Mr. Barbee is a native of Williamson county, Tennessee, born on the 3^rd of September, 1840, a son of Joseph and Rachel (Compton) Barbee. Both parents were natives of Virginia, but were married in Tennessee, and in 1841 removed to Jefferson county, Illinois. There the subject of this sketch grew to manhood upon his father's farm, and his labors in the fields were alternated with his attendance on the public schools of the neighborhood, where he acquired a fair English education. He remained at home, assisting in the labor of the farm, until the breaking out of the late war, when, on the 19^th of October, 1861, he offered his services to the government, enlisting in the Union army as a member of Company K, Forty-ninth Illinois Volunteer Infantry. In 1862, at Camp Butler, Illinois, he was taken ill, which resulted in his total blindness and led to his honorable discharge from the service on the 30^th of April, 1862, at Camp Stanton, Tennessee. He then returned to his home in Illinois, but, though his army service was thus cut short, few of the "boys in blue" gave more to their country than Mr. Barbee, who through a third of a century has been deprived of his sight.

On the 14^th of April, 1861, in Franklin county, Illinois, Mr. Barbee was united in marriage with Miss Lovisa Allen, a native of that county, and a daughter of Stephen and Rebecca (Webb) Allen, the former born in Kentucky, the latter in Illinois. For a number of years our subject and his wife continued their residence in Illinois and then emigrated to Texas, settling in Paluxy, Hood county, where Mr. Barbee purchased 160 acres of land. He had secured the capital as the savings from his meager pension of $8 per month, which was later raised to $25. With the assistance of his 13-year-old son, Mr. Barbee engaged in the stock business on a small scale and in the undertaking met with success. He subsequently sold his land and purchased elsewhere 190 acres, also an interest in about 500 acres of cedar brake. The former place he made his home and engaged there in general farming, with the assistance of his son. Before coming to Texas his pension was increased to $50 per month, which was of material assistance to him, and in 1879 it was raised to $72 dollars. Mr. Barbee made many excellent improvements upon his farm, placed the greater part of the land under a high state of cultivation, and continued to engage in agricultural pursuits until 1887, when he laid aside all business cares and took up his residence in Granbury, where he has since made his home.

He deserves great credit for his success in life, for, suffering under an affliction which would have utterly discouraged and disheartened a man of less resolute spirit, he has worked his way steadily upward and has not only been able to provide for his family but has also acquired a handsome property which now permits him to rest from all care.

Mr. and Mrs. Barbee were the parents of three children, but only one is living.

The parents are members of the Missionary Baptist church and support all worthy enterprises which tend to advance the general welfare. Mr. Barbee is a Republican in politics at national elections, but at local elections, where no general issue is involved, he supports the Democratic candidates.

1999 Hood County Texas Genealogical Society