SOUTHERN BARRONS

 INTRODUCTION

         The Southern branch of the Barron family has traditionally been thought to have begun with the immigration into Warren Co., Georgia, in 1770, from Ireland of one William Barron, his wife, Prudence, and at least two children. This story actually started with a letter written by Dr. John Davis Garrard of Jones Co., Georgia, to a cousin, John Day Barron, Alabama Secretary of State, on August 18, 1892. Dr. Garrard was the grandson of Mary Elizabeth Barron Garrard, the only known daughter of the couple. In my source the letter is identified as belonging to Miss Theodora Barron or her heirs in Montgomery, Alabama. The letter is some three or four pages in length but the relevant passage is as follows:

About 1762 or 1760, as near as I can ascertain, William Barron, Sr., and Prudence Davis were married in Ireland. About 1766, I estimate, they came to America and settled in Warren County, Ga. He served as captain in the Revolutionary War and was at Augusta, Ga., and fell into the hands of the Tories and through their instigation, was beheaded by the Indians. They then placed his head in the center of the city where it remained until the Whigs recaptured the city about three weeks later. He was hated by the British and the Tories for his bold and daring attacks on them; therefore, they had previously offered a considerable reward for him, hence the cruel act of theirs.

            Those phrases in the passage in italics indicate assumption of information not in evidence in any record other than this letter. This information has been republished as fact many times over the past 100 years and is believed as fact by descendants of this couple all over America, if not over the world. The projected scope of this paper will be to present the current understanding I have of the facts as discovered in research conducted by myself and others into this family’s story. History presents a different story however, which will be presented shortly.

            Various branches of the family have their own, and in some cases, contradictory, traditions. These stories were provided by Tim Hudson from materials given to him by Vicki Barron K. These are presented for consideration below:

A. In Knight’s Memoirs of Georgia:

William Baron as a native Irishman who settled in Maryland, then moved to Virginia. His son, Samuel, married and went to North Carolina where he lived until 1792 when he migrated to Hancock County, Georgia.

B. the William Jay Barron family:

William came to this country from Ireland for religious liberty. He had an older son and twin younger sons. The older son was in the Navy and killed an admiral in a duel.

C. the Joseph Smith Barron family:

William and his brother were caught smuggling from Ireland to France and were “run out” of Ireland . . . coming to America.

D. the Thomas Jefferson Barron family(told by Cecille Reynolds in 1961)

Our first Barron ancestor came from Ireland during the Revolutionary War. He was wounded and left for dead on the battlefield. He was found and taken to the plantation of a Patriot named Smith (and) nursed back to health and later married the patriot’s daughter. The girl was all or part Jewish(as related by his daughter, Lizzie Starnes Boaz).

E. the Thomas Jefferson Barron family (Aloysia Washburn, 1962)

When he arrived from Ireland and was walking across the Smith estate, he was shot by the Tories who mistook him for a member of the Smith family. The Smiths were patriots . . . they took him in and the daughter nursed him back to health.

F. John R. Barron’s Recollections:

He came from Ireland to Charleston, SC.

A critical and unbiased evaluation of the foregoing will show that there are several contradictions between the traditions of the different branches of this family, each of whom claim descent from the subject couple. In addition to not agreeing with the letter quoted above concerning the immigration of the Barrons, they don’t even agree among themselves. Among these, the most obvious are as follows:

(1) In one tradition, the family entered the colonies in Maryland while in another it was South Carolina and still others, directly in Warren Co., Georgia, which, incidently, did not exist when they supposedly entered in 1766. Actually, each of these is either wrong or they refer to other individuals. Some of the traditions may refer to one of the sons, William.

(2) He came to America either because he had been caught “smuggling” and was run out of Ireland or his son had killed an admiral in a duel while in the Navy. We must remember that we are looking for a small family whose oldest son, John, was at the most three or four years of age at the time of the traditional entry into the colonies.

(3)He was wounded near a Smith Plantation and nursed back to health by a daughter (who may have been part Jewish) whom he married or he was beheaded at the Battle of Augusta, Ga., probably in September 1780. The point about the marriage is interesting since he was already married to Prudence and had several children.

            It is very apparent, at least to this descendant, that these stories are not about the same man. These are, however, not the only problems to be encountered while trying to unravel the mystery of William and Prudence Davis Barron.

            A letter received by Mr. William P. Barron, Jr., editor of the Barron Family Newsletter, in response to an inquiry, which he printed in that publication, illustrates the confusion. That letter is, in part, as follows: 

To add to the confusion, there are five distinct and separate BARRON families in Ireland today (NOTE: the letter is dated 15 August 1990). The McBarron’s were Fraziers from Scotland and settled in Ulster. Other groups were the Dalcaian Barron’s in West Ireland; some Jewish Barron’s (one is, I believe, presently a Judge in Dublin), some Huguenot De Barun (now Barron), and the Barons of Burnchurch (sometimes known as Barron alias Fitzgerald@). The senior branches of the BARRON family were in County Kilkenny until around 1650, when they moved to County Waterford; but there were other BARRON@s in Dismore, County Waterford, prior to that. Our family had to relinquish Burnchurch in 1654.

Eustace BARRON, b. 1752, d. 1824, . . . brother, William BARRON, b. 1745, m. Margarita Power of County Kildare in 1794, and they moved to Cadiz.

Another William BARRON, b. 1717, married Mary Kennedy, but stayed in County Waterford. Another William BARRON . . . married Eliza Netterville . . . but they too stayed in Co. Waterford. Other than these I can find no other Williams to identify your CPT. William BARRON born circa 1740.

Other than Eustace BARRON, who went to Mexico, I have no record of BARRONs that went to the America’s, after 1650 (Italics mine for emphasis LDJ).

Mr. Barron had written Mr. Harry Barron asking for information concerning William BARRON, Esquire, gentleman of Barbados, which will be discussed later in this work.

            Published genealogical records for the Barron family report the lineage of the Northern branch of the family as beginning with the entry of an Ellis Barron into Massachusetts from Burnchurch, Kilkenney County, Ireland, in 1640. In 1690, another Ellis Barron moved to New Jersey and the family has migrated from there to other areas such as Virginia, Maryland, Kentucky, and the Carolinas. This fact alone opens at least one other explanation to the true linage of the Southern branch. The next chapter will attempt to introduce these possibilities.

BEGINNINGS

One problem with the traditional story lies in the very careful records kept by the British authorities of those entering the colonies during the years in question; namely 1760-1775. No record of a family such as described in the stories has yet come to light. A review of those records as presently published is enlightening. The following are entries for significant names and dates:

1. John and William Barron entered the British colony of Barbados in the Atlantic with slaves in 1680.

2. William Barron entered the port of Boston, Mass., in 1763.

3. John Barron entered Virginia in 1652.

4. John Barron entered Virginia in 1665.

5. William Barron entered Barbados in 1679.

6. John Barron entered Barbados in 1679-1680.

These are the entry records as published in the Passenger and Immigration Lists Index by the Gale Research Company, Detroit, Michigan. They have been printed in several volumes since 1984. Several other Barrons are listed but these are the significant names and dates; namely pre-Revolutionary War. There is one other reference to a Barron with a significant name, this time Samuel, with a wife and one child (both unnamed), into Georgia on the ship Britannia in March 1772.

            In the above list, numbers 1, 5 and six are apparently entries about the same individuals who entered the colony of Barbados in the Caribbean. British officials of this period considered entry into any colony as entry into the Americas and movement from one colony to another was not as precisely recorded, as will be demonstrated in the discussion of William Barron, Esquire, gentleman of Barbados, and his sons, later in this paper. Many immigrants followed this route during this period in leaving the British Isles’ countries, i.e., Scotland and Ireland. These are the two countries of interest in this study. It is also possible the number 2 is the significant entry record. This is doubtful however because the date is too late and the Boston port is far removed from the scene of our William’s later activities. These records list any family members arriving with the main individual and there were no others recorded with him. This is evidently a single, lone individual. It is possible that the reference to Samuel and his family on the ship Britannia is William’s brother coming to be with him but the probability is not very great considering the practice of using the same given names over and over by the greater Barron family. Numbers three & four are included because of the significant name John. It may prove to be the actual entry of our line into America but this remains to be demonstrated.

            This is not the only published set of records however. Another is The Complete Book of Emigrants 1661-1699, by Peter William Coleman, a volume in a set of three or four volumes which cover the colonial period with dates, ship name, ship’s master and passengers as well as ports of departure and destination. This volume gives the following interesting ship records, all naming a William Barron among the passengers:

*Some sources list the name of this ship as the Antelop.

Of these, the last two may refer to the same individual though not necessarily. They will be seen to be significant as well as the destination of Carolina for our later consideration. The colony was not divided into North and South until later.

In the same set, in The Complete Book of Immigrants, 1607-1776, Peter W. Coleman, in addition to five of the above sailings (1,4,5,7,8), lists the following:

# the listed passenger is William Barron & Company

As referred to above, the Barrons made a practice of using the same given names for male offspring in each generation and branch, the most popular ones being William, John and Samuel. Because of this practice we can have no assurance that the first Barron of this line to enter the colonies was even named William. Recall the reference made by Knight in his Memoirs regarding the settlement of a family of Barrons in Maryland and Virginia initially. We have two references to a Virginia entry; both individuals named John. This is but another possibility for the beginning of this line of Barrons.

            Not only is there confusion about the date and place of entry of the family into the colonies but also involving the identity of William Barron himself. A review of the tables above will make it very obvious that there were several men of this name. The records of at least two William Barrons are intermixed in the records of the DAR and SAR. In a later chapter I shall attempt to unravel this Gordian’s Knot but for now let me point the most obvious discrepancy. In the referenced records, William Barron, whose wife was Prudence Davis Barron, is described as having been beheaded by Indians during the siege of Augusta, Georgia. This siege most likely occurred in September 1780 as will be shown in a later chapter. The same records state that William Barron died in 1789 in Augusta and that he is buried in that city. His will is referred to as well as citation of an affirmation by Col. James McNeill. The unsolved mystery is how a man, wounded and beheaded in September 1780, could have done his duty in the cause of the Revolution in the period named in the affirmation. Also, how did he survive between 1780, the date of losing his head, and the stated date of his death in 1789?

BARBADOS and SCOTLAND

            There are several places where we may find the subject William, one of which is the list of immigrants on page 4 above. Numbers 1, 5 and 6 in that list record the entry of a William and John Barron into the colony of Barbados in 1679-80. There are several references in the records of that colony to both men. They are listed as soldiers and land holders, owning both colored and white slaves, or indentured servants, as some would call the whites. William purchased one John Chamberlin, a Jacobite brought to Barbados after the Battle of Culloden on the Jamaica Merchant on March 12, 1685. John is listed as owning 14 acres of land and six Negro slaves in the Parish of St. Michaelis (date unknown). This William is not the only person in the colony by that name or even the first to arrive.

            There is a will, proved on December 11, 1688, for one William Barron, Gent. of Bdos. This will was written on June 3, 1688, and is abstracted as follows:

Son William Barron, if he die to son John Barron, and if he die to son James Barron; sons Joseph Barron, Richard Barron, Thomas Barron, and Nathaniel Barron, all sons at 21; dau Mary Barron; dau Susanna Johnson heretofore Susanna Barron, her mo in law Eliza▾beth Wood heretofore Elizabeth Johnson, and her husband Robert Johnson; daus Althea Barron, Catherine a& Sara Barron*; wif Catherine Barron - Xtr; Dr. John Springham, Conrad Adams, and Joh Boynton - Overseers. Signed William Barron.

            The implications of this will are obvious. If the William Barron of Barbados is aged enough to have a family this large, he could not the William Barron of the earlier reference. If he is the one who entered the colony some eight years before with John Barron, why no reference the family he must have brought with him? Slaves were mentioned in the earlier reference but no family members. William P Barron, Jr., referred to above was inquiring about the “Gent of Bdos” when he wrote to Ireland because he has traced his ancestry to one of the sons listed above and all of them migrated to the colony of Maryland around 1700.

            Another possible origin for our line other than directly from Ireland is to be found in Scotland. The Barron clan, or rather subclan of the Clan Rose (Ross) of Kilravock, were known in Angus County as early as the Fifteenth Century and later around Inverness. It is possible that the first of this clan came from Ireland when others of the family moved to Waterford County in Ireland.

            The most likely discovery path for the subject William is to be found in the entry of such an individual into the colony of Carolina.

A NEW BEGINNING

            There are many ways to begin this portion of this work. I think the best would be to establish just who William and Prudence Barron were and correct some of the factual errors in the recorded genealogies. Earlier, I wrote that the lives of this couple had been thoroughly intermixed with the records of another William Barron and his wife, unnamed in my records. The points of admixture relate to the events after the Battle of Augusta, Georgia, in September 1780. It was during this attack by the Colonials that events best match the basic traditions of this family. I will discuss these in detail below.

            At the conclusion of the War, Col. James McNeill, of the Georgia Militia, wrote a commendation for one William Barron which read:

    This is to certify, that Wm Barron hath steadfastly done his duty, from the time of passing of the Act at Augusta, to wit, on the 20th of August 1781, until the total Expulsion of the British from this state; and the said William Barron cannot, to my knowledge or belief, be convicted of plundering or distressing the country; and is therefore, under said act, entitled to a Bounty of Two Hundred Fifty Acres of good Land, free from taxes for ten years.

   Given under my hand, at Pigeonhill the 15th day of March 1784.

            This William Barron asked for and received his land in Washington County, Georgia. He received several later land grants. He is the one who died in Augusta in 1789 and is the writer of the will recorded in Georgia records of that year. A comparison of the names in that document with the names in our subject family will make it clear that this is not our William Barron. The names of the children are William Barron, Jr.; Henry Barron; and Sara Ann Barron. The known children of William and Prudence Davis Barron are John, Elizabeth, William and Samuel.

The same genealogies state that Prudence lived in Washington County and then moved to Warren County after 1790, where she died in 1815. This is all well and good, except it refers to the unnamed wife of the William Barron who died in 1789. It is not very difficult to discover the truth.

            According to Wilkes County Tax Records, Prudence Barron, a widow, paid taxes on 250 acres as early as 1785. In the 1790 tax record, both Prudence and John, her son, are listed as defaulters. This is most likely a clerical error, because she maintained and paid taxes of the same property afterwards. This land was in close proximity to the town of Washington. On November 14, 1792, she received a grant of 340 acres in Wilkes County on the Little River, which forms the boundary between Wilkes and both Taliaferro and Warren counties, from Edward Telfair, Governor of Georgia. This grant legalized the original 250 acres as hers and provided an additional ninety (90) acres and is where she resided for the remainder of her life.

            We have no way of knowing her exact date of death but we do know that she died sometime between July 6 and October 19, 1796. On July 6, 1796, Prudence transferred to Samuel a plot of 100 acres, lying in an exact square, to be taken off of the eastern end of her property on the north side of the Little River, in Wilkes County. On October 19, 1796, an affidavit was signed before the court in Wilkes county ratifying the prior sale of this property according to her last will and testament. This was signed by the named executors, Samuel Barron and James Willis.

            It is important for this discussion that we now take up the Second Battle of Augusta in September 1780. The first battle had taken place some time earlier, in which the Colonials had used several cabins outside the fort from which to fire on the fort. When that siege was relieved by the arrival of British and Tory troops from Savannah, the British packed the cabins with powder as a trap for the Colonials, or Whigs as they were called. In time the Whigs did return. Several officers and men surveyed the cabins for use again. Watching from the fort, the British lit the fuses to the powder a little too early, because the cabins exploded before anyone entered. There were several of the officers and men wounded and some were taken prisoners. Another relief column arrived for the defenders and again drove the attackers off. They returned much stronger some time later. This time they were successful in liberating the town.

There is no way of determining the validity of the story that the British placed William’s head on a pole in the middle of town but it sounds suspiciously like something from stories of the Middle Ages rather than a small village with a fort in Revolution-era Georgia. One line has the story that when his sons went to look for him, all that was found was the plaid cloak John left his son Hiram in his will. The story goes on to claim that the body was not only beheaded but “drawn and quartered” or at least dismembered in some fashion and the pieces thrown in the Savannah River. Considering the political climate in the colony between Whigs and Tories at that time, this is on the other hand more plausible than the story about the pole. All that does seem certain is that William lost his life during the second battle of Augusta.

            In their book, Georgia and the Revolution, Ronald G. Killion and Charles T. Waller(Cherokee Publishing Co, 1975, p 74) describe the battle for Augusta in these terms:

In September 1780 Colonel Elijah Clarke and a band of his frontier militia stormed Augusta and succeeded in pushing Brown and his garrison back into McKay’s Trading Post (now known as the White House). Although wounded in both hips and in agony, Brown refused to surrender–even though he and his men were besieged for four days without food, water, or medical aid. When they were relieved by the arrival of Colonel Cruger with his British regulars, Clarke was forced to leave behind thirty wounded men. Brown selected thirteen of them and personally supervised their hanging from the balustrade of the trading post; the others he turned over to his Indian allies to be tortured.

“Old Greerson” of the letter was a reference to Colonel Grierson, Colonel Brown’s aide, who was executed by the Continentals after Augusta was retaken in May 1781.

            It would be a source of family pride if our ancestor could be recognized as such a great hero in the American Revolution as the letter attempts to make him out to have been but there is just no supporting documentation. On July 6, 1780, the Royal Governor, Sir James Wright, had the King’s Council in Savannah pass the Disqualifying Act of 1780. There were three major provisions:(1) all persons thus disqualified were ordered to surrender their weapons or face a 25 Pound fine; (2) search warrants could be issued by any justice to ferret out such weapons; and (3) the guilty possessors of such weapons were ordered to court and either jailed or bonded or both. There was accompanying this act a list of 151 Georgians, all of whom were looked upon by the British as “most wanted criminals.” Neither of the William Barrons are on the list. It has however become for Georgia the honor roll of Revolutionary Heroes. (Killion&Waller, pp. 213-220)

            What about the story of the immigration from Ireland in 1766 as a family? As we have shown, there has been no record of the entry of such a family found in known records. In fact, the records indicate, together with some traditions, that the entry of the line came much earlier. We will now attempt to trace the line from September 1780 back through at least part of three generations to an earlier William Barron who entered the colony of Carolina at the end of the seventeenth century. This is done, as stated earlier, so the reader may review and comment upon this theory, for such it is, with a view to expand or correct this interpretation of the records to the edification of all descendants.

            In the work Gone to Georgia, the author has an interesting four-word phrase. On page 118, in his discussion of the Barron line, under the listing of James Barron, he says the family was “earlier in North Carolina.” This phrase is quite interesting considering the family traditions about the immigration of William and Prudence directly into Georgia from Ireland and leads to what follows.

            Michael Beck, a Marine officer at the time and stationed at Camp Lejune, NC, showed marvelous insight into something he read in Knight’s Memoirs of Georgia. I will incorporate what he wrote to Timothy Hudson, another descendant as Michael is, who provided me with a copy, as a starting point. In the second volume, page 444, he found a discussion of James F. Barron, a noted physician of Jones County, Georgia. The publication of this volume was 1895 and the entry reads as follows:

AAA. James F. Barron, physician and surgeon, Clinton, Jones Co., Ga., son of William and Elizabeth (Finney) Barron was born in Jones County Feb. 10 1825. Dr. Barron’s great-grandfather Barron [although not mentioned he is referring to our William Barron, Sr, Rev War hero MOB] was a native Irishman, who came to this country in colonial days, and settled in Maryland. From Maryland the family moved to Virginia, where the doctor’s grandfather, Samuel Barron [brother of our John Barron MOB] married and went to North Carolina, where he lived until about 1792 when he migrated to Georgia, and settled in Hancock County. In 1809 his grandfather moved to Jones County, then just organized, and settled about six miles north of what is now Clinton, the county seat . . .

Mr. Beck’s Comments on this are as follows:

Comment 111. Whereas some of the specifics . . . in this partial quote . . . can be questioned . . . the jest of (it) is probably true . . . The most significant facts in this report are those that identify the immigration of the family from Maryland, through Va. to NC before Georgia . . . There was a preceding William Barron that was the original Irishman. In short, I think family lore accurately reports a William Barron as the emigrant but through time has gotten the generations mixed up and improperly credited William, the Rev War hero, who we refer to as William Barron Sr, as the migrant. Contrary to family lore, I think our William was a first generation American born in Craven Co., NC after his father had arrived in Maryland, where family members were already established, and moved down the Virginia tidal basin to settle and raise his family in NC.

            This writer is grateful for what Mr. Beck saw and his insight which allowed him to see the significance of this entry and his comments about it. In the quotation above, the italics are mine to indicate the significant passage. Sadly, attempts both by myself and Mr. Hudson to contact him for further discussion have to this point been unsuccessful. Therefore, this writing was undertaken. Research into the Craven Co., NC, records resulting from this clue shows at least three generations in the New Bern, Craven county area.

            North Carolina tax records, as reported in North Carolina Taxpayers, vol. I, page 12, lists a William Barran (a common alternate spelling) of Craven Co., as early as 1720. Since these volumes do not provide all tax records, merely selected years, there is no way of determining from them just when this William came to settle there. On the same page, with the traditional spelling, William Barron is listed as a taxpayer in both 1744 and 1769, again in Craven Co. The North Carolina colonial census records also list William Barran in Craven co. in 1769. In the North Carolina Patent Books can be found some interesting grants. Grant #2880, page 233 reads

“WILLIAM BARRON 20 April 1745 129 acres in Craven County on the S. side of Neuse River, joining the creek and Fontville’s former land now Benjamin Fordham’s Land. (Gabriel Johnston, Royal Governor).”

            Two other grants patents lists William Barron as owning land adjoining the new grant. These are in April 1768 and May 1769 and are for a Richard Blackledge.

In addition, Craven county court (administrative rather than judicial) records are replete with references to the Barron family, William in particular, during this entire period. Some dates and events are recorded below to illustrate the early presence of this family in that location.

7/1/17?? (before 1730 certainly LDJ): William Barron purchased 320 acres of land from one Louis Thomas.

9/15/1730: Mary and Elizabeth Barron registered their marks with the court. They apparently could not write their names.

                        3/21/1731: William Barron registered his mark with the court.

                        9/21/1731: William Barron, Jr., registered his mark with the court.

                        3/20/1732: William Barron was appointed to the committee to oversee the roads.

                        6/17/1733: The committee was accused of failing to maintain the roads properly.

3/19/1734: William Barron requested to be excused from the road committee and it was granted.

William Barron stood as security for a Walter Lane to “keep an Ordinary at his Dwelling house.”

            In Colonial Soldiers of the South, 1732-1774, on page 710, in the muster roll for Captain Solomon Rew’s Company, New Bern, Craven County, North Carolina, dated October 10, 1754, the private listed near the bottom of the list as #86 is William Barron, Jun. This list is not alphabetical and gives the appearance of being in the order of enlistment. If this is so, this William was a recent enlistee. Taking the traditional date of our William’s birth, 1740, he would have been about 14 to 16 at the time, prime enlistment age in colonial America. This would also fit in quite well with the traditional date of his marriage to Prudence in 1760, most likely at the age of 21 to 23 years. As stated above, NC colonial census lists a William Barran a resident of the county with no township listed in 1769.

            A will dated January 22, 1749, and probated at the March court, 1749, is also instructive in this matter. Mr. John Harris, a carpenter in New Bern, left his brick trowels, plastering trowels, and as many carpenters tools as is necessary for one carpenter to William Barron, Jr. William also received 129+ acres of land upon Batchelors Creek in Craven Co. Land Mr. Harris had on Trent Creek was to be sold to pay his debts and the remainder, if any, was also to go to William. If this is our William, and I believe that it is, he was a very wealthy young man at about 10 years of age.

            What about Prudence Davis? What can we know of her? I said earlier that what tradition tells us about her is mostly false and applies to the wife of another William Barron, the Captain we are all so curious about. First let me point out that Davis is not a typical Irish name, which mitigates against a marriage and the birth of two or three children in Ireland. There is much that we can know about her however.

            The Davis family was very important in the colony of Carolina in the early days and lived in the New Bern area. At that time, this was the capital of the colony and possessed the best harbor in the northern part of the colony, with Charleston being in the southern section. Their importance came from the fact that they were the official printers, responsible for printing all of the colony’s records, other papers and, most important of all, its money. In this family, the name Prudence was as popular as the name William in the Barron family. There are at least three different ladies named Prudence in the family and this does not include the Prudence of our interest. Tradition identifies her father as one Thomas Davis, but that is all. He may have been, and probably was, a member of the family described above. All we know about him is that he died some time before March 1746, because in the court records of that date there is the following entry:

Upon the motion of Samll. SWANN That the Orphans of Thomas DAVIS decd., Vizt William, Phillip, Jacob, & Tomzin DAVIS might chuse their Guardians & being duly Examined by this Court, have chosen James PERKINS for their Guardian, who gives Securities.

Again, we read in these same court records, from the September 1746 session, that:

Prudence DAVIS Daughter of Thos. DAVIS Cam into Court & prayed leave to Choose be bound to Saml. GRIFFIS her Guardian (page 542) chd. Which was Granted & Ordered that She be accordingly bound to the sd. Saml. GRIFFIS and him to serve for the space of C Eleven months Years & Eleven Nine Months and the sd. Saml. GRIFFIS is ordd to teach the sd. Orphan Child to reade the Scripture. (page 543)

Why she was not included in the record with her brothers is unknown and the terms in the records are different. Her brothers selected a guardian while the terms in her case which seem to indicate some type of servitude to Mr. Griffis was approved. In March, 1750, two neighbors brought suite against Samuel Griffis charging him with misuse of the said orphan. The results of this suite are not recorded in the records of the court.

            Another interesting entry is placed in the court records some eleven years and ten months later (approx.), the meaning of which is that this same Prudence, upon reaching maturity, sued Mr. Samuel Griffis for failure to fulfill his duty as ordered in the above reference to teach her to read the Scriptures and WON! Some short time later it is believed by this writer that she married the aforementioned William Barron and started the little family which is the center of this research.

SUMMARY

            In conclusion to this part of the paper, I would state that I initially saw the original immigrant William Barron in the son of James Fitzgerald Barron of Waterford Co., Ireland, “whose male line is extinct” according to a published Barron genealogy. I saw this as a convenient way for the author to dismiss a branch of the family in which he was disinterested. I have recently come into possession, through the assistance of Mr. Declan Barron of Co. Claire, Erie, of articles written by Father Stephen Barron and printed in five consecutive quarterly issues of the Journal of the Waterford & South East of Ireland Archaeological Society, beginning with the second quarter of 1914. These articles are a full and complete discussion of the Waterford Barrons known as the “Barrons of Burnchuch.”

            In the issue for the third quarter (Oct-Dec), 1914, page 149, Mr. Barron provided a tree for the descendants of James Fitzgerald Barron through his son William. This tree makes clear that his male line truly is extinct and that line remained in Ireland. James had three sons (William, Pierce and Stephen) but only Pierce has had a continued line, which includes Ellis Barron, who immigrated to the New England area and the family is centered there.

            It is the current contention of this writer, after reading the above material, that he was in error with the previous issue of this paper concerning the linage of the William Barron who entered the colony of Carolina in 1696-97 onboard the Carolina, but he remains convinced that this man is the grandfather, or great grandfather, of the William Barron who married Prudence Davis in New Bern, North Carolina, around 1760.

            Probably the most accurate statement to be made at this time (4/18/1999) is that the line is most certainly not of direct Irish descent, if at all. No records available at this time known to the writer can identify such a William leaving Ireland to immigrate to the new world. I now believe that the true connection may be in the single short paragraph above, page 7, concerning the presence of a clan of Barrons in Scotland as a subclan to the Ross’ Some attempt to focus an investigation in that direction should be made.