Henry’s poor and ‘failed’ health finally gave way on April 15, 1882.
In the Minutes of the Toronto Methodist Conference of 1882, it was noted that:
“Bro. Bawtenheimer was born in the Township of Blenheim in the year 1828 (sic). God blessed him with pious parents, they being among the pioneer Methodists of that part of Canada. He seems, like Samuel, to have loved the Lord from his early childhood, for his sorrowing wife now says, “I cannot tell the exact date of his conversion, but I have often heard him say he could not remember the time when he did not pray and earnestly wish to be good.” He, having become convinced of his call to preach, entered the Ministry of the Primitive Methodist Church in 1855, and after one year of acceptable service in that connection, offered himself to the Wesley Methodist Church by whom the offer was accepted.”
The obituary then lists his various callings, noting that he preached with great acceptance to the Indians. An assessment of his character follows, which gives an insight into the home life of the Bawtenheimers and Sarah’s early experiences.
“Bro. Bawtenheimer possessed great intellectual ability — was of a generous, sympathetic, sensitive nature, and had a warm loving heart. He was a devoted Christian, a faithful pastor and loved to preach Christ. In forming an estimate of his character, however, we should, in loving sympathy, remember his long years of sickness — the last twenty years of his life having been, with a few intervals of rest, one long agony of excruciating pain, which shattered his constitution, blighted his prospects, and what, to a highly nervous and sensitive nature like his, was exquisite torture, involved those whom he loved with him in a common misfortune; this threw a sombre shade of gloom over his whole nature, and would, had it not been for the sustaining grace of God, have overwhelmed him in an awful despair. But God did sustain him, for even when his lips were quivering with anguish, he recognized the source of this agony and knew it came with a divine purpose…
During his last illness he was singularly patient and submissive and constantly raised his heart to God in prayer for his blessing to rest upon himself and his family. His undying devotion to his work was strikingly manifested a few Sabbaths previous to his death, for when the hour of divine service had come, he requested his attendants to carry him to the ‘house of god,’ that he might once more proclaim to his flock the story of redeeming love, and point them to that home whose delights he was so soon to experience.”
Sarah Bawtenheimer, Samuel Edward’s mother born 1860; married 1884; died 1935. Photograph taken while she worked at Eaton’s, c. 1880.
Reverend Henry Bawtenheimer died, “in sure and certain hope of the resurrection to eternal life,” and was buried on the Cape Croker Reserve. Shortly afterward the house burned to the ground and all Rev. Henry’s books, furniture and other possessions were lost. Martha Amanda took her family back to the site of her husband’s last charge in Owen Sound.
When the Bawtenheimers had been moved to Toronto in 1874, Sarah was fourteen and so was given a slight taste of life in a city. She must have found the Reserve a distinct culture shock. Earlier, in 1856, her father had met Timothy Eaton of the department store at Stratford and the two staunch Methodists had struck up a close friendship that was to endure until Reverend Henry’s death. At age sixteen, Sarah left the manse and family life for the city, applying to her father’s friend for employment in his store, now located on Queen Street in Toronto. Timothy Eaton, who made it his policy to employ ‘daughters of the manse’ in his store had housing arranged for Sarah in a boarding house on Adelaide Street, just west of York Street. This establishment, suitable for young ladies, was run by a Mrs. Lee who had come to Toronto from Kirkton, Perth County, where Timothy Eaton had started his merchandising. Another of Mrs. Lee’s boarders was a young art student, Homer Watson from Doon near Kitchener, who later was to have so great an influence on Samuel Edward’s early art collection.
Sarah started off in the ribbons department. Her hours were from 8 am until 6 pm, five days a week, and 8 am until noon on Saturdays. Her wages were $2.50 per week. Church attendance on Sundays was not only expected of all Eaton employees, but was insisted upon. Timothy frequently took Sarah to church himself, along with his family, and kept an eye on her for the sake of his old friend. By the time Sarah was eighteen she was permitted to attend a few parties, most decorous affairs they would have been, always escorted by a suitable relative. In Sarah’s case, this was Sam Bitts, a second cousin and a young law student. In those days heavy curtains were drawn across the Eaton store windows on Saturday closing time, so that there could be no desecration of the Sabbath by possibly enticing passersby to covet merchandise on display and thus centre their thoughts on worldly matters.
When Sarah was twenty one, she left Eaton’s with a flattering letter of recommendation signed by Timothy Eaton himself, pointing out that she had risen to be second in charge of the millinery department for the past year. She took a position in Armstrong’s General Store, a dry goods emporium in Brigden, a small village on what is now Highway 80 in Lambton County.
It is more than likely that Sarah had a secret reason to want to give up a promising career in the city. Perhaps she had attended a summer Methodist Meeting Ground which gave young people of that faith an excellent opportunity to hear a variety of preachers and also to meet one another. These summer meetings were very popular and, it must be added, well chaperoned. Perhaps Sarah met up with her family at the June Conference of 1881 and was introduced by her father to a young student, George Sutton Weir by name. Perhaps she had met him previously when the family was stationed in Owen Sound and he was teaching school in Georgina Township in Bruce County. At any rate when George Sutton Weir went to Plympton in Lambton County as a teacher and student minister, Sarah found employment nearby. As the saying of those days went, ‘she had set her cap for him.’
Attracted by more than his preaching, Sarah decided to cultivate their friendship and mutual admiration. She no doubt had been given a copy of her father’s tract, published in 1877, Lectures on the Bible and Other Subjects, printed by an unidentified ‘book and job printer’ in Owen Sound and perhaps enjoyed sharing this work with George Sutton. It was while Sarah was living in Brigden that she received the telegram informing her of her father’s death.
After the fire Martha Amanda moved immediately from the Reserve to Owen Sound with what little goods she had saved after the house had burned to the ground. Charles, Sarah’s brother, who is reported as having said that he would like to be a preacher like his father, seems to have left home. Martha Amanda, now on her own, was having great difficulties trying to make ends meet. It was Sarah who wrote to the Conference of Methodist Bishops requesting some sort of pension for her mother and four younger sisters. The reply was to the effect that there would be no pension as the Reverend Brother Henry had failed to remit one year’s payment on his pension. The Bishops’ advice to Sarah was to get a job and support her mother and sisters, a rather tall order for a girl of twenty two who had been helping already and whose family was in exceptional need. Frances was sixteen, Mary was thirteen, Eva Jane was twelve and Laura Alberta an infant. Timothy Eaton wrote to Martha Amanda offering to take the infant and raise her, but the widow refused.
Martha Amanda, now a vivacious and dainty young widow of thirty-nine, once her husband was gone, set about her new responsibilities. It is not recorded exactly how she managed, but in all probability Sarah helped as much as she could. Young Frances was the beauty of the family and one way out of her money troubles would be for Martha Amanda to arrange marriages for her girls. Accordingly, Frances, being ‘polished up’ so as to attain the best possible marriage, was subjected to lessons in painting, singing and horseback riding. It may have been that Martha Amanda was a good hand at needlework and repaid her daughter’s teachers in kind. Timothy Eaton also may have contributed to the family’s needs from time to time.