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Name: BARNETT, Albert Edward Austin 'Papa' (Rev.)

image of individualimage of individual

Birth Date: 30.1.1876 Wellington, NSW, Australia

Death Date: 24.12.1971 Wheaton, Illinois

Nationality: Australian

First Date: 1907

Profession: Africa Inland Mission missionaries at Rumuruti when Stauffachers went on leave in 1909

Area: Rumuruti, Eldama Ravine

Married: In Kijabe 22.11.1908 Elizabeth 'Elma' Nicher 'Mama' Andersson (Swedish) b. 6 Dec 1881 Stockholm, d. Nairobi 8 Feb 1957, buried at Kijabe

Children: Kurt Albert (Rumuruti 29.7.1909-1911); Arthur Malcolm (twin with Erik (Rumuruti 3.12.1910-2014); Erik Stanley (d. 2006, wife Emily); Paul Austin (1 Aug 1913 Kijabe-2004, wife Dorothy); Ruth Dorothy (Collins) (30 Mar 1915 Kilombe-26 Jan 1999 Leesburg, Florida) (married Thomas W.G. Collins); William John (29 May 1917 Kilombe)

Book Reference: Tignor, KAD, Red 25, Hut, Red 31, Red 22, Grasshoppers, Barnes, Dow, Old Africa, Red Book 1912, Gazette, Red 19

General Information:

Kijabe cemetery - Mama Barnett 1881 - 1957 with the Lord loved by all
Dow - In 1907 an Australian bachelor named Albert Barnett, believing God had called him as a missionary to Africa, boarded a New York-based steamship headed for Kenya. When the vessel stopped at Genoa, Italy a young Swedish woman (also going to Kenya as a missionary with AIM) boarded the boat. It was love at first sight and, after getting married, the young missionary couple began to raise a family while they worked among the Tugen clan near Lake Baringo in the western part of Kenya. Because of hostile opposition from colonial officials, the Barnett family relocated from Kabarnet to a former Maasai region called Eldama Ravine. ……… [more]
Red Book 1912 - A.E. Barnett - Kisumu
Red Book 1912 - Africa Inland Mission - Superintendent at Rumuruti with Mrs Barnett
Gazette - 12/11/1919 - Register of Voters - Rift Valley Area - Rev A.E. Barnett - Missionary - Eldama Ravine
Red Book 1919 - A E Barnett - Nakuru
KAD has Rev. A.E. Barnett, A.I. Mission, Eldama Ravine
Kenneth Richardson, Garden of Miracles , A History of the Africa Inland Mission, 1968: Albert Edward Barnett was an Australian who had;gone to America to study flour-milling. There he heard the call to whole-time service for the Lord. After training at Moody Bible Institute, he went to Africa in a party of twenty-three led by the Lee Downings returning from their first furlough. They arrived at Mombasa on 3rd Decembey 1907, and eventually reached Kijabe by train about nine o'clock the following night. Bwana Hurlburt and others were on the platform to welcome them.
On arrival at the Mission they were shown into a house built of bamboo poles and mud, divided into several rooms. They welcomed it. The train journey had been hard and tiring, and soon they were fast asleep in comfortable beds. But it did not last long. Thousands of blackpinching ants invaded the house and they had to rise to disperse the aggressors with hot ashes. They succeeded after a long struggle and were able to settle down in their beds again. What an introduction to life in the wilds!
After spending a few weeks at Kijabe, Mr. Barnett joined Mr. Hurlburt and several others to prospect for new stations. They found suitable places among two tribes, one at Kilombe, the other at Kapropita, A. E. Barnett was left to open work at the former site among a branch ol the Masai people. A little later he married Miss Nicher, a nurse and masseuse from Sweden who had also trained in America. Together they entered enthusiastically into the work. But they were not at Kilombe for long. When the Stauffachers were ieaving for furlough, the Barnetts were asked to go to Rumuruti. Mrs. Barnett was no stranger to the station and its people. She had lived there before her marriage.
When the Stauffachers returned after furlough they were given other work. Papa and Mama Barnett (as they were called by all) remained at Rumuruti for four years until they, in their turn, went on their flrst furlough. On their return in 1013 they went to their former station of Kilombe which had been without missionaries since they had left it. The house which Papa Barnett had built was still standing and habitable. But their growing family meant that more accommodation was needed; so he set to work to erect a larger dwelling.  Miss Siater who had been a fellow-worker at Rumuruti was aiso stationed at Kilombe.

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