The Barnes & Blair Family

Five generations of the Barnes and Blair lines in Clay County and Macon County, Illinois, anchored on the marriage of Georgia Hope Blair (b. 1922, d. 1991) and Leland L. 'Bud' Barnes (b. 1922, d. 1982, WWII Coast Artillery Corps veteran with four Bronze Battle Stars from Normandy through Central Europe). The Blair line walks back through Garnet Othal Blair and Margaret Angeline Zink to Stephan Blair Sr. + Martha J. Walker. The Barnes line walks back through Ora J. 'Jay' Barnes and Bessie May Glasgow Barnes to James A. Barnes + Amanda Byrnes. Most of the family is buried at Iola Cemetery, Iola, Clay County, Illinois. Hope eventually remarried Robert Deister of Decatur and is buried at Graceland Cemetery, Decatur, alongside Robert and their daughter Jill.

Primary sources

Every fact on this site is cited to one or more of these sources. The majority of the content was extracted from 33 primary documents:

• New York State Department of Health Certificate of Birth No. 3301 (William John Hindman) · 1945-12-12 · author: New York State Department of Health, Division of Vital Statistics
  "Official birth registration for William John Hindman, born December 12, 1945 at Syracuse Memorial Hospital, Syracuse, NY. Registered as No. 102353, file No. 5339."
• FamilySearch persistent ID GLDP-HB9: William 'Bill' Hindman (about 1946-Deceased), Brant Hindman's father · author: FamilySearch community-curated tree
• Brant Hindman spearhead attestations during the 2026-06-04 site-build session · 2026-06-04 · author: Brant Hindman
• Spearhead testimony from Brant Hindman · author: Brant Hindman, co-founder TheAIShop
• Jill Barnes Bohn Find a Grave Memorial 67638576
• Hope Deister Find a Grave Memorial 108032640
• Decatur Herald & Review 8 May 1991 page A6 — Georgia Hope (Blair) Deister obituary
• Garnet Othal Blair Find a Grave (Iola Cemetery, Clay County IL)
• Margaret Angeline Zink Blair Find a Grave (Iola Cemetery, Clay County IL)
• Lindall Dale Blair Find a Grave (Iola Cemetery, Clay County IL)
• Oval W. Blair Find a Grave (Iola Cemetery, Clay County IL)
• Leland L. Barnes Find a Grave (Iola Cemetery, Clay County IL)
• Ora J. Barnes Find a Grave (Iola Cemetery, Clay County IL)
• Bessie M. Barnes Find a Grave (Iola Cemetery, Clay County IL)
• Eunice Barnes Find a Grave (Iola Cemetery, Clay County IL)
• Jackie Lee Barnes Find a Grave (Iola Cemetery, Clay County IL)
• Clay County ILGenWeb 1825-1900 Blair Marriages
• Clay County ILGenWeb Luther Blair Family Group Sheet
• Clay County ILGenWeb 1825-1900 Z Marriages
• Clay County ILGenWeb 1916-1950 Z Deaths
• Brintlinger and Earl Funeral Home obituary for Jill Bohn 2011
• Clay County IL Deaths 1916-1950: Lousiana A. Glascow
• Clay County IL Marriage: James A. Barnes + Amanda Byrnes 17 March 1887
• Clay County IL Deaths 1916-1950: Florence May + Henry C Byrnes
• Leland L. Barnes WWII Service Record (Find a Grave Memorial 22830919 + National WWII Memorial Registry of Remembrances)
• Decatur Public Library obit index — Deister family cluster
• Moran & Goebel Funeral Home obituary for Thomas Harold Deister 2009
• Clay County IL Marriage: William A. Barnes + Mary C. Burton 7 March 1875
• Clay County IL Marriage: Stephen Blair + Martha J. Walker 10 April 1851
• Clay County IL Birth Index G — Glasco births pre-1900
• Clay County IL Marriage: George W. Toliver + Mary E. Limes 11 February 1858
• Albert Toliver Find a Grave Memorial 30890757
• Clay Co IL Deaths 1916-1950 T — George W. Toliver

Research engine

Beyond the primary sources, this site is enriched by automatic queries against eight free public archives. Whenever the research agent runs, findings are filed and proposed as candidate facts for the spearhead to review.

See the research engine page on the platform site for the full list and how it works.

How to contribute

Anyone in the family can contribute a photograph, memory, or correction. Validated members contribute directly to their branch; everyone else is moderated by the spearhead.

Privacy

Living family members appear with restricted information by default. See the platform trust model for the full picture.