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The name Boultenhouse appears in New Jersey at the time of the American Revolution in the person of George Boultenhouse of Hanover, Morris County. George had a son John who fought as a Patriot and who filed a pension application from Miami, Ohio. George may have had a Loyalist son Bedford Boultenhouse who is first known among the Loyalists in Nova Scotia and who later appears at Sackville, New Brunswick where he was the sire of a large family of shipbuilders. The name has since disappeared from New Brunswick because the shipbuilding industry disappeared in the 1800's, but there are a few descendants in Massachusetts.
George Boultenhouse appears to be one of several of the name Boultinghouse (later Boltinghouse in some branches) in New Jersey who all appear to be of one family in the 1730's although this opinion is based on circumstantial evidence. The origin of the family is unknown. There are indications that the name may be Dutch and may be located in a previous generation near Trenton, NJ: Jan Gerretsen Buytenhuys and Andreas Boutenhouse / Andrew Boultinghouse c1702. There are many descendants of the Boultinghouse and Boltinghouse name in Texas and Indiana, from Joseph Boultinghouse who was at Fort Pitt.
The name may be an occupational name derived from the room at a flour mill in which a sifting device is used to remove bran, stone debris, and husks from ground flour: in Europe this sifting is called "boulting" and ads have been found at the time of the Revolution referring to boulting mills, and the word "boulting house" appears in the glossary of "The Ipswich Probate Inventories 1583-1631" by Michael Reed. This word is probably of French origin and may have migrated into Dutch usage and the Dutch name Anglecized in New Jersey back to Boultinghouse. This is a convoluted theory which may be entirely incorrect.
If anyone finds this name in Europe please detail the find here.
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