Bion Barnett

He was born in Hiawatha, Kansas, the son of William Boyd Barnett and the former Sarah Jane Blue.

His father was a merchant and a banker in northeast Kansas.

He was the younger of two children who lived to adulthood. His older brother, Will (five years older) moved from Kansas to Jacksonville, Florida to start a furniture business in 1874, just as Bion enrolled at the University of Kansas. Will spoke highly of Florida's moderate winter, so the following year, his parents journeyed to Jacksonville to visit their oldest son. Sarah Barnett suffered from neuralgia, but her health improved during their time in Florida, so the Barnetts returned to Kansas, liquidated their assets, and relocated to Jacksonville in March 1877. Bion, who was a college senior, withdrew from school to join his parents three months before graduation.

In 2019, the Barnett/Camp/Franklin family papers came to the Sophia Smith Collection of Women's History at Smith College from Barnett's granddaughter, writer Madeleine L'Engle. The collection consists of 43 linear feet of family, personal, and literary papers, and includes Barnett's personal correspondence with his son, his father, his daughter, and his writer granddaughter. Also included are: news clippings about Barnett and the Barnett Bank, records of assets and stocks, his will, and other miscellaneous written materials. The papers were donated by the family's estate.