Biography of Solomon Barney, pages 539/540/541.  History of DeKalb 
County, Indiana; B. F. Bowen & Company, Inc., Indianapolis, 1914.

Solomon Barney

	One of the influential citizens of St. Joe, DeKalb county, 
Indiana, is the gentleman to whose career the attention of the reader is 
now directed, who is ranked with the city’s leading merchants and 
citizens.  A man of excellent endowments and upright character, he has 
been a valued factor in local affairs and has ever commanded unequivocal 
confidence and esteem, being loyal to the upbuilding of his community and 
ever vigilant in his efforts to further the interests of his city along 
material, moral and civic lines.
	Solomon Barney was born at Spencerville, Concord township, DeKalb 
county, Indiana, on September 22, 1844, and is the son of George W. and 
Jane (Bratton) Barney, natives respectively of New York and Pennsylvania.  
George W. Barney was born October 12, 1815, at Wellsboro, Essex county, 
New York and later accompanied his father on his removal to Ashtabula 
county, Ohio, where he built and operated an iron foundry.  When George 
Barney was a lad of fifteen years his father died and he soon afterward 
went to Canada, where he made his home with an older brother until 1838.  
In the latter years he came to DeKalb county and assisted in building 
the dam and mill at Orangeville.  In 1840 he moved to Spencerville and 
entered the employ of R. J. Dawson as manager of the latter’s mill, 
store and farm.  In 1861 Mr. Barney was elected treasurer of DeKalb 
county, serving acceptably for four years, and then engaged in the 
mercantile business at Spencerville, where he remained until 1879, when 
he retired from active business life, his death occurring on August 6, 
1897.  He was a man of influence and prominence in his community and 
served as justice of the peace for twenty years, on the entire 
satisfaction of his fellow citizens.  On May 28, 1840, he married Jane 
Bratton, and to them were born seven children, namely: Lucius, John, 
Solomon, Benjamin Franklin, Mary, Marquis and George, all deceased 
excepting the subject of this sketch and Benjamin Franklin.
	The subject of this sketch received his education in the common 
schools of his native township, completing his studies in Auburn high 
school, and then took a course of training in the Eastman Business 
College at Poughkeepsie, New York.  In 1866 he engaged in the 
mercantile business in Spencerville, where he remained until 1878, and 
in 1882 he located in St. Joe where he has since engaged in the mercantile 
business, in which he has met with most pronounced success.  He owns the 
property in which his store is located and also a very desirable 
residence property in St. Joe, and in everything with which he has been 
connected, he has met with well deserved success.  Beginning in a small 
way, his business gradually grew until today he is one of the enterprising 
and prominent business men of his section of the county, his success 
being in large part due to his close attention to business, his 
courteous treatment of his customers, and his high personal character.
	On March 13, 1870, Mr. Barney was united in marriage with 
Cordelia Gibford, whose death occurred on December 31, 1901. To them 
were born two children: George M., born January 19, 1871, who was 
married on October 11, 1897, to Dell Turrittin, and they have one 
child, Pauline; Violet M. born February 28, 1877, married a Mr. 
Johnson, of Tiffin, Ohio, and to them have been born three children: 
Josephine, Ethel Belle and Robert V.
	Politically, Mr. Barney has been a lifelong Democrat and has 
taken an active and intelligent part in political affairs especially 
pertaining to local election.  Religiously, he is a member of the 
Methodist Protestant church, while fraternally he belongs to the 
Knights of Pythias and Independent Order of Odd Fellows. In the last 
named order he has been especially prominent and for fifteen years has 
rendered efficient service as district deputy grand master.  The 
subject’s career has been an honorable one, his relations with his 
fellow men having ever been above reproach and his good name beyond 
criticism. As already indicated, he wears the proud American title of 
self-made man and, being in the most liberal sense of the term the 
architect of his own fortunes, he may well feel a sense of pride in his 
achievements and the honorable position to which he has attained among 
the enterprising and successful citizens of the county in which his 
entire life has been passed.

Submitted by:
Arlene Goodwin
Auburn, Indiana
Agoodwin@ctlnet.com