Margaret Barnes

Margaret Barnes's signature, 1869 (SCSU Archives)

Margaret “Maggie” S. Barnes was born in Maine in 1846 to 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, he 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. 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.

Margaret and her sister, Elizabeth, 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. During the commencement ceremonies, Margaret delivered an essay titled “Decision of Character,” in which she argued that talent is wasted, and grand opportunities lost, through indecisiveness. After graduating, Margaret continued to live at home while she taught school.

In the late 1880s, she moved with her parents to Sonoma County, California. By 1892, they had settled in Santa Rosa, where Nathan bought a farm and ranch and continued his legal practice. Margaret found a job as a teacher there by 1900. After Nathan's passing in 1902 and Mary's in 1907, Margaret took over her parents’ farm, which she ran as an orchard until at least 1914. She became involved in politics during the 1910s, supporting first the Republican Party and later the Progressive Party. She retired by 1920, and moved to Minneapolis in her final years. Margaret passed away in Hennepin County on October 19, 1925 and was buried in Minneapolis’s Lakewood Cemetery in section PG21, row 90, grave 77.