Elizabeth Barnes

Elizabeth Barnes's signature, 1869 (SCSU Archives)

Wilder plot marker, Memorial Park Cemetery, Grand Forks, North Dakota (Find A Grave)

Lizzie Barnes Wilder headstone, Memorial Park Cemetery, Grand Forks, North Dakota (Find A Grave)

Elizabeth “Lizzie” W. Barnes was the daughter of Nathan Frederick and Mary Pepperell (Sparhawk) Barnes. Her father was among St. Cloud’s most influential figures. Born in Portland, Maine on June 26, 1817, Nathan received an academic education before working as a joiner and serving as a Navy midshipman from 1834 to 1839. In 1840, he began studying law and was admitted to practice in 1843. He practiced while in Conway, New Hampshire, where he and Mary were married on April 25, 1844. In 1850, Nathan was appointed mail agent on the sea route to California via Panama. He served six years before settling in California around the time of Elizabeth’s birth on October 9, 1856. Two years later, they moved to Alexandria, Minnesota, where Nathan took up farming. He and another person were described as the only residents remaining in their neighborhood to survive the U.S.-Dakota War of 1862 - it was likely that Mary had evacuated at an earlier time with their children. The family moved to St. Cloud in 1865, where Nathan reestablished himself as a lawyer and became editor of the St. Cloud Times, the area's Democratic-leaning and pro-segregation newspaper. He served many years as city clerk and city justice and was elected to the Minnesota House of Representatives in 1866 and 1874. His advocacy was instrumental in bringing the Third State Normal School to the city and choosing its site along the Mississippi River. From 1869 to February 1870, he was the school's first resident director with class in session.

Elizabeth and her sister, Margaret, were among the school’s first students. Living at home while focusing on their studies, the two later graduated together with the school’s first class on June 30, 1871. Elizabeth lived at home with her parents and siblings and taught school until the late 1870s, when she married William Leroy Wilder. Wilder worked in insurance in Grand Forks, North Dakota. In Grand Forks, they raised three children: Percival H. (1880), Inez “Amy” H. (1883), and Mabel “May” B. (1889). When the school celebrated its first 50 graduating classes on May 31, 1921, Elizabeth was the only member of the first graduating class to attend the celebration. After William’s death sometime between 1910 and 1930, Elizabeth and daughter Inez relocated to Grove Park, Minnesota, but moved back to Grand Forks by 1935. There, Inez supported her mother working as a librarian. Elizabeth passed away on December 16, 1945 and is buried in Memorial Park Cemetery in Grand Forks.

Sources

1860 U.S. census, Douglas County, Minnesota, population schedule, Alexandria, p. 139, dwelling 176, family 176; NARA microfilm publication M653, roll 575, accessed July 16, 2019 on Ancestry.com.

1865 Minnesota census, Stearns County, St. Cloud, p. 57, family 200; Minnesota Historical Society microfilm publication MNSC_3, accessed July 16, 2019 on Ancestry.com.

1870 U.S. census, Stearns County, Minnesota, population schedule, St. Cloud Ward 1, p. 226, dwelling 28, family 28; NARA microfilm publication T132, roll 11, accessed July 16, 2019 on Ancestry.com.

1875 Minnesota census, Stearns County, St. Cloud, p. 74, family 377; Minnesota Historical Society microfilm publication MNSC_16, accessed July 16, 2019 on Ancestry.com.

1880 U.S. census, Grand Forks, Dakota Territory, population schedule, Grand Forks, enumeration district 070, p. 538A, dwelling 23, family 23; NARA microfilm publication T9, roll 112, accessed July 16, 2019 on Ancestry.com.

1900 U.S. census, Grand Forks County, North Dakota, population schedule, Grand Forks Ward 1, enumeration district 0067, p. 11, dwelling 186, family 200; NARA microfilm publication T623, n.r., accessed July 16, 2019 on Ancestry.com.

1910 U.S. census, Grand Forks County, North Dakota, population schedule, Grand Forks Ward 7, enumeration district 0103, p. 1B, dwelling 15, family 16; NARA microfilm publication T624, roll 1142, accessed July 16, 2019 on Ancestry.com.

1930 U.S. census, Polk County, Minnesota, population schedule, Grove Park, enumeration district 0038, p. 3B, dwelling 83, family 83; NARA microfilm publication T626, n.r., accessed July 16, 2019 on Ancestry.com.

1940 U.S. census, Grand Forks County, Minnesota, population schedule, Grand Forks, enumeration district 18-17, p. 8A, dwelling 512, family 207; NARA microfilm publication T627, roll 3002, accessed July 16, 2019 on Ancestry.com.

Christopher P. Lehman,“Black Cloud: The Struggles of St. Cloud's African American Community, 1880-1920,” Minnesota History 66, no. 6 (Summer 2019): 235.

Dudley S. Brainard, History of St. Cloud State Teachers College (St. Cloud, MN: St. Cloud State Teachers College, 1953): 1-20, 55-56.

Edwin Cates, A Centennial History of St. Cloud State College (Minneapolis: Dillon Press, 1968): 1-26, 163, 239.

Memorial page for Lizzie B. Wilder (9 Oct 1856–18 Dec 1945), Find A Grave Memorial no. 25638882, citing Memorial Park Cemetery, Grand Forks, Grand Forks County, North Dakota, USA; maintained by ginnyt (contributor 46777087); accessed July 16, 2019.

Memorial page for Frederick Sumner Barnes (unknown–9 Dec 1853), Find A Grave Memorial no. 134523146, citing Sparhawk Family Cemetery, Conway, Carroll County, New Hampshire, USA; maintained by Lynette Groves (contributor 47190662); accessed July 16, 2019.

Nathan Barnes birth record, 1817, Maine Birth Records, 1715-1922: Pre 1892 Delayed Returns, roll 5, accessed July 16, 2019 on Ancestry.com.

Nathan F. Barnes and Mary P. Sparhawk marriage record, 1844, “New Hampshire, Marriage and Divorce Records, 1659–1947,” New England Historical Genealogical Society, citing New Hampshire Bureau of Vital Records, accessed July 16, 2019 on Ancestry.com.

“Normal School Examination: Exercises of the Graduating Class,” The St. Cloud Journal, July 6, 1871, http://www.mnhs.org/newspapers/hub (accessed July 16, 2019).

“Opening of the Normal School,” The St. Cloud Journal, September 23, 1869, http://www.mnhs.org/newspapers/hub (accessed July 16, 2019).

Portland, Maine City Directory, 1837, p. 8, U.S. City Directories, 1822-1995, accessed July 16, 2019 on Ancestry.com.

State Normal School at St. Cloud, “Alumni Directory of the State Normal School, 1908,” p. 1, series 6, box 10, folder 1, Records of the St. Cloud State Alumni Association, 1874-2006, St. Cloud State University Archives and Special Collections.

State Normal School at St. Cloud, “Catalogue and Circular of the State Normal School at St. Cloud, Minnesota,” 1884-1885, p. 5, series 1, box 1, folder 1, St. Cloud State University Undergraduate Catalogs, 1869-2012+, St. Cloud State University Archives and Special Collections.

State Normal School at St. Cloud, “Record Book” 1869-1885, box 1, folder 1, Admission and Records Records, 1869-1939, St. Cloud State University Archives and Special Collections.

St. Cloud State Teachers College, Alumni Directory, 1940, p. 9, series 6, box 9, folder 10, Records of the St. Cloud State Alumni Association, 1874-2006, St. Cloud State University Archives and Special Collections.

St. Cloud State University Archives and Special Collections, transcript index, https://www.stcloudstate.edu/library/archives/histories/transcript-index.aspx (accessed July 16, 2019).

Third State Normal School, undergraduate commencement program, 1871, series 1, box 1, folder 1, Records of St. Cloud State University Commencement, 1871-2018+, St. Cloud State University Archives and Special Collections.

William Bell Mitchell, History of Stearns County, Minnesota, vol. 1 (Chicago: H. C. Cooper, Jr. & Co., 1915), 315.

Works Progress Administration, “Nathan F. Barnes Biography,” 1937, box 1, folder 3, WPA Stearns County Biographies, 1936-1939, St. Cloud State University Archives and Special Collections.