Christopher Barrett, son of William Barrett and Margaret Petyshall Wingfielde, was born 13 Apr 1562 in Westhall, Suffolk, England and died Aug 1649 in Norwich, Norfolk, England. He married Elizabeth Clarke, daughter of Allen Clarke and Margaret , 16 Sep 1588 in England. She was born abt. 1564 in Blythborough, Suffolk, England and died abt. 1609 in Norwich, Norfolk, England.

Their children:

Christopher Barrett was born abt. 1589 in Westhall, Suffolk, England. Died unmarried.

William Barrett was born abt. 1591 in Westhall, Suffolk, England. He married Martha Morris.

Thomas Barrett

Anne Barrett was born 29 Jul 1593 in Westhall, Suffolk, England

Margaret Barrett was born 29 Sep 1595 in Westhall, Suffolk, England and died 25 Mar 1661 in Windsor, CT. She married: (1) Simon Huntington, , 11 May 1623 in Norwich, Norfolk, England. He died 1633 at sea; and (2) Thomas Stoughton

Peter Barrett was born abt. 1597 in Westhall, Suffolk, England.

Elizabetha Barrett was born 26 Feb 1597 in Westhall, Suffolk, England.

Robert Barrett was born 16 May 1602 in Westhall, Suffolk, England.

After his mother's third marriage, Christopher Barrett was taken by her to Norwich and, in 1574, was bound an apprentice for 12 years by his stepfather, Mr. Suckling. At the expiration of his term he located to Norwich as a grocer. He became the sheriff in 1615, the mayor of the city in 1634 and its deputy mayor in 1647.

Margaret Barrett Huntington was daughter of Christopher Barrett. She was admitted to Roxbury church as member #83: "Margret Huntington widdow; she came in the year 1633. Her husband died by the way of small pox; she brought children with her" [RChR79]. She married (2) shortly after December 1634 Thomas Stoughton of Dorchester (and later Windsor) [NEHGR 14:104].

In 1649 her brother Peter Barrett wrote to her son Christopher regarding a legacy due to "yourself [Christopher], Symon, Thomas and Ann" from their grandfather. In 1671 another of her brothers, Thomas Barrett, spoke of his sister "Margaret who married to one Symond Huntington who carried her to New England & had several children by her; but we can give no account of her or them, yet think that she & several of her children are living there" [Hale, House 648, citing Joseph James Muskett, Suffolk Manorial Families, 3 vols. (Exeter 1900-1914), 2:153-60]. (This information and much more, including the known Barrett pedigree and a dismissal of the proposed Huntington English pedigree, were published by Jacobus in 1952, the best account available of the immigrant family, lacking only the Norwich parish register entries [Hale, House 647-51].)

In December 1634 James Cudworth wrote to his stepfather Dr. John Stoughton to report that "my uncles [Thomas and Israel Stoughton] ... are both in good health, and my uncle Thomas is to be married shortly, to a widow that has good means and has five children"

Was there a fifth child who made the voyage in 1633, or was Cudworth somehow counting the deceased Henry, or was he simply wrong about the number of children the widow would bring with her at marriage? The latter seems the most likely solution, since, barring multiple births, there hardly seems room for another child born between 1623 and 1633, unless perhaps Margaret was pregnant in 1633 and bore a child after arrival in New England. The chronology is already squeezed, since Christopher must be the eldest child, and placing two children in the five year gap between Christopher and Simon does not allow the usual two year span between surviving children. Whatever the solution, we know from the 1649 letter of Margaret's brother that only four children were alive in that year.

Christopher Barrett & Elizabeth Clark

SOURCE:  The Mayors of Norwich, 1403-1835, by Basil Cozens-Hardy and Ernest Kent

Records the following information about Christopher Baret, page 79:

"Christopher Baret was sheriff in 1615 and mayor in 1634, and was chosen deputy mayor in 1647, when John Utting was imprisoned for his Royalist sympathies. He (Christopher) was born in 1562 and was the son of William Baret of Westhall, Suffolk, by his second wife, Margaret Pettishaw. By trade he was a grocer, having been apprenticed by his stepfather in London. He acquired Suckling House from John Suckling in 1595, and he lived there for several years. Norris records that on the porch of this house were initials C B and the date 1634. He married at St Peter Mancroft (Norwich), Elizabeth, daughter of Allen Clark of Hemmingstone, Lincolnshire. He died "very ancient" in 1649 and his wife in 1660-1, and they were both buried in St Andrews (Norwich)".