Barr, Charles W.

BARR, BORDEN, EVANS, ROSS BRADFIELD, KESHLEAR, YOUNG, WILLIS, MCGREW

Posted By: Mary H. Cochrane, Volunteer
Date: 6/28/2019 at 08:20:06

CHARLES W. BARR born 1843

CHARLES W. BARR, resides on section 17, Morgan Township where he has lived since April 2, 1868. He purchased 135 acres of land, where a small frame house had been partially built, and about fifty acres were under cultivation. He has increased his land to 240 acres, and 160 is in a good state of cultivation. The remainder is timber land. He has thirty acres of white oak, fifteen of which is of large size. He also has considerable black walnut and other varieties. He built his present fine residence in 1884. Mr. BARR was born in Knox County, Ohio in November 1843, and when quite young, removed with his parents to Coshocton County. He was reared on his father’s farm, and October 1, 1861, enlisted in Company I, Fifty-first, Ohio Infantry, and remained in the service three years, being in the army of the Cumberland. His regiment served in Kentucky as a part of the Seventeenth Army Corps until the spring of 1862. During the remainder of his service his regiment operated in Tennessee, Alabama, and Georgia. He was discharged at Villanow, Georgia October 17, 1864. He returned home at the close of the war, and September 5, 1867, he married SARAH BORDEN, daughter of BRADFORD and CHARLOTTE (EVANS) BORDEN, both of whom are deceased. They had six children – one son and five daughters. Mrs. BARR and Mrs. LUCY ROSS are the only surviving members of the family. Mr. BARR’s father came from Ohio to Decatur County in 1876, and is still a resident of the county. Mr. and Mrs. BARR have two children – LUCY A. and PERRY. Three children died in infancy. Mr. BARR is serving his second term as county commissioner, and in politics is a Republican.

History of Decatur County Iowa and Its People
Illustrated, Volumne II.
Prof. J. M. Howell and Heman C. Smith, Supervising Editors
The S.J. Clarke Publishing Company. pp. 404-06. Chicago. 1915

CHARLES W. BARR

C. W. BARR, who is a substantial citizen of Morgan township, owns the Lick Branch Valley Farm and for years has been closely identitled with the agricultural development of his locality. His birth occurred in Knox county, Ohio, on the 2d of November, 1843, and he is a son of Robert and Harriet (Bradfield) Barr. They located in Ohio in an early day and there the father carried on agricultural pursuits for many years. The mother died in that state in 1855 and the father subsequently remarried. Eventually he emigrated westward, locating in Decatur county, Iowa, where our subject had preceded him several years. The father purchased land in Morgan township, to the operation of which he gave his time and energies until called by death in 1890.

C. W. Barr was reared in Ohio and there acquired his education. When seventeen years of age he joined the Union army, enlisting on the 4th of October, 1861, in Company I, Fifty-first Ohio Volunteer Infantry, with which he served for three years. His regiment, which was assigned to the Army of the Cumberland, participated in the Kentucky campaign as a part of the Seventeenth Army Corps until the spring of 1862. From that time on it operated in Tennessee, Alabama and Georgia. Mr. Barr was honorably discharged at Villanow, Georgia, October 17, 1864. He returned home and remained in Ohio until 1869, when he came to Decatur county and for two years worked in the employ of John Clark in a woolen factory. He then purchased one hundred and thirty-five acres of land on section IT, Morgan township, which he improved and cultivated, and later he bought additional land until he now owns three hundred and sixty-four acres on sections 17 and 20. He has made his farm one of the best developed places in his township and through its operation has gained financial independence. He still takes an interest in its management although his son. Perry R., is now operating it. They raise thoroughbred Hereford cattle and have gained an enviable reputation as stockbreeders. Mr. Barr has always been practical and progressive in his agricultural work and the success which he has gained is well desei^ved. He is vice president of the Farmers & Merchants Bank of Lineville and is recognized as a man of sound business judgment.

On the 5th of September, 1867, Mr. Barr was married to Miss Sarah Borden, a daughter of Bradford and Charlotte (Evans) Borden, who were pioneers of Ohio and both of whom are deceased. Mrs. Barr has also passed away, her demise occurring in August, 1889, when she was forty-six years old. She was the mother of five children. Lucy A. married G. B. Keshlear and they became the parents of two children: Barr, a young man twenty-one years of age, residing in Sioux Falls, South Dakota; and Joseph A., seventeen years old, who is attending school at Leon, Iowa. Mr. Keshlear passed away in November, 1900, and his widow subsequently married L. B. Young, a farmer of Morgan township, by whom she has a son, Lawrence Bradford, who is six years old. Perry R. was married on the 8th of May, 1902, to Miss Blanch Willis, a daughter of James M. and Malinda (McGrew) Willis, who were born respectively in Tennessee and Missouri. In 1883 they became residents of Decatur county and although the father had farmed in Ohio he engaged in the mercantile business in Pleasanton after coming to this county. He is still conducting a store there and since McKinley's first term has served as postmaster of that town. His wife died in March, 1893. To Mr. and Mrs. Perry R. Barr three children have been born, namely: Charles Willis; Artemisia, who died February 4, 1904, when a year old; and Suzie Brayton, eight years of age.

Mr. Barr is a republican and for eleven years served as county commissioner and he has also been assessor of his township. His religious belief is that of the Christian Union church, in the work of which he takes much interest. Through his membership in the Grand Army of the Republic he keeps up his association with others who fought in defense of the Union and he is very loyal to that organization. He has now reached the age of seventy-one years and is living largely retired, having earned a period of leisure through many years of well directed labor. All who know him respect and esteem him highly. His son, Perry R. Barr, is now operating the homestead and is proving an enterprising, capable and up-to-date agriculturist. He also gives his political allegiance to the republican party and for four years has served acceptably as trustee of Morgan township. Fraternally he is identified with the Masonic order at Pleasanton and has many friends both within and without that organization.

Transcription by Sharon R. Becker, January of 2014