North Star Township Biography
SAMUEL BARNES
Source: BIOGRAPHICAL MEMOIRS OF GRATIOT COUNTY, MICHIGAN published by J. B. BEERS & CO., Chicago, 1906
SAMUEL BARNES, one of the leading farmers of North Star township, Gratiot county, owns a fine farm of 160 acres in Section 20, which he has improved with attractive buildings of modern architecture and substantial character. Mr. Barnes was born May 19, 1854, near Jackson, Jackson county, Michigan, son of William and Susanna (Bates) Barnes, natives of England, who came to the United States, settling in Pennsylvania, where they lived for two years before coming to Gratiot county. William Barnes died at the age of forty-five years, while his wife was one year younger at the time of her demise. They were the parents of eleven children, of whom our subject was the next to the youngest.
Samuel Barnes was reared in North Star township. He grew up on a farm and has been an agriculturist all his life. His parents having both died when he was twelve years of age, Mr. Barnes started out in life for himself working by the month and year at farm labor until his twenty-second year. At the end of that time he married and settled on forty acres of land, which had been left him by his father, on Section 19, North Star township. After four years Mr. Barnes sold this farm, and purchased eighty acres in Section 20, which his perseverance, taste and industry have converted into one of the most attractive and valuable homes in the township.
Mr. Barnes was married May 5, 1877, to Miss Sophronie Barnes, born in England, daughter of John and Susan (Watson) Barnes, and one child has been born to this union, Hazel. Of Mr. Barnes' 160 acres about 130 are under a fine state of cultivation. He is one of the responsible men of his locality, one whom his fellow citizens admire and trust. He has filled a number of the township offices with much credit.
Mr. Barnes is well known throughout North Star township and justly bears a reputation which a life of integrity and public usefulness has given him. The appreciation shown him by his fellow citizens is grateful to him, as it is to anyone who has done his full duty. He is one of North Star township's representative men.
Created on ... October 09, 2001