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Biographical History of Cherokee County, Iowa
W. S. Dunbar & Co., Chigago - 1889

[page 454]

    JAMES BARNES, a native of the State of Kentucky, was born April 6,
    1827, and is a son of JOHN and ABARILLA (SUTHERLAND) BARNES, also
    natives of Kentucky.  The ancestors of the BARNES family came
    originally from Scotland and settled in New England.  JAMES is the
    eldest of a family of five children, and the age of eight years was
    left an orphan in Indiana, whither his parents had removed when he
    was three years old.  He and his brother JOHN were bound out to a
    man by the name of McBRIDE, who came to Iowa the following year,
    1836, and located in Van Buren County, when there were only three
    other families within its borders.  The brothers were bound until
    they were sixteen years old, and when JAMES'S time had expired he
    continued his service for several months to assist his brother in
    earning his freedom.  In six months he went to Buchanan County,
    remaining there two years; thence he removed to Delaware County,
    Iowa, where he engaged in work by the month for a short time. He
    then took a claim of 160 acres of land, on which he built a home,
    being at that time only nineteen years of age.  He was married March
    25, 1846, to Miss MARGARET M. HUTSON, a daughter of ROBERT B. and
    NANCY (ELLIOT) HUTSON, natives of Virginia and Alabama respectively.
    Mrs. BARNES was born in Parke County, Indiana, May 8, 1828.  After
    their marriage they continued to reside on their new claim for two
    years, when Mr. BARNES sold it, and purchased an improved claim of
    160 acres in the southern part of the county; there he made his home
    until September, 1888, when he came to Marcus, Cherokee County.  He
    had increased his original purchase to 195 acres, which he had brought
    to a high state of cultivation; he had also made many excellent
    improvements, furnishing an example of what a man can accomplish
    with energy and perseverance.  He was compelled to make many hard
    struggles in the beginning of his business career, and the life of
    a pioneer is not easy at the best.  The nearest market place was
    fifty miles distant, and other conveniences were in proportion.
    Mr. and Mrs. BARNES reared a family of eight children, one, ROBERT
    HENRY, dying in infancy: FRANK S.; JOHN W. died in Colorado, Decem-
    ber 18, 1885, in his thirty-fifth year; EDWARD F.; ALICE F., wife
    of I. C. THOMPSON; JAMES O., BYRON A., FRED V. and WALTER C.  Mr.
    and Mrs. BARNES are worthy and consistent members of the Freewill
    Baptist Church, and have always striven to inculcate in the minds of
    their children the principles of Christianity.  Mr. BARNES has always
    been a stanch Republican, and is a strong advocate of Prohibition.

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