William Barber was born in Farmersburg Township, Clayton County, Ia., on Aug. 31, 1843. His father died of cholera in St. Paul, Minn., some thirty years ago. There were three brothers, of whom the subject of this sketch was the oldest. He enlisted Aug. 21, 1862, in Company G, Twenty-first Iowa Infantry, and served two years, and was discharged at New Orleans, July 28, 1864. He participated in the battles of Port Gibson, Champion Hills and Black River. He was wounded in the right groin at the battle of Vicksburg on May 22, 1863, for which he receives a pension. He was in the Thirteenth Army Corps under General Ord. His marriage occurred on Apr. 4, 1867, to Izora Hutchins, who was born in New York in 1851. They have three children - Dow, born Dec. 25, 1870; Peter T., June 23, 1872 and Willie, Apr. 11, 1882. Mr. Barber owns a finely cultivated farm of ninety-five acres on section 1, Marion Township. He is a member of the Methodist Episcopal church, and in politics is a Republican. source: History of Clayton
County, Iowa, 1882, p. 929 |