Washington Co., AR - Biographies - John F. Barr

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John F. Barr. Among the worthy tillers of the soil of Washington 
County, Ark., who have become extensive land holders and acquired a 
handsome competency, may be mentioned Mr. Barr, who is a native of 
Lawrence County, Ala., and was born on December 27, 1829. His parents, 
Isaac and Sarah (Holt) Barr, were married in Tennessee, and soon after 
that event moved to Alabama, where the father died. She was a Georgian 
by birth, he a Virginian, but reared in Tennessee, and throughout life 
was a farmer. He died in Alabama, and his widow and seven children 
moved to Washington County, Ark., where she met and married John C. 
Neill, and died about 1845. John F. Barr attended the common schools 
of Arkansas. At the age of seventeen he crossed the plains to New 
Mexico, and returned the following year. At the age of twenty years he 
was married to Miss Mary A. Boyd, a native of Washington County, Ark., 
and by her became the father of seven children: Ardilla, Mell and 
Belle (twins), Dora and Ida, five girls, four of whom are married; two 
boys, Humphrey and Frankie. Humphrey graduated from the Commercial 
College of Lexington, Ky., in 1883, also from the literary department 
of the Rogers Academy, with class honors, June 1, 1887. John F. Barr 
has farmed in Washington County, Ark., ever since marriage, with the 
exception of four years, from 1852 to 1856. which he spent in Oregon 
and California, having crossed the plains in a "prairie schooner" 
drawn by four yoke of oxen, making the trip to Oregon City in seven 
months and two days. After remaining in the West four years he 
returned home by sea, crossing the Isthmus of Panama, via New Orleans. 
He has ever since assiduously followed his avocation of farming until, 
recently, he has sold his farms of 450 acres, and has moved to 
Springdale, where he has some valuable property, to pass the remainder 
of his days. He is a strong supporter of Democratic principles.