Barringer, Daniel Moreau, 1806-1873

American lawyer, politician and diplomat; US Congressman from N.C. 1843-1849; US minister to Spain, 1849-1853

From the guide to the Daniel Moreau Barringer letters, 1844, 1857, undated, (The New York Public Library. Manuscripts and Archives Division.)

Daniel Moreau Barringer of Cabarrus County and Raleigh, N.C., was a lawyer; North Carolina state legislator; United States representative, 1843-1849; minister to Spain, 1849-1853; active Whig and later Democrat; and member of the North Carolina Democratic Party state executive committee, 1860, and chair, 1872.

From the description of Daniel Moreau Barringer papers, 1797-1873. WorldCat record id: 25280954

Daniel Moreau Barringer was born in Cabarrus County, N.C., 30 July 1806, the son of Paul and Elizabeth (Brandon) Barringer. He was graduated from the University of North Carolina in 1826, studied law with Judge Thomas Ruffin, and practiced in Concord, N.C. Barringer served in the North Carolina General Assembly, 1829-1835, 1840, 1845; in the state of constitutional convention of 1835; in the United States Congress, 1843-1849; and as minister to Spain, 1849-1853. In 1861, he was a delegate to the Peace Convention in Washington and, in 1866, to the National Union Convention in Philadelphia. He was a Whig in the 1830s and 1840s, but, in 1856, supported James Buchanan for the presidency and thereafter was affiliated with the Democrats. He was active in the campaign of 1868 and chair of the State Executive Committee of the Democratic Party in 1872.

Barringer was married on 15 August 1848 to Elizabeth Wethered (1822-1867), daughter of Lewin and Elizabeth (Ellicott) Wethered of Baltimore. They had two sons who lived to maturity, Lewin Wethered Barringer (b. 1850) and Daniel Moreau Barringer, Jr. (b. 1860). They also had a daughter, Elizabeth Brandon, who died in 1864 at the age of thirteen, and several other children who died in infancy.

Barringer lived in Cabarrus County and Concord until his marriage. In the year between their marriage and their departure for Spain, he and his wife lived with relatives in Cabarrus County and in Baltimore. On their return, they were again unsettled until June 1859, when they moved to Raleigh, N.C. During 1865-1866, they were in Baltimore for several months, but returned to Raleigh in 1866. Elizabeth Barringer was ill and went to the home of her brother James and his wife Mollie in Brooklyn for medical treatment, staying there until her death in May or June 1867. Daniel Moreau Barringer continued to live in Raleigh until his death on 1 September 1873.

The Barringer family was descended from a German immigrant, John Paul Barringer, who settled before the Revolution at Poplar Grove in what later became Cabarrus County. Paul Barringer (1778-1844) was one of his sons and had several sons and daughters: Daniel Moreau, the oldest; Margaret, who married first John Boy and second Andrew Grier; Paul Brandon, who married Mary Pickens Carson and moved to Mississippi; Mary Ann, who married Charles W. Harris and lived at Mill Grove; William, a Methodist preacher, whose wife was Lavinia Alston; Elizabeth, who married Edwin Harris; Rufus, who married first Eugenia Davidson, second Rosalie Chunn, and third Margaret Long; Catherine, who married William C. Means and lived at Bellevue; and Victor Clay, who married Maria Massey.

Elizabeth (Wethered) Barringer had one sister, Mary Lewin Wethered, who married William G. Thomas of Baltimore. She had four brothers: Charles; John, member of Congress 1843-1845; Samuel; and James. The family operated woolen mills at Wetheredville near Baltimore.

From the guide to the Daniel Moreau Barringer Papers, 1797-1873, (Southern Historical Collection)