Moore Barnett died in Madison County, Alabama, around 1827.1 He left a widow, Elizabeth, and five minor children:
- John M Barnett (who was later to marry our Elizabeth R.)
- James H Barnett*
- Lucinda Jane Barnett
- Westly A Barnett (also spelled "Westley" and "Wesley")
- Archibald Jackson Steele Barnett (to whom we will refer as "AJS" for brevity's sake)
The administrator of Moore’s estate was Hugh Barnett, also of Madison County, Alabama. Hugh’s securities were Andrew McMillan and Enos Henderson. We do not know the relationship between Moore and Hugh Barnett, but we suspect they were brothers. Nor do we know the relationship between Hugh and his securities, Andrew McMillan and Enos Henderson, although Enos was married to Susannah Barnett.2 Perhaps Enos was a brother-in-law to Hugh and/or Moore. (There were many other names associated with Moore’s estate. We have copies of the probate file, and are happy to share.)
Elizabeth and the children appear to have been enumerated 1830 in Morgan County, Alabama, as an Eliz Barnett was head of a household with four young males and one young female who fit the ages of Moore & Elizabeth’s minor children. There were two females aged between thirty and forty in the household; one of these would have been the head of household.3 They lived two households away from another Barnett household, that of “Ro. Barnett.” We assume the abbreviation “Ro.” stood for the word “Robert,” because two years later, Elizabeth appointed Robert M Barnett of Morgan County, Alabama, as attorney for her and Moore’s minor children. This document was signed and executed in Madison County, Tennessee, in February 1832, indicating that Elizabeth and the children had moved. We don’t know why they went to Tennessee, but Andrew McMillan and Enos Henderson were living in Madison County, TN, at the time of the 1830 census.4
Less than a year after the family moved to Tennessee, Lucinda Jane Barnett married James Russell McMillan.5 He may or may not have been Andrew McMillan’s son, but a male of the right age was living in Andrew’s household at the time (please see supplemental page McMillan for more.)
And it was likely in Tennessee that John M Barnett married a young woman named Elizabeth. John was recorded in the probate records as a minor when the family moved to Tennessee in 1832, so he would most likely not have been married prior to the move, and Andrew & Deltry’s birthplace is listed in Tennessee in the 1850 census. (It’s listed as Mississippi in other censuses, however.)6, 7
Apart from Moore’s probate records and those clues from the censuses, we know little of John M & Elizabeth R Barnett’s whereabouts until Elizabeth, presumably a widow, married Elijah D Skidmore in 1842 in Sevier County, Arkansas.
We assume that John M Barnett was a resident of Arkansas at least for awhile before he died, because court documents seem to indicate that all of Moore’s children were in Sevier County, Arkansas, no later than the mid–1840s, except for James H Barnett, who was described as “of Mississippi” in the records.8
*There was also an older James H Barnett living in Madison County, Alabama, in the early 1800s. Several of the documents in the probate of Moore’s estate were signed or executed by James H Barnett. Moore & Elizabeth’s son was still a minor child in 1832, so it was likely that these documents were signed by the elder James, who lived not far from Hugh Barnett at the time of the 1830 census.9 Since he figured so prominently in Moore’s estate, this James H Barnett may have been a brother to Moore and/or Hugh.
