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Harrison D. Barrett Memorial Church, NSAC
Harrison D. Barrett History
The following is from a talk given by Denise Webber of the
Harrison D. Barrett Memorial Church of Bangor, Maine, given at
the annual church service at Harrison D. Barrett Park in Caanan
Maine on October 24, 1999.
"I feel very privileged to be here
today to honor someone
who is a hero to me, and certainly to many other
Spiritualists, Harrison D. Barrett.
A couple of years ago, I began my
official journey into
this wonderful religion, we call Spiritualism. Harrison D.
Barrett immediately caught my interest since the church that
I became a member of, was named after him. HDB seemed to be
a mystery. I found very little information about him, and
so, I decided to make him my hobby. My goal was to find out
as much as possible about Mr. Barrett and then make up an
informational photo album on him so that everyone who was
curious and/or interested could learn more about him. The
search has not been easy, and it is far from over...but here
is what I've compiled...I hope that you will find Mr.
Harrison D. Barrett to be as interesting as I do, and I hope
that you will learn something new about him today, as well.
Harrison D. Barrett was born on April
26th, 1863 or 1864
(depending upon the information that you are looking at) to
Lucetta and Levi Barrett, in Canaan, Maine. He had 5
sisters; Ivaletta, Lucille, Viola, Lucette, and Ollie. He
attended Bloomfield Academy and Lewiston High School. The
college that he graduated from was the Meadville Unitarian
Theological Seminary in Pennsylvania in 1889.
Although Mr. Barrett was now an ordained
Unitarian
Minister, he found himself unable to resolve the conflict of
religious concepts that faced him. He had been interested
in
Spiritualism since the age of seventeen, and in his mind it
was impossible to reconcile the religion of Spiritualism with
the beliefs of the Unitarian Church. He felt that the best
way to solve the problem was to leave them both. He did so,
and resumed his teaching career in public schools.
Then his sister "Ollie" passed to
spirit at the age of
twelve and he grieved severely. It was at this time that he
heard several raps. He called out, "Ollie, is that
you?"
Three raps were heard. He knew Ollie still lived. He
became
a dedicated Spiritualist from that day forth.
On October 13th, 1897 Harrison married
Margarite Coffyn.
At that time he was also the editor of the Spiritualist
paper, "The Banner of Light" and his wife became the
assistant editor.
Mr. Barrett's mediumship unfolded at
Camp Etna, here in
Maine. He became the president of Camp Etna and was a
welcome worker at all the early Camps. He was an
excellent
platform worker; presenting a pleasing voice and an
analytical mind that his audiences seemed never to tire of.
It has been told how he would walk the 25 miles from Canaan
to Camp Etna, barefoot , with his shoes over his shoulders in
order to present himself polished and prepared for his
appointment with Spirit. His wonderful mediumship and his
deep resonant voice made him a splendid missionary and he
traveled all over the United States many times without funds
and with cardboard in his own shoes.
Mr. Barrett was a writer as well as a
speaker and worker
for Spiritualism. His best-known book, "Pantheistic
Idealism" expresses beautifully his ideas of life and
religion. He was also the author of "The Life and Work
of
Cora L.V. Richmond," and with the help of A.W. McCoy,
published, "Cassadaga...It's History and It's
Teachings."
He was known as a man of marked
character, possessed
with intense nervous energy and intellect, but with a lack of
poise. He was said to be delicate as a woman and that he
had
all of the refinement of that sex, combined with a tremendous
amount of masculine energy. He was an orator, poet and
politician combined.
He was also the democratic candidate for
the
Massachusetts General Court in 1900 in the Seventh Norfolk
County district (as a side bar: Mr. Barrett ran a good race
but was defeated by the republican majority in his district.)
He was also one of the candidates for the State Senate from
Somerset County here in Maine.
Harrison and his wife Margarite had two
children: one
daughter that passed at an early age and is buried at Camp
Etna, and one son.
In 1893, Mr. Barrett helped form the
National
Spiritualist Association of Churches. At about this same
time, he gained a national reputation when he came to the aid
of a Spiritualist on trial for practicing witchcraft or
fortune telling.
In court, a judge told Mr. Barrett that
if he could
prove to him that Spiritualism was a true religion, that if
he had a creed or definite form of religious organization,
that it might be possible to free the woman. Mr. Barrett
immediately asked for a recess of the court.
In the ante-room he wrote the first
three declarations
of our Principles. These became the fundamental statements
of our beliefs as an Organization. Because of this quick
action on his part, the medium was released and a new
religious organization was born.
As President of the newly formed
organization, Mr.
Barrett not only encouraged the establishment of a national
religious body of Spiritualists, but expressed the thought
that mediums should have a federal charter for their
protection.
For a number of years, Harrison and
Margarite made their
home in Boston, but they spent the latter part of their lives
together in California. Margarite passed to spirit while in
California, at about 1909. A few months later, Harrison
returned to his early home, here in Canaan.
Mr. Barrett seemed to be plagued with
illness for much
of his life. For two years, while in Oregon, he was so ill,
that he deemed himself an invalid and was cared for by Mr.
and Mrs. Pippy. After an illness of 14 months, at the age
of
47, on January 11th or 12th (again depending upon which piece
of history you're looking at), in 1911, Mr. Harrison D.
Barrett passed into the Spirit World, and his earthly remains
were buried here in Canaan. Mr. Barrett's Spirit was
strong,
but his earthly body, seemed to be weak. In his final will
and testament, written just 5 months before his passing, Mr.
Barrett wrote: "To all who may know me I bequeath a
kind and
loving thought, and urge the men and women of the nation to
see to it that they possess themselves of sound health by
building strong bodies and clear analytical minds; or
anything appertaining thereto, for with sound health all else
will be added unto them."
In Mr. Barrett's will, I also learned a
few other
interesting and possibly eye-opening facts.
First of all, the will was 7 pages
long...which is
considered to be "lengthily" by most standards. So,
he was a
true orator...right to the end!
Also, Mr. Barrett seems to have been an
extremely
precise and stubborn man. In his will, he remarked about
the
manuscript that he passed out in triplicate (one to his
mother, and the two others to close friends) giving specific
instructions on how to handle his funeral arrangements and
service. It stated who was to conduct the service, who
would
lead the singing, and what songs were to be sung.
The gold chain and pocket watch that you
may have seen
him pictured with, was given to him by his Uncle Harrison,
his namesake, whom he dearly loved. Mr. Barrett also
possessed and bequeathed an onyx ring with 14 diamonds in the
shape of the letter "B".
Another thing that I noticed was that
Mr. Barrett's son
was not at all mentioned in his will...not even as a living
relative...yet, his son was mentioned in his obituary as
living "out west". Was this a "typo" or
deliberate? One can
only guess at this point.
This "hobby" of mine has
turned into a true "quest" to
find out who Mr. Harrison D. Barrett was. This interesting
search has not only answered some questions, but it has also
revealed many more mysteries that I hope to unravel.
What I believe that I have learned the
most so far, is
how HDB was very much like you and me. He had his share of
tragedy, loss and rough times. He had strengths,
weaknesses,
virtues and shortcomings. Yet, inside his weak body was his
special, strong Spirit that desired to share his gifts and
talents with the world...all in the name of growing
Spiritualism!
I would like to personally thank Mr.
Harrison D. Barrett
for all that he did and all that he still continues to do to
promote Spiritualism. I would also like to thank his
sister,
Ollie, for the instrumental role she played in his life.
Without Ollie's spirit raps, who knows which path HDB would
have taken.
In closing, I'd like to leave you with
the words of
Harrison D. Barrett and his thoughts on Spiritualism:
"It
gives us the phenomena, the science, the philosophy; which,
when blended in oneness, give to the world at last a religion
that is probably both by induction and deduction, by
scientific demonstration and spiritual revelation. It is a
religious science and a scientific religion, a religious
philosophy and a philosophical religion. It gives to the
world knowledge of the future, and has no negatives or
speculations to offer to those who investigate its sublime
teachings. The theologian and Christian say, 'I believe,'
the agnostic says, 'I don't know,' while the materialist
affirms annihilation of man's consciousness at the change
called death. Spiritualism has one answer to all these
speculations, and in two words solves the difficult problem
of all mankind, saying, 'I know.'"
Denise Webber
Harrison D. Barrett
Memorial Church
Bangor, Maine
October 24, 1999
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