The 1880 Federal Census list him as an editor. Reference to Wiley B. Barnum and son Clifton W.Barnum, Source: Cemeteries of Gallatin County, Illinoise, Book 2, by Glen Miner. The Weekly Ridgway News. pg.111 of 141. In October of 1896 the News announced that it had been leased by W. B.Barnum who had formerly lived in Beebee, Ark. Prior to this it had 4 or 5 owners or operators, but for about all of the next 50 years it was edited by the Barnum Family, at first by W.B.and the later part of this period by his son Clifton W.Barnum. There is a photo in the book "Our Town," by Lucille Lawler, pub. 1971.
Port Fulton was a town located two miles up the river from Louisville, within present-day Jeffersonville, Indiana. At its height it stretched from the Ohio River to modern-day 10th Street, and from Crestview to Jefferson/Main Streets.
From the Syracuse Herald Journal, New York, Wednesday, May 8, 1940: The funeral of Wiley B. Barnum, proof reader for the Post-Standard, who died yesterday (May 7), will be conducted Friday. Burial will be in Riverside Cemetery, Baldwinsville, New York. Mr. Barnum was born February 11, 1858, at Port Fulton, Indiana. He was active in weekly newspaper publication during the greater part of his life, having founded the Beebe Arkansas News and served as editor of the Enfield Illinois Express and the Ridgway Illinois News. He had lived in Syracuse since 1922, when he entered the employ of the Post-Standard. He belonged to the Syracuse Typographical Union and the Masonic bodies of Ridgway, Illinois. Surviving are his wife, Mrs. Cora Lasater Barnum; four sons, Clifton W. Barnum, editor of the Ridgway Illinois News; Leonard E. Barnum of Solvay, NY; Dale O. Barnum of Baldwinsville, N.Y.; Cecil L. Barnum, Syracuse; a sister, Mrs. E. S. Olmstead, Beebe, Arkansas and a brother, Marvin H. Barnum, Childress, Texas.