Ghost Stories: Esquires and Congressmen, continued
Ladies and gentlemen, Nelson Barrere and his nephew, Granville, certainly had a lot in common.
Both studied at Augusta College in Kentucky, and as a young man, Granville Barrere studied law in his uncle’s law office in Hillsboro.
Like his uncle, Granville Barrere would become a top-notch lawyer and would later serve in Congress. But unlike Uncle Nelson, Granville would not call southern Ohio home much longer.
In 1853, the son of John Mills and Margaret Morrow Barrere left Highland County and moved to Crittenden County, Arkansas and began a law practice.
Two years later, Granville Barrere, at the age of 26, moved to Bloomington, Illinois, and later in 1855, relocated to Canton in Fulton County, Illinois.
He soon was recognized as a first-rate attorney, became a member of the city board of education and was also a member of the board of supervisors of Canton.
As a Republican, he was elected to the 43rd U.S. Congress in March of 1873.
Nelson Barrere died on Aug. 20, 1883 at the age of 75. Less than six years later, Granville Barrere died Jan. 13, 1889 at the age of 59.
An obituary in the Canton Register read, “Ex-Congressman Granville Barrere, Fulton County’s foremost attorney and Canton’s most distinguished citizen, is dead.
The long-feared and for some time hourly-expected fatal termination of his lingering illness came Sunday noon at his home in this city.
The funeral took place from the family residence on Illinois Street at 2 o’clock on Tuesday afternoon. There was a large attendance.”
The services were conducted by the Rev. A.R. Mathes, pastor of the Presbyterian Church, who read the following biographical sketch:
Granville Barrere has been a man of marked influence in this county. But his loss is by no means felt here alone.
He has become widely known. His sickbed has been watched by men scattered all over the land, as the letters of inquiry and sympathy from distant parts attest.
In reviewing his life we take but a moment, and a short glance at the facts. It is for the purpose at getting at a just estimate of the man and that we may learn the lesson it brings.
He was born in a village near Hillsboro, Ohio, in 1830.
To be continued.
Steve Roush is a vice president of an international media company and a columnist and contributing writer for The Highland County Press. He can be reached by email at roush_steve@msn.com.