Mordecai Barbour

Mordecai Barbour (October 21, 1763 – January 4, 1846) was a Culpeper County Militia officer during the American Revolutionary War and a prominent Virginia statesman, planter, and businessperson.

American Revolutionary War During the American Revolutionary War in May or June 1781, Barbour joined the Culpeper County Militia, serving first as a private, then lieutenant under General Mechlenburg. Barbour's first assignment was to protect Rappahannock Forge. Records also indicate Barbour acquired a merchants license in 1806 from George W. B. Spooner, Commissioner of Revenue for the District of Fredericksburg, for the sum of $15 (~$ in ). Barbour was a resident of Fredericksburg until 1808 when he relocated to Petersburg. In 1819, the Virginia General Assembly authorized an act permitting Barbour to "receive toll for passing his bridge across the Appomattox river". In addition to the operation of the bridge, Barbour also owned and operated a grist mill four miles from Petersburg on the Appomattox that evolved into an incorporated venture known as the Matoaca Manufacturing Company, which processed grain and manufactured paper and cotton. In 1831, Barbour received a permit for the erection of a 12-feet-wide toll bridge across the Appomattox River at Exeter Mills.

War of 1812 Following the outbreak of War of 1812, Barbour wrote a letter to United States President James Madison on June 28, 1812, in which he volunteered his services to lead a regiment in the United States military. Barbour stated in his letter to President Madison:

Marriage and children Barbour married Elizabeth Strode, daughter of John Strode of "Fleetwood" in Culpeper County. John Strode was master of the gun factory near Falmouth, Virginia, which was instrumental in supplying arms to Virginia's troops during the American Revolutionary War. Strode was reportedly of French Huguenot descent.

Barbour and Elizabeth had five children:

John Strode Barbour (1790–1855) m. Elizabeth A. Byrne John Strode Barbour, Jr. (1820–1892) m. Susan Sewell Daingerfield (1865) James Barbour (1828–1895) m. Fanny Thomas Beckham (1857) Ella B. Barbour Rixey (born 1858) m. John Franklin Rixey (1881) Mary B. Barbour Wallace (born 1860) m. Clarence B. Wallace (1890) James Byrne Barbour (1864–1926) John Strode Barbour (1866–1952) m. Mary B. Grimsley (1894) Edwin Barbour (1868–1902) m. Josie McDonald A. Floyd Barbour (born 1868) Fanny C. Barbour Beckham (born 1874) m. Benjamin Collins Beckham (1899) Alfred Madison Barbour (1829–1866) m. Kate Daniels (1858) Frances Barbour Minor m. Henry Minor Ann Barbour Gist m. Thomas Gist Maria Barbour Tillinghast Hogan m. Colonel Tillinghast, m. J. B. Hogan Mordecai Barbour

Following the death of Elizabeth, Barbour married Sally Haskell Byrne. Sally was the widow of James Byrne of Petersburg and the mother of Barbour's daughter-in-law, Elizabeth A. Byrne.

Death Barbour died at "Weston", the residence of his daughter Frances Barbour Minor, in Boligee, Greene County, Alabama on January 4, 1846. He was interred at Bethsalem Cemetery at Bethsalem Presbyterian Church in Boligee.