Iowa
Old Press
FREMONT COUNTY HERALD
Sidney, Fremont Co., Iowa
May 13, 1910
COUNTY'S FIRST WHITE BRIDE DEAD
The news of the death of Mrs.Jane Barrett which occurred at her
home near Surprise, Nebraska, April 22, will be of more than
usual interest to our readers. inasmuch as the demise of this
well-known woman removes from earth one of the very earliest
settlers of Fremont county. In just what year she became a
resident of this section is not apparent, but her marriage on
October 17, 1841, to William Barrett--said to have been the first
union of whites in the county--proves her truly a pioneer of this
section and entitles the name of Jane Jones Barrett to a place in
Fremont county history.
Imagination may stretch backward and form some remote idea of
what this country was at the time of her marriage, when we pause
to think that at that time the southern section of the county,
including Hamburg, where the ceremony was performed, was apart of
Atchison county, Missouri. It was five years prior to the time
the Indians crossed the turbulent Missouri and took up their
abode in Kansas. It antedates the issuance of the first marriage
license in the county by eight years. It was five years before
Iowa was admitted to statehood; Fremont county had not been
organized, Hamburg existed in imagination only, if indeed it
existed at all, and the present county seat was unheard of.
Primitive indeed must have been the conditions at that time; but
deceased with the fortitude of the true pioneer, which made
possible the present greatness of Iowa, remained loyal to the
country of her adoption, endured the privations and braved the
dangers for nearly 35 years, when, with her husband and family,
deceased removed to Nebraska to once more take up life on the
frontier.
Mrs. Barrett was born at Munsey, Indiana, July 12, 1824, and bore
the good old-fashioned name of Mary Jane Jones. Her union with
William Barrett resulted in the birth of 12 children, all but
five of whom preceded their mother to the better land. There are
living three sons, John, Sam and Elroy, and two daughters, Mrs.
James Messenger and Miss Sally Barrett, all residents of
Nebraska. She also leaves one sister, Mrs. Cynthia Acord of
Sidney. Mr. Barrett departed this life about 13 years ago.
[transcribed by W.F., December 2006]