From Proud Heritage, Volume II by DCPA. This hardcover book is available online.
Sterling Rex Barnes was born in Virginia on January 29, 1799. He was the sixth of eight children born to Henry and Rhoda Eastus Barnes. He moved to Alabama as a young man, and on December 8, 1825, he married Martha Ann Mitchell, who was born December 20, 1809. In 1837, they moved with their five young children to Holly Springs, Mississippi, where four more children were born.
Sterling was a skilled cabinet and furniture maker, and a member of AF&AM Grand Lodges. He and Martha were among 40 persons who came from Holly Springs to the Three Forks of the Trinity.
He began the trip in 1846 with his wife and nine children ranging from the oldest, Amanda Caroline, and her husband, William Jordan Bowden, and youngest, baby Lucy Ann, two months old. Eight children born in Texas were recorded in the Banes family Bible.
They arrived in March, 1846, in Henderson County (later Kaufman County, now Rockwall County). They lived at “Picket Garden,” named for the high fence surrounding their cabin. In 1848, they moved a few miles to the East Fork of the Trinity. The area was named Black Hill, then Willow Springs, now Heath, Texas.
The East Fork crossing was a part of the 1840 Republic of Texas Military Road, extending from Austin to the mouth of Kiamichi Creek at its intersection with the Red River in North Texas. This crossing was first known as McKenzie’s, then as Goodman’s Ferry. Barnes bought out Goodman in 1854 and began operation of the toll bridge, known as Barnes Bridge, crossing the East Fork of the Trinity, near the Dallas County line. On 2 August 1852, Sterling Barnes was elected Justice of the Peace in Precinct 1 of Kaufman County and was known as Judge Barnes.
One of the Barnes sons, Wiley Turner, had consumption. In 1859, when he was 25 years of age, Sterling and Martha sent him to Colorado on a wagon train bound for the gold mines hoping the mountain air would heal his lungs. His older brother, Marcus Lafayette, went along to look after him. Thinking he might not survive, they sent along pine planks to build his coffin and a suit of clothes for his burial. As they neared Pike’s Peak, Marcus was scalped by Indians. He was buried in the suit and coffin intended for Wiley, who returned in good health after staying there for a year.
Sterling Rex sent all five of his living sons, along with his son-in-law, William V. Sharp, to fight in the Civil War. The oldest, William H., was 32. He served as 2d Lt. in the 1st Texas Partisan Rangers. Wiley Turner had been to New Orleans to “read” medicine; he served as a surgeon and Captain in Stone’s 2nd Texas Regiment. Thomas Whitley, age 20, died and was buried at Durant Station, Mississippi. George Mitchell and Robert Edward served in Arkansas and Tennessee.
The oldest son, William Henry Barnes, was county clerk of Kaufman County from 1859 to 1862. He left a wife and two children at home to serve in the war. When he returned, he became Kaufman County surveyor. In 1875, he became the first judge of the 10th District, Rockwall County.
Sterling “Judge” Barnes died 15 March 1866. His son, Wiley Turner, sent the following letter by messenger to Rockwall:
Written from Barnes Bridge 15 March 1866:
Brother F. Sullivan: I have to write to you the painful news of the death of my Father. You will please give as many of the brethen (sic) notice as you can through the proper officer or anyone that you can get to go around. It was his last wish to be buried under Masonic honors. I wish you therefore to notify as many of the brethern (sic) as you can he will be buried at the Willow Springs School House tomorrow the 16th Inst. at 11 or 12 o’clock a.m.
In Sterling’s will, made 2 February 1866, he makes reference to his wife, Martha Ann, in paragraph 2: “An she shall have entire control of the Toll Bridge across the East Fork of the Trinity River, receiving all profit therefrom to herself during her natural life. And at her death or any time previous to her death if she should think proper, she is fully authorized and empowered to make to her daughter Lucy A. Barnes a good and sufficient deed to one half of the above described tracts of land, according to quality and quantity. The remainder of the above described tracts of land, at the death of my beloved wife Martha A. Barnes shall pass totally to the said George Mitchell Barnes, keeping up the bridge and paying the expense of the same equally.”
After the death of Martha Ann Barnes 23 June 1871 (seven of her eleven children had preceded her in death), son George Mitchell continued to operate the Toll Bridge, along with the help of his brother-in-law, D. C. Fondren, who had married his sister, Lucy Ann 4 September 1867.
The 1877 bridge toll rates were posted as:
Footman $ .05
Loose Horses .05 each
Horse and rider .10
Loose Cattle .03 each
Horse and Buggy .25
Sheep, Hogs, Goats .02 each
2-Horse Wagon .40
They operated the bridge until Rockwall County took it over circa 1880. Fondren moved to Rockwall, as did Barnes on 20 September 1887. The bridge continued to be called Barnes Bridge, although it was rebuilt and repaired many times, including being washed away in a flood on 20 April 1942. Again it was rebuilt by the county, and continued in limited use until it was finally covered by the waters of Lake Ray Hubbard in 1969.
At that time, the City Council of Heath changed the name of the portion of Barnes Bridge Road located in Rockwall County, in continuous use since 1854, to Terry Lane, in honor of a long time family of that area. However, Barnes Bridge Road continues in service in Dallas County, from the west side of Lake Ray Hubbard (near the Dallas Power & Light plant) across interstate highways 30 and 635, past the Dallas Athletic Club to Garland Road (Hwy. 78).
By William Vance Barnes, Waco, Texas
