Newton & Emily Barrett and their 4 children

Newton, Emily and Family, originally uploaded by dvdbarrett.

Rev. Newton Barrett (1812-1904), his wife Emily Bugbee Barrett (1811-1889) and their four children Adah Barrett Church (1841-1903), John Eliot Barrett (1845-1912), Edward Newton Barrett (1843-1901) and Frank F. Barrett (1850-1898). [Frank was the Barrett Brothers' greatgrandfather.] This photograph was taken about 1875, probably in Dunton (now Arlington Heights) Illinois.

The following was written by Frank Barrett's son Newton Eliot Barrett (1890-1986):

A brief summary of [Grandfather Newton Barrett's] career seems appropriate. He was born in 1812, in a pioneer cabin near Lake Ontario, New York, the second of a large family. The oldest, Milton, was scalded to death on about this date. Threatened by the proximity of the War of 1812's engagements, his father, Simon Barrett, after closing his term as a schoolteacher there, returned to Woodstock, Conn. 1/3 or so from the airline from Boston to New York City. Grandpa spun cloth fabric in the first factory in the State. He attended Yale, receiving A.B. and A.M. degrees. He migrated to the Western Reserve, studying and teaching theology in a primitive seminary near Cleveland; then after a 10-years' engagement, sent for his fiancee, also a teacher, a year his senior, and married her. He was admitted to the Cleveland Presbytery in 1840, ordained and installed at Brecksville, 0hio in 1841; and it was there that all but Frank, the youngest, of his children, were born. Frank was born in Milan, Ohio in 1850.

Grandpa soon after this, found missionary preaching opportunities in the wilderness of Illinois. Cousin Rose remembers Uncle John's telling of how the boys were covered with snow which blew thru gaps in the roof as they slept in the loft. The family moved several times, mainly in northern Illinois; Uncle Ed and Father attended Knox College in Galesburg, Uncle Ed graduating in the 1860s. Grandpa's longest pastorate and residence was at Dunton (now Arlington Heights), near Chicago, where he and Grandma lived when this family picture was taken.

After a few years at PawPaw and other little churches, he was called to Elkhorn, Wis., where uncle John bought a house near the railroad. I have seen the house, and looked up the record of the deed. The long ministry closed there in 1883, though Grandpa lived there for some years.

The remainder of his long life was spent with one or another of his three sons or their families. He was with Frank during most or all of his 2 1/2 year pastorate in San Antonio. His picture appears in the background of a snapshot of brother Philip about 1894 at Uncle Ed's in Iowa City. He was in our home during a good deal of my early life, and he taught me the rudiments of the three r' s, to such good purpose that I went from the first immediately to the 4th grade when I was 7. I think he especially wanted to sustain Father after Mother died at Richard's birth in Feb. 1895. He was present at Father's sudden death in March 1898--I have his hasty manuscript account of this sad episode, written on a scrap, of paper.
While I was in Geneseo 1901-05, I went several times to Iowa City, 78 miles west by rail, to visit Phil, who had lived with Uncle Ed and family since Mother's death. Grandpa was with Aunt Hannah and the unmarried girls on several of these occasions. Mary told how pathetically grateful he was for any opportunity to run an errand or do some trifling service for the family. I remember a day perhaps in 1900, when I was with Grandpa Millard for a year, when I somehow wandered over to the east side, and dropped in on Grandpa at Dowher Home. I don't think he was there very long. This was in Milwaukee. In 1904 I was with Phil and family at a summer cottage near Iowa City, when we got a telegram saying Grandpa had died--I am sure in Chicago with Uncle John. in about a month he would have been 92.

I remember him as a rather dour, humorless old patriarch, straight as an arrow, and by then slender. Rose knew greatGrandma Lydia, who died the year before I was born. She had evidently broken a hip, as she wore a shoe with a 4" lift. It seems Grandpa was something of a dictator, and was often in trouble with his people. Grandma repeatedly poured oil on troubled waters. Phil and I inherit our love of humor and comedy from Mother's side, French Huguenots in background. Uncle John, however, would have made a living as a comedian if Grandpa's Puritan antipathy to the theater hadn't prevented it. I recall the cynical remark that these early Americans opposed bear-baiting, not because it hurt the bear, but because it was fun for the people. Grandpa was, however, blessed with the Puritan virtues as well as their shortcomings; and one newspaper comment stated that he stood as the accredited ambassador of God.

Aunt Adah had been married for 15 years--had two sons, approaching their teens. Her name was Church. I never saw her as far as I know. Uncle Ed was 32, married to Anna Moore (her youngest daughter,named Anna Moore., changed from "any more" to Anne). Uncle John was 30, not yet married (married Nancy Crego, 1877). Mary Elizabeth was born 1847, died same year. Frank Ferlinghuysen b.1850, was 25, unmarried.