Very Rev. Dean. Michael B. Boomer

Other Events:

• Residence: 26 - 28 Blenheim Rd., Cambridge, Waterloo Region, Ontario, Canada
• Eby ID Number: Waterloo-33279
• Occupation: 1840, Trinity Anglican Church, Cambridge, Waterloo Region, Ontario, Canada; minister
• Residence: Bef 1851, 69 Blair Rd., Cambridge, Waterloo Region, Ontario, Canada
• Occupation: 1851, Galt (Cambridge), Waterloo Region, Ontario, Canada; Clergyman
• Residence: 1851, Galt (Cambridge), Waterloo Region, Ontario, Canada; Episcopalian
• Occupation: 1871, Galt (Cambridge), Waterloo Region, Ontario, Canada; Rector, Trinity Church
• Residence: 1871, Galt (Cambridge), Waterloo Region, Ontario, Canada; Church of England
• Historic Building: 1873, 14 Blair Road, Cambridge, Waterloo Region, Ontario, Canada; Trinity Church Rectory

Notes:

Trinity Anglican Church

An Anglican missionary, Rev. Michael Boomer, arrived in Galt in 1840 to organize the community's first Anglican congregation. Services were held in the Township Hall until the fall of 1844 when a new stone church was completed. The building was opened and consecrated in October, 1844 by Dr. Strachan, Bishop of the Diocese of Toronto. Land for the church had been donated by the Dickson family and the cost of the building was assumed largely by the Dicksons and by Absalom Shade. The first Rector of Trinity Church, Rev. Michael Boomer, was to minister to the Galt congregation until moving to London in 1872 when he became Principal of Huron College and Dean of the Huron diocese. Dean Boomer was followed by Reverend Canons Brock (1872-1873), Curran (1873-1877), Hinks (1877-1886) and Rev. Canon Ridley who was rector from 1886 until his sudden death in November 1915.

The first Parish Hall was built in 1855 through the generosity of Mr. Shade. When Mr. Shade died in 1862 his Will provided funds for the construction of a Rectory along with an endowment fund to provide for the rector's salary. The church was enlarged in 1856, and in 1868 the Parish Hall was made larger. The interior of the church was altered in 1885-1886 and the Norman Tower was added during the same time frame through the generosity of Matthew Wilks. Work began on rebuilding the Parish Hall with the laying of the cornerstone on July 17, 1911. Electric lighting was installed in 1916. The Parish Hall was further enlarged in 1956; the new Chapel of the Holy Trinity was built about the same time.

Canon Ridley established a Mission in Preston in 1888. Construction of St. John's Anglican Church in that community was begun in 1889 with dedication services held in 1890. St. James Anglican Church in Hespeler also began as a Mission of Galt. Work began in 1919 on St. David's Mission at the corner of Pollock and Chalmers Street in Galt. The Mission, which began as a Sunday School, was dedicated by Archbishop Williams in April 1920.

Waterloo County Churches A Research Guide To Churches Established Before 1900 By Rosemary Ambrose

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St. John the Evangelist Anglican Church

Early Anglican services were held in the Berlin area in the 1840s by the Rev. Michael Boomer of the Galt Mission. In 1856 William Jaffray moved from Galt to Berlin and established an English-language newspaper, the Berlin Chronicle. An Anglican, who had attended Trinity Church in Galt, Mr. Jaffray led in the formation of a congregation in Berlin, where he acted as Lay Reader. Two other gentlemen influential in establishing the Anglican presence in Berlin were Henry Joseph Fletcher Jackson and Dr. David S. Bowlby. Land was purchased on April 5, 1861 on the southeast corner of Water St. N. and Short (now Duke) Streets, and the first church, of red brick with white brick trim, was built in 1861.

The church was demolished in April 1894 to make room for the present church which was built on the same site and dedicated on October 7, 1894. A Parish Hall was built in 1927 and the church was enlarged in 1955. Early rectors who followed the missionary, Thomas S. Campbell, were the first rector Rev. E.R. Stimson (1859-1864), Rev. Dr. John Schulte (1864-1867), Rev. Henry Jessop (1868) and Rev. Alexander Sydney Falls (1869-1876).


Waterloo County Churches A Research Guide To Churches Established Before 1900 By Rosemary Ambrose

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St. John's Anglican Church

The first church services were held by Rev. Michael Boomer as a mission of Trinity Anglican Church, Galt. These early services were held in various locations: in homes, in the Royal Templars' Hall in the Erb Block, in the Lyceum Hall, and in the frame Lutheran church on King Street. A Sunday School which met in the CNR station house on Guelph Street was begun in 1880 by Mr. Robert Jell.

Rev. Canon Ridley of Trinity in Galt organized a congregation in 1888. A church building was constructed in 1889 at the corner of Queen (now Queenston Road) and Argyle Streets and was dedicated in 1890 by Bishop Baldwin of the Diocese of Huron. The first baptism is reported to have taken place on May 17, 1890. Hespeler was attached to Preston until January 1, 1890 when the former became a separate parish.

An extension to the church, which included the first Parish Hall, was built in 1908; a new Parish Hall was constructed in 1925; and in 1927 the church was declared free of debt and was consecrated by Archbishop Williams. The church was once more enlarged, and rededicated, in 1953.

Waterloo County Churches A Research Guide To Churches Established Before 1900 By Rosemary Ambrose

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VERY REV. MICHAEL BOOMER, LL.D.,

LONDON.

DEAN BOOMER, son of George Boomer, a linen manufacturer of Huguenot descent, and Mary Knox, of Scotch ancestry, was born at Hill Hall, near Lisburn, County of Down, Ireland, January 1, 1810. The name was originally spelt Bulmer, and the progenitor of the family in Ireland was Rend Helmer, who with his wife fled from France about the time of the revocation of the Edict of Nantes, and settled at Lambeg, in a house now called the Priory. The name was finally changed from Rene Balmer to Rainey Boomer. An interesting anecdote in told of him in the Ulster Journal of Archeology." As King William (of Orange) passed through Lambeg on one occasion, about 190 years ago, he was met by Mr. Balmer, who addressed him in French. After explaining to the King the cause of his being in Ireland, as His Majesty was about to pass on, his humble subject asked permission to embrace him. The King consented, and having received a saluteon the cheek, he, stooping toward Bulmer's wife, a lovely French woman, said: "and the wife also," and he saluted her heartily.

Our subject was educated at the Belfast Royal Academic Institution, of which he was a foundation scholar for five years, and at Trinity College, Dublin, having graduated from the latter in 1838, and there receiving the honorary degree of Doctor of Law, in 1860.

He came to Canada in 1840; was ordained Deacon the same year by Bishop Strath., and Priest the following year, as a missionary for the Propagation of the Gospel ; and was appointed to the minion of Galt a position which he retained for more than thirty years When be entered upon his mission work, there were but three Episcopal families in the parish, and neither school house nor church; when he left, a large stone church and fine parsonage were up, and there were nearly a thousand members of the church, and an endowment of $1,000.

In 1872 the subject of this notice was called to London by the Bishop of Huron, and appointed Dean of Huron and Principal of Huron College, an institution founded by Bishop Hellmuth in 1863, for preparing young men for the ministry, and which is quite flourishing under the principalship of the worthy Dean.

His present wife was M. Harriet Roche, of England, an authoress who has written a very popular work on South Africa,. "On Trek in the Transvaal"

The Canadian biographical dictionary : and portrait gallery of eminent and self-made men: Ontario volume.

Historic Building:
two story brick house, used as Trinity Anglican Church Rectory.

Michael — Isabella Jemima Davidson. Isabella (daughter of James Davidson and Elspeth Blackhall) was born 1808, , Scotland; died 19 Aug 1876, London, Middlesex, Ontario, Canada; was buried , Trinity Anglican Cemetery, Cambridge, Waterloo Region, Ontario, Canada. [Group Sheet]

Michael — Helen Adams. Helen was born 1817, of, Galt (Cambridge), Waterloo Region, Ontario, Canada; died 30 May 1848, , Waterloo Region, Ontario, Canada; was buried , Trinity Anglican Cemetery, Cambridge, Waterloo Region, Ontario, Canada. [Group Sheet]

1. Mary Boomer was born 1841, , Ontario, Canada; died Yes, date unknown.
2. Helen Boomer was born 1844, Galt (Cambridge), Waterloo Region, Ontario, Canada; died Yes, date unknown; was buried , Trinity Anglican Cemetery, Cambridge, Waterloo Region, Ontario, Canada.
3. George Edward Boomer was born 1844, , Ontario, Canada; died 26 Oct 1881, Shanghai, , Shanghai, China.
4. Edward Boomer was born 1848, Galt (Cambridge), Waterloo Region, Ontario, Canada; died 23 Aug 1849; was buried , Trinity Anglican Cemetery, Cambridge, Waterloo Region, Ontario, Canada.

Michael married Harriet Ann Mills 1878. Harriet was born 10 Jul 1835, Bishops Hull, Taunton Deane Borough, Somerset, England; died 1 Mar 1921, London, Middlesex, Ontario, Canada; was buried , Woodland Cemetery, London, Middlesex Co., Ontario. [Group Sheet]

Other Events:

• Eby ID Number: Waterloo-33301

George — Mary Knox. Mary was born Abt 1780, Of, Hill Hall Near Lisburn, Down, Ireland; died Yes, date unknown. [Group Sheet]

Other Events:

• Name: Mary Boomer
• Eby ID Number: Waterloo-33302