Erastus Otis Barns was a son of Hamilton Barns and Sally Mendall, born 1 February 1808 in Bridgewater, Vermont.[1][2][3]
In 1835, Erastus O. Barnes of Bridgewater, Vermont, was recorded as a student of the medical faculty of Middlebury College, studying under Dr. David Palmer, who is identified in the college catalog as an instructor "On Obstetrics and Materia Medica." [4] Apparently Erastus did not complete his course, as later records identify him as a farmer. In Three Blackmore Genealogies, Smith describes him as a marble cutter and farmer.[2]
He was married to Sophronia, born Brown[5] or Gibson.[6] They had one child, son Morvalden, who died from disease while in military service during the Civil War and was buried near Washington, DC. [2]
He appears in the 1840 U.S. Census in Bridgewater, Vermont, as Erastus D. Barns, head of a household consisting on a male and a female age 30 to 39 (presumably Erastus and his wife) and a male age 15 to 19.[7]
In August 1850 the U.S. Census recorded 42-year-old farmer Erastus O. Barnes in Bridgewater, Vermont, with Sophrona W. Barnes, 36; Movalaine Barnes (male), 7; and Charlotte E. White, 13, all born in Vermont. Erastus had $800 in real estate. [8] Some time thereafter, the family removed to Stockbridge, Vermont, where they lived "on the road to Pittsfield."[2]
The 1860 U.S. Census recorded 52-year-old Otis Barnes, Sophrona Barnes, 48, and Morvaldon Barnes, 17, in Stockbridge, Vermont. Otis Barnes was recorded as a marble worker with $800 real estate and $200 real estate. Morvaldon Barnes was a farm laborer. Residents in an adjacent household were 26-year-old Joel Blackmer, his 28-year-old wife Sarah (niece of Erastus Otis Barnes), and their son Rollin, 2 months old.[9]
The 1870 U.S. Census recorded 63-year-old farmer Erastus Barnes in Stockbridge, Massachusetts, with wife Sophrona, age 56. Erastus reporting having $800 in real estate. His brother Lorenzo Barnes, also a farmer, was in the adjacent household; Lorenzo was much more prosperous, with $5000 in real estate and $1000 in personal estate.[10]
The 1880 U.S. Census recorded 72-year-old farmer Erastus Barnes and his wife Sophrona Barnes, 66, in Stockbridge, Vermont. Both were reported as born in Vermont. Erastus' parents were born in Massachusetts. Sophrona's father was born in Massachusetts and her mother was born in Vermont.[11]
Their son's Civil War pension "greatly aided" Erastus and Sophronia Barnes in their old age. Erastus Barnes died in Stockbridge, Vermont, "at a good old age."[2]
Julius and Rollin Blackmer, children of his niece Sarah (Barnes) Blackmer, recalled him as "Uncle 'Rastus."[2]
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Categories: Bridgewater, Vermont | Stockbridge, Vermont | Barnes Name Study