TOP STORY OF THE DAY: ‘FAMILY SECRET’ REVEALED: Connecting Bonnie & Clyde to Harmony, Indiana, through history

IVY JACOBS PHOTO - Anna and Floyd Barrow’s gravemarkers are located at the Harmony Cemetery.

A Clay County woman begged a “family secret” be withheld from public scrutiny until after her death.

Everybody has secrets.

But not many are related to the infamous duo known for a crime spree involving bank robbery, kidnapping and murder.

IVY JACOBS PHOTO - Anna and Floyd Barrow’s gravemarkers are located at the Harmony Cemetery.

“Our family was related to Clyde Barrow,” said Rena Shorter Haase about the secret her grandmother Ann “Granny” Barrow didn’t want anyone to know. “We weren’t allowed to tell people about our connection to Bonnie and Clyde.”

Haase said family members of Clyde Barrow and Bonnie Parker were hounded by law enforcement for aiding and abetting the duo.

The fifth of seven children, Clyde Chestnut Barrow, born March 24, 1909, near Telico, Texas, was part of a close-knit yet struggling farm family.

Submitted photo - Anna Barrow wanted the family secret - that they were related to the infamous Clyde Barrow - to stay that way until her death.

Born October 1, 1910, in Rowena, Texas, Bonnie Elizabeth Parker was a middle child who grew up with her grandparents in what is known as the rough area of “Cement City.”

When the two met, the partners in crime created a gang and took up a “life of crime” that spread across the Dust Bowl area during the Great Depression.

On the morning of May 23, 1934, the couple was ambushed on a rural road in Bienville Parish, Louisiana, by law enforcement officers in a hail of gunfire.

Submitted photo - Floyd Barrow is pictured with his first grandson, named Floyd.

Ruthless criminals they were, but oddly enough, “Bonnie and Clyde” became America’s most-idolized pair of criminals.

The sensational story of the doomed lovers survived time and has been retold many times.

In 1967, Arthur Penn’s “Bonnie and Clyde” was nominated, won numerous awards, and is considered a landmark film in Hollywood.

Submitted photo - This vintage Barrow family photo shows Anna, “Granny,” standing behind Floyd Barrow in the family kitchen.

Even the couple’s bullet-riddled car remains on display years later, and websites that help people find grave sites of family members limit information about the couple.

However, it was not a distinction shared by the family members.

Haase said “Granny” and her husband Floyd, who was Clyde’s cousin, moved to the Knightsville/Harmony area in an attempt to live a quiet life.

IVY JACOBS PHOTO - Anna and Floyd Barrow’s home is located along East Harmony Border Street. The house sits a couple of hundred feet from the railroad tracks, convenient for transient travelers and the members of the Barrow family avoiding a family secret.

Their little green home is located along Harmony Border Street, a couple of hundred feet from the railroad tracks. Haase said it was easy to access for hobos and the Barrow family members.

“A lot of the family was moving around to avoid being found,” said Haase. “People would hop off the train for a hot meal, a place to stay and then move on.”

There was another reason for being so close to the railroad tracks.

Submitted photo - The couple’s two daughters — Bertha Withers and Ellen Mullins — are pictured on the porch of Anna and Floyd Barrow’s home, located along East Harmony Border Street.

“A lot of the Barrow family’s children were shuttled around from family to family, and their names were changed along the way to protect them. So they could have a normal life. We don’t even know where they are all at anymore. Honestly, they probably don’t even know about their past.”

Haase said her grandmother told her “the family secret had to be protected.”

Granny believed the connection to Bonnie and Clyde was an embarrassment.

Submitted photo - The Barrow home, located near the railroad tracks, was a safe place for people traveling by train to hop off for a hot meal and a place to stay overnight. Pictured are some gadgets left behind by the many “hobo” travelers who stopped by the Barrow home.

The remaining family in the area say Floyd and Anna Barrow were hard-working and well-liked by their community.

“They were not the bad guys,” said Haase.

The couple has both passed away, and they are buried at Harmony Cemetery, located just to the east side of where they used to live.

Haase has been checking on how to care for the graveyard.

A restaurant in Terre Haute has a display about the Barrows, which Haase believes will generate interest in the connection of Bonnie and Clyde to Harmony, Indiana.

“I know there will be people that will come to see these graves because of how the family managed to move around to protect themselves,” said Haase. “My memories are of my grandparents. Now that they are gone, the last of the Barrows, the secrets are coming out.”

Haase said anyone wanting to learn more about the cemetery or how to contribute to taking care of the graveyard should contact Town Trustee Charles Thompson at 765-672-4521.

Haase says the remaining family wants people to know it was a different time, and Clyde had good intentions at the beginning of what happened.

“Clyde was trying to be helpful for those who were having their farms taken away due to taxes,” said Haase. “The petty thieves were the other young men.”

Are all of the Barrow family’s secrets out now?

Haase admits not quite, “But they will be when the time is right.”