Amelia Ray (Bent) Palmer (1849 - 1925)

Born 28 Apr 1849 in St. John, New Brunswick

Ancestors

Wife of Acalus Lockwood Palmer — married 14 Dec 1886 in Saint John, St. John, New Brunswick, Canada

Died 29 Oct 1925 at age 76 in Saint John, St. John, New Brunswick, Canada

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Biography

Amelia was born in 1849, the daughter of Gilbert Bent and Mary Bath, their fourth child. Amelia, often called Minnie, lived in the Queens Ward of St. John, New Brunswick (later spelled Saint John). Her father was a successful wholesale grocer who made many trips to the West Indies in search of products. The 1881 St. John Business Directory lists his company as "Gilbert Bent & Sons, wholesale dealers in flour, meal, fish, pork, salt, tea, tobacco etc. on 5, 6, 7 and 8 South Market Wharf." The Bent family, including two unmarried sons who worked in their father's business, lived at 78 Orange Street. In December 1886 thirty-seven year old Amelia married widower Acalus L. Palmer as noted in St. John's The Daily Telegraph Newspaper:

"m. Centenary Church (St. John) 14th inst., by Rev. W.W. Brewer, Hon. A. L. Palmer, Judge in Equity/Minnie Ray Bent d/o Gilbert Bent, Esq., all of this city."

Hon. A. L. Palmer had been a member of the Canadian House of Commons and a Judge of the Supreme Court of New Brunswick. The couple did not have children. After the death of her husband in August 1899, Amelia lived in the Bent household again with her stepmother, sister and brothers. She passed away in October 1925 and was buried in Fernhill Cemetery in Saint John.

Sources

• North America, Family Histories, 1500-2000, Bent Family in America: No. 226. Gilbert Bent, married first Mary Eliza Bath who died Dec 12, 1878, Children: No. 4, Amelia Ray, born April 28, 1849, m. Hon. Acalus L. Palmer
• 1871 Census of Canada, Queen Ward, Saint John, New Brunswick, Gilbert Bent 57, Merchant, Mary E. Bent 57, Elizabeth A Bent 26, AMELIA R BENT 21, Gilbert O Bent 16, Frank G Bent 13, Bell Patterson 26, servant
• Canada, City and Area Directories, 1819-1906, BENT, GILBERT & SONS, 1881, h. 78 Orange
• Daniel F Johnson's New Brunswick Newspaper Vital Statistics, Dec. 15, 1886, Saint John, The Daily Telegraph, marriage
• 1901 Census of Canada, Queens Ward, Saint John, New Brunswick, Matilda Bent 62, widow, head of family, Elizabeth Bent 56, stepdaughter, Frank G. Bent 43, stepson, flour merchant, Gilbert O Bent 46, stepson, Journalist, speaks English and French, AMELIA PALMER 50, widow, stepdaughter, Julia Flinn 40, servant
• Canada, Find A Grave, Index, 1600s-Current, Amelia Ray Palmer, b. 1849, d. 1925, Fernhill Cemetery, Saint John, New Brunswick