Reverend Selah Hibbard Barrett

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Autobiography of Selah Hibbard Barrett, the self-educated clergymen: containing the story of his education, his experience and conversion, his public and ministerial labors, together with an interesting account of his travels in various parts of the United States and Canada. Embracing a period of half a century. From 1822 to 1872, Volume 1 (Google eBook)

Selah Hibbard Barrett

Pub. by the author, 1872 - 396 pages

"CHAPTER I.

BIRTH—NAME—ANCESTRY—PARENTS.

I, Selah Hibbard Barrett, was born in the town of Rutland, in the county of Meigs, in the State of Ohio, February 24, 1822. The word Selah, which constitutes a part of my name, is of Hebrew origin. It is only found in the poetical books of the Old Testament, and occurs seventy-one times in the Psalms and three times in Habakkuk. It is usually placed at the end of a period or strope, but sometimes at the end only of a clause, having evidently a significant meaning. As my father's name was also Selah, in order to avoid confusion, Hibbard was added to mine in memory of my grandmother Barrett.

Meigs County, formed from the counties of Athens and Gallia, is situated in the south-east part of the State, bordering on the Ohio River. Its scenery is romantic and diversified, reminding one of the description of the "hill country of Judea." Rutland, in the south-west part of the county, was principally settled by immigrants from the New England States. At this time Ohio had been permanently settled only thirty-four, and Rutland twenty-three, years, presenting a striking contrast with later years, when the wilderness, as it were, began to "blossom as the rose." Thus passed my early years amidst scenes of thrilling interest and adventure,—scenes more or less connected with pioneer life.

The Barrett family, from whom I descended, was English. The name has been traced back to the year 1066, with William the Conqueror; also, along down to the reign of James I. James Barrett, the first one of the name in this country, was born in 1615. In 1635, at the age of twenty, and fifteen years after the first settlement was made in New England by the Puritans or " Pilgrim Fathers," he came to America, where he married and settled in Charlestown, adjoining Boston, Massachusetts. The number of immigrants this year, greatly surpassing that of any previous year, was three thousand, among whom were Hugh Peters, an eloquent preacher, and Henry Vane, soon after elected governor. For nearly a century, the descendants of James Barrett resided in or near Boston; but after this branches of the family removed to the adjoining States, and are now found in nearly or quite every State of the Union.

The direct line of descent from the first Barrett in this country to myself, though possessing but little interest beyond the circle of family connections, is the result of many years searching, and is as follows:

James Barrett, born in England, 1615, married Hannah Fordiek; children—James, Hannah, Mary, Sarah, Jonathan, Stephen.

James Barrett, 2d, born in Massachusetts, 1644, married Dorcas Green; children—James, John, Jonathan.

Jonathan Barrett, born in Massachusetts, 1678, married Abigail Tuttle; children—Jonathan, Abigail, James, John, Jacob, Joseph.

Jonathan Barrett, 2<1, born in Massachusetts, 1699, married Mehitabel Lynde; children—Jonathan, Benjamin, Nathan, Sarah, Joseph, Amos, James, Abigail.

Benjamin Barrett, born in Massachusetts, 1726, married Sarah Sprague; children—James, Benjamin, John, Jacob, David Sprague, Eunice, Ann, Sarah, Joseph, Amos, Judith.

James Barrett, born in Connecticut, 1761, married Elizabeth Hibbard; children—Martin, Calvin, Selah, Betsey, Anna.

Selah Barrett,—my father,—born in Connecticut, 1790, married Sylva Beeman; children—Betsey, Selah Hibbard, Sarepta Patience, Maria Elizabeth.

Selah Hibbard Barrett, born in Ohio, 1822, married Rebecca Ann Simms; children—Burton Selah, Carrie Sylva.

Thus ends, for the present at least, the Ancestral Record, embracing a period of more than two hundred years, and extending back to the first settlement of the country. The history of any family for such a length of time is worthy of note, descending, as in this case,. from one who, in youth, bid adieu to friends and country; who, with courage equal to the occasion,

braved the dangers of the ocean; who, alone and inexperienced, escaped the snares into which young men are too often led; who, amid privation and toil, secured a competency, reared a family, and handed his name down to posterity. Such a name deserves to be honored and remembered, and such is the name of James Barrett, the heroic Englishman.

The names contained in the record from generation to generation, show at least a Puritanic veneration for the Bible, as they are almost invariably Bible names. James, especially, seems to have been a favorite name in the family. This name, as it appears, was handed down, from family to family, from the first James to my grandfather James.

In the year 1802, my grandfather Barrett for the second time moved from Connecticut to Vermont, where he died May 21, 1813. My maternal grandfather, Captain Elijah Beeman, son of Ebenezer Beeman, a native of Connecticut,-removed to the ".Green Mountain State" at a much earlier period. He served in the war of the Revolution, and subsequently became a member of the Vermont Legislature. His youngest daughter—Sylva—was my mother.

My parents were married in Strafford, Vermont, May 22, 1817, by Rev. Aaron Buzzell, first pastor of the first Freewill Baptist Church in Vermont, of which they were members. In the ensuing autumn, having heard glowing descriptions of " the West," and having no visible means of support in "the East," they removed to Ohio, and located in Rutland.

The first part of this long journey was performed by land, not upon a rail-car, but in a one-horse wagon. From Olean, New York, the journey was, however, continued by water dowu the Alleghany and Ohio Rivers, not upon a beautifully decorated floating palace, but upon a rudely constructed flatboat, destitute of accommodations of any description. As this was before the age of steamboats and railroads, the performance of this journey, with the unavoidable delays, occupied nearly two months, which could now, with the present improved facilities for traveling, be easily performed in less than two days.

For more than forty years, the home of my parents was Rutland, where they experienced many reverses of fortune. But they, with the first settlers of the place, have passed the bourn, whence no traveler ever returns. My mother departed this life, April 20, 1858, aged seventy-one; my father, July 12, 1860, aged seventy. Their eldest child, a daughter, died in infancy; two1 other daughters, younger than myself, married and settled in their native town, where they remained for more than twenty years."

http://books.google.com/books?pg=PA41&lpg=PA41&dq=selah+barrett+179...

Books on Google Play

Free Baptist Cyclopaedia: Historical and Biographical : the Rise of the Freewill Baptist Connection and of Those General and Open Communion Baptists Which, Merging Together, Form One People, Their Doctrines, Polity, Publications, Schools and Missions, with Brief Biographies of Ministers and Others Identified with the Growth and Strength of the Denomination (Google eBook)

Gideon Albert Burgess, John T. Ward

Free Baptist Cyclopaedia Company, 1889 - 724 pages

"Barrett, Rev. Selah Hibbard, son of Rev. Selah Barrett, was born in Rutland, O., Feb. 24, 1822. Deprived of the advantages of the schools because of ill health, he devoted himself perseveringly to study at home and gained a knowledge of the branches usually taught in college, and afterwards completed courses in law and medicine. He experienced forgiveness of sins in 1838, received license to preach in 1845, and was ordained in 1856 by the Meigs Q. M., his ministry being spent within its bounds. He devoted much time to literary labor, having been a frequent correspondent of the Morning Star and other periodicals nearly forty years, and having prepared several pamphlets and books, among them " Memoirs of Eminent Preachers of the Freewill Baptist Denomination," and an Autobiography of about 400 pages. He was married, Sept. 1, 1860, to Miss Rebecca Ann Simms, who died in March, 1882, after a long illness, and the bereaved husband followed Sept. 1, 1883, leaving to his son and daughter the precious memory of his faithful, devoted life."