John W. Barns, of the Bryce, Barns and Green Manufacturing Company, of Grand Haven, is a wide-awake and enterprising young business man, who has the honor of being a native of the city which is still his home, his birth having here occurred in 1862. His father, John W. Barns, was a native of Vermont, and became one of the early settlers of Grand Haven, where he resided until called to the home beyond, in 1892. In politics, he was a Democrat and took quite an active interest in political and public affairs. He served as Alderman of the city for several years and was also a member of the School Board. He long held membership with the Odd Fellows’ Society and was widely and favorably known in this locality. He married Ruth C. Breau, a native of New York, and a daughter of Peter Breau, who was born in France. She is still residing in Grand Haven. The ancestors of the Barns family came from Scotland.

Our subject has spent almost his entire life in this city. His boyhood days were passed midst play and work, and in the common schools he acquired a liberal education. At the age of twenty-one he made a contract to furnish cooperage stock for the firm of Kilbourn & Co., of Grand Haven and continued in that line of business for a period of seven years, on the expiration of which he abandoned it in order to turn his attention to other pursuits.

In 1884 was celebrated the marriage of Mr. Barns and Miss Lillie Stone, a lady of culture and refinement, who is a native of Ohio, and a daughter of George W. Stone. Their union has been blessed with two children, a son and a daughter, Florence and Kenneth. The Barns home is a hospitable one, and our subject and his wife rank high in social circles where true worth and intelligence are received as the passports into good society.

After discontinuing his connection with Kilbourn & Co., Mr. Barns formed a partnership with M. L. Green and Mr. Bryce, and established the present business, under the firm name of The Bryce, Barns & Green Manufacturing Company. Our subject is now superintendent of the works. They do a general planning-mill business, manufacture all kinds of woodwork for interior finishing, stairs, etc., and also manufacture sash, doors and blinds. The mill is equipped with all the latest improved machinery for work in this line and has a capacity of forty thousand feet of lumber per day. Employment is furnished to ten men throughout the year, and the business, which is constantly increasing, is now in a flourishing condition under the able management of Mr. Barns. He is a man of excellent business and executive ability, pays careful attention to all details, and is sagacious and far-sighted. He is strictly honorable in all dealings, and the confidence and regard of the community are his in a high degree. In politics, he is a supporter of the Democracy, but has never been an aspirant for official preferment. Socially, he is a member of the Order of Red Men, belonging to Highland Camp No. 203, Maccabees.