SAMUEL F. BARNUM, one
of the self-made men of this county, and at present residing at Leroy,
is a
member of the firm of Barnum & Keenan, proprietors of the Leroy
Flouring
Mills. He was born at Canton, St. Lawrence Co., N. Y., Aug. 11, 1824,
and his
father, Samuel B. Barnum, was a native of the Green Mountain State. The
father
was reared to manhood in his native State, and was there engaged in a
woolen
mill and also learned the trade of a cooper. He moved to Canton, N. Y.,
while
yet a young man and there followed his woolen trade and continued to
reside
there until his marriage with M. Rhoda Farwell. She was a daughter of
Jeduthan
Farwell, a merchant and manufacturer in Canton, who also owned a
flouring and
saw-mill, and a large stock farm in that county. He was a Vermonter by
birth,
and about 1835 removed to Erie County, N. Y., and followed his business
as a
merchant and potash manufacturer. About 1846 Mr. Farwell removed to
Defiance
County, Ohio, where he passed the remainder of his life. In 1834 our
subject's
father removed to that county and settled in Eden Township, where he
erected a
mill and engaged in the manufacture of cloth, following that business
until
1846. He then rented his mill and removed to Defiance County, where he
took
another mill, and in 1847 removed the machinery from the mill at Eden
to the
one in Defiance County. He continued in that business for two years
when he
purchased a farm near town and devoted the remaining years of his life
to
agricultural pursuits. He died on the farm in September, 1864. His
widow spent
the last years of her life at the home of our subject, her demise
occurring in
July, 1882. There were five children born to the parents of our
subject, of
whom he is the eldest: Harriet married S. A. Moore, and departed this
life in
1872; Eliza married George Bruner, a resident of Bloomington; Jeduthan
died in
Indiana: John is a resident of San Francisco, Cal.
The subject of this
notice attended the common schools of his native county until he was
ten years
of age when he commenced working in his father's mill and there learned
the
trade of a cloth dresser. He continued to work for his father until
twenty-one
years old, when he was taken into partnership. This relation existed
for one
year, when our subject rented the mill and ran it for his own profit.
In 1847
he moved the machinery of the mill to Defiance and assisted his father
in
setting up the same, when he returned to New York. His father, however,
sent
for him to return to Ohio, as the family were all sick and our subject
soon
after arriving there was taken sick himself. After convalescing he went
back to
New York and remained there during the winter of 1847. In the spring of
1848 he
moved his family to Defiance County and engaged, in company with his
father, in
the manufacture of cloth.
This relation existed only until the fall of that year, when our
subject went
back to York State, and once more settling at Eden embarked in the
lumber
business. He soon, however, went back to Defiance, and purchasing a lot
in that
place erected a building thereon. The climate did not agree with him
and the
doctor ordered him to return to York State, which he did, and for three
years
was more or less afflicted with chills and fever and unable to do any
manual
labor. In 1852 he was elected Constable and performed the duties of
that office
for one year. About this time he purchased twenty-five acres of land
and was
also elected Justice of the Peace, and attended to the duties of that
office
while cultivating his little farm.
In 1855 our subject
came to Leroy on a visit to his sister and accompanied by his father.
The
latter purchased 160 acres of land about one mile north of Leroy, for
which he
paid $11 per acre. They returned East, and the following spring our
subject
with his family came here and located and improved a part of the land
which his
father had purchased. It was an exceedingly dry summer and in
consequence
thereof the crops were a failure and our subject lost his all. He
returned to
New York $1,500 in debt and began life anew by working at anything he
could
find to do until the following spring. He then engaged as clerk and
bookkeeper
in a wholesale fruit, feed and vegetable establishment and remained
with the
firm one year. In 1858 he went on his father-in-laws' farm and assisted
him
until the fall of that year. Then in company with an old schoolmate our
subject
engaged in mercantile business, his partner furnishing the capital.
Their store
was located at Eden Valley, and they continued the business for two and
a half
years when they sold out, and from that time until 1865, our subject
performed
the duties of Justice of the Peace.
In the spring of 1865
Mr. Barnum came to Bloomington where he engaged as book-keeper in a
lumber-yard
for Bruner & Whitmer. He was with this firm five years and then,
moving to
Leroy. he, in partnership with Mr. Bruner, embarked in the same
business. He
soon thereafter added the coal business to that already established,
and one
year was engaged in buying grain for E. H. Rood.
In the fall of 1871 our
subject commenced buying grain on his own account. In 1872, in company
with
Bruner & Keenan, he purchased the flouring mill at Leroy, and in
1876 our
subject and Mr. Keenan purchased Mr. Bruner's interest in the mill, and
the
firm has since been Barnum & Keenan. Mr. Barnum is also interested
with Mr.
Keenan in farming and stock-raising, and they own in partnership 380
acres of
good land.
Samuel F. Barnum was
married to Clarinda Bunting in 1854. She was born at Eden, Erie Co., N.
Y., and
was a daughter of Levi and Christine Bunting. She departed this life in
1861,
and in 1865 Mr. Barnum was married to Eliza A. Patterson. Of our
subjects'
first union three children were born: Matilda M. married Charlton
Waters, and
they are living at Leroy; Henry C. died in Leroy in 1856, and Henry I.
is a
book-keeper for Barnum & Keenan. The second union of our subject
was blest
by the birth of two children Percy Davis and George Perrin. Mr. Barnum
is a
Republican in politics and has served the city of Leroy as Mayor, and
at
present is Supervisor of Empire Township. He was President of the
Empire Loan
and Building Association during its entire existence, eight years, and
has been
President of the Leroy Loan and Building Association since its
organization.
Socially he is a member of the Masonic fraternity, holding fellowship
with
Leroy Lodge No. 221.
Portrait
and biographical album of McLean County,
Ill. : containing full page portraits and biographical sketches of
prominent
and representative citizens of the county, together with portraits and
biographies of all the governors of Illinois, and of the presidents of
the
United States. (Chicago: Chapman Brothers, 1887), 244-5.
Transcribed by Judy Rosella Edwards
