Isaac Barrow, a justice of the peace in Spiney Abbey, Wales, England ( born
about 1585- death unknown) is the earliest known Barrow ancestor of the
Barrows of Residence Plantation. He had two sons: Thomas Barrow Sr., who immigrated
to Virginia about 1645, and Bishop Isaac Barrow.
The years 1600 – 1660 were turbulent times in England. Numerous civil wars
and conflicts were fought between the Parliamentarians (noblemen, protestants
and merchants) and the Royalist (supporters of King Charles I and the Anglican
Church); the Bishop Wars, the War between three countries ( England, Scotland
and Ireland) and the English Civil War were fought, culminating with the defeat of
King Charles I and his execution by beheading in 1649. Isaac and Thomas Barrow
Sr. were supporters of the Royalist. Bishop Isaac Barrow attended Cambridge
where he became a fellow in 1635 and was expelled by the Parliamentarians in 1643.
He then went to Oxford and became chaplain, and he was again expelled
in 1646 when the Parliamentarians conquered Oxford. Later in 1660, Charles II (son of Charles I) regained the throne, and Bishop Isaac Barrow was reinstated and
made Governor of the Isle of Man. It was after the defeat of the Royalist in 1645
that Thomas Barrow Sr. and his son Thomas Jr., who were Royalist, immigrated to
Virginia. One could easily lose their head, literally, by being on the losing side
in the English conflict. All the generations connected with Volumnia Farm to this
day descended from this genetic line of English Barrows and Thomas Barrow Jr.
of Virginia.
Thomas Barrow Sr.’s son Isaac Barrow (named after Bishop Isaac Barrow)
remained in England and became a famous theologian and mathematician,
given credit for his role in the development of infinitesimal calculus and the
fundamental theorem of calculus. He was the first to calculate the tangents of the
Kappa Curve. He held the prestigious Lucasian Professorship of mathematics at
Cambridge, a post later held by his student Isaac Newton.
