BARNETT FAMILY

From the 1887 History of Vernon County, Missouri, p. 787. Chapter XXVIII. Moundville Township.

   A very sad case of accidental loss of life in early days was long remembered by the people.  An old man named James H. Barnett, who was one of the first settlers in Moundville township, was frozen to death on the 29th of March, 1844.  Mr. Barnett, Judge Wm. Hudson and Reid Hudson had been down on Spring river and were returning home.  A heavy snow storm came up and blew in their faces and it grew very cold.  The party became chilled and bewildered and wandered aimlessly about over the trackless prairie waste, until at last, near the Round Mound, in the edge of Barton county, old man Barnett lay down and froze to death.

Additional details written by Theresa Caton Barnett in 1933 tell that her husband's Grandfather, James H. Barnett, and two other men had gone south about 50 miles with 2 yoke of oxen in a covered ox wagon to get their cornmeal ground for their summer food.  As they were returning home, it began to rain and then turned to snow.  They got wet and their clothes froze.  When they were within a short distance of home, they turned the oxen loose (the oxen could no longer pull the wagon through the mud), and the men started to walk but soon found that Grandfather Barnett could not go any further.  He persuaded them to leave him and the two of them go on to the settlement.  They didn't go very far until the young man dropped and could go no further.  He told Grandfather Hudson to try to get to a nearby house and send out help to find them.  The men found young Hudson and he survived, however they could not find Grandfather Barnett until the next day.

Robert Barnett was a son of James H. Barnett.  Robert's wife was Eliza Hudson, daughter of William P. and Sarah Elizabeth (Bingham) Hudson.  In the 1850 Bates (Vernon) County, Missouri Census, Dist 6, Dwelling 118, the Robert Barnett family was enumerated as follows:

BARNETT, Robert, 30 yr old male, wheelright, $150 real estate value, born AL.

....Eliza, 21 yr old female, born TN.

....Sarah, 7 yr old female, born MO.

....James, 4 yr old male, born MO.

....William, 3 yr old male, born MO.

Families living nearby included George Taylor, William Hudson, C. P. Hudson, and John Branson.

Another tragic accident befell the Barnett family when both Robert and Eliza Barnett were killed in a buggy accident, leaving their three small children orphans.  The children were taken by different family members to raise.  William P. Barnett was taken to live with Andrew Jackson and Nancy (Hudson) Hall of Pottawattamie County, IA.

The burial place of Robert and Eliza Barnett was unknown until a recent cemetery survey found a stone in McMullin Cemetery, Vernon County, Missouri, which reads: 

     R. Barnett

     Died Feb 16, 1851

     Aged 30y 3m 7d

It is presumed that Eliza Barnett is also buried in McMullin Cemetery, although a stone has not been found.

Photo by County Coordinator

 Frances Marion Barnett was another son of James H. and Elizabeth Harrison Barnett.  He was first married to Elizabeth C. Perrine on January 1, 1860, daughter of Samuel and Edith Perrine.  Following her death, he married her sister, Susan D. Perrine, before 1870.  She also died after which he married Jane Copeland on November 12, 1874.  Following Jane's death (also in childbirth), he married Mary Ellen Lunback on August 10, 1879.  Francis Marion Barnett died about February 1892 in Barton County, MO. 

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