CHILDREN, GRANDCHILDREN, AND GREAT-GRANDCHILDREN OF ROBERT WESLEY BARRETT (1860-1924) AND SARAH JANE WINBURN BARRETT (1838-1883), PART II

Scans Source = Kenneth Randolph Taylor

Robert Wesley Barrett (1860-1924) was the first child of William Wesley Barrett (1835-1911) and Sarah Jane Winburn Barrett (1838-1883) and the father of George Washington Barrett (1873-1956), my great-grandfather.  Nell Barrett Taylor (1915-2001) was my grandmother.

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Above:  George Washington Barrett (1873-1956) and Nellie Seguin Fox Barrett (1876-1958) with their Daughter, Nell Barrett Taylor (1915-2001), My Grandmother, Probably in the 1950s

Image Courtesy of Randolph Fleming Taylor

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EDITOR’S COMMENTS:

1. I have interjected personal names, place names, and dates into my great-grandmother’s undated text occasionally to make clear the chronology and geography.
2. The original title of this text was “Beautiful Things My Husband’s People Have Done for Me.”
3. I have written my own reflections, which arrive at a different conclusion:  http://blogatheologica.wordpress.com/2014/02/08/living-in-an-aquarium/.  Such a life is not for everybody.
4. The Methodists used to move their pastors and pastor’s families in late November or early December, depending on the year.
5. I have used North Georgia Conference Journals, George Washington Barrett’s Descendants of John Barrett and William Winburn (Decatur, GA:  Banner Press, 1949), family oral tradition, and my storehouse of church historical knowledge as sources of details.

KENNETH RANDOLPH TAYLOR

FEBRUARY 13, 2014 COMMON ERA

THE FEAST OF SAINTS AQUILA, PRISCILLA, AND APOLLOS, COWORKERS OF THE APOSTLE PAUL

THE FEAST OF ABSALOM JONES, EPISCOPAL PRIEST

THE FEAST OF ANDREAS KATSULAS, ACTOR

THE FEAST OF SAINT LICINIUS, ROMAN CATHOLIC BISHOP OF ANJOU

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Poor child!  She does not know what she is getting into.

Thus spoke the widow of a preacher when my sister told her of my approaching marriage [on January 17, 1900, when my great-grandfather, George Washington Barrett, was pastor of the Alpharetta circuit] to a young itinerant Methodist preacher.   I informed sister that I preferred a hard time with him to luxuries without him.  However, I spent many moments wondering what she meant.  I am still wondering, though I have found that her opinion is very largely accepted.  After reading a recent magazine article, I decided that it is time one should give the other side of the picture; and so I desire to tell of some of the many lovely things my husband’s people have done for us.

First of all, to my way of thinking, is the friendly welcome that has invariably been accorded to us.  Not once have I been made to feel as if I were on probation–that they were waiting to decide whether to accept me as one of the community.  Always we have been met at the train and taken to the parsonage where a welcome committee was assembled and a delightful meal served in such bountiful quantity that culinary labors were reduced to the minimum while we were getting settled.  The parsonage has been prepared for us as well as the brief time between the departure of the our predecessor and our arrival allowed.  And when obtainable, flowers added to the festive array of the home.

A short time after we reached our second charge [Blue Ridge Methodist Episcopal Church, South, Blue Ridge, Georgia, 1902-1904], my husband was requested to meet some friends at the Y.M.C.A. one evening.  A lady friend came up to keep me company while he was there.  Soon he returned with a check for a splendid suit of clothes, the compliment of the railroad men of the town.  They chose to bestow it rather than to see if the new pastor pleased them or no.  It was a timely gift, though they did not know it, for they thought the pastor was a bridegroom.  He had been, almost three years before, and was still wearing his wedding suit for best.

When our first baby [Randolph Winburn Barrett, 1905-?, born when his parents were at Palmetto, Georgia] came, we had many lovely attentions bestowed.  He happened to be the first baby that had ever lived in that parsonage.  When it was time to put him in short clothes, before I could get more than started at making them, behold, the ladies of the charge sent in the most complete outfit one could wish.  That was paralleled when the sixth baby [Margaret Elizabeth Barrett, later Bartlett, 1918-2007, born when her parents were at Gray, Georgia] was on the way.   I was much too sick to sew, though I tried to do so while lying in bed.  The ladies sent me word that they were making the layette for me and I was not to sew at all.  And it was such a beautiful little wardrobe–sheer, fine materials, hand-embroidered, [with] fine lacy tatting on edges and set in as medallions, and an abundance of garments, even a little pillow with hand-embroidered slips, and a number of extra garments for me.  And all this when I had not been worth a thing to the church, for I had been too sick to do any church work, and we had illness in the family too.

This same charge [the Gray Circuit, Gray, Georgia, 1917-1919] being dissatisfied with the reception of their pastor, because they had only one hour from the departure of our predecessor and our arrival, sent me word at Christmas that I was not to prepare a Christmas dinner.  It was sent on Christmas Day, and what a feast it was!

At another place [Gainesville, Georgia, where my great-grandfather served at the St. Paul Methodist Episcopal Church, South, 1922-1925] my husband’s brother [Robert Wesley Barrett (August 18, 1860-January 13, 1924)] had died and was brought there for burial.  [The Barrett family was from Gainesville and Oakwood.]  The family connection being large, we had considerably above a score with us to lunch.  What did those blessed women do but send in lunch for the crowd, and some came and helped serve, and then they washed up and left everything ready for the next meal!

It was here [St. Paul Church, Gainesville, Georgia], too, that various improvements to the parsonage furnishings were added along during our years of service because, they said, they wanted us to have the opportunity to enjoy them while there.  And it was here, having learned someway the date of our twenty-fifth wedding anniversary, [that] some of the members of our church combined with friends in another church in town and presented us with a handsome chest of flatware.

So far as I know there has been no attempt to criticize my own or even my children’s dress, but I’ve often been complimented on the children’s appearance.  And whenever I have had either a new hat or dress, the ladies appeared to take as much pleasure in them as I did.

At another charge [Tignall-Broad River Circuit, Tignall, Georgia, 1919-1922] one of our stewards [Yes, the Methodists used to have church officers called stewards.], a widower, lived across the street from the parsonage.  Beginning with a ten-pound turkey for our Christmas gift, he filled the three years of our stay with loving, brotherly attentions so delicately offered that one could not feel offended.

We were quarantined just at the Christmas holidays because of diptheria in our home and people feared the children might not have their stockings filled; so they proceeded to provide against such an emergency.  And how they did provide!

Another time [at Tignall] the children and I had whooping cough.  Our oldest daughter [Sarah Claiborne Barrett (1908-1954)] was very ill and the youngest [Margaret (1918-2007] of our brood of six was under two years of age.  To secure help was almost impossible, it being peach-packing time.  I was under a great strain, for my husband was away holding meetings on the charge.  Those good friends sent out of the community and brought in a nurse, telling her to stay as long as I needed her.  They paid her salary weekly and I knew it not until she was leaving and I endeavored to pay her for her services.  It was here that, when we were unexpectedly moved [in 1922], the Woman’s Missionary Society sent a committee to ask me please not to clean up the house.  I protested because such was not my custom, always leaving the house ready for our successor.  But Mrs. S. put her arm about me tenderly and said,

Please, you can do it for us because we want to do it for you.

I did it and to this day can never think of it without grateful tears.

I do not believe these were exceptional charges.  I could name some lovely things from every place we have lived and I truly believe all the churches want to really love their pastor’s family; but this is enough to show

the sunny side

of parsonage life.

It has been a happy life to me, though, of course, there are some things I should prefer otherwise–but is there any lot in life without some drawbacks?  But this is my most sincere and loving tribute to the churches my husband has served.  They have treated me as they would wish to be treated if they were in my place.  Could anyone ask more?

NELLIE SEGUIN FOX BARRETT

NO EARLIER THAN 1924

Margaret (1918-2007) was the last of the children of Nellie Seguin Fox Barrett (1876-1958) and George Washington Barrett (1873-1956) to die.  Her husband, Mack Bartlett (January 24, 1916-July 4, 2006), preceded her in death.

KENNETH RANDOLPH TAYLOR

AUGUST 30, 2013 COMMON ERA

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From the Courier-Journal, Louisville, Kentucky, November 1. 2007

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BARTLETT, MARGARET BARRETT, 89, passed away at the Episcopal Church Home. She was a native of Lithonia, GA. She was a retired secretary with Atlantic Steel Co., and a member of Crescent Hill Baptist Church. She was preceded in death by her husband, Mack G. Bartlett; and her siblings. She is survived by her two sons, Dr. Glenn H. Bartlett (Jean), and Allen S. Bartlett (Eileen); three grandchildren, Joe Bartlett (Amber), John Bartlett, and Amy B. Bashiti (Samer); her great-granddaughter, Emma Bartlett; and numerous nieces and nephews. A Celebration of Margaret’s life will be held at 3 p.m. Saturday in the Chapel of Crescent Hill Baptist Church, 2800 Frankfort Avenue. Visitation will be after 2 p.m. Saturday at the church. Arrangements entrusted to Arch L. Heady-Cralle Funeral Home. Expressions are requested to the Memorial Fund of her church.

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This is post #550 of this weblog.–KRT

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Uncle Randy sent this photograph of a painting by Margaret Elizabeth Barrett Bartlett (1918-2007), one his aunts and one of my great-aunts.  Our family is replete with artistic talent–literary and visual.  Margaret seems to have taken after her mother, Nellie Seguin Fox Barrett (1876-1958) artistically, as this post attests.

KENNETH RANDOLPH TAYLOR

AUGUST 29, 2013 COMMON ERA

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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A Photograph from Late 1946

Photograph Courtesy of Randolph Fleming Taylor

From left to right:

Lucy Seguin Barrett, my grandaunt;

Randolph Fleming Taylor, my uncle;

John Dodson Taylor, III, my father;

Sarah Claiborne Barrett (1908-1954), my grandaunt;

Margaret Elizabeth Barrett Bartlett, my grandaunt

A Photograph from 1953, taken in Atlanta

From left to right:

George Washington Barrett (1873-1956), my great-grandfather;

Randolph Fleming Taylor, my uncle;

Richard “Dick” Fox Barrett (died 2009), a cousin, also a grandson of George Washington Barrett;

John Dodson Taylor, III, my father.

Nellie Seguin Fox Barrett (1876-1958) looks on.

Margaret Elizabeth Barrett Bartlett (1918-2007), my grandaunt, is also in the background.

KENNETH RANDOLPH TAYLOR

AUGUST 9, 2013 COMMON ERA

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Photograph Courtesy of Randolph Fleming Taylor

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On the left side:  Lucy Seguin Barrett (later Vanlandingham)

On the right side, from left to right:

Nell Barrett Taylor (1915-2001), my grandmother;

Lucy Seguin Barrett, my grandaunt;

Margaret Elizabeth Barrett Bartlett, my grandaunt

The photograph is undated, but sometime during the 1980s seems plausible to me.

KENNETH RANDOLPH TAYLOR

AUGUST 9, 2013 COMMON ERA