In the many important lines in which southeastern Missouri has made great strides in the past decade, none is more noteworthy than that of education, and one of the chief factors in the attainment of this supreme benefit is Professor William Lee BARRETT, superintendent of the schools of Poplar Bluff, Missouri. He is by no means one content with "letting well enough alone," but is a constant student of the best educational methods and has succeeded in keeping abreast of the most modern and enlightened thought and impressing this upon the schools in his charge.

Mr. BARRETT was born near Nevada, Story county, Iowa, December 27, 1870, the son of John Thomas and Margaret (SEABOLD) BARRETT. He was one of a family of two children, his only brother, Jesse Cross BARRETT, living at Poplar Bluff, Missouri. He spent his youth in his native county, receiving his preliminary education in the district schools and subsequently matriculating at Drake University, from which institution he was graduated in 1895 with the degree of Bachelor of Scientific Didactics.

Mr. BARRETT taught in the distriet (sic) sehools (sic) of Ringgold county, Iowa, for three years and in 1893 assumed the principalship of the Primrose, Iowa, public schools, in whieh position he continued until elected superintendent of the Birmingham, Iowa, schools in 1896.

In 1899 he was chosen principal of the Fort Madison (Iowa) high school, building up one of the most remarkable seeondary schools in the state, and continued in that capacity until elected to his present position in 1905, having successfully served in the ensuing six years as superintendent of the Poplar Bluff schools. He is well and favorably known not only in this part of the state, but in those sections of Iowa in which he has lived and labored as a particularly enlightened instruetor and one who ever makes it his object to keep the highest ideals constantly before the mind of the student. He is one of whom it may be said that he was born as well as made to the high calling to which he has chosen to devote his life.

Mr. BARRETT has taught in summor normals and institutes for years, and attends yearly the district, state and many of the national educational associations. He is at the present time a member of the state edueational council and also of the executive committee of the State Teachers' Association.

Mr. BARRETT is a member of the Christian church, and is one of the most valued and useful of its members, serving at the present time as Bible school superintendent and member of the church board. He is a loyal Mason and exemplifies in his life those ideals of moral and social justice and brotherly love for which the order stands. He is a member of several of the Masonic orders and has served in several official capacities. He belongs to the R. R. Y. M. C. A. and is at the present time a member of the local board of directors.

Mr. BARRETT established a happy household by his marriage, on August 11, 1902, to Bertha E. LIGHTFOOT, of Fort Madison. ___ their two young sons, John Willis and Paul Burdette, having been born September 1, 1909, and May 30, 1911, respectively. Professor and Mrs. BARRETT are highly esteemed members of society and play a useful part in the many-sided life of the community to whose interests they are signally loyal.

SOURCE: DOUGLASS, Robert Sidney, A.B., LL. B.History of Southeast Missouri: A Narrative Account of its Historical Progress, Its People and its Principal Interests Vol. I. p. 154. Lewis Pub. Co. Chicago. 1912.

No man is more intimately and vitally connected with true progress than he to whom is intrusted the training of the coming generation. In his hands largely rests the future destinies of the state and nation. It is fitting, therefore, that to such service every community should assign its best talents — that at the head of the schools should be placed those characters which are capable of the highest and most intelligent devotion to the general welfare. William L. BARRETT, principal of the Fort Madison high school, has consecrated his life to the important work of education, and for that reason, and by reason of the zeal and ability displayed in his chosen field, he is here entitled to extended mention.

Mr. BARRETT was born at Nevada, Story county, Iowa, December 27. 1870, the son of John T. and Margaret (SEABOLD) BARRETT. John T. BARRETT was born at Russellville, Ohio, July 5, 1842, and died at Kellerton, Iowa, September 4, 1900. The date of his marriage to Margaret SEABALT (sic) was March 18," 1869. She died October 30, 1874. She is survived by two sons, the younger being J. C. BARRETT, who is also a resident of Fort Madison, and is a guard at the state penitentiary. The father was remarried September 14. 1876, to Miss Margaret SILVERS, and of this union have been born six children. Mrs. Margaret BARRETT is at the present time a resident of Kellerton. Iowa.

W. L. BARRETT, the subject of this sketch, began his education in a district school, but his enthusiasm for further intellectual advancement led him to enter Drake University, at Des Moines, at which institution he matriculated in 1888, and ,was graduated with degree of B. D. S. C, in 1895, after having completed two separate courses of study, the scientific and the didactic. His professional activities since that time have been continuous and of broad scope. He "has taught physics and algebra in the Polk County Institute; reading and history in the Ringgold County Institute; history, civics and economics in Henry county; and reading, history, grammar and physiology in Lee county. He first began teaching in the rural schools of Ringgold county, came to Primrose, Lee county, in 1893, as principal of the graded school, became principal of a graded school at Birmingham, Van Buren county, in 1896, and came to Fort Madison as principal of the high school in 1899.

August __, 1902, at Des Moines, Iowa, Mr. BARRETT was united in marriage with Miss Bertha E. LIGHTFOOT, daughter of Amos Lee and Ella (GROMMON) LIGHTFOOT, of Fort Madison. Mr. and Mrs. LIGHTFOOT were the parents of six children, five of whom survive, as follows: Charles A. and William T., of Chicago; Edwin Lee and Benjamin H., of Fort Madison; and Mrs. BARRETT, who was born in Delaware county, February 27, 1876. and at the time of her marriage was a teacher in the eighth grade of the Fort Madison schools. She is a graduate of Fort Madison high school, and has attended the State Normal School at Cedar Falls, the Epworth Seminary at Epworth, Iowa, and Iowa Wesleyan University at Mount Pleasant. For four years she was a teacher in rural schools, and for two years taught sixth, seventh and eighth grades in the Fort Madison schools.

Mr. BARRETT is descended of Revolutionary ancestry through the maternal line and the family name of Silvers. The BARRETT family was originally Irish, the founders of the American branch having been three brothers who emigrated from Ireland together. The line of descent has been traced in unbroken succession to them.

Mr. and Mrs. BARRETT are members of the Christian church, and Mr. BARRETT is a member and very active worker in the Young Men's Christian Association, being one of the directors of the organization. Strong in his individuality and earnest of purpose, he is peculiarly adapted to work of this nature, and his sterling character and talent for leadership are qualities that seem destined to carry him to distinction, and perhaps to eminence, in the field of education.

SOURCE: DOUGLASS, Robert Sidney, A.B., LL. B.History of Lee County p. 354. Hobart Pub. Co. Chicago. 1905.

Transcriptions by Sharon R. Becker, June of 2009