The Barbours of Canajoharie are of Scotch ancestry. The immediate ancestor, Rev. William McLeod Barbour, born May 29, 1827, died December 5, 1899, came from Fochabers, Scotland, the place of his birth, to the United States in youth. He worked at the upholstering business in New York City until he had accumulated sufficient money to enter college. He matriculated at Oberlin College, Oberlin, Ohio, graduated 1859. After completing his course there, entered Andover Theological Seminary at Andover, Massachusetts, where he prepared for the ministry, graduating 1861. He was ordained a minister of the Congregational church in the same and settled over the First Church of Peabody, Massachusetts. After his pastorate there, which ended in 1868, he was called to the Theological School at Bangor, Maine, where he occupied the chair of Sacred Theology until 1877. The following year he was called to the chair of Homiletics and pastoral charge at Yale University. He remained there until 1885, when he was elected principal of the theological department of McGill University at Montreal, Canada. He remained there until 1897 when he resigned and retired to private life in Malden, Massachusetts, his home until death, December 5, 1899. He was an educator of high standing; an eloquent and earnest pulpit orator and a writer of acknowledged merit. He occupied positions of honor in church councils and in educational societies and institutes. In 1879 Bowdoin College conferred upon him the degree of D. D. He married Eliza Ann Ransom. Children:
- William R., now a lawyer of New York City (40 Wall street), married Edith Lambert, children: Alexander L. and Edward L.;
- Belle Jane;
- Frederick McLeod, married Laura Dunbar, and has Katherine D.;
- James Robertson;
- Francis Edward, of whom further.
(II) Francis Edward, youngest son of Rev. William McLeod and Eliza Ann (Ransom) Barbour, was born April 3, 1870, in Bangor, Maine. He was educated in the public schools of New Haven, Connecticut, Phillips Academy, Exeter, entered Yale University, whence he was graduated, class of 1892, with degree of Ph. B. From graduation until December 31, 1909, he was connected with the passenger department of the New York Central Railroad Company. He then resigned and came to Canajoharie, where he now resides, serving as vice-president of the "Beech Nut Packing Company," one of the important industries of the village, manufacturing the famous "Beech Nut" products so well known in the ham and bacon trade. He is associated with Bartlett Arkell, president of the company, and Walter H. Lipe, secretary and treasurer. He married, September 12, 1908, Bertelle H., daughter of James and Sarah Hall (Bartlett) Arkell, of Canajoharie, New York (see Arkell II), and widow of Bernhard Gillam. By her first marriage she has a daughter Beatrice.