Samuel J. Barrows

Who was Samuel J. Barrows?

Samuel June Barrows was a U.S. Representative from Massachusetts.

Barrows was born in New York City to a strict Baptist family. After his father's death, Barrows was sent to school until he became ill around the age of 7 or 8. Barrows' doctor recommended that he leave school. After leaving school, Barrows' mother sent him to work for a printing press owned by Richard Hoe, a cousin of Barrows' late father. He tried to enlist in the United States Navy during the American Civil War but was rejected because of poor health. Barrows then went to a hydropathic sanitarium for treatment and became the personal secretary of the presiding doctor. There he met his future wife, Isabel Barrows. Finding a calling to be a minister, he attended the Harvard Divinity School in 1871 and eventually became an Unitarian preacher and editor of the Christian Register, an Unitarian publication. While at Harvard, he was the Boston correspondent of the New York Tribune.

Barrows went with the Yellowstone Expedition of 1873, under the command of General Stanley, and with the Black Hills Expedition in 1874, commanded by General Custer. In 1873 he took part in the Battle of the Tongue River.