John Alston Barringer was born on August 30, 1851, in Pittsboro, North Carolina. Barringer was a lifelong attorney who operated his own practice in Greensboro, North Carolina. He additionally had a modest political career, serving as a representative of Guilford in the North Carolina General Assembly (elected 1885) and as mayor of Greensboro (elected 1886 and 1893). Barringer died on March 26, 1931 in Greensboro.