Above:  The Right Reverend Robert C. Wright, Bishop of Atlanta, at St. Clare’s Episcopal Church, Blairsville, Georgia, February 16, 2014

Image Source = Bill Monk, Episcopal Diocese of Atlanta

(https://plus.google.com/photos/114749828757741527421/albums/5981114847103008353/5981115035406618082?banner=pwa&pid=5981115035406618082&oid=114749828757741527421)

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Abide with me, O Master,

Throughout each weary day;

Shine through my eyes,

Let not my lips

Thy constant love betray

By uttered word of dark distrust;

But e’en through all my pain

Witness to Thy sustaining grace

Till I am healed again.

Then, as a prisoned bird set free,

Trills forth in joyous song,

This happy heart,

So may my life

In love Thy praise prolong.

NELLIE SEGUIN FOX BARRETT

MARCH 9, 1927 COMMON ERA

WINDER, GEORGIA

Above:  The Cover of the History and Directory of First Methodist Church, Winder, Georgia, 1948

Source for all images = Randolph Fleming Taylor

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George Washington Barrett (1873-1956), my great-grandfather, served as pastor of the Methodist Episcopal Church, South (1845-1939) congregation at Winder, Georgia, from late 1925 to 1927.  (The Methodists used to move their clergy close to Thanksgiving.)  In 1948 he had been retired for three years.  Here are my great-grandfather’s written recollections of his time in that town.

I wonder if these were the sermon notes he used that first Sunday in Winder.

KENNETH RANDOLPH TAYLOR

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Above:  George Washington Barrett

An image taped inside a family history book

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From the Journal of the North Georgia Conference of The Methodist Church, 1956, pages 110 and 111

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GEORGE W. BARRETT

The Reverend George W. Barrett was born September 3, 1873, and left us for his heavenly home June 12, 1956.  He was the son of William Wesley and Sarah Jane Winburn Barrett.  He was graduated from Young Harris College in 1899.

On January 17, 1900, he was happily married to Miss Nellie S. Fox.  He is survived by his wife and following children:  George Dickey, Lucy S., Nellie F. (Mrs. John D. Taylor), and Margaret E.  Another daughter, Sarah C., passed away June 12, 1954.  His home was one of culture and refinement whose spiritual atmosphere reflected the presence of the Master who was the real head of the house.

Brother Barrett joined the North Georgia Conference in 1899.  He was ordained deacon in 1899 by Bishop Hendrix and elder in 1903 by Bishop Key.  His appointments were as follows:  Alpharetta; Blue Ridge; Palmetto; Douglasville; Cornelia; Tate; Acworth; Union Point; Asbury, Augusta; Lithonia; Gray; Tignall; St. Paul, Gainesville; Winder; St. Luke, Augusta; Commerce; Rockmart; Second Avenue, Rome; Underwood, Atlanta, from which he retired in 1945.

He was at the table of the Secretary of the Conference for twenty-eight years–for twenty-one years the Secretary of the Conference, and editor of the Conference Journal.  He was a natural born Secretary.  In correspondence with the Publishing House as Editor of the Journal he was often addressed as “the model Secretary.”  In District Conferences or other church meetings, where a secretary was needed, they usually thought of Brother Barrett, if he were present, and elected him.

George W. Barrett was not only a gentleman but a gentle man.  Smoking flax he would not quench and the bruised reed would not be further damaged in his hands.  The ugly habit of self-assertion and self-seeking was not in his make-up.  He walked in deep humility with his Lord, content to feel that always the Master was at hand.

Brother Barrett was a sound Gospel preacher.  His sermons were not cluttered up with trivialities but dealt with the profound truths of the Holy Word.  He followed in the traditions of the fathers and was little moved by modern trends.  His people loved and trusted him.  They believed that in the midst of pretense and sham here, indeed, was a real man of God.  His life was an orderly one.  He was meticulous in his attention to details.  There was method in all that he did.  He was punctual in his appointments and prompt in his obligations.  He had strong convictions and was never ashamed or afraid to declare them.

For more than eighty-two years Brother George W. Barrett had lived among us, walking in the straight and narrow way, his face always toward the morning.  At last the weary feet could carry him no farther.  The gentle knight laid down his shining sword.  The mantle of his noble calling fell from his shoulders unsoiled.  His nerveless hands could no longer hold the working tools of his loved employ.  So he left us–the earth better for his coming, heaven richer for his going–to be at home with God.

WALLACE ROGERS

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EDITOR’S COMMENT:

It is, I admit, an overwritten obituary in places, but that is excusable.  If one cannot become flowery in an obituary, where can one do so?

I do recognize one glaring omission:  There is no mention of his firstborn son, Randolph Winburn Barrett (1905-?), who disappeared in the 1930s.  I propose no single reason for this, and I hope that nobody thinks I am.  In fact, I suspect that there are at least two reasons for this and almost everything else in the realm of the human race.  I do know that, for a set of reasons, Randolph became a topic to avoid in the household, so I am not surprised that he is absent here.  Maybe the primary reason was grief.  I have no evidence to suggest otherwise, so I extend the benefit of the doubt.

KENNETH RANDOLPH TAYLOR

AUGUST 20, 2013 COMMON ERA

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Above:  George Washington Barrett

An image taped inside a family history book

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I have derived most information from Journals of the North Georgia Conference of the Methodist Episcopal Church, South, (through 1938) and of The Methodist Church (1939 to 1945 and 1956).  I have also drawn information from George Washington Barrett’s small book, Descendants of John Barrett and William Winburn (Decatur, Georgia:  Banner Press, Emory University, 1949).  And I have added my own knowledge from other sources.

KENNETH RANDOLPH TAYLOR

AUGUST 20, 2013 COMMON ERA

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Some Preliminaries:

Most pastoral moves occurred in November.  The North Georgia Conference made the transition to Summer moves after George Washington Barrett retired.

The Methodist Episcopal Church, South (1845-1939) reunited with its parent, the Methodist Episcopal Church (1784-1939), and a sibling, the Methodist Protestant Church (1828-1939) to form The Methodist Church (1939-1968).

The Methodist Church (1939-1968) joined with its relative, the Evangelical United Brethren Church (1946-1968), to create The United Methodist Church.

I recommend Google Street View as a wonderful way to get good images of some of these church buildings.

The Conference my great-grandfather as a troubleshooter frequently, hence many short pastorates.   Often he had only a few days’ notice before a move.

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1894

Licensed to preach on November 15

1895-1899

Student, Young Harris College, December 1, 1895-May 22, 1899

1899

Admitted to the North Georgia Conference, the Methodist Episcopal Church, South

Ordained Deacon by Bishop Eugene R. Hendrix, D.D., L.L.D.

1899-1902

Pastor, the Alpharetta Circuit (five churches)

Supply Pastor, starting July-November 1899, filling in for the pastor, who was ill

1900

Married Nellie Seguin Fox on January 17

1902-1904

Pastor, Blue Ridge Church

1903

Ordained Elder by Bishop Joseph Staunton Key

1904-1906

Pastor, Palmetto Circuit (five churches)

1905

Firstborn son, Randolph Winburn Barrett, born

1906-1908

Pastor, Douglasville Circuit (two churches)

1908

Second child, Sarah Claiborne Barrett, born

1908-1910

Pastor, Cornelia-Demorest Circuit (two churches)

A few years ago, when I taught some courses at the Demorest campus of Piedmont College, I noticed a certain building across the street.  The Demorest Womens’ Club house looked like an old church.   That is because it used to be one.  It was the home of the Demorest congregation of the Methodist Episcopal Church, South (MECS).  Demorest also had a congregation of the Methodist Episcopal Church (MEC).  The two Demorest congregations merged in 1939, when their denominations did, moving into the stately MEC building.  That building, unfortunately, has gone the way of all flesh.  In the late 1940s, however, the Methodist and Congregationalist churches of Demorest merged, forming the Demorest Methodist Congregationalist Federated Church (currently a United Church of Christ and United Methodist Church affiliate), in the home of the former Congregational Church, just up the hill and behind the old MECS church.  The bell in the yard of the Federated Church is from the former MEC structure.

So, when I look at the clubhouse of the Demorest Womens’ Club, I see a building in which my great-grandfather preached.

1910

Third child, George Dickey Barrett, born

1910-1911

Pastor, Tate-Nelson Circuit, Marietta District (two churches)

1910-1912

An Assistant Statistician of the North Georgia Conference

1911-1913

Pastor, Acworth Circuit (four churches)

1912

Fourth child, Lucy Seguin Barrett, born

1912-1917

Statistician of the North Georgia Conference

1913-1914

Pastor, Union Point Circuit (four churches)

1914-1916

Pastor, Asbury Circuit, Augusta (two churches)

1915

Fifth child, Nell Fox Barrett, my grandmother, born on February 2

1916-1917

Pastor, Lithonia Circuit (three churches)

1917-1919

Pastor, Gray Circuit (three churches)

1918

Sixth child, Margaret Elizabeth Barrett, born

1918-1924

An Assistant Secretary of the North Georgia Conference

1919-1922

Pastor, Tignall/Broad River Circuit (two churches)

1922-1925

Pastor, St. Paul Church, Gainesville, Georgia

1924-1944

Secretary of the North Georgia Conference

1925-1927

Pastor, First Church, Winder

1927-1944

Editor of the Conference Journal

1927-1929

Pastor, St. Luke Church, Augusta

1929-1931

Pastor, Commerce Circuit (two churches)

1931-1935

Pastor, First Church, Rockmart

George Dickey Barrett (George’s son) made new carved oak furniture–an altar rail, a lectern, pulpit chairs, the communion table, and choir panels for the church in 1932.  He donated his time and labor, but the church had to hold fundraisers to finance the purchase of materials.  The church used this furniture until 1954.  Sources = http://news.google.com/newspapers?nid=360&dat=19831109&id=NogxAAAAIBAJ&sjid=Oz4DAAAAIBAJ&pg=2676,2069657 and family accounts

1935-1937

Pastor, Second Avenue Church, Rome

1937-1945

Pastor, Underwood Memorial Church, Atlanta

1943-1956

Resided at 866 Euclid Road, NE., Atlanta, in a house his wife, Nellie Sequin Fox Barrett, inherited

1945

Retired

1956

Died on June 12

Above:  The Parsonage of Winder Methodist Episcopal Church, South, Winder, Georgia

Scan of a photograph reproduced in C. Fred Ingram, ed., Beadland to Barrow:  A History of Barrow County, Georgia, from the Earliest Times to the Present (Atlanta, GA:  Cherokee Publishing Company, 1983), page 265

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George Washington Barrett (1873-1956), my great-grandfather, served as the pastor of Winder Methodist Episcopal Church, South, from November 1925 to November 1927.  Thus he, his wife, Nellie Sequin Fox Barrett (1876-1958). and four or five of their six children lived in this parsonage for two years.  Randolph Winburn Barrett (1905-?) had left the nest in 1922, at Tignall (https://taylorfamilypoems.wordpress.com/2013/08/11/a-mothers-prayer/).  Sarah Claiborne Barrett (1908-1954) might have left the next before November 1925, but I know that the four youngest children were part of the household at the time of the 1930 Census.   So they would have been part of the household in 1925-1927.  They were:

• George Dickey Barrett (1910-1989);
• Lucy Seguin Barrett (1912-2001);
• Nell Fox Barrett, my grandmother (1915-2001); and
• Margaret Elizabeth Barrett (1918-2007).

Scan of a photograph reproduced in C. Fred Ingram, ed., Beadland to Barrow:  A History of Barrow County, Georgia, from the Earliest Times to the Present (Atlanta, GA:  Cherokee Publishing Company, 1983), page 279

The brick structure of the church, erected in 1904, looked like this until the early 1920s, when renovation occurred.  The building had its new front doors, front porch, and front steps when my great-grandfather and his family arrived.  The parsonage was on the right, behind the church building.

Above:  The former home of First United Methodist Church, Winder, Georgia, Circa 2010

Image from the former website of the Sanctuary of the Holy Spirit, Winder, Georgia

The First Methodist Church relocated to a new plot of land in 1964.  When I found the old building in 2010, the Sanctuary of the Holy Spirit, an independent congregation, had occupied the building and undertaken the work of restoring it.  Alas, a fire resulting from a lightning strike destroyed the structure last Summer.

When I compare the older and more recent church photographs and recall what I saw when walking the ground, I notice that the old house on the left in the older photograph was still there in 2012 and and that the old parsonage was not.

KENNETH RANDOLPH TAYLOR

AUGUST 20, 2013 COMMON ERA

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A Related Post:

https://taylorfamilypoems.wordpress.com/2012/07/28/former-home-of-first-methodist-church-winder-georgia/

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Above:  George Washington Barrett

An image taped inside a volume of family history

One of my great-grandfathers was George Washington Barrett (September 3, 1873-June 12, 1956).  His paternal great-grandfather was John Barrett (born circa 1776), probably the son of Reuben Barrett, a soldier on the colonial side of the U.S. Revolutionary War.  With John Barrett the family settled in Hall County, Georgia, the seat of which is Gainesville.  John Barrett had a son, Elisha Chastain Barrett (June 13-1806-May 13, 1886).  Elisha, born in Pendleton, South Carolina, was a farmer.  George Washington Barrett, a Methodist of the old school (no alcohol or playing cards) and a staunch Victorian (down to saying “limbs” instead of “legs”), described him as follows:

He was a loyal friend, sunny by serious-minded, an obliging neighbor.  He was strictly temperate, drank no alcoholic beverage, used no tobacco, was as far as any man from profaning God’s name.  In the years when one must take long trips to market, he took great care to see that his team rested on the Sabbath day.  He would no more have engaged in a game of cards than he would have undertaken a trip to the moon….

As a Christian and church official he was very devout and faithful.  He read his Bible much.  He received much pleasure and profit from reading two books of sermons, one by Bishop Thomas A. Morris of the Methodist Church and one by Rev. Ira L. Potter of the Georgia Conference.  In his latter years, if unable to attend church services on Sunday, he would read from these books and his Bible, often reading aloud, till his cup of rejoicing would overflow.

–George W. Barrett, Descendants of John Barrett and William Winburn (Emory University, Banner Press, 1949), page 6

Elisha was a member of what is now First United Methodist Church, Gainesville, Georgia.

He married twice.  His first wife was Nancy Mabry (February 2, 1810-January or February 1849), whom he wedded on January 15, 1828.  She died a few weeks after giving birth to a daughter, Nancy Elizabeth, her tenth child.  Wife number two was Lee Ann Pendely (June 1, 1823-July 10, 1910), married to Elijah from September 28, 1876.

William Wesley Barrett (January 20-1835-December 30, 1911), father of George Washington Barrett, was the fourth child of Elisha and Nancy.  He was a lifelong Methodist.  William Wesley was also a Confederate veteran, having served in Company K, 43rd Georgia Regiment from March 1862 until the end of that treasonous war.  (I added the “treasonous” aspect of that sentence.)  Of William Wesley Barrett my great-grandfather wrote:

The family altar was a fixture in his home.  He sought to train his children wisely and to shield them from the sins of the day.  If any one profaned God’s name in the presence of his children he was sure to let them know he disapproved of it.  His pastor was a welcomed visitor in his home.  He was neighborly and hospitable to all.  His faith in God was never shaken.  During his latter years he read his Bible and prayed much.  He was ready to go or to suffer as the Lord willed.

He was a steward in the church and served some years as the Superintendent of the Sunday School at Oakwood, Ga.  The Methodist Church there grew out of the school.  He was highly esteemed by all who knew him.

He married Miss Sarah Jane Winburn of Jefferson, Georgia, September 1, 1859.  She was born February 19, 1838, and died January 26, 1883.  She was the daughter of William and Elizabeth Winburn.  She was quite a beautiful young woman and a devoted Christian.  One of father’s sisters told me:  “I always will believe your Mother was the the best woman I ever knew.”

–page 10

George Washington Barrett was one of six children of that marriage.

This is how my great-grandfather described himself:

George Washington Barrett, born Sept. 3, 1873.  Joined the church when seven years of age.  Was licensed to preach Nov. 15, 1894.  Entered Young Harris College December 1, 1895, graduating with an A.B. degree, May 22, 1899.  He averaged almost a sermon a month at the college.

In July, 1899, he was appointed supply pastor of the Alpharetta circuit, whose pastor was sick.  In November, 1899, he was admitted on trial by the North Georgia Conference and was ordained deacon also.  He was returned to the Alpharetta charge.  He served as pastor without a break till reaching retirement age.  November, 1945, having preached 6,082 sermons.  He served as Secretary of 25 District Conferences, being pastor-host of three of them; for thirty-five years served somewhere on the Conference staff of secretaries, twenty-one of which he was Conference Secretary and for eighteen years was editor of the Conference Minutes.

On January 17, 1900, he married Miss Nellie Seguin Fox of Atlanta, Ga.  She was the daughter of Dr. James O. and Sarah Thomas Fox.  She was born at Hot Springs, Ark., Sept. 18, 1876.  She graduated in art at Marion, Ala., and taught art two years at Young Harris College.

–pages 12-13

They had six children, including Nell Fox Barrett, who married John Dodson Taylor, Jr., on June 12, 1937.

I moved to Athens-Clarke County, Georgia, in August 2005.  This change in geographical location brought me close to family history, for Gainesville and Oakwood are only about an hour away from my home.  And Winder, where George Washington Barrett served in 1925-1927, is about twenty minutes (depending on traffic) away from my front door.  My explorations of the Barrett side of my family history have turned up interesting details, some of them from the 1978 history of Barrow County, Georgia.  Beadland to Barrow:  A History of Barrow County, Georgia, from the Earliest Times to the Present (Atlanta:  Cherokee Publishing Company, 1978; reprinted, 1983), contains a history of First United Methodist Church (pages 276-280), part of the Methodist Episcopal Church, South, when my great-grandfather served as pastor there, and features a photograph of the parsonage where the Barretts, including my grandmother, Nell Fox Barrett Taylor, lived for a year, on page 265.  Unfortunately, the Winder church building in which my great-grandfather preached burned down (probably due to a lightning strike) a few days ago.  (http://onlineathens.com/local-news/2012-07-27/fire-destroys-century-old-church-building-winder)

I wrote that my great-grandfather was an old-style Methodist.  Another piece of supporting evidence for this is the fact that, in 1928, he broke party ranks and voted for Herbert Hoover for President.  The reason was simple:  the Democratic Party had become the first major political party to nominate a Roman Catholic for President of the United States.  Most Americans do not think about Roman Catholicism as a disqualifying factor for the Presidency anymore, for attitudes have changed.  I can think of a number of practicing Roman Catholics have sought the Presidential nomination of either the Democratic or the Republican Party since John F. Kennedy won the highest office in 1960.  But his campaign had to contend with anti-Roman Catholic bias.  In my library I have a pamphlet–a reprinted article, really–by George L. Ford, Executive Director of the National Association of Evangelicals, in 1960.  The title of

A Roman Catholic President:  How Free from Church Control?

speaks for itself.  Each of us is, to a great extent, a product of our formative environment.  I am who I am for a variety of reasons, including my childhood and home life then.  I apply the same principle when trying to understand my great-grandfather, a product of a very different social climate.

KENNETH RANDOLPH TAYLOR

JULY 28, 2012 COMMON ERA

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Some Germane Posts:

https://taylorfamilypoems.wordpress.com/regarding-sermon-outlines-by-george-washington-barrett/

https://taylorfamilypoems.wordpress.com/2012/07/28/former-home-of-first-methodist-church-winder-georgia/

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My great-grandfather, George Washington Barrett, was a pastor of the Methodist Episcopal Church, South (to 1939) and The Methodist Church (from 1939).  He spent part of his career as pastor in Winder, Georgia, a short drive from my home in Athens.  To be precise, he served as pastor of the Winder Methodist Episcopal Church, South, from November 1925 to November 1927.

The present-day First United Methodist Church of Winder moved to another set of buildings at a different address and larger plot n 1964.   The new facilities seem attractive from the street, and probably are closer up too.  Yet, as one who likes old buildings, and old things in general, I find the 1904 brick structure more appealing and charming.

An independent congregation, the Sanctuary of the Holy Spirit, has moved into the old building and begun architectural restoration.  Based on their website, I am relatively too heretical and ritualistic to be welcome there, so I restrict my admiration to the physical structure.  That building reminds me of an old saying:

They don’t build them like this anymore.

On April 6, 2011, I visited the public library in Winder and consulted the local history published in 1978.  That book contains an old image of the 1904 structure.  Apparently the front porch and large steps were not original.  At first, according to the photographic records in two local history volumes I consulted, the original front facade of the building had a door, for windows to its right, then two doors on the corner to their right.  There was also an impressive spire on the right front corner.  As the recent photographs indicate, however, the original two front doors are gone, replaced by windows.  And two newer front doors have replaced two of the four front windows.

And the handicapped access ramp is recent, of course.  I know that not all people in olden times were able-bodied, so why was access not a high priority for architects?

All images are from the website of the Sanctuary of the Holy Spirit.

KRT

Updated April 7, 2011

Updated July 28, 2012

July 28, 2012, Update:  http://onlineathens.com/local-news/2012-07-27/fire-destroys-century-old-church-building-winder

Sanctuary of the Holy Spirit: http://shswinder.org/

First United Methodist Church of Winder: http://www.winderfumc.com/

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Adapted from this post:

http://neatnik2009.wordpress.com/2009/11/10/old-methodist-episcopal-church-south-now-the-sanctuary-of-the-holy-spirit-winder-georgia/

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A Germane Post:

https://taylorfamilypoems.wordpress.com/2012/07/28/family-tree-of-george-washington-barrett/

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