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Harold Town	Life & Work by Gerta Moray
Early Years Career Start Painters Eleven The St. Lawrence Seaway Mural A Modern Art Scene for Canada Toronto Celebrity Backlash A Canadian Loyalist Seclusion and Retrospect
KEY WORKS
Day Neon Dixon Passing Tree Zoo Music Behind Paper Monster Bacchante Threatened Inoutscape Tyranny of the Corner In Memory of Pearl McCarthy Enigma No. 9 Festival Silent Light No. 11 Snap No. 17 Toy Horse No. 184 Spengler Writing The Decline of the West Stages No. 8
SIGNIFICANCE & CRITICAL ISSUES
Action Painting Rating Town Town and Theory Anticipating Postmodernism Legacy
STYLE & TECHNIQUE
Early Gestural Abstraction "Big Attack" Paintings Single Autographic Prints Collage, Assemblage, and Sculpture Works on Paper Series Paintings Paintings of the 1980s
SOURCES & RESOURCES
Key Exhibitions Writings Film Critical Interpretations Further Reading
WHERE TO SEE
Art Gallery of Ontario McMaster Museum of Art Museum London National Gallery of Canada Robert McLaughlin Gallery University of Lethbridge Art Gallery Vancouver Art Gallery
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Harold Town (1924–1990) was a brilliant figure in Canadian art from the 1950s to the 1980s. A founding member of the Abstract Expressionist group Painters Eleven, Town went on to explore a variety of media and styles. International acclaim for his 1950s prints was followed by Toronto shows where his paintings fetched record prices and ignited a new local art scene. From the late 1960s Town fell from critical favour but continued to produce trail-blazing work.
Harold Town, Seated Nude, 1944, oil on canvas, 96.8 x 65.9 cm, Robert McLaughlin Gallery, Oshawa.
Harold Town, Don Quixote, 1948, oil on Masonite, 122.2 x 38.7 cm, Robert McLaughlin Gallery, Oshawa.
Harold Town's artistic career was shaped by the rapid postwar development of his hometown, Toronto. The physical and social environment of that city—and the conditions it offered for the exhibition, sale, and reception of his art—are key to understanding the shifts in his production and in his reputation.
Town was born in Toronto in 1924 and grew up in the west end, in the Village of Swansea, where his father worked as a railway conductor. From childhood he was obsessed with drawing; his mother allowed him to use the enamel-topped kitchen table as his canvas. As a student at Western Technical-Commercial School, Town specialized in art, and his imagination was fired by studies of Renaissance art history and the Old Masters. He attended the Ontario College of Art (OCA; now OCAD University) from 1942 to 1944 but found the teaching there uninspiring.
As an OCA student Town received free admission to the Art Gallery of Toronto (now the Art Gallery of Ontario). He felt challenged by the achievements of great artists of the past. At age twenty he could emulate the work of Edgar Degas (1834–1917), though with a contemporary twist, as exemplified in his work Seated Nude, 1944. He resolved to master every aspect of figure drawing by the age of thirty.
The Royal Ontario Museum was an even greater source of inspiration. Town marvelled at the Oriental prints and ceramics, the grandeur of the Mesopotamian and Egyptian antiquities acquired by archaeologist C.T. Currelly, and the suits of European and samurai armour. This exposure gave him what he came to see as a global horizon, and it inspired his work as a commercial artist and his first experiments in abstraction.
Harold Town with his mother, c. 1940.
A drawing by Town in the comic book style, which appeared in his 1942 Western Technical-Commercial School yearbook.
In his early painting Don Quixote, 1948, the knight is shown mounted on his rickety steed and compressed into a shallow faceted space, as Town riffs on both Cubism and the decorative patterning of European armour. In contrast, his early monoprint Soldier Leading Horse, 1953, renders a classical heroic subject with extreme simplicity and deliberate naivety, showing Town's early grasp of the expressive potential of diverse styles.
Town's work was inspired by his interest in the historical and the literary, but throughout his career he also drew on interests developed during his Toronto boyhood: the intertwining of industry and nature in the Toronto landscape; comic books (he landed a summer job at Double A Comics but was dismissed for adding too much detail in his drawings); and the cinema, where his job as an usher left him a passionate film buff.
Town began his artistic career in commercial illustration, as many artists did at the time. He credited it with instilling a discipline that would sustain his whole artistic production. In commissions from Imperial Oil, he transformed the company's oil refineries into abstract images; in 1954 he was interviewed by the Imperial Oil Review for his views on contemporary abstraction. Through this commercial work he became a close friend of Oscar Cahén (1916–1956), an artist of German and Jewish extraction who had trained and worked in Dresden, Prague, and London and who, after wartime deportation to Canada, became known as one of the country's best illustrators. Another important early mentor was Albert Franck (1899–1973), an older immigrant artist from Holland who painted scenes of Toronto's back lanes. Franck's job as a picture framer at Eaton's College Street Fine Art Gallery allowed him to help Town and other emerging artists by placing their work in shows at the gallery.
The cover for the Imperial Oil Review, 1954, designed by Harold Town.
A Maclean's cover designed by Oscar Cahén, Town's mentor, who like Town worked as an illustrator for much of his early career while making art.
By the early 1950s the wider world of modern art was at last reaching Toronto. A large survey exhibition in 1949 at the Art Gallery of Toronto, Contemporary Paintings from Great Britain, France and the United States, included the semi-abstract images of Britain's neo-Romantic painters like Graham Sutherland (1903–1980) and current work by New York's Abstract Expressionists. Canadian artists Jock Macdonald (1897–1960) and Alexandra Luke (1901–1967) were bringing the teachings of Hans Hofmann (1880–1966) to their colleagues, and individual experiments with abstraction were set to coalesce into a local movement.
Painters Eleven
Town would play an important role in Toronto's emerging Abstract Expressionist movement, coining the name of the group Painters Eleven for their first show at the Roberts Gallery in 1954. The initiative to organize this heterogeneous, cross-generational group, which united to demand serious attention for abstraction in Ontario, came from Alexandra Luke and William Ronald (1926–1998). However, it was Town who wrote the statements for their catalogues. When Ronald moved to New York in 1955 and in 1957 resigned from the group, Town became the leading artist among Painters Eleven in terms of international and museum recognition for his work.
Town's first success came with an innovative form of monotype that he developed in 1953, which he called "single autographic prints." These prints caught the eye of gallery owner Douglas Duncan, who presented Town's first Toronto solo show at the Picture Loan Society in 1954. Two prints were immediately acquired by the National Gallery of Canada. In 1956 three more prints were acquired by the Art Gallery of Toronto, and the National Gallery chose Town's single autographic prints to represent Canada at the 1956 Venice Biennale, alongside paintings by Jack Shadbolt (1909–1998) and sculpture by Louis Archambault (1915–2003).
Painters Eleven in 1957, photographed by Peter Croydon. Left to right: Tom Hodgson, Alexandra Luke, Harold Town, Kazuo Nakamura, Jock Macdonald, Walter Yarwood, Hortense Gordon, Jack Bush, and Ray Mead. Missing from the photo are Oscar Cahén, who died in 1956 but is represented by the two paintings, and William Ronald, whose absence is marked by the three paintings that face the wall.
Town was also quickly acknowledged in Montreal, being offered a solo show in 1957 at Galerie L'Actuelle, recently opened by Guido Molinari (1933–2004). As home of the Automatistes, Montreal had already produced a succession of abstract movements, and Town's favourable reception there would continue throughout his career.
A certificate presented to Town for his participation in the Milan Triennale, 1957.
The National Gallery included Town's works in other international exhibitions—in the Smithsonian Institution's Canadian Abstract Paintings show that toured the United States in 1956–57, and in 1957 the Milan Triennale, the Ljubljana International Print Biennale (which awarded him an honourable mention) and the Bienal de São Paulo (where he won the Arno Prize for graphic art). By 1957 he had had solo painting shows in Toronto, Ottawa, and Montreal, and he was invited to show with Paul-Émile Borduas (1905–1960) at the Arthur Tooth & Sons Gallery in London, England.
That same year William Ronald arranged for the influential New York critic Clement Greenberg to visit Toronto and give studio critiques to the members of Painters Eleven. Town and his friend Walter Yarwood (1917–1996), another member of the group, declined to contribute toward Greenberg's expenses; Town saw no need for Greenberg's counsel. He wrote of abstract art in the 1957 Painters Eleven catalogue: "Painting is now a universal language; what in us is provincial will provide the colour and the accent; the grammar, however, is part of the world." His horizons, he believed, were already international, and he was determined to prove that significant new art could arise in Toronto.
The St. Lawrence Seaway Mural
Town's career escalated as Toronto transformed into a modern city. In 1958 the ultra-modern design by Finnish architect Viljo Revell (1910–1964) was selected for the new city hall. Architect John C. Parkin (1911–1975)—who worked on the construction of Toronto City Hall and, during the 1960s, on the Toronto-Dominion Bank towers designed by Mies van der Rohe (1886–1969)—led younger Toronto architects into international modernism. Public and corporate-sponsored art was on the rise. Nevertheless, in 1958 it was a startling coup for the thirty-four-year-old Town to win the commission for a large mural (3 x 11.3 metres) for Ontario Hydro's Robert H. Saunders Generating Station on the St. Lawrence Seaway at Cornwall.
Harold Town's mural at the Ontario Hydro Generating Station on the St. Lawrence Seaway, commissioned in 1958.
Town threw himself into the challenge with élan, creating bristling mechanical forms and scooping curves that drew on his observations of work at the site. The mural symbolizes the clash between the forces of nature and the human intellect in "the bold remaking of a piece of the earth in Canada," as reported by Pearl McCarthy, art critic of the Globe and Mail.
A brochure for Harold Town's mural at the Ontario Hydro Generating Station on the St. Lawrence Seaway.
Newspapers published photographs of Town leaping into the air to apply paint to this vast canvas, like some reincarnated Jackson Pollock (1912–1956), while Liberal MPP Arthur Reaume ensured the mural's notoriety by protesting the $10,000 price tag. Town's mural exemplified Canada's ability to generate a heroic, locally engaged Abstract Expressionism—a radical departure from the well-groomed elegance of the figurative murals by York Wilson (1907–1984), such as those commissioned for the foyers of the Imperial Oil Building (1957) and the O'Keefe Centre for the Performing Arts (1959–60).
A Modern Art Scene for Canada
By the late 1950s the growing concentration of wealth in Toronto set off a local art boom. The members of Painters Eleven, with their bohemian lifestyles, had delivered a jolt to their famously dull and puritanical hometown. Openings at art galleries drew large, socially mixed audiences and regular press commentary. New dealers were emerging, willing to show young experimental artists and groom upcoming local art patrons. Barry Kernerman, whose Gallery of Contemporary Art lasted for four years, gave Town his first solo painting show in 1957. Helene Arthur, with her Upstairs Gallery (later the Mazelow Gallery), the venerable Laing Galleries, and Jerrold Morris, who opened the Jerrold Morris International Gallery in 1962, would each hold a stake in Town's work.
A pamphlet for Harold Town's exhibition at the Jordan Gallery in Toronto in 1959.
Lively interest in abstract art was spreading across Canada, generating debates on the relative merits of the art scenes in Montreal, Toronto, and Vancouver. The Biennial Exhibition of Canadian Painting, initiated at the National Gallery in 1955 with the appointment of Alan Jarvis as director, was an arena for such competitive jostling. Town's work was prominent there and also at various American biennials and international shows to which the National Gallery sent Canadian selections. A high point came in 1964, when Town was invited to represent Canada for a second time at the Venice Biennale and was selected as one of 361 leading world artists by the curators of Documenta 3 in Kassel, Germany.
Toronto Celebrity
In 1961 Town had made the cover of Maclean's, and the following year the Toronto Telegram Weekend Magazine carried a two-part feature by his friend Jock Carroll, which included anecdotes about Town's outrageous exploits. When Town's work was shown in Europe in 1964, he became a local hero at home.
Harold Town on the cover of Maclean's magazine, December 1961.
Harold Town featured in the issue's provocative article "The Overnight Bull Market in Modern Art".
The press was fascinated both by his notoriety as a dandy and party animal and by his reputed earning power as "the hottest sales property in English-speaking Canada. By 1965 his large canvases were fetching up to $4,000, a record price for contemporary Canadian work, and he was dubbed the "artist with a tax problem. In 1969 he was on the cover of the Canadian edition of Time magazine. Throughout the decade he was referred to as "synonymous with art in Toronto" or "Canada's most famous artist."
Town's success could not have happened had he not been prodigiously talented, hard-working, and motivated. He spent days and nights in his studios, producing an expanding range of works in different media: ever larger canvases, collages that expanded on the style and ideas explored in his single autographic prints, and successive new series of prints and drawings.
Harold Town with his paintings at the Mazelow Gallery in Toronto in 1967, photographed by John Reeves.
His large canvases of the early 1960s precipitated frenzies of acquisition by corporate and private patrons, first at the Laing Galleries in 1961 and then at Town's famous double openings in 1966 and 1967, when he launched distinct bodies of work simultaneously at the Mazelow Gallery and at the Jerrold Morris International Gallery. Young newspaper critics found his work exciting to decode, and Robert Fulford and Elizabeth Kilbourn became keen champions, reviewing his shows and contributing exhibition catalogue essays. Town rented a second studio unit in the historic Studio Building, at 25 Severn Street, which Lawren Harris (1885–1970) helped build for the Group of Seven.
Town and Janet Barker at an Art Gallery of Ontario reception in 1967, photographed by John Reeves.
In 1961 Town became an established member of Toronto's cultural elite when he was invited to join the exclusive (and oddly spelled) Sordsmen's Club. Defined in its charter as "devoted exclusively to the pursuit of pleasure, superb food, fine wine, exceptional women, and conversational excellence," the club was limited to fifteen permanent members, including author and broadcaster Pierre Berton, publisher Jack McClelland, architect John C. Parkin, Alan Jarvis (then editor of Canadian Art magazine and national director of the Canadian Conference of the Arts), and CBC TV producer Ross McLean. Through the Sordsmen he made close and influential friendships that generated invitations to publish newspaper columns, create art books, and appear on radio talk shows and in TV interviews.
With his sharp wit, conversational skills, and wide reading, Town defended abstract art in the face of Canada's conservatism, wrote book reviews for the Globe and Mail, and contributed a regular cultural column to Toronto Life magazine during 1966–71. He became engaged in the conflicts that attended the rapid pace of urban development. Town supported Mayor Phil Givens, who led the public fundraising campaign to purchase the sculpture by Henry Moore (1898–1986) now in front of City Hall and acquired contemporary Toronto canvases for the building's interior (a large Town was hung behind Givens's desk). He protested against the inroads of the automobile and the destruction of Toronto's historic buildings; he contributed posters for the 1969 campaign opposing the Spadina Expressway and for reformer David Crombie's 1972 mayoral campaign and bid to save Toronto's neighbourhoods.
Harold Town with his daughters Heather and Shelley in 1966, photographed by John Reeves.
Town cherished his own Toronto neighbourhoods: the Swansea of his boyhood, the Gerrard Street Village of his fledgling artist days, and finally South Rosedale. In 1961 he established a family home at 9 Castle Frank Crescent with his wife, Trudie, a librarian. Town's daughter Shelley recalls that she or her sister Heather would phone their father when supper was nearly ready. (Town had home studios, but his larger studio on Severn Street was a short walk away through the Rosedale ravine.)
Town's stock was still high in Canada in 1967 when his work was included in all the national centennial art projects of that year and he was awarded a Centennial Medal. He had been granted an honorary doctorate by York University in 1966 and was made an Officer of the Order of Canada in 1968. He was beginning to be framed as part of the establishment, a target for the barbs of a younger generation of artists. In 1968 Iain Baxter (b. 1936), under the pseudonym of his art collective N.E. Thing Co., exhibited Dark, Four-Handled Carrying Case for Harold Town's "Optical" at the 7th Biennial Exhibition of Canadian Painting at the National Gallery, alongside works titled Bagged Rothko and Extended Noland.
A gradual shift in Town's reputation began in the mid-1960s. Developments in art and art criticism had moved away from the Abstract Expressionism within which his work had won international recognition. In 1964 the international reputation of fellow Painters Eleven member Jack Bush (1909–1977) was launched by Clement Greenberg, who included him in his exhibition Post Painterly Abstraction, at the Los Angeles County Museum of Art. At the same time, counter-currents that Greenberg did not favour, Neo-Dada and Pop art, were opening art into the worlds of new media and commercial production. Younger Toronto artists Michael Snow (b. 1928) and Joyce Wieland (1930–1998) spent most of the 1960s living in New York, partaking in the Pop art, Conceptual, and Minimalist movements there.
Harold Town, Untitled (Crescent), 1961, bronze, 20.3 x 19.1 x 5.1 cm, Thielsen Gallery, London, Ontario.
Canadian critics became anxious about the plurality of Town's art practices—drawing, printmaking, painting, and even excursions into sculpture (he attended workshops in metal sculpture in 1960–61 and exhibited in Canadian Sculpture Today at the Dorothy Cameron Gallery in Toronto in 1964). Negative commentary began to focus on his policy of remaining in Toronto. When Town chose not to attend the Venice Biennale where his work represented Canada in 1964, critic Paul Duval accused him of cutting himself off from the greater art world.
A further rebuke came in 1970 from National Gallery curator Dennis Reid, who in an article discussed "the problem of staying in Toronto," stating that the only continuing achievements by former members of Painters Eleven came from the two artists whose inspiration originated in New York: Jack Bush and William Ronald (1926–1998). This turned into an escalating dispute in the press, as Town, who was well read in the art criticism and debates of the time, lambasted the curators of the National Gallery and the Art Gallery of Ontario for what he saw as their subservience to New York fashions.
A Canadian Loyalist
Town was not unique in making an issue of loyalty to Canadian experience and, in his case, Toronto experience. Greg Curnoe (1936–1992) similarly refused to take his inspiration from abroad. He and Jack Chambers (1931–1978) in London, Ontario, were the leaders of a regionalist group that celebrated local landmarks and their own immediate lives, forging innovative styles to reflect on them. In Nova Scotia Alex Colville (1920–2013) imaged a realm of secluded, timeless truths. These artists offered recognizable figurative imagery of everyday, provincial worlds in Canada.
Harold Town, Enigma No. 9, 1964, brush steel pen, black and white ink on grey paper, 43.8 x 66.3 cm, estate of Harold Town.
Town's Toronto, however, was an emerging metropolis with all its attendant pretensions and excesses as a corporate and cultural centre. Town's work addressed this environment in moods ranging between celebration, skepticism, and satire. He emphasized drawing as central to his inspiration—though this was not a medium considered central in the modernist hierarchy. In 1964 the exhibition of his Enigma drawings and their publication in book form aroused ambivalence: they demonstrated his indisputable mastery of a venerable medium but disturbed with their nightmarish satire of contemporary life.
As the 1960s waned, Town was aware that while other Canadian artists were beginning to win international notice, interest outside Canada in his own work was drying up. He continued to show his work abroad, but with diminishing success. With the dominance now of big-name critics and curators, and the plurality of new art movements, Town no longer played a leading role.
Seclusion and Retrospect
Town continued to produce large-scale painting series during the 1970s and 1980s, each time setting up a pictorial concept and strategy and exploring it through scores or even hundreds of works. He continued to receive press notice, to sell his work to a committed Toronto following, and to receive invitations to show in galleries across Canada.
Although his gallery launches now were less frequent, they were still calculated for dramatic effect. In 1969 a large retrospective show of drawings mounted by the Mazelow Gallery coincided with the publication of Robert Fulford's book Harold Town: Drawings and toured to many Canadian cities the following year. In November 1970 his first painting exhibition in Toronto in three years—presenting the Silent Lights, Stretches, and Parks series—was held at the newly completed Ontario Place.
Harold Town, Rudolf Valentino, 1971, lithograph, ed. 3/114, 35.6 x 50.8 cm, Gallery Gevik, Toronto.
After another three years' interval, the Robert McLaughlin Gallery in Oshawa unveiled the Snaps series, some new Parks, and the Vale Variations at Harold Town: The First Exhibition of New Work, 1969–73. In the meantime Town fulfilled the 1960s dream of making his art available to a broad popular audience with the publication of a book of drawings, Silent Stars, Sound Stars, Film Stars (1971). His introduction was a witty analysis of the changing culture of cinema and of the way his generation had used the movies to fashion their identities.
As major Canadian museums gave retrospectives to Michael Snow and Jack Chambers (at the Art Gallery of Ontario in 1969 and 1970, respectively) and major solo shows to N.E. Thing Co. and Joyce Wieland (at the National Gallery in 1969 and 1971), the omission of a Town retrospective was noted in the press. In part the slight was due to his own contrariness: William Withrow, director of the Art Gallery of Ontario, proposed a show to him in the late 1960s, an offer that was withdrawn when Town made it clear he expected control of the selection and presentation of the works. Town's disputes with the curatorial establishment escalated when he insisted on choosing which of his works were to be shown in the National Gallery's 1972 show Toronto Painting: 1953–1965, organized by Dennis Reid, and when he attacked that exhibition in the press for what he saw as its shortcomings.
Gary Michael Dault, in his review of a 1975 Town retrospective at the Art Gallery of Windsor, summed up the dilemma Town presented to a younger generation: "In order to think realistically about his art, you have to steer through his obsessive radio-active energy, his brilliant though sometimes hysterical writing, his memorable talk, his Byronic glamour, his defensiveness, and his Faustian belief in himself.
Harold Town in his Old Orchard Farm studio in 1983, photographed by John Reeves.
In 1976 Town purchased Old Orchard Farm, just outside Peterborough, Ontario. The large farmhouse and its outbuildings provided him with several studios—space to make large paintings, to experiment with assemblage and cut papers, and to store his collection of materials and ephemera. Town finally received a retrospective at the Art Gallery of Ontario in 1986 but was dramatically absent from its opening owing to an operation for bowel cancer. The accompanying catalogue, by the show's curator, David Burnett, was a substantial critical study. Unfortunately the exhibition itself was crowded with too many works, at Town's insistence, and did little to revive his reputation within the art establishment.
Harold Town, Toy Horse No. 184, 1979, ink and acrylic on paper, 73.6 x 92.7 cm, private collection.
Harold Town, Toy Horse, 1980, mixed media on paper, 61 x 76.2 cm, estate of Harold Town.
Town continued to produce new work: his Toy Horse series, a painting series he called Stages, and a group of large abstract canvases he called Edge Paintings. During the 1980s he no longer had a regular Toronto dealer, and his shows were fewer. A rare major commission came to him in 1987 as part of the Cineplex Odeon Art Commission Program, impresario Garth Drabinsky's project to place major works of contemporary Canadian art in movie houses. Town delivered a set of drawings of movie stills and two enormous canvases for the lobby of the Universal City Cinemas in Los Angeles.
In 1988 Town's cancer returned, and he died in 1990. He was sixty-six. His death elicited tributes from newer supporters, such as Christopher Hume, and from stalwarts Robert Fulford and Pierre Berton, who wrote: "Town was a great artist with an insatiable intellect. Curator David Burnett indicated the challenge that Town's legacy posed: "The heart of Town's work does not lie in his response to Abstract Expressionism in the 1950s or, later, in his reaction against the numbing conformity of formalist abstraction…. Our response to his death must be to begin the process of understanding his achievement as a totality, of facing all of his work in the present.
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Gerta Moray is a Professor Emerita of the University of Guelph, where she taught art history in the School of Fine Art and Music from 1989 to 2005.
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The NDPS act has been amended after much struggle by a dedicated group of palliative care specialists. Their consistent effort, culminating in the amendment of the act, would undoubtedly benefit millions of cancer pain sufferers. If we are to be a nation which makes meaning in compassionate, constructive and just ways, we should be proud of their efforts. The uniform system of licensing of morphine, wherein the single window clearance comes into effect, would make morphine available and accessible for the many. In five to seven years time, with the entry of private manufacturers, the production of morphine in India is expected to surge from 250kg/year to 30,000kg/year. This increased production and easy availability, we all wish, should reach people who are truly in need. But, there is no guarantee that this would be the case.
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Jill Ann Rudzewick-Vik Passes Away
Jill Ann Rudzewick-Vik, 46, passed away Thursday, June 7, after a battle with cancer.
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Cecelia "Granny Cil" Arrowood Barrett(1835-1917)
Posted by Thomas Barrett on February 8, 2020 at 12:13am
Cecelia "Granny Cil" Arrowood Barrett
Cecelia Arrowood Barrett or "Granny Cil" as she is known to her descendants, is a unique woman who is very well known in the local genealogical community as being a common progenitor for several of the modern family lines in the Towns County, Georgia area. Down through the years she has been the subject of many family conversations ranging from humorous anecdotes to controversies that made the self sensitive older women reach for their smelling salts.....of course this is somewhat exaggerated, but not by a whole lot! If we set aside the generational small talk and examine her closer, we find that in reality she is a true testament to the rawbone grit and toughness of the English/Scots-Irish/German pioneers who settled the Appalachian Mountains throughout the 18th and 19th centuries. We also find her to be something of a tragic figure whose life was scarred by bad circumstances and choices that ultimately over time left her mentally and physically bereft. The weight of a life stricken with heaviness and hardship is best viewed through the 2 or 3 photographs of her taken about 1915.... just a couple years before her death. In them, we see her wearing a long black dress with a safety latch pin securing the top of the collar which almost seems to put forth a sense of longsuffered mourning. Her tightly pulled hair is faded to an iron gray with age and her face is hard weathered, pocked and marked with deeply cut wrinkles and sunken sockets from which her tired and hazy grey eyes stare out far beyond the camera lens to some distant point. It makes the imagination stir to think about what those eyes must have seen and experienced during the 82 years of her life in the rugged western North Carolina and northeast Georgia mountain frontier of the mid and late 19th century. It is interesting to note that nearly everything which is known about her is primarily from the early part and the last 10 years of her life whereas a substantial portion of her middle years, ranging from 1880 to about 1910 has largely been a mystery. In this biograph, we will attempt to use various records coupled with old family stories and to some degree, deductive speculation to piece together a timeline for the woman known as Cecelia "Granny Cil" Arrowood Barrett in the hopes of giving a new dimension and perspective on her life.
There is no exact date of when Cecelia was born and she did not actually know the birth date herself bu whenever queried of her age during her later years, she would always give a toothless grin and reply with,"Honey, Ah don't rightly know how old Ah am.....jes' know that Ah's 2 weeks old on that cold,cold Saturday". The "Cold Saturday" she was referring to was an event which occurred about the middle of February 1835 when the temperature dropped so much and so fast that the old timers said a bucket of water thrown into the air would freeze before it hit the ground. Supercentenarian, Frederick "Uncle Fed" Messer(1790-1909) of Haywood County, NC, allowed in a 1901 interview that he was married on the "Cold Saturday" and "it was so cold that your spit would freeze as soon as it hit the ground". The infamously cold day was actually the result of several factors converging around the same time. The earth was still in the 500 year cooling period known as the "Little Ice Age", a massive eruption from the Cosigüina volcano in Nicaragua occurred about 3 weeks earlier resulting in a 1 degree drop in the earth's temperature and a large powerful arctic weather front came blasting southward, all mixing and amassing together the ingredients that would make up the "Cold Saturday"! Cecelia was by her own admission 2 weeks old on that day, which would have placed her birth around the first few days of February 1835.
Cecelia Arrowood Barrett was born in Buncombe County, NC near the generational family settlement on the Paint Fork of Ivy River about 4 Feb 1835 and was the eldest child of Nathaniel "Big Nate"(1810-abt.1905) and Sarah Barrett Arrowood(1813-1893). Her family lived beside her maternal grandfather, David Barrett(1785-1850), who owned a large spread of land in the Paint Fork area as shown in the 1840 census. When Cecelia was around 10 years old, her grandfather sold the properties and much of the family moved from Buncombe County southeastward to Cherokee(Clay) County, NC, settling in the upper Bethabara section of Geisky Creek where they were enumerated in the 1850 census with Cecelia's family again living beside her grandfather there. Two of her uncles, Andrew(1805-1892) and John Edward(1819-1904) Barrett had moved with their families on to Union(Towns) County and were enumerated in the 1850 census there. By the mid to late 1850's, Cecelia's family would also follow suit by moving from Bethabara to Towns County settling around the Osborn section just outside the town of Hiawassee where they were living at the time of their enumeration in the 1860 census. At the time they moved to Union(Towns) County, Cecelia was around 20 years old and had 7 younger siblings by then. In the traditionally large families of the time, the eldest children were tasked with helping the mother to care for and raise the younger children and it is no doubt that Cecelia and the next two eldest sisters had assumed that role. The last move they would make together as a family came during the period between 1860 to 1863 when Nathaniel moved from near Hiawassee to the Upper Hightower section of Towns County. His name appeared on the 1864 list for the re-organized districting of the militias, as he was mustered into the 1133rd militia(CSA) of the 40th Senatorial District where he served for the duration of the Civil War. Cecelia's younger brother, Edward "Ned" Arrowood(1843-1864) would die from brain fever while serving in the CS army. Around the time the Arrowoods had made(or were making) their final move to Upper Hightower, the family had a new generational addition courtesy of Cecelia!
In 1860, Cecelia's first cousin, William Godfrey Barrett(1827-1924), had come down from Buncombe County to visit his father, Andrew Barrett who lived in the nearby area. Within a short time, William began calling on her and they soon became much more than cousins. The couple were married around the latter part of 1860 and Cecelia became with child at or before their marriage. Their son, James Marion Barrett(1861-1948), was born on June 1861 and within just a couple months after his birth, William left the family without returning. The old family stories tell of how he left to go to the mill never returning, and in the search for him all they could find was his empty mill sack hanging on a nail. Another version of the story is that he left to go fishing and when he didn't return, the search for him only turned up his can of worms and cane pole leaning against a tree. Though neither versions are true, the latter story is how William got the infamous nickname of "Fishing Bill" Barrett. So far, there has not been any official documentations found showing William and Cecelia's marriage, but she did take the Barrett name as her own and due to William's enlistment in the Confederate army, she was placed on the "Georgia Salt List" where she was able to receive a ration of salt from the state. This could only have been done by providing actual proof of her marriage to William. Most likely, the couple were married by a circuit riding preacher who filled out their certificate which has been lost over time. From this, we can see that the "going to the mill" and "going fishing" stories are just humorous tales to entertain curious inquirers over the years, but the disappearance of Fishing Bill is most likely due to the fact that at the time of his leaving, the Civil War had been ongoing for a few months and his intent was to enlist in the army in Buncombe County with those men that he knew and grew up with. He was mustered into the 60th Infantry Regiment, NC(CSA) and served in the unit with his brother-in-law, Jonathan Alexander Wilson(1838-1914). Cecelia would have obviously known of his intentions as she had later applied for the salt ration list from the state, it is just that Fishing Bill was by nature something of a nomadic, free-spirited scoundrel who happened to have another wife and child in Buncombe County at the same time. He went back to his other wife there and had gotten her pregnant with their second child just before leaving to enlist in the army. It is really a matter of putting together the "2 plus 2" pieces of the puzzle to get a picture of what happened!
After moving to Upper Hightower in the early 1860's, Cecelia's life would soon become caught up in the turmoil of fighting for survival and out of desparation having to make some of the very tough decisions that would ultimately set the rudder for the course of her life. She had no education whatsoever and from the accounts of those who knew her, there is the hint that she also may have been somewhat simpleminded. Beyond her perspective mental faculties, there was also the fact that she had no husband and was left with a young child to feed and care for. With little or no hope and her options depleted, she turned to prostituting herself out in an effort to make the ends somewhat meet. When her son, James was only about 3 years old, Cecelia had gotten pregnant by [possibly] a Moss gentleman living in the area and on Apr. 1864 gave birth to a daughter, Mary Ann [Moss]Barrett(1864-1910). The following year, she would once again become pregnant by a gentleman named Thomas B. Potter(1842-1924) who was only just recently home from his service in the U.S. cavalry in Tennessee and on 14 June 1866, she gave birth to her third child, Thomas [Potter]Barrett(1866-1954). It was somewhere around this point in time that she left her parents home, for whatever reason, be it that her lifestyle was deemed unacceptable by her immediate family and she was "blacklisted" or that her parents were becoming aged and still with a house full of the younger brothers and sisters. For one reason or another, Cecelia left home taking her young children and moved to the rugged Hall Creek section of Upper Hightower where she lived beside her aunt, Fannie Barrett Edmonds(1817-1880) and uncle, David Barrett(1832-1897) with their respective families sometime in the mid to late 1860's. The 1870 census showed her as living beside her aunt and uncle with her 3 children, and also living near to William(1843-1926) and Malinda Catherine Eller Hall(1827-1919), who owned and operated a gristmill close to the head of Hall Creek. By the early 1870's, young James was coming into his teenage years and was periodically left alone to care for his younger brother and sister while Cecelia would leave home for the stretch of a few days at a time. Their situation had been getting progressively tougher at this time because where before they could have gotten possible help from her aunt and uncle, they had all moved away to nearby Clay County, NC leaving Cecelia and her children effectively alone. In late 1873, she had gotten pregnant by a Maney man, possibly from Shooting Creek,NC, giving birth in mid-1874 to another son, Nathaniel Andrew "Nate" [Maney]Arrowood(1874-1950) and just a handful of months later, she would once again become impregnated by a Maney gentleman from [possibly] Shooting Creek giving birth in 1875 to her last child, Nancy [Maney]Arrowood(1875-1961). It has been suggested a few times before by the old timers that out of Cecelia's children, Nate and Nancy are the only "full" brother and sister.
In 1876, at the age of just 15 years, James married his 14 year old sweetheart, Mary Marinda "Rindie" Hooper(1862-1933) and in a bold move for full independence and assuming the distinguished position of "paterfamilius", James and his young wife decided to move the family to another location. The overall choice for the location of their new home was somewhat questionable because they decided to move high up on the mountain overlooking the deep cut valley from whence they came and rather than moving closer to civilization, they chose to settle at the top of a steep high mountain ridge that spurred off of the Shooting Creek Bald portion of Hightower Bald, which would eventually become known as "Barrett Mountain". There were no actual roads in this section of the county, only well worn trails previously used by the Cherokee Indians a few years before that criss-crossed through the mountains and connected the Barrett clan to the Hall Creek section below, and through Lemons Gap back into the Giesky Creek section of Bethabara,NC where some of the Barrett family still lived. A visual of the location of their homeplace may be seen on the 1903 revision of the 1897 edition topographical map for the Dahlonega,Ga. Quadrangle, as 1903 was the year that structural details were added to maps. The map shows the location as being at approximately 4,100 ft. in elevation beside the main trail just to the south and east of Lemons Gap and at a point that is pretty much equidistant from the settlements of Hall Creek in Georgia and Giesky Creek in North Carolina. The lay of the land in that immediate area along the top of the ridge was somewhat level to a slight and gradual grade, turning to very steep and near vertical on the outer sides......extremely rugged country! The structure they lived in was basically a dirt floor log cabin with no windows and only rudimentary shutters that covered the window holes. An old family story goes that the family moved into the cabin when it was completed just enough to shelter them from the weather. Rindie had only recently given birth to their first child, Haseltine Barrett Chastain(1877-1951), and during the nights, James, Rindie and Cecelia would have to take turns standing guard over the children because wolves would hear the baby crying and come around. When the cabin was finished, everyone settled in and began their new life on the mountain. The growing season was short at that altitude but they managed to grow some crops there, especially corn. James would load the sacks of corn on his back and carry them to mill. Because of the isolated location and the elevation of their homeplace, the winters could be cold and brutal with deep snows and heavy summer rains sometimes washed out the trails making it hard to get the corn to the mills on Hall Creek or Giesky Creek. Livestock would range freely on the mountain living on the abundance of chestnuts and whatever grasses were available. Another old family story about the family's early days with their new home goes that on one very cold winter day, James was splitting rails to bundle up and sale for fencing. He didn't have any shoes and could only protect his feet by wrapping them in rags. The rags would become wet and freeze to his feet and ankles, and every so often he would have to go inside to warm them by the fireplace. Cecelia would keep the fire going, unwrapping and changing the rags each time which would often be soaked in blood from his feet. She would hang them near the fireplace attempting to dry them or at least keep them warm for the next change. The pioneer life on Barrett Mountain was indeed very tough and it was at its best hardscrabble for survival!
Cecelia is not listed in any census enumerations from 1880 through 1900 which suggests that this period may have been the pinnacle of her "3 Penny-upright" days. It is known that from 1861 to 1875, she had 5 children, most(or all) by different men. It is not really known if there were other children that were either miscarried or stillborn, only that those 5 were the living, surviving children. It was said that she left home often and would stay gone, coming back a few days to a couple weeks later and it was this extended period of wandering from "pillar to post" through the rugged mountains that would leave her in a feral state and take its toll on her faculties. The last major account of her during the 19th century was that she had spent some time staying with her son, Thomas [Potter]Barrett, who in 1889 had married Henrietta Dover(1873-1948) and moved off of Barrett Mountain down to the Upper Hightower valley. About 1896, an unfortunate incident happened of Thomas killing a local drunken man with a knife which forced him and his family to quickly leave the area moving to near Mt. Currahee outside of Toccoa, Ga. It was not faring well for Cecelia after this as James had sold the land on Barrett Mountain a year before moving his family near to Hiawassee on Sunnyside while Mary Ann, Nathaniel and Nancy had all prior married and moved to other sections of the county as well, leaving Cecelia essentially alone!
After the mid-1890's, nothing is really known at all of her whereabouts or of her situation over the next 10 to nearly 15 years. It can only be figured that it was back to "business as usual" for her.....offering her body in exchange for food, shelter and other needs. James and Rindie's cabin on Barrett Mountain remained in existence for around a couple of decades after the turn of the century(as shown on the topographical maps of the period) and it is well within reason that she could have continued living there for a number of years after her children had all left. She does show up again in the Hog Creek area sometime before 1910, living near Thomas and Henrietta. Thomas and his family had moved back to Towns County from Toccoa around 1900 settling near Hiawassee. About 1905, he had bought land in the upper Hog Creek area and moved his family there. From this, the question remains of how did Cecelia manage to get from the isolated part of Upper Hightower, located near the eastern end of the county to Hog Creek which is in the north central section of the county, several miles from her former home[?]. One can speculate over the many ways and means that she could have accomplished it, but it may have been that Thomas had brought her to Hog Creek himself. It is a fact that though he was illegitimate, he did maintain an ongoing relationship with his father, who was still living on Upper Hightower and once a year, Thomas would load his family into the wagon and visit with his father for a week or longer. Most likely while visiting his father, he could have happened across Cecelia...who had been living in a wild, almost feral state for several years and being in a poor physical and mental condition by this time decided to bring her home with him. That is conjectural, of course, but it is a very likely scenario of how she made her trip across the county and was living near Thomas just before 1910.
A family story relates of how Cecelia had been living in a little place that Thomas had made for her and was in a very bad state of health. The minister from Young Harris College walked through the Crow Gap into Hog Creek one day and stopped by to see her. Upon seeing her deteriorated condition, the preacher walked down the road about a mile to the home of James and Rindie, who had also moved to Hog Creek by this time. The preacher informed James of her condition and said that something needed to be done for her. She was soon moved from the upper Hog Creek area to her daughter Nancy's house, located just across the road and fields, less than a 1/4 mile from James. After her move, her new guardians applied to the county to get her a position on the "pauper's list" which meant she could draw around 2 dollars a month.The Pauper's List petition for Cecelia was endorsed by Montraville "Mont" Burch(1837-1918), Lucius Calvin McClure(1844-1910) and Elbert Witcher Mathis(1858-1922) to the Ordinary(similar to commissioner) of the county for his approval. The petition read as follows:
~Georgia Towns County - To the Hon. Ordinary of said County. We the undersigned petitioners most respectfully petition your honor to place Sceillie("Celia") Barrett on the pauper List of said County and allow her $2.00 per month. She is not able to perfom any manual labor and there is no one to look after and care for her who is able to do so. Therefore we ask you in behalf of suffering humanity and as tax payers of said county to favorably consider this petition.
<signed>
M. Burch
L.C. McClure
E.W. Mathis
Over a short period of time, her health condition began declining to the point that she could not walk, mostly due to a measure of neglect and the decision was made to move her over to James' home. Her condition could best be described as basically being underfed, atrophied and mentally confused. James and Thomas went to their sister's home to get her after having fashioned together a type of stretcher using quilts sewn around wooden poles to carry her in. Once at James' home, the family began caring for her and nursing her back to better health. James and Thomas built her a "pole-pen" house, which is a small one room cabin using interlocking stacked wooden poles for walls and had a small porch all covered with a board shingle roof. This little house became known as the "Granny House" by everyone in the family. It was big enough for a bed with a few necessary pieces for her to live there, and being located just across the road from James, the family members could keep check on her at any given time. After a lifetime of wandering around, she finally had a little place of her own to call home.
It is at this point in this biography which we will refer to Cecelia as "Granny Cil", the name that not only her children and grandchildren, but everyone in the community came to call her as well. The period after 1910 would be her final, or "twilight" years as she was well into her 70's and physically quite frail and bent from the years of hard living, and mentally was tired and spent for the most part but was of a kind and pleasant demeanor, by the accounts of those who knew her. She would wake early every morning as one or more of her grandchildren would bring her a plate of food and build a fire for her to warm by. Being so frail and on a walking stick, she could not walk far by herself and would need someone to help lead her to and from the outhouse. With everything that she had been through in her life, she still managed to keep a sense of humor as another story tells of how a neighbor was taking his young son squirrel hunting one day. They were walking up the road and came upon Granny Cil standing in the middle of the road in front of her house, so they stopped to say hello and ask if she needed anything. One of the few pleasures she still had left in her life was that of tobacco.....both in chewing it and smoking it in her corncob pipe. She asked if he had any tobacco on him, to which he acknowledged that he did. She said to him, "Ah'll let'che grind on it fer a while if ye'll give me some t'baccer!" Apparently, "grinding" was a local(or regional) 19th century slang word for "sex", as taken from the process of grinding grist at a mill. The gentleman was taken aback by her overt proposition but calmly replied, "No, no,....hit's all right, Cil. Ah'll jest give ye some t'baccer!". After they had left her, the son asked, " Warn't 'che gonna grind on it Pap?", to which his father quickly snapped back, "Hell no! Ah'd a given her all my t'baccer first!!!!". Granny Cil lived out her final days at her little house, surrounded by family, sitting on the porch with her tobacco close at hand and greeting visitors until her death in 1917 at the age of 82 years. She was laid to rest in the original Burch Cemetery, which was located on the present day small island across from "Anderson Bridge" near Hiawassee. In 1941, The TVA began clearing the area for what would be Lake Chatuge and Cecelia, with most of the other cemetery occupants were exhumed and moved to the new Burch Cemetery on Sunnyside, Towns County, Georgia.
In looking at her life in more detail and really seeing the scope of her toughness and resolve coupled with all the tragedy, one word can be used more than any other to sum her up......."survivor". She had no education and no real working knowledge of anything in the outside world, but did whatever it took for however long in order to survive. Her life story here has been pieced together by using the concrete facts from census enumerations, tax digests and other written records, along with the many oral accounts from those people who knew her personally and a measure of deductive speculation carefully weighed from both to hammer out a timeline of her life. There is no romantic or "rose colored" portrayal here but only that which in reality makes up one's life.....the good,the bad and the ugly! You the reader may be able to speculate an even clearer picture of her life's actions and reactions as well, and are encouraged to do so but whatever your feelings are toward her, be it pride or be it shame, there is no denying that either way you will feel respect for her!
Further readings that provide excellent addendums to this piece are the detailed biographies on Cecelia Arrowood Barrett, James Marion Barrett and Nathaniel "Big Nate" Arrowood by Jerry A. Taylor in "Hearthstones of Home,Foundations of Towns County,Vol.1".
--- Marriage ---
Cecelia "Granny Cil" Arrowood(1835-1917) married William Godfrey "Fishing Bill" Barrett(1827-1924) abt. Oct. 1860 in Towns County,Ga. Cecelia is buried in the Burch Cemetery, Sunnyside, Towns County,Ga.; William is buried
in the Leicester Episcopal Church Yard Cemetery,Buncombe County,NC.
Children of William and Cecelia Barrett are:
1. James Marion Barrett was born in June 1861 in Towns County,Ga. and married Mary Marinda "Rindie" Hooper in 1876 in Towns County, Ga. He died in 1949 and is buried in Burch Cemetery,Sunnyside,Ga.
Children of James Marion and Mary Marinda Hooper are:
(1).Haseltine Barrett was born in Towns Co,GA 24 Aug 1877.She married Nelson Govan Chastain.Nelson was born 17 Jan 1870 in Towns Co, GA.
(2).Lillie Barrett was born in Towns Co, GA 8 Feb 1880.She married Jewell Victor Burch.Jewell was born 1 Mar 1873 in Towns Co, GA.
(3).James Virgil Barrett was born in Towns Co, GA 8 June 1882.He married Etta Kirby.Etta was born 29 Sept 1885 in Towns Co, GA.
(4).John H. Barrett was in Towns Co,GA in 1885. He died in 1900 in Towns Co,GA.
(5).Harrison S. Barrett was born in Towns Co, GA 8 June 1888.He married Lizzie Powell.Lizzie was born 26 Aug 1890 in Hiwassee, Towns Co, GA.
(6).Oren L. Barrett was born in Towns Co, GA 30 Sept 1889. He married Ora Burch. Ora was born 27 Feb 1895 in Towns Co, GA.
(7).Celia Barrett was born in Towns Co, GA 30 Oct 1893.She married Oren Burch. Oren was born 27 Sep 1885 in Towns Co, GA.
(8).Avery E. Barrett was born in Towns Co, GA 27 Jan 1894.He married Tassie May Sims.Tassie was born 10 May 1896 in Towns Co, GA.;He married Ola Shook on 21 Mar 1929. Ola was born 21 Feb 1912 in Towns Co,GA.
(9).Nola Jane Barrett was born in Towns Co, GA 5 April 1897.
(10).Robert Barrett was born in Towns Co, GA 28 July 1899.He married Carrie Bryson.Carrie was born 19 March 1902.
(11).William Duquesne Barrett was born in Towns Co, GA 27 Sept 1902.He married Estella Gertrude (Stella) Burch. Stella was born 2 Dec 1905 in Sunnyside,Towns Co, GA.
(12).Cicero Barrett was born in Towns County,Ga 21 Jan 1905.He married Pauline Burch on 20 Aug 1929. Pauline
was born 25 Dec 1910 in Towns Co.,Ga.
Children of Cecelia Arrowood Barrett and unknown [Moss]:
1). Mary Ann [Moss]Barrett was born in Towns County,Ga in 1864. She married John Chastain(1844-1921) on 8 Dec 1881 in Towns County, Ga. She died in 1910 in Towns County,Ga. and they are buried in Burch Cemetery on Sunnyside, Towns County,Ga.
Children of John and Mary Ann [Moss]Barrett Chastain are:
(1). Henry Burton Chastain was born in Towns County,Ga. on 4 Feb 1884. He married Ora Bessie Stockton(1884-1960) on 15 Oct 1905 in Towns County,Ga. He died on 16 May 1963 and they are buried in Belmont Cemetery,Gaston,NC.
(2). Alfred Harrison Chastain was born in Towns County,Ga. on 27 Nov 1885, He married Lula Devotion Nation(1892-1965) in 1908. He died in Towns County,Ga on 29 Nov 1948.
(3). Mary Francis "Fannie" Chastain was born in Towns County in 1888. She Married William Lester "Bill" Ferguson(1879-1962) on 7 Dec 1903 in Towns County,Ga. She died in 1909 in Towns County,Ga. and they are buried in Burch Cemetery, Sunnyside, Towns County, Ga.
(4). Lola Mae Chastain was born in Towns County, Ga. in 1891. She Married William Jasper "Jack" Nation(1882-1946) on 23 May 1905 in Towns County, Ga. She died in 1941. They are buried in Towns County,Ga.
(5). Dorah H. Chastain was born in Towns County, Ga. on 18 Feb 1892. She married Esker John Thomas(1900-1958) on 25 Dec 1918 in Towns County, Ga. She died 20 Mar 1966 and they are buried in Old Union Cemetery, Young Harris, Ga.
(6). Louvenia Chastain was born in Towns County, Ga. on 31 Mar 1896. She married George Washington McClure(1881-1959) in 1905. She died 10 Feb 1986 in Towns County, Ga. They are buried in Old Union Cemetery, Young Harris, Ga.
Children of Cecelia Arrowood Barrett and Thomas B. Potter(1842-1924) are:
1). Thomas [Potter]Barrett was born in Towns County, Ga, on 14 Jun 1866. He married Henrietta Dover(1873-1948) in Towns County, Ga. on 24 Nov 1889. He died 8 Feb 1954 in Towns County, Ga. and they are buried in Burch Cemetery, Sunnyside, Towns County, Ga.
Children of Thomas [Potter]Barrett and Henrietta Dover Barrett are:
(1). Harrison "Big Harris" Barrett was born in Towns County, Ga. on 15 Jul 1893. He married Elizabeth "Lizzie" Chastain(1892-1973) in Towns County, Ga. He died on 13 Oct 1970 in Towns County, Ga. They are buried in Burch Cemetery, Sunnyside, Towns County, Ga.
(2). Jesse L. Barrett was born in Stephens County on July 1898. He died in 1910 in Towns County, Ga. He is buried in Burch Cemetery, Sunnyside, Towns County, Ga.
(3). Viola Cuie Barrett was born in Towns County in 1901. She married Harvey Monroe Edwards(1898-1980) on 8 Sep 1918 in Towns County, Ga. She died in Monticello, Jaspar County, Ga. 27 Aug 1992. They are buried in Burch Cemetery, Sunnyside, Towns County, Ga.
(4). Nancy Barrett was born in Towns County, Ga. on 15 Apr 1906. She married John Chastain(1892-1962) in 1924 in Towns County, Ga. She died 22 Oct 1990 in Towns County, Ga. and they are buried in Burch Cemetery, Sunnyside, Towns County, Ga.
(5). Mary Ann Missouri "Zuria" Barrett was born in Towns County on 8 May 1908. She Married Garland Shook(1904-1986) in 1926. She died on 16 Jan 1973 in Towns County,Ga. and they are buried in Burch Cemetery, Sunnyside, Towns County, Ga.
(6). James Alfred Barrett was born in Towns County on 31 Jul 1910. He married Mae Canup(1914-2005) on 29 Mar 1931 in Towns County, Ga. He died on 7 Apr 2005 and they are buried in Burch Cemetery, Sunnyside, Towns County, Ga.
Children of Cecelia Arrowood Barrett and unknown [Maney] are:
1. Nathaniel Andrew "Nate" Arrowood was born in Towns County, Ga. on 5 Mar 1874. He married (1) Magnolia "Nola" Sanders(1874-1898) on 17 Jul 1892 in Towns County,Ga.; He married (2) Melvina "Vina" Mathis(1881-1960) on 9 Jan 1898 in Towns County, Ga.
Children of Nathaniel Andrew "Nate" Arrowood and Magnolia "Nola" Sanders are:
(1). Virda Lee "Verdie" Arrowood was born in Towns County, Ga. on 12 Apr 1896. She married Caleb Harrison Shook(1888-1947) abt. 1913. She died on on 19 Aug 1988 in Towns County, Ga. and they are buried in Old Union Cemetery, Young Harris, Ga.
Children of Nathaniel Andrew "Nate" Arrowood and Melvina "Vina" Mathis are:
(1). Infant Arrowood(1901-1901)
(2). Nathaniel Turner "Turn" Arrowood was born in Towns County,Ga. on 8 Aug 1903. He married Della Mae Nicholson(b.1919) on 28 Jun 1942. He died 21 Jan 1998 and is buried in Burch Cemetery,Sunnyside,Towns County, Ga.
(4). James Lewis "Dode" Arrowood was born in Towns County,Ga. on 30 Oct 1906. He married Bessie Bates(1903-1975). He died on 9 Sep 1981 in Towns County,Ga. and they are buried in Burch Cemetery, Sunnyside,Towns County,Ga.
(5). Joseph Garland Arrowood was born in Towns County on 12 Aug 1912. He married Mildred Marie Ledford(1920-2005) in Towns County,Ga. He died 25 Oct 1989 in Winder, Barrow County,Ga. and they are buried in Macon County,NC.
1. Nancy [Maney]Arrowood was born in Towns County,Ga. on 14 May 1875. She married William Isaac "Ike" Ramey(1876-1944) on 21 Dec 1898 in Towns County,Ga. She died on 3 Feb 1961 in Towns County,Ga. and they are buried in Burch Cemetery, Sunnyside,Towns County, Ga.
Children of William Isaac and Nancy [Maney]Arrowood Ramey are:
(1). Infant Ramey(1899-1899)
(2). Lillie Ramey was born in Towns County,Ga. on 1 Jul 1903. She married James Marion "Jim" Edwards(1897-1947) on 12 May 1917 in Towns County,Ga. She died on 9 Dec 1919 in Towns County, Ga. They are buried in Burch Cemetery, Sunnyside, Towns County, Ga.
(3). Lela M. Ramey(1904-1904) - died at 1 month old.
(4). Ida Ramey was born in Towns County,Ga. on 31 Aug 1905. She married William Roosevelt Shook(1907-2004) in 1929 in Towns County,Ga. She died on 21 Feb 1978 in Towns County,Ga. and they are buried in Burch Cemetery, Sunnyside,Towns County, Ga.
(5). Boyd Ramey(1910-1910) - died at 3 months old.
(6). Claudine Ramey was born in Towns County,Ga. on 17 Oct 1912. She married Marlor Garrett(1903-1985) on 12 Mar 1930 in Towns County,Ga. She died on 2 Nov 1995 in Towns County,Ga. and they are buried in Burch Cemetery, Sunnyside,Towns County, Ga.
(7). Zema Mae Ramey was born in Towns County,Ga. on 24 Mar 1914 in Towns County,Ga. She married Boyd Mathis(1912-2003) on 30 Jan 1935 in Towns County,Ga. She died on 4 Oct 1998 and they are buried in Enotah Cemetery, Fodder Creek, Towns County, Georgia.
by Thomas W. Barrett
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JCC est un sigle pouvant signifier :
 Jamel Comedy Club, une émission de télévision hebdomadaire, diffusée en clair sur la chaîne Canal+ ;
 jeu de cartes à collectionner, un jeu de cartes conçu spécialement pour le jeu en question ;
 Journées cinématographiques de Carthage, un festival de cinéma qui se tient tous les deux ans à Tunis, en Tunisie.

redpajama_set_name: RedPajamaWikipedia


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For the fifth consecutive year, the WalterFedy team has made the coveted Waterloo Area's Top Employers list.
The annual selection is curated by the team at Mediacorp Canada Inc., best known for administering the Canada's Top 100 Employers contest. Employers are judged on their ability to offer exceptional workplaces with a focus on physical workplace; atmosphere and social culture; health, financial, and family benefits; vacation/time away; employee communications; performance management; training and skills development; and community involvement.
The selection team pointed to WalterFedy's retirement planning assistance services; retirement savings matching contributions; and vacation, volunteer, and time away policies as reasons for selection. The flexible nature of WalterFedy's health benefits was also commended.
"As people start to return to the workplace, this year's winners have made it clear that their employees deserve both the time and space to focus on their families, their health, and their education," says Kristina Leung, Managing Editor at Mediacorp. "Organizations are doubling down on their commitment to flexibility, such as flexible working hours or a health plan that allows employees to tailor coverage to suit their needs."
"Receiving this award for the fifth year in a row is a great achievement for WalterFedy and our team," says Victoria Campbell, Director, Human Resources. "Our employees play an important role in shaping WalterFedy as we continue to grow. Their suggestions for continuous improvements have been essential to our overall employee experience."
The announcement rounds out an exciting year for the WalterFedy team, which has seen a 22% increase in staff since January. This large jump in staff has also coincided with new initiatives like the roll-out of a people-first culture strategy and the launch of a comprehensive Learning Management System.
"As we continue to grow within the Waterloo Region and beyond, we strive to create meaningful work opportunities for our team," says Garth Cressman, CEO. "We want our employees to love the work they do and love working for us. When our employees are thriving, so is our business."
View WalterFedy's award profile on Canada's Top 100 Employers website along with the full list of Waterloo Area's Top Employers.
Interested in joining our team? We'd love to hear from you. Visit our careers page for a complete list of open opportunities.
Tags: Community Awards Work Culture careers human resources People
KITCHENER, Thursday, September 15, 2022
WalterFedy and Baird Sampson Neuert (BSN) Architects are pleased to announce the joining of our firms to advance our common goal of enhancing the world around us through collaborative design excellence.
"We are pleased to announce that BSN, a renowned Canadian architecture firm, will be joining our complement," said Jamie Van Dyk, Board Chair and Principal Architect, WalterFedy. "This partnership will elevate both studios' ability to deliver enhanced collaborative design, focused on innovation and sustainability. We are looking forward to the new opportunities this partnership will afford both firms."
BSN is a Toronto-based architecture firm with a 50-year history of award-winning projects that advance sustainable design and technical achievements in Canadian architecture. Founded in 1972, BSN rapidly gained a national profile for its innovative approaches to urban design. BSN's portfolio is distinguished by a wide array of award-winning designs and technical achievements including three prestigious Governor General's Awards and an American Institute of Architects Honor Award. Beyond architectural projects, their work includes ground-breaking urban design and planning projects for a broad cross-section of public and private sector clients.
"We are inspired by the potential to leverage a new relationship with WalterFedy and expand BSN's capacity to innovate and deliver holistic design through a collaborative, multidisciplinary practice environment," said Jon Neuert, Principal Architect, BSN.
This partnership will amplify WalterFedy and BSN's presence in Canada and enable both firms to enhance their services while elevating client experience. "The joining of BSN and WalterFedy is an exciting time for everyone involved," said Garth Cressman, CEO, WalterFedy. "Through reciprocal growth, knowledge sharing, and mentorship, the firms are well positioned to provide innovative and exploratory design solutions. Our partnership will expand our capacity to realize exemplary project outcomes through intentional values-driven design."
Manager, Marketing and Communications, WalterFedy
Business Development at 10:00 AM
House of Friendship, supported by WalterFedy's consulting services, is taking a big and exciting step forward on its ShelterCare approach to supporting homeless men in Waterloo Region.
The Government of Ontario recently announced capital investments of $8.5M for House of Friendship to advance its innovative ShelterCare program. ShelterCare wraps medical and community services around a housing-first approach to ending cycles of homelessness.
"WalterFedy's partnership has been absolutely pivotal to ShelterCare's ongoing success," said Jessica Bondy, director of housing services at House of Friendship. "WalterFedy has blown us away with their willingness to partner, their eagerness to truly understand the needs of the homeless population and the housing sector, and their hustle – without them, this project would be years rather than months in the making."
This funding is part of the province's Social Services Relief Fund (SSRF), which is an effort to help municipalities and Indigenous program partners support vulnerable groups, including those who are homeless and/or at risk of homelessness in Ontario.
With an anticipated Fall 2022 opening, WalterFedy has created the renovation plans for the former Comfort Inn, adapting it to become a new emergency shelter that will operate 24/7. When renovated, this location will enable House of Friendship to continue to provide the highly successful ShelterCare program, which brings healthcare onsite to help individuals experiencing homelessness become healthier and housed. This new facility is conveniently situated near public transportation, recreational spaces, and job opportunities, and will serve 100 men. In addition to bedrooms, it will include treatment rooms, a primary care medical clinic, common areas for people to engage in intentional programming and spaces for staff to strategize and work together. Participants of ShelterCare will also have access to housing support, meals, and community-based wrap-around healthcare services, including mental health and addiction support.
In the supportive housing, affordable housing, and shelter world, there are oftentimes nuanced aspects of design that can significantly impact those the facility serves and employs. As such, WalterFedy has been working closely with House of Friendship staff since March 2021 to employ a trauma-informed design building to meet the unique needs of the program participants.
"It has been apparent from the outset that House of Friendship team is bringing decades of experience and passion to the design table," said Ben Gregory, Project Architect. "They truly care about creating spaces that are inclusive, accessible, restore dignity, mitigate trauma triggers, and respect a broad range of identities and lived-experiences. House of Friendship is a pillar of supporting marginalized peoples in the Waterloo Region community and WalterFedy is proud to support such a respected and impactful organization."
"It's been a pleasure to work with the design team at WalterFedy," said Jessica Bondy, Housing Services Director at House of Friendship. "They have taken our ideas and insights to create an innovative design that allows us to implement ShelterCare. We're delighted to see this dream come to fruition alongside our the WalterFedy team."
Homelessness continues to be a critical issue affecting more than 1,000 people in Waterloo Region. Thanks to the support of the community and generous investments from our municipal and provincial leaders, House of Friendship is well-positioned to provide life-changing resources for those in need of emergency food, housing, addiction treatment, and community support –a vital steppingstone on the path to empowerment and self-sufficiency.
Learn more about the ShelterCare project at 190 Weber here.
Business Development at 2:12 PM
It is with great pleasure that WalterFedy announces the company has achieved Canada's Top Small and Medium Employer (SME) status for the fourth consecutive year. Administered by Mediacorp Canada Inc., the annual awards program recognizes employers across Canada for their exceptional workplace practices and policies, including workplace, atmosphere, social opportunities, benefits, vacation, and training, among other criteria.
"Early in the pandemic, smaller employers were able to respond to employees' needs quickly and with agility," says Anthony Meehan, Publisher at Mediacorp. "Once again, small and medium employers are responding with agility by adopting many of the benefits previously seen only at larger, more established organizations."
In Mediacorp Canada Inc.'s official release, WalterFedy was commended for adapting to better support employees in the pandemic:
"Along with moving all employees to work-from-home arrangements early in the pandemic, Kitchener, Ont.-based WalterFedy let employees take home needed tech and furniture along with introducing a special program to provide interest-free loans (up to $1,000) for home office improvements."
"We've learned we can work differently and want to ensure our employees have the resources and tools to do so," said Victoria Campbell, Director, Human Resources. "Flexibility and communication continue to be essential elements in our strategy as we navigate through the future of our workplace."
WalterFedy was also recognized by Mediacorp Canada Inc in January 2022 as a Waterloo Region Top Employer.
Read the official MediaCorp Release.
Learn more about WalterFedy's 2022 award recognition here.
We are always on the lookout for great candidates. If you are interested in joining our team, you can find a full list of open positions here.
Tags: Architecture Awards Work Culture engineering People
WalterFedy was among 25 local businesses recognized as one of Waterloo Area's Top Employers today. This marks the fourth consecutive year that the firm has made the list, carefully curated by the team at Mediacorp Canada Inc, and the fifth win since 2016.
The Waterloo Area's Top Employers competition is part of the larger Canada's Top 100 Employers contest, now in its 15th year. Employers are judged on eight criteria – physical workplace, atmosphere and social culture, benefits, vacation/time away policies, employee communications, performance management, professional development opportunities, and community involvement.
The staff editors at Mediacorp Canada Inc. cited WalterFedy's pandemic response and vacation policy in their reasoning for selection. The full employer profile is available here.
"Hearing from our employees through regular pulse surveys and open forums helped us understand their changing needs as we moved through different stages of the pandemic," said Victoria Campbell, Director of Human Resources. "We continue to adjust our approaches based on the challenges our employees face. Our hope is to maintain this invaluable open dialogue so we can continue to pivot to the needs of our business and our people."
"The past few years have been challenging for businesses across Waterloo Region," said Garth Cressman, CEO. "That we were able to maintain our culture amid a pandemic without compromising on the programs and supports we could offer really speaks to our people. Despite the adversity and uncertainty presented by the pandemic, they continued to drive us forward and challenge us to rethink the workplace."
Tags: Architecture Community Awards Work Culture careers recruitment human resources engineering
Effective Monday, December 20, 2021, WalterFedy/AEC has shifted to Working from Home following guidance from the Province of Ontario and local health authorities. We will continue to be available via email Monday through Friday between 8:00 a.m. – 5:00 p.m. to serve our clients.
With restrictions beginning to lift, we have opened our office to visitors by appointment only. Guests will be required to wear a mask and complete a pre-screening form prior to entering the building.
Following the Province's state of emergency announcement on April 7, WalterFedy and AEC Developments is closing our office and employees will be working remotely until the end of the lockdown order. Our staff will continue to be available via email Monday through Friday between 8:00 a.m. – 5:00 p.m. to serve our clients.
WalterFedy continues to follow the guidelines of the Province and has kept most of our workforce at home. Our Reception is closed to visitors until further notice and all client meetings are being held virtually. We will continue to be available via email Monday through Friday between 8:00 a.m. – 5:00 p.m. to serve our clients.
With the announcement from Premier Ford extending the state of emergency in Ontario for at least another two weeks, and Minister Lecce announcing schools will remain closed until the end of April, WalterFedy has decided to keep our workforce at home until at least May 4, 2020, as well. All employees who are able will continue to work from home as they have been for the last few weeks. We will continue to be available via email Monday through Friday between 8:00 a.m. – 5:00 p.m. to serve our clients.
WalterFedy and AEC Developments are continuing to work hard to meet the needs of our clients during this extremely difficult time. Information around the COVID-19 situation is changing rapidly, and we continue to monitor the updates and developments as they are released. In a step to protect the health and safety of our staff and clients, WalterFedy and AEC Developments is closing our office and employees will be working remotely until at least April 6, 2020. Our staff will continue to be available via email Monday through Friday between 8:00 a.m. – 5:00 p.m. to serve our clients.
The year is 1951. Kitchener is nearly 45,000 people strong with a vibrant shopping district, a healthy textile industry, and a newly erected Memorial Auditorium Complex. The city is booming, and eager to support a metropolis on the rise, our founders Herman Walter and Bill Roberts open a mechanical and electrical engineering firm. Tucked in an understated office on Francis Street with only a handful of staff, the two would launch HK Walter & Associates — a firm that, in the years that followed, would grow to include architecture, full-service engineering, and construction management, undergo three name changes, employ hundreds of staff, expand to three offices, and help weave the remarkable tapestry that is Waterloo Region and beyond.
It's now 2021. Kitchener's population has soared to 571,000 people, and the textile manufacturing facilities that drove the economy in the 50s have since been transformed into start-ups, tech hubs, and trendy apartments. The office space where it all started has since been wiped from the map and is now a vacant parking lot and future site of a 44-storey glass monolith. In our 70 years of business, there isn't much that hasn't changed, but one important thing remains: we continue to have the privilege of shaping the communities we call home through our work.
As we reflect on our history, we can happily recount the projects that helped put us on the map. But anniversaries, at their core, are more than a list of accomplishments. They are a celebration of a beautiful relationship. And so, as we celebrate our 70th year in business, we turn our attention to the community that has trusted us to play a leading role in enhancing the world around them, and in so doing have provided meaningful employment for so many. Thank you.
"In the past 70 years, WalterFedy has had many incredible employees grace our hallways to help build us into the company we are today," says Garth Cressman. CEO. "We wouldn't be where we are without the people who helped us grow and the community that supported us in that growth for the past 70 years."
In honour of our anniversary, we will be performing 70+ Acts of Good in our community from now until December. It is one small way we can demonstrate our gratitude for the communities that continue to inspire and support the work we do.
Buying lunch for 7 frontline workers
Giving away 7 gift certificates to support local businesses in Kitchener and Hamilton
Buying 7 bags of cat food for the KW Humane Society and 7 more for the Hamilton-Burlington SPCA
Buying 7 essential household items for the YWCA supportive and affordable housing project
Filling up the community fridges in Kitchener and Hamilton for 7 days
Cleaning up 7 parks before the snowfall
Raise 70 lbs of food and donate 70 meals to the Waterloo Region Food Bank and the Hamilton Food Share
Planting 70 trees through the Grand River Conservation Foundation
Donating funds for the equivalent of 70 pairs of socks to the Toasty Toes Campaign
Keep up with us on Instagram and LinkedIn to engage with and follow our campaign.
WalterFedy's History
1951 – HK Walter and Associates is formed, offering mechanical and electrical engineering services
1969 – Structural and civil engineering services are added to our offerings while HK Walter and Associates becomes Walter Fedy McCargar Hachborn
1971 – Architects Horton & Ball Ltd join our team
1974 – Construction management services are added, allowing us to provide start to finish design and construction services to our clients
1991 - Walter Fedy McCargar Hachborn becomes the Walter Fedy Partnership
2011 – The team moves to a new LEED CI Certified office and becomes WalterFedy
2014- AEC Developments is created to independently manage the construction management arm of the business
2015 – WalterFedy opens a new office in Hamilton with mechanical, electrical, structural, and civil engineers. Energy and Carbon Solutions is added to our service offerings.
2018 – Architecture is added to the suite of services offered in Hamilton
2019 – The Hamilton Team gets a new consolidated home in the downtown core
2021 – WalterFedy commits to achieving Beyond Zero Carbon, offsetting all carbon emissions plus an additional 10%. We also open a new office in Toronto.
The Morwick Groundwater Research Centre, designed by the architecture and engineering team at WalterFedy, has received Outstanding Project status for excellence in educational facility design in the Fall 2021 edition of LEARNING BY DESIGN.
The publication features eighty-one recently completed educational facilities across North America, vetted by a panel of six architects and facility professionals. The scoring criteria included several pillars crucial to learning environment excellence, including transparency, connectivity, safety, sustainability, great interiors, purposeful design, and sophistication.
The judges offered the following comment:
"The Net Zero Carbon approach is commendable, something for which the community can be grateful for, which benefits society as a whole. Preserving the existing barn is tremendously beneficial to the environment, as are the other measures indicated. Exposed structure becomes a theme and a point of continuity between program spaces. The building is appropriately scaled and reflects the nature of the earth-science focus."
About the Morwick Groundwater Research Centre
The Morwick Groundwater Research Centre was designed to generate global respect for groundwater. The expanded facility will allow the University of Guelph to increase and intensify their efforts to conduct leading-edge groundwater education, training, technology advancement, and research. The Centre will be an important multi-functional hub for groundwater-related activities, operating as a teaching and research facility for students and faculty, a venue
for collaboration between the University and industry and investment partners, and a public education resource.
The design reflects the concept of vernacular architecture, leveraging local, natural materials to connect the building to the lands on which it is built. Low-profile, sloped rooves tie the addition into the pre-existing context creating a harmonious juxtaposition between the built and natural environment. Expansive windows throughout the facility invite natural light into the space and remind staff, students, and researchers of the direct link between their work and the world around them. Slate and neutral tones dominate the interior, with subtle rock and wood accents to bring the beauty of the outside into the working and learning environment.
The facility was designed to be Net Zero Carbon and uses no natural gas. Instead, the design leverages an air-sourced heat pump for heating and cooling. The solar panel will provide enough power for interior lighting demand with additional battery storage to store excess power. Insulation in the building surpasses Ontario Building Code requirements by 50%.
View the original press release here.
View an e-version of the magazine here.
Learn more about the Morwick Groundwater Research Centre
This year marks our 8th annual year participating in the Hockey Helps the Homeless (HHTH) tournament to help raise funds in support of five local charities. This year, Lutherwood, House of Friendship, Cambridge Shelter Corporation, oneROOF Youth Services, and YW K-W Emergency Shelter will split the funds raised at the tournament, set to take place on Friday, October 29th.
Our Team Captain, Patrick Darby, has been involved with HHTH since WalterFedy began participating in 2014. When asked why he joined the team all those years ago, he had many reasons. "First and foremost, I share WalterFedy's corporate value of community involvement," he shares. "It's also a great opportunity for our employees to come together to support important fundraising initiatives in the community."
This year, the day of the tournament will be structured a little differently, but that hasn't dampened any of the anticipation for gameday. "With current Public Health guidelines in place, the tournament will look a little different but that won't stop us from enjoying the day," said Patrick. "With the cancellation of last year's tournament, we're eager to hit the ice this year."
In past years, our HHTH team organized various fundraising events in the office to help meet the team's fundraising goal. Because of COVID-19, the team has been unable to host their usual events like the much-anticipated company barbecue, jeans and jersey day, and bake sale. This has forced our participants to double down on their individual fundraising efforts to meet the team's fundraising goal of $15,000.
In addition to organizing the team and fundraising leading up to the event, as Captain, Patrick is also responsible for team coordination on the day of the tournament. But it can't be all work and no play for the team. "I really like hockey, so this is a natural fit for me," explained Patrick.
We couldn't complete our interview without asking Patrick if WalterFedy has ever brought home the winning trophy. "Well no. But it doesn't matter! It's not the driver behind why we're there. It's about hitting the ice to support local organizations doing great work in our community."
Tags: Work Culture recruitment People Local Community


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Home > News > Technology > MISYS And SWIFT Sign Memorandum of Understanding
MISYS And SWIFT Sign Memorandum of Understanding
Misys International Banking Systems today announced the signing of a Memorandum of Understanding with SWIFT. Under the terms of the agreement, Misys will work closely with SWIFT to define, develop and market new value added services and products based on
Misys International Banking Systems today announced the signing of a Memorandum of Understanding with SWIFT. Under the terms of the agreement, Misys will work closely with SWIFT to define, develop and market new value added services and products based on SWIFTNet, SWIFT's advanced IP-based messaging service. The two organisations will also share information regarding trends in the marketplace and in identifying mutual opportunities.
Both SWIFT and Misys have an interest in ensuring that migration to SWIFTNet is delivered successfully and that the associated benefits – such as greater efficiencies and reduced costs – are made available to the whole global financial services community. The adoption of common standards and improved information exchange will help to improve straight through processing, helping banks to enhance customer service and better manage operational risk.
"Misys, as a pre-eminent provider of mission critical back office financial applications, fully endorses the rationale behind the new SWIFTNet services and is committed to investing in products that deliver the benefits of these new services to the SWIFT community and the financial market at large," said Ivan Martin, CEO of Misys International Banking Systems. "Our immediate joint objective is to ensure the safe migration of our shared communities to SWIFTNet and a rapid and positive take-up of the new messaging service."
"SWIFT understands the need to work closely with leading vendors of applications to ensure that initiatives created to improve efficiency and interoperability are both viable and practical, and achieve acceptance by a critical mass of users as quickly as possible," said Charles Bryant, Head of the Banking Industry Division at SWIFT.
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