George W. Barnard
George W. Barnard is a son of Deacon S. S. Barnard, a native of Oneida County, New York, who in 1829 married Miss Mary E. Andrus of Adams, Jefferson County, New York and moved to Michigan in 1837 where he became widely known as a prominent lumber manufacturer and dealer. He was treasurer of the National Aid Committee, which was formed to aid the “Free State” citizens of Kansas during their struggle to prevent slavery from being planted in their state and gave largely of himself for the cause.
G. W. Barnard was born in Adams, Jefferson County, New York in 1832 and moved with his father’s family to Michigan. He was educated in Detroit and resided there until 1852 when he went to California and engaged in mining for a number of years. In 1856 he returned to Detroit establishing himself in mercantile and was married the same year to Miss Anna W. Rice, daughter of Dr. Justin Rice who built and opened the first steam sawmill in Michigan. In 1867 Mrs. Barnard died, leaving three children, daughters, the oldest of whom Miss Linda P. is now deputy Postmistress at Sanborn, North Dakota; the next eldest Mary C. is the Postmistress of Cooperstown. In 1872 Dr. Barnard married Miss Ada E. Brindle of Detroit, an accomplished and most estimable lady who lived only six months after their marriage. Miss Brindle was a niece of Captain E. B. Ward who founded the great North Chicago Rolling Mills Co. and the largest owner of steamboat and vessel property on the Great Lakes. In 1875, Mr. Barnard married Mrs. Nellie E. Rice, a widow of a brother of his first wife, and sister of the Cooper Brothers, who own the great Griggs County farms. He has two children by his present wife, a son born in Michigan, and a daughter born in Dakota.
Mr. Barnard came to Dakota in August 1880 for the benefit of his health, and to see the much talked of great wheat fields. He remained in North Dakota about four weeks, and returned to Michigan to close out his business there, and in April following settled on the land he now cultivates about two miles east of the present site of Cooperstown. There were at that time four or five families in the county, while now less than three years later, the population is estimated to be 5,000, and a great many thousands of acres of lands are under cultivation.
Mr. Barnard was the first Treasurer of Griggs County, the first Director of Schools for Cooperstown District, and the first Postmaster of Cooperstown. An experience of Mrs. Barnard’s in January 1883 attracted much attention throughout the country. She started to return to her home from her neighbor’s house a distance of one mile, in a cutter, was overtaken by a blizzard and became lost on the prairie. When she knew that she was lost, with remarkable presence of mind, and almost without fear, though she knew that she must pass the night on the open prairie, she prepared to fight for her life. It was bitterly cold, mercury standing twenty below zero, and her only companion was her faithful horse. Spreading a blanket in a hole made in the deep snow by the floundering of her horse, she lay down upon it, and drew over her another blanket and robe, and very soon was buried by the drifting snow, so that she did not suffer greatly by the cold. When day dawned she found herself only a few minutes walk from her home, escaping with no greater injury than having the ends of two fingers slightly frosted.
None of her friends were aware of her terrible exposure; had they been, quite probably some of them might have perished for her during that fearful night.
From Atlas of Dakota, 1884 page 242