By Daniel J. Jutson, Sr.

William Barrett II was born in February 1754 and died March 1, 1840. He married Ann Sowell (daughter of Revolutionary War soldier Isaac Sowell and Mary Quimby, a sister of Eliazer Quimby, another Revolutionary War veteran) about 1782. He settled in (then) Cumberland County on Suck Creek, a branch of McLendon's Creek, which he purchased from Joel McLendon (an early settler of the area who moved later to Anson Co.).

William and Ann raised a large family of five sons (William, Walter, Samuel, Junius, and John Alston) and four daughters (Elizabeth, Charlotte, Sarah, and Mary).

During the war, he served as a private in the NC Militia. According to his pension file (S8046):

Barrett "entered the service as a volunteer, the precise time he cannot recollect (as his mind is impaired by age). . . he entered into the service in a Company of Lighthorse in Cumberland County [and] was at the Battle of Camden, when Gen'l Gates was defeated by Cornwallis, that his company after standing for a short time, the Charge of the English [issued] under Tarleton.

"that they retreated after [to] a little town to [?] Chatham County, that he was there when the Battle of Guilford was fought [and] marched into South Carolina, through Rass Swamp, then known as the Truce Land, that he marched from Deep River to Cross Creek after Cornwallis retreated from the Battle of Guilford."

After the war, William served in his community in several positions of distinction. In 1784, when Moore County was created, he was designated as one of the eight appointed Justices of the Peace. In 1789, he was appointed a Captain of the Moore County Militia. From 1790 to 1792 he served as High-Sheriff of Moore County. In 1792, he was elected to the House of Commons in the North Carolina General Assembly and was elected to that seat again in 1798 and 1806.

Also in 1792, he was appointed as one of the three managers of the first Moore County fair. During 1795, he was selected by the NC General Assembly to serve on a commission of five members to select the site of the Moore County courthouse. By 1815, the Moore County land records listed his total land holding to comprise 1233 acres.

William was buried in the Barrett family cemetery, west of County Highway 1264 (Beulah Hill Road), on McLendon's Creek Crossing. His grave was recently marked through the efforts of his descendants; Dorothy D. Irvin of Sahuarita, Arizona and Edward "Moss" B. Fry of Carthage, North Carolina. Also participating in the ceremony was Troop 771, Kia Kima District, Occoneechee Coucil, Boy Scouts of America and the Marquis de Lafayette Chapter, North Carolina Society, Sons of the American Revolution.

The military and civic services of William have been emulated by his descendants down through the generations. Many of his grandsons served in the Civil War, in the 49th Regiment North Carolina Troops, which served in Ransom's Brigade of the Army of Northern Virginia. Three of his grandsons (Robert Graham, David Samuel, and Alexander) graduated from the University of North Carolina-Chapel Hill. Robert Graham Barrett (who served as a Chaplain on the Field & Staff of the 49th Regiment NCT) was a well-respected Methodist minister.

Of his current descendants, Colonel John Gilchrist Barrett (BA-Wake Forest, MA/PhD-UNC) is a famous author of several historical works on the Civil War in North Carolina (Sherman's March though the Carolinas, The Civil War in North Carolina) and a retired Professor of History from the Virginia Military Institute.