Left to right – Florence Mabel (Peer), Lucy Richards (Peer), George Rowsome, Lillian Spicer (Peer), Reuben Peer Jr., (Hannah or Mary Peer) and Kitty Peer.

Photo taken in 1930 at the Peer Family Reunion

Dec 27th, 2007 – note from Julie Hinton: Miranda and I visited my cousin Betty in Nov. and we both agreed that grandma and grandpa Hinton are not in the Peer Family Elder pic or the Peer Family Reunion pic.

Caption updated Dec 26, 2007 and again on Sept 20, 2009.

Do you know the names of any of these people? (click on image to view larger)

This photo of the Peer Family of Eastern Ontario (Elizabethtown Township, near Brockville) was saved by my mother, Della Jean Charlton (nee Connell), seated in front on the far left. The Peer Reunion took place at the home of George and Margaret Rowesome at Jellyby, Leeds County, Ontario.

Standing second and third from left are my grandparents, Ethel May (nee Richards) and Delbert Connell. Standing second from right, by the hand pump, is their son Gerald Carson Connell. Immediately to his left is Mary Lillian Spicer (nee Peer).

Beside my mother (seated on the grass on the left) is a man with a baby. The woman behind them is Jewell Glenora MacGregor, the daughter of Katherine Matilda Peer aka Kitty Peer. Going strictly by the body language, I suspect the man is her husband and the baby, her child.

Kneeling to the right of the man with the baby is George Rowsome and seated beside him also with a baby is Lucy Adeline Richards (nee Peer), Ethel May’s mother.

According to their great grand daughter, Pamela Vittorio, the gentleman in suit and tie standing behind the children is Reuben Peer Jr. with his wife Florence Mabel Peer.

Dec 26th, 2007 note from Julie Hinton: Miranda and I visited my cousin Betty in Nov. and we both agreed that grandma and grandpa Hinton are not in the Peer Family Elder pic or the Peer Family Reunion pic. 

All that changed when he left home to commence his studies for the ministry in 1902. His first stop was the Wesleyan Church at Castleton Hall in Castleton, Derbyshire under the auspices of the Home Mission Board of England. When Castleton Hall closed he moved with his fellow students to Cliff College at Curbar, Derbyshire. The latter remains a Methodist College to this day.

In 1906 he immigrated to Canada and by 1907 was “Received on Trial” at Ebeneezer. Between 1908 and 1911 he attended Wesley College, Winnipeg and was “Ordained” in 1912 at Moose Jaw.

He married Helen Lottie Good on August 7, 1912 in Fillmore, Saskatchewan. Their first child, William Browell Charlton was born in Macklin, Saskatchewan on July 20th, 1913. Macklin Methodist was his first church. They stayed at Maklin unitl the following year when they moved to Lemberg, Saskatchewan to take over the Union church there. The posting at Lemberg saw the birth of their second child, Robert Charlton on April 11, 1918. In 1919 the family moved to Newcastle upon Tyne, England where the Reverend and Mrs. Charlton took charge of the Newcastle Wesleyan Mission at Westgate Hall. While on a brief vacation to visit his parents, William and Mary Charlton at 26 Western Hill in Durham, Helen succumbed to heart failure (mitral regurgitation) on the Ides of March. It was the Ides of March.

Following the sudden death of his first wife in 1920, Rev. Charlton returned to Canada with Deaconess Frances Smurthwaite Frances McPherson – his second wife, and the two boys to minister to the Davidson Church in Davidson, Saskatchewan between 1921 and 1925.

Between 1926 and 1930 he was Minister of the Milestone United Church, Milestone Saskatchewan. In 1931 the family moved to Shawinigan Falls, Quebec where he became Minister of Trinity United Church. Here he stayed through his retirement in 1951, Frances’ death in 1953 and up until his passing on March 28th, 1956. Even after he retired he continued working, providing part time ministry to the congregation in Lake Megantic, near the Quebec/Maine border.

Sources for the above include reports by family members, most notably W. B. Charlton (who helped me start my genealogical research about 40 years ago), birth and census documents and files from the United Church Archives at Victoria College, Toronto. Most notable of the latter are minutes from the Montreal – Ottawa Conference 1956 which included a biographical sketch of Reverend Charlton’s working life.

Robert Charlton and Helen Lottie Good had two children:

1. William Browell (Bill) Charlton was born on July 20, 1913 in Macklin, Saskatchewan. He married Della Jean Connell on May 21, 1941 in Alexandria, Ontario.
2. Robert (Bert) Charlton was born April 11, 1918 in Lemberg, Saskatchewan.

Although Robert had two older brothers, John and William, it is unclear if he ever knew about them as they both died before he was born and he never mentioned them. Playing a much larger role in his life were his two sisters Minnie and Isabel pictured with him below in 1919.