George Brouse (1790 – February 12, 1860) was a farmer, businessperson, and political figure in

Upper Canada The Province of Upper Canada (french: link=no, province du Haut-Canada) was a part of British Canada established in 1791 by the Kingdom of Great Britain, to govern the central third of the lands in British North America, formerly part of the ...

. He was born in Matilda Township, Dundas County,

, in 1790, the son of Peter Brouse, a

United Empire Loyalist United Empire Loyalists (or simply Loyalists) is an honorific title which was first given by the 1st Lord Dorchester, the Governor of Quebec, and Governor General of The Canadas, to American Loyalists who resettled in British North America duri ...

from Stone Arabia,

Montgomery County, New York Montgomery County is a county in the U.S. state of New York. As of the 2020 census, the population was 49,532. The county seat is Fonda. The county was named in honor of Richard Montgomery, an American Revolutionary War general killed in 17 ...

. He opened a general store on his property some time after 1814. A small community originally known as Matilda and later

Iroquois The Iroquois ( or ), officially the Haudenosaunee ( meaning "people of the longhouse"), are an Iroquoian-speaking confederacy of First Nations peoples in northeast North America/ Turtle Island. They were known during the colonial years to ...

, Ontario, developed in the area. In 1810 Peter Brouse had converted George and his brother Peter to

Methodism Methodism, also called the Methodist movement, is a group of historically related denominations of Protestant Christianity whose origins, doctrine and practice derive from the life and teachings of John Wesley. George Whitefield and John's br ...

but he did not continue in this faith until the great revival in 1822, when he was restored, and became a lifelong steward of the church. During the 1820s, he built a

gristmill A gristmill (also: grist mill, corn mill, flour mill, feed mill or feedmill) grinds cereal grain into flour and Wheat middlings, middlings. The term can refer to either the Mill (grinding), grinding mechanism or the building that holds it. Grist i ...

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 ...

, shingle factory, and woollen mill. From 1828 to 1876, he was postmaster in the area. In 1829 he was elected to the

10th Parliament of Upper Canada The 10th Parliament of Upper Canada was opened 8 January 1829. Elections in Upper Canada had been held in July 1828. All sessions were held at York, Upper Canada. This parliament was dissolved 8 September 1830 on the announcement of the de ...

, Legislative Assembly of Upper Canada for

Dundas Dundas may refer to: Places Australia * Dundas, New South Wales * Dundas, Queensland, a locality in the Somerset Region * Dundas, Tasmania * Dundas, Western Australia * Fort Dundas, a settlement in the Northern Territory 1824–1828 * Shire of ...

. In 1846, he became a captain in the 2nd Regiment of the

Dundas County Militia The Dundas County Militia was a regiment of the provincial militia of Upper Canada that was raised in Dundas County, Ontario in the 1780s. The battle honours and legacy of the Dundas Militia are perpetuated by the Stormont, Dundas and Glengarry ...

. In 1857, Iroquois was incorporated as a village and Brouse became its first reeve. He died in Iroquois in 1860. He was the uncle of

William Henry Brouse William Henry Brouse (June 15, 1824 – August 23, 1881) was a Canadian physician and politician. Born in Matilda Township, Dundas County, Upper Canada of German ancestry, his father was Colonel Jacob Brouse of the Dundas Militia who was ...

, a Canadian MP.

External links

Biography at the ''Dictionary of Canadian Biography Online''
1790 births 1860 deaths 19th-century Methodists Canadian Methodists Converts to Methodism Members of the Legislative Assembly of Upper Canada People from the United Counties of Stormont, Dundas and Glengarry {{Ontario-politician-stub