Isaac
Newton Barrs and
Mary Elizabeth Boyet [My Great Grandparents] had their last child
in
1887 in Day, Lafayette County Florida. In the household were Molly
Campbell Barrs born 1875; William Newton Barrs born 1877; Oscar
Marion Barrs [My Grandfather] born 1879;
Eddie James Barrs born
1881; Ille Effie Barrs born 1884 and Gilley Orel Barrs
born
in 1887. Aunt Molly Campbell Barrs-Fielding was named
after
her Grandfather James Campbell Barrs and her Great Grandmother Nancy
Elizabeth Campbell-Barrs.
Because
most of the Federal Census Reports of 1890 were destroyed in a
warehouse fire we do not know
if James C. Barrs and/or Martha Elizabeth Land-Barrs
was/were
still living at the time of the 1890 census. We are confident that James
C. Barrs died between 1880 and 1887. Here their trail grows
cold.
Here we loose track of our G-G Grandparents James C. Barrs and Martha
Elizabeth Land in Suwanee-Columbia County Florida. James C.
and Martha Elizabeth's burial locations are unknown, but
believed to be in south west Columbia County Florida.
We
strongly suspect
they were buried in the old Ichetucknee Memorial Methodist
Cemetery in South Columbia County Florida, which is immediately
adjacent
to the east Suwannee County line with wooden head markers that would
have long
since been removed or rotted away.
Anyone
with information about their death or burial location is urged to
please contact Al Barrs at e-mail address: albarrs@wfeca.net
John
Wesley Barrs,
a son of James C. Barrs and Martha Elizabeth Land-Barrs
and his
Wife Laura, as well as a young daughter, are buried in the old Ichetucknee
Memorial Methodist Cemetery. There are signs of unmarked graves in
alignment with John Wesley's family graves. Only the
exhumation
of these unmarked graves and a DNA test will settle the matter of where
G-G Grandparents James C. and Martha Elizabeth Barrs are buried.
Oscar
Marion Barrs
[My Grandfather] married Bertha Lee Newman [My Grandmother] on
December
16, 1900 in Day Lafayette County Florida. She was born in neighboring
Suwannee
County Florida to George Crosley 'Cross' Newman (Sr.)
and Lucian 'Lucy' Virginia Grissman.
She was the
youngest child of ten. Great Grandfather Cross Newman who was
born in 1832 in
Tallapoosa County Alabama Indian Territory
and Great
Grandmother
Lucy Virginia Grissman was
born in 1844 in Richmond Virginia to Alexander Grissman. He was an
engineer and later became a farmer in Georgia and them Madison County
Florida before Lafayette County was divided from Madison County in 1858.
George
Cross Newman, (Sr.)
also served in the CSA and was wounded twice, the last time at Richmond
Virginia. He was a sergeant. After 'The War' he lost his
right leg
while running to catch a train on his way back home after The War had
ended.
Isaac
Newton Barrs
(My Great Grandfather) bought several parcels of land in and near Day
Lafayette County Florida
about 1880 and afterward. Great Grandfather Isaac Newton Barrs
built
a "large general store" in Day Town on one piece of the property on the
edge of Brewer Lake in 1904.
In 1970 my Mother's
parents, Wilford Franklin Bell and
Anne Maude
Morgan, owned and lived on one piece of former I. N. Barrs
owned property,
which a house had been built. They
lived there after selling their farm and until Pa's death in
1970.
My mother, Evia Adetha Bell-Barrs/Knouse, went to the Lafayette
County Courthouse in Mayo Florida and wrote down the ownership
(abstract)
history for this property before her death in February 1998.
Oscar
Marion Barrs
[My Grandfather] bought 80+ acres of 1830 Federal Homestead Act land on
June
3, 1905 in North Lafayette County Florida and just west of my
Grandparent's
Wilford and Maude Bell's farm. Grandfather Oscar
Barrs purchased the land in Gainesville, Florida. He built a
two-story
wood farmhouse that was never painted, was fenced (Because Florida
was
'open range' in those days where cattle and hogs ran free in the woods).
As I recall, the house had lots of roses and other flowers, which
Grandmother
Bertha Barrs loved. The home also had a traditional white swept
sand
yard, as did most country yards in those days when there were no lawn
mowers. I was born in a small house on Grandpa Barrs' farm that
Dad had built that just north from Grandpa and Grandma Barrs' house.
Grand
Pa Oscar
died there on July 18, 1940 when I was just 1 year old. He was buried
in
the Day Cemetery. When Grand Pa Oscar's widow Grand Ma
Bertha
Lee Barrs sold their farm, "Fonso" (Alfonso) Barrs, Sr., my
father, dismantled the house Grandma Barrs had bought in Day and built
her a smaller
more efficient house on the same two lots she owned lived until her
untimely death in
1970 in Day Town Lafayette County Florida.
Dad
had also build a small unpainted board and batten house for his new
family
just north a couple hundred yards down the hill from my Grandparent's
house on Grand Pa
Barrs' 80 acre tobacco farm. The location
of our small board-on-batten house is still known today as "The
Fonso
Place." Aunt Ethel Barrs-Fielding 's son Tommy Fielding
helped Dad built Grand Ma Bertha Barrs a new house in northwest
Day
Town near Brewer Lake. She took a job in the lunchroom of the Day
Junior
High School. She lived in Day Town until her death in 1970 following a
fall off her front porch. She died in the Valdosta Georgia Hospital.
Isaac
Newton Barrs
took on partners in his General Store in Day Town Lafayette County
Florida
in 1907. He belonged to the Free Mason Lodge
Number
166 in Day Florida, which still stands today just south of the Brewer
Lake
Baptist Church. The existing building is probably not the original
lodge.
The I. N. Barrs family members belonged to what is known today
as
the Brewer Lake Baptist Church in Day Town
Florida.
(My family also belonged to this church and I was baptized in Lake
Atkinson
in the 1950's... because Brewer Lake was partially dried up at the
time.
The church is on the bank of Brewer Lake. Lake Atkinson is the site of
a Seminole Indian War fort.) The town of Day was also located on the
edge of Brewer Lake. There was no road in the beginning and supplies
were off loaded from boat on the Suwannee river and hauled by horse and
wagon the several miles to Mayo Junction and Day. In 1905 the railroad
came to Day and supplies were delivered by train. The old Suwannee
River landing was abandoned.
Great
Grandmother Mary Elizabeth Boyet died in 1925 of blood poison
after
being spurred by a chicken she was dispatching to cook for a family
meal.
She and her sister (Mrs. Elizabeth Boyet-Rogers)
operated the "Day House,"
an early pioneer hotel in Day Town Florida. Great Grandfather Isaac
Newton Barrs owned the Day House at one time. I have an old picture of
The
Day House and I. N. Barrs General Store with members of
the Barrs
and Rogers families posing for their picture at the side of the
store. Great Grandfather Isaac Newton Barrs died in 1933
while living with his oldest child Aunt Mollie C. Fielding. Great
Grandparents Isaac and Elizabeth Barrs are both buried
in the Day Town Florida Cemetery and both have Masonic headstones. Just
to the west are Grandparents Oscar and Bertha, and my parent's
graves. To
the east of Great Grandparents Isaac Newton and Mary Elizabeth
Boyet-Barrs'
graves is his brother Andrew J. Barrs. His grave is unmarked at
this time. We are trying to get a tombstone, but don't know his date of
death. Anyone with that information is asked to e-mail it to Al Barrs
at
e-mail address: albarrs@wfeca.net