BARNETT – Descendants of Nutfield Grantee John Barnett

John Barnett, Sr. 
buried at Forest Hill Cemetery, East Derry, NH
in 1740

[NOTE:  I will be publishing a series of genealogical sketches on the early Nutfield settlers in advance of the 300th anniversary of Founders Day, April 12 - 14, 2019 in Derry, New Hampshire.  If you have additional notes on the first few generations of the BARNETT family, please comment below or send me an email at vrojomit@gmail.com, and I will edit this sketch.  These sketches will be used and distributed to the public and to the descendants at the Founders Day activities.]

John Barnett was born about 1652 in Northern Ireland and died 8 October 1740 in Londonderry, New Hampshire.  He was one of the sixteen men who followed Rev. James MacGregor to Nutfield in 1719, and received a land grant.  He married Janet/Joan Seaforth in Londonderry in 1721 and died there on 8 October 1740, about age 85, and is buried in the Forest Hill Cemetery in East Derry, New Hampshire.

John Barnett’s name is on the list of proprietors for the original Nutfield grant on 21 June 1722.  John Barnett was one of the early school teachers in 1725 in Londonderry, along with Robert Morrison, Eleanor Aiken, W. Harvey and Archibald Weir.  He was a selectman in 1741, 1742, 1743, and 1750. 

The second marriage in Londonderry was John Barnett and Joan Seaforth by Rev. James MacGregor on 2 November 1721.  The first marriage was between John Walis [sic] and Annis Barnet on 18 May 1721 [Was this woman kin to John Barnett?].

His widow remarried to John McKean about 1687.  

From Vital Records of Londonderry, New Hampshire, 1719 – 1910, page 41

Barnat, John and Joan.  Children: Rebecca, Oct 18, 1722; Sara, Sept 18, 1724; William, Feb. 15, 1726/7; Francis, Feb. 3, 1728/9; John, June 7, 1731; Hanna, Feb. 24, 1732/3; Robert, Jan. 5, 1734/5.

Children:

      1.       Rebecca, married Robert Walker 

      2.       Sarah, m. Thomas Christy 5 December 1749

      3.       William, m. Jean Walker, died 19 April 1776 in New York

      4.       Margaret,  died 17 September 1771 in Londonderry

      5.       Francis, m. Hannah Walker, d. 16 Oct 1772 in Bedford, NH

      6.       Samuel, born about 1730, m. Amy Smith, d. about 1794 in Newbury, VT. 

      7.       John, m. Sarah Holmes, d. 24 October 1784

      8.       Hanna, died 10 April 1753, age 20, In Londonderry

      9.       Robert, died 24 Feb. 1772 in Londonderry

10 10.   Jonathan, born about 1740, died 1807 in Peterborough, NH

Note:  Three Barnett children married children of Andrew Walker.  Robert Walker was one of the first settlers of Bedford, New Hampshire about 1737. 

For more information:

Barnett Surname DNA Project http://barnettdna.micbarnette.com/category/londonderry-ire/  

Family Tree DNA BARNETT Project https://www.familytreedna.com/groups/barnett/about   

Click here for links to the sketches of all sixteen first Nutfield settlers: 
https://nutfieldgenealogy.blogspot.com/p/nutfields-first-16-settlers.html 

---------------------------

UPDATED 18 February 2019

On 14 February 2019 I received an email message from Scots Irish research Colin Brooks:

"....my first problem is the age thing. Using the burial records from "Willey's Book of Nutfield" vol.1, part 10,11,12 pp400-414 we have this at Forest Hill Cemetery, East Derry:    John Barnett died Oct. 8, 1740 age 86 therefore born circa 1654. 1718 arrival age is c.64.  Wiley then says "William (son) died 1749, aged 11 years. SO John would have been aged 84 at William's birth. Frankly, impossible.

          I backed up to the Land records. I'm sure you know Willey has in the above book multiple maps by Rev. J. McMurphy. What I find appears to support my hypothesis. John Barnet has settlement land on the south side of the original proprietors divide and sandwiched between Archibald Clendinnen and James McKeen.  

          BUT the original "shares" 1722 records show John Barnet with one (1); John Barnet Jr. with one (1). and John Barnet and sons with two (2) in Parker's History of Londonderry pp 323-6 

          In order to gain a share, you had to be an adult (and I believe a family man); so the son's were under age 21 or not married. As you know, the JR. designation simply means the younger John Barnet. Here is the interesting part. John Sr and his second lot for sons almost touch as you go to the south. John Jr.'s land is only a 100 acres and completely on the other side of modern Derry up near the Hill Graveyard overlooking the current Interstate. So clearly, another adult John who had family by 1722, and if his name is given as "Captain" John Barnett then he had some marketable means. This is the John Barnett in most of the town records. 

          As to the "disappearance" of John Sr. until his death. Willey slips in a little note and then a map that shows John Sr. did not like his homestead location and request redress along with other men. He moves to Windham (map by McMurphy in Willey's book) and you can find his land on the modern map at the intersection of I-93 and NH- 111 between Cobbet's Pond and Canobie Lake. That pretty much takes him out of Nutfield/Derry/Londonderry history which explains the lack of records. 

  SO I have:

  John Barnet Sr. born 1654 and died Oct, 8, 1740. Original 16 proprietor of Nutfield who's land abutted Archibald Clendinnen and James McKeen Esq. John then moved to Windham, NH

   John  Barnett Jr. given one full share of original settlement recorded in 1722. Marries Joan/Janet (Seaford) McKeen Nov. 2, 1721." 

UPDATED 6 December 2020 by Fred Learned of North Carolina

by email "Please note that #9 Robert you currently show partly concerns the wrong Robert.  You have the correct parents and date of his death, the 24th of Feb, 1772.  However, the Robert who married Elizabeth Varnum in 1801 was the son of a John Barnett the 3rd.  It is his youngest son Robert, born 14 Sept 1772, who married Elizabeth Varnum in 1801 that you currently show.   

       I've also attached Janet, widow of John McKean & John Barnett, Sr.  I can only presume widow Janet married John Barnett Sr. bet 1722 and 1724 based on the following evidence:

Via various Deeds, Capt. John Barnet gave certain % of his Real Estate to his sons John, Jr., Robert & Moses, that included his wife Janet giving up her dower rights.  Since she and her sons are listed as original Proprietors by her dec'd husband John McKean's name, presumption is she did not marry John Barnet until after date of Town Charter.  Willey shows Janet & sons John & Samuel McKeen on a lot in English Range as well as Aiken Range adjacent to Beaver Pond, 1720, recorded Feb 1722.  NH State Papers Jenet Mackeen & her sons are proprietors as of 21 June 1722.  FDL

I scoured the Land Records in an attempt to make some sense of the three generations of John Barnett." 

--------------------------

Heather Wilkinson Rojo, "BARNETT – Descendants of Nutfield Grantee John Barnett", Nutfield Genealogy, posted February 13, 2019, ( https://nutfieldgenealogy.blogspot.com/2019/02/barnett-descendants-of-nutfield-grantee.html: accessed [access date]).