The Sunset Anniversaries

First anniversary March 14, 1839

Supper was finished, the table cleared, the dishes washed and put away in the Gananoque residence of the Fairmans. Warren pulled the ties of his wife’s apron undoing the bow. She removed it and hung it up on its hook. “A walk to enjoy the sunset, my dear husband?” Elizabeth asked.

Of course, my darling,” he replied, holding her coat so she could slip into it. They walked side by side to the main street. Sunsets being in the west that was the way they headed on King Street. The sunset that night was spectacular, starting blue and yellow, becoming peach and turquoise, finally flaming into orange and red. As they walked home the stars and moon began to show in the darkening eastern sky. “What a way to start our second year of marriage!” Elizabeth exclaimed. Warren nodded. “I much prefer to have the excitement in the sunset, not in alarms and intrigue my dear. Do you suppose some day here in Gananoque a class will be learning of what you did?”

20th anniversary Monday, March 14 1859

Supper was finished, the table was cleared, the dishes washed and put away in the two story stone house Warren had built for his family, not far east of Gananoque. Seven children were doing chores or settling into bed. Elizabeth and Warren, wrapped up snuggly in their sleigh, were headed west along the King’s Highway 2, watching the sunset. It was their quiet way of celebrating the anniversary of their marriage.

“Was there a sunset to see on your trek across the St Lawrence to sound the alarm that night in 1838?” Warren asked. “I worked until after dark that day with Mr Hepp in the workshop, so I don’t know if there was.” Elizabeth thought for a moment before replying, “It was clear and oh, so cold, I remember that. There were stars, but no moon. I think the sunset must have been a boring yellow and blue one. I guess nature didn’t feel the need to add to the excitement of that week.”

Wednesday, March 14, 1900 (41 years later)

Supper was finished, clearing the table and washing the dishes was left to Elizabeth and Warren’s spinster daughter Allie. The anniversary sunset watch would be a short three block walk from home on Church Street in Gananoque, to the Dock. If they got cold watching the sun set over the St Lawrence they could always warm up in the TIR station before heading home.

Friday, March 14, 2025

About 115 years after their deaths, Elizabeth and Warren materialized at sunset on the shore at the end of Stone Street for their annual anniversary walk. When they got to young Dr Potter’s house, Elizabeth paused and commented, “I didn’t even think to stop as we passed old Dr Potter’s house, it's been gone so long. I was so glad to get there that night and turn my news over to the men who could do something with it. Chilled to the bone, exhausted, I was never so glad to be fussed over by Mrs Dr Potter and tucked up in bed.”

Grace Church produced the next pause in their walk. They drifted through the door and settled in a pew. “I like this church,” Warren commented.” “Not so different from the first church here, the one Mr Hepp and I worked on in the year before your trek across the ice with the news of Pirate Bill Johnson and William McKenzie’s plans. A comfortable church for the people now. Some day we should pop in on a service.” Elizabeth smiled at the memories of getting to know Warren all those years ago. She never thought at first that she would marry the man whose woodwork on the pulpit of the new church appealed to her so much.

They continued their walk, east down the hill on King Street, stopping in front of Pistachio Cafe. Warren always went into the building that he’d worked in as an apprentice. He’d been so grateful for the apprenticeship to Mr Hepp, the carpenter, after his father’s death. It made his mother’s life easier, but it also gave him skills that would allow for a good life. That he found he enjoyed working with wood and metal was a bonus. He wondered at the fact that it still stood here, in use so many years later. It had never been a planned building; it just grew to fit its businesses. It had no architectural value, but it had housed so many businesses that wrapped themselves into the history of Gananoque.

The Brittons, the Donevans, the Deirs, all took root and grew in this building. Shortly after he’d entered this time, he popped out and said excitedly to Elizabeth, “You’ve got to come in and see this.” On the wall inside the entrance was a poster reminding the townsfolk that February 21, was Elizabeth Barnett Day in Gananoque. “Oh, Warren, they know about it. They talk about my adventure. I wonder if anyone has guessed the whole story and why we didn’t talk about my part in Colonel Bonnycastle’s plans at the time?”

Fact or Fiction?

Fiction makes you wonder. Facts make you think. Where is the line between fact and fiction? You decide.

This piece of heritage fiction is based on over a decade of research and anything that sounds like a fact will have had a source, but that doesn't make it a fact. For the story, the location of Mr Hepp’s workshop is guessed to be in the same location as the workshop of his partner Mr Allen, blacksmith. The book, “Yesterday’s News, Today’s History", by Ina Scott says Mr Allen’s workshop was in the location that later became Britton’s, Donevan’s, and Deir’s. GanWalking believes that anything that has only one source sits on the line between fact and fiction, and should be further sourced before being accepted as fact.

In GanWalking’s opinion, all River Rats should know about Elizabeth Barnett, so here are two places to start:

1. "Patriot Chronicles: The Hickory Island Incursion" by John C. Carter
   
2. Elizabeth Barnett, "Heroine of Gananoque - a GanWalking zine"
   

By Sherry L.B. Johnson

Sherry Johnson lives in Gananoque and is a writer and researcher, for GanWalking, which is focused on heritage storytelling, research and building a strong accessible research and genealogy community. Sherry has provided over half-dozen articles for TI Life. Each one provides a window of research on this small and proud Ontario Town.