Summary Information
Joel Allen Barber Papers
1832-1918
- Barber, Joel Allen, 1834-
Micro 136
1 reel of microfilm (35mm)
Wisconsin Historical Society (Map)
Primarily letters exchanged by Barber, a surveyor in northern Wisconsin and later a soldier in the 25th Wisconsin Volunteer Infantry, and his parents in Vermont from 1854 to 1865. Written from Superior, Ashland, and La Pointe, Barber's letters refer to economic conditions and pioneer life, to Indian affairs, and to Catholic and Protestant missions. Also included are Civil War letters by Barber; letters from his father, G. A. Barber, while in Montpelier participating in sessions of the Vermont House of Representatives; and miscellaneous items including a Revolutionary War pension statement and genealogical data on the Green family; two letters, Sept. 4 and 27, 1870, written by Joseph C. Cover, U.S. consul at Fayal in the Azores; and a printed memorial address by Col. Clement A. Lounsberry.
English
http://digital.library.wisc.edu/1711.dl/wiarchives.uw-whs-micr0136 ↑ Bookmark this ↑
Biography/History
Joel Allen Barber (1834-post 1909) was the son of Giles A. Barber (1803-1879) of Cambridge and Johnson, Vermont, and the nephew of Joel Allen Barber (1809-1881), Wisconsin legislator and Congressman. The senior J. Allen Barber came from Vermont and settled in Lancaster, Wisconsin, in 1837. He was followed by his father, by his brother T. M. Barber, who became a Lancaster merchant, and by numerous other relatives in the 1840's and 1850's.
Giles A. Barber had three sons who reached manhood: Augustus (1831-1856), Joel Allen, and Amherst Willoughby (1841-1920). Joel Allen came to Wisconsin in 1854. After a term as a school teacher in the Blake's Prairie area of Grant County and several months in Lancaster engaged in varied occupations suggested by his uncles, he went to the Lake Superior region in June, 1855, to join his brother Augustus, who was engaged in copper and land speculation and in a surveying business. Augustus was killed in an accident in the spring of 1856 but Joel Allen remained in northwestern Wisconsin as a surveyor until 1861. During the Civil War, he served from 1862 to 1865 in Co. C of the 25th Wisconsin Infantry and was first lieutenant of his unit at the time of his discharge.
Scope and Content Note
The collection consists primarily of letters exchanged by Joel Allen Barber and his parents from 1854 to 1865. The letters by Allen--as he was known in his family, to distinguish him from his uncle--were written from Superior, Ashland, and La Pointe and contain many references to economic conditions and pioneer life in northern Wisconsin in the 1850's, to Indian affairs, and to Catholic and Protestant missions. In letters from Vermont, his parents commented on these matters as well as related news of eastern business and politics. G. A. Barber served several terms as judge in Lamoille County, and represented the town of Cambridge in the Vermont House of Representatives in 1858 and 1859. The collection includes numerous letters which he wrote from Montpelier during the sessions. He had also visited Allen in the fall of 1856, and his letter of November 3, 1856, was written during a rough voyage down Lake Superior and Lake Michigan in the famed steamboat “Lady Elgin.” Included in the collection are also Civil War letters written by Allen from Georgia, North Carolina, and Virginia.
Miscellaneous items in the collection include: a copy of the pension statement, 1832, for Revolutionary War service by Elias Green of Massachusetts; will of Elias Green, 1840; letters in 1890 and after by Amherst Willoughby Barber relating some genealogical data on the Green family; two letters, dated September 4 and 27, 1870, written by Joseph C. Cover, United States consul at Fayal in the Azores, to his son John at Lancaster; and a printed memorial address by Col. Clement A. Lounsberry, Amherst Willoughby Barber (Washington, D.C., 1921).
Administrative/Restriction Information
Originals loaned for copying by Mrs. David Crichton, Lancaster, Wis., October 19, 1961.
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