R. JOSEPH BARRETT

The following bio was taken from page 103 of the book entitled "Rusk County History" compiled and edited and used with permission of the Rusk County Historical Commission.

Transcribed by Shirley Koym

Submitted by Gloria Briley Mayfield, Rusk County TX Coordinator

The R. Joseph Barrett family came to Rusk County in 1870 from Ashley County, Arkansas. R. Joseph Barrett was born in 1811 in Greenville County, South Carolina. He died in 1901 and is buried in the Union Springs Cemetery in northern Nacogdoches County. His parents were Reuben Barrett and Sarah (Sally) Miller. R. Joseph Barrett married Elsa Ann Elizabeth Barnes in 1835 in Mississippi. She was born in 1819 in Alabama. She died in 1903 and is also buried in the Union Springs Cemetery. Her parents were James Barnes and Lydia Vaughn.

The Barretts were the parents of the following nine children. Their first child, a daughter, (name unknown), was born between 1835 and 1840.

Their second daughter, Elizabeth (Betty) Barrett, was born in March, 1839 in Mississippi, died April 28, 1904 and is buried in Old Prospect Cemetery, Rusk County. She married Alfred B. Clifton in Nacogdoches County, May 19, 1895.

The Barretts’ third daughter, Georgia Angelina (Annie) Barrett, who was born March 25, 1842, in Attala County, Mississippi, died February 11, 1926 and is buried in the Old Town Cemetery, Mt. Enterprise. She married William M. Green, February 24, 1858 in Ashley County, Arkansas.

The Barretts’ first son, William Jefferson (Jeff) Barrett, who was born October, 1843 in Mississippi, died in 1906 and is buried in Old Prospect Cemetery, Rusk County. He married his first cousin, Permelia Jennie (Jane) Barnes January 12, 1871 in Rusk County. The second son, Elisha Miller (Mill) Barrett, who was born April 5, 1847 in Mississippi, died September 1, 1924 in Rusk County and is buried in Caledonia Cemetery. He married Elizabeth Jane Garrison Kelly in Rusk County, August 8, 1875.

Two additional sons followed, John R. (Tobe) Barrett, who was born in 1852 in Arkansas, died March 19, 1906, in Rusk County and is buried in the Old Prospect Cemetery. He married Lizzie Tillis twice, first on July 13, 1899 in Nacogdoches County and second on May 24, 1904 in Rusk County. James R. (Jim) Barrett, who was born in October, 1853, in Arkansas, died in 1909 and is buried in the Union Springs Cemetery, Nacogdoches County. He married first Martha A. Winder, January 12, 1874 in Rusk County, and second, Dee A. Boatman March 18, 1886 in Nacogdoches County.

The last two children of the Barretts were twins, Susan, who was born in 1856 in Arkansas. She died in 1890 and is buried in the Union Springs Cemetery. Susan married first, George W. Green and second, her first cousin, John D. Barnes June 4, 1881, Rusk County. Her twin, Robert J. Barrett, who was born in 1856 in Arkansas, married N. Eliza Clifton, December 24, 1889 in Nacogdoches. He died in 1919 and is buried in the Union Springs Cemetery.

Submitted by E. Ray Green