John James Barnes and Hannah Eliza Douglass

Life History of John James Barnes

John James Barnes was born 12 Sep 1852 in Bedford, England to William Jefferies Barnes born 20 Aug 1820 and Frances Fitsjohn Chapman born 5 Sep 1818.

John came from England with his parents June 1853. He was nine months old. They first settled in Kaysville, Utah.

John was baptized 1 May 1864 by Jesse Dredge and confirmed by Christopher Layton. John herded sheep when he was a barefooted boy. He couldn't read or write, other than his name.

John married Hannah Eliza Douglass 12 Mar 1884. They were married by Peter I. Waddle at his home in Arimo, Bannock, Idaho. John came from Kaysville, Utah to Marsh Valley, Idaho when he was a young man. He always had his wife sign the checks. He would sign his name if he got in a pinch but very seldom.

His description is as follows: Height 5 ft 8 in, weight 140-143, eyes blue, hair brown but went gray when very young and was real white when he was 50. He had fairly good health until he was about 65.

He was especially interested in farming and planted his crops by the signs of the moon.

John was the father of eight children (4 girls and 4 boys) which all grew to man and womanhood. One daughter died less than a year after she was married with typhoid fever.

He owned shares in one of the threshers that they used in those days which was run by 6 or 8 teams of horses going around in a circle. It seemed as though it took 10 to 12 men to do the threshing, hauling grain to the thresher and pitching grain into the machine. He had a sheep dip on his farm which they ran the sheep through, it was a vat they dipped for scab. John and some of the boys would go every fall after the work was done to the canyon early in the morning and cut wood for burning in the stove. It would mostly be quaken asp sometimes they would get a little magahony to burn in the dining room stove.

I can remember father best when he had his white beard and mustache. One day he went to clean the chimney to the dining room stove and he put some paper or rag with coal oil on it in the chimney hole and it blazed out and burned his whiskers and after that he had them all shaved off and never wore whiskers anymore.

Father was a likeable man, everyone that knew him would call him Uncle. They could always see him in a crowd on account of his white hair. When any one would have a new baby in the family he liked to sit and rock and sing to it. He was a very good friend to the Indians. He traded with the Indians and always had good buckskin gloves. They used to come and camp on his place over night.

Lucile Phillips (granddaughter) was named after a song he used to sing to her when she was a baby. The song was "Come Away With Me Lucile". She was his first grandaughter. Father had a partial stroke around 1919 or 1920. He couldn't get around too good or speak too plain and he finally decided to go to the Temple and be sealed to his wife and have his family sealed. While sick he asked for the Elders to come and administer to him which they did. Father said the Elders were the ones that saved his life.

He lived a couple of years after this, then he had another stroke and finally obtained gangrene in one limb and suffered intensely. He died the 3 Feb 1923 in Downey, Idaho. Funeral services were held in the Downey LDS Church. He was buried in the Cambridge Cemetery.

Written by Daughter - Winefred Barnes Barfuss

Children: Frances Jane born 19 Jun 1885, died 10 Mar 1920; Cora Isabel born 23 Dec 1887, died 16 Sep 1910; Eliza Ann born 21 Aug 1890, died 25 Jan 1957; John Ray born 12 May 1892, died 19 Apr 1963; Charles Ralph born 10 Sep 1894, died 2 Jan 1979; Lester Lorenzo born 20 Oct 1896, died 6 Mar 1973; Winefred born 19 jun 1898, died 17 Jul 1975; Myron William born 16 Jan 1905, died 10 Dec 1970. All were born at Downey, Bannock Idaho.

Additional information from daughter Eliza Ann Barnes Wilding: John James Barnes was ordained an Elder 26 Dec 1920 and went to the Logan Temple with his family 4 May 1921. The sealing was done by William Noble.

When the Barnes family came from England they left Liverpool on the Ship Falcon 23 Mar 1853 and sailed to New Orleans, Louisiana.

Life History of Hannah Eliza Douglass

Hannah Eliza Douglass was born 1 Jul 1865 at Ogden, Weber, Utah to Ralph Briggs Douglass born 28 Dec 1823 and Jane Stone born 25 Oct 1836. They lived in Ogden then moved to Marsh Valley, Bannock, Idaho. There being no school there, Hannah went to Ogden to school returning in the spring to help her mother.

She with her parents were among the pioneers to Marsh Valley, Idaho. She was a very good seamstress and did most of the sewing for the family even making pants for her father.

Hannah Eliza met John James Barnes. He was 13 years her senior. They eloped and were married the 12 Mar 1884. When Hannah and John returned from Arimo in the wagon this nice March night it had rained all day. Some of the folks decided to have some fun. They took the bedding and hid it and stuffed the stove pipes full of paper and rags so then they made a fire they would get smoked out. This was done while they serenaded them with tin cans outside and an old fiddle. Later on John and Hannah moved to another place about a mile east where they spent the rest of their life on this farm, farming and milking cows.

To this union eight children were born - (listed above)

Hannah Eliza Douglass was baptized 7 May 1864. Hannah and John's marriage was solemnized in the Logan Temple, Logan, Utah 4 May 1921. Her second daughter Cora Isabel contracted typhoid. She was critically ill at her parents home and passed away 16 sep 1910. Cora had been married less than a year. Her eldest daughter gave birth to a son and a few days later blood poison set in and she passed away the 10 mar 1920. Hannah took the grandson and cared for him until he was school age even though her husband John was paralyzed from a stroke in 1919. She took excellent care of both of them.

Hannah was always ready and willing to help anybody that had sickness or anything else she could do. If there was a death, they always called on her to do the sewing and making of the burial clothes or temple clothes. She was a great hand for making partchwork quilts. She knitted sox, mittens for the children when they were small and did crocheting. After her husband passed away she sold the home and moved to Tremonton, Utah where one of the daughters and two sons lived. She bought a small home in town and lived there until the 3 Oct 1938 where she passed away quietly in her sleep during the night. She was buried in the Cambridge Cemetery, northeast of Downey, Bannock, Idaho.

She took her first airplane ride after she was 70 years old.

She made her own butter and raised chickens and took eggs and butter to town and bought her groceries. Once she had a chicken set in a tree and hatched little chicks. She had bees, it was interesting to the grandchildren to see her tend the bees and extract the honey.

She crocheted many rugs. She gave a lot of crocheting to her children and grandchildren. She had the most beautiful black hair, long braids of it. She could sit on the ends of it. She had alot of headache so she had it cut when she was in her sixties. Her hair was just tinted with a few grey hairs when she passed away at the age of 73.

Written by her daughter - Winefred Barnes Barfuss

Additional information from daughter Eliza Ann Barnes Wilding.

Dec 1916 her height 5 ft 5 1/2 in; weight 173 and chest 40. Eyes blue and hair black. Health fair. Hannah was interested in Relief Society, was a visiting teacher and a member until she died. Hannah married William Clegg 1 Apr 1926 but later divorced.