Barnesville, Texas, Johnson County ghost town. (original) (raw)

Lewis and his son Charles Cicero Beck at their property
at the junction of CR107 and CR210
Click on image to enlarg
Photo courtesy Mike Beck

History in a Pecan Shell

First settled in the 1850s, initial settlers included the Barnes and Dee Families. Growth was slow but steady through the 1880s as the community added a cotton gin and post office (sometime prior to 1873). The community finally platted a town site in the mid 1870s . Barnesville was along the Waxahachie-Cleburne stageline.

The population was 150 in the mid-1880s and Barnesville�s future seemed assured. But it was bypassed in the early 1880s by not one, but two railroads (the Gulf, Colorado and Santa Fe and the Missouri, Kansas, and Texas). The town continued on for some years but the writing was on the walls and Barnesville disappeared from maps shortly after the turn of the 20th Century.

There is a Barnesville cemetery about 6 miles SE of Alvarado, but it isn�t known if this is the cemetery of the Barnesville Community.

	"My great great grandfather Lewis Beck" - Mike Beck

Barnesville Early Settlers

"My great great grandfather, Lewis Beck and wife Sarah Prather Beck with their family, started farming 80 acres at Barnesville, Texas from about 1876 until about 1882.

They are listed in the 1880 Selected U.S. Federal Census Non-Population along with neighboring properties that helped me narrow down their location. From my research their property surveyed by T M Farley was at the junction of CR107 and CR210.

I have three documents that relate to Barnesville during the period that they were there.
1. A photo of Lewis and his son Charles Cicero Beck at their property
2. A receipt for postage sent from a relative in Kentucky to Lewis Beck at Barnesville
3. A notice in the church newsletter with the obituary of the youngest child of Lewis and Sarah

I was hoping these could be added to the historical information for Barnesville." - Mike Beck, July 12, 2019

1881 obituary of the youngest child of Lewis and Sarah Beck
from the Barnesville church newsletter by the Sunday School secretary
Photo courtesy Mike Beck

"A receipt for postage sent from a relative in Kentucky to Lewis Beck at Barnesville" - Mike Beck

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