Ephraim Dean (October 17, 1734 – January 27, 1787) was a merchant, ship owner and political figure in

Nova Scotia Nova Scotia ( ; ; ) is one of the thirteen provinces and territories of Canada. It is one of the three Maritime provinces and one of the four Atlantic provinces. Nova Scotia is Latin for "New Scotland". Most of the population are native Eng ...

. He represented Liverpool Township in the Nova Scotia House of Assembly from 1785 to 1787. He was born in Barnstable, Massachusetts, the son of Thomas Dean and Lydia Cole, and later settled in

Liverpool, Nova Scotia Liverpool is a Canadian community and former town located along the Atlantic Ocean of the Province of Nova Scotia's South Shore. It is situated within the Region of Queens Municipality which is the local governmental unit that comprises all ...

. In 1760, he married Martha Atwood Young. Dean was engaged in the trade with the

West Indies The West Indies is a subregion of North America, surrounded by the North Atlantic Ocean and the Caribbean Sea that includes 13 independent island countries and 18 dependencies and other territories in three major archipelagos: the Greater A ...

and

New England New England is a region comprising six states in the Northeastern United States: Connecticut, Maine, Massachusetts, New Hampshire, Rhode Island, and Vermont. It is bordered by the state of New York to the west and by the Canadian provinces ...

and also owned

sawmill A sawmill (saw mill, saw-mill) or lumber mill is a facility where logs are cut into lumber. Modern sawmills use a motorized saw to cut logs lengthwise to make long pieces, and crosswise to length depending on standard or custom sizes (dimensi ...

s in the region.''Municipal Matters'', Volume 7, Issue 4, Regional Municipality of Queens
(pdf) He was first elected to the provincial assembly in a 1768 by-election held after

Elisha Freeman Elisha Freeman (December 9, 1701 – May 19, 1777) was a merchant, judge and political figure in Nova Scotia. He represented Liverpool township in the Nova Scotia House of Assembly from 1765 to 1767. He was born in Eastham, Massachusetts, ...

's resignation but apparently never took his seat. At first sympathetic to the American cause, Dean returned to the

United States The United States of America (U.S.A. or USA), commonly known as the United States (U.S. or US) or America, is a country primarily located in North America. It consists of 50 states, a federal district, five major unincorporated territorie ...

around 1777 but later returned to Nova Scotia and commanded the

privateer A privateer is a private person or ship that engages in maritime warfare under a commission of war. Since robbery under arms was a common aspect of seaborne trade, until the early 19th century all merchant ships carried arms. A sovereign or deleg ...

''Dreadnought''. Dean served as a road commissioner for a road between Liverpool and Lunenburg. He died in Liverpool at the age of 53.

References

* ''A Directory of the Members of the Legislative Assembly of Nova Scotia, 1758-1958'', Public Archives of Nova Scotia (1958) * 1734 births 1787 deaths Nova Scotia pre-Confederation MLAs People from Chatham, Massachusetts 18th-century Canadian merchants {{NovaScotia-MLA-stub