Biographies B
Napoleon Bonaparte Barnett
Any publication attempting to present a picture of this region of Kentucky must include the name and life story of Napoleon Bonaparte Barnett, deceased, because his story left its imprint on the region in which he lived.
Mr. Barnett was born on a farm near Murray, Kentucky, the son of Calloway Barnett, a native of the state and a farmer in Calloway County. His [Napoleon Bonaparte Barnett's] boyhood and youth were spent in his native county, where he attended the public schools of Murray. Moved by an interest in the legal profession and possessed of an alert legal mind, Mr. Barnett progressed to the study of law at the school in Huntington, Tennessee.
His talents were not limited to legal matters, however, and when he returned to his home state, he taught school in Western Kentucky for sixteen years. For four years he served as county superintendent of schools in Calloway County, where his knowledge of the local educational system and his legal education fitted him particularly for the important tasks accompanying the office.
Meanwhile he passed the bar examinations and was admitted to the Kentucky bar. He practiced his profession in Murray for sixteen years, during which period he served as county attorney for eight years.
In the infancy of the Coca-Cola bottling business Mr. Barnett, also an astute business man, recognized the possibilities of the new enterprise. He acquired the Coca-Cola Bottling Plant at Owensboro, but continued to live in Murray and direct his new interest from there for several years after its acquisition.
In 1920 he moved to Owensboro to devote all his attention to this enterprise. Having firmly established the first of his plants he subsequently opened another bottling company at Streator, Illinois, and still later a third at Central City. The various plants were all conducted under separate corporations, of which Mr. Barnett was president in each case.
During his lifetime he also became a large stockholder in the Central Trust Company of Owensboro and bought valuable citrus groves near Mission, Texas.
Always a very active member of the Cumberland Presbyterian Church, Mr. Barnett was moderator of the Kentucky Synod for several years, attending the presbyteries faithfully. He was a member of the Masonic Order.
Mr. Barnett died in July, 1934. A man of average size and reserved temperament, his stature as a successful business man, valuable citizen and devoted father outstripped his physical stature and remains a monument to him.
Mrs. Barnett was Mary Elizabeth Daugherty, also a native of Calloway County. She was a school teacher, and in her girlhood has been a pupil of Mr. Barnett.
There are three living children. The first is Mrs. W.L. Fulton of Owensboro. Mr. Fulton is president and Mrs. Fulton is vice-president of the Coca-Cola Bottling Company of Owensboro. They have three children: W.L., Jr.; Hugh; and Ruth, now Mrs. James Bailey.
Second of the Barnett daughters living is Mrs. Adrian McRee, who is president of the Coca-Cola Bottling Company of Central City. Mrs. McRee has two children: Dorothy, now Mrs. J.P. Stringer, whose husband is connected with the Coca-Cola Bottling Company at Central City, where they live, and who has two daughters, Patricia and Diane who was born in Central City, Kentucky, September 30, 1944; and Napoleon Barnett McRee, a member of the Medical Corps of the Army of the United States, now stationed in Luxemburg, Germany. He married Elizabeth White of Columbia, Kentucky. Her father was Dr. A.P. White, former president of Lindsey Wilson Junior College of Columbia, Kentucky. Dr. White died in 1942.
Last of the Barnett children is Mrs. Ray Schmidt, head of the Coca-Cola Plant at Streator, Illinois. Mrs. Schmidt has one son by a previous marriage, Thomas Jackson.
The Barnett descendants carry on the tradition of sound business practicies which Napoleon Bonaparte Barnett founded.
Source: Wallis, Frederick A., and Hambleton Tapp, eds. A Sesqui-Centennial History of Kentucky. Vol. 4. Hopkinsville, KY: Historical Record Association, 1945. Pages 2135-2136.
Updated July 6, 2018