All through my mother's childhood she heard stories about a gold headed cane that had been passed down through the ages to the first born male in each generation. She had never seen this cane - nor had anyone else in my family. After my grandmother passed away in 1968, the cane was inherited by my uncle(who just so happens to be the first and only male born in my mother's generation).
The knowledge that this cane was well over one hundred years old made the history of its passage through time an obsession with me. My mother and I have decided to document its progress for all future generations as all too soon we forget the old stories of our heritage whether they be fact or fiction.
Augustus Buresch was born January 9, 18301 in Breslau, Prussia, the son of Ignaz Buresch and Juliane Schade. He immigrated to Canada, changed his surname to Barrett and in 18662, married Sarah Ann Edwards of Oshawa, Ontario. With his wife as his assistant, he became an accomplished photographer and operated studios in Cannington, Oshawa, Toronto and Whitby.
In 1880 Mr. Barrett submitted his formula for the development of solar prints to the monthly chronicle of the St. Louis Practical Photographer.3 This was a chronicle that he had subscribed to since 1877. He mentioned his desire to form a photographers’ association in order to assist other young men in their apprenticeship.
In January of 1884 he became one of the founding members of the Photographic Association of Canada,4 which now goes by the name of the Professional Photographers of Ontario, Inc. The association was formed when fifty photographers joined together to overcome some of the problems facing professional photography at that time.
In 1890, Mr Barrett won the top awards in Cannington, Woodville, Sunderland and Beaverton for his outstanding portraits of infants.
He was living in Cannington at this time and at a meeting of the Photographers Association, he was unexpectedly presented with a gold headed cane, by his associates for being the oldest photographer in Canada. (He was sixty years old.) It was recorded that "the old man was considerably affected, but made a quite lengthy reply."5
In 1891 he won another award for his views on Stanley plates and in 1892, still another for his collection of portraits of babies taken in his section of the country, “all done in a manner to win the hearts of the most critical mothers”.6
After Mr. Barrett’s death, his wife, Sarah Ann continued to operate the business on her own for some years.The Barrett Family
1Death registration. Augustus Barrett
2County Marriage Registers. 1855-1869, Volume 2, Index to Ontario County. Registration of marriage of Augustus Barrett to Sarah Ann Edwards
3Barrett A. Large Prints by Development. Practical Photographer. January 1880, page 7-8
4Founding member of the Photographers' Association
5St. Louis and Canadian Photographer. October 1890, Volume 10, pp 101-102
6St. Louis and Canadian Photographer, September 1891, Volume 9, p 376
All content copyright, photos, text and layout 2002
Created April 2002, by J Cardwell
