Part of the Indiana Biographies Project
John W. Barnes
Conspicuous in the roll of names of men that have conferred honor upon the profession of journalism in Indiana is that of John W. Barnes, one of the proprietors and editors of the Evening Item, of Richmond. He has a great versatility of talents, and exactness and thoroughness characterize all his attainments and work. He is a writer of superior force and ability, while he has been an earnest worker; and in all the relations of life he is an honorable, upright gentleman who has won the sincere respect of ail with whom he has come in contact.
A native of Ohio and a son of William W. and Eliza J. (Littler) Barnes, he was born in Centerfield, Highland county, on the 10th of January, 1847. On the paternal side the family is of English lineage and was founded in Connecticut as early as 1645, by ancestors who came from England, where many representatives of the family still reside.
William W. Barnes, the father of the subject proper of this sketch, was born near Danbury, Connecticut, in 1819, and is now a resident of Indiana, spending his summer months on his valuable farm in Howard county and the winter seasons in the salubrious climate of Florida. He married Eliza J. Littler, and of their six children three are living, of whom John W. is the eldest. The mother of these children died in 1890.
John W. Barnes spent the first ten years of his life in the county of his nativity, and was with the family in their removal to Martinsburg, Fayette county, Ohio, where his father was engaged in the dry-goods business for two years. The next removal of the family was to New Vienna, that state. When our subject was seventeen years of age he responded to his country's call for troops, enlisting in Company G, One Hundred and Forty-ninth Ohio Infantry, and serving until the close of the war. After his mustering into the service his company was ordered direct to the Shenandoah valley, attached to Sheridan's army and participated in the battle of Monocacy Junction, against the troops of General Early, who was advancing north on Washington. Although but a boy, he was a brave and loyal defender of the starry banner, that is, the cause it represented; and of his military record he has every reason to be proud.
After the cessation of hostilities he accompanied his father on his removal to Howard county, Indiana, where he assisted in the labor of clearing and developing a farm. He also was employed in his father's sawmill for two years, and then turned his attention to educational pursuits. He taught his first term in a log school-house in Howard township, in the winter of 1867-8, and, soon demonstrating his ability, was entrusted with a more important position, that of first assistant in the high school at Kokomo. He was then offered a principalship, but declined, desiring to advance his own education, which had been abruptly terminated by his enlistment in the army.
In the fall of 1869 he entered Asbury University, now De Pauw, where he was graduated in 1874. Then he engaged in teaching, in the high schools of Greentown and Kokomo, until 1878, when he was elected county superintendent of schools for Howard county, and by re-election he served in that office for thirteen years. He was never defeated for office, and his long service indicates his popularity and the confidence reposed in him by the people of Howard county.
In 1878 he was elected chairman of the Republican central committee of Howard county and served for two years, at the expiration of which period he retired, as his duties in that position interfered with his labors as county superintendent. While the incumbent of the latter office he was selected by Congressmen Steele and Waugh to assist in conducting an examination for cadets for West Point. In 1883 he wrote the war history of Howard county. In 1890 he was a candidate for the nomination for superintendent of public instruction of Indiana. He discontinued his school work in that year and until 1894, in connection with his brother, George D. Barnes, was engaged in the saw and planing mill business in Saline county, Illinois, where they owned twelve hundred acres of fine timber land.
In February, 1894, Mr. Barnes came to Richmond and assumed the business management of the Evening Item. He purchased a half interest in the paper April 1, 1896, and on the 1st of July, 1898, J. B. Gordon was admitted to a partnership, under the firm name of Barnes & Gordon. These gentlemen are the present proprietors and publishers of the Item, which is now the leading paper of Richmond. Since Mr. Barnes became connected with the journal its circulation has greatly increased, and it now has the largest patronage of all papers published in cities of the size of Richmond or less in the state, its subscribers numbering two thousand and nine hundred. The leading merchants of Richmond all regard it as the best advertising medium in this part of the state, and it is thus enabled to command the highest rates for advertisements. The office is equipped with the best style of presses, the latest improved machinery, including linotypes, and accessories for turning out first-class work, while the literary tone of the paper equals that of any journal in Indiana. The proprietors are both gentlemen of high intellectual culture.
In his social connections Mr. Barnes is a Mason and Knight of Pythias. He maintains pleasant relations with his old comrades through his membership in Sol. Meredith Post, No. 55, Grand Army of the Republic, and is highly esteemed by his brethren of these fraternities. His home life also is very pleasant. He was married January 9, 1879, to Wyoma A. Brandon, of Kokomo, and they now have two sons. Earl B. and Creston W. The former was born March 17, 1881, was graduated in the Richmond high school in 1898, the youngest boy in the class, and is now in his sophomore year in Earlham College. He was a delegate at large representing the Indiana colleges at the Republican Lincoln League state convention at Fort Wayne in 1899, the youngest representative sent to that convention, and was one of the three debaters selected by Earlham College to meet three representatives from Indiana University in joint debate in Richmond, April 21, 1899. In this debate the unanimous decision of the judges was given to Earlham College.
Source:
Biographical and Genealogical History of Wayne, Fayette, Union and Franklin Counties, Indiana, Volume 1, The Lewis Publishing Company, Chicago, 1899