Career
He represented Dufferin in the Legislative Assembly of Ontario from 1875 to 1879, from 1890 to 1894 and from 1898 to 1904 and in the Canadian House of Commons from 1904 to 1909 as a Conservative member. He was born near Elizabethtown (later Brockville) in Canada West in 1843, the son of Irish immigrants. He graduated as an Doctor of Medicine from Victoria University in 1866.
Barr served as an associated coroner for Grey County.
He was Deputy Master in the South Grey County Orange Lodge. Barr first set up practice in Horning"s Mills but later moved to Shelburne.
After being reelected in 1879, he was unseated after an appeal. He was later reelected several times to the provincial and federal assemblies.
He died in office in 1909.
