Anna F Barrett – her account of her family

 

My parents were both born in Ireland. My father in Limerick, my mother in Longford. My father was ten years old when he came to America in 1849 with his parents, brothers and sisters. My mother came to America with an uncle in 1861, at the age of sixteen. Her grandmother was living here and it was to her she came. She never returned to Ireland and never saw her parents again. Her two brothers and two sisters came to America later. One brother and two sisters remained, the other brother John returned to Ireland married there and raised fourteen children, ten daughters and four sons. Eight of his daughters came to America and settled around the New York City area. The others remained in Ireland.

 

Robert Barrett aged thirty and Mary Gannon aged twenty-three were married December 31, 1869 by Rev. H.B. Finnegan in the old Catholic Visitation Church on Pearl Street. Attendants were Catherine Farrell and James Barrett.

My father went to night school after marriage to a Master Gainer who conducted his school in the house later occupied by the Ellsworth family. One incident related by my father was that Master Gainer would consult his wife about the improvement in the students work. His wife would graciously reply, “Sara knows Master Gainer it is a wonderful improvement.” The students at that time not being conscious of the fact that Sara, Mrs. Gainer, could neither read or write. However, my father being an apt student acquired a great deal of knowledge from Master Gainer. My father was a beautiful penman and enjoyed learning and improving his knowledge. My father – a quiet man of the highest integrity who would not do anything unfair to anyone – was highly respected in the community. My mother, God rest her soul, was a very pretty Irish Colleen with black curly hair and Irish grey eyes, and ideal wife and mother. They rented different homes for several years, then on a ten acre plot willed to my father by his mother, they decided to build a home. At that time they were the parents of one son and four daughters, the eldest of the daughter having died at the age of one year and four months with what was then called brain fever. The house was not quite completed but in October 1877 they moved in as that month there was to be a historical celebration, the dedication of the Saratoga Battlefield Monument and rumor said windows would be broken in unoccupied houses. However the reported damages to buildings did not take place.

 

In May 1878 another daughter, Elizabeth, was born, in 1880 a son William was born. My father was a chemist, coloring the black goods in the dye house of the Victory Mill.

Tragedy struck this happy family when in January 1883 the children were stricken with diphtheria and two boys and three girls ranging in ages from thirteen to three died in nineteen days. The first died January 17, 1883, the fifth on February 7, 1883. One daughter Elizabeth aged four and one-half survived. She also had diphtheria. My parents were crushed and heart-broken but said, “God’s ways are not our ways.” My mother then only thirty-seven years old put on black for mourning and never wore anything else except a dark gray until she died at the age of seventy-six. In February 1884 another son was born and in January 1886 a daughter, myself, was their ninth and last child.

Later the dye house moved to Connecticut and my father started a truck garden which he continued until his death at sixty-six in 1904. During his life he served as school trustee, village president, village state and county tax collector, and almost every trustworthy position the people in the community could bestow upon him.

My parents had a $1400 debt on their house when their five children were taken from them. They struggled along however with God’s help and I remember my father saying when he completed paying for his home he would treat us. I distinctly remember he, my mother, my sister, brother and myself making a trip one Saturday evening to the Joe Hannum House (now the Community House) where an icecream stand had been erected and there we celebrated the event of the ownership of our home.

We conducted a market garden and all worked very hard, weeding onions, carrots, beets, pulled mustard, packed the shelves of the delivery wagon for my father and brother to tour the community on Tuesday, Thursday, and Saturday selling vegetables. Our wagon house was two apple trees in the back yard.

In May each year for several years we drove our sorrel horse, Fritz, to Saratoga Springs, out Church Street to the Charles Wills farm to buy tomato plants. It was a two hour ride one way. I distinctly remember Mr. Wills giving us pansy plants as a gift. The plants we bought for $1.25 per hundred and we usually bought five hundred. One year after the setting of the plants they attacked by potato bugs. We took them off each day for several days but in spite of our efforts the bugs were victors and we had to make a second trip for another five hundred plants. We were able to save the second crop. If we had a dry spell we watered them daily for several days until they got a start and covered them each morning with a plant leaf to keep off the hot sun and removed the leaf each night.

We had a name for the best tomatoes on the market also the finest green peas. Now it is almost impossible to grow two rows of peas. We usually had a cow, some hens, sometimes a pig and a horse.

A pleasant memory I have is my confidence in my ability to harness a horse – I thought. One evening my father said he was taking the horse to the blacksmith shop after supper, so I thought I would surprise him and have the horse harnessed when he came from the house. First of all I had to give Fritz a handful of hay to have him take the bit. All harnessed in the stall I brought him before the wagon. Thills lay on the ground. He was a large horse but especially large were his feet. I attempted to back him into the thills, clumsily he put a foot on the thill, that snapped. I slapped him on the hip to move him over, which he gracefully did and stepped on the other thill, that snapped. My father instead of having a pleasant surprise was obliged to wind each broken thill and instead of taking the horse to the shop he had to take the wagon to be repaired. Ever the kind, gentle parent, he said nothing to the young lady (about 9) who thought she knew all about harnessing a horse.

I broke my wrist at seven, on July 4 by climbing to get a match to light a powder cracker, a trip to Doctor Gow completed that day.

My brother, ever the mild member of the family, never got into trouble doing the mischief things his sisters did.

My sister, who was eight years older than I, was the only survivor from the diphtheria scourge. She was my Dad’s constant companion until we began to be his pals also. She was a wonderful daughter.

We all had a grammar school education. My mother washed, sewed, mended, papered the rooms, worked in the garden, made butter, and cooked for a hungry family, besides giving loving care and good training. She had very few homes she visited. The Flanagans, the Carscaddens, the Kellys, and an occasional visit to relatives. Two aunts of my mother, who lived in Smithville, about a mile and a half away, always visited my mother on St. Stephens Day. That occurred each year while they were able to make the journey. Saratoga and Glens Falls were the farthest away my mother ever went from home and we never knew her to be away over night.

My father was stricken with apoplexy one morning, November 14, 1905, and died in a few hours. He was sixty-six. My mother lived sixteen years after the death of my father and was seventy-six when she passed away in 1922.

My sister married a native of our community, Edward Connors, in 19909 and went to Belmont, Massachusetts, to live. They had two daughters, Mary Barrett, named for her grandmother, and Clare Magdalen born in 1912. Both were graduated from St. Joseph High School, Somerville, Massachusetts. They were born in North Adams, Massachusetts. Their father was transferred from Boston to North Adams in 1910 and they lived there for eleven years, returning to the Boston area in September 1921 and taking up residence in Somerville, Massachusetts. Mary went to Portia Law School receiving her Bachelor of Laws Degree in 1927. She entered Somerville public Library and at the time of her marriage to Fred C. Gravelle in 1943 was the first assistant in the East Branch. To that union were born three children, F. Lawrence, Mary Elizabeth, and Donald. The Gravelles live in Somerville.

Clare was graduated from Emanuel College and received her Bachelor of Arts degree in 1929. She entered the teaching staff of Southern Junior High School and taught in that institution until her marriage to James P. McGuire in 1939. To this union four children were born, Marianne, James P., Edward, and Matthew. The McGuires live in Belmont.

My brother Robert was President and Mayor of the Village of Victory from 1924 to 1937. Being the first village mayor to be elected as originally the office was filled by a village president, but in 1931 a mayor was named to the office which he filled until 1937. During his terms of office the first village truck was purchased and the collection of garbage was instituted.

My father lighted the old fashioned street lamps for several years, his work being abolished at the installation of the electric light in the village in 1894. He had a yearly contract to do the work. In the middle of the year the village board decided to install the street lights and discontinue my fathers salary from then on. Through information my father received from a friend of his, one Lillian Herbert Andrews, a New York salary for the remainder of the contract. As a result the electric lights were not installed until later. He drove around with his horse and wagon about 5 PM, lighted the lamps and about seven in the morning went around again, put the light out and filled them for the next evening.

A controversy arouse at a village election over the election of a village president. The candidates were Matthew Kelly and John Reilley – my father an inspector of election, declared a tie, 56-56. The other inspector was John Heelan. A certain did not want Reilley and as a result had a recount. My father his integrity coming above party lines still held the tie. A lawyer, a certain George Salisbury, then in Saratoga Springs was brought in and declared in favor of Kelly. My father still undaunted said, “George you know that was wrong”. “Yes, Robert,” he said “but they think Kelly will be the better man.”

Politics were ended then and there as far as my father was concerned. His conscience was his guide. I must also add that his honesty paid off for the men who opposed his decision were his best friends afterward and had to admit their political wrongdoing. After all was said and done they admired his honesty.

I served the village as a tax collector, treasurer and the school as tax collector. In 1942 I was installed as assistant postmaster to Mary C. Bihn and served in that capacity for two hours daily until 1943 when I was acting postmaster during a six months leave of absence of Mary C. Bihn. In 1944 she resigned the position and I was named acting postmaster on June 11, 1944 – the salary was $1100. The post office then was 4th class, advanced to 3rd class on July 1, 1945. A civil service examination was conducted in September 1944 in which I received an 88.4 rating. On February 1945 I received my commission as postmaster. Each year the post office has advanced one grade until in 1952 I have a salary of $3645 and an annual money order of $60,000. I like my work. It is most interesting and enjoyable.

My brother was employed as a caretaker of Fanoc Farms for John L. O’Connor for seven years. Previous to that time and after he discontinued our truck garden he was employed as a piper for the American Manufacturing Company until he was laid off during the depression. Later, after Mr. O’Connor no longer needed a caretaker, he was employed on the county highway from Cramers Corners to Staffords Bridge building the new county road and then by the United Board and Carton Corporation as box loader – where he is still employed.

In 1941 we purchased a Ford Model-T age unknown. After a few weeks driving with licensed operators I went to Hudson Falls for a test. I failed my test but my driving was a success when I did not kill a few people on the street. The inspector, a Mr. Hogan, drove the car back to the starting place. I said, “I shall never try again.” He replied, “No, I wouldn’t if I were you.” On my return home I thought differently and next day started to drive again. We exchanged the Ford for a Plymouth coupe, a 1933. I went to Saratoga Springs and passed my test and have driven ever since. I have not encountered Mr. Hogan since but he is probably of the same opinion yet about my ability to drive a car. I would not blame him after his experience with me.

 

My brother in-law; who should never be referred to as an in law, was a model husband and father to his family and an ideal and much loved brother and son to my mother, my brother, and I. He died in 1943 at the age of sixty-seven. My sister, deeply grieved by the death of her husband, died three years later in 1946. We loved both so much. Peace be to them.

 

When weeding onions in the farthest corner of the field – a relaxation for one of us – was to listen for the bell the baker rang when going by to attract customers. One of us would fly over the hill to the house, get a milk pan and buy three dozen cup cakes for twenty-five cents or three dozen sugar cakes. It was a pleasure. When the hot sun was too severe we used a black umbrella over our heads as we moved slowly along on our knees to weed onions, carrots, beets, and parsnips.