1837–1916

Introduction

Born: March 23, 1837, Barre, Ver­mont.

Died: June 5, 1916, Wor­ces­ter, Mas­sa­chu­setts.

Buried: Rut­land Rur­al Ce­me­te­ry, Rut­land, Mas­sa­chu­setts.

Biography

Franklin was the son of Apol­los K. Barns and Lo­is Put­nam. He mar­ried twice: to Ma­ry Jean­nette Hig­gins (Ap­ril 4, 1860) and wi­dow Lu­cre­tia Waite Rice (Sep­tem­ber 2, 1906). Both mar­ri­ages took place in Wor­ces­ter, Mas­sa­chu­setts.

When he was 12 years old, his fa­mi­ly moved to Col­brook, Mas­sa­chu­setts. There, in ad­di­tion to a re­ceiv­ing a pu­blic school edu­ca­tion, he be­came pro­fi­cient on the vio­lin.

In 1858, he set­tled in Wor­ces­ter, Mas­sa­chu­setts. After vi­sit­ing sev­er­al dif­fer­ent church­es, he was bap­tized in a stream at Lin­coln Square in Jan­ua­ry, 1859, through the ice, af­ter which he walked a half mile with the min­is­ter be­fore they could change out of their wet cloth­ing.

For ov­er 40 years, Barnes served the Ad­vent Chris­tian Church in Wor­ces­ter as dea­con, song lead­er, and Sun­day School su­per­in­tend­ent (1875–1900).

He com­posed 70 or more hymns. His first known song, Found­ed on the Rock, was in print by 1868.

In ad­di­tion to his mu­sic­al gift, he was al­so a suc­cess­ful ar­tist.

Sources

Lyrics

  1. Better Than Gold
  2. Come Back to Je­sus
  3. Come un­to Me
  4. Crown Him Lord of All
  5. Far More Pre­cious Than Gold
  6. Forward
  7. Founded on the Rock
  8. Fountain of Life, The
  9. Mighty to Save
  10. Morning Breaks, The
  11. New Coun­try, The
  12. None Oth­er Name
  13. Open Gate, The
  14. Out in His Vine­yard
  15. Suffer the Child­ren to Come
  16. Welcome, Sab­bath Day
  17. Will You Go?

Music

  1. Clearwater
  2. Tooth of Time, The

Help Needed

If you know where to get a good pho­to of Barnes (head & shoul­ders, at least 200×300 pix­els),