BARRS

ANCESTORS AND DESCENDANTS

This data is based on the best documented and undocumented information, dates, relationships, census reports, etc. available to me in the U.S.A. and the UK.

Anyone having more accurate documented information is urged to contact me at e-mail address albarrs@wfeca.net

Posted by A. F. (Al or Alfonso) Barrs, Jr.

REVISED AND UPDATED EDITION OF OCTOBER 18, 2005

William  Barrs was born to Unknown Barrs in unknown location. Prior to William Barrs’ birth we have no validated information about the Barrs family. However, we can speculate as to where they may have lived prior to appearing in Bulkington Village in Warwickshire England in the 14th or 15th century. Several generations lived in Bulkington Village and attended the parish church there, which is where most family history records were written and kept by church scribes.

It is worthwhile remembering that many parisheners would not read or write and depended on their church scribes to spell christian and surnames. Unfortunately, the scribes spelled individual's names phonetically or how the individual spoke them. This resuted in a variety of different spellings. This hinders family history research in that one must remember to not totally rely on name spelling during your search for ancestors. Places, dates and connections to other individuals are important too.  For example,  it took some time to find the above William Barrs becasue the church scribe in the parish churchin Bulkington Vilalge had spelled his surname as "Bares." And, we see our present day Barrs surname spelled a varitey of ways over the years. Barrs is just the final English spelling of our surname.

Perhaps our early Barrs ancestors lived in or around Market Bosworth in adjoining Leicestershire England, which is located about 16 miles north of Bulkington Village in Warwickshire. We know there were Barrs lived in Market Bosworth during the early part of the 1500s. A Michael Barrs was  born in Leicestershire in about 1540. He married in Market Bosworth and raised his family there.  I believe there is a connection but we haven't been able to verify a connection yet.

In fact the 13th and 14th centuries are probably the centuries in which the Barrs surname went through a variety of spelling changes from the French spelling of Barre and Barres. (The earliest known Old Normandy spelling was de La Barre) In fact we have evidence that the same family used the spelling Bares, Barres, Barre, Barr and Barrs within just a few connected generations even later than the 1500s. We find the spellings of Barre, Barres and Barrs in one family within two generations. Of course again this was a scribe's interpretation of the spelling. Eventually the spelling in English finally evolved into Barrs, which was used from the early 15th century to today.

William Barrs, our first validated ancestor,  is known to have raised his family in Bulkington Village Warwickshire. We haven't discovered any additional information about this William Barrs to date, with the exception that he was married to Elizabeth, had a son named Robert Barrs, who was probably William and Elizabeth Barrs' oldest son and died on February 20, 1560 in Bulkington Village Warwickshire England UK.

Robert Barrs was born to William and Elizabeth Barrs about 1520 in Bulkington Village Warwickshire. Robert Barrs and his wife Joan apparently moved to Toft Hamlet Warwickshire with or shortly after their oldest son Thomas and Margery Barrs moved their family from Bulkington Village to Toft Hamlet in 1612. William Barrs died in 1560 in Toft Hamlet and was buried in the Dunchurch Village parish church cemetery.

Thomas Barrs was born about 1625 in Bulkington Warwickshire England. Thomas Barrs married Margery in the early years of the 1600s, probably 1602. Thomas Barrs was the first of our Barrs family to move from Bulkington and settle in Toft Hamlet Warwickshire, which is located just a few hundred yards just south of Dunchurch Village Warwickshire England. Thomas Barrs died in Toft Hamlet and was buried in the parish phurch in Dunchurch Village where his father Robert Barrs and probably his mother Joan Barrs were buried.. Thomas and Margery Barrs had several children. Several were born in Bulkington Village and the rest were born in Toft Hamlet. The oldest son was named Abraham Barrs (Abraham Barrs of Toft) and was born in1603 in Bulkington Village Warwickshire England.

Abraham Barrs become a prominent and prosperous citizen of Toft Hamlet, in the Dunchurch Village, as well as in the parish phurch in Dunchurch Village Warwickshire England. His family would farm lands south and east of Toft Hamlet, which were still being farmed and in pasture in 2003, when I visited Toft Hamlet. His family would later also farm church controlled land southeast of Dunchurch Village. Abraham Barrs would come to be called and referred to in historic documents as “Abraham Barrs of Toft.” Other children of Thomas and Margery Barrs were Sarah Barrs born November 20, 1613 and was the first child of Thomas and Margery Barrs to be born in Toft Hamlet. John Barrs was born in Toft Hamlet on January 5, 1616 but died in 1617 at 1 year of age. Then Joseph Barrs was born in Toft Hamlet on August 7, 1618 but also died that same year 1618. Margery Barrs was then born in 1620 in Toft Hamlet.

Abraham Barrs would become Abraham Barrs of Toft after moving with his parents, Thomas and Margery Barrs,  to and settled in Toft Hamlet in the county of Warwickshire, which borders Leicestershire England. The Toft Hamlet area was and is a primary agricultural area in The Midlands of England.  Farming and livestock are still going on there today.

Abraham Barrs was born about 1603 in Bulkington Village. He moved with his father Thomas Barrs and  mother, Margery Barrs from Bulkington Village south about 20 miles to Toft Hamlet in1612. Abraham Barrs became a prominent farmer and citizen in Toft Hamlet and nearby Dunchurch Village, in Warwickshire England. "Toft" (It was an English custom to give prominent residents the village or hamlet name, such as Abraham Barrs of Toft.) was a small English farming hamlet located just south of Dunchurch Village in Warwick County England that exists today as an upscale but small housing development. Today the Barrs of Toft farm is in pasture with part under cultivation across a north south hightway. 

NOTE: You can copy and paste the following URL address into your internet explorer web page to view pictures of Warwick and Warwickshire, the most picturesque and historic parts of England:
Warwick Village  http://www.picturesofengland.com/warwick/index.html and
Warwickshire County:  http://www.picturesofengland.com/warwickshire/index.html)

Abraham Barrs of Toft was married to Joan or Joane in about 1630 and was probably married in the St. Peter's Parish Church in nearby Dunchurch Village in Warwickshire England. Abraham Barrs of Toft and Joan fathered 7 children: Thomas Barrs, named after his father, was born in 1631, Abraham Barrs born in 1633, Nathaniel born in 1636, Alice born in 1638, Elizabeth born in 1641, Ann born in 1645 and Margaret born in 1651. Abraham Barrs was my direct ancestor. Nathaniel Barrs was "Tony" or Anthony Marston Barrs' direct ancestor. Tony Barrs was born in Nuneaton Warwickshire in 1925. He is now retired and lives in Murthly Perthshire Scotland with his daughter Sue and son-in-law Paul, who is of Scott lineage. In SEP 2003 I visited Tony and his family in Scotland and England. We toured Leicestershire and Warwickshire England following the trails of our Barrs family history. Tony Barrs is my (Al Barrs, Jr.) 9th cousin once removed. Tony has a son, David Barrs who lives with his family in Exxex England. David is my 10 cousin once removed.

Abraham Barrs (2) was born in 1633 in Toft Hamlet on the farm of his father, Abraham Barrs of Toft, and just south (About 500 feet) of Dunchurch Village, Warwickshire, England. Abraham married a woman named Joan who was born in 1640 and died in 1713. Joan's maiden name is not known at this time. Abraham and Joan Barrs had 8 children: Abraham born in 1668, Joan born in 1669, Nathaniel born in 1672, Dorothy born in 1677, John Barrs born in 1678, Elizabeth born in 1681, Elizabeth born in 1683 and Elizabeth born in 1687. [Elizabeth born 1681 and Elizabeth born in 1683 died either at birth or in early childhood.] They may have been victims of The Plague or The Black Death, which was sweeping Europe and the United Kingdom at the time. Over half the people in England perished from The Plague. Abraham Barrs died in 1715. Joan Barrs had died two years earlier in 1713.  John Barrs born 1678 was my direct ancestor.

John Barrs would become John Barrs of Toft as had his grandfather Abraham Barrs of Toft because of his prominence in the hamlet. John Barrs of Toft was born in 1678. John Barrs of Toft married Mary (Perhaps Mary Smalley) about 1716. John and Mary Barrs had 11 children: Abraham born in 1717, Mary born in 1718, Elizabeth born in 1722, Henry born in 1724, John Barrs (2) born on March 5, 1727, Rachel born about 1625 or 26 and died in 1729, Benjamine born in 1729, twins Daniel and Joseph born in 1733, Rachel born in 1735 and Susannah born in 1736 and died in 1736. Mary Barrs and daughter Susannah Barrs died during childbirth in 1776. Both are buried in the Dunchurch Cemetery adjacent to the Dunchurch Church in Dunchurch Village Warwickshire, England. John Barrs died in 1746 and Mary Barrs died in 1776. John Barrs was my direct ancestor and the first of my ancestors to immigrate to America in 1749.

My (Al Barrs) direct line ancestor and the first of our Barrs line to immigrate to America was John Barrs born March 5,1727 in Toft Hamlet, son of John Barrs of Toft. John inherited his father's property and sold it after this father's death in 1746. We have evidence that some of the children of John Barrs of Toft and Mary Barrs had a falling out over something to do with church matters. We have found that the older son, Abraham Barrs,  began attending another church in a nearby village. But, it appears that the youngest son John Barrs, born in 1727, stayed in the same church his parents attended, St. Peters Parish Church of Dunchurch Village Warwickshire England. Apparently John Barrs, born 1727, was rewarded for his faithfulness to his father and church because his father willed all of his property to him (John Barrs b. 1727). John Barrs appears to have continued to be loyal to his father until his death and then set about selling his inheritance, took the proceedings, traveled to nearby Birmingham, married Sarah Spears in the Axta Juxta parish church, traveled on to Bristol or Liverpool, bought passage on a ship sailing for America, traveled to Johnson (Dobbs-Lenoir) County North Carolina and bought plantation farmland by the year 1751-1754. We have evidence that John Barrs owned land in Johnson County North Carolina because we have evidence that he sold some land during 1755-1756. John Barrs, born 1727 in England, became John Barrs, Sr. in America when he and his wife Sarah Spears had their first son, John Barrs, Jr. about 1758 in Dobbs-Lenoir County North Carolina USA. 

John Barrs was born on March 5, 1727 in Toft Hamlet, Warwickshire, England to John Barrs of Toft and Mary. John married Sarah Spears on February 19, 1749 in Axta Juxta Hamlet in the suburbs of the city of Birmingham Warwickshire England. I have a copy of the church document listing their marriage. John and Sarah Barrs immigrated to the present day Lenoir County region of Johnson-Dobbs County North Carolina in 'The American Colonies' during 1750. John Barrs bought plantation farmland and settled down on his plantation in Johnson-Dobbs County North Carolina.  John and Sarah Barrs had about 12 children: 7 unnamed daughters were born between 1750 and 1758 and before John Barrs, Jr. was born about 1758. Leonard, Jonathan, Caleb and Clarel may have been younger brothers of John Barrs, Jr., but we cannot validate their actual birth dates, birthplaces or parent's names.

The John Barrs' family lived and farmed in Johnson-Dobbs-Lenoir County North Carolina for about 80 years (2 generations) from 1750 to the 1830s. John Barrs, Sr. oldest son, John Barrs, Jr., took over running the Barrs Family Plantation, located in today's Lenoir County North Carolina, even before the death of their father, John Barrs, Sr. sometime between 1800 and 1810 AD. We find both father and son in the Federal Census report of 1800.

John Barrs, Sr. while in Johnson-Dobbs County North Carolina is recorded selling (deeding) land  to a Thomas Williamson in 1755-56.  John Barrs, before becoming Senior,  was later granted 200 acres of land for enlisting for Colonial Militia service during the American Revolutionary War, with John Young's Regiment. He enlisted on January 5, 1777 in Dobbs County North Carolina. 

John Barrs, Jr. was born about 1758 and John Barrs, born 1727, became John Barrs, Sr. in the history records from that date onward until his death sometime after 1800 and before 1810.

John Barrs, Sr. was also on the Tax List of Dobbs County North Carolina in 1769.

John Barrs, Sr. returned home to Dobbs County North Carolina in 1777 after his military service during the American Revolutionary War with Charles Young's Regiment (militia), which was officially the 10th North Carolina Regiment. Normal enlistments were for six months duration. Most men needed to be hoome at the time of crop harvesting

John Barrs, Jr. was drafted, during the American Revolutionary War, into Captain Kennedy's Company of Dobbs County North Carolina on July 26, 1777.

Anyone knowing the name of the wife of John Barrs, Jr. is asked to forward the information to me at e-mail address albarrs@wfeca.net. We believe she died at an early age (early 40s) as indicated in the Federal Census Reports in Lenoir County North Carolina.

A word about the Federal Census Reports: The USA Federal Census Reports are notorious for errors in Christian and surname spelling as well as age ranges and birth dates. The Census was taken at various times of the year depending on which state and county you are researching. You can look on the first page on the top right corner of the report to learn when that particular census was taken and by whom. Even then the date may not actually be when the information was taken but when it was written on the forms. And, many individuals would be away working or in the military and the information given was often guesswork. Where we can establish this information independently of the Census Reports we do so. If you have more accurate information please e-mail it to me at albarrs@wfeca.net.