Adam Barner Family of Pennsylvania

(The last will and testament of George Barner, son of Adam Barner. George was married to Anna Maria “Mary” Dups. They had 12 children.)

Will of George Barner of Liverpool Township

In the name of God Amen, I George Barner of Liverpool Township in the County of Perry and State of Pennsylvania Farmer. Being weak in body, but of sound mind memory and understanding but considering the uncertainty of this transitory life do make and publish this my last will and testament in manner and form following to wit.

1st, It is my will and I do order that all my just debts and funeral expenses be duly paid and satisfied as soon as conveniently can be after my death.

2d, Should my beloved wife Mary survive me I do order and direct my hereinafter named executors to collect and receive the one third of the income of all my real estate and pay the same to my said wife annually during her natural life. She shall have sufficient room in the house where I at present reside, for her accommodation. She shall have sufficient household and kitchen furniture of her own selection, for the use also wood sufficient cut and put to her door as long as she lives.

3d What I have given to my son John in his lifetime shall be considered his full share of my property of every kind and sort.

4th My daughters Elizabeth, Frances and Lydia shall each have two hundred dollars, it being the same amount which I have heretofore given to my other children. Which several sums stands charged against my other children in my book. If I pay the abovementioned amounts to my said daughters in my lifetime and is charged against them in my book the above bequest is then complied with and will put my children all equal.

5th I do order and require my Executors to procure and erect head and foot stones to the memory of myself and wife as soon after our deaths as can conveniently be done.

6th I give and bequeath unto my son Samuel the mansion farm on which I, at present reside, also the mountain tract adjoining Jacob Kline, Charles Armstrong and others in said Township, him my said son Samuel to pay out the sum of three thousand dollars to my children, namely Henry, Jacob, Elizabeth, Sarah, Frances, Mary and Lydia, share and share alike one year after my death and in the event that my wife survives me, my said son Samuel is to give the one third of the income of said farm for the support of my said wife as long as she lives as hereinbefore mentioned, the one half of the amount above mentioned to be paid to my above named children at my death and the other half at the death of my said wife, but if I should survive my said wife the whole amount to be paid by Samuel one year after my death as above mentioned.

7th I give and bequeath unto my son Adam the farm on which he at present resides adjoining Jacob Barner the heirs of John Huggins deceased and others (four acres of timber land of said farm reserved for the use and benefit of my farm in Wild Cat Valley to be taken from the White Oak corner adjoining Abner Knight to be surveyed off in a square piece) and said Adam to pay out the sum of three thousand dollars t
o my children, namely Henry, Jacob, Elizabeth, Sarah, Frances, Mary and Lydia, share and share alike, and in the event that my wife survives me said Adam is to give the one third of the income of said farm for the support of my said wife as long as she lives as hereinbefore mentioned, the one half of the above mentioned sum to be paid by Adam at my death and the other half at the death of my said wife, but if I survive my said wife the whole amount to be paid by said Adam to my children above named one year after my death.

8th The farm in Wild Cat Valley which I own and is at present rented by Henry Barner [**] is to be appraised as soon as convenient after my death by twelve men. Nine of them to be chosen one by each of my children and three to be agreed upon by them together. My daughters Frances and Lydia to have the right to take the farm at said appraisement, take it jointly or either one of them, and if my said daughters object or refuse to take the said farm at the appraisement then the same is to be sold, and [**] by my executors and the proceeds thereof together with all my personal properties and other effects equally divided share and share alike amongst all my children or their heirs, namely Henry, Jacob, Adam, Samuel, Elizabeth, Sarah, Frances, Mary and Lydia. The Wild Cat farm whether taken at the appraisement as above stated or sold said farm to be subject to the one third of the income for the use of my wife in the same manner as Samuel and Adam.

9th And lastly I nominate constitute and appoint my sons Henry and Samuel to be the executors of this my last will and testament. I empower my said executors to execute a deed of conveyance to my son Adam for the farm herein bequeathed to him, and I empower my son Henry separately as one of the executors to execute a deed of conveyance to my so Samuel [**] the several tracts of land herein bequeathed to said Samuel.

In witness whereof I have hereunto set my hand and seal this 26th day of January AD 1858.

GEORGE BARNER (seal) .
Signed in the presence of .
John Reifsnyder.
S.R. Barner.

Maggie Cox’ husband, Elmer Ellsworth Barner, executed for murder

Elmer E Barner
born: 13 June 1865 Susquehanna, Juniata, Pennsylvania
died: 23 July 1901 Harrisburg, Dauphin, Pennsylvania

Elmer E Barner was hanged in the jail yard at Harrisburg at 10:10 o’clock Tuesday morning for the murder of his brother-in-law, Isaac Miller in Halifax, Dauphin, Pa. 15 Jan 1900. He and Miller married sisters and lived as neighbors in Halifax for nine years prior to the spring of 1899, when Barner removed to South Dakota. While there he formed an opinion that his wife had not been true to him and like all similar delusions, the more he brooded over it, the more positive he became that Miller had seduced his wife.

To set matters right, she agreed to come back to Dauphin County with him. They arrived at Millersburg, this county, 15 January 1900 from where they went across the county to Miller’s home, after the children had gone to bed. Barner unburdened his mind. Miller, entirely innocent as is generally believed, indignantly denied Barner’s charges when the latter drew a revolver and shot him dead.

He was arrested, tried and convicted. Nothing else but conviction could be expected, so unmistakable and unjustifiable was his crime. A new trial was refused, the case was appealed to the Supreme Court where the judgment of the lower court was confirmed and as a last effort to save the man’s life, the case was taken to the Board of Pardons, who refused to commute the sentence.

His execution was without incident save the indifference with which he met his fate. Accompanied by his spiritual advisor, Rev. Isaac W Bagley, dressed in the same suit that he wore when he shot Miller. He slept well during the night and for breakfast, drank a glass of milk and ate some ice. The balance of the time preceding his execution was occupied with Rev. Bagley in prayer and song, the last hymn they sang being “In the Sweet By and Bye”

By his request, the officers did not handcuff him in the march to the gallows. He made no dying statement and his death was due to strangulation, so pronounced by the physician in attendance fifteen minutes after the trap door had been sprung by Sheriff Reiff. Barner’s brother and sisters came to see him Tuesday but none witnessed the execution. His father died at his home near Liverpool, this county, last January. At the same hour, his sister, Mrs Grisom, died in Rye, New York. Both bodies were buried on the same day at Barner’s Cemetery in Liverpool Twp.

Elmer Barner was born in Susquehanna, Juniata, Pennsylvania. His parets were Mr and Mrs Henry Barner, highly respected citizens. He and Maggie Cox were married 24 Dec 1889, her father being Thomas Cox, a well known citizen of Seven Stars, Juniata County, adjoining the Perry County line. Isaac Miller and Sarah A Cox, Mrs Barner’s sister, were married 27 Feb 1876 by Rev A Stapleton. The body of Barner was buried yesterday in Barner Cemetery near Liverpool.

The close student of human beings has little doubt that Elmer E Barner had an insane delusion when he came all the way from South Dakota to kill his brother-in-law, Isaac Miller. If anything were wanted to confirm this belief, it was his mental condition at the time of his execution. He was an impotent child but he was without fear. He expressed no regret for his awful deed, had no sorrow, no sentiment in his impotent soul, but indifferently went to his death without affection for those living whom he should have loved and with suppressed hate for every person that ever impeded his selfish course in life, real or imagined.

While it was quite difficult to prove him insane from the standpoint of stereotyped medical jurisprudence, he was doubtless possessed of an insane delusion. In the hurly burly of his untutored intellect, the probable inheritance of generations of antecedent indifference and neglect, we imagined that he gleefully killed after traveling hundreds of miles with no other purpose in view.

Source: Newport News 25 July 1901 on microfilm at Perry Historians, Lenig Library in New Bloomfield, Perry, Pa.