THE HISTORY OF MY OWN TIMES. BY THE REV. DANIEL BARBER, A. M. FORMERLY A PROTESTANT MINISTER IN CLAREMONT, NEW HAMPSHIRE, AND AUTHOR OF A PUBLICATION UNDER THE TITLE OF "CATHOLIC WORSHIP AND PIETY EXPLAINED AND RECOMMENDED.

Washington City: Printed for the Author, by S. C. Ustick, 1827. 48pp in contemporary plain wrappers. Stitching absent, unbound. Faint rubberstamp on title page, gum label at lower spine. Good plus.

This is the first part of what became a three-part book. Each is a separate imprint. Parts II and III were printed in 1828 and 1832. Part II, like the first Part, was printed by Ustick in Washington. Part III was printed in Frederick Maryland by Neilson Poe.
"The conversion of the Barber family, despite the prejudices of a Puritan education and environment, was one of the most notable and far-reaching in its results of any recorded in the early annals of the Church in New England. Daniel Barber has left a 'History of My Own Times' (Washington, 1827), in which he states that his father and mother were Congregational Dissenters of strict Puritanic rule and he continued in that sect until his twenty-seventh year, when he joined the Episcopalians. Previous to this he had served two terms as a soldier in the Continental army" ["Barber Family" by Thomas Francis Meehan, Catholic Encyclopedia website, accessed May 01, 2026.]
"Daniel Barber came from good Puritan stock and was a fine upstanding Congregationalist minister. Until some Episcopalians convinced him that Apostolic Succession matters when it comes to ministerial Orders. So he became an Episcopalian priest. He was a fine, upstanding Episcopalian priest for many years. He and his wife, Chloe, raised three children as good Episcopalians. But eventually the question of Apostolic Succession came back to him, and he realized that Episcopalianism didn't satisfy the question of Apostolic Succession - the Catholics actually had it, and the Episcopalians didn't. Meantime, his son Virgil had also become a fine, upstanding Episcopalian priest. He and his wife, Jerusha, were in charge of a good school and had a comfortable life with their children. But a chance encounter with a pamphlet on the life of St. Francis Xavier fired his heart to seek the faith that motivated a man like St. Francis to do what he'd done. Eventually, Virgil and Jerusha became Catholic. Then Chloe converted, along with a number of other members of the family. And finally, Daniel also became Catholic. The entire affair was very upsetting to fine, upstanding New England Protestant sensibilities, and caused a sensation" ["Barber Family" by Thomas Francis Meehan, Catholic Encyclopedia website, accessed May 01, 2026.]
FIRST EDITION. Parsons 922. Howes B117.