Born near
Twelve Mile, Indiana, Barnhart attended the common schools, Amboy Academy, and Wabash Normal Training School. He was a teacher, farmer, surveyor of
Fulton County, Indiana from 1885 to 1887, newspaper publisher, and businessman. He served as director of the United States Bank Trust Co.. He served as director, Indiana State Prison, 1893. He was also a hospital executive.
Congress Barnhart was elected as a
Democrat to the
Sixtieth Congress to fill the vacancy caused by the death of
United States Representative Abraham L. Brick. He was reelected to the
Sixty-first and to the four succeeding Congresses (November 3, 1908 – March 3, 1919). He was an unsuccessful candidate for reelection to the
Sixty-sixth Congress in 1918. He later worked as a lecturer.
Death He died on March 26, 1934, in
Rochester, Indiana. He was interred in the Mausoleum in Rochester. ==References==