William Fletcher Turtle (1821 - 1865)

Born 9 Feb 1821 in Bahama Islands

Husband of Caroline Amelia (Weech) Turtle — married 11 Sep 1850 in Nassau, New Providence, Bahamas [uncertain]

Descendants

Died 3 Feb 1865 at age 43 in Charlestown, Nevis, West Indies

Problems/Questions Profile manager: Ann Carmel [send private message]

William Fletcher Turtle is part of a Bahamian family.

Biography

William Fletcher Turtle was born 9 February 1821, and christened 5 March 1821, in the Bahama Islands to the Reverend John Turtle, Wesleyan clergyman, and Mary Margaret McLeod Turtle. He was baptized by the Reverend William Wilson.

He married Caroline Amelia Weech 26 August 1850 at Sandy Point, Antigua. The Bahama Herald reported the wedding: "Married, Monday the 26th inst. at the Wesleyan Chapel, Sandy Point, by Rev. James Cox, Chairman of Antigua District, Rev. Wm. Fletcher Turtle, Wesley Missionary to Caroline Amelia, fifth daughter of late George Weech of New Providence.."

Reverend and Mrs Turtle had two known sons: William Wesley Turtle (who died in his infancy) and John Fletcher Weech Turtle.

William Fletcher Turtle served in the Wesleyan ministry 1845-65 - primarily in the Antigua District in the British West Indies. Among his stations were St Eustatius, Antigua, Tortola, and Nevis. He also served in Green Turtle Cay, Abaco, Bahamas in 1846-1847.

Reverend William Fletcher Turtle died in Charlestown, Nevis 3 February 1865, at 43 years of age. He was buried in The Wesleyan Burial Ground, Charlestown, Nevis.

At their Hundred and Twenty-Second Annual Conference, Thursday, July 27th, 1865, the Methodist Ministers paid tribute to the clergymen that had recently passed away:

William Fletcher Turtle, aged forty-four years ; who was a native of the Bahamas, and a son of one of our highly-valued and greatly-beloved Missionaries to those islands. Losing his father when young, and his mother at no distant period afterwards, he was placed in circumstances to need the guidance of Him who had promised to be the father of the fatherless. Till eighteen years of age he sought it not; but, allured by the world, lived without God, and without hope. At length, awakened by the death of an intimate friend, he yielded to the Spirit's influence, and turned from the ways of the disobedient to the wisdom of the just. The mantle of his departed father fell upon him; and he earnestly sought to fulfill the ministry which he had received of the Lord Jesus, and to testify of the grace of God. This, in all godly jealousy, in all tenderness of spirit and gentleness of manner .. he faithfully did for nineteen years. Eminent for his gift in prayer, and for his meekness and love, he was esteemed very highly by his brethren. Wholly resting on the unfailing mercy of God, he was kept in peace during his last affliction, and, on February 3rd, 1865, died, as he had lived, a man of God.

Sources

New Providence, Bahamas Methodist Births and Baptisms, Turtle, 1821, #63.

Digital Library of the Caribbean, University of Florida. Marriage Announcement. Bahama Herald, Nassau, Bahamas, 11 September 1850.

"Saint Kitts and Nevis, Civil Registration, 1859-1932", database, FamilySearch (https://www.familysearch.org/ark:/61903/1:1:6CTQ-BNMM : 29 September 2021), William Fletcher Turtle, 1865. Death of Reverend William Turtle.

Minutes of Several Conversations - The Methodist Ministers in The Connexion Established by the Late Rev. John Wesley, A.M. at their Hundred and Twenty-Second Annual Conference, Begun in Birmingham, Thursday, July 27th, 1865, pages 35-36.

More Monumental Inscriptions: Tombstones of the British West Indies, by Lena Boyd Brown, Vere Langford Oliver, page 120.