Thomas W. Barber, who came to Kansas from Ohio, was a quiet, inoffensive,
  and amiable man, unexceptional in his habits, and much attached to his wife
  and children. On December 6, 1855, he was shot by a part of pro-slavery men.
     Sometime before this lamentable affair, he had left his home and family
  to join the free-state force at Lawrence. His wife, who seemed to have a 
  presentment of some impending evil, exhausted every argument to prevent him
  from going, but all in vain. He had regularly enrolled himself as a private
  in the Bloomington Company (D) of the 1st Regiment, Kansas Voluntters, then
  serving in Lawrence to defend themselfs agains the invasion of the Kansas
  malitia, under Generals Richardson and Strickler. Turning a deaf ear to the
  entreaties of a devoted wife, Thomas Barber went forth to his death.
     True, Thomas W. Barber was a martyr, and this one attribute alone probably
  was an influential factor; but the exact reason for Barber County's being
  named for this man is unknown.
                  
     Source:Chosen Land - Barber County, Kansas,  pg. 6 
     Submitted by: Elmer Angell, Jr.