Barrett, Texas

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History

Old Three Hundred

Ruben White, the son of William and Amy (Comstock) White was born in 1795 in what is now known as Vermilion Parish, Louisiana. During the War of 1812, White served in Capt. Shadrack Porter's Company, Baker's Regiment, of the Louisiana Militia, and in 1818 married Christina Faulk; together having at least eight children.

In 1824, along with his widowed mother, White moved to Texas as a part of Stephen F. Austin's Old Three Hundred, where he received a grant of one league on the east side on the San Jacinto River, below they settlement of Humphrey Jackson, the site of what is present-day Crosby, Texas.

Reuben White dies sometime before October 1848 (according to probate records of his estate in Harris County).^[1]

Harrison Barrett

Born into slavery in Louisiana in 1845, Harrison Barrett was the son of Simon and Eliza Barrett. Following the emancipation of slaves in 1865, Barrett spent several years gathering his family together, and in 1889, purchased land on a part of Reuben White's settlement for fifty cents and acre. The land became one of the largest holdings in Harris County to be acquired by a former slave, and was later known as Barrett's Settlement.

The community began with seven houses, which Barrett helped to construct with lumber from his land. He helped his families to set up farms, established a sawmill, gristmill and a coffee mill and granted others open access to fish in the gully near his homestead. Harrison donated land for Shiloh Baptist Church, which also served as a school.

Barrett, who died in 1917, was buried in Journey's End Cemetery in the settlement, and a museum and park were later named in his honor. State highway maps in 1936 showed a school, St. Martin Cemetery, and a camp at the townsite.

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Sources

1. ↑ Handbook of Texas Online, Gifford E. White, "White, Reuben," accessed April 02, 2018, http://www.tshaonline.org/handbook/online/articles/fwh28.