Person:Ebenezer Barnes (3)

Biographical notes for Ebenezer Barnes Sr.

Ebenezer was 13 when his father died. He moved to Bristol in 1727.

From: Savage's Genealogical Dictionary
EBENEZER, Southington, s[on]. of Thomas of the same, m[arried]. 8 Apr. 1699, Deborah Orvis, and d[ied]. 1756, leav[ing]. fifteen ch[ildren]. as Mr. Porter assures me.

From: Barnes Genealogies
He settled in the south part of the present town of Bristol, and built a large tavern which he conducted during his lifetime. His place was at the junction of the road east of the mountain, and the Plainville road.

Ebenezer Barnes was appointed ensign of train band at the parish of Southington, in Farmington, in 1737: appointed captain in 1742: appointed lieutenant of South Co. in town of Farmington, in 1768. (Colonial Records of Conn.)

He had sixteen children...

"In 1718, Ebenezer Barnes, of Farmington, was paid six shillings for killing wolves." (Historic Addresses)

From: various Internet sources:
The Barnes family before 1745 established a sawmill and gristmill near their tavern, taking their power from the Pequabuck River, about where the present dam of the Bristol Brass and Clock Company stands. In 1745 there is mention of the Barnes tavern in the New Cambridge town records.

From: "Ten Generations of Barnes in Bristol, Connecticut"
In the will of Thomas Barns, his son, Ebenezer, was given a choice of one of the outlands possessed by his father. In selecting a settlement in what was then Poland, he may have been influenced not only by the fact that his father, Thomas Barns, had received a land grant in the eastern tier of lots, but also that his mother-in-law, the widow Orvis, had also received an allotment in the same section... Ebenezer Barns became the first permanent settler of Bristol in 1728...

At the time Ebenezer Barns settled in Bristol, George II and Queen Caroline were sovereigns of New England as well as of the British Isles...

Perhaps the most remarkable feature of Ebenezer Barns' settlement in Bristol is the fact that he was over fifty years old when he left the settlement of Farmington to pioneer in the wilderness. He must have been a man of extraordinary physique and determination to found a new home under such conditions. No one of the present day can have any conception of the amount of labor involved in establishing a farm in primeval New England. Undoubtedly he had been trained in the school of hard knocks, since his father died when Ebenezer was thirteen, and it is probable that he had to shift largely for himself after that time.

... fifteen children were born. Of this number eleven were born in Farmington and four in Bristol.

There is no evidence that Ebenezer Barns fought in the numerous so-called French and Indian wars...

...He was, therefore, far from isolated in his new home, and his settling upon this colonial highway [an old Indian trail ... prior to the construction of the turnpike in 1804, followed the Indian route... the only highway from Farmington to Mattatuck] probably explains why he became Bristol's first tavern-keeper.

...Ebenezer Barns was moderator of this first meeting [of the "Winter Society"... This was actually the organization of the first Congregational Church of Bristol, the history of which has been continuous since that date.] On December 6, 1742, the first service was held at the home of John Brown who lived on King Road north of the Barns homestead. The Rev. Thomas Canfield, who later held a life pastorate in Roxbury, was the preacher. The Congregational Church in Roxbury now has in its possession a diary in Mr. Canfield's handwriting in which he states that he preached "at ye mountain, now called Cambridge in Farmington," from December 6, 1742, through the winter. This is the first reference we have to the name Cambridge as applied to what is now Bristol. It is evident that the name was popular, for a year later, when the General Assembly was petitioned by the local settlers for a "distinkt sosiaty," it was officially named New Cambridge.

From: loisbrlmrl@@erols.com:
Book, "Ten Generations of Barnes" ... has pictures & history about Ebenezer's home/tavern at a crossroads in nearby Bristol, CT. Some of the paneling from his home was used for the interior of a wing of the American Clock & Watch Museum in Bristol; & Ebenezer Barnes is named on the historic marker in front of the Burlington City Hall.

From: Connecticut Colony Records:
October 1742 - Upon the memorial of Ebenezer Barnes, Joseph Gaylord, and sundry other persons that are settled on the second, third, fourth, fifth and sixth divisions of land in the town of Farmingtown, that lye west of the reserved lands (so called) in said town, shewing the great difficulties they are under to attend the publick worship of God in the society to which they do belong, in the winter season; and praying for liberty to hire preaching among themselves for the winter season annually: This Assembly grants to the memorialists and such other persons as shall settle on the divisions of land abovesaid, within the limits following, (vis.) beginning at the south end of said divisions, and thence to extend north five miles, liberty of hiring some orthodox and suitably qualified person to preach to them for the space of six months annually ; said terms to begin on the first of November ; with all such rights and privileges as are allowed by law to other such societies in this Colony.

May 1744 - On the memorial of Ebenezer Barnes and others, inhabitants of that tract of land in Farmingtown called the Second, Third, Fourth, Fifth and Sixth Divisions, lying west of the Reserved Lands, (so called,) praying to be formed into a distinct ecclesiastical society... be called and known by the name of New Cambridge *.

• Now Bristol.

May 1745 - Upon the memorial of Ebenezer Barns and others, inhabitants of the fourth society in the town of Farmingtown... Resolved by this Assembly, that all the unimproved lands within the limits of said society or parish... to be taxed at six pence money, old tenour, per acre per annum... toward the settling of a minister and building a meeting house...

From: The memorial history of Hartford County, Connecticut, 1633-1884
The next year, 1728, Ebenezer Barnes, from Farmington, and Nehemiah Manross, from Lebanon, bought lands, built houses, and moved hither their families. Mr. Barnes's house has never been removed, and now forms the central part of Julius E. Pierce's residence in East Bristol; this was undoubtedly the earliest house of which any part now remains. Mr. Barnes's descendants have always remained here, and have been among our best-known families.

... These early families were all Congregationalists. Every Sunday a little procession went through the woods eight miles to the old church at Farmington... the meetings had been held at private houses; the houses of Ebenezer Barnes, John Brown, Stephen Barnes, Abner Matthews, and John Hickox having each been used for that purpose.

1. ↑ Researcher.

   Lynn Dielman, Sherrie Haines

2. ↑ Barnes, Frederic Wayne, and Edna Cleo Bauer Barnes. Thomas Barnes of Hartford, Connecticut, plus 1,766 descendants, 1615-1994. (Fairfield)
   p. 7, 16 and citing.

   The Making of Bristol, Bristol Public Library Association, 1954, p. 3; The Barnes Family Yearbook, Vol. 1, 1907, p. 10; Ten Generations of the Barnes Family in Bristol, CT, 1946, Chap.

3. ↑ James Savage, Former President of the Massachusetts Historical Society and Editor of Winthrop's History of New England. Genealogical Dictionary of the First Settlers of New England, Showing Three Generations of Those Who Came Before May 1692, on the Basis of Farmer's. (1860-62 and Genealogical Publishing Co., Baltimore, MD, 1965; Corrected electronic version copyright Robert Kraft, July 1994)
   p. 121.
4. ↑ Collected and compiled from Original Sources by Rev. Geo. N. Barnes. Barnes Genealogies. (The Rieg & Smith Printing Co, Conneaut, Ohio 1903)
   p. 13.
5. ↑ Compiled By Trescott C. Barnes, Secretary and Genealogist. BARNES: The Barnes Family Year Book, Vol. I - 1907 & II - 1908. (Vol. I -The Grafton Press, New York; Vol. II - Winsted Printing and Engraving Co, Winsted, Conn. 1908)
   p. 9.
6. ↑ McArthur-Barnes Ancestral Lines. (1964).
7. ↑ Fuller F. Barnes. BARNES: Ten Generations of the Barnes Family in Bristol, Connecticut. (privately printed 1946)
   Chapter 2.