John Y. Barbee, one of the leading and most enterprising merchants of Ripley,
is a son of Allen and Susan Y. (Taylor) Barbee. His father was born in 1803,
in Orange County, N.C., and his mother in 1815 in Mecklenburg County, Va. They
had nine children — two boys and seven girls — all of whom lived to be
grown; both parents were Methodists. The father, an eminent physician,
graduated at the Philadelphia Medical College, after completing his literary
education at Chapel Hill University, North Carolina. In 1827 he moved to
Haywood County, Tenn., locating in Brownsville, and was the first physician to
use quinine in that county. His first professional call was a case of chills,
which he cured and laid the foundation for his later success. Mrs. Barbee’s
family moved near Brownsville in 1824, and they were married in 1832. Dr.
Barbee was a Democrat all of his life. In connection with his professional
duties, he farmed extensively. His wife died in 1868, and he died in 1878. Our
subject was born August 20, 1840, in Haywood County, was raised on a farm and
educated by private teachers. When sixteen, he went to Memphis as a clerk in a
dry goods store, where he remained three years. In 1861 he volunteered in the
Confederate service, in Company D, Seventh Tennessee Cavalry, and was in
active service until close of the war. After the war he farmed a year, then
moved to Ripley and engaged in the mercantile business. In 1864 he married P.
M. Read, who was born February 25, 1843, and they have been blessed with ten
children, four sons and four daughters living; both parents and four of the
children are Methodists. For nineteen years he has been one of the most
successful merchants of Ripley.

Goodspeed’s Biographies of Lauderdale Co., TN