from The History of Hendricks County (Indianapolis: B.F. Bowen & Co., 1914)----pages 561-565
It is a pleasure to investigate the career of a successful, self-made man. Great honor attaches to that individual who, beginning the great struggle of life alone and unaided, gradually overcomes environment, removing one by one the obstacles from the pathway of success, and by the master strokes of his own force and vitality succeeds in forging his way to the front and winning for himself a position of esteem and influence among his fellow men. Such is the record, briefly stated, of James M. Barlow, for several decades recognized as one of the most substantial and representative citizens of Hendricks County, to a brief synopsis of whose life and character the reader's attention is herewith directed. His protracted residence in this county has made his name widely and familiarly known. His life and the history of this locality for a period of nearly a half century has been pretty nearly one and the same thing, and he has lived to see and take a prominent part in the later growth of the community. He is a progressive man in the broadest sense of the term. Realizing the wants of the people, he has tried to supply the demands of his constituents generously and unsparingly. His has been a life of honor and trust, and no higher eulogy can be passed upon him than to state the simple truth that his name has never been coupled with anything disreputable, nor has there been the shadow of a stain upon his reputation for integrity and unwavering honesty. He has been a consistent man in all that he has undertaken, and his career in the various relations of life has been utterly without pretense. Because of his earnest life, high attainments, well rounded character and large influence, he is largely entitled to representation in a work of this character.
James Milton Barlow was born on September 13, 1845, in Washington Township, Hendricks County, Indiana, and is the son of Harvey R. and Sarah E. (Smith) Barlow, the former born April 1, 1818, in Scott County, Kentucky, and the latter born in Henry County, Kentucky, December 8, 1822. To these parents were born eight children, four sons and four daughters, of whom four still survive, namely: The first born died in infancy; Hannah Jane C. died in early youth; James M., the subject of this sketch, was next in order of birth; Ruth Ann lives in Marion County; a daughter who died in infancy; Mrs. Myra Alice Medsker died at the age of forty years, leaving a husband and eight children; Harrison S., of Brownsburg, Indiana; Harvey Morton, of Brownsburg. The subject's paternal grandfather, Enoch Barlow, was the son of Revolutionary soldier and he himself was one of the early settlers in Scott County, Kentucky, his birth having occurred in Virginia. Eventually he moved to Indiana and in September, 1828, settled near Brownsburg, where he spent the remainder of his days, his death occurring in November, 1837. He was survived a number of years by his widow, who died on June 16, 1856. They were the parents of eleven children, seven sons and four daughters. Harvey R. Barlow was a man of considerable prominence in his community and was captain of a company of state volunteers. Harvey R. Barlow came to Indiana at the age of ten years at the time of his father's death and took upon himself the management of the home farm. He was of necessity deprived of educational advantages, two months comprising the entire period of his attendance at school. However, he was of a studious disposition and by the most persistent efforts acquired a splendid education, so that for many years he was enabled to teach school to the entire satisfaction of parents and pupils. His death occurred on August 5, 1872. His wife, whose maiden name was Sarah J. Smith, and who was a native of Kentucky, died at the age of seventy-three years. She came to this state in 1837, and was a woman of splendid qualities of character, an ardent Presbyterian and rearing her children in that faith. In the early life of Hendricks County, Harvey Barlow was prominent and progressive in his methods, having built the first saw and grist-mill in the county. He was a man of strong character and forceful personality, and in the community where he lived he was held in high esteem.
James M. Barlow received his elementary education in the public schools and then became a student in Wabash College. On April 30, 1864, when but eighteen years of age, he enlisted in Company H, One Hundred and Thirty-second Regiment Indiana Volunteer Infantry, with which he rendered valiant service until receiving an honorable discharge in September, 1864. He took part in a number of hotly contested engagements and arduous campaigns, and received a certificate of thanks from President Lincoln and Secretary of War Edwin H. Stanton, for valuable services rendered by him during the Atlanta campaign. Mr. Barlow has been a very active man and at the close of the war he went on the road as a traveling salesman for Powers & Weeks, lithographers of Cincinnati, Ohio, with whom he remained for two years. He then engaged in teaching school and was thus employed for twenty-two different schools, gaining an enviable reputation as a professional teacher and good administrative officer. For awhile he also gave some attention to auctioneering, in which he was successful, and also owned and operated a butcher shop in Brownsburg, and also a drug store. Then he was employed as bookkeeper for a firm in Pittsboro, in which position he gained a good, practical experience. In young manhood, by rigid economy and wise management, he succeeded in acquiring a small farm, which he operated with such good success that he was enabled to add to it from time to time, until at length he became the owner of seven hundred acres of fine farming land, of which he has given four hundred acres to his children, owning now three hundred acres of land. Aside from his farming interests, Mr. Barlow is identified with the Van Camp Packing Company, of Indianapolis. Strong and forceful in his relations with his fellow men, he has gained the good will and commendation of all with whom he has been brought in contact, ever retaining his reputation among men for integrity and high character and never losing that dignity which is the birthright of a gentleman. The splendid success which came to Mr. Barlow has been directly traceable to the salient points in his character, for he started in life at the bottom of the ladder, which he mounted unaided. He is a splendid example of the virile, progressive, self-made man, who believes in doing well whatever is worth doing at all.
Politically a Republican, Mr. Barlow has for many years been active in public affairs, and has been an important and influential factor in many movements for the welfare of his state. In 1897 and 1899 he was representative from Hendricks County in the Legislature, and in 1901-2-3 was a member of the Senate, representing the district of Boone and Hendricks Counties. In these bodies his ability was recognized and he was placed on several of the most important committees. He was chairman of the agricultural committee, chairman of the committee on reformatory institutions, and on a number of other important committees in both bodies. He served his community as justice of the peace for four years, and a noteworthy feature of his administration of the office was that he was influential in having many cases settled out of court, thus saving useless litigation and expense. His decisions as justice of the peace were marked by a high sense of fairness and justice, never having a decision reversed in the higher courts. Fraternally, Mr. Barlow has been a member of Lodge No. 188, Independent Order of Odd Fellows, for forty-eight years. He is also a member of the Improved Order of Red Men, Lodge No. 167, and at present a member of Post No. 186, Grand Army of the Republic. He was a charter member of John A. Hollett Post No. 242, Grand Army of the Republic. In the Knights of Pythias, Mr. Barlow has been quite prominent, having taken an active part in the organization of the Uniform Rank, being elected major of the First Battalion of the First Regiment, this being the first regiment ever organized in this body, and the first and oldest regiment in the world. Mr. Barlow served as chief of staff of Commander in Chief Thomas J. Stewart, of Pennsylvania, when the Grand Army of the Republic met at San Francisco, and has for many years been prominent in the various councils of this veteran organization. For twenty years Mr. Barlow served as president of the Old Settlers' Picnic, one of the popular and prominent organizations of Hendricks County, an annual feature of which was an address given by the governor of the state. Religiously, Mr. Barlow has for many years been a faithful and earnest member of the Presbyterian Church, of which he is an elder, and in 1903 was one of the delegates from Indiana to the general assembly of the church which met at Philadelphia. Mr. Barlow is a public spirited man in all that the term implies and is actively interested in enterprises tending to promote the general welfare, withholding his support from no movement for the good of the locality honored by his residence. His personal relations with his fellow men have even been mutually pleasant and agreeable, and he is highly regarded by all, being easily approached, obliging and straightforward in all the relations of life.
On May 17, 1871, Mr. Barlow was married to Sarah E. Hornaday, a daughter of Isaiah Hornaday, a farmer of Washington Township, this county, and was one of eight children, five of whom are now living. To this union have been born eight children: William E., of Minneapolis, a teacher in the public schools, having charge of the manual training department in the South High School. He is married and the father of four children: Henry Dickerson, a farmer on the old homestead in Washington Township, has four children living: Walter Harvey, a farmer in Guilford Township, has four children living; Walter Harvey, a farmer in Guilford Township, has four children; Myrtle, of Plainfield, who married Fred Brudford, a merchant of that city; Virgil M., who lives in Missouri, married Edith Anderson; Albert Paul, of Plainfield, a merchant, married Marie Hollingsworth; Harrison Porter, who died at the age of three years, and Mary S., the youngest in order of birth, who is attending college at Terre Haute, Indiana.