| Notes |
- Andrew Johnson was President (1865-1869) when William Henry Barlow was born in Barnesville, Ohio in 1866. William grew up on the farm on the south side of Barnesville. He married Bertha Moore of Cadiz, Ohio on Thursday, December 23, 1897. Bertha was born in or near Cadiz in 1874. Prior to the marriage, William had an elegant Victorian home built for his new bride at 538 South Chestnut Street in Barnesville. Since they were married just two days before Christmas, it is assumed that they moved into the house shortly thereafter. The home, after 101 years, remains in excellent condition and was visited in June of 1998 by his grandson, Gene Barlow. (See pictures in photo section) William or Will, as he was called, and Bertha had six children.
The following paragraph is from a book entitled, "Representative Citizens." This book is located in the Barnesville Public Library.
"WILLIAM H. BARLOW, proprietor of the Barnesville Cigar Company, is one of the leading business men of Barnesville, Ohio, having been identified with a number of its industries, and an important factor in the development of the city's resources. He is a son of Amos and Martha (Hunt) Barlow. Amos Barlow is one of the old, representative, business men of Barnesville, who is pending his declining years in comfortable retirement. William H. Barlow acquired a good, common-school education, and at the age of 25 years embarked in the box manufacturing business, in which he continued until 1898. At that time he engaged in the cigar business, but retained his interest in the box concern until 1902, when he disposed of it to his brother-in-law, Mr. James W. Wise. The Barnesville Cigar Company is the largest institution of its kind in the city, and one of the largest in the county. Mr. Barlow carries a stock worth $10,000 and manufactures high grade stogies, mould; hand made, long filler, Havana seed and Little Dutch cigars, pouch goods and private brands. In connection with the manufacturing plant, Mr. Barlow has a retail store. He conducts the business on lines which have gained both the custom of the public and the confidence of the trade. In 1902 he opened up a first-class fancy grocery, in partnership with N.W. Bastain. This enterprise also promises to be a success, under the able management of Mr. Barlow. On December 23, 1898, the subject of this sketch was united in marriage with Bertha Moore, of Barnesville, and one bright little son, Arthur, has been born to their union. (NOTE: the marriage was actually on December 23, 1897 - Gene Barlow) Mr. Barlow and his wife are consistent members of the Methodist Church, and are prominent in social circles. Politically, the former affiliates with the Republican Party, while his fraternal connections are with the Odd Fellows of Barnesville, and the Elks, Lodge No. 28, of Wheeling."
With every thing ostensibly going well, it has become a great mystery for his descendants as to why, in 1907, the family suddenly left Barnesville. William's oldest son, Arthur, even though he was 7 years old when they departed, apparently was not aware of his father's business ventures and in later years, related to his sons, Gene & Maurice that his father had always been a poor dirt farmer. In conversation with William's youngest son, Richard, he said that although he (Richard) was pretty young, he recalled that his father drank a lot and as he had heard, Will and some of his local friends had an inclination to imbibe a little too much and it is possible that this influenced the family to leave the area in an effort to get him away from his addiction and his drinking buddies. In all fairness, there may possibly have been other reasons but no one living today knows. It is also believed that his older sister, Martha, had a great deal of persuasive power and was the impetus behind the family moving. During that time period, moving to Texas was also consistent with a rather large migration from the mid-west to the southwest. Sometime in 1907, the family packed up and left via rail destined to Texas. While en route, the train stopped overnight in Waverly, Virginia. During that short respite, conversations with some of the locals in Waverly revealed that the Spring Hill Dairy Farm in Sussex County, not too far from Waverly, was for sale. The story goes that they looked the farm over and made the decision to settle there and forfeited any plans to continue to Texas. (Will's descendants have yet to figure out how they arrived in Waverly while en route from Ohio to Texas). The Sussex County farmhouse was a rather large house. It was destroyed by fire in 1997.
Land records indicate that on August 3, 1907, Amos Barlow, Will's father, purchased the Spring Hill Dairy Farm of 700 acres in Sussex County for $7,000. A down payment of $4,000 and final payment of $3,000 due on January 1, 1908. Records also disclose that on August 24, 1908, Amos deeded the property to his son, William H. and to his daughters, Martha E., Inez L. Wise and Alice F., to be allocated as follows: William H. Barlow shall be entitled to an undivided one- third interest therein; Inez Wise shall be entitled to an undivided one-third interest; Martha E. Barlow shall be entitled to an undivided one-third interest, and Alice F. Barlow shall be entitled to an undivided one-sixth interest. The math on that equation doesn't seem to add up but that is the way the deed read.
The dairy farming provided an adequate livelihood for the family from 1907 until they sold it on November 8, 1919. Land records reflect the sale of the farm for the price of $18,500 to Coulbourn Brothers, whose Principal Office was Philadelphia. Research has produced no verification of when the aunts departed Virginia and returned to Ohio, but it can pretty well be assumed that at least Inez and Alice returned to Ohio a short time after the purchase of the farm in 1907. It is assumed that Martha remained in Virginia for some time. According to hearsay, Will's sister Martha pretty much ran the show and, as the story goes, manifested some friction within the family unit. Perhaps, that was a catalyst in the decision to sell the farm. This however, was not apparent in later years as Will's eldest son, Arthur, was quite fond of Martha and the other aunts in Ohio and vice versa.
As recounted above, Arthur was born in Barnesville as was Francis and Virginia. Mildred, William Henry Jr. and Richard M. were born on the Virginia farm in Sussex County.
On the 1st of February, 1920, Will and Bertha purchased a farm on Baxter Road in Prince George County, approximately three miles from Disputanta. They most likely made the purchase using part of their share of the proceeds from the sale of the dairy farm. Land records indicate this farm commonly known as the Johnson Farm, was purchased from John F. Kolar and Emily R. Kolar on February 1, 1920 for $10,500, $2,000 in cash and three equal payments of $2232.30. This did not make much sense in view of the fact that the total of the cash and the three payments only came to $8,696.90, but those were the only figures that could be found in the deed. The deed also revealed an interesting fact in that the monies were to be paid to Mike and Anna Ballas who had deeded the land to the Kolars on the 20th of August, 1919. There was no explanation but perhaps Kolar owed Ballas the money. This farm consisted of 172 and 1/10 acres and was bordered by the Blackwater Swamp. (Note: the Spring Hill Dairy Farm in Sussex County was also bordered by the Blackwater River.)
On their newly acquired farm, Will and his family worked extremely hard in etching out a living raising peanuts and corn. Some time later a cannery opened in Disputanta and the family, in addition to the peanuts and corn, began raising tomatoes and peppers to supply the cannery. That went fairly well until the cannery closed. Will also had a small strawberry patch, probably to remind him of the berry days in Barnesville. According to Richard (Dick), Will's only living son at the time of this writing, life was tough, particularly for Bertha. She would work in the fields and consistently do a man's work.
On September 1, 1922, Will and Bertha applied for a loan and borrowed $4,500 from the Federal Land Bank of Baltimore. This loan was payable in sixty-eight semi-annual payments of $146.25. In 1925, the land records reveal that Will borrowed $1,000 from the Bank of Waverly which put a lien on the property. In 1926, Will borrowed $6,000 from his sisters, Martha, Inez, and Alice. This was very likely the culmination of very tough times being experienced by Will and Bertha and an indication that perhaps they were in a heap of trouble financially .
Will died of pernicious anemia in 1927 at the age of 61. He is buried in the cemetery at Waverly, Virginia. By virtue of his will, the farm was deeded to Bertha.
Since William Jr. was the only son remaining on the farm at the time of his father's death, it must be assumed that he continued to work the farm, belonging to his mother. (Arthur had left the farm in 1920 and was married on February 17th of that year. Francis also had left the farm and was married by that time). Things apparently were not getting any better, so on the 28th of September, 1936, Bertha deeded the farm to Martha, Inez and Alice for the sum of $10 and settlement of all debts and liens against the farm. A year and a half later, on the 22nd of March, 1938, for the sum of $1, Martha, Inez, and, Alice deeded the farm debt free to William H. Barlow II, son of Will.
Bertha died in 1967 at the age of 93. She is also buried in the cemetery at Waverly, Virginia. The grave site is located on the right side, near the back, of the second road into the cemetery, approaching from Route 460. When William died February 24, 1995, his children inherited that farm. The address of the farm today (1998) is 12400 Webb Road, Prince George County, Virginia. William's son, Billy was residing there in 1998. It is said that the house is in quite a state of disrepair.
|
1866 - 17
