John Barnett, of Amherst County

Not the same as John Barnett, of Fluvanna County, and perhaps the same as John Barnett, of Goochland County

Corrected Biography per source provided below, page 25:

3-5, ELIZABETH HUTCHINS (Strangeman2, Nicholas1) b 12mo-13-1742 VA; d prob in VA; m 9mo-12-1767 to John Barnett, b ca 1712-1714 VA, d ca 1797-1800 Amherst Co, VA.

John had m/1 ca 1745 Ann --, b ca 1718 in England, John and his 1/w Ann had five children, among whom were:

• Arthanacious who married Jane Hutchins (see 3-8), sister of Elizabeth;
• Ann, who married John Epperson; and
• Martha, who married Frank Epperson. (From the records of Elizabeth Barnett Mendenhall, 4-53)

The only known child of John and Elizabeth:

• Obedience Barnett, reported married 4 month 1786, out of unity.

  ---

Thomas W. Barnett, grandson of Arthanacious and Jane (see 4-50) left a diary, excellent records, and a short history of the old Barnett and Hutchins families, written in 1857. In this history he said, John Barnett, my great, great grandfather, was born 1680 in the vicinity of Jamestown, VA, and died there 1765. My great grandfather was named John also. He was born 1712 and dies 1797. He was born, lived and died in the land of his fathers. Each of them was the only son in his family.

This John Barnett?

I think there is a copy of the deed where Thomas Farrar who was Katherine’s father purchased the land that he gave to Katherine and John Sr. It is located on Tuckahoe Creek where John Junior and Agnes Arrington Johnson also lived. The deed mentions John and Katherine. Also at one time Strangeman Hutchins lived there so both John Sr. and John Jr knew him. Also Agnes knew him since she was a Quaker but was disowned after she married John Junior because at that time he wasn’t a Quaker.

Biography from Betsy Groh, Oct 5, 2021

First, Katherine Farrar was the daughter of Thomas Farrar and Katherine Perrin. When she was a child she was living on Farrar’s Island in Henrico County and William Barnett, John Sr’s father, was living near by in Warwick County. When John Sr and Katherine Farrar met and got married her father bought a plot of land located on Tuckahoe Creek and gave it to them. Also, William Barnett, John Sr’s father bought a plot of land near Tuckahoe Creek in 1727 when John Jr was only about seven years old.
In 1744, Benjamin Johnson, who was a Quaker and married to Agnes Arrington, died. Since he didn’t have a will she went to court to get his estate settled. John Barnett Jr, apparently knew her and was helping her with that suite. Not long after the estate was settled, she and John Jr got married and were living on John Jr’s property. They soon started trying to sell the land that Benjamin owned and she had inherited (Benjamin apparently owned plots in several different locations) At that time Agnes’s children were still very young. Benjamin Johnson’s brother, Isaac, was afraid John and Agnes would sell all of Benjamin’s land and her son, Benjamin Jr wouldn’t get his rightful inheritance, so he filed a law suite against them and won. John Jr and Agnes were to keep the rest of the land and turn it over to Benjamin Jr when he came of ago. When that happened, the land was turned over to Benjamin Jr and John and Agnes signed a document stating they would no longer pursue any law suite regarding Benjamin Jr and the land. John Jr’s two brothers ( Edward and William I think) and Martha, John and Agnes’s oldest daughter, signed that document as witnesses. Agnes passed away a year or two after that.
John Jr became interested in Elizabeth Hutchins (who as a good bit younger than he) a couple of years later and sent a request to Strangeman Hutchins, Elizabeth’s father, to admit him into the Quaker faith. At that time Strangeman was the head of that group. John was admitted and he and Elizabeth got married. About a month later John and Elizabeth requested that her dad, Strangeman, accept Athanacious, Martha and Anna, his children with Agnes, into the faith. They were accepted and Athanacious soon requested to marry Elizabeth’s younger sister and they were soon married in the Quaker faith.
John and Elizabeth Hutchins Barnett had a daughter, Obedience Bridget, just eight months after their marriage and the church did question that but soon dismissed the inquest.
Sixteen years later Obedience Bridget (know as Biddy) met Jonathan Barnard who was a school teacher and was new to Goochland County. I’m not sure if they were actually married by law but when her grandfather, Strangeman found out, he saw to it that Biddy was removed from the church supposedly because she married outside of the faith (Jonathan was a Presbyterian from Massachusetts). I believe she was pregnant at the time. From that time on, John Jr and Strangeman were bitter enemies. Strangeman soon left Virginia and started a new Quaker group. He disowned Biddy and did not even mention her in his will. To him she no longer existed. Biddy and Jonathan Barnard had their first son, George in 1785...he was my ancestor. Around 1799, Biddy and Jonathan moved to Granger County Tennessee.

GEDCOM Note

!SOURCE: Pemble File on WorldConnect.Rootsweb.com.

From Descendants of Stangeman Hutchins (page 25) PDF

References

• This is a multipage PDF of pages photoed by me at Cincinnati Public Library in Nov 2008. It shows information related to Elizabeth Hutchins, her marriage to John Barnett and their daughter, my 4th great grandmother Obedience Barnett. It also makes reference to John Barnett's previous marraige and children from that marriage related to several profiles.AncestryImage
• Hutchins-Hutchens, Descendants of Strangeman Hutchins. Compiled, edited and indexed by Rita Hineman Townsend Gateway Press, Inc. Baltimore 1979 PDF
• https://www.wikitree.com/wiki/Barnett-1171