Charity Ann Hatfield was born August 20, 1861 in Claiborne County, TN, the daughter of Francis Marion and Lucinda Kesterson Hatfield. Sterling Barnes was born January 26, 1860 in Tennessee. They were married February 11, 1880 by Levi Nave, Minister of the Gospel, in Claiborne County, TN. After their marriage Sterling and Charity moved to Virginia, near Rose Hill in Lee County.
Sterling, who never knew his father, left home at an early age, about 12 years old. He drifted from one place to another in the Appalachian Mountains of Tennessee, Virginia, and Kentucky. He hunted and fished for food and when he needed money he would cut timber, tie it together into rafts and float it down the Cumberland or Clinch rivers to the sawmills, then walk back home. This trade was to become his profession.
Sterling and Charity had 90 acres, some of which was cleared for farming. It was located about 8 miles south of Rose Hill. The house in which they lived was a two room log cabin with one room, or loft, upstairs where everyone slept. The living room had a wood floor of 12 inch plank. It was said to have cracks between the boards big enough to lose your billfold in if you dropped it. The kitchen had a dirt floor, but it was packed down and always swept clean. The cabin was up on a hill and water for drinking had to be hauled a quarter mile up the hill from a spring. On wash day Charity would take her clothes and tub down to the spring and build a fire to heat the water. The school the children attended was on one corner of Sterling and Charity's land and it was attended by black children as well as white. It was about a quarter mile down the road.
In the 1890�s, Sterling worked for a railroad making crossties. A typical day went something like this: The family got up before dawn, John and White were sent out to harness the horses. It took both of them to throw the harness over the horse's back. While they were doing this Sterling was sharpening his ax. He used a four pound single-bladed ax and it is said that he kept it sharp enough to shave with. After that the family ate breakfast. Before going to school, White and John had to saw white oak logs into 8 foot lengths, which Sterling had cut down the day before. After they were in 8 foot lengths Sterling would split and square them into crossties. The splitting and squaring was all done with an ax and was as square and true as if it had been sawed. After school let out in the afternoon, White and John ran back to cut more oak and help load the ties into a box wagon to be taken to town. The wagon could hold 21 ties and Sam or Charley usual took them into town. Charley had a big horse named Salem to pull the wagon and the wheels had to be chained or locked together to keep the wagon from running over the horse while going down the hills to town.
When planting time came Ollie did most of the farming. Red was the horse used to farm with. A double furrow was plowed and then Ollie would drop three grains of corn in a hill to be covered by a couple of the younger children. All summer long the weeds were hoed out of the corn by hand and hay had to be cut. At Harvest time the corn was picked by hand and thrown into piles to be picked up later in a sled because a wagon would tip over on the steep hill. Then the top half of the stalk was cut off and used to feed the horses through the winter. In the fall the neighbors often got together and had shucking bees, first at one neighbors house, then at another. The husk was shucked off the corn and the soft shucks next to the ear were used to make mattresses for the beds.
Charity milked a cow to make butter and feed the family. Because every drop was needed and the cow kicked, she milked into a pint cup then poured it into the milk bucket, setting out of reach of the cow. The butter and perishable food was kept cool down at the spring. The only kind of bread the family ate was cornbread because they didn't raise wheat. Sometimes Charity made it in a kettle 6 inches deep, sometimes she just cooked it on the stove like pancakes or corn fritters. At the end of a hard days work Sterling would often want a nice fresh drink of cold spring water so one of the children was sent to fetch a dipper.
Sterling liked to go hunting and sometimes he would take one of the boys with him. When he found a squirrel in a tree he would send the boy around to the other side of the tree and the squirrel would try to stay on the opposite side of the tree. Sterling would just wait till he came around and pick him off. He and Charley also liked to fish. They would fish in one of the rivers near by and sometimes brought home fish as long as White was tall.
On Sundays or holidays the family would go to visit Charity's folks, Marion and Cindy Hatfield. They lived six miles across the Virginia - Tennessee state line. The family walked, but took a big roan horse named Logue. The Powell River had to be crossed and since there were no bridges, Sterling would take two or three children on Logue and swim the river, then he would drop them off and go back for the others.
Grandma Hatfield smoked a corn cob pipe three times a day, once after each meal and the grandchildren often fought to see who would get to light her pipe.
As the years passed and the older boys in the family went out on their own, Sterling was working for a man by the name of Mev Combs who owned a sawmill in Rose Hill. They would haul logs in box wagons to the mill. Charley and Sam worked for him also, but since they were old enough to be on their own they lived in the lodge that Mev Combs had for his workers. Charley wore a gun in those days which was quite common and he prided himself at being a crack shot. He would practice driving nails into a post by firing at it from 30 feet distance. Sam was no more than 15 or 16 years old at this time. A black man who worked at this mill was always picking on Sam because he was so young. One morning as the men were coming out of their lodge to go to work, this black man knocked Sam backwards onto the ground. This made Sam mad and he jumped up and jumped on the man's back. Again Sam was thrown to the ground. Charley was just coming out the doorway and saw the skirmish. The black man was wearing a gun and Charley was afraid he would shoot Sam. He hollered, "Leave him alone"
The black man said, "mind your own business."
Charley hollered again, "I said, leave him alone!"
At this the black man started to whirl around to face Charley and as he did, he went for his gun. Charley pulled his gun and shot him 3 times as the man whirled around. Several men around the fight said they would testify that the shooting was self-defense, but some of the black man's friends threatened to get even, so Charley and Sam fled Virginia.
Several families - the Bartley's, the Edds, the Speaks, the Minks, had come to Kansas from that part of Virginia and so the 2 brothers decided to come to Kansas. When Charley got to Powhattan Kansas, he found work as a hired man for Walt Hildwein. He wrote back to Virginia how good the opportunities were out here and times were hard in Virginia. Sterling had lost the farm and the railroad said they needed men in Kansas because so many railroads were being built here. (This railroad job never came once they reached Kansas.)
In 1904 about six months after Charley and Sam came out, Sterling and Charity packed up the children and moved to Kansas. They came by train to Powhattan. White, who was eleven years old got by with a half fare ticket, but John, who was 8 and big for his age, almost had to get a full fare ticket. The first place they lived in Kansas was 4 miles south of Powhattan on the Kickapoo Reservation. This is where Anna, the youngest child was born. Sterling worked for Gottlieb Wenger.
In later years Sterling and Charity separated and Charity bought a house in Baker. She paid for it by taking in washing and cleaning other peoples houses. Later on they got back together off and on, when Sterling worked for Roscoe Harrington at the Elevator in Baker. The neighbors said you could tell when they got back together because there would be smoke only coming from the chimney at the house. When they were separated, Sterling lived in the woodshed and smoke was coming from the chimneys of both buildings.
Sterling was a proud man, very well respected in Virginia. He owned his land and was his own man. He also was a very staunch Democrat. But in his later years his health started to fail. He had hardening of the arteries, which would cause his legs to clot and swell. This with other problems led him to drink, and the corn liquor he drank was made with lye, which further ruined his health. He died at the State Hospital in Topeka, February 19, 1936.
The house where Charity lived for 41 years in Baker had only three rooms, two downstairs, and one upstairs, and she lived quite simply, raising a garden and a few chickens. But in the springtime when all her fruit trees bloomed, it was beautiful. When she first moved there, she would buy a small sack of peaches when she went for groceries and after eating them she would plant the seeds. Her yard was just filled with peach trees. She lived quite well by herself up until two weeks before her death at the age of 89. She had an asthmatic heart and had to be put in the Brown County Infirmary where she died two days later, March 3, 1950. Sterling and Charity are buried in the Powhattan Cemetery.
Olive (Ollie) Barnes born December 29, 1883. She married October 8, 1905 to William "Bill" Holcomb of Powhattan. They first rented land north of Powhattan and later bought a farm 1/2 mile east and 1 1/2 mile south of Powhattan. Sometime later they sold that 80 acre farm and bought 240 acres in Elk County near Howard, Ks. They loaded all their belongings including stock into a box car and then drove overland in their car to Howard. The box car was delayed and they arrived ahead of it. Sterling went along to help them move. After Will's death on June 9, 1933, Ollie moved into Howard. She died December 28, 1970 at the age of 88. They had 3 children: l. Della September 1906 2. Winifred 3. Oliver March 10,1913
Samuel Barnes born October 7, 1887 (according to the family Bible). Taken from the Seneca Courier Tribune: Sam Barnes, a resident of rural Vermillion, was born October 14, 1892, at Louisville, Ky. and passed away February 10, 1969, at the Axtell hospital following a short illness at the age of 76. His parents were Sterling and Charity Hatfield Barnes. On January 26, 1918 he was married to Gertrude Moose of Downs, Kansas. To this union were born six children... Mr. Barnes enlisted in the service in May, 1917, Company G 35th Division, Downs, Ks. He served in France and was discharged May 5, 1919. He returned to Mitchell County and started farming. In 1929, Mr. & Mrs. Barnes moved to Nemaha County where he farmed until his recent retirment. On January 26, 1968, Mr. & Mrs. Barnes celebrated their Golden Wedding Anniversary. Mr. Barnes was a member of the American Legion and of Sacred Heart Church, Bailyville. Gertie died February 20, 1979. They are buried at Sacred Heart Cemetery, Bailyville. Their Children: August, Winifred, Ethel, Merle, Ruth, and Betty.
Elizabeth Barnes died of yellow jaundice in infancy. Buried in Virginia.
Cordilla Minnie Barnes born June 5, 1891. She married Knowlton Francis Carr of Everest, Kansas. He was born in 1885. They farmed south of Everest. After Knowlton died in 1948, Cordie moved into Everest and worked as a telephone operator for Rainbow Telephone Company. She died February 4, 1971. They are buried Mt Hope Cemetery, Hiawatha, Kansas. They had one son: Ward November 6, 1911 - October 11, 1984
White Barnes born August 28, 1893 near Rose Hill, Lee County, VA. As a boy he helped his father, Sterling, cut and haul timber and tend the 90 acre farm where they lived. In the winter and slack time he went to school. In 1904 at the age of 11, White's family came west to Kansas by train. White would never again attend school or live at home. His education stopped at the fourth grade. He went to work as a hired hand. During the first World War he broke mules for use by the Army to pull wagons. He broke seventeen teams of mules one summer and made enough money to start farming on his own. He married News Year Day, January 1, 1918 to Esther Ruth Schober born January 31, 1898 of Powhattan. She was the sixth child born to Alfred and Ida Schober. Esther was the first in her family to receive a High School diploma. She was among the second class to graduate from Powhattan High School in 1916. During the summer and after she graduated she worked for her brother, Ben, in his restaurant. This is where White and Esther met. They farmed north east of Baker where they lived for a year, then moving 2 miles south of Baker. Esther died May 14, 1931 at the age of 33. White and Esther were saving money to buy their own farm, but the doctor bills and funeral expenses cost around $2000. That same year, the bank of Powhattan closed and White lost another $2000. White married June 1, 1932 in Falls City, Nebraska to Pearl Belle Baker born April 12, 1903 in Decatur County, Kansas. After the death of her father, Curtis Paul Baker in 1912, the family moved to Brown County, Ks. They lived on the farm two miles south of Baker until 1945 when they moved to the Picton John place, two miles east of Powhattan. In 1954 they bought a farm two miles west of Mercier, Kansas and moved there. In 1965, White suffered a hart attach and he retired from farming in Feb. 1968 when they moved to Hiawatha, Kansas. Pearl worked for a short time at the Hiawatha Hospital. Pearl died suddenly at the Hiawatha Community Hospital, February 4, 1972 where she was admitted 3 & 1/2 hours earlier. The last eleven years of his life, White had a close friend and companion, Tress Hazelett. She was born February 10, 1907 in New Jersey and came to Kansas in 1911 aboard an orphan train. She was twice widowed with two daughters and one son, who was lost at sea when his ship went down in the Pacific during W.W.II. White died July 20, 1984 at Hiawatha. He, Ester, and Pearl were buried at the Powhattan Cemetery. White and Esther had 3 children and White and Pearl had one son: Melvin Eugene (February 7, 1920 - June 30, 1987), Dorothy Ruth (June 23,1923), Donald Richard (September 13, 1928), and Doyle Dean (January 21, 1941).
John Newton Barnes born April 17, 1896. He was a W.W.I vet. but he enlisted too late to see any action. He married Cora Irwin born 1896. They farmed north of Willis, Kansas. They had 2 sons and Cora died in 1923 and was buried Hiawatha Cemetery. Virgil Dewight (March 16, 1919) and John Sterling (February 6, 1922 Died 1991). John later married Viola Jane Morris born October 26, 1898. She had one son by a previous marriage, Roland. John worked as a trucker out of Hamlin, Kansas for the elevator. Later John and Viola divorced and Viola moved to California. They had 3 children: Dale Newton (February 10, 1928), Corinna Jane (Born 1930), and Gaylord (September 25, 1932). John remarried and all in all he was married six times. He retired in Horton, Kansas. John died April 3, 1976 and is buried in the Hiawatha Cemetery by his first wife.
Joe Wheeler Barnes believed to be born September 7, 1899. The family Bible has him born in 1901 but when he sent to Virginia to get his records for Social Security he found he was two years older (born 1899). "J Bo" as he was called, was a little easier going then the others and was said to be a bit of a joker. One cold night when most of the family was still at home, in the house in Baker, everyone headed up to bed. There were no lights and no one bothered to light a lamp. Since it was cold and the only heat was what came through the floor from the woodstove downstairs everyone quickly undressed and jumped into bed. When Wheeler jumped out of his overalls he gave them a toss. In about 10 or 15 minutes something smelled like it was burning and someone lit a lamp to see what it was. The pantsleg of Wheeler's overalls had wrapped around the stovepipe that came up through the floor and out the roof that vented the woodstove. There was a big hole burnt in the pant leg. The next morning, Wheeler got up early before anyone else was awake. He snuck over and took Sam's overalls which he had bought only a couple days before, put them on, and went to work. When Sam, who was just visiting for the night, woke up he had no pants to wear. Wheeler met Edith Brock born October 27, 1903 of Cawker City, Kansas. through Sam's wife, Gertie. They were cousins. They worked several farms, first living 1/2 mile east of Powhattan, then 4 miles south of Fairview, 1 mile northeast of Mercier, and then bought 80 acres south of Baker with money Edith had inherited from her folks. This is where they lived the rest of their lives. After Charity's death it bothered Wheeler that there was no marker on his parent's grave so he bought the stone that marks their graves. Wheeler, like his father, had trouble with liquor. From the Hiawatha Daily World: Wheeler Barnes, 67, a farmer of the Baker Community, died Saturday night, July 15, 1967 at the Hiawatha Community Hospital where he was taken Friday afternoon, July 14 following a collision of his car with a gravel truck at the Crossroads in Baker. He was attended by Dr. Duckett and Larson and a post morten examination was conducted by Dr. Ray Meidinger, Dist. Coroner, as there was some question that his death was attributed to injuries received as a result of the accident. Mr. Barnes was born in Lee County, VA. In September 7, 1899, and had been a resident of the Powhattan and Baker Communities for many years, where he farmed. Edith died December 29, 1968. They are buried at Powhattan Cemetery.
Octavia Barnes, she later shortened it to Tava, is believed to be born August 23, 1902, although the family Bible date is 1905. If 1905 is correct she would not have been born in Virginia. She married March 9, 1918 to Roy Poston and they farmed in west Powhattan Township. In later years they also had a kennel and raised Rat Terriers. They retired in Hiawatha, Kansas. Roy died June 28, 1968 and is buried at Netawaka Cemetery. Tava died in 1992.
Anna Barnes born January 17, 1907, the only child born in Kansas. She lived with her father after her parents separated. She ran off and married at age 16 to Vivian Lomax who was also from around Cawker City. They farmed in Nebraska. They later divorced and their daughter lived with Anna the son stayed with his father: Virginia and Norval. Anna later married Arthur Yaussi. They farmed at the north edge of Baker, Kansas. Art died of cancer April 13, 1942. They had three sons: Donald Arthur (October 28, 1938) Ronald Myron (November 3, 1940), and Roger Roy (September 9, 1942 died of cancer October 20, 1970) In 1950, Anna moved into Hiawatha, Kansas and worked for the Red Man Motel and drove a school bus. On February 21, 1953, she married Charles Henry Chick. Anna Chick died February 14, 1983 at Hiawatha and was buried at the Hiawatha Cemetery beside her husband, Arthur Yaussi.
