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BARNESVILLE, TEXAS

Texas Ghost Town
Johnson County, Central Texas North

12 Miles E of Cleburne the county seat
Population: 0

Barnesville, Texas Area Hotels › Cleburne Hotels
Barnesville TX - Lewis and son Charles Cicero Beck
Lewis and his son Charles Cicero Beck at their property
at the junction of CR107 and CR210
Click on image to enlarge

Photo courtesy Mike Beck

History in a Pecan Shell

First settled in the 1850s, initial settlers included the Barnes and Dee Families. Growth was slow but steady through the 1880s as the community added a cotton gin and post office (sometime prior to 1873). The community finally platted a town site in the mid 1870s . Barnesville was along the Waxahachie-Cleburne stageline.

The population was 150 in the mid-1880s and Barnesville’s future seemed assured. But it was bypassed in the early 1880s by not one, but two railroads (the Gulf, Colorado and Santa Fe and the Missouri, Kansas, and Texas). The town continued on for some years but the writing was on the walls and Barnesville disappeared from maps shortly after the turn of the 20th Century.

There is a Barnesville cemetery about 6 miles SE of Alvarado, but it isn’t known if this is the cemetery of the Barnesville Community.
Barnesville TX - Early settler Lewis Beck
"My great great grandfather Lewis Beck" - Mike Beck

Barnesville Early Settlers

"My great great grandfather, Lewis Beck and wife Sarah Prather Beck with their family, started farming 80 acres at Barnesville, Texas from about 1876 until about 1882.

They are listed in the 1880 Selected U.S. Federal Census Non-Population along with neighboring properties that helped me narrow down their location. From my research their property surveyed by T M Farley was at the junction of CR107 and CR210.

I have three documents that relate to Barnesville during the period that they were there.
1. A photo of Lewis and his son Charles Cicero Beck at their property
2. A receipt for postage sent from a relative in Kentucky to Lewis Beck at Barnesville
3. A notice in the church newsletter with the obituary of the youngest child of Lewis and Sarah

I was hoping these could be added to the historical information for Barnesville." - Mike Beck, July 12, 2019
Barnesville TX -  1881 Obituary of 6 year old Carson Beck
1881 obituary of the youngest child of Lewis and Sarah Beck
from the Barnesville church newsletter by the Sunday School secretary

Photo courtesy Mike Beck
Barnesville TX - 1881 registered letter receipt
"A receipt for postage sent from a relative in Kentucky to Lewis Beck at Barnesville" - Mike Beck
Cover canceled with Barnesville TX 1879 postmark
Courtesy The John J. Germann Collection
TX Johnson County 1940s Map
Johnson County 1940s map showing Alvarado E of Cleburne
From Texas state map #4335
Courtesy Texas General Land Office

Take a road trip

Barnesville, Texas Nearby Towns:
Cleburne the county seat
Alvarado
See Johnson County | Central Texas North

Book Hotel Here:
Cleburne Hotels | More Hotels
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