FamilySearch ID: KWCB-M14
WikiTree ID: Barney-106
FindaGrave ID: 11009909

Adapted from “HIS LIFE; compiled by his wife and children”

He was born under very humble circumstances and by the light of a grease-wood fire at the old Palmyra Fort, on September 3rd, 1854. He was among the first children born at that place,during the year of the grasshopper plague. When a mere boy he had to gather fire wood and also had to herd cattle to help support the family. He spent most of his early life in Spanish Fork and Lake Shore.

Grandfather moved Grandmother and her children down on a farm he had secured in the north part of Lake Shore on the bank of Spanish Fork River, near the place where the Erastus J. Barney home now stands, they being the first family to move into that district at that time. Father was about 9 years old then.

Father and his brothers would herd cattle for the public, which was the main family support. They also grubbed brush, made ditches, built fences, and broke up land upon which they planted crops. There were no schools closer than Spanish Fork, 7 miles distance, so they were deprived of an education except what they learned themselves. But Father was very good at figures; very few could figure faster in their heads than he.

1860 U.S. Census:

1860 Census – W. F. Barney may be hidden in an effort to hide polygamous families – Will’s father, Ben F. Barney engaged in plural marriage (His second wife, Priscilla is listed but cannot find a record for W. F. Barney or his Mother (Caroline Beard Tippets Barney).

In his early life he would have to be on the lookout for hostile Indians, and as he learned to use a gun when young, he acted as a home guard, but never had to shoot at an Indian. But one night he did think he had shot one. He and his brother, Erastus, were out guarding the herd; they had gone to bed and Erastus was asleep. Father heard a noise in a ditch nearby; he awakened his brother an~ they listened, and soon saw what they thought to be the feathers on an Indian’s head. They kept watch; it would sway back and forth in the moon light almost like a little girl. They did not know what it was, but decided it was either an Indian or a Devil, so Father drawed down with the old musket and peeled away. The thing made no more noise so they lay quiet, and finally went to sleep. The next morning when they made an investigation they found he had killed a large skunk.

They had many other scares, but through some freak of fortune all were of a like nature. But on several occasions when the Indians were really on the rampage they would load Grandmother and the smaller children into row-boats and go out on the lake, pitch anchor in some cane or bullrush patch, and they would stay there and sleep in the boats until the danger was passed.

1870 U.S. Census:

Father was a good shot with his gun, and would kill lots of game, such as ducks, geese, etc., which they used for food, and also to sell to buy other necessities. Father liked good clean sport such as wrestling, boxing, horse racing, dog fights, rooster fights, mud dab switch fights, boat racing, swimming and the like. He also was a foot racer and an athlete. He could jump over the back of a horse. He loved to see horse-pulling matches.

When the Indians became peaceful he would do lots of Canyon work, such as getting out wood, posts, timber and lumber for their own use, and to sell to the public. He would take one of his young brothers along for company and to help. He learned to drive horses and oxen in his early teens, and was rated one of the best teamsters of his day. He was also an expert with an axe. Very few men at any age could out-do him at chopping or hewing.

Father, now in his early twenties, began considering Matrimony, and like most of the young men he was looking around for the most attractive young lady. He was a tall, dark-complexioned, brown-eyed, fine looking youth, and was liked and admired by many of the young ladies of the community. He finally set his heart on winning the hand of Lovisa Losee, a young and fair-haired, beautiful blue-eyed girl of 16 summers, the daughter of Isaac Losee and Sarah Gilbert Losee who lived on the New Survey. He had known her since the Losee family moved to Spanish Fork from Gunnison. They enjoyed the usual courtship, and were married by Bishop Franklin Stewart of Benjamin on the 24th day of December, 1876. He claimed that he received the best Christmas present that year of anyone in the community. After their marriage, he and his young wife settled in lower Lake Shore, near the home of his mother, and built a log house, cleared some land of brush, and soon had a good but small farm. He had a good team and some cows, and they were as well of as the average young couple. In the summer of 1877 they lived in a Government Wagon box with a cover over it at Warm Creek, between Santaquin and Goshen. Father hauled freight from Santaquin to Tintic, and are [then] from Tintic to Santaquin and Goshen. He helped move many log houses and other buildings from place to place for other people. He knew how to brace them to not go out of shape, and also how to hitch onto them so as not to damage the building.

1880 U.S. Census:

Their first child, a daughter Laura Jane, was born on the 18th day of December, 1877. She died on the 9th day of October 1878. A second daughter, Lovisa Adell, was born on the 15th day of April, 1879; and a third daughter, Sarah Eleanor, was born on the 2nd day of May, 1881. Their first son, William Arthur, was born on the 11th day of January, 1883.

When about 25 years [of age] age while out hunting ducks, he was accidentally shot in the leg and was painfully wounded, laying him up for a long time. He was always in a hurry, and moved quickly. This was the cause of many accidents in later life.

During the early years of their married life, Mother’s folks sold their farm on the New Survey near Spanish Fork, and moved to Orderville, Kane County, some two hundred and fifty miles South of Lake Shore. Later, father and his family made the long and tiresome journey down there on 2 different occasions to visit with Mother’s folks, and with his father and half-brothers and half-sisters.

In 1888, on the second trip, they came across a sheep that had fallen into a deep ravine and could not get out. Father got the sheep out and turned it loose. After traveling some distance they came across the herder and told him about the sheep; the herder said it was Father’s sheep, as he had found it, and the coyotes would only get it, so he should have kept it. Father was very careful not to take things that did not belong to him. These trips were made under real pioneer conditions, with a team and covered wagon, over roads that were not much more than trails in places; their cooking being done on a camp fire.

Father was a hard worker and an early riser. He was always up before the break of day, and had his cattle and horses fed as soon as it was daylight. He would have the family up, and they ate breakfast by lamp light. He built a good 2-room adobe house to go along with the log house so they were housed quite comfortably. Father was a very good teamster and cattle driver, and usually had a job at some saw mill logging. One summer when he and his brother Francis were driving oxen for Chisholm and Gardner at their saw mill, so well did they please them that when they quit in the fall, instead of paying them the $2.25 and board as agreed, they paid them $2.50 and board per day instead.

Several of the following summers were spent in the Canyon, logging, and in the fall father would drive horse power on some threshing machine. Father was instrumental in helping to get a private school started at the home of old Hans Ottesen, and their daughter, Emma Ottesen Halverson, was the teacher. This was a great help to the children of Lower Lake Shore and Palmyra.

We will now record some more births. A son Isaac Rufus was born on the 25th day of December, 1884. A daughter Olive Lorena was born on the 1st day of October, 1887, and Edna Estella was born on the 31st day of January, 1890.

The first home in Lake Shore was sold in the spring of 1891, and the family figured on moving to Southern Utah, but their plans were changed and they moved up in the canyon to White River, above Soldier Summit, where father had secured work running a logging camp for the Chisholm and Gardner saw mill. They took their cattle up there with them. Mother made enough butter for the family, the logging and saw mill crews. That fall, when they came down from the canyon, father purchased 45 acres of land near the shore of Utah Lake which he broke up and planted, and also fenced it. He also purchased a small tract of land up on the highway from his brother, Erastus, where he built a log house, stables and corrals for his cattle, and had an Artesian well drove. Thus they were comfortably settled by the time winter came. They raised some bumper crops of grain, hay; alfalfa seed; for several years their cattle herd increased and they were getting along fine. Several years later, the Lake and River were high and the land became water-logged, and the mineral raised, making the land unfit for anything except pasture. Father had some of the best pulling horses in the district, and usually enjoyed pulling horses with all comers. He also kept a race horse which he usually rode himself. He also kept a stallion which he took care of himself, and he broke more horses to work and drive than any other man in the district. While he lived there, all animals broken by him were good and true to pull, and easily handled.

Father was a lover of children, and would nearly always have some child or children with him. He would also load his own and his neighbors’ children in the wagon and take them down to the lake to see them swim and play in the sand and water. He helped some other men recover the body of a little boy by the name of Close who drowned in Utah Lake near the mouth of Spanish Fork River. Some years later, he also helped recover the bodies of Ray Leetham and Nora Hall who drowned in Utah Lake while skating. The bodies were fished out with the aid of a long pole provided by a neighbor, Joseph Aitken.

1900 U.S. Census:

Father was Deputy State Fish and Game Commissioner from 1903 until about 1910. When away from the district he would deputize someone to look after his work. On one occasion, father and his brother, Alma, were in the Canyon after timber. They were awakened by Sheriff Turner of Utah County, to help him recapture a murderer who had escaped by jumping off the train near where they were camped. He deputized Alma to guard the horses, and father to go with him to capture the man. Father was sent down the Canyon, and the sheriff went up. They could hear the man walk through the rocks; he made his way back to the track, near where father was, and hid behind a pile of ties. Father shouted to him to surrender, and fired a shot, which brought the sheriff, and he took the man in charge and stopped a train and took his prisoner to Provo It gave them quite a scare, and he said they did not sleep any more that night.

Other children born to them were 3 sons: Joseph Alva, born on the 9th day of December, 1891; Benjamin Leroy, born on the 31st day of July, 1894; Charles Lynn, born on the 20th day of October, 1897; and the following daughters: Jennie Maud, born on the 30th day of October, 1899; Ruby May, born on the 16th day of April, 1901; and Velma, born on the 24th day of May, 1905. Father used to haul lots of cedar and pinion wood from Cedar Valley. On one trip, an old hermit by the name of Swanson stole his wagon burs from his wagon while he was up getting out his draggs of wood. He would not give them up, and sooner than have trouble, he came home with some of the other men who were with him and consulted a Lawyer as to his right in seeking the burs. The Lawyer advised him to go the sheriff of Utah County or Juab County, and have them recover his outfit for him. His son Isaac, and a son-in-law, went over and got an order from the Juab County sheriff, and got the wagon, after some hot argument.

In 1906, father sold his 45 acres of land in Lake Shore and took up a dry farm in the South end of Cedar Valley and built a large log house there; also corrals and stables, and fenced his homestead. Two of his sons, William A., and Isaac; two daughters, Sarah and Olive and their husbands; and also the following took up homesteads: Hyrum Argyle, William Miles, Matt Argyle, Joseph A. Tippetts, Edward Dudley, Lew Lund, S.W. Ross, R.O. Thorn, Frank and Eph Barney, and a few others. These only stayed there for about 1 or 2 years. The 2 sons stayed there for about five years, and father and mother, with some of the younger children, were there for about 8 years. They raised some good crops of dry-land grain and put up some large stacks of Blue Grass hay to feed their milk cows, as they milked a large number of cows. Mother made large quantities of butter, and also made many pounds of cheese, all of which was hauled over the mountain to Eureka, about 12 miles away over a road that was not much more than a pack trail a large part of the way. Water for house use and for the stock had to be hauled in barrels, and a large tank of this would require 1 or 2 trips each day. The water was hauled from the Greely Spring, 4 ½ miles up the valley. At times, the young stock would be driven to the spring to drink there. This was usually the children’s work. The young girls and boys became very good with horses, and good riders. Swanson, the man who swiped father’s wagon bur, would come down and buy eggs, butter, and cheese, and felt very sheepish over that incident, but father held no grudge, but would kid him about being so small.

Father and mother had to maintain a home at Lake Shore as well as the one at Cedar Valley, so that the children would be able to get an education. This made it very hard because mother would have to divide her time between the 2 homes, and go back and forth over some very bad roads, mostly by team and wagon, a distance of about 40 miles. They finally purchased a new Ford car, and this was a great help in getting back and forth when the roads were passable. Father had to purchase a threshing outfit in order to get his grain threshed. They would thresh at Cedar Valley, and then bring the machine down to the Valley and thresh there, and up in Spanish Fork Canyon. One fall father went on crutches practically the whole fall, but he did his work along with the other men. The machine was run by horsepower at first, but later a stem engine was bought. The threshing was done this way for several years until the Mosida Company bought a machine. Then father sold his outfit and had the Mosida Machine do their threshing.

Father got hurt very badly while getting out posts at Cedar Valley. The horse fell on his leg, crushing it very badly, laying him up for a long time, but when he was able to get around on crutches, he would walk 2~ miles to the hills and chop posts all day, and walk back at night. He would take one of the small children with him to carry the lunch and water. He did this for several days. Life at Cedar Valley was equally as bad as that of their forefathers, that they went through. Some things even worse. The lack of help in case of sickness, shortage of water, lack of churches or schools, and the lack of companionship of neighbors. The loneliness was very bad; at times there were no one except their family in that valley, except an occasional prospector or sheep herder. The only sounds were those of the cattle, sheep, or the weird howl of coyotes. Their cattle herd increased quite fast, and they were able to get by and lay a little away from the sale of butter and cheese; and in fact it should have been mentioned that their Ford car was paid for in full from the butter and cheese fund.

1910 U.S. Census:

Father and mother finally decided that it would be best to sellout in Cedar Valley and purchase a place somewhere where they could be where the children could be at home, and at the same time get to school, for they believed in their children having a good education, which had been denied themselves. And, as they were unable to finance the piping of the spring down onto the farm lands, and to their place, so other families would settle there, and a school could be established, so that living conditions could be improved.

So they sold the dry farm ranch at Cedar Valley, after having investigated a ranch proposition at Kilgore, in the Camas Meadows Country in southern Idaho, where some of their sons had settled on cattle ranches. Father took an option on a 160-acre meadow ranch with a large comfortable log house, and a large hay and cattle barn, situated about one mile West of the Kilgore Post Office, and school.

They came back, and at once set about and sold the Cedar Valley place to some sheep men, and the next pioneer trip was started, this time a move into another state and a distance of around 400 miles. They shipped their furniture, implements, and livestock by railroad to a station by the name of Spencer, about 20 miles West of their future home; the family went by automobile. The move was very hard on father and mother at their age. The climate was different, conditions different, and new friends and acquaintances had to be made. The hard winters and deep snow was also a serious drawback. They lived in the Meadows for 2 winters, and made friends with everyone in Kilgore, both young and old. As father was always fair and square in all his dealings, and would always rather give than take, the people at the Meadows hated to see them move out. The children also hated to move away, as they enjoyed the sledding, skiing, and tobogganing. Father and mother went down to Lewisville, about 75 miles South of Kilgore, and purchased a small tract of land with an orchard and comfortable home on it. They sold their range cattle to a bachelor rancher by the name of Frank Hales, disposed of some of the milk cows, only keeping a few milk cows and father’s favorite team. The move was made, and again they were in a new place and had to make new friends, but it was not long as the people welcomed them with open arms. The climate was much more like the climate in Utah. Schools were handy, also church. Father wanted his family to go to church, but he himself was not a church-goer, but a religious man at heart and always wanted to do right by everyone. So it was not long until they were well acquainted with everyone and liked their new surroundings very well.

Father and mother made many trips back and forth between Lewisville and the Meadows or Kilgore, where they would visit their children and bring back a load of wood. They went by team and wagon. Father liked the Meadow country, with its frontier life, plenty of game: deer, elk, moose, ducks, chickens, etc., also good fishing. Father and mother were the parents of 13 children: 5 boys and 8 girls, all living except 2 girls, Laura Jane who died on October 9, 1878 when only 10 months old, and Olive Lorena who became the wife of Hyrum Argyle Jr. She was the mother of 2 children, and died after the birth of the second child on May the 9th, 1909, when 22 years old.

Father suffered a great deal with cancer of the stomach; despite this he and mother made 2 trips back to Utah to visit their children, relatives, and friends. Four of their children married in Idaho, all others in Utah. Father died on the 4th day of February, 1924, after a lingering illness. He was game to the end. Mother and all the children were at his bedside when the end came, except his oldest daughter. He was buried in the Lewisville Cemetery, at the age of 69 years old.

This history compiled and written up by Mother and his children during the winter of 1937~1938.

source: https://www.familysearch.org/photos/artifacts/40697877?cid=mem_copy

William Franklin Barney (03 Sep 1854 – 04 Feb 1924)
son of Benjamin Franklin Barney (12 Mar 1832 – 07 Dec 1904)
son of Charles Barney (23 Mar 1783 – 02 Feb 1865)
son of Luther Barney (04 Mar 1757 – 20 Sep 1844)
son of John Barney (17 Sep 1718 – 1807)
son of Jacob Barney (16 Jan 1694 – 23 Dec 1731)
son of John Witt Barney (01 Aug 1665 – 17 May 1728)
son of Jacob Barney II (1630 – 12 Feb 1693)
son of Jacob Barney I (abt 1601 – 28 Apr 1673)
son of Edward Barney (abt 1572 – 18 Aug 1645)