Southampton County Virginia USGenWeb Archives Obituaries.....Barnes, George W., 1938 ************************************************ Copyright. All rights reserved. http://www.usgwarchives.net/copyright.htm http://www.usgwarchives.net/va/vafiles.htm ************************************************ GEORGE WASHINGTON BARNES Franklin, Sept. 16 - George Washington Barnes, 92, a Confederate veteran and member of Beaver Dam Chapter, Confederate Veterans, and Franklin’s oldest citizen, died at the home of his son, J.B. Barnes, on High Street, this morning after a short illness. He was the son of Henry and Margaret Whitley Barnes, of Hertford County, North Carolina. At the age of 16, he enlisted in Company K, a Hertford County outfit of the sixty-eighth North Carolina Regiment, organized at Murfreesboro in July, 1863, under Colonial Hinton of Whitford’s Brigade, Hoke’s Division in the armies led by Gen Joseph E. Johnston. Mr. Barnes was a life member of Newsoms Baptist Church. He is survived by three daughters, Mrs. B.G. Ferguson and Mrs. I.J. Jones, of Suffolk, and Mrs. W.L. Beale, of Portsmouth; three sons, J.H. Barnes, of Boykins; G.D. Barnes, of Severn, N.C., and J.B. Barnes, of Franklin; 22 grandchildren and three great-grandchildren. Funeral services will be conducted Sunday afternoon a 3 o’clock at the home of J.B. Barnes by the Rev. R.D. Stephenson and the Rev. C.P. Cleveland. Burial will be in Poplar Spring Cemetery. ****************************************************************************** LAST ACTIVE COUNTY CIVIL WAR VETERAN GEO. W. BARNES, DEAD George Washington Barnes, the last surviving member of Urquhart-Gillette Camp, United Confederate Veterans, and the last Confederate Veterans, and the last Confederate in Southampton County who saw active service in the armies of the Gray, passed quietly last Friday morning at the home of his son, J.B. Barnes, on North High Street. A large number of relatives and friends followed his casket, draped with the beloved battle flag of the old Confederacy, to its last resting place in Poplar Spring Cemetery Sunday afternoon, where scores of his comrades who followed Lee and Jackson and Johnston sleep as peacefully as he. Mr. Barnes was a native of Hertford County, N.C., in the Maney’s Neck community, the son of the late Henry and Mrs. Margaret Whitley Barnes. As a boy of 16, he enlisted in Company K, a Hertford County command of the 68th North Caroline Regiment, C.S.A., under Colonel Hinton of Whiteford’s Brigade, Hoke’s Division, in the army led by General Joseph E. Johnston. A gallant soldier, true to the South, he served faithfully until the surrender at Appomattox, and like so many others of his comrades walked the weary miles back to his home from that fated field. It is a pleasure to say of him as the writer knew, respected and admired him, that he was a true Christian, a man of uncompromising honesty and integrity, as good and as patriotic an American as he was formerly loyal to the South. Until failing eyesight about two years ago prevented it, he was a constant reader and kept fully abreast of the times, watching with the keenly interested eye of the former soldier the troubled days of World War and the tense military situation as it has long existed in Europe. Mr. Barnes was at first a member of Buckhorn Baptist Church at Como, about 40 years ago removing his membership to Newsoms Baptist Church where he held his membership until the end. He married Miss Sarah Williams of the Como community who died December 27, 1920 and since that time he had made his home here with Mr. and Mrs. J.B. Barnes. He is survived by three sons, J.H. Barnes of Boykins, G.D. Barnes of Severn, N.C. and J.B. Barnes of this town; by three daughters, Mrs. B.G. Ferguson and Mrs. I.J. Jones of Suffolk and Mrs. W.L. Beale of Portsmouth; 22 grandchildren and three great-grandchildren, besides a host of friends. Funeral rites were conducted from the home Sunday afternoon at 3 o’clock by his pastor, Rev. C.P. Cleveland of Newsoms Baptist Church, assisted by Rev. R.D. Stephenson of the local Baptist Church. Two of his favorite hymns, "The Home Over There," and "Jesus Savior Pilot Me" were sung by Paul Nicholas and Mrs. Samuel B. Cutchins, with Mrs. Henry Duck accompanying. The active pallbearers were eight grandsons of Mr. Barnes; J.B., Jr., Carroll, Ralph, Wilson, Howard and Garland Barnes; George and Irvin Ferguson. Honorary bearers were selected from a number of friends of the family. Among relatives and friends from out of the county who attended Mr. Barnes’ funeral were: Mr. and Mrs. Irvin Lankford, E.M. Rogers and W.J. Rogers of Norfolk; Mr. and Mrs. Chinn, Jack and Herbert Barnes, Mr. and Mrs. F.B. Kirsch, of Portsmouth; W.E. King, N.T. Poarch and Mr. Warren of Suffolk; P.M. Fleetwood of Jackson, N.C.; Larry Pruden of Seaboard, N.C.; Mr. and Mrs. J.S. Watson, Mr. and Mrs. E.T. Britt, Mr. and Mrs. R.J. Barkley, Mr. and Mrs. E. Howell, A.M. Fleetwood, J.R. Taylor, Misses Margaret Watson, Jessie May and Della Barkley and Margaret Morgan, W.J. Barkley, Dudley Barnes, R.P. Watson, H.C. Rogers, Sam Britt, Jim Griffin, W.S. Clark and Mrs. R.I. Woodard of Severn, N.C., besides many friends from Boykins, Newsoms and Capron George Washington BARNES, last active Confederate veteran in Southampton Co., native of Maney’s Neck, Hertford Co., NC, d. 16 Sep 1938, at son's home, Franklin, interred in Poplar Spring Cemetery (Section 2, Plot 16*), Franklin, 11 Jul 1938, "The Virginian-Pilot" (Norfolk, VA), Sep. 17, 1938, p. 7; "The Tidewater News" (Franklin, VA), Sep. 23, 1938 (No. 54), p. 1 "The Tidewater News" included a photo of the decedent. *Southampton County Historical Society {SCHS} Cemetery Project, Poplar Spring list: http://files.usgwarchives.net/va/southampton/cemeteries/poplar2.txt His wife's obit ("Tidewater News," Jan. 7, 1921, p. 5), with their marriage record appended, is posted at: http://files.usgwarchives.net/va/southampton/obits/b652s1ob.txt Contributed for use in the USGenWeb Archives by Mrs. Bruce Saunders (bs4403@verizon.net), and re-formatted by File Manager. file at: http://files.usgwarchives.net/va/southampton/obits/b652g1ob.txt