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History of Bay County Michigan
pub. H. R. Page & Co., Chicago - 1883

         [p. 28-29]
         
           CROMWELL BARNEY was born in Swansea, Mass., September 9,
	 1807, was married to Miss BELINDA PEIRCE, January 3, 1830.
         The first year they lived in Swansea, when MR. BARNEY re-
         moved to Warren, R. L, where he lived five years. MR. BARNEY
         was by occupation a millwright, and being tired of the life 
         he was then following, and having no prospects of bettering 
         his condition where he then was, he determined to go West. 
         He made provisions for his wife and child and they were to 
         remain at Warren, R.I., while he would go West to try and 
         better his condition. He started in 1836 for Michigan; ar-
         riving at Detroit he inquired in what part of the Territory 
         there was the best prospect of lumbering, as he wanted to 
         get work as a millwright, and was told that the Saginaw 
         Valley would be eventually,as then there was the most pine 
         in that region. So he started on foot for Saginaw. When he 
         arrived there he could find no employment at his trade, but 
         was told that parties had commenced a mill at Portsmouth. 
         MR. BARNEY obtained work here and followed it one year. The 
         next year he returned to Rhode Island for his family, and 
         brought them to what was then Lower Saginaw, now Bay City, 
         and moved into the old Indian trading house of LEON TROMBLEY, 
         which stood on the bank of the river near the corner of Water 
         and Fourth Streets, near where the large hardware store of 
         Forsyth & Pierson now stands. This Indian trading house was 
         a small affair, - too much so for the comfort of his family.
         He moved into the block house near by. Here their daughter 
         MARY E. BARNEY was born May 22, 1838, the first female
         child born in what is now Bay County, late wife of ALFRED G. 
         SINCLAIR, of Bay City. MR. BARNEY continued to live in this 
         block house some four or five years, when he sold out to the 
         late James G. Birney, who was afterward candidate for the 
         Presidency, in 1844, on the Abolition ticket. While Barney 
         lived in this old block house he had occasion often to go 
         to Detroit in Winter for supplies for himself and others, 
         which would take him nine days to make the trip. What a 
         difference from the present time! Now we can go and do our 
         business and return the same day. MR. BARNEY then bought a 
         farm and moved on to it, which was situated where Dolson-
         ville now stands, comprising what is now the First Ward of 
         Bay City. The old farm house is still standing, and the 
         fields he once tilled are now covered over with streets 
         and buildings. After residing on his farm for a few years, 
         he went into partnership with the late James Fraser,in 
         building the Kawkawlin Mills, and in lumbering on the 
         Kawkawlin River, where he soon after removed with his 
         family, and where he lived until his death, which occurred 
         November 30, 1851. He left a noble record after him for 
         uprightness and fair dealing with his fellow men; he was 
         one of the most industrious men I ever saw; he never could 
         be still while there was any thing to do. He was just the 
         man JAMES FRASER required to assist him in carrying on that 
         extensive business. His widow is still living with her son-
         in-law in Bay City, at the age of seventy-five, one of the 
         few noble pioneers that are left.
         
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