Work of Mr. Bolton
pp. 25-26 · Read in the full issue
Letter to the Editor I READ with interest in the July P.I.M.
A an article by the Rev. Cecil North cott, M.A., on early missionary days in Tahiti. I regret to notice, however, that Mr. Northcott, like many another present day writer on historical events, has not taken sufficient pains to ensure accuracy.
He states that the missionaries • who held on in 1798 were five in number, viz Mr. and Mrs. Eyre, and Messrs. Bickneli] Nott, and Jefferson. Actually, those who stuck to their post were Eyre (and wife), Bicknell, Nott, Jefferson, Harris Lewis and Broomhall. (See “Transactions of the Missionary Society,” Vol. 1.) Mr. Northcott further states that “Only recently Tahiti publicly restored the graves of the humble heroes who brought the Gospel to her.” Actually, the work of locating and restoring the graves (excepting those of Nott and McKean) , been done by my old friend, Mr.
W. W. Bolton, of Papeete. After long and painstaking search he has located the graves of Jefferson and Lewis at Matavai, and of Tessier and Davies at Papara. Mr. Bolton is now busy in con nection with the restoration of the graves of Jefferson and Lewis at Matavai. and the locating of the graves of Scott and Bicknell in the neighbourhood of Pape toai, Moorea.
AT Th J. S , Work is Purely a labour of love on Mr. Bolton’s part. He gratefully acknow
ledges the receipt of funds from the head quarters of the London Missionary Society to defray the cost of labour and material.
The graves of Nott and McKean at Arqe were located and restored some years ago by a small self-appointed com mittee of English and American residents.
They are now kept in good order by Mr.
Smith, one of the members of the com mittee, whose property adjoins the site of the graves. Had it not been for the activities of Mr. Bolton and the members of the committee the sites of the graves of the pioneer missionaries of the South Seas would probably to-day be unknown and unmarked.
An article in the Pacific Islands Monthly
of July 23, 1935, from your own correspon dent in Tahiti, gives a very good account of Mr. Bolton’s activities.
In conclusion, I would like to bring under the notice of those of your readers who may be interested in the early his tory of Tahiti and the adjoining islands that the Mitchell Library in Sydney has practically everything that has been written on this subject, including many original letters and diaries of the early missionaries.
I am, etc..
J. D. Mccomish.
“The Oriental,”
Cremorne Point, Sydney, July 27, 1936.