Will,
Regarding struts and braces. In the first photo you can see in the bottom right a brace but in the third photo (which happens to be the opposite side of the same tie in photo 1) no brace. It is literally hanging on by a wire. The owner was installing some romex and happened to attach to that brace with a staple. Soon after the brace fell out, remember no pegs, but has not been lost due to its connection to the electrical wire.

I'll try to catch up to Steve Stier this week since I'll be back in Lansing for another job. He should qualify as one who has barn restoration experience.