B. Johnson Barbour, as he was always known, spent much of his life out of the public eye as a planter and gentleman scholar. He inherited Barboursville when his father died in 1842, and by 1860 he was the wealthiest man in Orange County, with 7,000 acres of land and 150 slaves. Barbour was active in the Virginia State Agricultural Society from its revival in 1853. Widely known as a student of literature and a scholar of Shakespeare, he befriended such literary figures as John Reuben Thompson and W. Gordon McCabe. Barbour was one of the most popular public speakers in Virginia, renowned for long, elaborate orations, replete with literary and classical allusions. He was also an important lay leader in the Episcopal Church, often serving as a delegate to the council of the Diocese of Virginia and in 1880 as an alternate delegate to the national convention.
Barbour married Caroline Homassel Watson on November 7, 1844. Of their six sons and five daughters two sons and three daughters survived childhood. Barbour suffered serious injuries when he fell into a ditch in Charlottesville and died a few weeks later at Barboursville on December 2, 1894. He was buried in the family cemetery at Barboursville.
Time Line
-
June 14, 1821 - B. Johnson Barbour is born at Barboursville, in Orange County.
-
1837–1849 - B. Johnson Barbour attends the University of Virginia.
-
1838 - B. Johnson Barbour wins the honor of selection as final orator of the Jefferson Literary Society at the University of Virginia.
-
1842 - B. Johnson Barbour inherits Barboursville, the Orange County estate of his father, James Barbour.
-
November 7, 1844 - B. Johnson Barbour and Caroline Homassel Watson marry.
-
April 12, 1860 - A memorial statue of Henry Clay is unveiled in the State Capitol. B. Johnson Barbour delivers the dedicatory oration. The project's fund-raising was led by his mother, Lucy Johnson Barbour.
-
1865 - B. Johnson Barbour is elected to the U.S. House of Representatives, which refuses to seat him and any other representatives from the former Confederate states.
-
1865–1873 - B. Johnson Barbour serves on the University of Virginia's board of visitors.
-
1866–1872 - B. Johnson Barbour serves as rector of the University of Virginia.
-
1873–1877 - B. Johnson Barbour serves four one-year terms as president of the University of Virginia's General Alumni Association.
-
1876–1878 - B. Johnson Barbour serves on the board of the Virginia Agricultural and Mechanical College in Blacksburg.
-
1879–1894 - B. Johnson Barbour serves on the board of the University of Virginia's Miller Fund.
-
1879–1880 - B. Johnson Barbour serves in the House of Delegates.
-
1885 - B. Johnson Barbour wins the Democratic Party's nomination for the Senate of Virginia, but loses in the general election.
-
1889 - Governor Fitzhugh Lee names B. Johnson Barbour one of six delegates to a convention in Saint Louis to promote the inflationary free coinage of silver.
-
December 2, 1894 - B. Johnson Barbour dies at his Barboursville home in Orange County.
References
Further Reading
Cite This Entry
- APA Citation:
Bromberg, A. B., & the Dictionary of Virginia Biography. B. Johnson Barbour (1821–1894). (2017, February 6). In Encyclopedia Virginia. Retrieved from http://www.EncyclopediaVirginia.org/Barbour_B_Johnson_1821-1894.
- MLA Citation:
Bromberg, Alan B. and the Dictionary of Virginia Biography. "B. Johnson Barbour (1821–1894)." Encyclopedia Virginia. Virginia Humanities, 6 Feb. 2017. Web. READ_DATE.
First published: January 6, 2017 | Last modified: February 6, 2017