William Henry “Harry” Barrett – Rural Diary Archive

A black and white family portrait showing William Henry "Harry" Barrett with his first wife Nonah and children Dick and Toby, taken around 1898 in British Columbia. — Harry Barrett with first wife, Nonah, and children: Dick (standing) and Toby (sitting), c. 1898, British Columbia

Coverage Dates: 1911 to 1912

County: Norfolk

Township: Woodhouse

Lot: 12

Concession: 2

Gender: Male

Year of Birth: 1864

Year of Death: 1942

Ethnicity: Irish

Religion: Church of England

Occupation: Farmer

Relationships:

Wife: Hattie James
Sons: Richard (Dick), diarist Theobald (Toby), Frank

Archive: Archival and Special Collections, University of Guelph

Posted on Rural Diary Archive: Yes

Age During Diary: 47-48

Biography:

After the death of his first wife in childbirth (1898), Harry and his sons leave Spallumcheen, B.C. and return to Port Dover to be close to relatives. They reside at Riverbank Cottage on Bridge Street for thirteen years, and he remarries in 1906. He begins his diary upon acquiring a 120-acre farm, northeast of town, in 1911. He is in frequent contact with his brother Hubert and his children who move into Riverbank Cottage. All hands work to make the farm a success.

Learn more about Harry in his son Toby’s diaries and his sister Alice’s diaries Hobnobbing with a Countess and Other Okanagan Adventures: The Diaries of Alice Barrett Parke, 1891-1900, ed. by Jo Fraser Jones (UBC Press, 2001).

Courtesy of the Barrett Family Collection

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