JOHN A. BARRETT, a farmer and stock raiser, was born July 11, 1843, son of Leroy W. and Lucy B. (Knight) BARRETT. The father was born in Bedford County March 29, 1818, and has been a merchant and farmer all his life. March 11, 1841, he was united in marriage, and is the father of three children, all dead with the exception of our subject. The mother was born March 20, 1824, and had been a worthy member of the Christian Church for a period of thirty years. She died March 22, 1875. The father, Leroy W. Barrett, is living at the present time in Rome, Ga., and after the dearth of his first wife married Mrs. Mary DOLBY, a native of Wheeling Va. He is engaged in the mercantile business.
Our subject was born in Bedford County, was given a fair education in the town of Shelbyville, and at the age of eighteen enlisted in the Confederate Army in the Forty-first Tennessee, Infantry, Regiment. He was in the battles of Vicksburg, Port Hudson, Raymond, Jackson, Chickamauga, Lookout Mountain, Missionary Ridge, and numerous other important battles. After the war he came back to this county, and February 21, 1865, was married to Miss Jane B. HOLT, of this county. This union has be quite successful of three children: James L., Eugene A. and Charlie. Mr. BARRETT has been quite successful in business, and owns 650 acres of fine land. He is considered one of the leading farmers of the county.
Transcribed by Kathryn Hopkins
Source: Goodspeed Publishing Co. History of Tennessee from the Earliest Time to the Present: Together with an Historical and a Biographical Sketch of Maury, Williamson, Rutherford, Wilson, Bedford & Marshall Counties, Besides a Valuable Fund of Notes, Reminescences [Sic], Observations, Etc., Etc. Easley, S.C.: Southern Historical Press, 1988.