Barbara A. Martindale- For What It's Worth October 21, 2013
Caledonia's St. Paul's Anglican Church is taking the 2013 year to celebrate 175 years and Reverend Bold Cudmore Hill's contributions.
Rev. Hill was the first Anglican missionary along the Grand River and for most of the County of Haldimand from 1838 to 1870. His headquarters at York provided a mid point for him to get to mission points including Dunnville, Canboro, Cayuga, Jarvis, Nanticoke, Caledonia and Seneca. His territory also covered the Township of Glanford in Wentworth County.
Rev. Hill was born in Limerick, Ireland on October 16, 1799. He received his Masters in Theology from the University of Dublin and emigrated to America as a Gentleman from the London, England Society for the Propogation of the Gospel.
He left Bristol on a passenger sailing vessel and landed in New York on September 25, 1838. He arrived in Toronto on a canal boat that had travelled via Albany and Kingston looking for the Bishop of Quebec, the Right Reverend George Jehoshaphat Mountain who was on three-month visitation to Upper Canada. He met with Bishop Mountain on October 10 to present him with a letter of introduction from the Bishop of London.
On October 12, 1838, he learned that his mission would be "along the Swamp Road and Grand River," which would extend to Dunnville.
On the morning of Sunday, October 21, Hill conducted his first service in Haldimand at a tavern in Cayuga. His second service that same day was in the school house in York.
He married Isabella, a "charming, highly educated Edinburgh lady" on November 8, 1841, took a two-week leave of absence and on return, they moved into a house in York, which he had built and furnished. Rev. Hill was 42 years old.
The couple had four children: Jeffrey born in 1843, Arundel in 1845, Renwick in 1847 and Elizabeth in 1850.
Rev. Bold Cudmore Hill didn't only encourage and set up parishes, he also was appointed as a school commissioner for the area. He prepared students of the universities and professional life generally.
The Honorable Richard Harcourt of York and a student of Rev. Hill wrote a tribute. Mr. Harcourt said, "The people of Haldimand might well erect a monument in loving memory of this saintly pioneer clergyman - a lonely figure on horseback - to be placed on one of the highways he travelled by day and by night, winter and summer, addressing scattered audiences in small school houses or ministering to the spiritual needs of the sick and dying."
Bryant's Inn in Caledonia was one location for his services.
Extensive information from Rev. Hill's reports and letters was acquired from Ottawa archives for a book (1838 From then and Now 1988) published by St. Paul's in 1988 for the 150th anniversary. From this information, Mary Mellish wrote a comprehensive summary of his life, occasionally requested by researchers.
In November 1846, Rev. Hill reported that the church in Caledonia had burnt down. The rebuilding took place in 1849, where St. Andrew's Lodge Hall stands today. The cemetery at that site remains (inactive since 1930s) as St. Paul's Burial Ground.
A man of medium height, lithe figure and somewhat stooped, penetrating light blue eyes, Richard Harcourt also described him as always gentle yet firm. His sermons were mainly taken from St. Paul's epistles.
Rev. Bold Cudmore Hill died on November 9, 1870 as the result of injuries received when he fell from his horse in front of a house in York while making a pastoral call. He was 71 years old.
