Oscar C. Barnes

American, 1839-1880

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Oscar C. Barnes was a photographer in Stowe, Vermont before relocating to Middlebury in 1872. There he was a prominent member of the Congregationalists and temperance societies and was notable as a singer. However, he had a reputation for making enemies, and had a temper. In 1878 he was arrested for adultery, and though the case would be dismissed in 1880 out of pity for his wife and children, he was vilified in the local press and by his peers. He died a painful death from stomach cancer in June of that year.