Jesse was the oldest of six child­ren born to George Sel­wyn Bar­ney and Co­ra Belle (Mar­tin) Bar­ney. Af­ter at­tend­ing lo­cal schools and New Hamp­ton, New Hamp­shire Acad­e­my, he at­tend­ed Ro­ches­ter Bi­ble Train­ing School, Ro­ches­ter, New York, 1910-1912. He taught school in in Or­ange, Graf­ton, West Rum­ney, and Went­worth, New Hamp­shire.

On Sep­tem­ber 29, 1916, he mar­ried Em­i­lie B. Har­ris at West Rum­ney, New Hamp­shire. They had two child­ren: Ger­ald Stan­ley Bar­ney, born Jan­u­ary 28, 1918; and Mir­i­am Elaine Bar­ney, born No­vem­ber 8, 1919. He be­came a min­is­ter, song writ­er, and mu­si­cian. He al­so served two terms as a mis­sion­ary in the Bel­gian Con­go (1921-1932).

From 1933 to 1938, Barney toured with an evan­gel­is­tic sing­ing and mu­sic­al group. On Ap­ril 23, 1938, he lost his right arm while mov­ing a piano. He then be­came a poul­try farm­er at Rum­ney De­pot, New Hamp­shire. He served as a di­rect­or of the New Eng­land Bi­ble Con­fer­ence, Rum­ney, New Hamp­shire, and Bos­ton, Mass­a­chu­setts. He was ac­tive in lo­cal gov­ern­ment af­fairs, and was a rep­re­sent­a­tive to the New Hamp­shire Gen­er­al Court, Con­cord, New Ham­pshire.

Lyrics

1. Assurance
2. Coming Back Again
3. He Arose, He Arose
4. He Comes, He Comes
5. I Have an Inheritance
6. Jesus My Saviour and King
7. Jesus the Lord is King
8. Miss­ionaries Now Are Needed
9. O Rushing Wind of God
10. Praise the Lord
11. Who Will Go?