Worden G. Barnaby, agent for the Chicago & West Michigan Railroad at Hudsonville, is numbered among the progressive and popular young business men to whose influence Ottawa County is largely indebted for its present prosperity. He is the son of Samuel G. and Olive M. (Chamberlain) Barnaby, natives of New York, who were married in that State. Subsequently they removed to Pennsylvania and conducted agricultural pursuits in Potter County. The year 1862 witnessed their arrival in Michigan, and for three years they sojourned in Kalamazoo County. Thence they came to Ottawa County, where the father now makes his home on section 32, Georgetown Township. His wife departed this life in 1865. She was a devoted member of the Baptist Church, with which he is now identified, having in former years been a Sunday-school Superintendent.

Our subject is the only member left of his father’s family, with the exception of his brother, Glenn A., who married Miss Carrie, daughter of John N. Waite (of whom see sketch presented on another page of this volume). Glenn Barnaby is a resident of Minneapolis, Minn. The senior Mr. Barnaby is a man of broad intelligence and liberal views, and is one of the most prominent and influential citizens of Ottawa County, having for years been closely connected with its growth and progress.

Born in Potter County, Pa., October 10, 1858, the subject of this sketch received his education principally in the neighboring school. He has gained his best education, however, in the school of experience, by self-culture and close observation. At the age of fourteen he began to be self-supporting and for a time was employed in a grocery store, where he gave his services in exchange for his board and clothes. He continued thus engaged until 1879, his salary being meantime increased as he acquired a thorough understanding of the business. Afterward he accepted the position of night operator at Watervliet, where he remained for three years, and in the interval gained a complete knowledge of that line of railroad work.

In 1884 Mr. Barnaby located at Hudsonville, accepting his present position as agent for the Chicago & West Michigan Railway Company, and has since served in that capacity. He was married, in 1886, to Miss Lizzie A., daughter of Nelson R. and Lucy F. (Spencer) Bonfoey, and a native of Watervliet, Michigan, having been born in that city February 28, 1867. Her grandparents came to Michigan in an early day and settled in Berrien County, being numbered among the pioneers of the vicinity of Watervliet. Nelson R. Bonfoey was born in Richfield, N. Y., February 18, 1827, and married Lucy F. Spencer, who was born in Atwater, Ohio, on the 9^th of October, 1843. The maternal grandparents of our subject were Elias T. and Eliza (Smith) Spencer, the former a native of Middlefield, Mass., born on the 11^th of August, 1815. Mr. Bonfoey and his estimable wife had a family of three children, two of whom are now living; they themselves are now living in Watervliet.

The marriage of Mr. Barnaby has been blessed by the birth of two children, Olive Lucy, who was born 16 September 1887, and Zora Izetta, whose birth occurred 17 May 1890. Mrs. Barnaby is a lady of prominence in Hudsonville, and is one of the active members of the Ladies Union. Socially, our subject is identified with the Independent Order of Odd Fellows (I.O.O.F.), and has filled the various charis in the home lodge, being at present District Deputy Grand Master. While not active in politics, he is a stanch Democrat and upholds the principles of that party with his ballot.