William Barnett

William Barnett (photo courtesy of Kate Ruckman)

 William (Will) Barnett was born 29 May 1894 in Parker County, Texas. He was the youngest son of James M. and Mattie A. (Kelly) Barnett. In his WWI draft registration he was described as tall with a slender build, brown eyes and light brown hair. He worked as a bookkeeper for an insurance firm, a clerk at a lumber yard, and a bank cashier. He was named as executor in his father’s will and handled the paperwork after the death of both of his parents. He married Dorothy Ribble on 23 Jul 1926 in Parker County, Texas. They were the parents of one son, James Thomas Barnett (1928 – 1968). His wife, Dorothy, died 9 Sep 1955 in Parker County, Texas. Sometime around 1957, Will remarried to Edith Knight (1896 – 1970). Will died in Parker County, Texas on 10 Oct 1973 at the age of 79. He was buried in East Greenwood Cemetery in Parker County, Texas.

Montague County, Texas

Here are two marriages from Montague County, Texas, Marriage Records, 1873 – 1924:

Barnett, S.J. to Miss Estelle Stafford (vol. F, p. 274)
Barnette, Maggie to John S.J. Carlisle – 22 Apr 1896 (p.79)

Tarrant County, Texas

While researching at the Family History Library I gathered some Barnett family information. There is no known relationship to the Parker County Barnetts, but I thought I would post the information here.

From the DAR Tarrant County Cemetery Records:

Grapevine Cemetery
John W. Barnett, 1881 – 19–
Mary E. Barnett, 1886 – 1940

Lillian Barnett

There are a couple of interesting stories about Lillian Barnett. First, Lillian was married to Lon Baker, one of the brothers of my great grandmother, Verda M. Baker. Verda was married to Lillian’s brother Charles W. Barnett. It sometimes is, truly, a small world.

The second story is very sad. Lillian died very shortly after giving birth to her only child, D.L. Baker, at the young age of 21 years. According to my aunt Lillian had a very difficult delivery and things did not go well for her or for the baby. While the doctor worked, unsuccessfully, to save Lillian, her mother-in-law, Rhoda Baker worked with the apparently lifeless baby. She dipped him alternately in warm and cold water until he finally took his first breath. The baby was saved, but the young mother died. Rhoda went on to help raise this motherless grandson.

A Virtual Cemetery

Visit Kate Ruckman’s site at Find-a-Grave.com. She has posted cemetery information, bios, and pictures for many of the Parker County, Texas Barnetts and related families. Thank you for sharing, Kate.

http://www.findagrave.com/cgi-bin/fg.cgi?page=vcsr&GSvcid=62353

Family Search Labs

I had a great experience this last week at the familysearchlabs website. I used the Texas Death Records database to find death certificates for several of my Texas Barnetts and for some related families. The site was easy to use, but I did have a couple of names that I couldn’t find, even though I had previously found them in the Texas death index and there was one record where the image wasn’t found. I spent about 2 hours at the site and obtained copies of 10 death certificates. If you haven’t visited this site yet I would encourage you to check it out.

George J. Barnett Personal Page

I have added information on George Johnson Barnett. I also have a marriage record for him, but I have not uploaded it because the copy is very poor due to the poor quality of the microfilm. If anyone is interested please contact me.

Kelly Family Bible

I just visited the Parker County, Texas GenWeb site and found, much to my delight,  that Bel Wise has posted the Bible record for the Benjamin W. Kelly family. Benjamin’s daughter, Mattie, was married to James M. Barnett. http://www.rootsweb.com/~txparker/BibleRecords/KellyFamily.htm

James Madison Barnett Personal Page

I have added the personal page for James Madison Barnett. In addition I will be posting some documents, a list of land records and information on his wife and children. Does anyone have any pictures or stories of the Barnett family from Parker County, Texas?

Charles Wilkerson Barnett Timeline

A timeline for Charles Wilkerson Barnett has been posted.