Rev. Jonathan Boucher This is Me

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1. 1. www.oldandsold.com

   www.oldandsold.com/articles24/ - [Cached]

   Published on: 3/17/2006   Last Visited: 3/6/2007

   Jonathan Boucher is a notable example. He was considered one of the best preachers of his time in the Church of England. At the age of twenty-one, he went from his English home to Virginia as tutor in a private family. He continued for some years in this occupation, evidently making for himself a good reputation. Then he resolved to take orders, and accordingly returned to England, where he was ordained by the Bishop of London in 1762. Returning to America, he became successively rector of two or three parishes in Virginia, and finally of St. Anne's at Annapolis. According to his report, Annapolis was at that time " the genteelest town in North America." During his Virginia pastorates, he had nearly thirty boys at a time under his personal instruction. He continued his teaching after his removal to Annapolis, and John Parke Custis, the stepson of Washington, was among the pupils who went with him to his new field. An interesting correspondence passed between Boucher and Washington with reference to the education of this boy.
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   Young Custis was fourteen years old when Washington applied to Boucher to receive him.
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   Boucher himself delighted in horse racing, but still more he delighted in literary pursuits. A theatre was built at Annapolis during his residence in the town, and he distinguished himself by writing some verses about one of the actresses, as well as a prologue or two. He wrote also a petition in verse in behalf of the old church, which was well received. And he was president of the Homony Club, which was composed of a few social and literary men, and was intended to promote genial fellowship.
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   Boucher believed that life in the school would be good for him, as enabling him to add some of the wisdom of the serpent to the harmlessness of the dove. At one time arrangements were making to send him to Europe for the advantage of travel with his tutor ; and Boucher laid before Washington his ideas of the usefulness of an acquaintance with foreign countries.
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   When the boy had been with Boucher for three years, Washington intimated to the rector that no great progress had been made in his studies.
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   Boucher replied that he now understood the principles of what he had previously acquired by rote ; but added that " there is a Deal of Difference to be observed in ye Educate a Gentleman, & a mere scholar."
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   Boucher admitted that he had himself somewhat neglected his duty as tutor, but added the retort that he had given his pupil the training suited to a gentleman, rather than that of a pedant or schoolmaster.
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   Boucher seems to have been admitted to intimate relations with the Washingtons. But with increasing estrangement between the colonies and the mother country, their friend-ship cooled ; for Boucher was an uncompromising loyalist, and spoke up fearlessly against the rebellious proceedings of the colonies. His last sermon at Annapolis was preached with pistols on his pulpit cushion, and closed with the words, " As long as I live, yea, while I have my being, will I proclaim God save the King."

2. 2. www.whatsupmag.com

   www.whatsupmag.com/feb03/gw.sh - [Cached]

   Published on: 2/1/2003   Last Visited: 1/4/2008

   Dined at Mr. Samuel Galloway's and lodged with Mr. Boucher in Annapolis.
   
   ,, 23.
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   Who was Mr. Jonathan Boucher, who figures prominently early in this visit to Annapolis and during later visits? Mr. Boucher was rector of the first St. Anne's Parish (the third of which is still standing) and housed Washington's stepson, John Park "Jacky" Custis, during his schooling in Annapolis.
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   Custis is known to have extended an invitation on behalf of Boucher to stay at his house, as it would be "almost impossible to get a Room at any of the ordinaries, the Rooms being preengaged to their [regular] customers."
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   Boucher and Custis were living in the St. Anne's Parish parsonage, located on Hanover Street.

3. 3. UELAC.org - Loyalist Trails newsletter Online edition 2007 Archive

   www.uelac.org/Loyalist-Trails/ - [Cached]

   Published on: 10/14/2007   Last Visited: 3/25/2008

   One of these loyalists was a friend of George Washington, an Anglican minister and loyalist philosopher named Jonathan Boucher.
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   In 1759 Boucher immigrated to Port Royal, Virginia from Cumberland, England when he was just 21 years old. He began life in the colonies tutoring the sons of gentlemen. Within sixteen years, Boucher had a wife from a prominent family, was the Anglican rector in Annapolis, Maryland, operated a school for 30 boys, and owned a plantation with slaves. He was one of the rotating chaplains of the lower house of the Maryland legislature, reading scripture and leading the legislators in prayer. He also helped to draft some provincial laws as an unofficial advisor to members of the legislature.
   
   During his time as a school headmaster, Boucher became the friend of George Washington, the stepfather of one of his students.
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   By 1764, Boucher found himself arguing against the ever-increasing rebellious philosophies that swept through the Thirteen Colonies. His sermons were not only full of spiritual counsel and direction, they became expositions of a loyalist's philosophy of government.
   
   "With sincerity in my heart, and my Bible in my hand," Boucher later wrote, "I sat down to explore the truth . . . to read and study what had been collected and laid down on the subject of government by writers . . . who got their materials . . . from the only pure sources of information, the law of God, and the law of the land." His loyalty to George III was not one of blindly accepting the status quo, but one born of study.
   
   The Anglican minister's philosophy of government will sound odd to our ears, 21st century citizens who have been exposed to the American view of history and government all of our lives. It is important to realize that if the results of the War of Independence had been different, government in North America, for good or ill, would be based on ideas very similar to those held by Jonathan Boucher.
   
   Boucher believed in the God-given right of kings to rule. "Unless we are good subjects, we cannot be good Christians." To rebel against the king was to disobey God's created plan for government. He openly scoffed at the notion of liberty as preached by the patriots. "The word liberty, as meaning civil liberty, does not, I believe, occur in all the Scriptures." There was, however, a place for nonresistance and passive obedience. "It is your duty," wrote Boucher, "to instruct your members to take all the constitutional means in their power to obtain redress." He felt petition and protest were appropriate tools against an unjust ruler. However, while there could be justifiable rebellions, Boucher did not think that the American Revolution was one of them.
   
   He was especially wary of the notion that government was "the mere creature of the people" and could be altered at any time. It was a sure recipe, in Boucher's mind, for rule by the mob. "Everything our blessed Lord either said or did, pointedly tended to discourage the disturbing a settled government." Government that functioned according to Boucher's interpretation of the Bible was the best hope for the security of its citizens.
   
   On May 4, 1775, Boucher had his last conversation with George Washington.
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   Boucher was concerned about the course of colonial events.
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   Within half a year, Boucher was on a ship bound for England.
   
   "For more than six months I preached, when I did preach, with a pair of loaded pistols lying on the cushions; having given notice that if any one attempted, what had long been threatened, to drag me out of the pulpit, I should think myself justified in repelling violence by violence."
   
   During his last days in Maryland, Boucher fended off the attack of a muscular blacksmith while walking through town. One Sunday when armed men filled his church, Boucher's friends had to physically restrain him from stepping into his pulpit. Clearly, the political tides had irrevocably turned. It was time for the Maryland vicar to leave. Jonathan Boucher sailed for England in September of 1775, becoming one of the Revolution's very first loyalist refugees.
   
   Besides serving as a vicar in Epsom, Surrey, Boucher enjoyed scholarly pursuits during his years of exile. He compiled a glossary of "archaic and provincial words" that had among its other definitions, the word "banjo". Boucher's entries were later used in creating Webster's Dictionary.
   
   However, the independence of America was never far from Jonathan Boucher's mind. In 1797 he published 13 sermons that he preached in Virginia between 1763 and 1775. A View of the Causes and Consequences of the American Revolution was Boucher's last volley in his loyalist defence of the monarchy.