John Barrow was a Quaker who emigrated to North Carolina by 1662. A resident of Perquimans Precinct, he served as a member of the North Carolina Council from 1689 to 1691 and later as a justice of the Perquimans Court from 1689 to 1690 and from 1697 to 1703. He died in Perquimans on June 10, 1718.