Preston County, West Virginia Biography of SARAH ALICE BARNES This file was submitted by Valerie Crook, E-mail address: The submitter does not have a connection to the subject of this sketch. This file may be freely copied by individuals and non-profit organizations for their private use. All other rights reserved. Any other use, including publication, storage in a retrieval system, or transmission by electronic, mechanical, or other means requires the written approval of the file's author. This file is part of the WVGenWeb Archives. If you arrived here inside a frame or from a link from somewhere else, our front door is at http://www.usgwarchives.net/wv/wvfiles.htm The History of West Virginia, Old and New Published 1923, The American Historical Society, Inc., Chicago and New York, Volume III, pg. 489-490 Preston SARAH ALICE BARNES is prominent in educational leader- ship in Preston County, a resident of Bruceton Mills, and also a very practical minded young woman who has proved the wholesome qualities of her spirit and energy in her family duties and as a real farmer. She was born in Fayette County, Pennsylvania, and was reared at Bruceton Mills by foster parents. She is a daughter of Jacob P. and Sarah Ann (Guthrie) Barnes. Her father is still living at Brandonville, has been a farmer and merchant, and in early years was a teacher. J. P. Barnes and wife had the following children: Mrs. George E. Wolfe, of Terra Alta. Mrs. W. H. Thornton, James Q. and William Harrison, all of Duquesne, Pennsylvania; John J., of Morgantown; and Sarah Alice. Sarah Alice Barnes was an infant when her mother died, and she then came into the home and under the care of that goodly and godly couple, Emanuel and Mary Beeghly, of Bruceton. The Beeghlys came to West Virginia from Pennsylvania. The immigrant ancestor of Emanuel Beeghly was a mem- ber of a German family whose ship was robbed by pirates en route to America and all were killed except the young- est son, Joshua Michael Beeghly. This son settled at Ber- lin, Pennsylvania. His son Joseph was the father of Michael Beeghly, who settled at Cove, Maryland, and was the father of Emanuel Beeghly. Emanuel Beeghly was born at Berlin, Pennsylvania, and was six months old when his father, Michael, moved to Maryland. He grew up there and married, and six years later moved to West Virginia, in 1860, locating on the old Boger farm, about four miles from Brandonville. Emannel Beeghly always retained farming interests, but in 1866 he bought the mill property at Bruceton and continued to operate the water mill there until 1904. He was one of the strong business men of the community. He built the dam over the Big Sandy at the mill site in 1879. He was a member of the Council at Bruceton and active in school matters. Emanuel Beeghly married Mary Boger, granddaughter of the pio- neer, John Boger. This John Boger was author of the pamphlet printed in German on "the second coming of Christ," a treatise that fell into the hands of "Pastor" Russell and formed the foundation for the Millennial Dawnists Church. Rev. Mr. Boger had worked out cal- culations as to when Christ would come again, and these calculations were taken by Russell and furnished the prin- cipal material for his sensational propaganda. Rev. John Boger is buried on the Boger farm at Brandonville. Mrs. Beeghly's mother was Elizabeth Meyers, of Meyersdale, Pennsylvania. Emanuel Beeghly died August 11, 1912, and his wife, on November 13, 1920. They were strict church people of the old order of German Baptists or Dunkards. They had no children of their own, but from first to last they reared some twenty orphans under their roof. Among these children in the Beeghly home were Amanda Brom- hall, who became the wife of David Beeghly and left seven children, one of whom, Adaline, grew up in the same home. A. O. Beeghly, who is an electrician, a wide traveler in his profession, is now a resident of Preston County. Henry Swallop, Amy Bromhall, Malinda Maust, Francis Maust, Milton Solomon, Ella Teets and Emma Jane Teets are all grateful for the hospitality and confidence placed in them by the Beeghlys. Sarah Alice Barnes learned her letters at the home of the Beeghlys. She graduated from the Bruceton schools and then became a teacher and also carried on a farm enterprise. Subsequently she entered West Virginia Uni- versity and did four years work, though still lacking a few items required for graduation. After leaving university she resumed teaching in the fall of 1921. During the World war she planned her farming operations more in- tensively for the production of food to help win the war, but about that time Mrs. Beeghly needed her attention during her last illness, and she dutifully cared for this saintly old woman in her final days. Miss Barnes was one of the Red Cross workers and con- tributed in every possible way to war causes. While at university she was a member of the Columbia Literary Society, the Beowulf Club and University Girls Club. She lent her means liberally to the Inter-World church move- ment, also to the Y. M. C. A. She is a member of the Church of the Brethren. In politics she was active in the woman's suffrage cause, and in 1920 voted for Warren G. Harding, as the Barnesases and the Beeghlys were republicans.