REV. GEORGE R. BARR: D. D.
The subject of this sketch is the oldest son of Dr. William Barr, who
was born in Greenbrier county, (then) Virginia, and raised in Halifax
county, Virginia. The father of Dr. Wm. Barr was Isaac Barr, who
was born in Fairfax county, Virginia. When sixteen years of age, he
(Isaac Barr) volunteered as a private in the Revolutionary Army, and
continued in the service of his country till the war closed, and then received
an honorable discharge. He soon thereafter married a Miss
Foster, and removed to Greenbrier county. Dr. William Barr removed
from Halifax county, Virginia, to Stokes county, North Carolina, where
he married Rebecca Ray. The son, George R., was born in that county,
July 25, 1810. In November, 1823, the family made their home in Abingdon,
where Dr. William Barr died in 1858.
Rev. George R. Barr has been twice married, his first wife Sarah,
daughter of Jacob Rodefer, of Shenandoah county, Virginia. She was
born in that county, became the wife of Dr. Barr in Abingdon, October
25, 1831, and died on March 12, 1874. Eight living children are the
issue of this marriage: Mary E. C., Ann Maria, John W., Margaret J.,
William F., David, Lizzie P. and Henry C. John, David and Henry
gallantly represented this honored family in the army of the South,
during the late war. John now resides in Abingdon, David at Smithfield,
Virginia; Henry in Atlanta, Georgia. Dr. Barr married secondly
in New York, on June 7, 1877, Rev. Mr. Bailey officiating clergyman,
Martha J., daughter of Col. Augustine Sackett, of New York, born in
Canandaigua, that State, June 10, 1830.
The record of the public services of Dr. Barr shows a life devoted to
the service of humanity. He was ordained a minister in the Methodist
Protestant Church in 1842, was several years president of the Virginia
Conference of that church, a number of times representative to the
General Conference and to various conventions of the church. From
September 1, 1841, to February 13, 1873, he was associate editor and
proprietor of the Abingdon Virginian, Charles B. Cole associated with
him as senior editor. He has been twenty-two years consecutively secretary
of Waterman Lodge, No. 219, A. F. & A. M., and for the last
five years secretary of McCabe Lodge, I. O. O. F., No. 56.
