DAVID BARRETT
AND
ELIZABETH WHITTEN
"We do not know whether Reuben had a wife prior to his marriage to "Hannah." In any case, we assume that Hannah was David's mother, since in July of 1786, she, along with Reuben, signed the deed of sale for 350 acres of land on Packs Creek which had been granted to Reuben in October of 1785." [Note: First paragraph from Karen Hett's biography of David Barrett]
Great Granddaughter of Reuben Barrett, Mintoria Owens Barrett, daughter of Emily Millicent Hutchins, daughter of Elizabeth Wilson Barrett, (Davids sister), stated in a family record that she wrote for her son that Reuben Barrett married Hannah Doty. YOu may view these handwritten family records from Reuben and Hannah's webpage and on Mintoria Owens page.
David Barrett is one of twelve children of Reuben Barrett and Hannah Doty. Growing up in Greenville District of South Corolina, his family attended the Tyger River Baptist church near the Tyger River, of which when he was 19 years old he became a clerk. During this time David became upset over something and rode his horse through Littlebury Holcomb's house,(1800 Census; Littleberry Holcum 10210/20100 (1810 950/16; 1820 78/38);another church member. He was made to go before the whole congregation and ask for forgiveness. This was found in the church minutes that are now on file at the Furman University Library in South Carolina on Microfilm.
David married Elizabeth "Betsy" Whitten on 16 Aug 1807 in South Carolina. Elizabeth was born on 8 Aug 1789. She is the daughter of John Whitten and Mary Regan the granddaughter of James Reagan.
David and Elizabeth had four children, Albert Gallatin Barrett, Mary Barrett, Miriam Hannah Barrett, and John Whitten Barrett
Davids father died in 1814 and from then on began a battle over his fathers estate, with his siblings. David and his brother John became the self appointed administrators of Reuben's will after Reuben's brother Arthur backed out of the duty and his siblings charged him with mismanagement of the estate. The court battle went on until 1825 at which time the estate was sold and David bought the slaves Paul and Lucia. He bought Paul and then sold him to Stephen Dill so that Paul could be with his wife and family in his old age, he was about 70 years old. The siblings were upset over this and David wrote in a letter that the only reason he bought Lucia was because "the old wench begged him to". Lucia's name is found on some census records with him and in a letter David wrote, it has been recorded by some researchers that Lucy is one of his children. But since there is no solid evidence,and David himself wrote that be bought a slave woman by the name of Lucia, therefore, in this family history she is but a slave.
In 1825 David aged 39,took his wife,"Betsey" and children, Albert aged about 15 years, John around 12, Polly 8 and Miriam 4 years old and the slave Lucia and the family dog,Taylor, to Fayette Co.,TN. David was a farmer and immediately upon arriving began preparing for his corn crop as the Barrett's settled into their new life, faced and overcame the uncertainties of frontier life, dealing with a new land to farm and develop and the always present danger of Indians of the area, David cultivated his land and became a part time school teacher to feed his family until his crops came in. As we can see from the letter David did not have very good spelling and used no punctuation, yet he was a very intelligent man for his day.
John Whitten, Betsey's father and three of her brothers, Alfred included decided to move their families to Fayette Co.,TN, maybe at the urging of his friend and son-in-law David. Mary Whitten, Betsey's mother died there on 29 July 1836 then her father John Whitten died the following year on the 2nd or 8th of Feb.. 1837. They are both buried there.
In 1836, David and Betsey second son John Whitten at age 21 decided to head for the newly formed Republic Of Texas, as Sam Houston had recently won the Battle Of San Jacinto therefore winning her freedom. Land was being given away in an attempt to settle the frontier and establish Texas as a country. A man could file for a Land Grant and receive 640 acres to single men over 17. According to the records of Karen Hett, John joined a wagon train and headed south.
Both of Davids daughters married while they lived in Tennesse. In 1838 daughter Polly married Dean McCarley and in 1839 Miriam married Hansell Coburn. Miriam and her husband moved to Texas after her brother John was settled there. In late 1839 or early 1840 David and Betsey and "Gallitan", (mispelled by David in a letter he wrote to his father-in-law) as his father called him, also moved to Mustang Prairie,Tx where young John had settled.
In 1839 the Alabama Coushatta Indians were making regular raids on the town where they settled and the residents were forced to take shelter in the fortified log courthouse.
About the year 1841 Polly's husband left her a widow and she remarried to John R. Parker and by the end of that year they had also moved to Texas. David and his family became neighbors of John Whitten and his wife Huldy Reding and Huldy's family, The Iredell Redings. As David's son, Albert Gallatin Barrett and Iredell Reding became involved in civic matters of the community, more and more people were moving into the area. The citizens, about 102 of them, from Mustang Prairie, petitioned congress to establish a constitutional county and Houston County became the first county formed in the Republic Of Texas. They named it after the President, Sam Houston and named the county seat Crockett, after David Crockett who was said to have stopped there on his way to San Antonio and the ill-fated Alamo in January of 1836. Iredell Redings signature is the first one on the petition.
David Barrett was also involved in civic matters and he was elected Justice of Peace, Precinct 5, on December 24, 1842, according to bible records left by his sons he served until he died on 18 April 1845 in Houston Co.,TX.
Albert Gallatin, Davids oldest son was elected to replace his fathers office on?????. He died shortly after.Albert Gallatin, the man after whom Albert Gallatin Barrett was named, was the famous man who was Secretary of Treasury of the United States; he lived from 1761 to 1849. He served as Secretary of Treasury from 1801 to 1813. So, he was serving when David had the baby boy, and that's how A. G. Barrett got his name.For some reason, his estate was settled in Grimes County, even though they were living in Houston Co. It could be that he moved to Grimes just before he died. A. D. Kennard was appointed guardian of the children.
Elizabeth "Betsey" Whitten Barrett died in Oct of 1855, her death is recorded by her son John Whitten Barrett in his family bible as her name being Elizabeth Clark, My Mother, indicating that Betsey may have re-married after Davids death. David is buried in Houston County in an unknown location, possibly on the family land. Betsey remarried and lived the rest of her life in Houston County,Texas, although some reports say Houston, Texas.
She is found as paying taxes in Houston County, Texas shortly before she died. Her second husband, Barton Clark was listed on the next census after her death in Houston County, Texas. She is thought to be buried in Houston County, Texas, although I have not yet come across anyone who knows the exact location.
In 1865 the Crockett courthouse and most of the town burned, unfortunately, most early records were lost forever.
Only links marked with an "*" are working links. Thank you for your patience while I am constructing this site.
If you are a David Barrett descendant and you have something that would be valuable to other researchers please consider sharing it with others on this page. Your name will be attached to your donation. This website is quite a big job to take on for one person, so I can use all the help I can get. Just e-mail me at [email protected]. Thank you, Janet Barrett Walker
