USA > Missouri > Encyclopedia of the history of Missouri, a compendium of history and biography for ready reference, Vol. I > Part 31
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after spending some time in the hospitals of Philadelphia and visiting the home of his an- cestors in Virginia, he began the practice of his profession in Green County, Kentucky. There he acquired distinction as a medical practitioner, and there also he married, in 1832, Maria Buckner, daughter of Judge Richard A. Buckner, who then represented the "Green River" district of Kentucky in Congress. Having previously purchased and improved a large body of land near Spring- field, Illinois, he removed to this farm in 1833 and developed it into one of the notable stock farms of Illinois. He invested largely in gov- ernment lands in Illinois, and in 1838 began operating in what later became the State of Iowa. He was president of the Burlington Land Company, which acquired large posses- sions in Iowa, and he also loaned many thou- sands of dollars to settlers on lands purchased from the government at the Burlington and Dubuque land sales of 1838-9. Hle and a brother of Commodore Perry were the own- ers of Stonington Colony, and he was joint proprietor with Colonel Good of the town of Taylorville, Illinois. From his Illinois farm he removed to Springfield, and while residing there held the office of State fund commis- sioner, and was also one of the directors of the Illinois State Bank. He erected the Barret House, which became famous among Western hotels, at Burlington, Iowa, and in company with Colonel O'Fallon, Judge Scates and Governor Casey built the first rail- road operated successfully in Illinois, a short line of road extending from Caseyville to the Mississippi River, and now utilized by the Ohio & Mississippi Railroad Company. He removed from Springfield to St. Louis in 1840, and the same ycar was associated with Dr. J. N. McDowell and Dr. J. S. Moore in founding there the first medical college estab- lished west of the Mississippi River. He served also as first city physician during the cholera epidemic of 1849, and established the first quarantine in St. Louis. His genius for the conduct of affairs soon brought him into prominence, and he was a pioneer in various important business enterprises. In 1857 he shipped from Vermont to Missouri the finest lot of Morgan horses ever brought into the State, and he was largely interested in pro- moting the agricultural and stock-raising interests of the West. He was one of the founders of the Agricultural and Mechanical
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Fair, a member of the banking firm of Wil- liam Nisbet & Co., and in close touch, at all times during his residence in that city, not only with the leading men of affairs in St. Louis, but with the leading men of the West. When the financial panic of 1857 was pre- cipitated Dr. Barret was in the enjoyment of an income of twenty thousand dollars a year, but the rapid shrinkage of values and an impairment of his health, which deprived him of the wonderful vigor and energy of his earlier years, caused a large proportion of his handsome fortune to disappear like the mists of the morning. He continued, however, to be an active and moving spirit in business circles to the end of his life, and died at the hotel which he had built in Burlington nearly a quarter of a century earlier, while tem- porarily sojourning there to give attention to business interests. In manner and appear- ance he was a typical Kentuckian of the old school. His figure was commanding, his manners courtly and his home a center of old- fashioned hospitality. He enjoyed during his life the acquaintance of many men promi- nent in public life, among them Clay, Ben- ton. Logan, Douglas, Trumbull, Browning, Walker and Grimes, and his friendship with Abraham Lincoln, born in an adjoining county in Kentucky, began in boyhood and lasted to the end of his life. He died on the eve of the Civil War, but he had noted the coming storm, and with rare prescience had forecast the character and duration of the struggle. His widow, a woman of many so- cial and domestic graces and sterling char- acter, survived until 1885. and passed away in St. Louis. Their son, RICHARD AYLETT BARRET, physician, lawyer and journalist, was born at "Cliffland," Green County, Ken- tucky, June 21, 1834. Cliffland was the home of his grandfather, a place famed for the beauty of its location and its picturesque en- vironments. Situated on an elevated plateau, the old homestead could be seen miles away, bordered on one side by overhanging cliffs, and on the other by grand old forest trees wearing the livery of centuries. Through the valley coursed Green River, its rocky bed keeping the waters in constant turmoil, and the river, forest, cliffs and plateau combined to create a very carnival of scenic beauties. In this region, so prolific of nature's charms, Richard Aylett Barret spent the earliest days of his childhood, learned his first lessons in the new
State of Illinois, and came with his parents to St. Louis when he was six years of age. His earliest education was obtained under private tutorship and at St. Louis University, and he then entered Phillips Exeter Academy of New Hampshire, where he was fitted for Harvard College. On his journey eastward from St. Louis to the academy he went by way of Pittsburg to Brownsville, Pennsyl- vania ; thence by stage over the Alleghany Mountains to Cumberland, then the western terminus of the eastern railroad system, and from there to Washington by rail. At Wash- ington his uncle, Aylett Buckner, then a mem- ber of Congress from Kentucky, was domi- ciled opposite the Treasury Department with Lincoln, Greeley, William Lloyd Garrison and "Dick" Richardson, and when he arrived in the capital city young Barret was introduced into this famous company. When his uncle and Lincoln went to Philadelphia to attend the convention which nominated General Taylor for the presidency he accompanied them, and occupied the same room with them at the old Merchants' Hotel. While in Wash- ington he also visited "Dolly" Madison, widow of President Madison, and still cher- ishes pleasing memories of her sprightly and vivacious conversation, and of her feeling and complimentary allusions to members of his family whom she had known. He was intro- duced also to Clay, Douglas, Crittenden and other famous statesmen of that period during his stay with his uncle in Washington, and the occasion was one which proved a great educator. After fitting for college at Phil- lips Exeter he entered Harvard, but left be- fore completing the course. He then studied medicine, and after obtaining his doctor's de- gree from Missouri Medical College sailed from Boston in 1854 on the clipper ship "Asterion" for Liverpool, arriving at the En- glish port at the end of a voyage of nineteen days. In Europe he continued his medical studies at the universities of Bonn, Munich and Heidelberg, and obtained the additional degree of doctor of physics. During his va- cations he traveled throughout Germany, France, Spain and Italy, and a volume might be written of his experiences and observations in this connection. For a time he served as secretary of legation at Paris under Jolin Y. Mason, then United States minister at the court of Napoleon HH, and was honored with the acquaintance of the French sovereign and
Theway Barrow
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the Empress Eugenie. Returning to the old home in St. Louis at a later date, he was United States he studied law, and in 1859 was for a time editor-in-chief of the "Evening Dis- patch," and still later editor and part owner of the St. Louis "Times." As editor and citi- zen he took an active interest in everything designed to promote the growth, and to in- crease the prestige and importance of St. Louis. He was secretary of the famous capi- tal removal committee, appointed at a con- vention held in St. Louis to forward the project of bringing about the removal of the national capital to the Mississippi Valley. admitted to the bar. Soon afterward he formed a law partnership with his uncle, Ay- lett Buckner, and began the practice of his profession in St. Louis. He was connected in 1858-9 with a commission appointed by the government to adjust controversies rela- tive to what was known as the Galindo land claim, near Waco, Texas, and in the winter of 1859-60, when Kentucky was giving con- siderable attention to the organization of its citizen soldiery, he was summoned before the During the administration of his brother, Ar- thur B. Barret, as mayor of St. Louis, he was private secretary to the mayor, and also served in the same capacity under Mayor James II. Britton. In 1880 he purchased what had been known as the Finney mansion and the St. Louis Club property, and fitted up the Montesano Hotel, Ilarry Seaman, manager, a handsome improvement, which he sold in 1891, retiring at that time from active business pursuits with a comfortable fortune. Legislature of that State to translate and give an exposition of the German Landwehr law, with the operations of which he became famil- iar while living abroad. His father died in 1860, and the responsibility of settling up his embarrassed estate devolved upon his son. The business interests of the elder Barret were widely scattered, and for a time Dr. R. A. Barret made his home at Burlington, where he assumed the proprietorship of the Barret House, which became famous as a re- sort for refugee families from Missouri at the beginning of the Civil War. Espousing the Union cause when the war began. Dr. Barret was one of the men closely associated with General Nathaniel Lyon in the movements which thwarted the purposes of the secession
leaders. Later he acted as attorney for the government successively in the offices of Gen-
eral Farrar, general superintendent of contra- band and confiscated property : Colonel James O. Broadhead, department provost marshal, and General E. B. Alexander, provost marshal for Missouri. He was also acting as- sistant provost marshal under General Alex- ander. In 1866 he removed to lowa to effect a final settlement of his father's estate, and while residing at Burlington purchased and edited the "Gazette," the oldest news- paper in the State. In 1867 he was a delegate to the Des Moines Rapids Convention, held in St. Louis, which took action resulting in the building of the Keokuk and Nashville Canal. The same year he was a member of a com- mission composed of Governor Gear and ex- United States Senator Dodge, of Iowa, Judge Edmonds, of Illinois, and himself, which visited St. Louis in the interests of the St. Paul & St. Louis Air Line, and his services in behalf of that enterprise drew from the Burlington Board of Trade a formal resolu- tion and vote of thanks. Returning to his
Barron, Henry, a pioncer settler of St. Louis County and prominent also as a mem- ber of the dental profession, was born No- vember 7, 1820, in Bladensburg, Maryland, and died January 12, 1883, in St. Louis, Mis- souri. He was the fourth son of Zachariah Barron, and his mother's maiden name was Annie Ogle Mulikin. His mother was a great- granddaughter of Governor Samuel Ogle, one of the most distinguished of the colonial officers of Maryland when the terri- tory now comprised in that State belonged to Great Britain. Governor Ogle entered the British Army, and while yet a young man was commissioned Captain in a cavalry regiment. In 1732, he was sent to this country by the proprietors of Maryland as Governor of that province. He subsequently returned to Eng- land and was further promoted. In 1747, he was again appointed Governor of Maryland and retained the office until his death in 1751. He was also president of the Maryland coun- cil. He lived on a handsome estate, and among its attractions was a favorite horse named "Sparks," which had been presented to him by Lord Baltimore, who received it from Prince Frederick, the father of King George III. His son, Benjamin Ogle, was Governor of Maryland after it became a State of the American Union. Dr. Barron passed the early years of his life in Maryland and was
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fitted for college in the private subscription schools of that State. When he was in his seventeenth year his family came west and set- tled in St. Louis County about a mile and a half west of the site of the present town of Clayton. After his coming to this State, he attended Marion College of Palmyra, Mis- souri, until he completed his academic educa- tion, and thereafter was engaged in agricul- tural pursuits in St. Louis County until he was twenty-three years of age. He then went to Washington, D. C., where he was engaged for a time in commercial business, and later studied dentistry. After graduating from the dental school, he practiced in the East a year and then returned to St. Louis where he was married. Going back to Washington after- wards, he remained there two years and then returned to St. Louis, where he made his home during the remainder of his life. He was long known as a leading member of his profession, and at different times took a prom- inent part in the deliberations of the dental association. During the Civil War he was a strong sympathizer with the South and did not hesitate to give public expression to his senti- ments. His feelings were in conflict with those of the pastor under whom he had been ordained an elder in the Presbyterian Church, and at the instance of this pastor, the Rev. James Page, he was placed under arrest with other prominent citizens of St. Louis. No serious consequences, however, followed what seems now to have been rash and uncalled for action on the part of those in sympathy with the Federal government, and in later years Dr. Barron regarded it philosophically and without bitterness. Ile was reared in the Whig school of politics and acted with that party up to the time that it passed out of ex- istence. He then became a member of the Democratic party and clung to its principles tenaciously to the end of his life, priding him- seli always on voting "the straight ticket." Very early in life he joined the Presbyterian Church, was always a zealous member of that church and was first ordained one of its ruling elders in 1855. At his death he belonged to the Central Presbyterian Church of St. Louis, of which Rev. Dr. Robert Brank was then pastor, and from that church he was carried to his last resting place in Bellefontaine Come- tery. June 15, 1847, he married Miss Eliza- beth Sarah MeCutchan, who survives her huis- band. Mrs. Barron's parents, William and
Rebekah ( McKnight ) McCutchan came from Augusta County, Virginia, to Missouri in 1816, the trip from their old to their new home consuming four months.
Barrows, John C., who for a score of years has been one of the leading representa- tives of insurance interests in St. Louis, was born July 23, 1858, in the city of Rome, New York. His parents were Rev. Dr. N. Barrows and Isabella (Gibson) Barrows. and his an- cestors landed at Salem, settled by John Endi- cott, in 1628, and next to Plymouth, the oldest town in Massachusetts. He was reared in New York State and educated at Trinity Col- lege of Hartford, Connecticut, from which in- stitution he was graduated in the class of 1880. Immediately after his graduation from col- lege he went to Philadelphia, Pennsylvania, and taught school there until 1884. In 1885 he embarked in the insurance business in New York City, and from there came to St. Louis in 1888. Since then, he has been a leader in that city in building up and popular- izing that branch of insurance known as ac- cident insurance, and he is now head of the firm of Barrows & Karst, managers of the ac- cident department of the Aetna Life Insurance Company, of Hartford, Connecticut. His business career lias been in all respects a suc- cessful one, and while building up a comfort- able fortune he has also gained high standing in the business circles of St. Louis. Politi- cally he is identified with the Democratic party, and he is a member of St. Peter's Protestant Episcopal Church of St. Louis. February 17, 1887, Mr. Barrows married Miss Louise Adams, of Huntington, Long Island, New York.
Barry .- A hamlet in Clay and Platte Counties, being located on the line between the two. It was an Indian trading post in 1830, when the Platte Purchase was Indian territory. It has a Cumberland Presbyterian and a Presbyterian Church, a good school, several stores, and a population of about 100.
Barry County .- A county near the southwest corner of the State. bounded north by Lawrence, east by Stone, and west by Mc- Donald and Newton Counties. Its southern boundary is the State of Arkansas. Its area is 810 square miles, of which about forty per cent is rolling prairie and valley lands,
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bearing a rich brown-black loam, under cultivation. The remainder is timber land. bearing white and post oak, hick- ory, pine, cedar and walnut, much of it affording excellent range for cattle. The southern portion is mountainous, reaching an altitude of 1,572 feet above sea level. It con- tains excellent building stone. Lead and zinc have been found, but mining has been prose- ented only experimentally. The streams are numerous and flow with abundance of excel- lent water. White River, fed by Roaring River, and Rock, Big and Butler Creeks, drains the southeastern part of the county ; Flat Creek and its feeders, Rock House, Jen- kins' and Carney's Creeks, traverse the north and northeast; Shoal, Joyce's and Pogue's Creeks are in the west, and the two Capps' Creeks in the northwest. Roaring River has its source in a lake formed by an immense spring about nine miles from Exeter. July 1, 1809, 10,856 acres were open to entry as pub- lic lands. The principal surplus products of the county in 1898 were: Wheat, 155.718 bushels ; flour, 1,609,615 pounds; corn meal, 124,650 pounds ; ship stuffs, 727.250 pounds ; poultry, 1,295,685 pounds; hides, 51,222 pounds; strawberries, 12,711 crates; fresh fruits, 384,700 pounds; dried fruits, 5,946 pounds ; cattle, 3,734 head ; hogs, 19,610 head ; piling and posts, 330,000 feet. Railroads tra- versing the county are the St. Louis & San Francisco, touching Monett; the southern branch from Monett to Seligman ; the Eureka Springs (Arkansas) from Seligman ; and the Cassville & Western, connecting Cassville and Exeter. The principal towns besides the rail- way points named, are Cassville, the county seat ; Washburn and Purdy.
Barry County was originally included in Crawford County, and afterward in Greene County. It was created January 5, 1835, and named for Commodore Barry, of the Ameri- can Navy. It comprised all the territory now constituting the counties of Barry, Newton, Lawrence, Jasper, McDonald, Barton and Dade, and part of Cedar County. These were severally detached at various times, until Barry was reduced to its present dimensions, saving an error of survey which was rectified in 1876 by the establishment of the western line two and one-half miles east of the boundary pre- viously recognized. The first county seat be- fore these separations was at Mount Pleasant, two miles west of the present Pierce City, in
Lawrence County. The first county judges were Sammuel Vaughn, living near the present Cassville ; John Williams, the first settler near Mount Vernon, and Thomas B. Arnett, on Clear Creek. James M. Williams was ap- pointed county clerk; George M. Gibson, sheriff ; James Mayfield, assessor; and Gid- con B. Henderson, treasurer. Judge Foster P. Wright held the first term of circuit court. Littleberry Mason was the first representative, elected in 1836. In 1839 a new county seat was made necessary by the creation of New- ton County, and in 1840 the courts were re- moved to McDonald, about ten miles north- west of the present Cassville. Samuel M. Pharis was postmaster then and the only resi- dent. In 1845 the county court made the seat of justice at the house of William Kerr, and ordered a town to be there platted under the name of Cassville, in honor of Lewis Cass, then Secretary of the Navy. John O. Barton, as commissioner, built a log courthouse, where was held the first county court by Judges Isaac Peevey, Alexander McGlothlin and John Charles, with S. M. Pharis as clerk ; John Logan as sheriff ; IIngh W. Culten as treasurer, and O. II. Oldham as assessor. The first circuit judge to preside was Foster P. Wright, who was succeeded by C. S. Yancey. In 1854 a two-story courthouse building was erected at a cost of $5.500. This was used as a fort in Civil War times, and suffered such damage that the government appropriated $1,882.69 for repairs. The county court met in 1861 and 1863, but its transactions were nominal. In 1866 civil government was re- established. In 1872 many of the records were destroyed by an incendiary fire in the office of the circuit clerk. The county is now included in the Twenty-fourth Judicial Cir- cnit.
The earliest settlers and their location were as follows : Samuel Washburn, on the prairie bearing his name, near the present town of that name, in 1828, and near by, Samuel Logan and John W. Finney ; William Pogue, who built a tub mill, on Pogue's Creek, in the south. About the same time came James Stone, to Stone Prairie, in the northwest ; George W. King, to King's Prairie, in the north ; Littleberry Mason, to near the present site of Cassville ; C. J. Corder and Jolin Lock farther up Flat Creek; and George Barker, who had a tan yard on Shoal Creek, in the western part. In 1840 Morgan Colton and
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Christian Whitehead set up a distillery on Lit- tle Flat Creek. The names of others occur in the list of carly officers. Religion received attention from the earliest people. In 1836. John N. Mitchell, a Methodist, had the county for his circuit. and in 1844 Cassville was made a station. Baptist preachers were among the earliest in the region, but their record is mea- ger. The Christians and Cumberland Pres- byterians had church organizations, which dis- appeared in war days. In 1844 school town- ships were organized, mainly for the purpose of securing the school lands and funds. In 1848 T. Stockton was appointed commis- sioner, and various schools were organized, but disappeared at the beginning of the war, when the enrollment of school children was 2,971. In 1866 it was found that one frame and five log schoolhouses remained. By 1875 $12,659.76 had been expended in re-establish- ment : there were then 78 schools in the county, including high schools at Cassville, Washburn and Corsicana. In 1898 there were II4 schools, 137 teachers, 7.794 pupils, and the permanent school fund was $14.064.15. An agricultural society was formed in 1858. but it seems to have accomplished little. In 1851 the county appropriated a small sum of money for the improvement of White River, and in 1854 the General Assembly made a grant of $10,000 for the same purpose, which was expended without adequate result. Dur- ing the Civil War, the county was the scene of continual conflict, and to the meeting of hos- tile armies were. added atrocities committed by maranding bands. The population was largely dispersed, and much property was destroyed. All trace of the passion of that day has disappeared, and the people are har- monious and prosperous. The population of the county in 1900 was 25,532.
Bartholdt, Richard, journalist and Congressman, was born November 2, 1853. in the town of Schleiz, Germany, and came to the United States when he was seventeen years of age. He had previously obtained an academic education, and when he landed in New York City, he was ready to begin the battle of life. For four years thereafter he lived in Brooklyn, and there he learned the printer's trade. Coming West, then, to St. Louis, he worked as a compositor on the "Anzeiger des Westens" and other German newspapers until 1876, and is remembered by
those who worked with him at the case as a capable printer, an intelligent and studions young man, and a genial companion. In 1876 his carefully husbanded earnings paid the expenses of a trip which he made to the Fatherland. and while there he studied law. Two years later he returned to this country. with his knowledge broadened by travel and study abroad, and making choice of journal- ism as his vocation, he began newspaper work on the New York "Staats Zeitung." His work on this journal was brilliant in character, evidencing the fact that he had genius of a high order and giving promise of the success which he has since achieved both in journalism and politics. Ilis fondness for St. Louis brought him back to that city in 1884, when he took charge of the "Tribune." a German evening paper, which under his control be- came a valuable property, attaining great popularty among the German-speaking resi- dlents of the city. In 1890 he entered politics. standing at that time as a candidate for mem- ber of the city school board. He was elected to this position by a flattering majority, and so admirably did he discharge his duties in this connection that he was chosen president of the board the following year, and in that capacity exhibited an executive ability and soundness of judgment that won for him the commenda- tion of all classes of citizens, regardless of their political predilection. His manifest fitness for the discharge of public duties impressed itself upon the public mind, and in 1892 he was made the candidate of the Republican party, with which he had affiliated from the time he became a voter. for representative in Congress from the Tenth Missouri District. At the ensuing election, he received from his constituents the compliment of a majority of three thousand votes, and his labors in the national legislature received two years later the handsome endorsement of a majority of eight thousand votes. Ile was re-elected in 1896, and again in 1898, and has taken rank among the able and influential members of the American Congress.
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