The wills of James Barbour, Sr., and wife Letitia Green Barbour, parents of James Barbour, were recently posted and can be found here.

James Barbour, 1820-1896.  Elizabeth Graham Barbour, 1821-1896.  Bellevue Cemetery, Danville, Boyle County, Kentucky.

The Kentucky Advocate, Danville, Boyle County, Kentucky

Monday, July 27, 1896

The remains of Mrs. Elizabeth Foster Barbour, of Maysville, were brought to Danville today for burial.  The deceased was the beloved wife of James Barbour, President of the Bank of Maysville.  The ‘Call’ says: Mrs. Barbour was Elizabeth Graham Foster, of Natchez, Miss.; born in 1821; married in 1844 to James Barbour, in Danville, Ky.; settled in Maysville in 1852, where she has continuously resided.  Five children were born to bless their lives, three were early called home, while two sons survive: Rev. John Barbour, of Birmingham, Ala., and J. Foster Barbour, Cashier of the Bank of Maysville.  Mrs. Barbour has been a life long and devoted member of the Presbyterian church.  The godliness, beauty and true loveliness of her character, will shine out in the lives of these who are yet to be born, so wide and sweet and holy was her power to teach the glories of her Savior.

The Evening Bulletin, Maysville, Mason County, Kentucky

Friday, September 18, 1896

Telegrams were received this morning at 5 o’clock announcing the death of Hon. James Barbour at Clifton Springs, N.Y., of disease of the brain.

No further particulars were given.  He had been in failing health for some months, but the tone of his last letter to his son, Mr. J. F. Barbour, was more cheerful than usual.  The final summons must have come suddenly to this beloved citizen.

Letitia Green Barbour, 1789-1844.  Major James Barbour, 1780-1843.  Ambrose Barbour, 1822-1852, son of James and Letitia.

James Barbour, banker and lawyer, was a son of James and Letitia Barbour and was born May 27, 1820, in Danville, Ky.  His father was a native of Orange County, Va., and belonged to an old English family long distinguished in the affairs of the Old Dominion.  His grandfather was Ambrose Barbour, a soldier of the revolution.  Mr. Barbour’s mother was born in Lincoln County, this State, and was a daughter of Willis Green, the first Clerk of the United States Courts for Kentucky.

Mr. Barbour graduated at the age of seventeen from Centre College, and three years later he graduated from Transylvania Law University.  In 1840, he began the practice of law at Danville, where he remained until 1852 when he removed to Maysville and became cashier of the Maysville Branch of the Bank of Kentucky.  He continued in this position until 1871 when the branch was withdrawn.  In that year, in connection with the late Andrew M. January and others, he established the Bank of Maysville and was its cashier until 1877, when, on Mr. January’s death, he was chosen President, a position he held the rest of his life.

A man of marked ability and the strictest integrity, Mr. Barbour had been honored time and again by his fellow men in business, educational and religious circles.  In 1844 he was appointed by the Trustees of Centre College to settle the affairs of the land grant made by Congress to the Kentucky Deaf and Dumb Asylum; in 1849 he was prominently identified with the Lexington and Danville railroad movement; in 1850, he was appointed State Auditor by Governor Helm; in the same year he was elected Professor of Languages and Belles Lettres in Centre College, but declined the position; he was elected a Trustee of Centre College in 1845, and of Danville Theological Seminary in 1853.  He actively participated in the organization of the Maysville and Lexington railroad, and has been a conspicuous and sagacious adviser of this community in every important enterprise in which it has been engaged.

With extraordinary talents for practical affairs, Mr. Barbour united tastes and accomplishments that made him a distinguished figure in the best society at home and abroad.  His manners were dignified and engaging and assisted in the impression which his rare conversational gifts left upon every circle in which he moved.  He represented the old and conservative school in business, politics and social life, containing, in an admirable manner, the most practical sagacity, the strictest integrity, the soundest patriotism, the highest public spirit, and the finest personal courtesy, with an elevation of moral tone and a thoroughness of mental culture that made him a model for the generation in which he lived and will render his memory an inspiration to the generations which are to come.

Deceased became a member of the Presbyterian Church at the age of thirteen, had been an elder of the First Presbyterian Church for years, had represented Ebenezer Presbytery in several General Assemblies, and a few years ago was a Commissioner from the General Assembly of the United States to the Pan Presbyterian Council that met in London.

Willis Graham Barbour, 1858-1870.  Ambrose Barbour, 1853-1865.  Lewis Green Barbour, 1856, aged 4 months.  Children of James and Elizabeth Graham Barbour.

Mr. Barbour leaves two children, Mr. J. F. Barbour, Cashier of the Bank of Maysville, and Rev. John Barbour, of Birmingham, Ala.  His beloved wife died eight weeks ago.  She was Elizabeth Graham Foster, daughter of Colonel James Foster, of Natchez, Miss.

The remains will arrive here tomorrow afternoon, and the funeral will occur Sunday afternoon at 4 o’clock at the First Presbyterian Church, with services by the pastor, Rev. Dr. Hays.

Deceased had been an Oddfellow over fifty years, was a member of Ringgold Lodge No. 27, and the funeral services will be under auspices of that lodge.

The remains will be taken to Danville Monday morning and laid to rest by the side of her who was his loved and faithful companion through life and from whom he was not long separated in death.