Thursday, September 9, 2010

Julia Boultenhouse, b 1849 New Brunswick, Canada; taught school in Cape Elizabeth, Maine




In the preceding blog post, I discussed a report on the history of schools in Cape Elizabeth, Maine, by Edith B. Murray.  She included many quotes taken directly from Cape Elizabeth municipal records, especially the amusing ones.  


One stood out, however, because it was  so positive, and the agent wasn't afraid to use the teacher's name: Julia Boultenhouse.  In this post, I'll give a bit of her background that I've gleaned online.


In case you're interested, here's a link to the original post: Cape Elizabeth Maine schools in the horse-and-buggy days.  


"Miss Julia Boultenhouse has eighty children in the Primary department; she has remarkable ways of interesting them while she trains their infant minds to study".  (1864).


Julia Boultenhouse, assuming I have the correct person, was only a child herself in 1864, around fifteen years of age.  She was born December 1849 in New Brunswick, Canada, the daughter of Bedford Boultenhouse and his wife Cynthia (Barnes) Boultenhouse, who emigrated to Maine in 1853, with young Julia and her older brother Edward.  


Julia's paternal grandparents were Bedford Boultenhouse [in one place I found him as John Bedford Boultenhouse], a Loyalist who came from New Jersey to Nova Scotia after the war, and his wife Charlotte (Harper) Boultenhouse, whose parents emigrated to Nova Scotia from Yorkshire, England, on the "Jenny" in the spring of 1775.  Thanks to a posting to rootsweb, I understand that the portion of the family that stayed in the United States used the variant Boultinghouse or Boltinghouse


Julia's maternal grandparents were Ezra and Esther (Ward) Barnes, both of Sackville, now New Brunswick.    Both of their fathers were born in Massachusetts.  I have some more research to do before determining if they were Planters or Loyalists.


Julia's father died in 1870.  In the 1880 Census, Julia is listed as a School Teacher, living with her mother Cynthia.  Her brother Edward is either in the same household or next door.  By 1900, Cynthia, Edward and Julia are living in South Portland.  By 1910, Edward and Julia are living in South Portland; my research shows that Cynthia died in 1905.  In the 1920 Census, Julia is living alone and is apparently retired.  Her brother Edward had died 1 October 1917.


Edward adopted a son John Edward Boultenhouse, who was born 24 March 1884 at Portland and died in 1917 in New York [I hope the source I found for the death of his adoptive father Edward hasn't confused the two].  There are some references to John Edward's attending Wesleyan University and the University of Michigan, which is where I got his birth and death dates.  He was living with Edward, Cynthia and Julia in 1900 at South Portland and was described as "adopted son".


I imagine Julia must have had a lonely ten years after her brother and nephew died; I hope she had plenty of friends and interests.


If you have any corrections, additions or insights regarding the information presented above, please scroll down to the comments box at the bottom of this page or contact me directly.  


Thanks for stopping by!


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