Joseph Foster Barham (was Foster) I

1729 - 1789


Biography

Son of Colonel John Foster (1681-1731) of Egham House Surrey and Jamaica, stepson of Dr Henry Barham (q.v.) and father of Joseph Foster Barham II (q.v.).

  1. Joseph Foster Barham I's son Thomas Foster Barham (q.v.) is in the ODNB as 'writer'; there are also ODNB entries for four of Thomas Foster Barham's sons. The entry for Thomas Foster Barham says 'he became associated with the mercantile house of Plummer' (q.v.) but makes no allusion to slavery or to Jamaica, although it does characterise Thomas Foster Barham's brother Joseph Foster Barham II as 'slave-owner and politician'; three of the entries for his sons describe the father as 'musician and writer' or 'writer', and in one case as 'of independent means.'

  2. Joseph Foster Barham was listed in the Jamaican Quit Rent books for 1754 as the owner of 3788 acres of land in Westmoreland and 2708 acres of land in St Elizabeth, total 6496 acres.

  3. Will of Joseph Foster Barham of Middle, Shropshire proved 26/08/1789. In the will he left £10,000 in trust for his son John, and £5000 for his son Thomas; he had, he said, settled £2000 on each of his daughters at marriage. He left Mesopotamia to his son Joseph Foster Barham (q.v. under Joseph Foster Barham II).


Sources

Bertie George Charles, 'Barham family of Trecŵn, Pembs.', Dictionary of Welsh Biography, http://yba.llgc.org.uk/en/s-BARH-TRE-1700.html [accessed 09/07/2014]; Richard S. Dunn, A tale of two plantations : slave life and labor in Jamaica and Virginia (Cambridge, Massachusetts: Harvard University Press, 2014) pp. 29-37.

  1. Thompson Cooper, ‘Barham, Thomas Foster (1766–1844)’, rev. David J. Golby, Oxford Dictionary of National Biography, Oxford University Press, 2004 [http://www.oxforddnb.com/view/article/1377, accessed 9 July 2014].

  2. 'A List of landholders in the Island of Jamaica together with the number of acres each person possessed taken from the quit rent books in the year 1754', TNA CO 142/31 transcribed at http://www.jamaicanfamilysearch.com/Samples2/1754lead.htm.

  3. PROB 11/1182/302.


Further Information

Absentee?
Transatlantic
Spouse
(1) Dorothea Vaughan; (2) Lady Mary Hill
Children
Joseph Foster Barham, Thomas Foster Barham
Occupation
Planter

Associated Estates (2)

The dates listed below have different categories as denoted by the letters in the brackets following each date. Here is a key to explain those letter codes:

  • SD - Association Start Date
  • SY - Association Start Year
  • EA - Earliest Known Association
  • ED - Association End Date
  • EY - Association End Year
  • LA - Latest Known Association
1731 [SY] - 1789 [LA] → Owner
1746 [SY] - 1789 [EY] → Owner

Relationships (12)

Father → Son
Grandfather → Grandson
Step-son → Step-father
Brothers
Notes →
Joseph Foster Barham was described as his brother in the will of William Foster of Bedford proved...
Brothers
Grandfather → Grandson
Notes →
This is an inferred relationship. Joseph Foster Barham's daughter married Rev. William Rose of Carshalton and...
Father-in-law → Son-in-law
Notes →
William Rose was also the co-executor and co-trustee of Joseph Foster Barham...
Father → Son
Father → Son
Grandfather → Grandson
Son → Father
Brothers

Addresses (1)

Bedford, Bedfordshire, Central England, England