John Richard Barret (August 21, 1825 – November 2, 1903) was a slave owner and

U.S. Representative The United States House of Representatives, often referred to as the House of Representatives, the U.S. House, or simply the House, is the lower chamber of the United States Congress, with the Senate being the upper chamber. Together they c ...

from

Missouri Missouri is a U.S. state, state in the Midwestern United States, Midwestern region of the United States. Ranking List of U.S. states and territories by area, 21st in land area, it is bordered by eight states (tied for the most with Tennessee ...

. Born in

Greensburg, Kentucky Greensburg is a home rule-class city in and the county seat of Green County, Kentucky, United States. The population was 2,163 at the 2010 census, down from 2,396 at the 2000 census. The Downtown Greensburg Historic District is on the Nationa ...

, Barret attended the common schools and then went to

Centre College Centre College is a private liberal arts college in Danville, Kentucky. It is an undergraduate college with an enrollment of approximately 1,400 students. Centre was officially chartered by the Kentucky General Assembly in 1819. The college is ...

Danville, Kentucky Danville is a home rule-class city in Boyle County, Kentucky, United States. It is the seat of its county. The population was 17,236 at the 2020 Census. Danville is the principal city of the Danville Micropolitan Statistical Area, which includes ...

. He moved to St. Louis, Missouri in 1839 and graduated from law school at

Saint Louis University Saint Louis University (SLU) is a private Jesuit research university with campuses in St. Louis, Missouri, United States, and Madrid, Spain. Founded in 1818 by Louis William Valentine DuBourg, it is the oldest university west of the Mississip ...

in 1843. He thereafter studied and then practiced law. Barret was elected to the State house of representatives in 1852 and served four terms. He became identified with the St. Louis Agricultural Society and organized its exhibitions. After defeating the incumbent Francis P. Blair, Jr. in 1858, he presented his credentials as a Democratic member-elect to the

36th Congress The 36th United States Congress was a meeting of the legislative branch of the United States federal government, consisting of the United States Senate and the United States House of Representatives. It met in Washington, D.C. from March 4, 1859 ...

, but Blair contested the election. He served from March 4, 1859 to June 8, 1860, when Congress declared him not entitled to the seat on the grounds that there had been election irregularities (such as judges who'd not taken the oath, ineligible voters, ballots for Blair that should have been counted but weren't and a difficult to explain increase in voters in a few precincts) and declared Blair entitled to it. Blair resigned 17 days later to set up a special election. In a special election against Blair, Barret was subsequently sent again to the same Congress to fill the vacancy caused by Blair's resignation on June 25. Barret then served from December 3, 1860 to March 4, 1861. Blair successfully ran against him in the general election in 1860 for a seat in the

37th Congress The 37th United States Congress was a meeting of the legislative branch of the United States federal government, consisting of the United States Senate and the United States House of Representatives. It met in Washington, D.C. from March 4, 1861, ...

. Barret moved to

New York City New York, often called New York City or NYC, is the List of United States cities by population, most populous city in the United States. With a 2020 population of 8,804,190 distributed over , New York City is also the L ...

and engaged in numerous occupations, eventually dying there on November 2, 1903. He was interred in

Cave Hill Cemetery Cave Hill Cemetery is a Victorian era National Cemetery and arboretum located at Louisville, Kentucky. Its main entrance is on Baxter Avenue and there is a secondary one on Grinstead Drive. It is the largest cemetery by area and number of buria ...

Louisville, Kentucky Louisville ( , , ) is the largest city in the Commonwealth of Kentucky and the 28th most-populous city in the United States. Louisville is the historical seat and, since 2003, the nominal seat of Jefferson County, on the Indiana border ...

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* {{DEFAULTSORT:Barret, John Richard 1825 births 1903 deaths People from Greensburg, Kentucky Politicians from St. Louis Centre College alumni Saint Louis University alumni Missouri lawyers Democratic Party members of the Missouri House of Representatives Burials at Cave Hill Cemetery Democratic Party members of the United States House of Representatives from Missouri 19th-century American politicians Members of the United States House of Representatives removed by contest