He Came Across On The Harvest Queen

This week the prompt is King and I immediately thought of the 3rd great grandparents of my Step-Mom. I recently discovered the fascinating obituary full of wonderful detail of John Barnett. It may be a far leap to get from King to Mr. Barnett, but being from America the first thing I think of when I hear King or Queen is England. And as you will see from the obituary of John Barnett, he was born in England, as was his wife, and children, including Dawna's 2nd great grandmother Eliza Barnett wife of Joseph David. But I am getting ahead of myself.

Let's go ahead and start with the obituary I mentioned earlier. And see what information we can gather by dissecting it and using FamilySearch (Free site - Registration is required). Ancestry requires I upgrade before it will give information on records over seas. FamilySearch won't show the actual record but it will give information from the record.

This obituary was found on Newspapers.com from The Democratic Press; 10 July 1879



If we do a search for John Barnett born in Rugby, Warwickshire, England we find the following family in the 1851 Wolston, England, Census. They match up perfectly with the names listed in the obituary above.

Remembering that John didn't come to the US until around 1866 we can find yet another census record from England, the 1861 Bedworth, Warwickshire, Census.

This particular census give us a bit more information on the individuals, including what they did for employment. Below are screenshots of John and his daughter Eliza. He is a Coal Miner and she is a
Ribbon Factory Picker. I'm not including the images for the rest of the family, but Eliza's younger sister Mary is 14 and is listed as a 'silk factory throwster' which is someone who twists silk fibers into thread.

A quick Google search led me to a fascinating article about Silk Ribbon Weaving in Bedworth and surrounding areas, where this family was from.

I have located what I believe to be the manifest with John and his family on it. I have traced my own lines to various countries over seas but they are all Pre-Revolutionary War. It was really neat to see someone who came much later than that. I can't be certain, especially since a few details (mainly 'Place of Origin'  --  Ireland) are incorrect. But I also know from experience early records are often times incorrect or off by a bit here and there, depending on who took the information. (A good example is John and Eliza Barnett are living right next door to Joseph and Eliza David in the 1870, Ravenna, Census but their last name is written as Barnard.)

Below is the image of the family I believe to be him. The ship, the Harvest Queen, is said to have departed Liverpool, England and arrived in New York, New York on 18 Oct 1866.

The names are correct, only missing Henry who being old enough to be a man himself and most likely already married back in England could have come on his own later or even earlier. I don't know what to make of 22 year old Eliza being referred to as a servant unless that was her station in England and her sister Mary as a wife, unless she was married and her husband was dead or not present or the 8 month old Mary at all unless she was the child of Mary A that did not survive. Never-the-less, I do believe this to be them.

Here is an advertisement out of the New York Daily Herald, from Friday, 16 March 1866. This may shed some light on the whole Ireland misinformation.

Without upgrading subscriptions or subscribing to new genealogy sites all together, my research can be somewhat limited with this family, but with a bit of creativity we can try to piece together information. For instance I was able to find this John and Eliza Barnett family in the 1841 census, but noticed their son Isaac was missing and there was an infant Harriet, that must not have survived long after the census was taken. When I tried finding Isaac for that census year, I found him living with the John Dunn family. From the obituary, we know that Eliza's maiden name was Dunn, and the ages lead me to believe this family is Eliza's parents. *Notice Selina Dunn --- Dawna's great grandmother, the daughter of Joseph and Eliza David was named Frances Selina/Celena David.

I had a little bit of difficulty finding any record for their marriage, and eventually discovered why. Eliza was transcribed as Elija. This record gives us a specific day, 18 Oct 1831




As of now, I have not been able to find Eliza Dunn Barnett anytime after her mention in her husband's obituary. Not even in the 1880 census. This has led me to search out all the children, to see if she is somehow living with one of them. In doing so, I have discovered many trades or skill sets, that I hardly ever find when researching my own ancestors, who are always farmers.

I will list them in the order they are named in the obituary.

Joseph David - In this census his occupation is listed as a laborer, but in 1870, 1860, and 1850 his occupation is listed as glass blower.

*In the 1870 census you will note children Joseph and Harriet. There is a newspaper article that mentions the death of 8 year old Joseph from heart problems. And Harriet never shows up again, either. I assume she died as well. (speaking of inaccurate records; in the birth records from Ravenna, in March of 1870 there is a birth of a daughter her name is taken as Eliza. The father is Joseph David. This is most likely the birth record of Harriet from the above census. 

George Hartopp, his wife Mary and their 12 year old daughter , Harriet, all work in the silk mill. And in the 1881 Paterson directory he is listed as a weaver. Because of the magnitude of the silk industry in Paterson, it earned the nickname 'silk city'.

Henry Barnett, is living in Arkansas, so like much of my ancestors, his occupation is farmer. As you will eventually see (in later blog posts)  Eliza's children end up in Yell County, Arkansas. I had wondered what brought them South, but after closer inspection, now understand they most likely came to their uncle after the death of their father.

Charles and Isaac are still living in England. As you can see, there is no record of their mother Eliza Dunn Barnett living with any of the grown children. I wonder if she died soon after? I have yet to find burial information on John and can find no record for Joseph and Eliza David after the 1880 census other than her headstone in the Oak Grove Cemetery in Yell County, AR where her daughter Florence is also buried.

Joseph David is said have died 4 March 1884 and to buried in Standing Rock Cemetery in Kent, Ohio. I have found no record of that, but I did find this on FamilySearch. I am fairly certain this is him considering his profession.



I can not think of much more I can write, other than, out of curiosity, I wondered what the Mr. Alexander Topping, who employed John Barnett at the time of his death, did or owned. The 1870 census gives his occupation as Lawyer, while the 1880 said he was retired. Numerous newspaper articles said he was Justice of the Peace. I wonder if Mr. Barnett was a butler or secretary or gardener?

Until next time,
Becky