Person:Burnis Barnes (1)

There is disagreement where Burnis Barnes was born. According to family notes, he was born August 25, 1894 in Linn County, Missouri. His newspaper obituary states he was born near Chillicothe, Livingston County, Missouri.

Burnis attended school in Kingsdown, Ford County, Kansas, graduating from the eighth grade and later attended a Nazarene school in Hutchinson, Kansas. Burnis recalled following a horse and one man walking plow before he was a teenager on their farm located a short distance south of Kingsdown, Ford County, Kansas.

Burnis spoke of renting a place near Canon City, Colorado that had an orchard from which he sold fruit. Burnis living in this location certainly could be connected to the fact that Burnis' brother, Albert and his family had moved to the Canon City area, and where Albert and wife Elizabeth lived the remainder of their lives.

Burnis later sold household products for the Rawleigh Company, a company founded in 1889 by W. T. Rawleigh who started by selling liniments and medicines to farmers. Rawleigh was truly an American success story. By 1895 Rawleigh was manufacturing his own products, and by the early 1900's was producing and selling more than 100 different household products. The Rawleigh company still operates to this day, selling a variety of items from spices, flavorings, health products and remedies, to environmentally safe cleaning products.

Minnie was a minister for the Pilgrim Holiness Church, later known as the Wesleyan Church, and her work took her and Burnis to Nebraska, Colorado as well as Kansas. Burnis was a charter member of the Syracuse Wesleyan Church that was founded in 1933. Minnie died in 1964, just a few days after their 50th wedding anniversary. No children were born to this marriage, but they adopted Elbert Barnes, a nephew, and also kept Burnis' brother, Roy, in their home for about 9 years.

Burnis and his first wife had their own butter, eggs, chickens and milk. He said if he could get 5 gallons of cream a week and sell it for 5 dollars they could get by even if he didn't have other work.

Burnis had a Model A in 1931. Clifford Smith loaned him two tires so he could take some folks to Rocky Ford. (Daughter Nina Flick.)

For a time, Burnis lived in Bloom, Kansas and owned a small house there. He ended up selling this house two or three times because the buyers failed to keep up with the payments, sending the ownership of the house back to the one carrying the loan, which was Burnis. Burnis later sold the house for under $1,000.00. (Source: Son-in-law James Flick.)

Some time after Minnie died, feeling lonely, Burnis was looking for a wife. He was a patient of Marjorie York, a foot reflexologist who worked out of her house. Burnis asked Marjorie if she'd ever thought of marrying again. She said she hadn't considered it. At some point, Burnis asked Marjorie to marry him. Marjorie talked to her children about it and also spoke to her older sister. Marjorie's children liked Burnis, and Marjorie's sister said that due to her age she should consider it. Burnis Barnes, age 72, of Holly, Colorado, married Marjorie York, age 62, of Syracuse, Kansas, on April 3, 1967 in Campo, Colorado. It was the 2nd marriage for both, Marjorie's husband dying 20 years before. They made their home at Marjorie's house, located just outside of Syracuse, Kansas, where they resided the remainder of their lives. Later, they decided they needed more room, so at at age 80 and 70 respectively, Burnis and Marjorie planned and built by themselves, a room complete with stairway, located above their kitchen. This addition was quite an achievement considering their ages and the fact that they had no prior experience. (Source: Marjorie and Burnis' son-in-law, James Flick.)

Burnis was known as "Gramps" by his step-daughters Thelma, Frieda and Nina. I often think of Gramp's prayers when we came home. Sitting around the kitchen table for family prayer time, one request was always in his prayer, "Help us to be kind." God must have helped him a lot because he was very kind and had a gentle nature. Burnis loved to tell stories and jokes, and couldn't have been a better father. Burnis stood 5'-8" to 5'-9" tall. He always had a story to tell about the old days or one of his funny jokes. He would say, "Did I tell you about..." Even if we answered, "Yes, you told me," he would still tell it over again. One joke Burnis told many times was one he'd heard on the radio about two sparrows trying to get into a wren house, but the hole wasn't big enough so they hired a woodpecker.

Gramps told us about his friend, Granpa Jones, who stayed in a farmer's tenant house of four or five rooms. Gramps and this Mr. Jones were working a harvest in Spearville. They worked from 7 am to 7 pm, with about an hour and a half off for lunch. They got $2.50 a day during harvest at ten hours a day, and $2.00 a day after harvest. Gramps first wife was in town with her folks, so he would go in and stay with them over Sunday. Gramps said it took six or eight men in the header crew to cut the wheat in harvest. The header clipped the heads of grain from the stalks and elevated them into a header barge, a wagon with one low side over which the cut material could be pitched out with forks onto a stack. When harvest was over, two of the men ran the listers, working the ground, getting it ready for another plowing. They ran a six-head team of horses and two listers to work the ground for a fall crop. Burnis stayed with the folks he was working for, sleeping in the hay mow, but ate with the family. (Burnis' step-daughter Nina Flick.)

1. ↑ ^{1.0 1.1 1.2 1.3} Find A Grave.

   Burnis B. Barnes