Samuel June Barrows was born on May 26, 1845, in New York, New York.

He was an American Republican politician. He graduated from the Harvard Divinity School in 1871 and while there, he was the Boston correspondent of the New York Tribune. In 1873, he went on the Yellowstone Expedition. In 1874, he went on the Black Hills Expedition and took part in the Battles of Tongue River and the Little Big Horn. Returning to Massachusetts, he was pastor of the first Dorchester Boston Parish (1876-1881), editor of the Christian Register and American representative to the International Prison Congress in 1895. In 1897, he was elected as a Republican to the 55th United States Congress, serving until 1899. He was an advocate for women's suffrage, African American rights, assimilation of Native Americans and prison reform. On the international stage, Barrows was an activist for ending hunger. An unsuccessful candidate for re-election to the 56th US Congress, he became secretary of the New York Prison Association, until his death from pneumonia at age 69 in New York City. He had lots of interests and talents included musical composition and singing oratorios, studying the Greeks, metal crafting, writing poetry, camping, travel, and foreign languages. June was a nickname for his sunny disposition.

In 1870, he married Isabel Hayes Chapin (1845–1913). He died on April 21, 1909, in New York, New York. His remains were cremated, and the ashes placed in a private burying ground near Georgeville, Quebec.