Dr. Barrett is the son of John S. and Margaret (Patterson) Barrett, and was born in St. Genevieve county, January 8, 1826. The father was also a physician, was a Virginian, and emigrated to this State in 1811, and was a member of the first Missouri General Assembly. Beverly A. was the sixth child of a family of ten children, and had the advantages of a common school education in his native county, subsequently attending a seminary taught by Fox and Davis at Fredericktown He began the study of his profession in 1845, and after two years’ close application to medical lore, began the practice in Dallas county, Mo., where he remained till 1858, removing thence to Springfield, his present home. In 1864 he moved to St. Louis, and remained there till 1869, he moved back to Springfield which has been his constant place of adolescence then. Dr. Barrett has been in the active practice for thirty-five years, and has done as much labor as any physician in the Southwest. He is a member of the Masonic fraternity, and was at one time master of the lodge. He is also a member of the M. E. Church South and has been for about twenty-five years.
Politically, he is a Democrat, and always acts with that party. He is a member of the State Medical Association, and keeps well up in professional literature.
Dr. Barrett was married in 1847, to Miss Susan Randleman, in Buffalo, Dallas county, who bore him five children. His first wife died in St. Louis in 1865, and he was again married in 1871, to Miss Mary E. Priest, of Maury county, Tennessee, an estimable lady, devoted to the cause of the church and to acts of Christian charity. Dr. Barrett, although eminently successful as a practitioner, has never sought to accumulate wealth, but has, on the contrary, been moderate in his charges and done much charity work for which he never asked or received any compensation. During the civil war, he was a warm friend of the Southern cause, but never took any active part nor once neglected his professional duties; his principles of heart prompting him to give his services to both armies when needed and always to bear himself as becomes the gentleman and man of honor that he is.