Barrett Ridge, Mississippi
Edmond (Ned) and one of his sisters, Briget, joined other immigrants fleeing the potato famine and went to America in search of a way to provide for their family. On the way over, Briget fell from the boat while sleepwalking and drowned. Ned worked hard when he got to America and sent money home to the family in Ireland. He worked his way south and then moved westward into Mississippi in 1852. Ned married Mary Vina Warren on December 29, 1858 and they settled into a log cabin on a gentle rolling hill near Saltillo. On March 10, 1866 Edmond (Ned) Barrett had made enough money to purchase that land, which became known as Barrett Ridge. Ned and Mary had 11 children, whom they raised in the log cabin on Barrett Ridge. Most of them established homes there and raised their own children on the Ridge.
Nels Johnson
Johnson was married to Frances Green in 1865 at Milwaukee. Their first child born in 1869 was named August Nel. They had another child, Henrietta (Hattie), by 1871. They had four more children while living in Manistee, Michigan. One was a daughter named Clara, born March 15, 1877, but died at the age of six on June 8, 1885. August, Dollie, Katherine, and Nels Jr. reached adulthood and married. Nels' first wife, Frances, died on June 11, 1880, at the age of 39. He got remarried to Amanda Golden in 1881. Amanda died in 1917, two years after Nels' death. Nels, Frances, Amanda, Clara, and Nels' mother's gravesites are at the Oak Grove Cemetery in Manistee, Michigan.