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BARNES William, Sr.

Male 1755 - 1841  (85 years)


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  • Name BARNES William  [1, 2
    Suffix Sr. 
    Birth 22 Oct 1755  New Jersey Find all individuals with events at this location  [2
    Gender Male 
    Alt. Birth 22 Oct 1755  [2
    Amwell, Hunterdon, New Jersey 
    Occupation Farmer/Land owner  [2
    Religion Episcopal  [2
    Death 19 Sep 1841  Delaware, Warren Co. New Jersey Find all individuals with events at this location  [2
    Burial St. James Episcopal Churchyad, Delaware N.J. Find all individuals with events at this location  [2
    Notes 
    • Family bible. Printed and sold by Collins and Co. N.Y. 1814 in the possess
      ion of Bernard Smith Stroudsburg PA.

      rec. Brenda Miller
      Mentioned in early Warren Co NJ Will
      Identified in will of grandfather Thomas KitchenResearch compiled by Joan ne Sholes

      Warren Co. N.J. Abstracts of Divisions and Petitions filed at the Courthou se Belvidere, N.J. from 1825 - 1846. Abstracted by H. Alleman & P. Weibez hl 1978. Petitioner: Amos Barnes, location on the road from Centervil le to Columbia in right of himself as son and heir-at-law. States th at he has purchased the shares of William, Charlotte, Jacob & George. Hei rs at law and relationship to deceased. Recorded 05 Jun 1842 St. Jam es Episcopal Ch Funeral Records. Was in Warren Co. Knowleton in 1830 Cens us Pg. 381 Father possibly named John. Family bible. Printed and so ld by Collins and Co. N.Y. 1814 in the possession of Bernard Smith Strouds burg PA.

      Possibly brother of one John Barnes.
      According to Snell's book on Warren Co, brothers William and James Barn es had a farm in Knowlton Township. John Barnes was member of the Episcop al Church in Knowlton Township. A Reverend Albert Barnes from Philadelph ia preached a sermon when a church was dedicated there in 1850.

      (rec. Brenda Miller)
      Mentioned in early Warren Co NJ Will
      Records of Brenda Miller
      left land in Amwell

      THE BARNES FAMILIES OF GRIMSBY
      by Eileen Bickford Hodgson, U.E.
      Over twenty years ago as I researched my maternal ancestors of OLMST ED and DAVIS, I watched, also, for references to my grandmother's BARNES f amily which I believed had settled in the area around Hamilton in the er ly nineteenth century. Aside from snippets of information, the most I cou ld find ws in Vol. 3 of ANNALS OFTHE FORTY, published by Grimsby Historic al Society from 1950 to 1959. Grimsby was situated on 40 Mile Creek, so-c alled because it was estimated to be 40 miles from wherethe Niagara Riv er empties into Lake Ontario. Of the 10 volumes that comprise the ANNAL S, 3 to 9 contain data in alphabetical order on 280+ "Loyalist and Pione er Families of West Lincoln, 17;83-1833". The articles vary in length acc ording to the person who provided information on the family. Some, su ch as the NELLES, PILKINGTON, or SMITH families, take up several pages.
      Material on the BARNES name covered only about a page, but I recogniz ed a few names and knew that this family must be connected to my own lin e. The information was very garbled and the author must have guessed at t he composition ofthe family. It did not give any indication of where t he family had originated, nor did it lead to further reserch. It was some time before I was able to proceed and then it was only because I found pap ers saved by my grandmother, Louisa Jane (BARNES) OLMSTED, wife of Moss In gersoll OLMSTED, Saltfleet.
      No exhaustive research has been done on the BARNES family of Grims by and the following data is given to help those in the same quandary th at I was in. I hope it will lead to the discovery of further informati on on the line of John BARNES as well as on any other BARNES brothers w ho came to Canada. My own line descends from Thomas, who came to Cana da c. 1823 and settled on 100 acres of Clergy Reserve Land in Conc. I II S, east of Oakville in Trafalgar Township, Peel County. It is fairly w ell documented, but there is always more to discover.
      There were two distinct BARNES families in or near Grimsby. Accordi ng to church registers and the census, the second family came from Englan d. Thjis explains the confused list of children in the ANNALS which inclu des some who did notbelong to John BARNES and his wife Ruth.
      Just as many ofthe earlier United Empire Loyalist settlers came to t he Forty from New Jersey, so did John and Ruth and at least one oftheirchi ldren. The had lived in the extreme northwest of N J on land that chang ed its name frequently until in 1824 part of Sussex County was separated f rom it and given the name of Warren County. A goodbook on the histo ry of New Jersey where the Barnes lived is Vol. II of the 1981 centenni al reprint ed. of HISTORY OF SUSSEX AND WARREN COUNTIES, NEW JERSEY, com piled by J P Snell. In it there is mention of Robert Allison, "an arde nt Episcopalian" who came from England before the Revolution and settl ed in the township of Knowlton. Church services were held in his home unt il land and money were donated, probably largely by Allison, toward the bu ilding of a church which became known as St. James Episcopal Church, Warre n, Delaware. I think it is safe to say that in the N J International Gene alogical Index ofthe LDS, all Barnes listed as being baptised or marri ed in this church are related to John of Grimsby and to my ancestor, Thom as BARNES.
      John came to the Upper Canada between the birth of Royal c. 1810 in t he U.S. (1815 Canada Census) and that oftheir daughter Sabra born c. 18 17 in Grimsby. Amanda, probably their first child, was baptised 06 Aug 18 09 in N.J. (IGI for NJ, USA) but there is no mention of her in Grimsby rec ords. John was a stone mason and the proximity of the Niagara escarpme nt with its quantity of stone that couldbe used in his work must have ma de the place attractive to him. He came to Canada at a time when the l og cabins of early settlers were deteriorating and they could afford new s tone houses for themselves, and John was the very man to build them. Als o, he laid the stones for the first St. Andrew's Church. We do not know w here he lived when he came to Canada, but in 1846 he bought the north ha lf of Lot 13, Conc. IV in Saltfleet Township (50 acres) for two hundred po unds. It is situated above Grimsby on the road laid out by Gov. Simcoe al ong the edge ofthe escarpment.
      Of the children named in the ANNALS the first one, Charles, who marri ed Ann BUCK
      on 22 June 1835, does not belong to John's family. It should be noted th at in the list of marriages on p. 47 of Vol. 10 of the ANNALS, Ann's surna me is give as INCH, not BUCL. William, born 1841, who was killed accident ly on March 1, 1912, by an explosion, was probably of the same famil y, as was Hannah, all perhaps belonging to the BARNES family from England.
      William and Matilda BARNES. whose children Ruth, b. 04 Oct 1838 , a nd Robert Allison, b. 25 Mar 1840, were baptised at St. Andrew's, we re my great grandparents, William Thomas BARNES and his second wife Matil da Jane, daugjter of Jonathan DAVIS and granddaughter of William DAVIS, U. E., of Harmony Hall, Mount Albion. William was a blacksmith and later a nd inventor who lived in Hamilton on John St. near where the Courthouse st ands to-day. Louisa Jane, their oldest child, was baptised at Christ Chur ch CAthedral. Ruth, their second child, was named for William's aunt, Ru th BARNES, and Robert Allison, their first son, was named by his fther f or the founder, of the St. James Church in NJ. In later years William BAR NES often travelled to his former home near the Delaware Water Gap to vis it his cousins, sons of John's brother, William BARNES, who remain ed in N J. In 1861 W. T. Barnes died on such a visit. His cousins wro te to Matilda that William thught he had "neuralgia" but the symptoms rese mbled those of a heart attack. (From his diary and family letters in t he possession of the author.)
      The other children listed in the ANNALS, Royal, Sabra, and the twin s, Ann and Mary, were all children of John and Ruth BARNES. Mary di ed 28 May 1820, but Ann grew up to marry William Smith of Saltfleet, 11 D ec 1838. It is doubtful whether Sydney (sic) Barnes was John's daughte r, more probably a relative. Her first husband was Joel YALE and the re is nothing about the YALE family in the ANNALS. However, in the N J I GI there is Sidney, baptised 13 January 1808, son of another John BARNES a nd his wife Katherine/Catharine, whose surnames may have been Vusler. Cou ld a mistake have been made in the sex when copying for the IGI? I have f ound mistakes in it before. Was this the baptism of Sydney (BARNES) YAL E? I believe that , since there is no baptism for her or her son in Grims by, she was a widow when she came to Grimsby with Oliver. On 11 Februa ry 1843 she became the first wife of Isaac LEWIS, son of John and Rachel ( Wilcox) LEWIS, and had three children: Marvin Gain b. 22 Feb 1843, Sar ah b. 29 Oct 1845, and son Sidney b. 20 March 1847, who was buried on 02 A pril 1850 when 3 years old. Evidently his mother had puerperal fever aft er his birth for she was buried on 03 April 1847. Both her sons were buri ed in the same plot as John and Ruth BARNES.
      From John's tombstone in St. Andrew's Cemetery we can figure th at he was born 17 December 1782, making him younger than hisbrother, Thom as Barnes, born 22 Oct 1777. (Data copied by W.T. Barnes, probably from F amily Bible). John's wife Ruth (surname unknown) was born 12 May 1792. T homas and John were said to be two in a family of seven boys. William, pe rhaps the eldest, remained in New Jersey, where he lived in the long and n arrow township of Pahaquarry beside the Delaware River just below the Wat er Gap. Though I hate to admit it, I am fairly sure that Elisha, who resi ded on Conc. IV, Zorra, and on 15 April 1827 chopped down a tree that fe ll on his house and killed his wife, was a 4th son, for Elisha was a popul ar name in the family. He had just moved to Zorra from Burford Township a nd was left with seven children. (Reid, W. D. Death notices of Ontario, 1 980). Two others may have been James BARNES of Norwich and Amos of Yarmou th, but the last one of the seven is unknown.
      After John died in 1866 aged 83, Ruth lived on the farm for twelve mo re years. The Saltfleet 1851 Agricultural Census gives us a good id ea of how prosperous John's farm was. Of 50 acres, 33 were under crop s, 10 under pasture and he had 1 acre of gardens. The other 6 acres we re woodland. He had 21 acres in wheat, Indian corn, peas and oats and h ad produced 15 tons in hay, 60 lbs. wool, 400 lbs butter and 8 bbls of por k. He had 2 bulls or oxen, 6 cows, 3 horses, 30 sheep. Until Ruth di ed in 1878 aged 86 years, her two unmarried children, Sabra and Royal, liv ed with her. Royal worked the farm for her, but when Ruth died she will ed it to Sabra, the younger of the two. From then on thebrother and sist er lived together with Royal as his sister's tenant. The Stoney Creek Po st office was there in 1885 and may have been there in other years. (Salt fleet Township Voters' List for 1885, Polling Sub-division No. 3) Transcr iptions of monumental Inscriptions in St. Andrew's Cemetery, an excelle nt book of this nature, give the information tht Sabra was buried the re 23 July 1890, but there is no Stone on her grave. The ANNALS sttes Roy al died in 1890, also, but no record of where he was buried has been foun d.
    Person ID I6898  Booth Family
    Last Modified 6 Sep 2015 

    Father BARNES William,   b. Bef 1724, Amwell, Hunterdon, New Jersey Find all individuals with events at this locationd. 7 Dec 1784, Amwell, Hunterdon, New Jersey Find all individuals with events at this location (Age ~ 60 years) 
    Mother KITCHEN Hannah,   b. 1719, Hunterdon, New Jersey Find all individuals with events at this locationd. Aft 1784 (Age 66 years) 
    Marriage Abt 7 Jan 1737  [2
    Family ID F2480  Group Sheet  |  Family Chart

    Family EDMONDS Anna,   b. 19 Mar 1755, New Jersey Find all individuals with events at this locationd. 28 Mar 1835, Knowleton , Warren County New Jersey Find all individuals with events at this location (Age 80 years) 
    Marriage 1780  New Jersey Find all individuals with events at this location  [2
    Children 
     1. BARNES Jacob,   b. 19 Jan 1771, New Jersey Find all individuals with events at this locationd. 22 Nov 1851, Pahaquarry, Warren Co, N.J. Find all individuals with events at this location (Age 80 years)
     2. BARNES Thomas,   b. 22 Oct 1777, Sussex, NJ Find all individuals with events at this locationd. 27 Nov 1841 (Age 64 years)
     3. BARNES William Barnes, Jr.,   b. 9 Feb 1779, New Jersey Find all individuals with events at this locationd. 22 Oct 1857 (Age 78 years)
     4. BARNES Charlotte,   b. 29 Apr 1781, New Jersey Find all individuals with events at this locationd. 2 Feb 1845, Knowleton , Warren County New Jersey Find all individuals with events at this location (Age 63 years)
     5. BARNES John,   b. 17 Dec 1782   d. 18 Jan 1866, Grimsby, Ontario, Canada Find all individuals with events at this location (Age 83 years)
     6. BARNES Margaret,   b. 10 Dec 1785, Warren County New Jersey Find all individuals with events at this locationd. 22 Apr 1842, Knowleton , Warren County New Jersey Find all individuals with events at this location (Age 56 years)
     7. BARNES James,   b. 1 Oct 1789, New Jersey Find all individuals with events at this locationd. 22 Oct 1874, Waterford, Oakland, Michigan, USA Find all individuals with events at this location (Age 85 years)
     8. BARNES George B.,   b. 20 Jun 1793, Warren County New Jersey Find all individuals with events at this locationd. 9 Jul 1860, Warren County New Jersey Find all individuals with events at this location (Age 67 years)
     9. BARNES Amos,   b. Mar 1796, Hunterdon Co. N.J. Find all individuals with events at this locationd. 25 Jun 1879, Pontiac, Oakland Co. Michigan Find all individuals with events at this location (Age ~ 83 years)
     10. BARNES Samuel,   b. 15 Jan 1799, Knowleton , Warren County New Jersey Find all individuals with events at this locationd. Hamilton, Monroe Co. PA Find all individuals with events at this location
    Family ID F2479  Group Sheet  |  Family Chart
    Last Modified 12 Oct 2008 

  • Event Map
    Link to Google MapsBirth - 22 Oct 1755 - New Jersey Link to Google Earth
    Link to Google MapsMarriage - 1780 - New Jersey Link to Google Earth
     = Link to Google Earth 

  • Sources 
    1. [S983] 1920 Census Rush, Susquehanna, PA.

    2. [S982] Joanne Sholes, CA [(E-ADDRESS FOR PRIVATE USE),], Joanne Sholes Records (Reliability: 3).