James
Barrs
[Uncle to James C. Barrs] at age 74 was in the Pulaski County,
Georgia
Census: Born 1795 in North Carolina (Lenoir County, NC) with property
valued at $100. He has a younger wife age 55, Ann E. Pipkin
with 2 grandsons William Joshua Barrs age 14 and James
Grover
Barrs age 6 in his household. William
Joshua and James Grover were the sons of James Barrs
' oldest son George Grandberry Barrs and his wife Elizabeth
Cole.
James
C. Barrs
at age 49 was in the 1870 Brooks County Georgia Census: Household: Elizabeth
(Martha Elizabeth Land) age 49; James Henry L. Barrs was no
longer
in the household (Probably married and believed to have been living in
Hillsboro County Florida where he also helped establish a town and
became a citrus grower.): William T. (Taylor) Barrs age 23; Isaac
Newton
Barrs [My Great Grandfather] age 20; Francis Marion Barrs
age
18; John Wesley Barrs age 16; Andrew J. Barrs age 14 (Henry
J. Barrs born 1857 in Wakulla County Florida) and Parmelia
Barrs age 12 (She married John Gilley of Suwannee County
Florida.)
and was later called "Amelia." She and John Gilley are buried in
the Santa
Fe Cemetery just north off US 27 highway in Hildreth Florida.
Amelia (Parmelia) was still in her parents household in Suwannee County
Florida at the time of the 1880 Federal Census.
James
C. Barrs and
some family members moved to south Suwannee-Columbia County Florida
around
1870-71. Jim Barrs built or bought and operated the Barrs
General Store and established Barrsville Florida. James
C.
Barrs'
General Store was located in Barrsville Columbia County Florida
on the Old Military and Telegraph Road, which lay some fourteen (14)
miles
south from Lake City Columbia County Florida and eight (8) miles north
from the Santa Fe River. Just to the west lies the old
Ichetucknee Methodist Memorial Cemetery where I believe James C. and Martha Elizabeth Barrs are buried
beside their son, John Wesley Barrs, his wife and a young daughter.
Only John Wesley Barrs and his family have headstones. We believe James
C. and Martha Elizabeth Barrs were buried with wooden markers which
have long since disappeared in the moist hammock climate of the
cemetery.
The Barrsville
area
had originally been settled
by a Mr. Giles Underwood Ellis in 1845 and was called "Ellisville
Florida"
before it died out. Ellisville today is located at the intersection of
Interstate 75 and highway US 441 and several miles east of the
original Ellisville
settlement. However the Ellisville of today is not the site of old
Ellisville or Barrsville. The
old town site is several miles due west of present day Ellisville, who
got its namesake from
Mr. Ellis. The proposed railroad from Lake City to Fort White was the
motivation for several small towns to spring up along its proposed
route. Unfortunately the railroad was never built and most of the
little settlements eventually died out. Leno Florida, the present day
site of Florida O'Leno State Park, was one of those settlements that
failed to survive the absence of the railroad.
James
C. Barrs
established Barrsville and chartered a U. S. Postal Office
in 1871. The U. S. Post Office in Barrsville Columbia
County
Florida existed intermittently from June 8, 1871 to March 9, 1882.
The Barrs family no doubt had hoped that the establishment of a
railroad would
make them and their town prosperous. Several
towns established on the potential rail line, such as Leno, declined
when
the railroad did not materialize. (See USGenWeb.org Columbia County
Florida
Web site for Barrsville, Florida history at http://www.rootsweb.com/%7eflcolumb/barrsville.htm)
Isaac
Newton Barrs
(My Great Grandfather), a son of James C. Barrs and Martha
Elizabeth
Land-Barrs, was a member of the 'Offices of The Nankin District, S.
of T,' Brooks County Georgia during April 1872, as reported in The
Nankin
District newspaper. Isaac Newton Barrs did not go with his
parents
to Suwannee-Columbia County Florida but stayed in Brooks County
Georgia. He met and married a Brooks County Georgia girl in 1873, Mary Elizabeth Boyet.
Instead Isaac
Newton Barrs and his wife Mary
Elizabeth Boyet (Boyette or Boyett) moved
to
Lafayette County Florida sometime between 1874 and 1879. Isaac
Newton and Mary Elizabeth Barrs settled in Day (Day
Town) Lafayette County
Florida
where he "built a large general store in 1904." There was a
Cotton Gin in Day. Other sons, along
with James C. and Martha Elizabeth's youngest child
and only
daughter Parmelia Barrs-Gilley, did go to Suwannee-Columbia
County
Florida with their parents around 1870. Francis Marion and John
Wesley settled in Suwannee County near their parents. The youngest
son, Andrew J. Barrs, settled in Lafayette County Florida with his
brother Isaac Newton Barrs. He was a farmer.
We
know that John Wesley, Francis Marion and Parmelia
(Amelia)
Barrs settled in Suwanne and Columbia Counties Florida. James
C. and Martha Elizabeth, and Amelia Barrs were
living
in Suwannee County Florida during the 1880 Federal Census. The
location
of Barrsville and where they were probably living in 1880 is
located
on the east Suwannee and west Columbia County's border.
Isaac
Newton Barrs
married Mary Elizabeth Boyet on January 12,
1873 in Brooks County Georgia. Mary
Elizabeth was born March 11, 1857 in
Lowndes County Georgia. She died of blood poisoning in 1925. He died in
1933 in the home of their daughter Mollie Campbell Barrs-Fielding.
Oscar
Marion Barrs (My
Grandfather) was born January 5, 1879 in Day, Lafayette County Florida
to Isaac Newton Barrs and Mary Elizabeth Boyet-Barrs.