| Charles Barnard |
| Charles Barnard,
proprietor Waukon Nursery. This well-known gentleman was
born on the Isle of Wight, and on the farm now occupied
by Queen Victoria's summer residence; but when he was
about eighteen months old his parents (Thomas and Mary
Barnard) emigrated to the U. S. and settled on Wheeling
Island, in the Ohio River. Here Thos. Barnard started a
nursery, and soon commenced teaching his son the
rudiments of fruit growing. About 15 years subsequently
the family removed to Belmont Co., Ohio, and then run a
market garden for the city of Wheeling. Here the subject
of this sketch, in 1845, was married to Miss M.
Balderston, who died in 1856, leaving three children,
Mary G., now Mrs. W. R. Hanscom, of Monona Co., Ia.; Emma
J., now Mrs. R. O. Manson, of Sibley, Ia., and Chas. O.,
of Monona Co., Ia. In 1857 Mr. Barnard was married to
Narcissa P. Newport, and in 1865 removed to Iowa and
settled in Waukon, where he at once engaged in the
nursery business. In 1869 he married Deborah D.
Spaulding. Mr. B. having spent his entire life in growing
trees and fruit, is one of the best posted men to be
found in his line of business. He is what may be called a
strictly practical man. His views differ greatly from
most nurserymen, but his success proves that his judgment
is in the main correct. He does not believe in pruning
trees, and to substantiate his belief he can show many
trees in his nursery, which have been allowed to grow
according to the dictates of nature's laws. He has a
Concord grape vine planted in 1863, but which for two
years was trampled down by cattle, since which time it
has been cared for by Mr. B., and although it has never
been touched by a pruning knife, or fertilized, it now
has five branches, each forty feet in length. It has
stood the weather at 44 degrees below zero, and for a
number of years has grown from 200 to 1,000 pounds of
grapes annually. He now has about twenty-five acres of
nursery, and the largest stock of fruit and ornamental
trees in this section. pg 472-473 |