Walter Barefoote, Governor of the Province of New Hampshire (acting)

Walter Barefoote (also Barefoot, flourished 1655 - d. 1688) was colonist and deputy governor of the Province of New Hampshire. From 1685 to 1686 he served as acting governor of the province. (Wikipedia, CC BY-SA 4.0)

Sources

• "Walter Barefoote." Wikipedia, revision of 17 March 2023. < link > Accessed 20 July 2024.

Additional Information

John Farmer, Genealogical Register of the First Settlers of New England (no publication information):

(p.25) BAREFOOTE, Walter, New Hampshire 1660, was a counsellor in 1682, deputy governour 1685.

(p.336) BAREFOOTE, +Walter, was of Great Island, now New Castle, NH, and d. about 1688.

Name: Walter* BAREFOOTE , Dr. Sex: M Birth: in England Death: 3 OCT 1688 in New Hampshire Note:

Source: Copyright 1999 Perry Streeter; mailto: perry@streeter.com; http://www.perry.streeter.com.

"Barefoote Family--A disguised surname from Barford... This blood was carried into New Jersey from New Hampshire, as there are slight evidences of the surname in the former Colony, tho'the name is preserved in New Jersey in the family of Barefoote Brynson(or Brinson...) whose grand-mother, seemingly, the first wife of Dr. Henry Greenland, was Mary Barefoote, or else, close association perpetuated the name, without kinship. She then, was a daughter of Captain Walter Barefoote of N.H."

Mr. Streeter goes onto describe him as follows:

"Dr. Walter Barefoot (or Barford, as the name is given in England) who came to Kittery, Maine, in 1656 or 1657, and for thirty years until his death, 1688, was said to be the most litigating and scandal-raising personage connected with the Piscataqua region, whether as doctor, captain, prisoner, prison-keeper, Deputy Governor, land speculator or Chief Justice. He was well-educated and wrote a good hand. He was a chirchman, but a sturdy and quarrelsome supporter of the Stuart policy, while most of his neighbors were Puritans, so that the hard things...said of both Barefoote and Greenland need to be wieghed in the light of these facts. (See "N.E. Gen. Register," Vol.26, for will of Walter Barefoote, by which he leaves 1,000 acres in Maine to Dr. H. Greenland). (William H. Benedict, "The Brunson (Brynson--Brinson) Family," Somerset County Historical quarterly, [Vol. III] [1914])." "

Perry cites another source, (Pioneers, N.H., p13):

"Barefoote, Walter, Captain, gent. Kittery, bought land and house of Capt. Champernowne, 1658; later home, Newcastle. A partisan of Charles II and of the Masons; and official in the Provincial govt., involved in many conflict, 1679-1688. Will, 3Oct prob. 8 Oct 1688; sister Sarah, wife of Thomas Wiggin, Jr.; Cousin, John Lee and others."

• New Brunswick in History. By William H. Benedict. Page 247. <GoogleBooks> Page 340-341. <GoogleBooks>