George Bryson (December 13, 1813 – January 13, 1900) was a

Scottish Scottish usually refers to something of, from, or related to Scotland, including: *Scottish Gaelic, a Celtic Goidelic language of the Indo-European language family native to Scotland *Scottish English *Scottish national identity, the Scottish ide ...

-born businessman and political figure in Quebec. He was born in Paisley, the son of James Bryson and Jane Cochrane, and came to Upper Canada with his parents in 1821. In 1835, he moved to the area near

Fort-Coulonge Fort Coulonge is a village in the Pontiac Regional County Municipality in western Quebec, Canada, at the mouth of the Coulonge River. It is the francophone centre of the otherwise largely (57%) anglophone Pontiac MRC, with 79.6% listing French a ...

in Lower Canada, where he entered the timber trade. In 1845, he married Robina Cobb. Bryson was mayor of

Mansfield-et-Pontefract Mansfield-et-Pontefract is a municipality in the Pontiac Regional County Municipality of western Quebec, Canada. It is located on the Ottawa River, northwest of Gatineau. It is the most populated municipality in the Pontiac Regional County Mun ...

from 1855 to 1857 and from 1862 to 1867. He also served as

justice of the peace A justice of the peace (JP) is a judicial officer of a lower or ''puisne'' court, elected or appointed by means of a commission ( letters patent) to keep the peace. In past centuries the term commissioner of the peace was often used with the sa ...

, postmaster for Fort Coulonge and warden for

Pontiac County Pontiac may refer to: *Pontiac (automobile), a car brand *Pontiac (Ottawa leader) ( – 1769), a Native American war chief Places and jurisdictions Canada * Pontiac, Quebec, a municipality **Apostolic Vicariate of Pontiac, now the Roman Catholic D ...

. In 1857, he was elected to represent Pontiac in the

Legislative Assembly of the Province of Canada The Legislative Assembly of the Province of Canada was the lower house of the legislature for the Province of Canada, which consisted of the former provinces of Lower Canada, then known as Canada East and later the province of Quebec, and Upper C ...

in a by-election held after the death of John Egan, but the assembly was dissolved before he took his seat. Bryson was defeated in the general election that followed in 1858. In 1867, he was named to the province's Legislative Council for Inkerman division. He helped establish the

Bank of Ottawa The Bank of Ottawa was an early Canadian banking establishment in the Ottawa Valley, Ontario. Branches included Ottawa, Carp, Pembroke, Keewatin and Winnipeg, Manitoba. It merged with the Bank of Nova Scotia in 1919. History The Bank of Ottawa ...

, later serving as a director, and promoted the development of railway links in the region. Bryson retired from politics in 1887 and died in Fort-Coulonge at the age of 86. His brother Thomas was elected to the legislative assembly. Bryson's son John served in the House of Commons and his son George also served in the province's Legislative Council.

References

* * {{DEFAULTSORT:Bryson, George 1813 births 1900 deaths Members of the Legislative Assembly of the Province of Canada from Canada East Conservative Party of Quebec MLCs Mayors of places in Quebec Scottish emigrants to pre-Confederation Quebec Immigrants to Upper Canada Immigrants to Lower Canada Scottish emigrants to pre-Confederation Ontario Canadian justices of the peace