PATRICK W. BARNARD (1940-2017)

I could write about people who are familiar names in numismatics. I prefer to tell a story that no one has read before. Pat Barnard was a little-known author of an obscure numismatic reference. I thank John Mutch for suggesting this topic.

Patrick W. Barnard was born in Niagara Falls, New York, on August 20, 1940. He was the son of William Earl Barnard (1902-1967) and Nora Josephine O'Grady Barnard (Pruester) (1920-2003).

In some ways, the story of William Barnard and his family is more interesting than the story of Patrick. William married Thelma Elnora Smith (1906-1946) on October 6. 1923. They got busy producing a family and by the 1930 Census in Lockport, New York, they had a son Robert William Barnard (1925-1967) and two daughters, Betty Lou Barnard (1926-1993) and Mary Ann Barnard (1929-2006). The marriage ended in divorce on August 26. 1940.

The family had changed by 1940. The 1940 Census, taken at Niagara Falls on April 8. 1940, shows William, age 37, living with his wife, Nora, age 20, his son, Robert, age 15, and daughter, Mary Ann, age 10. Betty Lou was not listed. His first wife, Thelma, was living alone and working as a waitress.

Also on the record was Michael Barnard, age 9/12. In the Census, the first names of children are listed under their parents. Although he was indexed as Michael Barnard, I believe he was actually Michael O'Grady, the son of Nora.

Patrick and Nora also got busy having children. By the 1950 Census, Nora was living in Niagara Falls with her sons, Patrick W., age 9. John Russell Barnard (1941-1997), age 8, David E. Barnard (1943- ), age 7, and Thomas J. Barnard, age 10/12 (1949- ). William and Michael were not included with the family listing.

In her 2003 obituary, Nora's surviving sons were Patrick W. Barnard of North Tonawanda, Michael D. O'Grady of Los Lumas, New Mexico, and Thomas J. Barnard of Fort Lauderdale, Florida.

Patrick Barnard enlisted in the United States Marine Corps fresh out of high school in 1957.

He married Carole Camp Barnard and had two daughters.

Patrick taught social studies at Tonawanda and was a coach of the track and cross-country teams at Tonawanda High School before retirement in 1995.

He was president of the Historical Society of the Tonawandas. He collected historical items from the area and specialized in local tokens.

Barnard was a member of the CWTS and TAMS. He submitted one article to a numismatic periodical.

"The Elusive Merchant: M. W. Walsh of Niagara Falls, NY" in Civil War Token Journal, 3/1/2003. For this he received an Honorable Mention from CWTS.

He died on December 13, 2017, at home in North Tonawanda, New York, and is buried at Mount Olivet Cemetery in Kenmore, New York.

Barnard wrote Western New York Tokens, published with 314 pages in 2013. There was no publisher noted which suggests that it was self-published. The book covers tokens from the eight western counties in the state: Allegany, Cattaraugus, Chautauqua, Erie, Genesee, Niagara, Orleans and Wyoming. He suggested a supplement might be made after five years but he did not live to see that.

 

He placed ads in the TAMS Journal in 2014, although the title was not mentioned. Also in 2014, he received a third place Mishler Cataloging Award from TAMS for Western New York Tokens. A reference to the award is the only time the book title appears in the Newman Numismatic Portal.

Neither Barnard or the title of his book were mentioned in The Numismatist. They are not listed by The Library of Congress.

While working on this article, about 20% of my time went into information on Patrick Barnard. The other 80% went down a rabbit hole trying to figure out William Earl Barnard, Nora Josephine O'Grady and Michael D. O'Grady. I was frustrated that I could not find a marriage or divorce record for William and Nora or a complete birth record for Michael. I would like to know how the dates of her marriage coordinate with the births of Michael and Thomas.

	NBS (coinbooks.org) Web