BARNES, George F. (1846-1916)

BARNES

Posted By: Karon Velau (email)
Date: 6/1/2021 at 01:14:59

George Frank Barnes
(November 5, 1846 – April 28, 1916)

G. F. Barnes, contractor and builder of Ida Grove, is ranked with the early settlers of Ida County, he having located here in the spring of 1872. He was born in Sheldon, Franklin County, Vermont, November 5, 1846, the son of Edmond and Laurinda (Alford) Barnes, natives of Maine and Vermont, and now residents of Ida Grove. From his tenth year of life, he was reared in Delaware County, Iowa, to which place the family had moved at that time and settled on a farm. The father, who was a carpenter by trade, and with him G. F. first worked at that business. From the time he was twenty-one, his chief occupation was carpenter, contractor and builder. October 8, 1862 he enlisted in Company B, Fourth Iowa Cavalry, and after serving faithfully was mustered out at Atlanta, Georgia, on August 11, 1865. He was taken prisoner at or near LaGrange, Tennessee, and was held for some time at Macon, Georgia. While being transferred from there to Andersonville, he and a number of others made their escape from a car by cutting a hole through the floor and dropping through it when the train stopped for wood and water. He was away from his company about three months. He participated in numerous skirmishes and battles, prominent among which we mention those of Vicksburg, Jackson, Nashville, Selma and Guntown. The war over, he returned to his old home town, after a year’s sickness he took up his present occupation. In 1870 he moved to Knoxville, Marion County, and two years later came to Ida Grove where he made his home. He has been identified with building interests of Ida Grove from the time the town started and has erected perhaps as many buildings as any man in the county. He has served as Deputy Sheriff six years, City Assessor ten years, Township Clerk, chosen by the Democratic Convention in August, 1892. He has been a prominent worker of the Democratic Party. A member of the A. F. & A. M., Kane Lodge, No. 377, and with the G. A.R., Matthew Gray Post. He married in 1870 to Melvina Clark, native of New York. They have three children: Rosa L., an accompanied young lady in the employ of the Chicago, Milwaukee & St. Paul Railroad at Sioux City; Gertrude L., age fourteen; and Raymond, age twelve. They are members of the Episcopal Church.
Source: Biographical History of Crawford, Ida, and Sac Counties, Iowa, 1893, p.652