The parents of Thomas Bulmer are unknown. Mary Bowling, his wife, was the daughter of William Bowling and Susanna Wilburn, who were married in St. Lawrence Church, Hatfield, on March 25, 1790. Susanna, in turn, was the daughter of John Rawood of Hatfield. This was her second marriage; her first was to Richard Wilburn, who died in 1789. William Bowling was the son of John Bowling of Braithwaite.
Mary Bowling was the second of eight children born to William and Susanna Bowling. In order, they are:
William Bowling b. 28 Jan. 1791
Mary Bowling b. 28 Mar. 1792
John Bowling b. 19 Mar. 1794
Susannah Bowling b. 25 July 1797
Thomas Bowling b. 20 June 1800
Elizabeth Bowling b. 27 Feb. 1803
Isaac Bowling b. 10 Apr. 1806
Charles Bowling b. 17 April 1808
They lived in Kirk Bramwith, "a charming hamlet about five miles from Hatfield. All of their children were baptized at St. Mary's church in Kirk Bramwith.
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| St. Mary's Church, Kirk Bramwith, England. |
Thomas Bulmer's birthdate is recorded in a family bible as being 10 September 1793. However, no birth record has been found for him despite "exhaustive research...in the surrounding parishes."
Jean McClellan includes details of the lives of all of the children of Thomas Bulmer and Mary Bowling. The eldest, Thomas Bulmer Jr., was at various times a blacksmith, bricklayer, grocer, contractor and bailiff. He married Emma Phoebe Fearon on 3 Nov. 1839 in St. James Church, Three Rivers, Quebec. They had eight children. Thomas Jr. died under mysterious circumstances:
"We have just learned that Mr. Thomas Bulmer jr. disappeared from his residence, no. 49 Jacques Cartier St. on Sunday evening last (24 March) since which nothing has been heard of him. During the previous night he had appeared to be labouring under great depression of spirits and on Sunday shewed symptoms of a somewhat deranged mind. About nine o'clock in the evening, he went out the back door in his loose coat and slippers. Not returning in a few minutes, a member of the family went out but he could not be seen, and the yard gate was open. Search was made for him in all directions but without avail. His family fear that...he may, during the heavy rain storm that raged soon after his disappearance, have wandered to the river and fallen into some of the holes which have been cut in the ice and left unguarded, directly opposite Jacques Cartier St. Mr. B. was about fifty years of age, of strictly regular habits, was in comfortable and comparatively easy circumstances and his family, who are in a a state of great anxiety and suspense, know of nothing that could have caused the temporary mental derangement."
(The Montreal Gazette, 27 March 1867, p.2)
Thomas Jr.'s body was never recovered, and it seems probable that he drowned in the St. Lawrence, One of his sons, Thomas Campbell Bulmer, did commit suicide by shooting himself after having "for some time ...given signs of mental depression which gradually developed into melancholia of a pronounced type." (Montreal Daily Herald, 7 April 1902). Thomas Campbell's symptoms sound very similar to those of his father.
William Bulmer, Thomas and Mary's second son, fought on the side of the Loyalists in the Rebellion of 1837. His first marriage, to Rosalie Selima Robillard, took place on 16 September 1850. Rosalie came from a prominent French-Canadian Catholic family (her brother was the well-known Dr. Edmund Robillard) and her parents disowned her for marrying outside of their religion. Rosalie died of cholera on 29 July 1854, and their youngest daughter, Eliza, died of cholera the day before her mother at the age of 14 months. Their eldest daughter, Marie Matilda Bulmer, would have been three years old when her mother and sister died.
William's second marriage, which took place on 15 January 1857 to Harriet Richardson, produced twelve children, but for some unexplained reason his eldest daughter Marie Matilda did not stay with the family during her adolescence. McClellan has this to say:
"Marie Matilda Bulmer...according to her daughter Elsie, was given the chance of living with her wealthy French grandparents when about 12 or 14 after her father's second marriage but because their way of life was so different, she chose the Bulmers and was brought up by her Uncle John and Aunt Elizabeth (Libby) Bulmer with their family. When their twins were born she was given the privilege of naming them Eva Florence and Gertrude Maude. She was married from their home..."
Marie Matilda would have lived with her father and stepmother for around six years before moving out to live with her aunt and uncle.
Henry Bulmer was Thomas and Mary's third son. He married Jane Maxwell on 7 August 1848 and they had five sons. He had a distinguished career, beginning as a builder ("he...built among others the Wellington Block on St. Catherine St."), was politically involved, was "Chairman of the Mechanics Institute, President of the St. George's Society, Governor of House of Industry and Refuge in 1867, Chairman of the Board of Arts and Manufacturers, Director of the Old Exchange Bank, Trustee of Mount Royal Cemetery and a Mason. He was a Captain in the Montreal Foot Artillery during the boundary difficulty...". Henry met the Prince of Wales when he arrived in Montreal for the opening of the Victoria Bridge, and "attended a Ball in 27 August 1860 in his honour in the Prince of Wales Ballroom which had been especially built for the occasion...On a visit to England in later years Henry had an audience with King Edward, who recalled meeting him in Montreal and chatted to him informally about his visit. 'That was a pleasant incident of my life but to quote it at length would appear egotistical' Mr. Bulmer said."
On a more personal note:
"Elsie Moore, their niece, in a letter from Winnipeg recalled that her Mother told of being taken to Uncle Henry and Aunt Jane's after Sunday School and the fun they had boiling maple syrup and dribbling it in a pan of snow, then pulling the taffy--'La Tire' they called it." I love hearing little details like that. Apparently Henry and Jane also made a "Grand Tour" of Europe at one point, and brought back: a statue of Pauline Bonaparte, a "Dresden picture of Ruth", and hand-painted Minton china comport and plates.
"Jane Maxwell Bulmer was an accomplished needlewoman. She won First prize in the Agricultural and Industrial Exhibition held in Montreal in 1882 for Chenille embroidery. A beautiful rare type sampler which she made in 1837 at the age of nine is still in possession of the family." I'd love to see a picture of that--does anyone know where it is now?
Thomas and Mary Bulmer's first daughter, Ann Bulmer, gets only a brief mention in these pages. She married a Mr. Tiplin and died in New Jersey in 1918. They had no children. Their next son, the first John, died young in Quebec city. Elizabeth Bulmer, their next daughter, never married and lived with Henry and Jane Bulmer, her brother and sister-in-law. Mary Bulmer, the 7th child and 3rd daughter of Thomas and Mary, married the widower John Bussell Bond in St. George's Church, Montreal, on 24 May 1877, but they were also childless. After his death she went to live with her brother Henry.
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| From the McCord Museum. John B. Bond, 1865. |
Finally, we get to the youngest child and my husband's great-great grandfather, also named John Bulmer. He was born in Three Rivers/Trois Rivieres, Quebec, on 16 August 1836, and married Elizabeth Ladd (daughter of Calvin Palmer Ladd and Polly Harmon) 28 April 1862 in the American Presbyterian Church, Montreal. They had eight children. I'm happy to see that the authors have found out quite a bit about him:
"John Bulmer...became a contractor of note and according to the late Mrs. Lucy Potter Jewett of San Marino, Cal., 'he and his brother William were outstanding lumber people'. John built many of the beautiful homes in Montreal and at least four of his daughters were born in their home on Latour St., Ella, the twins who died at three months and Kate. He built a large home for himself at 53 Mansfield St. on the site of the present Queen Elizabeth Hotel. Mrs. Jewett wrote that 'The Bulmer home was set away back from the corner of Dorchester Street and Mansfield and in front their was a lovely garden full of flowers and fruit trees, surrounded by a high wooden wall and handsome tall gates. The coach entrance was on Dorchester Street' and the coachman, according to John's daughter Ella must have been a Cockney as he used to talk about the 'ay and straw for the 'orses dinner. There was a smaller walk gate on the Mansfield St. side on which Ella and some of the other children used to swing. The Hersleys lived next door in one of the houses in the row John built which were according to Mrs. Jewett, fine grey stone with English-type basements and huge drawing rooms up on the second floor.
The Bulmer home was a happy one. When the children were young John used to take one or two down to his office on a Saturday morning to help make up the pay envelopes for his workmen. When the girls and their brother grew up there were whist parties, musical evenings and sing-songs in the elegant upstairs drawing room. John and his wife always welcomed the young people who 'came to call'....
John Bulmer was a kind, affectionate and understanding father, who spoiled his only son and proudly referred to his daughters as 'my girls'. They all loved and respected him. John and Elizabeth, whom he called 'Libby' adored each other and when she died suddenly of a heart attack one Saturday evening on the way to open the front door, it broke John's heart and four years later he died, on the same day but one, 18 December 1896 at the age of 60. He was a lifelong member of St. George's Church and was widely respected in the community."
John Bulmer and Elizabeth Ladd's eight children were:
1) Mary Elizabeth Bulmer b. 9 March 1863 m. Thomas Fraser (they had eight children) d. 1955.
2) John Edwin Bulmer b. 25 October 1864 m. Albertine Droucet de Musset of Paris, France, later divorced. Childless. He worked in advertising and "depressed by business difficulties," d. 28 Feb. 1932 "from a self-inflicted gunshot wound."
3) Ida Bulmer (our ancestor) b. 26 June 1867 m. 16 May 1894 William Rutherford Jr. and they had five children. D. 3 March 1962.
4) Jane Bulmer b. 21 Jan 1870, unmarried, d. 5 April 1934. "She was matron for years at Compton School and was for five years house superintendent for the Y.W.C.A. in Sherbrooke, P.Q."
5) Ella Bulmer b. 3 Feb. 1872 m. 8 June 1901 Ernest John Fry and they had two children. D. 2 March 1959.
6) and 7) Twins Eva Florence and Gertrude Maud b. 7 April 1874 d. 14 July (Gertrude) and 16 July (Eva) 1874 of dysentery.
8) Kate b. 27 July 1881 m. Edward Fitzgerald 10 June 1903 St. George's Church and they had two children. D. 24 March 1971.
The Bulmer Family file contains a complete genealogy for all branches of the family down to my husband's generation, which I'm not going to reproduce here. It's a tremendous source of information for anyone interested in this large and productive family.
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