Mother Barnes Collection- Clippings and Letters — the Witch of Plum Hollow Series

The Ottawa Citizen

Ottawa, Ontario, Canada • Sat, May 11, 1935Page 2

Sirs: Re your article on Mother Barnes of Plum Hollow (Oct. 2). I often heard my mother speak of her. We lived in Perth. When my father and mother, were newly married they decided to go down to Plum Hollow to see her and have their fortunes told.

Mrs. Barnes told my mother she would have two sons, one fair and one dark with about 10 years between them. It turned “out ‘ there ” were” 12 years”;” I am the dark one. She said my father and mother would live to a good age and be well. Myfather lived to be 88 and. my mother 93 and both had indeed enjoyed good health.

Mother Barnes told them they. would see cutters going down the roads without horses and cutters in the skies, meaning cars and planes. She told them that they owned their own house and would lose money to a close relative; that came true. Someone lost some horses and Mrs. Barnes said they had been shipped west and sold but the thief would be caught. He was. He stole 23 horses and started off driving one with the rest following. He travelled by night.

BASIL J. SHERIDAN.

“House of Providence. Kingston, Ont.. 1918

Dan and I got to talking about the great part’ people played in the history of the human race who were credited with being able to foretell the future. I told him about Old Mother Barnes. This famous fortune teller lived at Plum Hollow northwest of Brockvllle.

Her fame carried the name of this tiny place to many parts of this continent. A book was written entitled the Witch of Plum Hollow. People came to consult her from as far south as Syracuse. They came from Toronto and Montreal. I never saw her because she died when I was still a small boy but hardly a night when we would gather in the village store that someone would not confide he had been in a party that had driven out of Plum Hollow to have Mother Barnes read their tea cups.

One of our neighbors had his wallet stolen containing $200. Greatly troubled with the loss he could Ill-afford he went to the fortune teller. She told him not to worry. He would get his money back. The conscience of the man who stole it was troubling him. A few days later an unusual visitor came into the store. He sat there for more than an hour. He seemed to be troubled about something. When he left our neighbor’s wallet was found slipped behind a case of beans with the $200 intact.

Scores of stories similar to the one of our neighbor’s wallet have been told. The Barnes’ house was a small wooden structure of two stories. The fortune teller operated on the upper floor. There were no stairs leading to It. To get your fortune told you had to climb a ladder.

Only a small coal oil lamp lighted the room up and a little stove was used to brew the tea. Going up that ladder into the semi-darkness caused many a shudder. While Barnes did not appreciate it that had been good staging, it gave a creepy feeling to the place, that impressed visitors. Later Barnes built a house with stairs but it was a mistake.

One night a young woman living near us had planned to go in a sleigh load to visit Mother Barnes. At the last moment she found herself too ill to go but she asked one of her chums to turn a cup for her. When the fortune teller looked into the cup she refused to read it. “I can see nothing good in it for her,” the fortune teller said.” “You just tell her you neglected to turn the cup.” Two months later that young woman, whose fortune Mother Barnes refused to tell, had died.

Dan Surely, councillor-

The Ottawa Citizen

Ottawa, Ontario, Canada · Wednesday, January 03, 1951

Sir: The article in “Ottawa Valley Days”, “The Lost Eden of Plum Hollow”, by Harry J. Walker, in Saturday’s” Journal, was most interesting to me because the location of Mother Barnes’ residence is almost as familiar to me as my own home. For, on January 1, 1902, I was so fortunate that I married a young lady who was born and raised within a few yards of Mother Barnes’ home on Sept. 10, 1874, and Mother Barnes acted as nurse, and put on the first clothes she ever wore.

In later years my wife visited the old lady and lunched with her. The said Mother Barnes seemed to have eyes that could penetrate the very inmost soul, she heard her read the character of people when really it, was a revelation to themselves. The old neighbors bitterly resented her being called the “Witch of Plum Hollow”. She was a fine Christian lady and never deserved to be called that. Mother Barnes residence still stands. She lies buried in the cemetery near Sheldon’s school house. There is a marker, but there is a move to provide a more suitable one in the future.

J. S. Moore

Bellamy’s,Ontario

Nov. 12, 1945

Elizabeth Jane “Mother” Martin Barnes

BIRTH15 Nov 1800

County Cork, IrelandDEATH4 Feb 1891 (aged 90)

Rear of Yonge and Escott, Leeds and Grenville United Counties, Ontario, CanadaBURIAL

Sheldon CemeterySheldon’s Corners, Leeds and Grenville United Counties, Ontario, Canad

For a small rural area, it has two cemeteries, the active Plum Hollow Cemetery and an inactive Sheldon’s Cemetery just a short km away.

Plum Hollow is located on County Rd 5 between Athens and County Road 8. To get there take Cty Rd 42 at Athens or Cty Rd 8 at the 4 corners to Cty Rd 5 or from Hwy 15 to Cty Rd 5. From Delta on King St, you can get there by way of the Daytown Rd, or take Cty Rd 42 to Lake St or Washburn Rd