Barber Family
10.5 linear feet
A2002-020
1890-1945 (unknown)
Daniel A. Barber was born in Barbers Hill, Texas in 1881. He was the son of Amos Joshua Barber and Cornelia Martha Lawrence. The Barber family moved to Bee County in 1903. D.A. Barber and his brother Archie Barber owned and operated D.A. Barber & Brother, a grocery store in Beeville, Texas. D.A. Barber met and married Estella Dugat, daughter of a Bee County rancher. The Barbers were the parents of three daughters, Beryl Barber, Audrey Barber Morgan and Beulah Barber McCormick.
The Barber family moved to Kingsville, Texas in 1921, so his daughters could attend the new college that was to be started in Kingsville. D.A. Barber throughout his lifetime has been employed in various positions, grocer, realtor, and life insurance agent. In Kingsville Barber purchased Young's Insurance Agency and changed the name to Barber's Insurance Agency.
In 1947 he was joined in the business by his son-in-law, John Dyer Morgan and the name was changed to the Barber, Morgan Insurance and Real Estate Agency. The First Methodist Church of Kingsville was the center of most of the family's activities. Barber served as a member of the board of stewards; board of trustees; building committee; as lay leader; and as Sunday school superintendent. He worked toward building up the Wesley Foundation which was a religious organization for the students at the college sponsored by the Methodist Church. Barber was the county chairman of the Democratic Party for many years and was a member of the parole board. He was active in the Chamber of Commerce and was a charter member of the Lion's Club which was organized in Kingsville in 1929.
Mrs. Barber was active in church and civic duties as well. She worked in the Woman's Missionary Society and the Martha Class of the Methodist Church. The Martha Class cooked and served the Lions Club's Wednesday Luncheons in the church basement for many years to raise money for the building fund.
Beulah Barber married Eugene Hay McCormick who came to Kingsville from Robstown to attend college. Gene was center for the A&I football team in the 1930s. They had two children, James Philip and Donald Eugene McCormick. Audrey Barber married John Dyer Morgan from Pennsylvania. They met at Columbia University in New York and lived in Maplewood, New Jersey for nine years before John left his school teaching and came to Kingsville to go into business with D.A. Barber. John and Audrey had two children, John Dyer, Jr. and Michael Page Morgan. Beryl Barber retired from teaching to help her father in business.
Taken partly from "Kleberg County Texas, a collection of historical sketches and family histories compiled by members of the Kleberg County Historical Commission and other volunteers"
The major part of this collection contains papers that trace Barber’s career from grocer (D.A. Barber & Brother) to insurance agent and realtor (Barber-Morgan Agency). There are also papers in this collection that pertain to John Dryer Morgan, business partner as well as son-in-law of Daniel Amos Barber. John Dryer Morgan married Audrey Barber in August of 1938. Morgan died on February 6, 1970. The collection consists of tax forms, tax returns, receipts, publications, warranty deeds, miscellaneous forms, nine photographs, eight negatives, one rubber stamp (Barber-Morgan Agency), letters, greeting cards, newspaper clippings, ledgers, sermons, titles, annual and semiannual reports, check books, canceled checks and bank statements that document his professional and personal life as well as his membership in various organizations from 1904 to 1974. The last series, the Eugene McCormick papers, also a son-in-law of Barber, pertain to the business of Gene McCormick Motors.
The collection consists of five series: Series I, Correspondence is arranged in chronological order. Series II, Publications are arranged in chronological order. Series III, Tax Receipts and Statements are arranged in alphabetical then chronological order. Series IV, Statements and Cancelled Checks are arranged in alphabetical then chronological order. Series V, Ledgers are arranged in chronological order Series VI. Gene McCormick Motors
South Texas Archives, James C. Jernigan Library, Texas A&M University-Kingsville
Open for Research
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Daniel Amos Barber Collection, A2002-020.XXXX- South Texas Archives, James C. Jernigan Library, Texas A&M University-Kingsville
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A2002-020 – Gift of Philip Morgan
A2002-020 first processed and finding aid created in 2002 by Cecilia Aros Hunter. Records entered into database by Heidi Saenz, finding aid updated by Lori Atkins, EAD created and uploaded by Daniel Thacker in 2017.