A One-Name Study for the BARNUM/BARNHAM Surname
From: Saint Clair County Michigan, Its History and Its People: A Narrative Account of its Historical Progress and its Principal Interests, by William Lee Jenks (Volume II, Illustrated), The Lewis Publishing Company, Chicago and New York, 1912: Hartson G. Barnum, president of the First National Exchange Bank of Port Huron, was born in Onondaga County, New York, October 4, 1844. His parents were Thomas and Huldah (Gillette) Barnum, the father a native of New York State and the mother born in Connecticut, the former of English ancestry and the latter of Huguenot French origin. Both of them were descended from old and respectable families of New England. They had four children, two sons and two daughters.
About 1850 they came to Michigan and settled in Oakland County, where they remained until 1880, in which year they came to Port Huron, where the mother died in 1883, at the age of seventy-five years, the father dying here, in 1898, at the age of ninety-four years. He was a farmer by occupation. Their older son, Thomas J. Barnum, died while serving in the Civil war. Of their four children, Hartson G. Barnum is the youngest. He was but six years old when his parents came to Michigan, in which state he has since resided. He was born and reared on the farm where he received that training in industry and perseverance that has enabled him largely to accomplish success in life. He obtained a high school education at Pontiac, Michigan, and then attended a private academy at Birmingham, Michigan. At the age of nineteen he accepted a position in a private bank at Detroit, thus beginning the career of a banker, in which he has continued, rising to prominence among bankers and financiers of the state. He remained at Detroit two years, and in the fall of 1865 came to Port Huron, where he became teller in the private bank of Johnston & Green, but later Johnston & Company. With this bank he remained nine years, and then became assistant cashier of the First National Bank of Port Huron, which bank, on the expiration of its charter in 1890, was then reorganized as the First National Exchange Bank. In September, 1876, he was made cashier of the bank, and as such he remained, efficiently discharging his duties until in 1901, when at the death of Mr. James Goulden, who was president of the bank, Mr. Barnum was elected by the bank's board of directors to succeed Mr. Goulden. This position he has since held. His career in the banking business covers a period of nearly a half century, which places him among the oldest bankers of Michigan, and at the same time among the ablest. In other than the banking business he has been and is identified with several interests. He has led the life of a business man, not seeking political preferment, although he has held minor offices, doing so more out of the mere sense of duty to public service. In politics he is a Republican, but Mr. Barnum cannot be ranked as a politician.
Nevertheless, he has always manifested a lively and commendable interest in not only political affairs, but also in all measures tended to advance public welfare. Fraternally he is a Knights Templar Mason and member of the Mystic Shrine of the fraternity. He is also a member of the Benevolent and Protective Order of Elks. In church faith he is affiliated with the Episcopal church, of which he is a vestryman. In 1870 Mr. Barnum married Mary Hyde, a native of Detroit. Mr. and Mrs. Barnum have one living son, Thomas Edson Barnum, an electrician residing in Milwaukee. They had one daughter, who died at the age of ten years.
Hartson G. Barnum died in 1913 in Saint Clair County, Michigan according to the county death index. He was a member of the Sons of the American Revolution and his wife was a member of the DAR. Hartson G. Barnum, Port Huron, Mich. was a son of Thomas and Huldah (Gillette) Barnum; grandson of Thomas and Mollie (Whitney) Barnum; great-grandson of Thomas Barnum, Sergeant New York troops, prisoner, pensioned.
From: Harrington, Charles Norman. Charles Norman Harrington La Crosse, Wisconsin Branch of the American Family Harrington. Chicago: Priv. print, 1934: Hartson Gillette Barnum was born Oct. 4, 1844 at Pompey, Onondaga County, NY. Married Mary A. Hyde on April 20, 1870, at Port Huron, Michigan. Hartson died at Port Huron, September 6, 1913.
A Research Guide to the Genealogy of the Barnum/Barnam/Barnham Family Worldwide
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