Before purchasing the tanyard, Cornelius H. Barber married Sarah Lanning Britton on March 31, 1831. She was born on May 23, 1810 to Samuel Britton and Sarah Curtis. The marriage was performed by Rev. Kirkpatrick of the Amwell Presbyterian Church.3<\/a><\/sup><\/p>\n But Sarah died a year after Barber bought the tanyard, on January 4, 1836, when she was only 25 years old.4<\/a><\/sup> Sarah had two children, Mary Elizabeth Barber in 1832 (m. Augustus Bertron Reading in 1851), and Sarah C. Barber, about whom I have no further information.<\/p>\n Following a pattern established by his father (more about that below), Cornelius\u201a\u00c4\u00f4 second wife was Sarah\u201a\u00c4\u00f4s step sister, Cornelia Maria Britton, daughter of Samuel Britton and Samuel\u201a\u00c4\u00f4s second wife Elizabeth Bodine.5<\/a><\/sup> They were married about 1838 because their first child, Samuel Howard Barber, was born about 1839, followed by\u00ac\u2020Matilda 1843, Emma C. about 1847 and Willard 1850. Unfortunately, dates for Cornelia\u201a\u00c4\u00f4s birth, death and marriage, and dates for her mother\u201a\u00c4\u00f4s birth are only estimates since they were not recorded.<\/p>\n How Cornelius came to meet the Britton family is something of a mystery, since the Brittons lived in Kingwood Township, and Barber was raised on a farm south of Headquarters. Samuel Britton died intestate in Kingwood Township in 1814, a year after Cornelia Britton was born. Perhaps the widow, Elizabeth Bodine Britton, was living somewhere closer to Headquarters, along with her daughter and step-daughter, when Cornelius met Cornelia.<\/p>\n Shortly after marrying Sarah Britton, Cornelius Barber paid $130 to Daniel Butterfoss and wife Sarah for a 5-acre woodlot, bordering property of John Barber. This was probably near the Barber homestead on Lambertville-Headquarters Road. Two years later, he bought another 5+ acre lot adjoining the first one from Andrew Larason. Butterfoss had purchase his 5-acre lot from James Larason.6<\/a><\/sup> These were Barber\u201a\u00c4\u00f4s first recorded land purchases, other than the tanyard lot.<\/p>\n There was not much information to be gleaned about Cornelius H. Barber in the Hunterdon Gazette. What did appear was his involvement with the Amwell Whig party in the 1840s. This was probably inspired by his step-brother, John Barber, Esq., who ran a tannery at Headquarters and was very active in local Whig politics. Cornelius Barber also participated in the local militia; he was an \u201a\u00c4\u00faOrd. Sergeant\u201a\u00c4\u00f9 of the 2d Troop of Cavalry of the Hunterdon Squadron in 1840. 7<\/a><\/sup> As to the purpose of the Hunterdon Squadron in 1840, the men met regularly for drilling and parading, usually at a local tavern, bringing their equipment and uniforms. Why there would be a Hunterdon militia in 1840 is a question answered by military historian, Joseph Bilby. He informed me that local militias were the way our penny-pinching Founding Fathers maintained a military without funding an army. The few \u201a\u00c4\u00fauniformed companies of amateur soldiers in the state . . . were largely social organizations.\u201a\u00c4\u00f98<\/a><\/sup><\/p>\n In 1845, Barber purchased from his brother-in-law Solomon Holcombe a lot of 22+ acres in Amwell Township that he was already in possession of.9<\/a><\/sup> In 1853, when Barber was 49 years old, he and Adam Danberry switched properties. Barber sold two lots in West Amwell for $4500, (one of them the lot he bought from Solomon Holcombe), and Danberry sold Barber two lots also in West Amwell for $4600.\u00ac\u2020The Danberry lots, which included 70.45 acres bordering Jacob Servis, were located just outside of Lambertville. But the next year, Barber sold the property to Dennis Conover for a loss of $1,000.10<\/a><\/sup>\u00ac\u2020That is the last deed listed for Cornelius H. Barber. He was only 50 years old at the time, which seems young to give up being a land owner.\u00ac\u2020It may indicate that Barber was never cut out to be a farmer.11<\/a><\/sup><\/p>\n By 1860, he had moved to Lambertville, where he rented his home. He was described as 56 years old, white, a \u201a\u00c4\u00fagas manufacturer,\u201a\u00c4\u00f9 with personal property worth $300. Living with him were wife Cornelia M. age 38, and children Samuel H. Barber 21, clerk, and Emma A. Barber 14. Ten years later, Barber was still a resident of Lambertville, age 66, still a \u201a\u00c4\u00fagas manufacturer,\u201a\u00c4\u00f9 with a personal estate of $150 and no real estate. By 1870, his children had left home; his wife Cornelia was 48 years old.12<\/a><\/sup><\/p>\n Here\u201a\u00c4\u00f4s one oddity I find hard to believe: the census noted that neither Cornelius nor Cornelia could read or write. This is clearly an error because both of them were able to sign their deeds. Makes one wonder about the veracity of census records.<\/p>\n So far, though, nothing outlandish about Barber\u201a\u00c4\u00f4s history. The surprise came in his obituary. I found it in the abstracts of the Hunterdon County Democrat for years 1838 through 1888 compiled by Dennis Sutton. The obituary was published on October 14, 1884:<\/p>\n An old colored man named Cornelius Barber, of Lambertville, committed suicide at the residence of his son-in-law, Mr. Samuel Stockton, Saturday, 4th inst, by throwing himself into the well in the yard. He was in his 81st year.<\/p><\/blockquote>\n An old colored man? Really? Barber came from a long-established white family in Amwell Township. In fact, his death record stated that he was a married \u201a\u00c4\u00faGentleman,\u201a\u00c4\u00f9 born about 1804, died Oct. 4, 1884, age 80 years 5 months at Lambertville.13<\/a><\/sup> This demanded further investigation. Because of Barber\u201a\u00c4\u00f4s somewhat spectacular method of committing suicide, his obituary appeared in several other newspapers. The obituary published by The Republican on October 15th<\/sup> left out the matter of Mr. Barber\u201a\u00c4\u00f4s race:<\/p>\n On 4 Oct. 1884, Cornelius Barber, of Lambertville, committed suicide at the residence of his son-in-law, Samuel Stockton, where he made his home. He had been left alone in the house for a short time and during the interval, went into the back yard, uncovered the well and jumped in. It is\u00ac\u2020said that at times when despondent, he had threatened to commit suicide. Years ago, he owned the farm adjoining the fair grounds above the city, but had become reduced in circumstances. He was in his 81st year. He leaves a wife, Cornelia M. Barber, of Lambertville.<\/p><\/blockquote>\n Obituaries for \u201a\u00c4\u00faMr. Barber\u201a\u00c4\u00f9 were also published in the Belvidere Apollo of Warren County, and the Trenton Times. Both repeated the circumstances of Barber\u201a\u00c4\u00f4s death, but did not identify him as \u201a\u00c4\u00faa colored man.\u201a\u00c4\u00f9<\/p>\n The census of 1880 put Cornelius and Cornelia Barber in the household of Samuel Stockton, age 36, undertaker, living at 7 \u00ac\u03a9 Main Street, Lambertville, along with his wife Emma A. Stockton, 33, keeping house, and their two young children, Harry and Irene. Emma was the daughter of the Barbers. Cornelius Barber, age 76, was identified as an \u201a\u00c4\u00faexpressman,\u201a\u00c4\u00f9 but at the time he was unemployed. (Samuel G. Stockton has his own interesting history as undertaker, but that must be put on the back burner.) The census did not distinguish between North Main St. and South Main St., but the Sanborn Map for Lambertville shows no housing on North Main, so the Stockton household must have been located on South Main Street.<\/p>\n So, this brings us to the big question\u201a\u00c4\u00eewas Cornelius H. Barber of mixed race? That seems to be the only likely conclusion since he had spent most of his life passing as white. But the Democrat\u201a\u00c4\u00f4s obituary is the only place where he was identified as a \u201a\u00c4\u00facolored man.\u201a\u00c4\u00f9<\/p>\n I\u00ac\u2020was almost ready to run with this story, of a member of the Barber family being of mixed race, but then I had the sense to look at the original issue of the Democrat, rather than rely on the abstract prepared by Dennis Sutton. Here\u201a\u00c4\u00f4s what I found:<\/p>\n While checking out the obituary in the original Democrat, I happened to see another item that might have put the notion of being colored into Mr. Sutton\u201a\u00c4\u00f4s head.<\/p>\nWas Barber of Mixed Race?<\/h3>\n
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<\/a>Clearly Mr. Sutton made a mistake. Considering that he had collected abstracts of births, marriage, deaths, and a few news items from 1838 through 1888\u201a\u00c4\u00ee50 years worth\u201a\u00c4\u00eeI think he should be pardoned for an occasional error. And I would certainly not wish to discourage anyone from using this valuable resource. But it seems that when something peculiar shows up, it is always a good idea to double check, just to make sure. In a way it\u201a\u00c4\u00f4s too bad\u201a\u00c4\u00eeit would have been a fascinating story.<\/p>\n
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<\/a>Recent controversies over the removal of statues of Civil War generals have called our attention to the lives of African Americans in 19th<\/sup>-century America, especially during the period after the Civil War, when racism took on a much more violent cast. Tolerance for African Americans rapidly declined, and this intolerance included people of mixed race. But the “Colored Society Note” ends up poking fun at both blacks and whites, and I\u201a\u00c4\u00f4ll bet Mr. Sutton was still mulling over that one as he plowed through the notices in the rest of the paper.<\/p>\n