A One-Name Study for the BARNUM/BARNHAM Surname
Reverend Henry Samuel Barnum died while in Constantinople as a missionary. Constantinople (ancient Byzantium; now Istanbul, Turkey) is a city and seaport located strategically on a hilly triangular peninsula at the entrance to the Black Sea. The city lies on either side of the Bosporus (Bosphorus) Strait and thus is located in both Europe and Asia. It was founded as the Greek colony of Byzantium about the end of the 8th century B.C., and has subsequently been part of at least seven empires, kingdoms and republics. At the time of Reverend Barnum's residence there, it was the capital of the Ottoman Empire.
               An excerpt from the New York Times of 22 Dec 1895 mentions Henry S. Barnum, as follows: From the Independent, Dec 12: Missionaries in Turkey; Their Situation as Affected by the Armenian Troubles. A List of the Stations and Those at Each –Some Not in Danger. Constantinople.–The mission force at Constantinople is much weaker than it has been in the years past. The missionaries in the city are Joseph K. Greene, D. D.; the Rev. H. O. Dwight, George F. Herrick, D. D.; the Rev. H. S. Barnum, and W. W. Peet, and their families; also Mrs. Isabella H. Bliss, Mrs. Laura T. Seelye, Miss A. B. Jones, Miss M. J. Gleason, Miss J. Zimmer, and Miss A. M. Barker. There are also the teachers in the American College for Girls, President Mary M. Patrick, Miss F. A. Fensham, Miss Harriet G. Powers, Miss Ida W. Prime, and Miss S. H. Olmstead. There are also the staff at Robert College, including President George Washburn, D. D.; Professors A. L. Long, D. D.; A. Van Millingen, and W. T. Ormiston and their families, besides, Armenian, Bulgarian, and Greek professors, and some American tutors. There are also the agents of the American Bible Society, the Rev. Marcellus Bowen and Mr. William G. Bliss, with their families.
Rev. Henry Barnum and his wife Helene were listed as passengers on S.S. Graf Waldersee of the Hamburg-Amerika Linie which departed Hamburg on 8 June 1907 bound for New York. He was 70 years of age and she was 65; they gave their place of residence as Constantinople.
From The New York Times, 11 Dec 1915: Rev. Dr. H. S. Barnum Dead. Veteran Missionary to Turkey and Publisher was Recently Married. Special to the New York Times. Verona, N. J., Dec. 10.--The Rev. Dr. Henry Samuel Barnum, 78 years old, a missionary to Turkey and publisher of a religious periodical at Constantinople, died today at the home of the Rev. John R. Pratt. Two months ago, Dr. Barnum married Mrs. Christina Fish, whom he had known in Connecticut prior to his first marriage. Dr. Barnum was a graduate of Yale, class of 1862. In 1867 he went to Turkey to engage in missionary work. He established the Evangel Bearer, a paper published at Constantinople in the Armenian and Turkish languages. The paper was forced to suspend publication this year because the Turkish authorities claimed the mail service, on account of the war, would not permit its delivery to subscribers. Dr. Barnum then returned to this country with his son, Henry H. Barnum, who is Professor of Mathematics in Robert School at the American College, and is now at Columbia University.
The Barnum Family, 1517-1904 says of him that he had six children, one still alive at the writing of that source.
The following article was taken from The Twenty Years' record of the Yale Class of 1862, published in 1884: Henry Samuel Barnum. Born in Stratford, Connecticut, August 13, 1837. Entered college from Stratford. Barnum's two years' teaching in Guilford and Poughkeepsie; his three years theological study and graduation at Auburn, New York; his preaching in Vermont; his departure, in 1867, to Asia Minor as a missionary; his long horseback journey to Kharput (or Harpoot); his exhausting tour; the sad bereavement which was, perhaps, indirectly owing to it; his visit to his native land in 1868-69; his residence and busy missionary life at Kharput ― all this, given heretofore at somewhat greater length, I pass briefly over.
In 1872, he removed to Van ― at the eastern end of Lake Van, about fifty miles from the Persian frontier ― to participate in the establishment of a new mission station. From Van he wrote to Ailing, May 9, 1882, as follows:
We have lived here continuously, with the exception of three summers spent in tents, near the city of Bitlis, also in our station field. In fact, though I have toured considerably, I have not been beyond our station boundary for the last seven years. We rarely see a European, and, with the exception of a missionary gathering held here two years ago, have hardly seen an American, outside our station membership. For nearly a year, my family has been quite alone. . . Still our weekly mails bring us the Living Age, the London Times, the Evening Post, and the Congregationalist, and we thus maintain a feeble connection with the nineteenth century.
And we have not been without local excitement. In the Russo-Turkish war, we were in constant expectation of passing into Russian hands, as our city is near the border. For months too, Koordish [Kurdish] irregular troops filled the region with outrage and terror. Once when we had taken our families to the wharf, to send them with one of my associates to an island monastery for safety, the Koords [Kurds] amused themselves by pointing their guns at my head, snapping caps close behind my ear, and calling out 'O Infidel'. But the government was very kind, and did what it could to protect us.
Two years ago, we were visited with famine. The aggregate mortality in this thinly settled country was small, compared with that of the last Chinese famine; but there were villages not more than thirty or forty miles from us, where one of every four or five inhabitants died. Besides funds sent to us missionaries from England and America, I was made local treasurer of two other relief societies, and in all, there passed through our hands about twenty thousand dollars for the starving. . . I shall certainly wish a class history. . .
The past winter, 1883-84, Barnum has been in the United States, and has been preaching and teaching in Gladstone, Dakota. He expects to return to Turkey after a few months. As will be seen, he has suffered much family bereavement. The three deaths in 1881 were his share in a terrible epidemic of Scarlet Fever among; the children of Van.
Married, (1) May 22, 1867, to Lucretia Linsley Parker, of Guilford, Connecticut. She died December 31, 1867.
(2) March 10, 1869, to HELEN RANDLE, of Norwalk, Connecticut.
Children. 1. George Scott Barnum, born December 19, 1869; died March 17, 1875.
2. Clara Louise Barnum, born September 29, 1871; died March 27, 1877.
3. Hattie Starr Barnum, born March 23, 1873; died December 20, 1881.
4. Sarah Randle Barnum, born April 22, 1876; died December 4, 1881.
5. Harry Huntington Barnum, born December 24, 1877.
6. Nellie Curtis Barnum, born November 11, 1879; died Decembers, 1881.
Stratford was formerly known as Cupheag Plantation and prior to that Pequonnocke.
Stratford was formerly known as Cupheag Plantation and prior to that Pequonnocke.
A Research Guide to the Genealogy of the Barnum/Barnam/Barnham Family Worldwide
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