William H. Barnes House

Introduction

Text-to-speech Audio

This Victorian-era residence was as a family home circa 1871 by Rochester industrialist William H. Barnes. Barnes was the proprietor, with his brother, of the Barnes Brothers Paper Mill, one of the village's principal employers. The house originally featured a wrap-around porch, which has since been removed. A wing of the house was separated and moved to an adjoining lot at 505 West Third Street to create a marital home for one of the Barnes children. After the deaths of William Barnes and his wife, his children, Edith and Clayton, occupied the house at various times until 1944, when the house was sold after the death of Edith Barnes.

Images

William H. Barnes House, north elevation, 2012

William H. Barnes House, east and north elevations, 2012

William H. Barnes House, north and west elevations, 2012

Backstory and Context

Text-to-speech Audio

This house was built by William H. Barnes, proprietor of the Barnes Brothers Paper Company (later Peninsular Paper Company and Rochester Paper Company) as his family home in about 1871. William H. Barnes was born in Cheshire, Connecticut on May 5, 1829, the son of Dimond Barnes and Ann E. Blakesley Barnes. He began working in a paper mill in West Springfield, Massachusetts in 1847 and came to Michigan in 1863, when he opened a paper warehouse in Detroit. He bought a mill in Rochester in 1864 and rebuilt it in 1865, establishing the Barnes Brothers paper mill with his brothers.

Barnes married Jemima Parmelee on August 31, 1854, and they had eight children, of whom the following survived to adulthood: Anna E. (wife of Samuel C. Goodison); May E. (wife of Lemen W. Hudson); Gertrude L. (wife of Gardner K. Wilder and Curzin O. Usborne); Katherine E. (wife of Augustus W. Tate); Clayton C. (husband of Charlotte Blanche Erwin); and Edith L., who died unmarried. After the deaths of William and Jemima Barnes, the house was occupied at various times by their children, Edith L. Barnes, who never married, and Clayton C. Barnes and his wife, Charlotte.

This property was purchased by Barnes on November 24, 1870; at that time, Barnes was still a resident of the city of Detroit. Ten years later, the lot adjoining the Barnes house to the west, now numbered 505 W. Third, was purchased by Barnes from Leander W. Peters. The Rochester Era described the Barnes House, which had an ornate, Victorian wrap-around porch, in an item published on July 17, 1885: "The finest looking and the most elegantly painted and decorated house in town is W. H. Barnes's residence on Cemetery Hill." Later the same year, on October 2, the newspaper reported that: "W. H. Barnes has been putting a steam heating apparatus in his residence on Third-st., west."

There were originally five buildings associated with the house on this property. One wing of the house was split off to create a separate residence at 505 W. Third, the lot immediately to the west which had been purchased from Leander Peters in 1880. The building at 425 W. Third, adjacent to the east, was formerly the carriage house for the main residence. The Barnes homestead remained in the family until the death of the last Barnes child, Edith, in 1944.

Sources

"William H. Barnes," in Portrait and Biographical Album of Oakland County, Michigan (Chicago: Chapman Brothers, 1891), pp.662-663.

"William H. Barnes: The Well-Known Paper Manufacturer of Rochester Passes Away at Jacksonville, Florida," Rochester Era, November 27, 1903.

"Edith Barnes Dies Saturday in Pontiac Hospital: Daughter of Paper Mill Founder Dies," Rochester Clarion, July 21, 1944.

Marshall S. Hadley of Avon Township to William H. Barnes of Detroit, November 24, 1870, a part of Out Lot #2 of the Village of Rochester commencing at a point 541 ft. west of the SW corner of Pine and Third, Oakland County Record of Deeds, liber 102, p.319.

Leander W. Peters to Jemima E. Barnes, April 8, 1880, a part of Out Lot #10 of the Village of Rochester commencing at a point 721 ft. west of the SW corner of Pine and Third, Oakland County Record of Deeds, liber 133, p.306.

Anna E. Goodison, Gertrude Wilder, Edith Barnes and Clayton Barnes to Ray B. Barnes, October 10, 1904, a part of Out Lot #10 commencing at a point 721 ft. west of the SW corner of Pine and Third, Oakland County Record of Deeds, liber 336, p.417.

"W. H. Barnes has been putting a steam heating apparatus...," Rochester Era, October 2, 1885, p.1.

"The finest looking and the most elegantly painted...," Rochester Era, July 17, 1885, p.1.

"United States Census, 1880," index and images, FamilySearch (https://familysearch.org /pal:/MM9.1.1/MW3Q-3G6 : accessed 25 Jul 2014), William H Barnes, Rochester, Oakland, Michigan, United States; citing sheet 26C, NARA microfilm publication T9.

"United States Census, 1900," index and images, FamilySearch (https://familysearch.org /pal:/MM9.1.1/MS9K-8JD : accessed 25 Jul 2014), William H Barnes, Avon township Rochester village, Oakland, Michigan, United States; citing sheet 1A, family 9, NARA microfilm publication T623, FHL microfilm 1240735.

"United States Census, 1920," index and images, FamilySearch (https://familysearch.org /pal:/MM9.1.1/MZQ5-F11 : accessed 25 Jul 2014), Clayton C Barnes, Avon, Oakland, Michigan, United States; citing sheet 23A, family 564, NARA microfilm publication T625, FHL microfilm1820789.

"United States Census, 1930," index and images, FamilySearch (https://familysearch.org /pal:/MM9.1.1/XQ1V-4QG : accessed 25 Jul 2014), Edith L Barnes in household of Earl W Goodison, Rochester, Oakland, Michigan, United States; citing enumeration district (ED) 0004, sheet 8A, family 173, NARA microfilm publication T626, roll 1016.

"United States Census, 1940," index and images, FamilySearch (https://familysearch.org /pal:/MM9.1.1/K4GB-SJW : accessed 25 Jul 2014), Edeth [Edith] L Barnes, Rochester, Avon Township, Oakland, Michigan, United States; citing enumeration district (ED) 63-4, sheet 17B, family 415, NARA digital publication of T627, roll 1798.

Image Sources(Click to expand)

Deborah Larsen