Letter and family tree from Vivian Boulos.

Last year you replied to my request for information on George Strange Boulton, and gave me several helpful leads. Since writing, my research has progressed to the point where I shall be making a research trip to Ontario. As I am traveling with my husband and able to spend only a limited amount of time in your community, I thought it best to write in advance to let you know my particular focus.

My great, great grandmother was Anna Maria Walton Beck Boulton, second wife of George Strange Boulton. I would be interested in knowing where she was buried and any information about her life in Cobourg. She was a heiress from Schenectady, 42 years old with a teenage son, John Walton Romeyn Beck, when she came to Cobourg to become a stepmother to Harriet, Georgiana and Edward Boulton, also teenagers. Her son remained, at least for awhile, at the home of his cousin, Catherine Beck VanCortland, at Croton, NY. Anna Maria Boulton died on December 12, 1862 in Peterborough. She is not buried in Little Lake Cemetery.

Georgiana Boulton married her step-brother, JWR Beck, on July 10, 1848 in Cobourg. There should be some record of them as Beck clerked for his father-in-law, George Strange, before deciding to enter the ministry. Any pictures you have of these people would be wonderful as I am attempting to identify 150 unlabeled pictures, many from Cobourg. I would be interested in Georgiana’s grave, and also any records of children produced before 1851—the date of their first known living child. The family moved to Peterborough in 1857 when JRW Beck became Rector of St. John’s Anglican Church. After bearing eight children, Georgiana Beck died in Peterborough on May 8, 1864 at age 37.

She is not buried in Little Lake Cemetery,

Now things get complicated. JWR Beck’s second wife was my great grandmother, Margaret Brown. Margaret Brown and her sisters came from Ireland in either 1840 or 1844. No one knows where they landed, but apparently they were trying to join relatives in Cobourg. A Landry family is mentioned. The sisters were Jane, Eliza and Catherine who married Mr. Sheppard, a customs inspector.
After emigrating, Margaret’s mother dies in 1844 in Albany trying to reach her brother in Sterling County, NY. We believe Margaret somehow came under the care of Mrs. Boulton, either as a companion, housekeeper or dressmaker.
Therefore, I need census records to show the makeup of Northumberland Hall for the years 1841, 1851, 1861, 1871. Jane Brown can be placed in Cobourg in August, 1858, where she was stating with a Mrs. Ingram. Margaret Brown, after training in Toronto in Mrs. Lyon’s establishment, opened two dressmaking shops in Cobourg, the first on April 2, 1859 at Henry Street. The second business resumed on May 1, 1863 in King Street between the Globe Hotel and the Registry Office. I therefore need to look in City Directories to ascertain the existence of these businesses. On July 19, 1866, Margaret Brown married Rev. JWR Beck in Peterborough. Several members of the congregation believe Mr. Beck has “married his cook.” This would presume Margaret Brown abandoned her business and went to Peterborough to care for Georgiana’s eight small children, subsequently marrying my great grandmother.

There is also the matter of JWR Beck’s severe reversal of fortune. He seems to have been a naïve man who put his financial affairs into the hands of his father-in-law, George Strange Boulton. The Beck’s built, in 1860, an expensive, beautiful home in Ashburnham, known as St. Leonard’s (now the site of St. Joseph’s Hospital). By 1875, the house was so encumbered with debt and worthless third mortgages taken out by his father-in-law that the property was sold. The Beck’s were always referred to as “hocking the silver” in times of emergency. Some insight into the financial dealings of George Strange Boulton, particularly were they concerned Peterborough and possibly his son in law, would be a real treasure. The Boultons always said Beck spent his money foolishly on high living and too many children; the Becks claimed the Boultons ruined him. Luckily, a significant passage of time has elapsed to view these events with objectivity and sympathy. It could be assumed that the loss of money began around 1870 and culminated in selling St. Leonard’s in 1875.

After the marriage of Margaret Brown and JWR Beck, some of the older children moved to Cobourg and lived with George Strange. At some point, the oldest son, George Fairley (b 1851) entered a mental institution where he remained for life. Harry Beck became a lawyer. Another son was lost at sea. Nicholas DuBois Beck became Roman Catholic and moved to Edmonton. There are a great many descendants of this man. Anna Maria Beck became a nurse and died very young in Peterborough. What remained of the “first family” lived modestly in the Rectory with two small girls born to Margaret Brown when she was in her early 40s, my grandmother Mary Mildred Louise Beck Dennistoun and her sister, Georgiana Maud D'Eresby Beck Stevenson. I have always been bemused at Margaret Brown naming her first daughter after her husband's first wife. Perhaps it was not her idea! The girls were always knows as Maud and Millie.

All this is much too long, and I apologize. I've enclosed some time lines and a pedigree chart which may help to sort this out. As Cobourg seems the center of many family mysteries, I am looking forward to visiting your library with great anticipation. I should be in your area approximately October 7/8, but we have no fixed schedule for our drive.

• Cobourg
  Ontario, Canada
  

  Latitude: 43.95977 Longitude: -78.16515