Did you know that not all Witches are found in Salem?

Folktales and legends of witches can be found worldwide, even in small towns in Ontario. This truth led me down a few rabbit holes that uncovered some fascinating stories about a darker side of Canada’s history—a history of stigma, politics, and strong women.

One such strong woman was Jane Elizabeth Martin Barnes, also known as Mother Barnes. This summer, I was fortunate to visit her homestead and pay my respects at her final resting place.

Elizabeth Barnes

Every good witch legend exists in mystery, and the Witch of Plum Hollow is no different. Some details of her story are uncertain, like the date of her birth. Some sources note her date of birth as 1794, as engraved on her tombstone, while others note November 15, 1800.

What we do know, is that she was born in Cork, Ireland. Her father was an Irish landowner, and her mother was of Spanish Gypsy descent.¹ Facing an arranged marriage, Elizabeth and her lover, a military man, left for North America where they would elope.¹

The young couple would have one child together before misfortune struck. Elizabeth’s husband passed away tragically, leaving the young mother alone to raise their child.¹ Four years later, she would marry David Barnes, a shoemaker. Together they had nine children, six sons and three daughters.¹

In 1843, the Barnes family moved to Sheldon’s Corners, near Athens, Ontario.¹ They raised seven of their children in the small wood cabin, that today is known as the Mother Barnes Homestead. Eventually, Elizabeth’s husband grew tired of farm life and left, taking their youngest son with him.¹ Elizabeth was left with a house full of children to mind on her own.

To support her family, Elizabeth turned to fortune-telling.

She credited her Spanish Gypsy ancestry and the fact that she was the seventh daughter of a seventh daughter as the source of her second sight.² She charged 25 cents for a reading and soon became well known for her accuracy.²

At this time, she began to be known as the Witch of Plum Hollow, respected by some and feared by others.¹ People visited from everywhere for a reading from Mother Barnes. She became increasingly involved with local lost & found cases, finding lost items and missing livestock.² She was also instrumental in a disappearance case, directing the searchers straight to the missing body.²

Her most famous visitor was a Kingston lawyer with political aspirations. Mother Barnes foretold that this man would become the leader of a new country and that its capital would be in Bytown.²

Today, Bytown is known as Ottawa and is the capital of Canada. That lawyer was John A. Macdonald, who became the first Prime Minister of Canada in 1867.²

Mother Barnes Homestead

The small log cabin that had so many visitors in the past sat for a time in utter disrepair. Over time, the wood rotted, and the roof sagged, the derelict state made worse by vandals’ damage.

The property, which includes; two acres, the original cabin, an abandoned well, and a deteriorating barn, was eventually purchased by descendants of Mother Barnes in the 1980s. They worked hard to try and bring the little cabin back to life.³

Today the log cabin has been restored by new owners. A green sign with large gold script declares the site as the “Mother Barnes Homestead”. Beside the sign sits a large boulder with an indent suggesting there was once something attached to it. This once commemorative boulder had a sign that read “Home of Mother Barnes”. The sign was removed to preserve it from further damage, as it had been used as target practice.¹

The property is now well maintained and sits behind a wooden fence, that is dotted with no trespassing signs.

The day I visited the Mother Barnes Homestead I was hoping there would be someone on the property to talk to, and maybe get a tour of this historic house. Unfortunately, the property was deserted. The no-trespassing signs were enough of a deterrent to keep me from trying to sneak a peek inside the windows.

I would have loved to be able to explore the attic, where Elizabeth was known to perform her tea readings. I hope one day the property will be opened as a historic house and museum.

Mother Barnes Homestead, Athens ON ©2024

Sheldon Cemetery

Jane Elizabeth Martin Barnes died on February 4th, 1891 at the age of 90 after falling ill with pneumonia.⁵ She is laid to rest in Sheldon Cemetery, not far from her homestead.

Originally her grave was unmarked, that is until local Cheesemakers Claude and Ella Flood decided to erect a monument in her memory. Curiously, the dates on the stone are incorrect, listing her year of death as 1886.⁵

The stone itself was not placed on her actual gravesite either, I would learn. The stone sits beneath the cemetery sign arch near the cemetery entrance. When I visited, the arch was completely overgrown and obscured with vines. The gravestone reads: “Burial Place / of / Mother Barnes / 1794—1886”

Sheldon Cemetery, Sheldon’s Corners ON ©2024

While visiting another cemetery in the area, I met two women who pointed out some interesting graves for me to photograph. After showing me the graves, they asked if I had been to visit the Witch of Plum Hollow. I said yes, to which they replied that she wasn’t buried beneath the stone.

The unmarked grave of Mother Barnes lies at the back of the cemetery on the left-hand side.

The woman also shared that there is a pipe sticking out of the ground in that area, very close to the grave. They continued to tell me a story about the pipe, and how it was plugged for a very long time, to keep the witch’s spirit in. But, sometime in the 1980s, the pipe was unplugged and the spirit of the Witch was released. I was surprised to hear a negative tone in the woman’s voice as she told the story, and how she thought the pipe should have remained plugged.

It was interesting to see that the stigma behind the term witch was still alive, well over 100 years later.

But was Elizabeth Barnes really a witch?

By all accounts she was just a single mother, using kind advice and honest predictions to provide for her family. Predictions that very often came true.

Thanks for reading!

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References:

1. Elizabeth Barnes: The Witch of Plum Hollow | Pinecone
2. Meet Mother Barnes, the “Witch” of Plum Hollow, Ontario | NCPR
3. Plum Hollow Witch still casts spell |The Ottawa Citizen, Thursday, October 28, 1982, page 23
4. The Plum Hollow Witch | Ottawa Rewind
5. The Witch of Plum Hollow | Arlene Stafford Wilson