Franklin Marion Barnett

Biography of Franklin Marion Barnett, Bossier Parish, Louisiana

Bio: Franklin M. Barnett, Bossier Parish Louisiana Source: Biographical and Historical Memoirs of Northwest Louisiana The Southern Publishing Company, Chicago & Nashville, 1890

FRANKLIN M. BARNETT is a member of the police jury of Bossier Parish from Ward 4, but is a native of Madison County, Alabama. His birth occurring near Huntsville, April 4, 1829, his father and mother, Zachariah and Mary F. (Mattison) Barnett, were born in Abbeville District, South Carolina., but married in Alabama and resided there until the father's death in 1840, when about thirty-five years of age. The mother came to Louisiana with the subject of this sketch in 1857, and passed from life in the parish. The school days of Franklin M. Barnett were spent in Lauderdale County, Alabama. But after the death of his father he devoted his time and attention to making a living for his mother and his brothers and sisters. He has resided on his present farm four miles east of Red Land since coming to this State, and by the exercise of industry and intelligence he is now in a prosperous condition, financially. In February, 1863 he joined the Twenty-eight Louisiana Infantry, Col. Gray's regiment, with which he served until the close of the war, being in the battles of Mansfield and Pleasant Hill. He was discharged at Shreveport in May, 1865. Farming has since been his principal occupation, but some attention has also been given to blacksmithing and wagon making. He is a skillful mechanic, and has been employed by people in all directions. He is a prominent and well-known citizen, and in 1888 was elected a member of the police jury, and is now discharging the duties of this office. He was married in 1850 to Miss Mary J. McAdams of Alabama, who died in 1865. Leaving seven children, four now living: T.Z. (a bookkeeper at Plain Dealing), Eliza J. (wife of J.L. Cochran, a planter of Lafayette County, Ark.), L.F. (a missionary Baptist minister and farmer residing near his father), and Alice M.(wife of J.M. Lester, also a tiller of the soil in Lafayette County, Ark.). Those deceased are: James W., who died at the age of twenty-one years; and Rufus G. and John M. who were both young at the time of their deaths. On December 24, 1865 Mr. Barnett was married to Miss Huldah E. Cochran, a daughter of Edmond B. Cochran of Alabama, by whom he became the father of the following children: Aaron A.; Essie E.; Eddie A.; Addie J.; Luda C.; and J. Allen C. died in infancy. Mr. and Mrs. Barnett are members of the Missionary Baptist Church, and he is a Mason and a member of Red Land Lodge No. 148. He also belongs to the Farmers' Alliance, and is a Democrat politically.

Notes for FRANKLIN MARION BARNETT: From Broderbund WFT Vol. 27, Ed.1, Tree #1726, and Date of Import: Dec 12, 1999

He was a parish surveyor of Bossier Parish. He knew how to use measurements for elevations of land. He was also on the Policy Jury from Ward 4 of Bossier Parish, probably when the old courthouse was built at Benton. He was a blacksmith and had a good education for those days. He made money by making wagons. He also had a small gin and ran a grist mill on his farm.

The area where he lived was called the Alabama Settlement because the people originally came with a wagon train from Alabama-Barnett's, Boggs’s, Garrett's, Matlock's.

He enlisted in the Confederate Army Co. B, 28th Louisiana Regiment. He was in the battles of Mansfield and Pleasant Hill. He was discharged in Shreveport in May, 1865. He became a Masonic Order in Redland Lodge, No 148

Salem Cemetery is located 1/2 mile from intersection of Chalybeate Spring Road and Louisiana 157. To find the old homestead of Franklin Marion Barnett from the intersection of Chalybeate Springs Road and Louisiana 157, go past Salem Cemetery to Mott Road. Follow Mott Rd to Goodman Springs Road at Walker's Chapel, turn left, pass Mott Oilfield Rd, go about 5 miles (from Walker's Chapel) to a fork in the road. Take the left fork; go to the site of an old oil well on the left. That well is in the front yard of the old house.

Father: Zachariah Barnett born: 1806 in Abbeville, SC; Mother: Mary Fair Mattison b: 1808 in Abbeville, SC