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Barr, Rev. John Christie, D. D., son of
Thomas and Grace (Pearce) Barr, was born at the corner of Chartres
street and Esplanade avenue, in New Orleans Oct. 27, 1872. Thomas Barr
came from Glasgow, Scotland, to America, as a child. His people settled
in St. Louis, and from there he entered Co. G, 2nd Mo. cavalry in the
United States army, and served during the last half of the Civil war.
Most of his service was in Arkansas. After the war he was engaged in
different kinds of construction work, serving under Capt. Eads on the
St. Louis bridge, and on the jetties at the mouth of the Mississippi
river. He came to New Orleans with Capt. Eads, and remained here, and is
still living in the city of New Orleans. He has spent most of his life
in river and harbor work, but is now retired. Dr. Barr's mother came
with her parents from Scotland to New Orleans, where she still lives and
has passed nearly all her life. She was married to Thomas Barr in 1871,
and became the mother of 8 children, 6 of whom are now living: J. C.,
the subject of this sketch), Thomas, Jr., William, Jean, Grace, Alice,
James Eads Barr died of yellow fever in 1878 in New Orleans, and Janet
also passed away in infancy.
John Christie Barr spent the first 6 or 7
years of his life in New Orleans. He was baptized by Rev. John F.
Girault, rector of St. Anna's church on Esplanade avenue. When 7 years
old he went with his parents to Port Eads and lived there 3 years.
During 6 months of that time he attended a private school. Previous to
this, however, he had attended a parish school in the basement of the
Third Presbyterian church on Washington Square, in New Orleans. When 10
years old, he returned from Port Eads to New Orleans and for a few
months attended a private school kept by Mrs. Mary I. Bard, on Eighth
street. He then entered McDonough School No. 10, and passed from that to
the boys high school where he graduated in 1889 with the class honors,
and received a scholarship in Tulane university, which was given to the
graduate of the highest rank from the high school. He also received from
the high school the Peabody medal, and the Alumni gold medal. He
graduated from Tulane in 1893 with the degree B. S., and received a
fellowship in that university, in which he took post graduate work in
Greek, Latin and Ancient History, receiving the degree of M. A. in 1895.
This unusual case of the second degree in Arts following the first
degree in Science was occasioned by the fact that before receiving the
first degree, he decided to enter the ministry and so rearranged his
work as to carry some classical work along with the scientific. During
part of his graduate period in Tulane he served as instructor in ancient
history. In the meantime, he had united with the Lafayette Presbyterian
church in New Orleans. After taking the master's degree, he entered the
Theological seminary of the South Western Presbyterian university at
Clarksville, Tenn., from which he received the degree of B. D., in 1897,
and then entered the ministry. He at once received a call from the St.
Francis street church in Mobile, Ala.
The first church he really served was the
Prytania street Presbyterian church of New Orleans, where he acted as a
licentiate for 6 months. While at Prytania street church be was called
to the First church of Covington, Tenn., and also to the Lafayette
Presbyterian church in New Orleans. He accepted the latter and has been
the pastor of that church to the present time. The honorary degree of D.
D. was conferred on Mr. Barr by the South Western Presbyterian
university about 7 years ago. Dr. Barr represented the Presbytery of New
Orleans in the General Assembly which met in Little Rock in 1901. He was
a member of the Theta chapter of the Pi Kappa Alpha fraternity at
Clarksville, and is a member of the Tulane Alumni association. Feb. 5,
1901, Dr. Barr was married to Miss Anna Mabry, of Clarksville, Tenn.
Mrs. Barr is a sister of Edmund Mabry, an attorney in New Orleans, and
daughter of Thomas L. and Elizabeth (Dabney) Mabry. Mr. Mabry died some
years ago, but Mrs. Mabry is still living. Dr. Barr's church is
numerically the largest Presbyterian church in the state of Louisiana
and is second in age among the Presbyterian churches in the City of New
Orleans. It was founded in 1843, by Jerome Twitchell, and has been
served by 5 ministers. Jerome Twitchell served for 10 years and was
succeeded by J. Sydney Hayes, who died of yellow fever in the second
year of his pastorate. Mr. Hayes was succeeded by Thomas R. Markham, D.
D., who remained for 37 years. Under Dr. Markham's ministry, Dr. Barr
joined this church. The fourth pastor was Rev. S. C. Byrd, who served
for 4 years, and then Dr. Barr was chosen and ordained Feb. 27, 1898.
Dr. Barr has been much interested in the Presbyterian hospital in New
Orleans, and has been its president from the first. Starting with a fund
of $15, that institution has acquired its present fine property and
equipment in a period of about 5 years. It is under the direction of a
board of managers composed largely of members from the Presbyterian
churches in New Orleans. Dr. Barr is also much interested in Sunday
school extension work. His church has a number of branch Sunday schools
which are developing into churches at Harvey, Gretna, Algiers, and at
corner of Octavia and Camp streets, and the Westminster Sunday school,
at 3324 St. Charles avenue. He was recently made one of the directors of
the Oglethorpe university, a Presbyterian institution in Atlanta, Ga.
This school has about $1,000,000 of resources, of which $250,000 was
recently donated by citizens of Atlanta.
Source: Louisiana: Comprising Sketches of
Parishes, Towns, Events, Institutions, and Persons, Arranged in
Cyclopedic Form, volume 3, pp. 747-749. Edited by Alc e Fortier, Lit. D.
Published in 1914, by Century Historical Association. |
