Background
He was born on November 6, 1681, in Boston, the son of John and Esther Barnard.
He was born on November 6, 1681, in Boston, the son of John and Esther Barnard.
He was graduated from Harvard College in 1700, resolved to enter the ministry.
After six years of study and occasional preaching, in 1707 he was appointed by Gov. Dudley one of the chaplains to the army which was fitted out in Massachusetts to reduce Port Royal and Acadia. This expedition returned within three months without having accomplished anything but the lessening of the reputation of its leaders. Barnard returned to his itinerant preaching, but in 1709 enlisted as chaplain on a large ship sailing for Barbadoes and London. He remained in England for nearly a year, frequently preaching, making many friends, and incidentally taking an active part in the appointment of Jeremiah Dummer as agent for New England.
He also interested himself in worldly affairs, recording in his autobiography that he drank a glass of sack with an aged gentlewoman who was surprised that he had learned to speak English in so short a stay; obtained the receipt of some excellent currant wine from the housekeeper of one of his patrons; shared burnt claret with his traveling companions on the way to Litchfield; drank wine with many clergymen, several of whom tried to induce him to find posts for them in New England, and visited Burton, where he found the "best, stoutest and finest ale in England. "
Returning to New England in November 1710, he resumed preaching, but because of internal jealousies among the ruling Congregational clergy and his friendship with the unpopular Gov. Dudley, he did not succeed in securing a permanent church. Finally in 1714 he was nominated, with Edward Holyoke as candidate for the church at Marblehead, to follow the aged Samuel Cheever as pastor. Since the congregation could not agree upon either candidate, the church finally split, a new meeting-house was erected, and both ministers came to Marblehead. Barnard was ordained in the old church July 18, 1716, having officiated as assistant to Cheever for eight months previous. Here he labored for the remainder of his long life, taking charge of a large and growing congregation and building up a reputation as a fearless and forceful preacher.
In 1737 he was instrumental in having Edward Holyoke selected as president of Harvard College. For himself, however, he declined all outside honors. In the affairs of the town he took an active interest. From a poor community with no trade and with the people largely dependent upon Boston for their needs and supplies, Marblehead grew to a thriving and prosperous town. Largely through his zeal and suggestion, it improved its natural advantages as a place of commerce, especially in marketing its fish, until by 1766 it had nearly forty vessels engaged in foreign trade, with a resultant increase in wealth and importance. Barnard died on January 24, 1770.
William Whitwell said: "As a scholar, he was acquainted with the Hebrew, Greek and Latin languages; besides which, in his leisure hours, for mere amusement, he had made great proficiency in the mathematicks. He thoroughly studied the nature of architecture and ship-building and was a master of music in all its parts. . As to his person, he was somewhat taller than the common size, and well proportioned. His stature was remarkably erect, and never bent under the infirmities of eighty-eight. His countenance was grand, and his mien majestick, and there was a dignity in his whole deportment. "
Rev. Charles Chauncy, in a letter written May 6, 1768 (Massachusetts Historical Society Collections, ser. I, vol. X, p. 157) said of him: "I esteem him to have been one of our greatest men. Had he turned his studies that way, he would perhaps have been as great a mathematician as any in this country, I had almost said in England itself. He is equalled by few in regard either of readiness of invention, liveliness of imagination, or strength and clearness in reasoning. "
In 1718 he married Anna Woodbridge of Ipswich.