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Farming For A Better Future, page 373
(Above) Joiner and Barley
Men of Pond Beat (Huntsville Revisited Facebook Page)
1920 census records, but by 1930, the couple had established themselves in Pond Beat. The Barleys are most well-known for their large farm and their sorghum mill. Dave Barley owned a 365-acre farm north of Farley-Triana Road, now Bruxton Road on Redstone Arsenal.
Many of the previous members of the Pond Beat and Mullins Flat community that were interviewed by Redstone in the late 1990s and early 2000s, commented on Dave Barley. They said he was well-liked by all. Everyone in Pond Beat brought their sorghum to his mill to be crushed into molasses, regardless of race. Dave Barley is noted as having very light skin and was well-educated. When it came to race relations in Pond Beat, Barley was uniquely remembered for allowing a white sharecropper to live on his land. Although this briefly upset the community, his influence brought everyone around in a short time.
Dave and Rhoda had 16 children. There were 10 Barley sons and many of the daughters married Joiner men, bringing those two families together.
The Binford Family
Henry Caxton Binford, Sr. (1851-1911) had many professions in his lifetime, all of them highly influential to the community of color in Huntsville, Madison County, and Alabama. Beginning in 1867, a young Binford helped open the first public school for
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(Top) 1880 Federal Census Showing Henry C. Binford and Wife, Francis, with Three of Their Children (NARA via Ancestry.com) (Second from Top) 1900 Federal Census Showing Henry C. Binford Sr. and Wife, Francis, with Three of Their Children in One Household and Henry C. Binford, Jr. and His Wife, Mary, in the adjacent Household (NARA via Ancestry. com) (Above) 1910 Federal Census Showing Henry C. Binford Sr. in One Household and Henry C. Binford, Jr. in the adjacent Household (NARA via Ancestry.com) (Right) The Header to The Journal, Newspaper Run by H. C. Binford at the Turn of the Century (Newspapers. com)
children of color in Huntsville in the basement of the Lakeside Methodist Episcopal Church. Binford became the first principal of the school, serving from 1867 to 1879.
Sometime between 1870 and 1880, Binford married Frances A. Binford (1852-1919). By 1880, the couple was living in Huntsville and the occupation of H.C. is listed as a teacher. Around 1900, H.C. Binford began printing and editing a newspaper called The Journal, a newspaper for people of color in Huntsville, Alabama.
(Far Right) Image of H. C. Binford, Sr. and His Youngest Son, James A. Binford from an Issue of The Journal, 1900 (Newspapers.com) (Right) Photograph of Henry Claxton Binford, Sr. (FindAGrave.com)
373 - MADISON - (4901)