Nathaniel Barrett

{{Infobox person | name = Nathaniel Barrett | image = Nathaniel A Barrett.jpg | birth_date = January 16, 1861 | birth_place = Lawrence County, Alabama, United States | death_date = September 12, 1933 | death_place = Decatur, Alabama, United States | occupation = Physician and politician | known_for = }} '''Nathaniel A. Barrett''' (1861-1933) was an American physician and politician.

He was born on January 16, 1861, in Lawrence County, Alabama, to David B. Barrett and Charlotte Wilson Aldridge Barrett.<ref name=moore>{{cite book|author=Daniel Decatur Moore|title=Men of the South: A Work for the Newspaper Reference Library|url=https://archive.org/details/bub_gb_NfA1AQAAMAAJ|year=1922|publisher=Southern Biographical Association|pages=42, 151}} {{PD-notice}}</ref> His father was a carpenter and contractor.<ref name=moore/> Barrett attended public schools in Lawrence County and a private school run by C.G. Lynch.<ref name=moore/> He began to study medicine under Dr. C.A. Crow at Moulton, then spent one year in the medical department of the University of Alabama and later attended the medical department of Vanderbilt University, where he earned an M.D. in 1886.<ref name=moore/>

Upon getting his degree, Barrett began practicing in Danville, Alabama.<ref name=moore/> There, he served as president as the Morgan County Medical Society and also as chairman of the county democratic executive committee.<ref name=moore/> In 1891, he moved to East Lake, which was at that time not a part of Birmingham.<ref name=moore/> There, he built a large and lucrative practice.<ref name=moore/>

Barrett was active in the incorporation of East Lake as a municipality and served as its first and last mayor.<ref name=moore/> East Lake adopted the code form of municipal government in 1910 during Barrett's last term as mayor.<ref name=moore/> Barrett was elected president of the Birmingham Commission (a position equivalent to that of a mayor) in 1917 after a hotly contested race against George B. Ward, the incumbent.<ref name=moore/> As head of the city's finance department, he brought the city's expenditures within its income.<ref name=moore/> He also served as a member of the Jefferson County Democratic Committee.<ref name=moore/>

He was a member of the Knights Templar, the Shrine, Knights of Pythias, and the Junior Order of United American Mechanics.<ref name=moore/> He was a Baptist and was active in church affairs. He married Annie P. Troup of Danville on May 5, 1891.<ref name=moore/> Barrett died on September 12, 1933, in Decatur, Alabama.<ref>'Funeral Services For Dr. Barrett,' '''Decatur Daily (Alabama),''' September 12, 1933</ref>

==References== {{Reflist}}

{{s-start}} {{s-bef|before=George B. Ward}} {{s-ttl|title=President of the Birmingham City Commission |years=1913 — 1917}} {{s-aft|after=David E. McClendon}} {{end}} {{Authority control}}

{{DEFAULTSORT:Barrett, Nathaniel}} Category:1861 births Category:1933 deaths Category:20th-century mayors of places in Alabama Category:People from Lawrence County, Alabama Category:People from Morgan County, Alabama Category:Medical doctors from Alabama Category:Mayors of places in Alabama