Joseph Folger Barnard was born in Poughkeepsie 18 September 1823. He graduated from Yale in 1841, then studied for the law, and was admitted to practice in 1845. He married Miss Emily Burrill Hasbrouck of Kingston in 7 January 1862. The couple had two children, Frederick Barnard (1845– 1939), who practiced law in Poughkeepsie, and Maud Barnard Banks (1862 – 1923)