BFH: Reverend Arthur Boultbee (1833-1890)

Reverend Arthur Boultbee (1833 - 1890)

(written by the Editors)

      When he arrived at Georgetown, the old frame church was starting to be run down, and in 1878 the Vestry requested him to visit members, and see what they would pay towards the construction of a new church. Apparently the answers were encouraging, for a beautiful stone building was erected in that year, and is still standing, although enlarged and altered. The architect was William Boultbee, the brother of Arthur. In the history of the church written by Richard E. Ruggle, it is recorded that it was opened on December 29, 1878, and the Reverend Arthur Boultbee announced that of the $4,000 which it had cost, they had raised $2,900 from the voluntary offerings of the people, without having had to resource to bazaars, soirees, etc.
      The financial strain at the church was hard, and on September 23, 1879, the wardens wrote to the members that they might not be able to pay Mr. Boultbee. In the summer of 1880, Arthur resigned in poor health. After supervising the building of two churches in eight years, being missionary in five congregations, having nine children and a wife to support, and losing his eldest child to diphtheria in that last year, it is no wonder he felt the strain. He was appointed missionary to the parish of Cayuga in July 1880.
      There are four stained-glass window memorials to Boultbees in St. George's Church, Georgetown: one to Mabel, Arthur's eldest child who died in 1879, one to Mary Anne, Arthur's sister who died in 1859 in Newmarket, Ontario, one to Boultbee Rosalind, Arthur's aunt who died in 1874 in Bath, England, and one to Oswald Hoste, Arthur's youngest son who drowned in a sailing accident in 1909.
      Arthur stayed nine years in Cayuga. However, he is listed in the 1881 Census as living in West York Township (now Toronto) with Frank E. Turner, age 43, an engineer (census district 136, Division 5, page 10). Mr. Turner would be Frank Edwin Turner, Maria's brother born April 13, 1838, and baptised May 16, 1838 along with Maria and their sister Mary Emma at St. James' Cathedral, Toronto. In the Census, Maria and seven children are listed as well. He was known to have undergone surgery at about this time, and perhaps his brother-in-law had offered his family lodging during Arthur's convalescence. From 1882 - 1884, Arthur is listed in the diocesan records as retired.
      In 1889, Arthur was transferred to Grace Church, Waterdown and St. John's Church, Nelson, both about ten miles northeast of Ancaster. He died the following year.
      Arthur's granddaughter, Mrs. Alice Robertson, gave a presentation on the life of Arthur to a group at Christ Church Cathedral, Hamilton, Ontario, and it is from her notes that most of this version has been prepared. The following paragraphs are the closing remarks in her presentation:

There is no record of the cause of his death or, indeed, of his burial at Grace Church, but there is a stone cross in the cemetery behind the church. The inscription on the cross reads:-

In memory of the Reverend Arthur Boultbee
For a Short Time in France
Of the Parish of Waterdown
Born at Forsam, Exeter, England, 15th August 1833
Died 5th August 1890

I do not know when or why he was in France, or why it was thought sufficiently important to carve it in stone; is it, perhaps, that he died there and that is why there is no record of the cause of his death and place of burial? It remains a curious mystery.
After his death, his widow, Maria, moved to Berlin (now Kitchener, Ontario) where a son was in the bank, and she and her daughter Rosalind, my mother, took in sewing. My mother married another banker and her widowed mother came to live with them until her (Maria's) death on May 24, 1910 at Hamilton, when her name was added to the cross at Waterdown.