Biography of Caswell Barnett, Johnson County, Illinois

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This file was contributed for use in the USGenWeb Archives by:
Rick Girtman  rgirtman@attbi.com

April 17, 2002

Source:
"The Biographical Review of Johnson, Massac, Pope & Hardin Counties, Illinois"
Published in 1893

page 253 & 254

CASWELL BARNETT, who had a good record as a soldier during the late war, is
numbered among the industrious farmers who are carrying on the agricultural
interests of Johnson County, of which he is a native. He was born January
6, 1836, and his home is on a part of the old farm in Elvira Township that
was his birthplace, and which is now in his possession.

The father of our subject was William A. Barnett, who was born in Tennessee
September 10, 1808, a son of Robert Fields Barnett, who was an early
settler of Tennessee, and served in the War of 1812. He came from Tennessee
to Illinois in 1830, traveling on the Tennessee and Ohio Rivers, and
landing at Cairo. He settled in what is now Alexander County at first, but
a year later he came to Johnson County, and made his home with his son
William in Elvira Township until his demise.

William Barnett passed his early life in his native State, and was in the
vigor of early manhood when he came to Illinois in 1830. He was married in
Arkansas early in 1835, and returning to this county with his bride, he
located on a tract of Government land in Elvira Township. He at once
commenced the hard task of clearing and developing a farm, and in the
comfortable home he built up he closed his earthly career December 6, 1869,
and thus passed away a useful and greatly respected pioneer of this county.
The maiden name of his wife was Charlotte T. Mangum. She was born April 24,
1817, two and one-half miles west of Vienna, a daughter of Henry L. and
Disa Ann (Fain) Mangum, and she departed this life July 23, 1892. She
reared eight children: Caswell, Sarah V., Gilbert, Martha A., William J.,
Margaret E., Rhoda J. and Mary.

The subject of this biographical sketch was reared and educated in his
native township. He attended the primitive pioneer schools of the time,
that were rudely furnished with seats made by splitting logs and hewing one
side smooth and inserting wooden pins for support, and the building was
heated by means of an open fireplace. For many years after the family
settled here deer and other kinds of game were very plentiful and roamed at
will through the country, which was sparsely settled. Our subject resided
with his parents until he was twenty-one, and then commenced for himself in
a steam sawmill. He afterward ran a steam engine until his enlistment,
which occurred August 22, 1861, when he became a member of Company D,
Thirty-first Illinois Infantry. He went to the front with his regiment, 
and in the terrible years of strife that followed, his patriotism and valor
stood well the test of many of the hard-fought battles in which he bore his
part. He was on the field at Belmont when the Union and Confederate troops
met in deadly encounter, and at Ft. Henry and at the siege of Corinth. At
Burnt Bridge, Tenn., he was wounded, and still carries a rebel bullet in
his body as a memento of the occasion. He did his duty as a soldier at
Champion Hills and Jackson, Miss. While en route for Vicksburg he was
captured and taken to Libby Prison. A few weeks later he was so fortunate
as to be exchanged, and he joined his regiment at Vicksburg in season to
bear his part in the siege and downfall of the city. The next important
battle in which he participated was at Kenesaw Mountain, and he was an
actor in the siege and capture of Atlanta, and in the battles at Jonesboro
and Flint River, and with his comrades pursued Hood's army to Rome, Ga. In
October, 1864, he was honorably discharged at the expiration of his term of
service at Chattanooga.

After his return from the seat of war Mr. Barnctt resumed his former
occupation of operating an engine, and was thus employed until his
marriage. He then turned his attention to farming, which he carried on on
rented land. In 1882 he bought the part of the old homestead that he now
owns and occupies, and has here a productive and well-tilled farm of sixty
acres.

The marriage of our subject with Miss Zary V. A. Evans was celebrated in
November, 1866. Mrs. Barnett was born in Tennessee February 14, 1845, a
daughter of William H. and Eliza Evans, and was but an infant when her
parents brought her to Illinois. Mr. and Mrs. Barnett are blessed with six 
children: Eliza C., William A., Mary E., Sarah J., John G. and Albert C.
Mr. Barnett is a stalwart Republican in politics. He is a worthy member of
Vienna Post No. 221, G. A. R., and of Goreville Lodge No. 528,I. O. O. F.