Cordelius J. Barrow, W. Baton Rouge Parish, Louisiana
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 Cordelius J. Barrow 
        West Baton Rouge Parish, Louisiana 
    For many years Cordelius Johnson Barrow, now a member of the police
jury of West Baton Rouge parish, has been a prominent factor in that
parish, lending strength to her industries, tone to her finances and
grace to her society.  He was born in St. Francisville, West Feliciana
parish, La., on September 3, 1845, and is the son of Willie Macajah and
Cordelia (Johnson) Barrow, the father, a native of Tennessee, born near
Nashville, and the mother, of Watertown, N. Y.  The parents were married
in St. Francisville, La., and there made their home until 1850, when
they moved to Home stead plantation, West Baton Rouge parish, of that
state.  When a young man the father came to the Creole state, followed
merchandising for a number of years, but not being entirely satisfied
with this occupation, bought Barrowza plantation, which was considerably
smaller then than at the present time.  He became prominently identified
with the growth and prosperity of West Baton Rouge parish, and held the
office of treasurer for a number of years.  He was a quiet, unassuming
man, and did not aspire to political honors.  He died in 1853.  His
brother, Alexander, was United States senator from Louisiana, and
another brother, Washington, was a United States senator from Tennessee
and consul to Lisbon.  The Barrow family is of Scotch-Irish extraction,
and have made America their home for several generations.  Many members
of this family have been prominent in civil and military affairs.  Pope
Barrow, United States senator from Georgia, was a branch of this family.
To the parents of Cordelius Johnson Barrow were born five children:
Alexander D. is parish treasurer, which position he has held for a
number of years, and secretary of the levee board of Louisiana; Wylie M.
was a confederate soldier, a member of the Delta Rifles, and died in
active service 1864, Cordelia died in early girlhood, and one died in
infancy.  Our subject was the youngest of this family, and, he was left
motherless the day following his birth.  His grandfather, Philo S.
Johnson, was a prominent man of Jefferson county, N. Y., and was
postmaster at Watertown for over fifty years.  He was over ninety years
old at the time of his death.  Cordelius J. Barrow received the
rudiments of an education in West Feliciana parish, then attended the
Mississippi Military institute, at Pass Christian, and finished his
schooling in the Louisiana State university, at Alexandria, when W. T.
Sherman had charge of that institution.  On July 4, 1863, he mounted his
horse, swam the Mississippi river and rode to Jackson, Miss., where he
joined the fifth company of Washington artillery, with which he served
until cessation of hostilities.  He participated in the following
engagements:  Jackson, Chickamauga, Buzzard Roost, Glass Mills,
Missionary Ridge, Atlanta, Peach Tree Creek, Jonesboro, Resaca, Dalton
and Spanish Fort.  He was wounded three times:  In the leg at Peach Tree
Creek, in the shoulder at Resaca, and received a severe wound from a
shell at Spanish Fort.  Although the wound he received at Resaca was a
severe and painful one, he declined to leave the field, and only did so
upon peremptory orders from his captain and the assurance that he would
be permitted to return from the field hospital when his wound was
dressed.  The nature of the wound, however, was so severe that the field
surgeon, after examining same, refused to give his consent to his
return, and the young soldier with much reluctance was sent away to a
hospital, where he remained a short while and returned again to his
command with his wound unhealed, but persisted in taking part in the
battle of Peach Tree Creek, where, by a singular coincidence, he was
struck by a spent minie on the opposite side of the shoulder from the
unhealed wound, bruising and swelling his shoulder and entire arm so
that he was again compelled to abandon his post of duty and go to the
hospital for a short time until he recovered entirely.  At Spanish Fort,
when the, brigade commander called for volunteers, this young soldier
enrolled his name among those to lead a forlorn hope in a night attack
on the miners and sappers who were busily engaged in undermining the
fort.  That very night the orders were changed and an evacuation of the
fort was made.  He was discharged with his other comrades at Meridian,
Miss., in May, 1865.  Returning to West Baton Rouge parish with limited
means, he concluded to try planting, but not making a success of this,
he took charge of the railroad office at Port Allen.  Soon after, he
went to Nashville, was agent for an express company for two years, and
then returned to this parish, where he embarked in merchandising, soon
after forming a partnership with E. L. Charroppin, with whom he
continued until 1875.  He then bought out his partner and conducted the
business on his own account until 1890, doing an extensive wholesale and
retail business all over the state.  During the years in which he
conducted such a large and extensive wholesale and retail business at
Port Allen he was actively engaged in all enterprises for the public
good, and had occasion to show his devotion to his people by the active
part he took in the hour of their great and appalling distress, when the
yellow fever epidemic of 1878 raged in their midst and brought sorrow
and grief to so many happy homes.  He was then most active as president
of the Howard association.  In 1882, the great flood year, he was, as
president of the police jury, again called upon to display his energy,
pluck and nerve, and made the first successful organized effort of
holding fifty-six miles levee front through which the mighty Mississippi
had broken its bounds in every high water before for years past.  So
greatly and stubbornly was this work carried on that it gave an impetus
to the possibilities of organized effort, and many combined in holding
levees.  His effort, recorded by the press, went abroad in the land, and
called the attention of even the national government to the necessity
for aid to these important bulwarks.  In that year he came to Lobdell
and bought his partner's interest.  He is the owner of 1,350 acres of
land and has 850 acres under cultivation.  In 1875 he was appointed a
member of the police jury, held that position for twelve years, and
recently was again appointed to that office.  He is also superintendent
of public instruction of this parish, has held the position four years
and has made a marked and very perceptible improvement in the schools of
the same.  He is a man of vigorous intellect, possesses extraordinary
stability of character, and being eminently qualified for the position
which he holds, fills it satisfactorily to his constituents.  He has
held some commission from Gov. Kellogg until the present, and was
postmaster at Port Allen for some time.  In 1884 and 1885 he was
commissioner to the World's fair at New Orleans, appointed by Grover
Cleveland, and he it was who originated the celebrated Louisiana
exhibit.  Three years ago he was brought out for congress, ran against
his brother-in-law, S. M. Robertson, and was beaten by a few votes.  He
has been importuned, time and again, to allow the use of his name for
the senate or house, but has declined.  In 1870 Mr. Barrow married Miss
Martha Johnson Robertson, daughter of Hon. E. W. Robertson, a member of
congress from this district.  By this union they have two sons and three
daughters.  Mr. Barrow and wife are members of the Episcopal church,
leading and popular members of society, and possess social qualities of
a high order.  Their oldest children are members of the same church.
Mr. Barrow built the church at Port Allen, and was warden in the same.
He is a Mason, Red Cross degree of Knight Templars, and a member of the
Knights of Pythias and the American Legion of Honor.  Politically he is
in sympathy with the democracy.
 
 From Biographical and Historical Memoires of Louisiana, volume 2, pp.
263-264. 
Submitted by Mike Miller