I was born and raised in a suburb of Minneapolis, well aware of my Minnesota ancestors and the roles they had in the early days of that state. This is more than likely why I so enjoy learning and writing of the early settlers and builders of Webster City.

One of my great-great-grandfathers was a blacksmith, hired by the U.S. government to make implements for the Ho-Chunk (Winnebago) natives that had been relocated from Decora, Iowa, to southern Minnesota (Decorah Township) near what would become Mankato. He was important to the development of the area because he was one of the few sources of nails for building construction.

When I first “met” Andrew Jackson Barr, known as “Jack,” in our neighborhood in Webster City, it was exciting for me to learn that he, too, had lived and farmed in Blue Earth County at the same time as my own ancestors. There is no doubt in my mind that he met and did business with some of my kin.

Born in Illinois, he and his wife, Catharine, moved to Minnesota two years after their wedding in 1853. Minnesota, in 1855, had just opened up some 1.5 million acres of land for settlement, finalizing two treaties with the Dakota. Jack Barr fought as a volunteer against the Dakota during the War of 1862. This was before he officially enlisted in the Sixth Regiment of Minnesota Infantry to campaign against the Dakota and, later, the Confederacy during the final year of the Civil War. Barr was transferred to the Reserve Volunteer Corp in late January 1865 due to illness. A couple of months later found him as part of the escort and guard squad for the burial of slain President Abraham Lincoln in Springfield, Illinois.

After the war, in 1868 or early 1869, Barr and his family moved from Blue Earth County in Minnesota to Hamilton County in Iowa, buying a farm several miles south and west of Webster City. Here they lived until 1887 when they moved into town. In the fall of 1908, an article appeared in the Daily Freeman Tribune describing the celebration of their 55th wedding anniversary, held at their home on west Bank Street in Webster City. Four of their five children, several grandchildren and numerous other friends and family attended the event.

The article states “Mr Barr is 75 and Mrs Barr is 73 years of age, yet both are well and happy, do their own work and attend church twice on Sunday”.

In addition to holding big birthday and anniversary celebrations, easier with a large family, A.J. Barr was also the beginning organizer of another family event that attracted much attention. Two weeks after the above anniversary get-together, an even larger gathering was held by the Barr family. A reunion was so well-attended, the decision was made to repeat it each September; Barr family members from several states attended over the years.

They became, unofficially, “The Iowa Barr Organization.”

The Webster City Journal of September 25, 1913, contains his obituary; Jack died a week earlier in his home on Bank Street, surrounded by his wife and all the children. The paper says, “Mr Barr was one of Webster City’s highest respected and beloved pioneers and a host of friends mourn his passing.”

Family has been, and still is, important in our neighborhood.

Our Neighborhood is a column by Michael Eckers focusing on the men and women whose presence populates Graceland Cemetery in Webster City.