Sonoma County Biography
Miss Florence M. Barnes
No greater field of usefulness exists than that of educational activity and those who give their lives to the training of the young are, of all others, the most helpful factors in the development of the human race. California has gained a reputation for its thoroughness in educational work, and this high standing is due to its talented and energetic educators. In this list belongs the name of Miss Florence M. Barnes, formerly one of the efficient teachers of Healdsburg, and now superintendent of the schools of Sonoma county.
A native of the town in which she accomplished so much, Miss Barnes was born in Healdsburg March 1, 1880, the daughter of William H. and Sarah Frances (Grinsted) Barnes, both natives of Missouri, but residents of California since 1870. With the other children of the parental family she received her early education in the public schools of Healdsburg, supplementing this training by a course in the University of California, from which institution she graduated in 1903. Immediately following her graduation she became a teacher on the staff of the Healdsburg grammar school, a position which she filled efficiently until she assumed the duties of principal of the same institution in 1905. That she keeps abreast of the times in her profession will be easily recognized in the statement that she is a stanch believer in the education of the hand as well as the brain, and in order to prepare herself to introduce and maintain manual training as a part of the curriculum of the grammar school, she has taken a special course in this line, a training which has deepened her conviction that manual training is a vital necessity to the proper training of the young.
As an indication of the regard in which Miss Barnes is held it may be said that in 1910 she was a candidate for and was elected on the Democratic ticket county superintendent of schools. Not only is she active in educational circles, but she is also an active worker in the order of Eastern Star, being matron of Sotoyome Chapter No. 82, of Healdsburg. Much credit is due Miss Barnes for what she has thus far accomplished in her professional career, and undoubtedly a brilliant future awaits her efforts, a success which her unusual talents deserve.
History of Sonoma County, California
History by Tom Gregory : Historic Record Company, 1891
Los Angeles, Ca. 1911
Transcribed by Roberta Hester Leatherwood
December 5, 2007 Pages 704-707
Sonoma County Biographies ~ Archive Biography Index ~ Archive Index
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