N. Y., born Aug. 16, 1843, and is the younger of two children, the sole family of his parents, Simeon P. and Elizabeth (Horton) Barnes, natives of the Empire State.  His paternal grandparents, Lemuel and Polly (Barnes) Barnes, were natives of Stockbridge, Conn., but which is now the State of Massachusetts, and Grandfather Barnes had three brothers in the Continental Army during the Revolutionary War.  The father of our subject was a mason by trade, and removed to Bradford County, Pa., about 1848, where he made his home until his death, which occurred June 8, 1881.  The mother of our subject died in the State of New York many years previously.

     The subject of whom we write drew his education from the district schools of the commonwealth of Pennsylvania, and in early manhood took up and learned the plasterer's trade, which vocation he followed until the breaking out of the war.  In May, 1861, spurred on by a spirit of patriotism that reigned in so many of the bosoms of the youth of our land, our subject enlisted in the Troy (Bradford County) Guards, mustered into the service of the General Government at Harrisburg, Pa., as Company C, 12th Pennsylvania Reserves, an infantry regiment that reflected much credit upon the noble State of their birth.  He was a participant in the battle of Drainsville, White Oak Swamp, and all the sanguinary conflicts that took place during the flank movement under McClellan, through the Chickahominy Swamps to Harrison's Landing, in the spring of 1862.  Our subject received a slight buckshot wound, and while wandering around in the night, marched into the midst of a rebel camp and was taken prisoner.  He  proceeded with his captors about two miles, when, favored by the darkness, he  slipped into the thicket, and thus escaped and rejoined the Federal ranks.  He was also actively engaged in what is known as the second battle of Bull Run, shortly after which he was taken sick, and sent to Eckington Hospital at  Washington and about six weeks later was transferred to the convalescent camp near Alexandria, Va., where he received his honorable discharge, on account of disability, Feb. 4, 1863.  His brother James A., who was a member of the same company as our subject, was not so fortunate, being killed at the battle of Antietam.

     After his discharge our subject returned to his home in Pennsylvania, and resuming his trade remained there about a year, when he removed to Rolla, Mo., and there entered into employment with Quartermaster Grimes, with whom he remained until the fall of 1865.  From his services in the field Mr. Barnes has always suffered much from lung trouble, rheumatism, and the other ailments so common to the "boys in blue."  While a resident of Rolla, Mr. Barnes was united in marriage, Aug. 31, 1865, with Miss Elizabeth Reed, a native of Wayne County, Ind., born Oct. 31, 1846, and daughter of George and Nancy Ann (Pierce) Reed.  Her parents were natives of Pennsylvania and Ohio respectively, and had a family of eleven children of whom Mrs. Barnes is the second in point of birth.  After his marriage, the gentleman of whom we write settled at Leavenworth, Kan., where he was employed as a foreman on the Missouri Pacific Railroad for a number of years.  In the spring of 1874 he came to Sedgwick County, and took up 160 acres of land on section 22, in Sherman Township, under the homestead act, and commenced the improvement of it.  He has the place brought under an excellent state of cultivation, has erected handsome and substantial buildings, and has the farm well stocked.  His place is situated very beautifully, and only about a mile from the village of Andale.

     Mr. Barnes is, politically, entirely independent of party lines, being a believer in the principle that the best man for the place is the true and proper one, especially in local matters.  He has held several offices in the township, the principal of which was Justice of the Peace.  He has always taken a prominent part in educational matters, and has assisted in the organization of several of the school districts of the township, and has served as School  Director.

     To Mr. and Mrs. Barnes there have have born a family of ten children, as follows:  Fidelia, Alice, Albert F., Ida, Cora Ann, Eva May, George Perry, Ross and Stella, and one unnamed who died in infancy.  The children are all at home with their parents, and in attendance at the district school.

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