LIFE STORY
of
JOHN GEORGE MORONI BARNES
by
Five Descendants
compiled by
G. Berenice (Bonnie) Barnes Jones
INTRODUCTION
Berenice (Bonnie) Barnes Jones
Early one morning in 1982 I was dreaming about a large dinner being prepared for hundreds of people in a huge building. As chairman of the banquet committee, I was supervising the decorations, table setting, and food preparation. While rushing about, suddenly I saw Grandpa Barnes in front of me, dressed in a white robe, standing slightly above the floor. He said to me, "Bonnie, what you are doing is good, but there is something that you should be doing that is more important." At that moment my husband Layne said, "Bonnie, it's getting late, we'd better be getting up." I awakened with a start, wondering just what Grandpa wanted me to do. I hoped that my dream would be continued later, but it wasn't. However, faith and prayers inspired me to know what Grandpa was telling me to do. He wanted me to write his biography, as neither he nor anyone else had done so.
Four of my Barnes uncles were alive at this time...Herb, Shirley, Keith, and Maurice (or Dutch as we called him). I contacted each of them, relating to them my dream, and we made appointments for interviews at my home or theirs to make tape recordings of their memories of their father and mother, also their childhood days and later years. Also, I made a tape recording of my sister, Mary Barnes Bechtol's experiences at the Kaysville home of Grandpa and Grandma Barnes.
At the present time (1986) Uncle Keith is the only one of these brothers still living. After editing the typed copies of these recordings, I have compiled them in this life story of their father.
Soon after these interviews I composed a biography of Grandma Miriam McFerson Barnes, which is filed in the D.U.P. Museum in Salt Lake City, Utah. Excerpts from this biography were presented by me in a Camp One D.U.P. meeting.
CHAPTER ONE
MAURICE (DUTCH) RUNNELS BARNES
1902-1983
The first recollection I have of my own father, John G. M. Barnes is of course when I was a very small child. I don't remember the toys that I had, but one of my two specialties was father's key ring. Every night when he came home, I'd run to get his key ring, and he'd let me have it. It was a large ring with 10 or 12 keys attached, and I'd rattle those and play with them by the hour. My next remembrance of toys was father's shoes. In those days the shoes that men wore came over their ankles, more like a small boot. I used to get his shoes (I can remember it now), and tie the laces into a thousand knots. Sometimes it would take mother and him 10 to 15 minutes in the morning to untie the knots that I had put in the shoes, as I'd tie them together back and forth. That kept me busy for several hours.
Later on father took me to school, the first day of school. I had a box, a shoe box. I was going to wipe the desks because they were dirty. Father always took an interest in our school work and saw that we got our lessons. I wasn't the top student. I guess it was because I played too much. Anyway, father always saw to it that I got my lessons. He wanted me to be good at arithmetic, in which I wasn't particularly brilliant. Herb, Keith, and Shirley were rather brilliant in arithmetic, and so was my brother George. They got that from father. I've seen father take three columns at a time and add them up and I think my Grandfather Barnes could take four or five at a time. Of course they did nothing in their youth but working figures and they were trained to do that kind of work. I had very little training along that line, but father always wanted me to be able to multiply and subtract. Father always added in combinations, like 6 and 9 are 15, 7 and 8 are 15, 6 and 7 are 13. That's the way he added and he was always accurate. An adding machine was a nuisance, unless he as turning over page after page.
When we got our first automobile, it was a Ford Model T, and in those days when you bought your automobile you had to have a number and ours was 301. Your number was painted on the car. Father didn't have any aptitude at all regarding driving, so the older children in the family did most of the driving, but I picked it up rather early in life. I think I was about 10 because I was driving father out to Syracuse when I reached the age of 12.
Father was very punctilious. He was always on time, and he just couldn't stand to have to wait for people. If he had an appointment for 12:00 he expected the people to be there, not at 12:00 but 5 minutes to 12:00. He just couldn't endure waiting. He inherited that trait from my grandfather, John R. Barnes. Father was always very kind. He was very exacting. He was very polite, and I've heard him tell when he used to manage the store, that no matter how busy a clerk is he will always have plenty of time to be polite.
Father was a very good speaker and he was called upon to speak very frequently in church, and also when political campaigns were held. Although he wasn't running for office, he was called upon frequently to say a few words of introduction or something about the speaker and also to talk on the issues which were in the campaign. (Note by Bonnie: I remember my father telling me that his father was the best extemporaneous speaker that many people, many important men, said they ever heard.)
Father always said "In order to have a good citizenry, always have good schools, good roads, and good hospitals." He said if you have those three you'll never have a revolution. Stop and analyze what good roads mean to people; to farmers to get their produce to market, to people who travel back and forth on business or on social activities. Good roads make it possible for them to do those things.. And good schools mean a good education so people will have enough sense to analyze problems before they make a decision. He always believed that everyone should pay a fair amount of tax.
Father was interested in political science and good government. When he was Democratic Chairman in Davis County, I know that on two or three instances he worked very hard to see that Republicans were elected because he felt that they were better candidates than the Democrats. I've heard of two or three Republicans, Joe Parrish, for instance, for whom father got more Democratic votes than Joe was able to get Republican votes for himself. Joe was very fond of father. And father was a very good friend of Gov. Charles Mabey, who was a Republican...Father worked very hard to see that Mr. Mabey was elected because father knew that he was a good man for the office. Father was asked two or three times to run for governor and mother always put her foot down on it. She didn't like social life and particularly didn't like political life. She knew that if father should be elected governor she'd have a lot to do that she just couldn't stand. So father suggested that his brother-in-law, Henry Blood, be nominated, and uncle Henry was elected.
Father didn't have very much education, and neither did mother. In those days they had old McGuffy Readers. When I was in Washington, D.C., through one of the bookstores there that advertised books for sale, I was able to get father and mother a set of the old McGuffy Readers, a speller and a geography. Father graduated from the fourth reader. That probably would be the 6th or 7th grade.
After that, he helped his father in the store for years, even during my lifetime. He became General Manager of the old Kaysville Co-op. They built the canning factory in Kaysville (it started in 1902, the year I was born) and a canning factory at Syracuse. Father left the store and devoted his time to the bank and to the management of the two canning factories.
Father was interested in good government, irrigation and reclamation. It was my father, John G.M. Barnes; my grandfather, John R. Barnes; and E.P. Ellison who were responsible for the building and construction of the East Canyon Reservoirs. They also organized the Davis and Weber Counties Canal, which brought the water from the mouth of Weber river into Davis County, to furnish water for all that area. In father's obituary in the Salt Lake Tribune the statement was made that he had accomplished more for the reclamation and irrigation work in Utah than anyone else.
Father was also interested in religion. Lewis Edgar Young, when I went to school and took classes under him at the University of Utah, would tell me that he enjoyed meeting father because he always brought up some religious subject that made Bro. Young feel good when he left father.
Father was mayor of Kaysville for many years. When he got tired of being mayor and told the Democrats he wouldn't accept any nomination, they nominated and elected him on two occasions anyway. He was elected as one of the first Davis County attorneys. Of course, father had never studied law but they used to have a lot of debating societies in those days, and father was a very good debater, so people elected him attorney.
I can remember that at night he would always read, for a short time, the old "New York World." That was comparable to "The New York Times" today. Father took the semi-weekly, or two editions every week. That newspaper is now out of existence.
I was about 10 when I received a drum for Christmas. Keith had a drum and was playing regularly. While attending the University of Utah I had a xylophone which I enjoyed playing. Father always claimed that he didn't have much of an ear for music. When people would sympathize with him, why he would say, "Don't sympathize with me because I've never heard a discord in my life."
He was very fond of cards. Grandfather Barnes wouldn't have a deck of cards in his home, but father as a boy always said that when he got married he was going to play cards and teach each of his children every card game he could. I think he achieved doing it, although I myself never learned to play pinochle. However, cribbage was his favorite game. Every night as soon as the evening meal was over, we'd all pitch in and help clear the table and wash the dishes, and then we'd sit down and play cards for about a half hour. All the members of the family would play something. Usually in those days when I was little they were simple games, but we all played. Our favorite game was called Sluff. Later on 500 was the leading game and also Cribbage. There were lots of other games that you never hear of today, such as Hearts, and then there was Smut, 7-Up and two or three others. If there wasn't anybody home to play cards with, then father would play solitaire. That was father's way of relaxing. He'd play for about a half an hour, then off he'd go to his meetings. When the family as a group played, well, they sometimes played for about a half hour, then we'd all do our school lessons or whatever else we had to do. Mother would never let us play on Sunday. She always said there was enough time during the week for cards. Mother wasn't much of a card player. She didn't particularly care for it but sometimes she'd join with us.
Father was called on a mission after George had been born. He went to the Central States, through Indiana, and that was a rough spot in those days. A mob took after him one night and shot at him, and father jumped behind a tree and the bullet missed him but hit the tree, so the next day father went back and got the bullet out of the tree. It was so rough that they decided to move the missionaries, and that's when father was sent to England. Mother was left alone and she always said that every night Uncle Will came to see if there was anything he could do for her. Now Sister Talmage, the wife of the late James E. Talmage, was teaching school in Kaysville in those days and boarded with my mother. And then Pres. Talmage (I call him president because I served under him during my mission to England), would come out on the weekend...Saturday or Sunday and do his courting with Sister Talmage. Sister Talmage, going over on the boat to England, used to tell a lot of stories, a lot of incidents that happened, mainly relating to her.
Father was a good church member. He believed in paying tithing and church donations. He was Senior President of the Seventies Quorum for many years. He and B.H. Roberts became very good friends. Another good friend was Ben E. Rich, president of the Eastern States Mission for many years and also president of the Southern States Mission. Father always said that Pres. Rich was another good, loyal Davis County Democrat. Father became a High Priest a few years before his death. He administered to his children when they were sick. He also blessed and named his children and his grandchildren in their homes.
After our honeymoon trip, Ellen and I went to Kaysville to attend Father's and Mother's Golden Wedding Anniversary in September. Father always wanted to have two parties. The first party was held on Sunday at the Hotel Utah and just those individuals who were alive and had attended the first wedding 50 years ago were invited. There were two or three husbands that were still alive, but they got so drunk at the first wedding that they weren't able to get there. They started to celebrate early in the afternoon, so father said, "No, you weren't there for the main wedding, you can't come." They felt all right about it, so I remember that I took them down to the Coffee Shop while the others were having their big dinner upstairs, and they got lunch down there. After things got organized, father excused me along with the other husbands. The top layer of the original wedding cake was displayed at the Golden Wedding Celebration. The big celebration was held at Davis High. My wife Ellen played several selections on the piano.
I remember Christmas time in our stockings we'd always have an orange, which was quite a delicacy in those days; and also a banana. I can remember the first banana I tasted. It took me a long time to learn to like bananas. I don't think we had popcorn balls, but we had nuts of various kinds, and also candy. The store used to give packages away to customers (nuts and candy in a sack all put together). We had Christmas trees, but I don't remember much about them. I can remember as a child, when I was very young, we had one tree in the room we called the Back Parlor. We had candles on it. We would light them, and I think they caught on fire. It didn't do any damage but we didn't have any more trees with candles. Electric lights in those days were unknown, and I do think we had small trees, artificial trees, but I don't remember any big trees because about that time someone conceived the idea of lighting that big evergreen tree that was outside. They put about 250 lights on that. People used to drive from all over to see it. I don't remember when they started that. I probably was in high school. That would be around 1918 or 1920. This custom was continued until the year that the tree blew over, in a windstorm.
We used to have two cows all the time till I entered high school, and Shirley was away at Annapolis and Keith was in the east. I remember that every spring when I was in grade school father would always buy a couple of little pigs when they were six weeks old, and he used to laugh and say that he'd buy the pigs and give them to me and then after the first two weeks he'd have to feed them, to keep them alive because the novelty had worn off as far as I was concerned, and then in the fall when we killed the pigs he had to buy them back from me, and I'd help eat he pig. We always raised a couple of little pigs like that every spring. Also, we had calves, but we didn't keep them around. I had a horse and there was just one cow. Mother got so she didn't make butter as we gave away more than we consumed.
I was in Washington D.C. when father died and so I don't know too much about that. He hadn't been feeling well, but he attended the dedication of the dam in Morgan on the 4th of July 1932. The weather was terribly hot, over 100 degrees...Father was Master of Ceremonies. He came home and got sick that night. Keith happened to be living home at the time. He didn't think too much of it. He just thought is was over-eating or over-exercise or hot weather. They started giving father hypodermics around 4:00 or 5:00 in the morning. He was in excruciating pain, so they called an ambulance and took him to the Dee Hospital in Ogden, and he died about 10:00 in the morning. They performed a postmortem and found that the trouble was that he had a telescope intestine, and that was what was causing the pain. Father died in 1932. Elder B. H. Roberts, of the First Council of Seventy in the Church of Jesus Christ of Latter-day Saints delivered an address at the funeral services held in the Kaysville Tabernacle on Sunday, July 31, 1932. Burial was in the Kaysville City Cemetery. (Bonnie's note: Grandpa was a wonderful man, long remembered by his family and friends.)
CHAPTER TWO
SHIRLEY McFERSON BARNES
1899-1985
John G. M. Barnes was the first son born to Emily Shelton Barnes and the late John R. Barnes. He was born March 5, 1860 in a little log house in Kaysville. He was the second child of this couple. During his early years he worked on a farm, and also a little country store my grandfather started shortly after he came to Utah. He attended schools in Kaysville and read McGuffy's Fifth Reader. He became one of the best educated men in the country. He was a better extemporaneous speaker than any other man I've ever heard. He became a clerk in a Co-op Store in Kaysville and gradually worked up to become the General Manager. He was also interested in organizing the Kaysville Canning Corporation about 1898 and in the Barnes Banking Company he was the Managing Director for many years. The band was organized in 1892. He maintained all of these positions until he died July 26, 1932. He fell in love with my mother, Miriam McFerson, during their early youth, and they were married the 9th of September 1880, in the old Endowment House, in Salt Lake City. Later they went to the Salt Lake Temple where the marriage was redone.
When my father was very young he had a horse step on his left ankle, which made him more or less a cripple the rest of his life. This ankle became about three times the normal size and very stiff. About 1925 he went to see Dr. Allen and Dr. Middleton and they told him that they could cut the ankle down to normal size but they still couldn't guarantee that it would be of any better use, so he didn't have the operation. In 1931, after he had the gallbladder operation, his left ankle became very agile and easy to move, as much as the right, so he had no more trouble with his left ankle after his operation.
When I was in the fifth grade I had typhoid fever in the fall of the year and I was just getting over that when I went back to school and a boy named Kenneth Simon, who was sitting in front of me, broke out with scarlet fever. The boy sitting in front of him named Bryan got scarlet fever and died. I got it and I was sick in bed for a month or six weeks, and mother and father handled me with kid gloves the rest of the time I was in grade school. I couldn't play baseball. I couldn't swim. I couldn't do this or do that, how restricted I was. As a result I got better acquainted with mother and father than any of the rest of the family, more attached to them.
My father was a very great man, a good pal. When I had typhoid fever he used to get the Salt Lake paper in the morning and read me the results of the World Series Baseball Games during the fall of 1909. As a result I became very much interested in baseball and I have been ever since. When I had scarlet fever, he and Herb stayed out of quarantine to run their business, so I didn't talk to him very much then.
My grandfather, John R. Barnes, would never allow a deck of cards in his home, and when father was growing up he always said that when he had a home of his own he was going to teach his children every card game he could find, and this he did. Father always played cards. In teaching us how to play cards, he said, "Don't worry about winning." I always play for the fun of it. If you play cards properly, it will teach you how to add, how to subtract and how to remember. It will improve one's memory greatly. He told us not to gamble in playing cards because even though you're playing amongst yourselves the odds are greatly against you, with the results that all his children enjoyed card playing, and used to play cards a great deal. As far as I know none of us ever gambled.
When Dutch and I were very young we used to sleep together and in the winter we'd put our feet against each other's legs to get them warm, and Dutch yelled out to mother and father, "Make Shirley keep his feet to himself, and let me touch him if I want to."
In the fall of 1916 a well-known senator, Wm. H. King, came out to Kaysville and asked my father who he could get to pass out handbills around Davis County announcing rallies for him to speak. Before my father had a chance to say anything I told him I would, if father would furnish the car and gasoline. It wouldn't cost him anything, if he wasn't elected, but if he was elected it was going to cost him something. Senator King looked at me and said, "Well, my boy, what is it?" "If you're elected to the Senate, it's going to cost you an appointment to the Naval Academy." So the appointment came through during the spring of 1919. I went to the Naval Academy and graduated in 1920, 30th in the class of 415.
Father had gallstones and should have had an operation in 1905. Dr. Samuel Allen and Dr. Middleton advised him to be operated on but he put it off until 1931 when he had to have an operation to save his life, and as a result of the strain at his age, he only lived a little over a year.
CHAPTER THREE
DIMON KEITH BARNES
1894-
I can't remember much about my early life because I was two years old when they built the present house and I don't remember the house I was born in. When father first got married he worked in the store that grandfather owned.
And then he went on a mission, as far as I know. He was called to the midland states and was in Indiana for a certain length of time and by request was transferred to England. He finished his mission out over there. Mother was here alone all that time while he was away. Fortunately she had a schoolteacher, one of the Thornley sisters, who lived with her while Dad was away. The early history of Dad I haven't an idea about.
When I was a young boy Dad was working in the old store, which was up here where the bank used to be before they built the present one. That was the Kaysville Co-op. The bank was on the north side of it. I was about six years old when Dad started with the cannery, which had been built some time before that, and Dad assumed managership of it about 1900.
He was president of the bank, too, for a long time. John R. was president all during his lifetime, I believe, and he didn't die until I had just come back from France and was in the barracks in New Jersey and had received my discharge to come home for the funeral. So that was about 1919. Then Dad followed him as president and continued for the rest of his life.
He was always a good church member, but he wasn't dogmatic about it. He had too many good friends who were Catholics, Protestants, and other religions. He couldn't see it worth while in other dogmas besides what he was initiated in.
He was interested in politics all his life. He served as senator (state senator) for awhile, and mayor of Kaysville City at least 20 years, if not longer. To my knowledge Dad was not asked to run for governor. Henry Blood was chairman of the Roads Commission (State Roads Commission) for a good many years, and was dabbling in politics for quite a number of years while in the State Capitol. My dad was an unknown on the outside, so as far as Dad having any aspirations of governorship, I don't think he ever entertained them.
Dad was an unusual individual. He was very tolerant, but if one deserved punishment he wasn't adverse to rendering it. Many a time I had the buggy whip entertain me in the back shed of the barn, for things that I'm sure he realized were worth while. He never was vicious about it, but he let me know that he was boss and he meant we were to follow through on what he recommended.
Dad met my mother who went to work for dad's mother, taking care of kids, I guess, in the Barnes' house, which is on that corner, a block down (that is, west) of here. That's where my dad's mother raised her family and he had his second wife Betsy, Uncle George's mother, down there too. And that's where my mother worked, did housework and met my dad, and the courtship began, probably in the kitchen. She was a beautiful young girl, always short, frail, full of a lot of vigor and she enjoyed life.
When they were first married they lived on the corner where the present house is now. There was an adobe house owned by Bishop Layton. It had a frame lean-to. I've seen pictures of it, but I can't remember it. That's where I was born. When I was two years of age we moved down the street to what later became the Lakehart home while we build the present, mother's home for as long as she lived, which is now owned by Dr. Smith.
When it came to manual labor, Dad was lost. He couldn't fix anything. But there was nothing in the business world of which he couldn't apply himself with vigor and understanding. He served two or three years as president of the American Canning Association. And he had friends all over the United States.
There was one time that I was only a little youngster, Dad was stricken with acute rheumatic fever. I can still visualize him lying in bed and I suppose that he remained there all summer, but fortunately his recovery left him without any appreciable imprint on his heart, so that he was able to carry on from then.
He let us boys do what we wanted, such as playing drums and going to Medical School and that sort of thing. We had our choice. And he helped us. As far as helping me out, he signed a note with me, that took me through medical school, which later was a difficult problem but eventually financed completely. He was anxious for his children to be educated. Any of them that would go to school, he was glad to send. George and Emily both attended the university a short time. Herb graduated.
My father helped everyone who needed his assistance. He's the most friendly individual I've ever seen, an immortal personage, above rank and file.
CHAPTER FOUR
MARY BARNES BECHTOL
Grandma and Grandpa Barnes were both very interesting and unusual people. I came to know them especially well during my high school and college years when I lived in Kaysville during the summer and helped Grandma take care of the home.
Grandpa stands out in my memory as a most unusual, outstanding man. He was truly a leader. He was dynamic, intelligent, forceful, and afforded real leadership. Grandpa was mayor of Kaysville for over 40 years. I often wondered why the town wasn't named Barnesville rather than Kaysville, since they seemed to be the most important people there, in my mind.
Grandpa was very impressive. He was a large, heavy built man, large structure rather than fat, bald headed but he had toupees (probably the first man I ever knew that had an artificial hairdo). He would go to San Francisco to get them. He always had two that were in excellent condition. He would wear one for a week and that would be cleaned and he'd wear the other one. He would wear one whenever he was out in public but as soon as he come home he took it off. Everyone knew that he wore it. It didn't make any difference to him. He felt that he looked nice dressed up when he had hair, and so he would always wear it when he went out.
He also had a gold-headed cane. Now this came down through the Barnes family in England and the oldest descendant had this cane. I don't know how many generations back it went, but the cane was constantly moving from England to the United States, then back to England, depending on who died and who was the next to receive it. But grandpa had the greatest pride in this gold headed cane, and if he were dressed up you could be assured he'd be carrying this special cane with him. I wonder where it is right now.
Grandpa was an immaculate dresser. He had a nicely trimmed goatee, and probably was the only man I knew who routinely had his nails manicured. Every time he would come to Salt Lake for a beard trim he would have his nails done.
Grandpa was extremely social. He loved parties, he loved crowds, he loved to be with people, he loved to talk, he loved to be the leader. He frequently would go back to Washington. He was president of the American Canning Association and traveled extensively over the United States in that capacity. He loved to go on trains, and I often felt that if plane travel had been available when he was young he would have seen the world many, many times. This traveling was done without grandma. She preferred to stay home and always felt that she was needed and was comfortable there and that's where she wanted to be, but grandpa would take off on business trips.
When I was in college I used to think that if anybody could be happy in polygamy it would have been Grandpa Barnes. Now grandma was the ideal wife and mother, but some way he needed a second wife, one that could travel with him to all these meetings, back to Washington, in the limelight, be a hostess, and grandma was never happy in that role.
I remember when they wanted Grandpa to run for the legislature as a Representative or Senator to Washington, D.C. and grandma said, "No way. If you want to leave Utah, you can leave it, but I'm never going." So then. later, they asked him to run as Governor of Utah, and again grandma said, "I'm not going to be the wife of a governor. If you become a governor, you're the governor, but I'm not his wife and I'll have nothing to do with it." So at that point, they asked his brother-in-law, Henry Blood and he was elected and served. Grandpa afforded real leadership in Davis County. He was Chairman of the Weber Water Commission and afforded a leadership in the development of reservoirs for utilizing the streams and Ogden Canyons so they could be used extensively in Davis County.
When I would be up there during the summer we'd have our noon meal and I'd be busy doing all the dishes, and getting the food put away and clearing up. During this time Grandpa would have a nap and then as soon as I finished he would wake up and we'd have a game of cribbage. His eyes would just twinkle during the whole game. He was an excellent card player and loved cards. It was a real joy to spend a few hours each afternoon playing with him. During this time he would talk about his feelings and beliefs, the welfare of the country, important issues. He was a well-read man, well versed, an excellent speaker. Grandpa as extremely strong for education. He wanted everybody to go to school, and felt that going to college was a must and if you wanted work beyond that, that should be made available too. He encouraged people to make the most effective use of their ability.
I'd like to tell about a trip I took to Antelope Island. I spent my eighth birthday there. Uncle Herb, along with another man, had formed a corporation and used the island to raise cattle. Mamma and Daddy took me over and Chloe, my cousin, went too. There were people who lived there, running the ranch and caring for the cattle. I remember we went over in a small boat and I would say we stayed about four or five days. I think Chloe and I dug up most of Antelope Island looking for buried treasures but all we could find was empty liquor bottles. There was one buffalo that was blind and they had brought it in and were caring for it. It had gotten into a barn, became confused and practically butted the barn down. I think one of the most interesting experiences was riding a horse with my father. Mama was on another horse and as we came up over the hill there was a herd of wild buffaloes. They became concerned at our presence and the mothers would get behind the little buffalo and push them with their heads. It was the first time I had ever seen an animal do this, and I was so impressed. On the northeast corner of Antelope Island was a beautiful sandy beach, and every afternoon we'd take the truck and ride up there and go swimming in the salt water, from this lovely beach. It was a real experience away from civilization. At that time there was no radio over there, no communication with papers, nothing. At the end of the five days they came and got us and brought us back. And it was just like you were in another world. Now as I look at Antelope Island I can still experience the real joy I had on this most unique occasion.
Grandpa was a very positive person. He could see good in people. He wasn't one who would criticize or find fault. He seemed to have confidence and faith in people and things. I have always been proud to be a Barnes. I felt that they truly are outstanding people, and have contributed greatly to Utah. When people say, "Are you a Barnes from Kaysville?" you know they are asking this with real pride.
CHAPTER FIVE
Berenice (Bonnie) Barnes Jones
For many years I have researched in the Genealogical Library of the LDS Church in Salt Lake City, Utah and in the Salt Lake City Public Library, for facts regarding the life of my grandfather, John George Moroni Barnes. In 1983, with the help of my research material, my granddaughter, Susan Faragher, at the age of 10, wrote a biography of her great-great-grandfather, in which she states:
"John George Moroni Barnes, my great-great-grandfather, was the first son of John Richard and Emily Shelton Barnes and was born March 5, 1960 in a little log cabin in Kaysville, Davis County, Utah. He was a native pioneer which means he was born in Utah before the railroad came in May 1869. He was the second child of ten children, five of whom died at an early age. The last boy and girl were twins, both of whom died shortly after birth. Their mother also died after their birth.
"As a boy he worked on a farm with his father...He attended school in Kaysville...He studied after leaving school and read books and magazines and educated himself.
"Miriam McFerson, a 16 year-old girl, lived on a farm about a mile away from the main part of Kaysville. Her father died February 15, 1875, after which she moved to the home of John R. and Emily Shelton Barnes to live, to help Mrs. Barnes take care of the children, and to assist in cooking and housekeeping. Emily Shelton Barnes died at the age of forty on August 30 of that same year. Miriam was a beautiful tiny girl (less than five feet tall) with long black, natural curly hair. She had a pleasing personality, was always helping others, loved children, and became an outstanding cook and housekeeper. John G.M. was a large, attractive man, friendly and appreciative of all that she did. It was no wonder that (they) fell in love! They were married on September 9, 1880 in the Endowment House on the Salt Lake Temple Block in Salt Lake City. They had both received their endowments in this same Endowment House on May 8, 1876 with several of their brothers and sisters, as was the custom in those times. A reception had been planned for their wedding day but it was postponed until after the funeral of John G.M.'s grandfather, William Barnes, who died the day of the wedding. A large reception was held in Kaysville. The top layer of the wedding cake was stored in a box and kept for fifty years when it was displayed at their Golden Wedding Anniversary Celebration.
"When first married, they lived in an adobe house. They had eight children, six boys and two girls. Their first child was John George Barnes.
"John G.M. Barnes was called on a mission for the LDS Church to the Central States through Indiana. His wife Miriam was left home with a two-year-old son named John George and she was expecting her second child in a few weeks. While on his mission one night, he was chased by a mob and shot at. He jumped behind a tree and the bullet missed him but hit the tree, so the next day he went back and got the bullet...The church leaders decided to transfer the missionaries and so John G.M. was sent to England to complete his mission. His wife Miriam had a baby girl (Emily Chloe)...A school teacher named Miss Thornley boarded at her home to help financially and to take care of the children.
"John George Moroni Barnes was a clerk in the Kaysville Co-op which was started by his father John Richard...John G.M. became manager of the store and worked there for several years. In 1898 he helped to organize the Kaysville Canning Corporation of which he became president. Later on another canning factory was build at Syracuse and he also managed that factory. His father John Richard started the first bank in Kaysville, "The Barnes Banking Company," and John G.M. became president...
"John George...(the first child)...had rheumatism, or what is now known as rheumatic fever, when he was quite young and had to stay home from school most of the time. His parents spent much time with him and gave him many books and magazines to read.
"About 1896 the Barnses build a large brick house on the corner of Center Street and 1st West in Kaysville. It was a beautiful mansion...
"John G.M. died in the Dee Hospital in Ogden on July 26, 1932."
Toward the Eternal or The Life of John R. Barnes by Claude T. Barnes contains an interesting paragraph regarding the origin of the name Barnes, from which I quote:
"It is said that the name Barnes came from `residence near a barn', such as a monastic or manorial barn, the spelling in the fourteenth century had been `Atte Barne'; ...the Scandinavian name `Barn' corresponds with the Scottish `Bairn'. Some French families, having the name Barnes, pronounced it `Bar-nes', sounding `Barnee'. The Doomsday book states that a Barnes family lived in Bernieres, France, spelling the name `Bernieres'; and they entered England with William the Conqueror in 1066, who for their military service to him granted them estates in Middlesex, Essex, Norfolk and Cambridgeshire...in accord with the sound of the name took on the spelling `Barnes'. When every English family had its coat of arms, and its motto, the Barnes etcutcheon bore the Latin words, FRANGAS NON FLECTES, `You may break but you shall not bend', in other words, you might whip a Barnes in a fair fight, but never bribe him. The Barnses have never swerved from these lofty moral and religious principles. Sometimes the words `Pro Patria' (for the Fatherland) were used on the shields of Barnes soldiers.
"Very early Barnes acquired not only his store but also half a dozen farm acreages and thus had work for every boy and hired men as well...
"By 1871 Barnes had several boys--John 11...and he seldom left his breakfast table without full instructions to each of his sons concerning the assigned labor of the day. What a manager! Not one grew up under him without a daily task outlined in detail; and the only remuneration he ever thought of giving was the assurance that each was an essential unit in the growing prosperity of the Barnes unincorporated...
"Everyone had plenty to eat and wear, besides fin homes in which to live; but such was Barnes' thrifty nature that he was never one to hand out spending money to his children...
"In 1882 he took a trip to California with his eldest son John G.M. Barnes...age 17...
"Seldom did Barnes give his children money on holidays, but it should be remembered that in those days there were neither automobiles nor picture shows, and if one visited his best girl he was not expected to do more than sit the evening out in the parlor...
"Whenever a child got married, Barnes assisted in the purchase of a home, after which the newly married one was on his own, despite unfinished higher education; but after all perhaps it taught self-reliance and frugality...
"Barnes was so utterly religious and practical that he lacked some of the softer sentiments of life. I never heard him call anyone "sweetheart," or saw him take a child on his knee and say: "You are sweet and beautiful," as most fathers would have done. He set the finest example possible of work, honesty and ambition, but never seemed to have time for endearing tidbits on the way...
"In 1907 Barnes had given to each of his fifteen children forty acres of some of Utah's finest agricultural ground, at Syracuse, and they with him incorporated the holdings into the John R. Barnes Company with the capital of $125,000. Is was Barnes' injunction that they never sell their 600 acres of land, as it would always be a place of refuge in the case of necessity during national economic distress...
"On his eightieth birthday, Barnes gathered 11 of his children together, presented each with stocks and again admonished them to abide by the teachings of the Prophet Joseph Smith."
In my biography "MIRIAM McFERSON BARNES, a Native Pioneer" I told about a special wedding anniversary:
"In 1920 on September 9 the Fortieth Wedding Anniversary of John G.M. and Miriam McFerson Barnes was celebrated. They made reservations for a formal dinner in a banquet room in the Utah Hotel for all of their sons and daughters and their husbands and wives and children. It was a very special occasion for all of us. This became a tradition and every year until the death of John G.M. in 1932 a banquet was held for all family members at the Hotel Utah or Newhouse Hotel in Salt Lake City.
"Their Golden Wedding Anniversary on September 9, 1930 was a two day celebration. A Reunion Dinner was held on September 7 at the Hotel Utah for those who attended the original wedding reception. In the evening of September 9 at Davis High School in Kaysville more than 500 friends and relatives met in the auditorium to greet the honored guests. A program consisting of talks (one of which was given by President Heber J. Grant of the LDS Church), musical numbers and skits. Master of Ceremonies was the oldest son, John George Barnes. Refreshments were served in an adjoining room and music for dancing was played by the Newhouse Hotel Orchestra."
I, Bonnie will continue with my memories of Grandpa Barnes:
As a young child, I stayed in Kaysville for a few weeks every summer with Grandpa and Grandma Barnes, Aunt Mollie, any of my uncles who were living with their parents at that time or visiting them, and my cousins, Claudia, Elaine, and Chloe Cannon. We had good times together. Every afternoon Aunt Mollie said that we should lie down and take a nap, which we did at home. However, we didn't really mind resting as we could enjoy talking to each other, and of course we never did go to sleep.
On Christmas morning, when Mary and I emptied our stockings that we had hung the night before, we could find in the toe a $1.00 bill from grandpa. At that time, $1.00 was a lot of money for a child to have. We wondered how Santa Claus would get the money from Grandpa, but we believed that anything was possible in a magical person like Santa. Our New Year celebrations are described in my history of Grandma Barnes.
Grandpa didn't like girls to wear socks but preferred long stockings at all times. He told us that he would buy us as many stockings as we wanted. So, to please him, we wore stockings when we were visiting with him at Kaysville.
Movies were held in the Opera House, which we attended. But bats were flying near the ceiling and we were afraid that they would land on us.
When we were in our teens we were able to work in the cannery, snipping beans, for which we earned spending money, which made us feel that we were really growing up. During our high school days we attended a dance at Davis High with blind dates provided by our relatives. It was a new experience, but not as enjoyable as dances with our own friends in Salt Lake.
Grandpa promised his grandchildren that he would take each of us on a vacation trip. My sister Mary had gone to Antelope Island when quite young. My turn came when I was a teenager. We drove to Grand Canyon, Zion's Canyon and Bryce National Park. In our car was Grandpa, Grandma, Aunt Mollie, an Uncle (I don't remember which one), who was driving, and myself. There were three or four other cars from Kaysville. Some of the other passengers were my age. We stayed in lodges with bedrooms and a dining room, where we had delicious meals. Years later, when Layne and I took our children to the picturesque area I had fond memories of my first visit there.
The Barnes home in Kaysville (which I had described in my biography of Grandma Miriam McFerson Barnes) seemed like a palace to me. It was the largest and most beautiful residence I had ever seen. I hoped to have a wedding reception there when I was married, but by that time circumstances prevented this. As much as I loved this home and enjoyed being there, I never did really want to live in Kaysville, as my immediate family and interests were in Salt Lake.
My parents, as well as my grandparents, had always instilled in me a desire for a college education, so that was something that my sister and I planned for when we were very young. Grandpa had promised to pay my tuition, which he did, and which was appreciated by my parents and me.
For many years Layne and I, with our children and grandchildren, have visited the Kaysville Cemetery on Memorial Day. I enjoy telling the children about their relatives who are buried there, and also relating to the story of Mr. Peters, on whose grave we always place some flowers. This cemetery is where Layne and I, as well as my sisters and their husbands, are planning to be buried. Our parents, our son Randy, and Ken McKee, Mary's husband, are buried in that beautiful peaceful cemetery.
I have always been proud to be a member of the Barnes family, as I have felt that they are outstanding people, leaders in the community, well educated in their chosen professions, and also very friendly, understanding, thoughtful, and willing to do whatever they could to help others.
