Source:
Returns of the Colony - Colonial Secretary (Blue Books)
Details:
Wesleyan Minister
Details:
Attended Wesleyan Sunday School anniversary sermon
Details:
Addressed Wesleyan Tea Meeting
Details:
Sermon to be preached in the Wesleyan Chapel. Wesleyan Methodist Missions
Place:
Wesleyan Centenary Chapel, West Maitland
Details:
Attended annual Wesleyan Sunday School Tea Meeting
Surname:
Fillingham (obit)
Source:
Launceston Examiner
Details:
It is our sad duty this issue to record the death of the Rev. Joseph Fillingham; late Wesleyan minister at Grafton, a gentleman highly respected by those who knew him best, both as a gentleman and Christian minister. The deceased was a Yorkshireman, the son of the late Mr. George Fillingham, for many years a supervisor in the excise. He was educated in the York Grammar School, and for several years was employed in the office of one of the oldest legal firms in that city. He was originally a member of the Church of England, but having been religiously impressed by the preaching of the Rev. Mr. Caughey, a distinguished minister of the Methodist Episcopal Church of America, he became a member of the Wesleyan Methodist Church, and for some time was successfully employed as a local preacher, under the superintendence of the Rev. Alexander Bell and the Rev. Daniel Watson - men distinguished for their good service to Wesleyan Methodism. He was induced by Dr. Lang to leave the old country to supply the lack of ministerial labour in the colony. He arrived in the colony some nineteen years ago, and immediately on his arrival connected himself with the Methodist church, and entered upon his ministerial career as an assistant missionary, a name by which the younger ministers were then designated in the colony. He has travelled in the Maitland Circuit - then one of the widest circuits in the colony, entailing upon the minister a large amount of physical labour-often travelling for eight and ten days together, and daily preaching, besides Sunday services, and often under very distressing circumstances. He was then removed to the Windsor Circuit, thence to the Western Goldfields, where he had to undergo many privations, and was often exposed to many perils. After spending some time in the Camden Circuit, the Conference removed him to Tasmania, where he laboured in the Oatlands, Hobart Town, and Campbell Town Circuits with much success. He was highly esteemed by his brethren, who elected him secretary of the District Committee, and appointed him at the Conference of 1865, the representative for the Tasmanian District. His health failing he was, at his own request, removed by the Conference to the New South Wales District, and appointed to the Clarence, hoping that a warmer climate might recruit his wasted energies. The deceased was married at Parramatta, in 1855, to Eliza Rebecca Orton, a daughter of the late Rev. Joseph Orton, the first minister that ever visited Victoria, who delivered his first sermon upon Blackmans Hill, upon which a portion of the city of Melbourne now stands, but was at that time all bush. In consequence of his arduous duties his health failed, and he was compelled to return to England to recruit, but died on the voyage; and was buried at sea. By the death of Mr. Fillingham, his lady is left a widow with a family of six children, one child having met an untimely death by scalding, whilst in the Oatlands Circuit. The deceased was only forty years of age; the immediate cause of his death was consumption, accelerated by the intense heat of the climate of the Clarence. He died on Wednesday morning, 24th of February, 1869, and was buried on Thursday, in the cemetery at Grafton., The funeral was conducted by Mr. William Stucley, of Grafton, in his usual style.
