People of Canada
Andrew Barr of Lennox & Addintgon County, Ontario and Carroll County, Iowa
Andrew Barr was born in Scotland in March 1809. As a young man, Andrew, who was a son of John Barr and Ann Houston, married Agnes Reid. Their wedding took place on 19 July 1841. Andrew and Agnes settled into family life and before long had a household of six children. They had five sons and a daughter. Of these children, John was born in 1842, Matthew in 1843, Margaret in 1845 and Duncan in 1846. The names of the two other sons have not been established.
On 12 February 1848, at Paisley, Scotland, Agnes (Reid) Barr passed away. Some years later, in the summer of 1856, Andrew Barr moved his family to Canada West. They settled in Kaladar Township in Lenox & Addington County.
Andrew continued to reside in Lennox & Addington County, in Kaladar Township into the decade of the 1860s. With him at home on the census date in 1861, were his children: John, aged 19 years; Matthew aged 18 years; Margaret aged 16 and Duncan aged 15 years.
Ten years later, in 1871, Andrew had reached the age of 63 years and still resided in Kaladar Township. Only his daughter, Margaret, was by then living at home. She was married, her husband’s surname being Clark. They had a young three year old daughter, Alice. Nothing further has been discovered about what became of Margaret, her husband and daughter.
In 1872, Andrew moved to Carroll County, Iowa with his sons. From that time until his death on 23 September 1903, Andrew lived with his son, John Barr. When he died in 1903, his sons John and Matthew, were away in Scotland on a visit to their native land. They were not to learn of their father’s demise until returning to their home in Carroll County.
Duncan, the youngest of the boys, looked after the burial of their father to the Carroll City Cemetery. Other than knowing that Duncan survived his father, little more is learned about the lifetime of Duncan Barr.
At right is the headstone of Andrew Barr, his son, John and John’s wife, Elizabeth (Hunter) Barr in Carroll City Cemetery, Iowa.
Lifetimes of the Children
John, son of Andrew and Agnes (Reid) Barr, was born 19 March 1842 in Paisley, Renfrewshire, Scotland. He married at the age of 36 years, his bride being Elizabeth Hunter. She had been born 9 April 1853 in Perth, Lanark County, Canada West. Elizabeth, a daughter of Francis Hunter and Barbara Warwick, had gone to the United States in the year 1875. John and Elizabeth were married in Carroll City, Iowa on 1 January 1878.
A daughter, Agnes Barbara, was born to John and Elizabeth on 20 October 1878. This little girl only lived to the age of five years, her death occurring on 27 May 1883 at Carroll City, Iowa.
The next child born to John and Elizabeth was a son they named Frank Andrew. Frank was born on 30 March 1880 at Carroll City, Iowa. He grew up to marry Robina Bessie Provanche. They had two daughters and a son.
Brothers, Frank Andrew & John Hunter Barr, taken at Carroll City, Iowa
©SBest private collection
Younger than Frank were twin sisters, Nena Warwick and Nannie Rid Barr, born 3 October 1881 in Carroll County, Iowa. Nena never married but lived her entire life in the Carroll City area. When she died on 16 October 1977, the Carroll Daily Times newspaper ran an obituary for her the next day:
Nene Warwick Barr, 96, of the Carroll Manor, formerly of 117 E. 6th St., Carroll, died at the Carroll Manor, Sunday, following a long illness. Services will be held at 1:30 p.m. Tuesday at the Dahn and Woodhouse Funeral Home, Carroll, with the Rev. Allan Peterson, pastor of the United Presbyterian Church, Carroll, officiating. Burial will be in the Carroll City Cemetery under the direction of the Dahn and Woodhouse Funeral Home, Carroll. Friends may call at the Dahn and Woodhouse Funeral Home after 7 p.m. Monday. An Eastern Star memorial service by the Signet Chapter No. 1, OES will be held at 7:30 p.m. Monday at the Dahn and Woodhouse Funeral Home, Carroll.
Miss Barr, daughter of John and Elizabeth Hunter Barr, was born on Oct. 3, 1881 at the family farm four miles southwest of Carroll. She has lived all her life in Carroll County. She worked as a saleswoman at various places in Carroll including Lights Store and Smith Jewelry. She was a member of the Signet Chapter No. 1, Order of the Eastern Star of Carroll of which she was a Past Matron. She and her twin sister, Nan were two of the oldest members of the Carroll United Presbyterian Church. She was an honorary member of the U.P.W., a member of the Presbyterian Guild, Beulah Country Club and the Rebekah Lodge, Carroll.
Surviving are her twin sister, Mrs. Nan R. Ralph of Carroll, three nephews and two nieces.
Besides her parents, she was preceded in death by two brothers, Frank and John, and a sister.
Shown here is a photo of Nena Barr
©SBest private collection.
Twin sister, Nan Barr, married Truman Garfield Ralph. He was born 14 January 1882 in Hazel Green Township, Grant County, Wisconsin. They had three sons, LeRoy, born 1913, Raymond, born 1915 and John born in 1920. Truman Ralph died 19 October 1954, in Maple River Township, Carroll County, Iowa. His wife, Nan (Barr) Ralph died 6 December 1978 in Carroll County.
John Hunter Barr 1884 – 1973
©SBest private collection
John Hunter Barr was the younger of the two sons born to John Sr. and Elizabeth (Hunter) Barr. He was born in Carroll County on 11 September 1884. He is the other person shown beside his brother Frank, in the photograph above. John never married. His death occurred on 22 May 1973 at Carroll City. The Carroll Daily Times of 24 May 1973 ran his death notice:
Funeral services for John Hunter Barr, 88, of Carroll will be held at 1:30 p.m. Saturday at the Dahn-Woodhouse Funeral Home here, with burial in the City Cemetery. There will be a memorial service by the Carroll Odd Fellows Lodge No. 279 at 8 p.m. Friday at the funeral home. Friends may call starting at 7 p.m. Thursday.
Mr. Barr died May 22 at St. Anthony Regional Hospital following a long illness. Prior to entering the hospital he resided at the Foley Rest Home, 225 North Walnut Street. He was born at Carroll Sept. 11, 1884, a son of John and Elizabeth Hunter Barr. He was a lifelong resident of Carroll county with the exception of 20 years he spent in Sioux City as a funeral director and embalmer. He farmed before retirement. He was a World War I veteran.
Mr. Barr was one of the oldest members of the Presbyterian Church in Carroll, having belonged since 1895. He formerly held membership in the Masonic Lodge at Sioux City, and he was a member and past noble grand of the IOOF Lodge No. 279 at Carroll.
He is survived by two sisters, Mrs. Nan Ralph and Nene Barr, both of Carroll; three nephews and two nieces. Preceding him in death were a brother, a sister and a nephew.
John Barr, born in Paisley, Scotland, died 14 September 1907 in Carroll County, Iowa, United States. Elizabeth (Hunter) Barr, wife of John, died in Maple River Township, Carroll County, Iowa on
16 January 1931. She and John rest in the Carroll City Cemetery.
Matthew Reid Barr was the other son of Andrew and Agnes (Reid) Barr who married. Matthew was born in Paisley, Renfrewshire, Scotland on 15 April 1843. On 18 December 1866, in Wellington County, Ontario, Matthew was married to Mary Jane Thompson. Mary Jane was born about 1844 in Erin Township, Wellington County. Her parents were Arthur Thomas and Catherine Patterson.
Over the next three years, Matthew and Mary Jane resided in Erin Township. During that time, three children were born to them: Agnes Catherine in 1867; Andrew Thompson in 1868 and Mary Jane in 1871. Within a couple of weeks of the birth of her third child, Mary Jane (Thompson) Barr died on 17 April 1871. Following the death of his wife, Matthew Reid Barr went to lived in Carroll County, Iowa, in the United States. Matthew’s son Andrew Thompson Barr went to live in the States with his father. The two girls, Agnes Catherine and Mary Jane Barr, went to live with their maternal grandparents, Arthur and Catherine (Patterson) Thompson.
Matthew Reid Barr had remarried in the fall of 1874. His second wife was Mary Gardner Hunter. She had been born in Leeds & Grenville County, Ontario, on 24 May 1845. Mary was a daughter of William and Mary (Struthers) Hunter. Matthew and his second wife had a family of five children: Mary Elizabeth, born in 1876; Margaret, born in 1877; William, born 1879; Matthew, born 1882 and James born in 1883.
Matthew Reid Barr died 30 October 1927 in the city of Wells, Faribault, Minnesota. His wife, Mary Gardner (Hunter) Barr, died there on 22 February 1934. They rest in the family plot in Carroll City Cemetery.
Agnes Catherine, daughter of Matthew and his first wife, Mary Jane Thompson, married Henry Shortill on 22 March 1892 at Ballinafad, Erin Township, Wellington County, Ontario. They had a daughter, Agnes Jane born in 1894, a son Richard born in 1895 and another son, Mathew born in 1903.
Mary Jane, daughter of Matthew and his first wife, Mary Jane Thompson, married about 1890 to Henry Ward Snider. They also had three children: Cora Eva, born in 1891; Mabel Irene born in 1893 and Wickson Earl born in 1895. In the 1880s, Henry and Mary Jane lived in Erin Township, Wellington County. By 1911, Mary Jane resided in Toronto with the three children. Henry was not found with the family at this later date.
Andrew Thomas Barr, son of Matthew and his first wife, Mary Jane Thompson, went to live with his father in Iowa, in 1873. Born at Ballinafad, Erin Township, Ontario on 28 August 1868, he was just two years old when his mother died in 1871 and only five years old when he moved to the United States. During his lifetime, Andrew farmed for some years in Arcadia Township. Then in 1902 his moved to Nebraska and became a building contractor. This latter occupation he followed for the remainder of his lifetime. The last eighteen years of his lifetime were spent in Winnetoon, Nebraska.
Andrew did not marry. He died 26 December 1932 at his home in Winnetoon. His remains were brought to Carroll City for interment in the family plot in the Carroll City Cemetery.
Mary Elizabeth, daughter of Matthew and his second wife, Mary Gardner Hunter, was born in January 1876 in Arcadia Township, Carroll County, Iowa. She married Frank A. Myers. They had a son, Francis Vernon, born in 1896.
Margaret Hamilton, daughter of Matthew and his second wife, Mary Gardner Hunter, was born in July 1877 in Arcadia Township, Carroll County, Iowa. She married Rollo Nicholas Pascoe. They had three children: Lois born in 1907; Donald born in 1909 and Yvonne born in 1909.
William Hunter Barr, son of Matthew and his second wife, Mary Gardner Hunter, was born in Arcadia Township on
28 December 1879. William became a doctor. His wife was Ida Estella Maust and they had a family of five children. William died in December 1952 in Minnesota.
Matthew Reid Barr Jr., son of Matthew and his second wife, Mary Gardner Hunter, was born in Arcadia Township on
28 January 1882. He married Ruby Alverna Ingram, who had been born 3 March 1884 in Benton Township, Lafayette County, Wisconsin. They had a daughter, Mary Helen, born in 1908.
James Barr, son of Matthew and his second wife, Mary Gardner Hunter, was born 10 July 1883 in Arcadia Township. After completing his elementary and secondary education, James went on to Drake University, from which he graduated in 1909. He then practiced law at Waterloo, Iowa, enjoying great success. Throughout James’ lifetime, his kindly manner and sincerity, established many friends for him. About 1915, he became very ill and had to close down his office. James returned to his parents’ home in Wells, Minnesota and for a time entered a sanitarium at Conrovia, California. He died in California on 9 February 1918 at the young age of 34 years, 6 months and 9 days.
One family photograph remains unexplained for this family. Taken in 1894, by Rohner’s Studio in Carroll City, Iowa, a simple message is signed on the reverse side:
Souvenior of my Graduation from the
Carroll Normal College on Aug. 4, 1894.
L. M. Barr
Who this young lady was, remains a mystery.
