Hi Linda, I came across your post on Facebook this morning with lots of articles on Mother Barnes, witch of Plum Hollow. My cousin Doug McCarten posted a thank you. One of the articles posted was titled “Witch of Plum Hollow Carleton Place Grandmother “. I should have noted the name of the person who posted this but I didn’t.
There are several errors due to the fact that there are two Amy Buchanans. Mother Barnes granddaughter was Amy Barnes Buchanan, daughter of Sam Barnes. She was born and raised in Smiths Falls. Her father was a blacksmith and carriage maker and the family were quite well off. This Amy was my grandmother, also grandmother of Jan McCarten Sansom and Doug McCarten, my cousins. Amy Barnes Buchanan went to Queens University for a year and then became a teacher. She taught at Snow Road. She met and married George Buchanan, a farmer near Maberly.
They had three daughters, Agnes, Hilda ( my mother ) and Amy ( Jan and Doug’s mother ). When my mother was six ( 1917 ) George sold the farm in Maberly and bought a farm in Appleton ( now owned by Edith Clarke ). He sold that farm in about 1923 or 24 finding it too hard to get labour after WWI. The family moved to Carleton Place and rented at least two different houses, one on Flora opposite the end of McRostie Street and another on High Street. The year they moved to CP, my mother Hilda, started high school on Lake Ave., this school having been built the year before.
George Buchanan became an insurance agent and after all three daughters had left home, he and Amy bought the lovely stone house on Bridge St. opposite the end of High Street. Daughter Agnes married Archie Colvin and lived in Connecticut, daughter Hilda married Lorne MacRostie and lived in Ottawa, and daughter Amy married Vern McCarten and lived in Toronto. Amy and Vern moved to Carleton Place about 1949 to help George Buchanan with the insurance business as George had cancer. They initially rented a house on Joseph Street and later bought the house on Bridge Street from Amy Buchanan. Amy Buchanan lived in several rented apartments, the last one being the top floor of the brick house on Charles St. at the corner of Emily.
So Mother Barnes was the mother of Sam Barnes, Sam was the father of Amy Barnes Buchanan, Amy Barnes Buchanan was the mother of Agnes Colvin, Hilda MacRostie and Amy McCarten. The three sisters were very close and the MacRosties and McCartens had Sunday dinners together often, either in Ottawa or CP. The three families rented cottages together on Hay’s shore for several summers.
My family MacRostie is also related to the McRosties of Carleton Place. My grandfather James was a brother of Fred, Winnie McRostie’s father. At some point, James and at least one other brother changed the spelling from McR to MacR. We don’t know why. I keep in touch with Winnie’s niece Joan, we are second cousins.
My children and Jan’s children are close. Jan and I are five years apart in age, Jan’s daughter Diana and my daughter Stephanie are five years apart and Stephanie was born on Jan’s birthday.
Another coincidence – Mary and Wally Cook’s wedding attendants were Dr. and Mrs. Kendall, the parents of my friend Jane, whom I’ve known since grade seven at Connaught School in Ottawa and our teacher that year was Leta Andison of CP.
Sorry, Linda, I got a little carried away with the family history. My grandmother Amy Buchanan was a teacher, I was a teacher and spent the first six years of my career at Caldwell School in Carleton Place and lived in Mississippi Manor next to the hospital, and my granddaughter is at Queens doing ConEd to become to become a teacher.
I might note: the building at Black’s Corners is the Beckwith Township Municipal Offices; Goulburn is a few kilometres east (I believe), starting at Ashton.
By the way, Linda, you and I met once at a presentation about Mother Barnes at the Goulbourn building at Black’s Corners. I was there with cousin Jan and daughter Stephanie. Sue MacRostie Fulford ( photo above I took)
Clipped from Vancouver Daily World, 18 Oct 1889, Fri, Page 1
This was posted on the Tales of Carleton Place yesterday by Jim Hicks and Doug B. McCarten said Jim Hicks it was extensively restored by the previous owner who just (I guess) sold it! She did a remarkable job! My family is very grateful to her for it had previously fallen into disrepair! She ran it as a museum dedicated to Granny Barnes memory. I wonder what will happen to it now? (home of the Witch of Plum Hollow)
actual photo of Mother Barnes shown to me by a family member
Love this photo of me SeanandMichael Rikley-Lancaster curator of the Mississippi Valley Textile Museum and Elaine Farley at the North Lanark Museum. It was a dark day out there today in Appleton today and we were under a tent.. But the picture came out great LOLOL. It has spirit..The Witch of Plum Hollow IS Reenactor Elaine Farley who highlighted her research today about local legend Elizabeth Barnes the Witch of Plum Hollow and debunked some myths about her. It was great…Love her a lot.. Read-The Plum Hollow Witch 101 – Mother Barnes
The homestead property of Elizabeth “Mother” Barnes, “The Witch of Plum Hollow.” Photo: James Morgan Rural Ontario has always had its mystics. In Ontario’s Leeds County, it was Elizabeth Barnes, better known as Mother Barnes, the Witch of Plum Hollow. Her date of birth is unclear. Some sources say 1794; others say 1800. The seventh daughter of a seventh daughter She was from Cork in Ireland. When she fell in love with a young sergeant named Harrison her father, a colonel in the British Army, disapproved. So the couple eloped and moved to what was then Upper Canada. When Harrison died a few years later, Elizabeth married David Barnes, a shoemaker who had moved up from Connecticut. The couple ended up having nine children; six sons and three daughters. In 1843, the family relocated to Sheldon’s Corners in Kitley Township, north of Brockville, not far from Lake Eloida and the village of Plum Hollow in the amusingly-named Bastard Township. Barnes eventually left his wife and Elizabeth needed money to support her large family, so she turned to fortune telling, reading tea leaves and charging her customers 25 cents each—a large sum in 19th century Ontario. Her talents earned her the title “The Witch of Plum Hollow,” even though she did not live in Plum Hollow itself. She was the seventh daughter of a seventh daughter and was also alleged to be part Spanish gypsy, which was credited as the source of her “sixth sense.” A sketch of an elderly Mother Barnes. From Leeds and Grenville: Their first two hundred years, 1967. Mother Barnes tells a famous fortune Mother Barnes was a diminutive woman, barely five feet tall. She did tell a few tall tales though when it came to fortunes. People traveled from all over Canada and the North Country of New York to consult with her. Her more local cases involved finding lost livestock and solving crimes. A man named Morgan Doxtater disappeared in Charleston Lake. Mother Barnes directed the searchers to the place where his murdered body was found. Her most famous customer was a lawyer from Kingston and aspiring politician named John A. Macdonald. The Witch of Plum Hollow told him that he would become the leader of a new country and that its capital would be at what was then known as Bytown, in those days a gritty lumber town. In 1867, the Dominion of Canada was formed. Bytown is now Ottawa and the capital city, and Sir John A. Macdonald was the first Prime Minister of the new country. Mother Barnes had earned her quarter. Elizabeth Barnes died in 1886 and was buried in an unmarked grave in the Sheldon’s Corners cemetery. An historic homestead In 1892, local writer Thaddeus William Henry Leavitt published his short novel, The Witch of Plum Hollow, featuring Mother Barnes and her “sixth sense.” Today, her little cabin still stands behind a rail fence along Mother Barnes Road, just west of County Road 29. It’s on private property, and is posted with “No Trespassing” signs. Visitors cannot go inside, but they can park beside the road and have a look at this piece of the past along the back roads of Leeds County.
Love this photo of me SeanandMichael Rikley-Lancaster curator of the Mississippi Valley Textile Museum and Elaine Farley at the North Lanark Museum. It was a dark day out there today in Appleton today and we were under a tent.. But the picture came out great LOLOL. It has spirit..The Witch of Plum Hollow IS Reenactor Elaine Farley who highlighted her research today about local legend Elizabeth Barnes the Witch of Plum Hollow and debunked some myths about her. It was great…Love her a lot..
The Witch of Plum Hollow’s home– if you click here there are about 15 stories about the witch of Plum Hollow The Plum Hollow Witch 101 – Mother Barnes To get to Plum Hollow, take Hwy. 7 southwest. At Carleton Place, join up with Hwy. 15 which heads south through Smiths Falls. Connect with Hwy. 29 as you leave Smiths Falls and drive 36 kilometres south to Toledo. Veer to the ET3 right down Road 8, and turn left down Road 5 after Bellamy’s Mills. Another eight km will take you to Plum Hollow.
Written in 1982
Few are aware that near the shore of nearby Lake Eloida the derelict abode of the Witch of Plum Hollow sits empty, ravaged by time and vandals. . However for three generations of Joynt women, descendants of Mother Barnes, a visit to the tiny cabin shortly before Halloween proved a sentimental journey of sorts.
Lera Joynt, daughter Carol, 11-year-old Susan Joynt and Lisa Joynt, 14, had varied reactions to the forlorn cottage. “I recall Grandpa Samuel Barnes telling of hitching up the horses for the long ride from Smiths Falls to Plum Hollow,” Lera reminisced. Sam, one of Barnes’ nine children, was a blacksmith and mayor of Smiths Falls in 1906.
Her daughter Carol felt a strong bond with her famous ancestor. Mother Barnes ‘gift’ to foresee the future appeared in every generation, she said. Lisa and Susan, daughters of Witch of Plum Hollow Painted by Henry Vyfinkel well-known farmer and auctioneer John Joynt, were fascinated. With visions of bats, broomsticks and black cats racing through their heads, they gingerly tip-toed through the debris. “There’s an old piece of wood in here that’s marked made in 1805,” Susan called out excitedly. Lisa reported with disappointment the rickety old stairs were gone. “I’ll come back in my old clothes and climb up there,” she told her grandmother. “I want to see the room where Mother Barnes read the tea leaves for all those people.” Lera Joynt’ disapproves of the dubious title of witch applied to her ancestor. “We don’t like it at all. Her kindly advice and honest predictions helped countless numbers of people.”
Over at Plum Hollow Cheese factory, Claude Flood explains why he and his late wife Ella erected a monument to Mother Barnes in nearby Sheldon Cemetery. “During the 50 years I made cheese here people were always coming in with stories about Mother Barnes.
Lera Joynt and other family members felt the same. Some years ago, they purchased the two acres with its original cabin, its apple trees, tumble-down barn and abandoned well. Lera and husband Percy re-shingled, the roof and cleaned up the grounds when they took over the property but it hasn’t weathered the years very well. Weeds have taken over, the roof sinks in and vandals have removed the original pine doors and smashed the windows.
The Witch of Plum Hollow has. served as title for a book by Thad Leavitt now out of print a musical show produced in Toronto and an oil painting by area artist Henry VyfinkeL The huge painting dominates his studio near Brockville.
“When I read that the last man hung in Brockville had been convicted of murder through her police assistance,” Vyfinkel recalled, “I believed there was something to what they were saying about her.” A seventh daughter of a seventh daughter, Mother Barnes was born Jane Elizabeth Martin in the County of Cork, Ireland, in November, 1800. She was the daughter of an Irish landowner of English descent who was a colonel in the British Army, and of an Irish woman of Spanish gypsy descent.
Although her father had arranged a marriage for her to a colonel friend of wealth and distinction, 20-year-old Elizabeth eloped on the night of her wedding with a ‘Canadian army sergeant, Robert Joseph Harrison. Disowned by her parents, the couple sailed to America where Elizabeth bore a son and became a widow at 27.
Several years later, she married shoemaker David Barnes, had six sons and three daughters and moved to Sheldon’s Corners near Plum Hollow in 1843. David left Elizabeth and several of the children to live in Smiths Falls with his son Sam, a blacksmith and Mother Barnes turned to fortune-telling to support the family. No explanation has ever been heard by the family as to why David walked out and his grave has never been located.
Mother Barnes success brought her fame and she moved to the small cabin near Lake Eloida. Countless stories are passed along of her predictions but the one referred to by artist Vyfinkel is perhaps the most famous. A local law enforcement officer consulted her regarding the mysterious disappearance of an English immigrant named Hunter. His friend reported the immigrant drowned, leading a search party to Charleston Lake without success. The story goes that Mother Barnes told the constable the man’s body was hidden under a fallen tree, partly submerged in water. The body was found and the friend charged with murder, found guilty and hanged in Brockville. Elizabeth Barnes was 91 when she died, leaving seven children and a legacy of love.
Plum Hollow was also famous for its Plum Hollow Cheese Factory from 1924 to 1982, which then became a chocolate factory, and was subsequently destroyed by fire in 2015. Known for the nine murals that made Athens famous by the late 1980s, the Township of Athens is rich in hist
An historic homestead
In 1892, local writer Thaddeus William Henry Leavitt published his short novel, The Witch of Plum Hollow, featuring Mother Barnes and her “sixth sense.” Today, her little cabin still stands behind a rail fence along Mother Barnes Road, just west of County Road 29. It’s on private property, and is posted with “No Trespassing” signs. Visitors cannot go inside, but they can park beside the road and have a look at this piece of the past along the back roads of Leeds County.
Could it only have been a co-incidence that the Super Moon was in the sky the weekend of the Mother Barnes presentation in Athens? Re-enactor Elaine Farley began her talk at the Joshua Bates Center on Nov. 13th by refuting a myth about Mother Barnes with a quote from her grandchildren stating, “As far as we know she was an only daughter…but when she became famous, she told people she was a seventh daughter of a seventh daughter to add to her glamour.” It is also important to realize that Jane Elizabeth Barnes was “well read and had a full command of the English language” but there are no letters, diaries, or journals known to exist for public disclosure.
Census records show that she changed her religious affiliations and country of birth various times but it is believed that she was born in 1851 and had Irish origins. She was married several times, her last husband David Barnes left her with 7 children and moved to Smiths Falls with his son, Samuel, who later became the mayor.
In 1891 Mother Barnes was buried from the Methodist church in Farmersville, now Athens United Church. Elaine proposed that this changing information was perhaps “part of the mystery she was trying to create or was she moving from church to church to be accepted?” She also spoke of the “fascination and fear about Mother Barnes’ abilities”, as the Brockville Recorder commented in April 20, 1876, “if she were to take it into her head to exercise her power for evil there is no knowing what mischief she might do.” In 1865 the Herald newspaper of Carleton Place referred to her as “the old hag, who is said to live in Plumb Hollow” and talked of information “pointed out by the witch.” Thaddeus Leavitt, a former Brockville Recorder editor and historian, wrote a book in 1892, one year after she died, which he entitled The Witch of Plum Hollow. The 254 paged book makes only a brief reference to Mother Barnes on 8 pages and “was not at all about her”. Elaine speculated, “Was he counting on the mystery she had started to sell his book? Repeatedly, he was, and still is given credit for the term “Witch of Plum Hollow.”
It seems that she never tried to refute the “witchcraft” interpretation of much of her life’s work. It is interesting to consider how she may have received that label. The 19th century stereo type of witches, included that they were often widowed or deserted by their husbands and without male supervision, lived in rural areas, were of the lower class, cured illness, acted as mid-wives, and were independent. “Using this list, she was easily labeled a witch”, Elaine concluded.
When Upper Canada Village in 1969 and the Ontario Historical Society in 1988 said no to acquiring her property north of Athens because it did not “consider the site to be of historical significance”. Though the family struggled to hold on to it, the property was eventually sold. Her cabin has been restored and has been open to the public from time to time. The present owner has now decided to put it up for sale and, despite any rumors, it remains unsold.
Elaine’s abilities as a re-enactor and the detailed research that she has collected brought new insights and appreciation for this legendary woman. Though she has been called a “witch” it seems that she should be more suitably remembered as a kindly, compassionate and caring mother, neighbor and grandmother, who told fortunes and gave advice to help support her large family. The presence of her wooden table on the stage, where she used to tell her fortunes added further audience appeal and interest. It even has been said that John A. MacDonald came to inquire about where our nation’s new capital should be, adding real significance on the eve of Canada’s 150th birthday.
The event was well attended and proceeds went to the work of AAHS. It is the second in their speaker series for the season with famed Railway Bob coming to the JBC on March 26th to make a presentation on local railway history.
Re-enactor Elaine Farley stands behind Mother Barnes’ table as part of her recent presentation sponsored by the Athens and Area Heritage Society. Photo: Sally Smid — in Athens, Ontario…
This is an actual hands on photo of Mother Barnes- The Witch of Plum Hollow
Mrs. Barnes the so called “witch” of Plum Hollow used to tell people things about their future which was remarkable to them. She had also had a reputation as a fortune teller finding many lost things for the folks in the surrounding area.
In this story from the 1870s the joke was rather on Mrs. Barnes, and yet perhaps not, as it was all focussed on her, but she was certainly right in her forecast. When Mrs. Barnes left Plum Hollow and visited Smiths Falls she always went to the home of Mrs. John Fields, wife of the chief local blacksmith.
One night upon visiting the Fields everyone was invited to spend the evening with Mrs. Barnes who proceeded to tell them all mostly pleasant things that would be happening to them in the near future. Towards the end of the evening she pulled a card and gasped. There would be a death in Smiths Falls that evening. It was said that everyone went to bed that night in a sad mood while the neighbours spread the news.
Everyone woke up at the Field’s home the next morning in a good state of mind as there had not been a death in the household. Mrs. Barnes was set to leave for home soon after breakfast so Mr. Fields went to the stable to feed her horse. The horse was found dead in his stall from no apparent cause. Had the Witch of Plum Hollow been right or wrong about her prediction? It seems the good people from Smiths Falls argued the point for years to come.
Another story about “Mother Barnes, the so-called ‘witch Plum Hollow,” is related by John Murphy, 115 Spadina Avenue. Mr. Murphy tells that in 1870s a certain resident of South March had a considerable amount of money stolen from him. He had kept it in the house been kept in the house and they suspected a certain person.
One of his sons went to Plum Hollow to see Mrs. Barnes. Mrs. Barnes refused to tell the chap who had stolen the money, but said the owner would would find it in a hole in a log at a certain comer of the house. The son went home and told his father what Mrs. Barnes had said. and sure enough, the money was there. The next day the owner of the money took a trip to Ottawa put the money In a bank. I don’t blame him– and all that it cost him was 25 cents paid to Mother Barnes for her fee.
On any day of the week a motley cavalcade of saints and sinners waited on this remarkable woman. Politicians and peddlers, rich and poor, the great, the near-great and the not-great, lovelorn maidens and dames in crinolines — all consulted the “Witch of Plum Hollow”.
The following story which concerns some exciting happenings in Smiths Falls, and on the sixth line of Beckwith township in the forties of last century, is related by Mr. H. F. McLachlin of Franktown.
The story brings in the once famous Mrs. Barnes of Plum Hollow, near Brockville, who used to be known as the “Witch of Plum Hollow.” The story opens with the death of a girl in Smiths Falls under peculiar circumstances. The girl, it appears, had grown to an abnormal size and had been affected with an enormous appetite. The doctors could not tell what had caused the girl to grow as she had done, and in medical circles her death caused quite an amount of talk.
Soon after the girl had been buried it was discovered that her grave had been opened and the body removed. A few days later her remains were found in a bog near the bank of the Rideau river. Many people were inclined to blame medical students for the outrage. Friends of the deceased girl decided to consult Mrs. Barnes at Plum Hollow. Mrs. Barnes had had a reputation for finding lost articles and giving information on a variety of topics. Whether by coincidence or by occult powers, Mrs. Barnes had prior to that produced results which seemed weird in the extreme and led to her being called a “witch.”.
When the relatives of the girl, accompanied by the sheriff, told Mrs. Barnes their story, and asked her to tell who had done the act, she told the sheriff to ride north from Smiths Falls till he would meet a man in the bush. This man who turned to the right would be the man.
The sheriff followed the directions and in the bush he met Mr. James Stewart of the sixth line of Beckwith who was out in the bush looking for a couple of calves which had been lost. Soon after the sheriff saw Mr. Stewart, he (Mr. Stewart) turned to the right onto the sixth line road, which was then, (as it is today) little more than a lane.
On the strength of what Mrs. Barnes had said the sheriff arrested Mr. Stewart and took him to the Perth jail. Things might have gone badly for Mr. Stewart, but it appeared that the morning after the girl’s body had been dug up three men had called at a farm house near the Rideau river (where the remains had been found). The farm house was in a lonesome place. In those days most farm children were ultra-shy and used to run and hide when strangers appeared. When the three children (little girls) of this family saw the strangers approach, they ran and hid under an old four-poster bed which stood in the ground floor bedroom. The strangers asked for a drink. The farmer’s wife asked if they would drink buttermilk. They said they would and the farmer’s wife went out to the milk-house to get it.
The men not knowing of the presence of the children under the bed, talked about the dissection they had performed the previous night. When the news of Mr. Stewart’s arrest spread, the children told their parents about what the strangers had said. They were taken to Perth and gave evidence. As a result of their evidence Mr. Stewart was honourably acquitted. After that Mrs. Barnes’ reputation was somewhat eclipsed.
Author’s Note: I don’t think Mother Barnes reputation was ‘eclipsed’ as in essence she directed the sheriff to the right spot where they could learn more about the incident. But, I guess if you don’t get it bang on people talk LOL
This is an actual hands on photo of Mother Barnes- The Witch of Plum Hollow we were shown at the last Lanark County Genealogical Society meeting,
Sunday was a dull day in Raglan township (Renfrew County)and no one appeared to be going to church. There was no church, and the only religious services were held in the school house, the minister being a student from the Lutheran College, who made his headquarters at Mr. Yurt’s. When Sunday morning came the blacksmith’s friend inquired the distance to a church, and a man in a joking mood, told me that it was fifteen miles, and he learned later it was about ten.
The man appeared very jovial concerning church affairs and informed the gentleman that all the ‘bairns were goot’ and did not go “zu Kirche.‘ Then he added that “my bairn vent vonce a year.”
In the afternoon the gentleman found his friend the blacksmith who was working at something and apparently putting his whole soul and consideration into the work. In another place Andy, the older blacksmith was making a whippletree or mending harness which was a difficult task.
He watched his friend for awhile and then asked what he was making. “I am trying to invent perpetual motion,” said he. A very difficult thing to do, I should think said his friend.
‘Well.‘ said the smithy, “I think I can do it.” Then he added, in a joking way, I had Mrs. Barnes tell my fortune, and she told me I would not be successful. But she don’t know anything! She Is fraud! Just a minute, I will show you a letter that came from her.
Running upstairs, he got the letter, and. with an air of disgust at the contents, he carelessly tossed It over with the remark, ‘Read that. You will see she knows nothing.’ Then, indignantly, he added’ “Look what she says about my marriage. I never asked her any thing about marriage. I have as much notion of getting married as I have of hanging myself. I can hardly keep myself. I am here living with my sisters. I was hoping of getting into McLachlan’s shanty as a shoer but did not succeed.”
After he had finished his explanation his friend opened the letter and read it. He remembers the style of the handwriting which was fine and even indicating the writer was in a pensive mood. The ink was of old fashioned black ink.
The letter said:
Dear sir,
I received your letter asking for information about your present undertaking. You will not be successful in your present work which is too difficult for you. You are working hard, but your surroundings afford you no opportunities to combine your work in order to be successful. You will be married to a young lady whom you have never seen.
Your marriage will take place in the early part of the present year. The first part of the letter is true, but I have my doubts of the second part.
Mrs. Barnes
The blacksmith seemed to be indignant about the matrimonial part and added that it was *money thrown away when he wrote her. She knows nothing, he said.
This incident was in February and about a month later Mr. McPhee, storekeeper for McLachlin’s and stationed at Palmer Rapids two miles distant was in need of a housekeeper. A pretty young “Gretchen” of nineteen came from Killaloe to apply for the housekeeper job. She was neat and tidy and generally wore high-coloured dresses, sometimes profusely frilled. The young blacksmith was captivated and it needed no prophet to sea that Cupid’s darts were flying thick and fast. Finally the climax came and they were married in May.
Everyone was asked to the wedding, and as his friend congratulated the young blacksmith he remarked,
“Mrs. Barnes evidently knew what she was talking about.”
” It looks that way now.” he said, “but then I could not believe it.”
*Mrs. Barnes Fees were 25 cents
This was posted on the Tales of Carleton Place yesterday by Jim Hicks and Doug B. McCarten said Jim Hicks it was extensively restored by the previous owner who just (I guess) sold it! She did a remarkable job! My family is very grateful to her for it had previously fallen into disrepair! She ran it as a museum dedicated to Granny Barnes memory. I wonder what will happen to it now? (home of the Witch of Plum Hollow)
In 1830, William Morphy deeded 1/13 of an acre of the land on 223 Bridge Street in Carleton Place. The James Bell house was probably built later on in the decade and remained in the Bell family until 1870’s. The elder members of this family emigrated from Scotland to Perth in 1817. John, Robert, William, and James were among the sons of Reverend William Bell the first Presbyterian minister of the Perth district. Robert and John established the mercantile business in Carleton Place in association with the business of William and John in Perth, which had started the previous year. Robert owned the property in question from 1846-60. According to Howard Brown, local historian, if one man were to be selected as the father or chief public figure of Carleton Place through its first generation of growth it would be Robert Bell. He established himself as a merchant, mill owner, magistrate, postmaster, and district council warden in Carleton Place. He was also elected in 1848 as a member of the legislative assembly of Canada for Lanark and Renfrew Counties and was returned to the legislature for some fifteen years. Later owners and residents at 233 Bridge Street were Newman, McDiarmid, and Union Bank Managers. According to Marj Whyte, in her era, the stone house was usually occupied by a bank manager. In 1919, the Canadian Bank of Commerce bought this property and the house was occupied by the bank’s manager until 1941 when George Buchanan took over possession. Mr. Scoggie of the old Union Bank and Mr. Kent of the Bank of Commerce were a few of the residents.
In 1951 Mr. And Mrs. Vernon McCarten, the daughter and son in law of George, bought the house and property and carried on an insurance business. In 1997, the house was transferred to Barbara Couch. A rare Ginko tree sits on this property in the front and has an unusual story. Read more The McCarten House of Carleton Place.
Linda, the Witch of Plum Hollow had a Carleton Place connection! She was the grandmother of Amy Buchanan who was brought up in the brick house on the south corner of the Charles and Emily Street intersection. I have heard from good sources that the house is haunted!
Amy’s family ran the Buchanan Insurance Company and when she married Vern McCarten, it later became the Buchanan-McCarten Insurance Company. The family lived and ran the business from the lovely home on Bridge Street across from the end of High Street – now a real estate office. A well-known, community-minded family! Their children, Janet and Doug, live in the Toronto area, I believe, and if they read this, I hope they’ll correct anything I got wrong. Wendy LeBlanc
Once upon a time, the world beat a path to the door of a tiny log cabin some 20 kilometres south of here. The great and the not-so-great came to consult Mother Elizabeth Barnes, the legendary. Witch of Plum Hollow. In her mysterious attic room, she received neighbors and politicians seeking advice on everything from lost sheep and lost loves to lost seats in Parliament. Plum Hollow still sees its share of visitors but they’re more intent on purchasing fresh curd from the Plum Hollow Cream and Cheese Co-op than on having their tea leaves read. Few are aware that near the shore of nearby Lake Eloida the derelict abode of the Witch of Plum Hollow sits empty, ravaged by time and vandals. . However for three generations of Joynt women, descendants of Mother Barnes, a visit to the tiny cabin shortly before Halloween proved a sentimental journey of sorts. Lera Joynt, daughter Carol, 11-year-old Susan Joynt and Lisa Joynt, 14, had varied reactions to the forlorn cottage.
“I recall Grandpa Samuel Barnes telling of hitching up the horses for the long ride from Smiths Falls to Plum Hollow,” Lera reminisced. Sam, one of Barnes’ nine children, was a blacksmith and mayor of Smiths Falls in 1906. Her daughter Carol felt a strong bond with her famous ancestor. Mother Barnes ‘gift’ to foresee the future appeared in every generation, she said. Lisa and Susan, daughters of Witch of Plum Hollow Painted by Henry Vyfinkel well-known farmer and auctioneer John Joynt, were fascinated. With visions of bats, broomsticks and black cats racing through their heads, they gingerly tip-toed through the debris. “There’s an old piece of wood in here that’s marked made in 1805,” Susan called out excitedly. Lisa reported with disappointment the rickety old stairs were gone. “I’ll come back in my old clothes and climb up there,” she told her grandmother. “I want to see the room where Mother Barnes read the tea leaves for all those people.” Lera Joynt’ disapproves of the dubious title of witch applied to her ancestor. “We don’t like it at all. Her kindly advice and honest predictions helped countless numbers of people.” . -1 Over at Plum Hollow Cheese factory, Claude Flood explains why he and his late wife Ella erected a monument to Mother Barnes in nearby Sheldon Cemetery.
“During the SO years I made cheese here people were always coming in with stories about Mother Barnes. Lera Joynt and other family members felt the same. Some years ago, they purchased the two acres with its original cabin, its apple trees, tumble-down barn and abandoned well. Lera and husband Percy re-shingled, the roof and cleaned up the grounds when they took over the property but it hasn’t weathered the years very well. Weeds have taken over, the roof sinks in and vandals have removed the original pine doors and smashed the windows. The Witch of Plum Hollow has. served as title for a book by Thad Leavitt now out of print a musical show produced in Toronto and an oil painting by area artist Henry VyfinkeL The huge painting dominates his studio near Brockville. “When I read that the last man hung in Brockville had been convicted of murder through her police assistance,” Vyfinkel recalled, “I believed there was something to what they were saying about her.” A seventh daughter of a seventh daughter, Mother Barnes was born Jane Elizabeth Martin in the County of Cork, Ireland, in November, 1800. She was the daughter of an Irish landowner of English descent who was a colonel in the British Army, and of an Irish woman of Spanish gypsy descent.
Although her father had arranged a marriage for her to a colonel friend of wealth and distinction, 20-year-old Elizabeth eloped on the night of her wedding with a ‘Canadian army sergeant, Robert Joseph Harrison. Disowned by her parents, the couple sailed to America where Elizabeth bore a son and became a widow at 27. Several years later, she married shoemaker David Barnes, had six sons and three daughters and moved to Sheldon’s Corners near Plum Hollow in 1843. David left Elizabeth and several of the children to live in Smiths Falls with his son Sam, a blacksmith and Mother Barnes turned to fortune-telling to support the family. No explanation has ever been heard by the family as to why David walked out and his grave has never been located. Mother Barnes success brought her fame and she moved to the small cabin near Lake Eloida. Countless stories are passed along of her predictions but the one referred to by artist Vyfinkel is perhaps the most famous.
A local law enforcement officer consulted her regarding the mysterious disappearance of an English immigrant named Hunter. His friend reported the immigrant drowned, leading a search party to Charleston Lake without success. The story goes that Mother Barnes told the constable the man’s body was hidden under a fallen tree, partly submerged in water. The body was found and the friend charged with murder, found guilty and hanged in Brockville. Elizabeth Barnes was 91 when she died, leaving seven children and a legacy of love
Reenactor Elaine Farley presents—Who was Mother Barnes??Beckwith Township Municipal Complex-Lanark County Genealogical Society–April 7 MONTHLY GATHERING- 1:30 pm to 3:30 pm. ONLY 100 SEATS Available!!!
Elaine Farley will highlight research about local legend Elizabeth Barnes the Witch of Plum Hollow and debunk some myths about her.
Clipped from Vancouver Daily World, 18 Oct 1889, Fri, Page 1
Elaine Farley photo and text “Mother Barnes lived in this area and was known as a “seeer”. Her log cabin is privately owned in Sheldon’s Corners/Plum Hollow”
Where?
Beckwith Township Municipal Complex–ONLY 100 SEATS Available!!!
1702 9th Line Beckwith Carleton Place April 7 MONTHLY GATHERING
1:30-3:30
Appreciated to help cover the cost of refreshments at the meeting or help cover the cost of this event.
All are welcome—a five dollar donation is appreciated
lindaseccaspina 
