NATHAN L. BARRUS - TIME LINE

Parents: Dr. Daniel Barrus & Nancy Ester (Usher) of Warren. Dr. Daniel Barrus was born in Taunton, MA on May 20,1763 and died in Warren on Oct 9, 1840. He is buried in the old North Burial Ground on Main Street, Warren.

1810 Dec 13, 1810; birth of Nathan L. Barrus in Warren, RI

1836 Nov 1, 1836; first appearance of the co-partnership notice in the Providence newspaper regarding the firm of Barrus & Bigelow at 77 Weybosset. The shop was damaged by fire three weeks later on Dec 21,1836, and as a result the business ended.

1839 Sept. 23, 1839; marriage of Nathan L. Barrus and Abby Miller Haile of John Haile; by Rev. John C. Welch in Warren, RI

1846 Nov 4, 1846; Leonard B. Bigelow marries Prudence Briggs Cole Barrus, the sister of Nathan Barrus in Warren, by Rev. Josiah P. Tustin.

1850 Federal census shows Nathan, his wife Abby and daughter Josephine living in Warren. In this census Nathan gives his trade as house-wright.

1864 Nathan’s wife Abigail Miller (Haile) Barrus dies on May 18,1864.

1865 RI state census: pg 222, line 16 shows Nathan (54), daughter Josephine (19) and son Lewis Haile (13) living in Warren

1870 Federal census: Nathan L. (59) conductor; Josephine (26) keeping house; and Lewis Haile (18) in Warren.

1870/71 Marriage of Nathan Barrus to Lauretta E. Champlin, daughter of James H. & Edna E. Champlin (date and location not known)

1871 Sale of some property in Warren by Nathan Barrus and his wife Lauretta .

1875 RI census: lists Nathaniel L. Barrus (64) as railroad agent; Lauretta E.(50) housekeeper; Josephine H. (30)

1879 Death of Nathan L. Barrus (Nov 24, 1879) ; age 68 yrs /11 months /11 days. The Providence paper states he died on South Main Street, but it's unclear as to whether it was in Providence or Warren. (both have South Main Streets) It also stated that he was married; that he was a Street Commissioner, and that the cause of death was heart disease. Warren probate records state that he was a resident and inhabitant of Warren at the time of his death.

It's somewhat of a mystery as to where Nathan Barrus learned the trade of plane making. His father was a practicing physician in Warren, RI so it wasn't as if woodworking, or working in a trade for that matter, ran in the family. With no plane makers working in Bristol County, the nearest place to learn would have been Providence, RI, Rehoboth,Mass or Fall River, Mass. As the first appearance of Nathan as a plane maker was in Providence, and as he was at that time beginning a partnership with Leonard Bigelow in the stand "previously occupied by Jonas R. Gale" at 77 Weybosset St., I thought initially that J. R. Gale was the most likely one to have taught Nathan Barrus. Comparing planes made by Barrus and Gale however show no similarities that I can discern. Whoever Nathan Barrus learned from taught well, as planes bearing the N.L.Barrus stamp are very well made. Like so many other planemakers that found it ever harder to make a living in the trade as the middle of the 19th century approached, Nathan by 1850 had become a house-wright and later a conductor on the railroad which ran along the west boundary of his property on South Main St. in Warren.