Utilizing genealogy as a means of understanding the past can often present some exciting challenges. However, with the ever-increasing digitalization of primary source materials such as marriage licenses, death certificates, town directories, and census reports, often open the window to valuable information.

            Henry “Obediah” Barber is my fourth great grandfather through my maternal granny’s father’s line. I did not know about Obediah growing up; it was only in the more recent years that I discovered this connection to a larger than life frontiersman. Obediah was born on July 15, 1825, to the Reverend Isaac Barber and Catherine Frances Sikes in Bryan County, Georgia.[1]

On February 1, 1849, he married Nancy Stephens, and together they eventually had eleven children. One of those being my third great grandmother Julia Barber. He was a tall man with a height of around 6 ½ feet.  In 1857, 1875, and 1890 Obediah acted as a guide to the swamp for a surveying party.

            Sometime in 1854, Obediah purchased a 490-acre lot on the Okefenokee Swamp’s northeastern side and moved his family on to the land. Obediah served as a Justice of the Peace in Ware County and subsequently in Pierce County when the boundary was moved between 1857 and 1870. Unfortunately, I do not know much about his time as a Justice of the Peace due to records not being digitalized as of now. Maybe one day, they will be done so that I can access them for further research.  Based on census records for 1850-1860, it does not appear that Obediah had slaves; having a large family, he may have utilized his family as labor.[2]

The Civil War was a turning point in our nation’s history. Obediah served during the war as part of Mercer’s Partisans with Captain Thomas Spaulding Hopkins Mounted Partisan Rangers.[3]  On September 22, 1862, he enlisted at Camp Fort, where Captain Hopkins swore him in. Looking at his service records, it is evident that Captain Hopkins trusted him as between November and December 1862. He was sent to pursue a deserter. In an exciting twist, Obediah, himself, is recorded as having deserted on July 19, 1863.[4]

            In 1870, Obediah resigned as justice of the peace, sells his current home, and moves his family six miles across the swamp to a new farm. It is here that he built a log cabin for the family that survives to this day.  In 1874, his beloved Nancy died. Obediah remarried in 1875 to Matilda Tatum, with whom he fathered nine more children. If you are keeping track, that means Obediah had twenty children between two wives. By 1850, Obediah owned around 1500 acres of land and several working oxen and horses. In addition to crops such as rice, sugarcane, oats, and sweet potatoes, he farmed cattle, hogs, and chickens.[5]  There are interesting stories of Obediah killing a bear with a butcher knife, killing large snakes with his bare hands. Student biologists turned to him for information on the various animals and foliage found in the swamp. It is reported that authors and writers even utilized him for his knowledge, thus earning him the nickname “King of the Okefenokee.” [6]

            In 1898 his second wife, Matilda, died. At the age of 73, Obediah remarried a woman forty-seven years younger than him named Martha Ann Knight. The marriage did not last long, as Obediah suffered a stroke in 1903, and by 1907, Martha Ann divorced Obediah. He spent the last two years of his life under the guardianship of his children. Obediah died on December 28, 1909, having lived a full and fascinating life. Today, he is remembered as a pioneering legend in Ware County, Georgia.

            His 1870 cabin still stands and today is listed on the National Registry of Historic Places. The report states that it is significant as it is the only surviving home of its period remaining in the swamp. Furthermore, the land the home stands on is known as Obediah’s Okefenok.[7]

[1] National Register of Historic Places, Obediah Barber Homestead, Waycross, Ware County, Georgia, National Register #93500742.

[2] Ancestry.com. 1860 United States Federal Census [database on-line]. Provo, UT, USA: Ancestry.com Operations, Inc., 2009. Images reproduced by FamilySearch. Original data:1860 U.S. census, population schedule. NARA microfilm publication M653, 1,438 rolls. Washington, D.C.: National Archives and Records Administration, n.d.

[3] Fold3, Civil War Soldiers – Confederate – GA (/title/31/civil-war-soldiers-confederate-ga:accessed October 7, 2020), database and images, https://www.fold3.com/title/31/civil-war-soldiers-confederate-ga

[4] Ibid. 8.

[5] Ancestry.com U.S. IRS Tax Assessment Lists,1862-1918 [database on-line]. Provo, UT, USA: Ancestry.com Operations Inc., 2008.

[6]  Walker, Laura Singleton. History of Ware County, Georgia. Macon, Ga.: J.W. Burke Co., 1934: 334-335.

[7] National Register of Historic Places, Obediah Barber Homestead, 6.