William A. Barnes Biography


	This biography is from "Memorial and biographical record; an illustrated
 	compendium of biography, containing a compendium of local biography,
	including biographical sketches of prominent old settlers and 
	representative citizens of South Dakota..." Published by G. A. Ogle & 
	Co., Chicago, 1899. Pages 740-741

	Scan, OCR and editing by Maurice Krueger,mkrueger@iw.net, 1998. 

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WILLIAM A. BARNES, a pioneer settler of Beadle county, residing on 
section 18, in Nance township, is a native of Monroe county, Wisconsin, 
and was born August 25, 1857, of New England ancestors. His father's 
ancestors were of French descent, but the name has become changed. 

His mother, whose maiden name was Martha Bishop, is of English descent. 
His father, Ambrose B. Barnes, is engaged in the general merchandise 
business in Wessington, South Dakota. 

When our subject was but four years of age he moved with his parents to 
Syracuse, New York, and there lived five years, at the end of which 
time he and his only sister went to Brooklyn, New York, and lived with 
their grandparents for about six years. His father married a second 
time and our subject returned to Syracuse, and lived at home, soon 
afterward obtaining work in the press room of the job printing firm of 
Masters, Lee & Stone. He afterward went to Chicago, and for three years 
worked for Flaherty & Hannah, job printers; then, as relief from the 
confinement of the press room, he went to the woods of northern 
Wisconsin. He located in his present home in May, 1882, with thirty-
five dollars, two old mowing machines, and two bushels of black beans. 
The latter commodity figured prominently in his pioneering. He squatted 
on his land six miles north of Wessington, and used his funds in the 
building of a twelve by fourteen frame house, which was the first in 
the country, and he then found himself out of provisions, and unused to 
farming or hardships. After going one whole day without food, he boiled 
up a large pot of the black beans, and dieted on them without 
seasoning. A week of this fare convinced him that something must be 
done, and he made his way to a neighbor's shanty, where he was treated 
to warm biscuits, which greatly revived his courage, but increased his 
aversion to beans. He made his way to town, and presenting his 
condition to a merchant of Wessington, was given some pork and other 
necessaries. On his way home he was hailed from an incoming train, and 
making his way to the station he found his difficulties solved by the 
arrival of his father from the east with a carload of stock and 
provisions. The black beans were cast aside under the granary, and it 
is told that the building was soon seen to be out of plumb, and an 
investigation resulted in finding the beans swollen and sprouting, 
lifting the building from its foundation. 

Our subject started his stock-raising with one head and he at present 
has forty head, and has sold stock several times during the past few 
years. He has lived economically, and to his own efforts, supplemented 
by his honesty, his prosperity can be accredited. 

Our subject was married in 1880 to Miss Harriet C. Ferrington, a native 
of Illinois, who was born February 24, 1861. To Mr. and Mrs. Barnes 
have been born eight children, upon whom they have bestowed the names: 
Mattie, Hattie, Irving, Sylvester, Charles, Cora, Minnie and Dewey. Mr. 
Barnes in political sentiment is a Populist, prohibitionist and equal 
suffragist. He is awake to the interests of his community, and well 
versed on topics of general interest.