On May 5, 1893, the death of Joel Wells Barber was announced. His life seemed a perfect fit for the old adage, "There's no place like home," or that thing about searching the world over and eventually finding happiness in your own back yard. Or maybe he was just in a tremendous rut and wasn't aware of it.
Wells was born in the family home in Beekmantown in 1819, and died in the same family home in 1893. It had also been his father's house, and in fact, had been known as the Barber Homestead for a century. Hey, if it's working, why change? In his 74 years of life, he never traveled more than 50 miles from home, and never left home for more than a week.
As for marriage and family, he may have been a combination of very lucky and very lazy, or maybe he just looked like the Tom Selleck of his day. Barber was married three times, plucking all three wives from the same household, that of Rowland Garrett.
He married one of Garrett's daughters, Althea, and had two sons with her. When she died in 1843, he married another of Garrett's daughters, Margaret. Together, they produced a daughter, but when Margaret died, Joel went back to the well once more. This time, he married Garrett's daughter-in-law, Temperance, who was living in the Garrett home (she was the widow of one of Rowland's sons).
Barber's story brings to mind Dr. Samuel Waite of Gouverneur. Henry the VIII (six wives) had nothing on this guy in the marriage department. According to newspaper reports, when Waite died in 1875, he left a widow as his survivor. That wasn't all he left.
"In the cemetery, in close proximity, are six tombstones of exact size and appearance, bearing the names of Dr. Samuel C. Waite and his five wives. His first wife died in 1841, his second in 1845, third in 1861, fourth in 1863, and fifth in 1872."
© 2010 Lawrence P. Gooley