John Barber , my fourth great grandfather, landed in Charlestown, South Carolina on December 19th, 1772, a passenger on the ship, "Pennsylvania Farmer".
The ship departed Larne, Ireland, in October of 1772. It was one of the five ships chartered by the party of settlers headed by the Covananter Presbyterian Minister, Rev. William Martin. Rev. Martin, having received a "call" from the Presbyterians already settled along Rocky Creek in South Carolina, brought 450 families from Northern Ireland, the southeastern part of Ulster on the River Bann, from his Ballymoney and Kellswater congregations because of high rents, working conditions, and religious persecutions. Conditions in Northern Ireland had been no better for the Covananters than had been the case earlier in their native Scotland.
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The state, (Colony then of course) of South Carolina, already heavily populated along the coast , was offering land in the inner sections of the area to settlers of good reputation who would work hard and be good citizens. As early as 1731, the " poor Protestants " were offered this land, and the Scotch-Irish migration had begun in the early 1700's, first to the ports of Pennsylvania and Boston, and then later to Charlestown, in response to Acts of the General Assembly of South Carolina.
John Barber married Mary Agnew, apparently here, in York County, S.C. and they had eight children together.
These settlers were given free land, first by Royal Grant, and then by State Grants, security in the lands and possessions, and the right to worship in the churches of their choice. Rev. William Martin's Party were Presbyterians, and primarily farmers from the County Antrim Estates of the Earl of Donegail, and absentee landlord who kept raising the rents and was slowly bankrupting all families involved.
There were five ships and members of the Barber family came on the "Lord Dunluce" along with the Rev. Martin. Before sailing, it was announced that this ship had more applicants than she could handle. John and his brother James, sailed on the next ship that sailed, and Charles Barber was a passenger of yet another ship . When the Lord Dunluce arrived in Charlestown, a letter was mailed back to the Belfast Newsletter, published on June 8, 1773, describing the passengers and was signed by all "heads of households" aboard. The only Barber signing was Samuel, even though Isabel, James and Joseph were also aboard, so I without proof, assume that Samuel was head of the family.
Exact relation of these Barbers is not known, but James and John were brothers, this fact known by the
will of James in Fairfield County.
In Scotland, the name "Barber" means a "cutter of hair or person". Quite a difference from today's trade as barber and the profession of surgeon…interesting thought, that it could have been combined back then.
In his "History of Fairfield County", Fitzhugh McMaster describes the early settlers as "true frontiersmen who carried the rifle, the axe and the Bible everywhere they went, happy and proud to be secure in their own lands and free to have churches of their own choice." He also said, "Fairfield County was not as homogeneous as York and Chester Counties, the Whigs and the Tories being about equal at the time of the Revolution, so it was not as affected by the War and was York and Chester Counties. Also , after the war, divisions were quickly healed and many of the survivors of the War, refused to tell their children (or any younger generation) which side any person was on."
However, the Covananter Presbyterians of Rev. Martin's Party were strongly in the forefront in the fight for Independence. One of his sermons encouraging them to fight for liberty was widely published in the histories of his church of that time.
John Barber rented wagons to the troops of the State Militia in 1782. (A.A. No.276, Revolutionary War Index, State Archives, Columbia, S.C. )
Also Mary Barber has a Revolutionary War file, A.A. No. 277, for providing provisions to the troops. One such sale was for 250 lbs. of beef for the State Troops in 1782 for which she got 3 pounds, 4 shillings and two pence sterling. This sale is recorded Book 1, #367, November 22, 1784.
Note: This Mary Barber would not be his wife Mary, so possibly this is John's Mother or sister. When John died in 1843, a sister "Mary Edyth" is mentioned and apparently she moved in with the family later in life.
In 1794, John Barber buys from Minor Winn, a negro boy named Cato, aged 9 years, for 35 pounds.
Witness: John Shannon and Emily Winn.
Feb. 18, 1794, Fairfield County Book A, page 216.
Headstone Reads:
Sacred / to the / memory of / JOHN BARBER / who
departed this life / on the 5th of June 1843 / aged 95 years.
"Why should we mourn departing friends
Or shake at Death's alarmes,
"Tis but the voice that Jesus sends
To call us to his Armes."
John Barber and Mary Agnew Barber are both buried at Beersheba Church Cemetery, York County, South Carolina.
First Generation Born In America~
William George Barber was born October 19, 1801 in Chester, South Carolina. He was the son of John Barber and Mary Agnew Barber. He was the last and eighth child born to this couple. He married Elizabeth Ann (Annie) Neil in York County, South Carolina. They had ten children. His date of death on his tombstone is incorrect. He actually died, frozen in a snow bank, on Christmas Day in 1869. He was found the next morning. This was told to me by his granddaughter, Mary Barber Barrett that passed away in 1987. He is buried in Beersheba ARP Church Cemetery, York County, South Carolina.
Elizabeth Ann "Annie" Neil Barber married William George Barber on August 28, 1824 in Lincoln County, North Carolina. She was his first wife and Barbara Black Mauney Neil, was his second wife. Elizabeth Ann Neil was born June 10, 1806 and died May 10, 1850, at age 44. She was the daughter of John Neil and Mary Ann Ferguson Neil. They had ten children born of this union.
In 1927 a local correspondent from Clover, James Stanhope Love (also known as "Ben Hope") wrote a column for the Rock Hill Record titled "A Confederate Veteran of Clover."
The veteran, William Barber, was a private in Company G of the 18th S. C. Volunteers under Gen. N. G. Evans. Most of Company G. was raised in Kings Mountain district of York County.
Private Barber was from Clark's Fork; others in his company enlisted from the communities of Bethany, Hickory, King's Creek, Hoodtown, Zadok, and Stump.
William Barber's father was William George Barber and his mother a Miss Neil from North Carolina. His mother died when he was five and he had few memories of her but could recall a happy childhood on a farm.
General Evans' troops were independent of other units in the army, described by Barber as "freelance." Consequently, Barber in three years time served and fought in engagements from the Mississippi River to northern Virginia.
Although frequently in the thick of very heavy fighting, Barber was never wounded. In one battle, he recalled that he was the only soldier in his unit who was not wounded or killed. He did contract pneumonia after swimming in the Pearl River in Mississippi. And he got whooping cough while on furlough in York county.
Looking back, Barber believed that the Confederate War (as Hope called it) was "an ill-advised conflict." Hope pointed out that Barber was proud of his role in the war but that, at the same time, Jefferson Davis "kept the war going too long after it had become evident...that defeat was inevitable."
Especially, Barber believed that the South should not have fought to perpetuate slavery. Barber thought the whole slave system was "rotten" at the time he enlisted. Why, then, did he fight for it? Barber said there was nothing else for him to do at the time--that the South had to fight for her right to govern herself.
He was convinced that the North would have had slaves if the conditions for slavery there had made it profitable. When asked if he ever killed a Yankee, Barber replied: "I don't know whether I killed a man or not; I only know that I did some mighty close shooting."
After describing the battle in which he was his company's only unwounded man, Barber added, "Yes, it was a scrap, and one time in such a thing is enough for any man."
In the last months of the war many of Barber's comrades deserted. Others tried to tempt him to quit but Barber steadfastly refused. He said it was bad luck to start anywhere and then turn back at the last.
Ben Hope reported Barber as saying: "Once when I was home on furlough, and expressed my opinion that the war would soon be over and the South whipped,--though some of the folks at home just would not believe it then,--one of my friends advised me to hide out for a while until it was all over with.
And I could have done so; but I would not, and now I am glad I didn't."
Barber was captured at Dinwiddy Courthouse near Petersburg, Virginia on April 1, 1865 and kept a prisoner at Point Lookout, Maryland until June 16. He said that he had no unpleasant memories of prison camp.
After the war, the Ku Klux Klan was very active in York County. Barber refused to have any part in it saying that he had already seen enough of strife and bloodshed.
William married Margaret Ann MCCARTER, daughter of Minor MCCARTER and Mary Ann HUFFSTETTLER, on 10 Jan 1867. Margaret was born 1 Sep 1843 in South Carolina. She died 13 Nov 1924 in Clover, York County, South Carolina and was buried Nov 1924 in Woodside Cemetery, Clover, York County, S.C.
William and Margaret Ann McCarter Barber ~
William and Margaret Ann McCarter Barber's eldest daughter was Nancy "Nannie" Ann Barber, born August 12, 1867. Nannie Ann Barber was the second wife of Robert Samuel Parrott, Sr. Robert Samuel Parrott married Amanda A. Curry in 1878 and then married Nannie Barber after Amanda's death in 1897.
Robert Samuel Parrott was born July 28, 1852 in York County, South Carolina. He was the son of Noah Tyre McKinsey Parrott and Mary Nichols Parrott. He is buried in
Beth Shiloh Presbyterian Church, York County , South Carolina. Apparently the marker is lost, so his exact location is not known. Amanda, his first wife is also buried there.
Nannie Ann Barber Parrott is buried at Woodside Cemetery, Clover, York County, S.C.
Robert Samuel and Nannie Barber Parrott had seven children. The sixth child was Wilburn Larry Parrott, born October 20, 1903. My Grandpa.
Nannie Barber Parrott