My Genealogy Hound

James H. Barefield was born in Lancaster District, S. C, May 26, 1838. He was the only child of Calvin Barefield, who married Miss Susan Hundly, of South Carolina, about 1836. After his death, Mrs. Barefield married Mr. Henson, who was soon after killed by the caving in of a wall in the gold mines in Lancaster District, and since that time the subject of this sketch has not heard from his mother, having lived with his grandmother until she died when he was about fifteen years old, and having moved with her to Chesterfield District, S. C. When nineteen years old Mr. Barefield commenced to support himself by devoting his time to agricultural pursuits. In the fall of 1881 he enlisted in Capt. Garland's company (Fourth Arkansas Infantry) under Col. McNair, and was in the battles of Elkhorn, Chickamauga, Atlanta, Resaca and others, being wounded at Resaca by a minie-ball in the left hip, and also at Nashville, Tenn., by a minie-ball in the forehead and right cheek. A prisoner at Nashville, he escaped from the hospital, and surrendered in Huntsville, Ala., in 1865. After the war he again devoted himself to agriculture, and in 1873 bought the valuable farm on which he now lives in Howard County. He owns 1,400 acres of land, and is pre-eminently successful in all his undertakings, and a willing supporter of all worthy causes, especially churches. He is a Democrat in politics. On March 22, 1872, Mr. Barefield married Miss Betty Oakley, daughter of Allen Oakley, and a native of Tennessee, and they have had six children, of whom Estelle, James, Louis and Maud are dead, and Clarence and Kate are still living.