John Neilson (Lower Canada politician)
John Neilson (July 17, 1776 – February 1, 1848) was a Scots-Quebecer editor of the newspaper La Gazette de Québec/The Quebec Gazette and a politician.
John Neilson | |
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| Personal details | |
| Born | July 17, 1776 Balmaghie, Scotland |
| Died | February 1, 1848 (aged 71) Cap-Rouge, Province of Canada |
| Political party | Lower Canada: Parti canadien Province of Canada: Anti-unionist; French-Canadian Group |
| Relations | Thomas Lee (son-in-law) |
| Occupation | Journalist; newspaper publisher; book printer and bookseller |
Family and early life
Neilson was born in Dornal in the parish of Balmaghie, Scotland, in 1776, son of William Neilson and Isabel Brown. In 1791, he emigrated to Quebec City, Lower Canada to work for his older brother, Samuel Neilson, who was operating the newspaper and publishing company of their deceased maternal uncle, William Brown. John Neilson formally inherited the business in 1793 when his brother Samuel died. Because he himself was underage, Neilson was under the tutelage of a Presbyterian minister, Alexander Spark, until reaching the age of majority and being able to acquire full control of the business.[1][2]
Business career
Leading printer and bookseller in Lower Canada
Neilson steadily developed the printing and book-selling business until he was the leading printer and bookseller in Lower Canada, with major links to Upper Canada as well.[1][2]
Political career
Lower Canada
Elected to the Legislative Assembly of Lower Canada in a bye-election in 1818, he was re-elected until 1830 and supported the Parti canadien. In 1823, he accompanied Louis-Joseph Papineau to London to lobby against the Union project in the name of the majority of the MPs in the Legislative Assembly of Lower Canada. Again, in 1828 he was part of a delegation sent to London to present his party's demands for reform. In 1830, he took his distance from the Parti patriote, which he considered to be too radical. He opposed the Ninety-Two Resolutions of 1834, a rewrite of the 1828 demands for reform with a radical tone. In 1837, he was named to the Executive Council and Legislative Council. Neilson was a member of the Special Council that administered Lower Canada after the Lower Canada Rebellion.
Province of Canada
Neilson opposed the Union after its enactment. In 1841, he was elected to the 1st Parliament of the Province of Canada in the riding of Quebec County. He was elected speaker, but in 1844, he was appointed to the Legislative Council.
Legacy
Neilson died at Cap-Rouge in 1848.[1]
John Neilson is one of the major characters in the 3-volume series, A Chronicle of Lower Canada, which relates the events leading up to the Lower Canada Rebellion in 1837.[3]
There is a street named after him in Saint-Gabriel-de-Valcartier, Quebec.
Family information
Sons:
- Samuel Neilson (1800-1837)
- William Neilson (1805-1895) married Margaret Cassin
- John Jr. Neilson (1820-1896) married Laura Moorehead
Daughters:
- Isabel Neilson (1798-1873)
- Mary Neilson married notary Thomas Lee
- Elisabeth Neilson (1804-1804)
- Margaret Neilson (1808-1894)
- Janet Neilson (1810-?)
- Agnes Janet Neilson (1815-1837)
- Frances Neilson (1815-?)
One of his granddaughters, Isabel Neilson married Charles Stuart Wolff, the son of Lt. Col. Alexander Joseph Wolff, a British soldier who was established in Valcartier, Canada in 1824.
Works
- Aux electeurs du comté de Quebec/To the Electors of the County of Quebec, 1820
- Letter from L.J. Papineau and J. Neilson, Esqs., Addressed to His Majesty's Under Secretary of State on the Subject of the Proposed Union of the Provinces of Upper and Lower Canada, May 10, 1823 (London: William Clowes, Northumberland-court, 1823).
- Report of the Special Committee of the House of Assembly of Lower-Canada, on the Petitions Against the Road Laws and the Office of Grand-Voyer, 1830
- Rapport du Comité spécial de la Chambre d'assemblée sur le Département du bureau de la poste dans la province du Bas-Canada, 1831
- Report of the Commissioners Appointed under the Lower Canada Act, 4th William IV. cap. 10, to Visit the United States' Penitentiaries, 1835
- First report. The Select Committee Appointed to Investigate and Report on the Outrages Alleged to Have Been Committed at the General Election in the Counties of Terrebonne, Montreal, Vaudreuil, Beauharnois, Chambly and Rouville (Kingston, 1843).
References
- "Biography of John Neilson". Dictionnaire des parlementaires du Québec de 1792 à nos jours (in French). National Assembly of Quebec.
- Sonia Chassé, Rita Girard-Wallot, and Jean-Pierre Wallot, "Neilson, John", Dictionary of Canadian Biography, volume VII (1836-1850), University of Toronto / Université Laval.
- Morgan, Jan Henry, Welcome Niall O'Donell, Immigrant! (A Chronicle of Lower Canada: Book One), Chantecler Press, Ottawa, 1992
Further reading
- Tomlinson, James (1972). L'imprimerie Neilson, Montréal: Université de Montréal, 23 p.
- Audet, Francis-Joseph. "John Neilson", in Mémoires de la société Royale du Canada. Troisième Série; Vol. XXII, Ottawa, 1928, p. 81-97