John Davenport Barrette (1862 - 1934)

Born 14 May 1862 in Thibodaux, Lafourche, Louisiana, USA

Husband of Katherine (Biddle) Barrette — married 13 Jun 1894 in Christ Church Detroit, Michigan, USA

Descendants

Died 16 Jul 1934 at age 72 in St Louis, Missouri, USA

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This profile is part of the Barrette Name Study.

John Barrette is a Military Veteran.
Served in the United States Army 1885-1930
Graduated West Point in 1885, reached the rank of Brig. Gen,

Biography

'John Davenport Barrette was born in Thibodaux, LA on May 14, 1862. His parents were immigrants from Ireland who were married in New Orleans. Shortly after his birth, in 1863 his parents moved their family via ship from New Orleans to New York City, and thence to Galena, Illinois. This was during the Civil War and New Orleans had been taken by the Union forces. In 1866 they moved again, to Davenport, Iowa "in order to take advantage of the public school system in this city for his children."^[1]

John graduated from the United States Military Academy in 1885.^[2] He became an officer in the Coast Artillery, which had the mission of guarding the coasts of the United States against attack by sea.

Papa, John Davenport Barrette, was born in Thibodauxville, Louisiana. His father and mother came from Ireland. I once asked Papa if he were Irish and he said no, his predecessors came to Ireland from Brittany with William the Conqueror, paused a generation or so in England, and finally arrived in Ireland - so they were not Irish. My sister Elizabeth claimed once that there was a story in the Barrette family that Grandpa were the gardener's boy who eloped with the daughter of the lord of the manor. Her name was Margaret Maybank. They came from Baltimore, Ireland and they were not Catholics but ardent Protestants. According to Papa, his parents came to America to improve their condition, and settled in Louisiana. They made money in sugar until the Civil War came, when with the blockade they lost everything. Grandpa Barrette had bought a lot in Iowa, so he decided to take the family of growing boys and girls to Iowa and start anew.

Papa grew up in Davenport, Iowa. He started going to the university there, but with an appointment to West Point went into the Army instead. He graduated in 1885. He returned to Davenport a few times. Papa's father died when I was about twelve. We met Papa's sisters and brothers in the after years here and there.

The Barrettes were all of stern stuff, rugged individualists, but with the twinkle of mirth that carries over rough places. After meeting them I was always glad I looked like Papa and had some of the backbone that went into the family.

I was named for Aunt Mary Wallace, whose husband taught school for years in Mendota, Illinois. Aunt Lydia I think married a lawyer; she was Mrs. James Stewart of Rural Delivery, Davenport. Aunt Katherine married Arthur Parsons of Salt Lake City, and she taught high school in Salt Lake City. Aunt Katherine had the same twinkle I remember in Papa. Her eldest son, Arthur, married a Mormon. Uncle Will Barrette also lived in Salt Lake City. In 1917, after Manila, I left San Francisco to join Papa and Mama in the East and stopped for a few days in Salt Lake City to see Uncle Will and Aunt Elizabeth. Uncle Will was very grateful to Papa, since Papa had helped him through law school. Uncle Will's son, Walter, was about my age, and we saw him again when he was in the service. Walter's sister was Elizabeth. Papa's brother, George, also was a lawyer. Then there was Aunt Margaret, who taught all her life and stayed on in the old family house in Davenport until she died in the early 1940's. Aunt Margaret left each niece and nephew fifty dollars, which Uncle George mailed to each of us, from 1308 W. 6th Street, Davenport, Iowa.

I saw cousin Walter Barrette again when Aunty took me on a jaunt to Fort Monroe. I had left Fort Monroe at the age of twelve, and now that I was twenty everything had grown so small. It was only two blocks from the dock and the Chamberlyn Hotel to our old house up Buckwheat Road. It had been such a long walk! And the old fortress was so small, but I knew my way, even past through the Postern Gate where Jeff Davis had been imprisoned after the war. The old Chamberlyn was the same, and it was then I believe that I last saw my great Aunt Maggie, Mrs. John Andrew Porter. She and Aunty were great pals, and later Aunty said that when she heard some tale either amusing or scandalous, she missed Aunt Maggie, who was as appreciative as she was. Aunt Maggie sat on the sofa in her room, and as on previous occasions terrified one or both of us with her sudden remarks. Walter Barrette, in uniform, and Gilbert Douglas, Mama's young cousin, both came to dinner with Aunty and me there at the Chamberlyn. Probably the young cousins were as awed by it all as I was.

I learnt that any Barrett with an "e" on the end, Barrette, in the United States, probably is a relative. I have not seen any other Barrettes since. If I had not remembered my old address book, dating from 1914, I doubt if I could find names, and certainly not addresses, such as I found after sixty-six years. ^[3]

Gen. Barrette died on July 16, 1934 in St. Louis, MO. and is buried in Arlington National Cemetery.^[4]

Sources

1. ↑ John Dunsworth Barrette obituary in Davenport Daily Democrat, Feb. 22, 1915, page 13
2. ↑ Historical Register and Dictionary of the United States Army, from it's Organization, September 29, 1789, to March 2, 1903 by Francis B Heitman.
3. ↑ Memoirs of Mary Lydia Barrette Sinclair, 1897-1991, privately published, in the possession og Henry Chadwick
4. ↑ Ancestry.com, U.S. National Cemetery Interment Control Forms, 1928-1962 (Provo, UT, USA, Ancestry.com Operations, Inc., 2012), www.ancestry.com, Database online. Record for John D Barrette.