In the fall of 1905 my parents, Charles and Lucy Barnard, with their two
  daughters, Evaline (Mrs. Robert Clawson) and Alma (Mrs. Lon Hoagland) and 
  my grandparents, William and Evaline Barnard, came to Barber county from
  Okarche, Oklahoma Terr. They settled on a farm about six miles east of
  Medicine Lodge.
     Both families lived in a small four room house that first winter. A two
  room house was built for the young couple and it was here on November 19,
  1906, that I was born. Later two more rooms were added to the house. A
  brother, Charles, and a sister, Geneva (Mrs. C.M. Wheat) were born here.
     We four older children walked a mile and a half to the Walstead School.
  At that time there were all eight grades in a one room school house. My
  first teacher was J.E. (Ed) Thomas. His wife, Mary, and their daughter Helen
  (Mrs. Charles Gilham) also were my teachers.
     In 1914 we got our first Model T Ford car. There were no self-starters
  and cranking was often frustrating. Flat tires were common, but Papa always
  had tire patching material and a hand tire pump. Roads were not very good
  and when muddy we often got stuck in a mud hole. Twenty-five miles an hour
  was really speeding. We did not travel much at night because our lights
  burned carbide gas and were not very reliable.
     In the spring of 1918 Grandma Barnard died. The farm was sold in 1919,
  and we moved to Medicine Lodge. Here our younger brother, William (Bill) 
  was born.
     After graduating from high school in 1924, I entered the teaching 
  profession. My first position was at the lOckert School about twenty miles
  southwest of Medicine Lodge. There were four pupils and the salary was $70
  per month. Later I taught at Sun City, where I met my husband, Robert Knowles,
  who had returned in 1926 from 3 years of service in the army.
     We were married on September 19, 1928, and lived on the Knowles ranch
  which included the homesteads of Robert's father and grandfather. Cattle, 
  wheat, and forage crops were raised and a few pigs, chickens, and garden.
     The Depression of the early '30s coupled with draught and the "dust bowl"
  plagued the first few years of our marriage. We lived near the Medicine River
  where sand plums were abundant. We canned meat and vegetables in a pressure
  cooker until frozen food locker plants became popular. When electricity came
  to the farm we bought a home freezer. In 1950 the REA brought electricity to
  the farm, which in turn brought running water in the house and electric motors
  to lighten the work on the farm.
     We became the parents of six children: Glenn, Lucy Mae (Mrs. Howard Shippy),
  Wayne, Janet (Mrs. Merle Boggs), Keith, and Dale. There are 17 grandchildren
  and 7 great-grandchildren.
     My husband died October 26, 1955. I decided to return to teaching and 
  moved to Pratt for a year, where I attended Pratt Junior College and secured
  a teaching certificate. Keith, Dale, and I returned to Sun City where I
  taught for four years. In 1961 I moved to Pratt and taught in the Iuka School
  for ten years until retirement. I now reside in Pratt.
                 
     Source:Chosen Land - Barber County, Kansas,  pg. 263 
     Submitted by: Julia Barnard Knowles.