History of Barnesville, Ohio. E-book. Formato PDF Richard Henry Taneyhill   -  Forgotten Books, 2017  - 

The town was laid out and platted on the 9th day of November, 1808. The surveyor was John Brown, then the county surveyor and deputy sheriff. He was a local M. E. Preacher and grandfather of our townsman, Henry R. Brown. He afterwards went to Morgan county, where he died. The town was laid off in blocks of two acres each and lots one-fourth of an acre each. One acre fronted on Main street; the other one on what was called back streets. There were 128 lots in all, besides streets and alleys. The streets were sixty-six feet wide; alleys a rod. The entire plat covered about fifty acres of ground. The fifth block — that on the northeast corner of Main and Chestnut streets — was not put to sale, but was reserved by Barnes for the use'of his own family. I came to Barnesville with my father's family in June, 1839, arriving after night on the 19th day, which was a Sunday. We stopped over night at the John O. Parsons hotel. Awoke to a bright, sunny day made salubrious by a shower during the night. The first thing I saw was a martin box perched above the town sign with martins ?ying about it. The next thing I saw was a long row of salt barrels under the eave in front of James Barnes Son's store. I propose to describe the town just as it then was, noting every house and vacant spot as they were in 1832.