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the Barber & Lacey families of Kirkman, Iowa...
Homes of Charles W. and Sylvia Lacey Barber
... in South Dakota are located South of the town of Lane, in Jerauld County.  When Charles and Sylvia first emigrated to South Dakota, they purchased a 320 acre farm three miles South and almost a mile West of the town. 

The CW Barber "South place" farm, near Lane SD
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The CW Barber family first lived in this home, which they built, from the time they moved to South Dakota in 1909 until they purchased the "North place" (shown below) in 1919.   It's a very nice structure, architecturally, and we think it likely that CW's father, John K. Barber, a carpenter and builder by trade, may have supervised the construction.  John K. may have also loaned the couple the money to purchase the farm and erect this fine home, for the financial obligation was listed in the father's estate settlement papers.  The photograph, above right, appears to have been taken around 1918, as the twins would then have been around three years old.
 

CW Barber home, "South place"
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The house, which appears to have been well built, has been abandoned to the elements (2003).

Location of the Charles Barber farms South of Lane
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"South place" purchase 1909, "North place" in 1919

This, the "South place," was the locale in which their children spent their young years.  The spacious home is still standing though unoccupied.  
 
In 1919 Charles and Sylvia purchased a second farm, which became known as the "North place." 
 
Ostensibly the plan was to turn the "South place" over to eldest son Lake Barber so father and son could partner in farming and livestock raising enterprises, but after Lake's new wife quickly tired of the agricultural scene, Lake (who wasn't called after all to serve in World War I) apparently abandoned his plans to be a farmer and departed for Chicago to attend radio school. 

CW Barber home, "North place"
cw_barber_house-north-2.jpg

It was thus that the youngest Barber children grew up in the "North place," which has long since been abandoned to the ravages of time, and (for unknown reasons) the family never moved back to the "South place," even after eldest son Lake departed.  CW apparently rented the "South place" out to a tenant for awhile, and then lost the property to the bank in the financial crises of the 1920's.

"North place" house, 2003
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"North place" laneway
cw_barber_laneway1.jpg

A view across the South Dakota prairie, 2003
cw_barber_sdvista.jpg
The trees you see are a phenomenon of homesteading law in the late 1800's

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