JAMES BARNES

James Barnes was born in England and died in James City County, Virginia. Several generations of Barnes lived in Virginia. John Barnes in a will dated April 4, 1720 in Henrico County, Virginia, named his wife Sarah and five children as beneficiaries. James Barnes started a will in about 1747 but never completed it; mentions his wife, four sons, and two daughters.

Brackett Francis Barnes went to Missouri in about 1822 with his wife Susan Jeffries. The Barnes were slaveholders. His son James Henry Barnes was born in Virginia and became a prominent farmer in Franklin County, Missouri. During the Civil War, he was a Confederate sympathizer and was briefly jailed in St. Louis and eventually murdered in 1863, despite being elderly and nearly blind. Several men were tried for the murder years later, but none was convicted.

Several sons of James H. Barnes were Confederate soldiers including Frank Brackett Barnes (1835-aft 1913), James Henry Barnes, Jr. (1840-1902) a prisoner of war in 1863 and 1864, Albert W. Barnes (1847-1872), and Charles W. Barnes (1842-1863), some or all of them in Company B, 10th Missouri Infantry.

I have copies of handwritten letters from Helen Price Barnes Johnson describing the murder of her father; from James H. Barnes, Jr. as a prisoner of war to his sister, and from Frank B. Barnes in 1913.

Descent: James Barnes (abt 1610-aft 1670)

Francis Barnes (1640/53 - 1716)

John Barnes (abt 1673-1720) m. Sarah Raibone (abt 1678 - 1729/30)

James Barnes (abt 1707-bef 1751) m. Mary Wilkinson (abt 1714-1791/93)

Francis Barnes (abt 1740-abt 1820) m. Anne Brackett

Brackett Francis Barnes (1765-1838) m. Susan Jeffries

James H. Barnes (1809-1863) m. Elizabeth Mary Williamson (1813-1859)

Ann Elizabeth Barnes (1852-1938) m. Matthew John Young (1854-1908)

Caroline Camila Young (1882-1971) m. Irvine Hite Skinker (1877-1961)

References (materials provided by Ken Barnes of Virginia, Darlene Lewis of Missouri and Sue Cooley of the world)

Cooley, Sue. 1993. Gleanings from the Past: The Killing of James H. Barnes. St. Clair Missourian.
Gregory, Ralph. Early Settlers of Franklin County. James H. Barnes. Washington Missourian.