Barney Family History

The Barney Family History in Arizona and Utah traces back to Lewis Barney in Nauvoo, Illinois and his farm north of Carthage, Illinois in the 1840s, the early days of our church. Talmage and Clarene Barney are my grandparents on my Dad's side. Clarene is a Robson, going back to Francis Martin Pomeroy through Charles Innes Robson I and Irene Ursula Haskell Pomeroy, his first wife. My mom is a Pomeroy going back to Francis Martin Pomeroy through Sarah Matilda Colborn Pomeroy, his second wife. Francis and Lewis were together in Nauvoo and likely knew each other. They were both part of the first company with Brigham Young to migrate to the Salt Lake Valley in 1847.

Lewis's son Walter was called by John Taylor to settle in the Gila Valley (Safford, Solomonville) in Arizona in 1884. Francis Martin Pomeroy and Charles Innes Robson had recently been called by Brigham Young in 1877 to do the same thing on the Salt River in Mesa, Arizona.

Walter's son Orin had 16 children. My Grandfather Talmage was the youngest of 12 from his first wife Annie. Newell Barney is the son of Talmage's older brother Arthur. Talmage and Newell were close friends and built homes and farms together in Mesa and Queen Creek in the 1940's. Our families have remained very close.

When Talmage married my grandmother Clarene Robson in 1940, they reconnected the Pomeroy, Robson, and Barney families 100 years after first connecting in Nauvoo and on the pioneer trek to Utah. Because of that, my dad's lineage goes back to Francis Martin Pomeroy (through his first wife) and Francis's son in law Charles Innes Robson I through his mother, Clarene. He goes back to Lewis Barney through his father, Talmage. My mother's great grandfather is Francis Martin Pomeroy through his second wife.

That is how my my Barney, Pomeroy, and Robson family histories interconnect so much and why they are all shared together here. See the Barney Family Tree with its connection to the Pomeroy and Robson families. More detail on the Pomeroy Robson Tree here.