Melvin Barnes 1878-1901

BARNES

Posted By: Sharon Elijah (email)
Date: 11/15/2018 at 10:59:34

14 November 1901 - West Branch Times

Melvin W., son of G. L. and Jennie Barnes, was born at West Branch January 1, 1878. Eight years of his happy childhood were spent in the dear old home where he was born. He then went with his parents to southern California where the dear mother was laid away in a beautiful plot of ground where the flowers bloom over her grave, summer and winter. After a year's absence, the father and children returned to West Branch where Melvin grew up and developed into a noble and lovely young manhood.

Kind, gentle and obliging with a countenance which was an index to a clean, moral and upright life, a life that entered into every other life which came in touch with his. Following the trade of a carpenter, he considered the best interest of his employers by seeking instruction in different states of the union, and very few men so young were more skillful than he. But he cheerfully left his bench and tools to join the Lord Jesus, the carpenter's son in a mansion not made with hands.

He was a young man clear of the immoral and filthy vices so common with the boys and young men of our day, a real gentleman wherever he went, loved and honored by all who knew him. He was blessedly converted to God under the ministry of J. L. Bean at the age of about 16 years. His conversion was from a deep inward conviction of the need of the indwelling presence and power of the Lord Jesus to save from sin and make it easy and joyful to live and work for the glory of God. Although, like many others, he lost, through the soul destroying influences of this world, to a large degree, his steadfastness and joy in the services of Christ; yet he never lost his faith in God who graciously held him in the grasp of His almighty hand, and in the last hours of his life he asked God to forgive his mistakes and land him safely home in Heaven.

Melvin Barnes was a living witness to this gospel truth that the strictest moral life could not atone for the sin of the soul or bring it into sweet communion with God. He sealed his testimony with his last prayer on earth and entered into his rest on the morning of November 4th, 1901.

The funeral services were conducted at the Downey street Friends' church on Wednesday afternoon at two o'clock by Rev. Geo. Furniss, pastor of the Presbyterian church, who was a man highly appreciated by the departed. J. Y. HOOVER