Barfoot, Benjamin T. 1830 - 1912

BARFOOT DOHERTY

Posted By: Joy Moore (email)
Date: 5/19/2024 at 21:00:43

Source: Decorah Republican Apr. 4, 1912 P2 C4

BENJAMIN T. BARFOOT.
Well Known Pioneer Passes to His Last Rest After Short Illness-His Wife Died Three Weeks Ago.
At 2:30 o’clock Tuesday afternoon, April 2, Benjamin T. Barfoot passed away at his home at the corner of River and Pearl streets, after an illness of four days from what appeared to be an attack of acute gastro-enteritis. About ten days ago he had a slight cold but was not affected enough to be kept in the house. Saturday and Sunday he experienced some pain but it was not until Monday morning that he became seriously ill and from then on to the end he failed rapidly. At the hour of his death his daughters, Misses Louise and Nettie, and his sons Enos and Scott were with him, but no word could be gotten to his sons Andrew in Kansas and Dr. A. F. Barfoot in Nebraska, and his son Cyrus of Madison township was unable to get here until after his death. During his long life Mr. Barfoot has been a man of robust health, but during the past few months the weight of years have told heavily upon him. In spite of this fact he has by sheer force of will kept up and about the daily tasks that he chose to assume and often when younger hands would have gladly relieved him of these responsibilities he has declined the proffered aid. But it was plain to those about him and his neighbors that he was failing and when his wife passed away three weeks before, old friends felt that they would not long be separated by death. And so it proved.
Mr. Barfoot was of Scotch parentage, a son of James Barfoot and Jane Purvis. He was born March 11, 1830, in Wayne county, Ohio. In his youth the family home was changed to Holmes county, where he grew to manhood. There he learned the carpenter and joiners’ trade and continued to follow it until 1868. He was married on April 20, 1850, to Jane Doherty. In 1853 they moved to Freeport, Ill., and in 1855 to Decorah. Here Mr. Barfoot engaged in his trade. He helped to build the old court house and the first Congregational church, as well as many of the residences and other buildings of those early days. In 1868 he moved to the farm in Madison township where for many years he was one of the most successful and thrifty tillers of the soil that section ever knew.
He was an active Republican in politics and was honored by election to many of the township offices. He was a candidate at one time for representative in the state legislature, but his uncompromising attitude against the liquor traffic resulted in his defeat .To those who were little acquainted with him he seemed at times to present a stern character, but his intimate acquaintances knew that this was only a veneer that covered a warmth of heart, a trueness of manhood, a sincerity in friendship, and a fidelity to all that he deemed right and just that could not be bent from the course his conscience dictated.
When in 1895 he returned to Decorah to reside he dropped back into the intimacies of earlier years and made new acquaintances who will miss his pleasant greeting and acts of neighborly kindness.
His death just at this time comes as an unusual bereavement to his sons and daughters for it is only three weeks ago to-day that they laid away the remains of their mother. Though he had achieved much more than the allotted span of life, he had been free from most of the infirmities of old age and in his heart the spirit of youth still clung. Time will bring solace to those who grieve to-day and they are comforted too by the sympathy that goes to them from many friends.
The funeral will be held Friday afternoon at the home, at two o’clock, Rev. M. Willett officiating.

Transcriber's Note: His gravestone in Phelps Cemetery shows his date of birth as March 8, 1830 which does not agree with the above.

Phelps Cemetery
 

Winneshiek Obituaries maintained by Jeff Getchell.
WebBBS 4.33 Genealogy Modification Package by WebJourneymen