John Creighton (1721 – November 8, 1807) was one of the founding fathers of

Lunenburg, Nova Scotia Lunenburg is a port town on the South Shore of Nova Scotia, Canada. Founded in 1753, the town was one of the first British attempts to settle Protestants in Nova Scotia. The economy was traditionally based on the offshore fishery and today L ...

. He led the settlement through the turbulent times of

Father Le Loutre's War Father Le Loutre's War (1749–1755), also known as the Indian War, the Mi'kmaq War and the Anglo-Mi'kmaq War, took place between King George's War and the French and Indian War in Acadia and Nova Scotia. On one side of the conflict, the Briti ...

, the

French and Indian War The French and Indian War (1754–1763) was a theater of the Seven Years' War, which pitted the North American colonies of the British Empire against those of the French, each side being supported by various Native American tribes. At the ...

and the

American Revolution The American Revolution was an ideological and political revolution that occurred in British America between 1765 and 1791. The Americans in the Thirteen Colonies formed independent states that defeated the British in the American Revolut ...

. He represented Lunenburg County in the

Nova Scotia House of Assembly The Nova Scotia House of Assembly (french: Assemblée législative de la Nouvelle-Écosse; gd, Taigh Seanaidh Alba Nuadh), or Legislative Assembly, is the deliberative assembly of the General Assembly of Nova Scotia of the province of Nova Scotia ...

from 1770 to 1775. After establishing the town, he lived the rest of his life in the village until he died fifty-four years later. The stone monument to John Creighton in

St. John's Anglican Church (Lunenburg) St. John's Anglican Church was the first church established in Lunenburg, Nova Scotia, Canada (1753). It is the second Church of England built in Nova Scotia, and is the second oldest continuous Protestant church in present-day Canada. Early on ...

was created by

John Bacon (1777–1859) John Bacon (1777–1859), also known as John Bacon the Younger, or Junior, to distinguish him from his equally famous John Bacon (sculptor, born 1740), father, was an English sculptor. Biography Bacon was the second son of the sculptor John Bac ...

, a nineteenth century sculptor. (Bacon created six monuments in St. Paul's Cathedral and many in

Westminster Abbey Westminster Abbey, formally titled the Collegiate Church of Saint Peter at Westminster, is an historic, mainly Gothic church in the City of Westminster, London, England, just to the west of the Palace of Westminster. It is one of the United ...

Career

He was born in

Glastonbury Glastonbury (, ) is a town and civil parish in Somerset, England, situated at a dry point on the low-lying Somerset Levels, south of Bristol. The town, which is in the Mendip district, had a population of 8,932 in the 2011 census. Glastonbury ...

and served as a lieutenant in the British dragoons. In 1749, he went with

Edward Cornwallis Edward Cornwallis ( – 14 January 1776) was a British career military officer and was a member of the aristocratic Cornwallis family, who reached the rank of Lieutenant General. After Cornwallis fought in Scotland, putting down the Jacobi ...

to Halifax. He served in Cornwallis' militia. In 1753, he relocated to Lunenburg. Creighton was a

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 ...

and captain in the militia; he later became lieutenant-colonel. In 1753, he was named a judge in the Inferior Court of Common Pleas and, in 1776, he was named a judge for the probate court. He was unsuccessful when he ran for a seat in the first election held in Nova Scotia, but did get elected to the 5th General Assembly of Nova Scotia in 1770. In 1775, he was named to the province's

Council A council is a group of people who come together to consult, deliberate, or make decisions. A council may function as a legislature, especially at a town, city or county/shire level, but most legislative bodies at the state/provincial or natio ...

, but he was only able to attend infrequently, and his seat was vacated in 1788 after not having appeared since 1785. He led the armed resistance to American privateers in the

Raid on Lunenburg (1782) The Raid on Lunenburg (also known as the Sack of Lunenburg) occurred during the American Revolution when the US privateer, Captain Noah Stoddard of Fairhaven, Massachusetts, and four other privateer vessels attacked the British settlement at Lu ...

. He and five others defended the town by firing at the privateers from the Blockhouse, wounding three of them. The privateers captured Creighton and the five men, two of whom escaped. The privateers burned the blockhouse and Creighton's home. Creighton and the three others were taken captive to Boston. The lead privateer Noah Stoddard would later report of his prisoner Creighton that "I have a great regard for the old gentleman."Desbrisay, p. 51 He eventually returned and died in Lunenburg in 1807 and is buried in the

crypt A crypt (from Latin ''crypta'' "vault") is a stone chamber beneath the floor of a church or other building. It typically contains coffins, sarcophagi, or religious relics. Originally, crypts were typically found below the main apse of a chur ...

Personal life

Creighton married Lucy Clapp in 1760 after the death of his first wife, Maria. His daughter Lucy married Hibbert Newton Binney (buried in the

Old Burying Ground (Halifax, Nova Scotia) The Old Burying Ground (also known as St. Paul's Church Cemetery) is a historic cemetery in Halifax, Nova Scotia, Canada. It is located at the intersection of Barrington Street and Spring Garden Road in Downtown Halifax. History The Old Buryi ...

) and his daughter Sarah married

Lewis Morris Wilkins Lewis Morris Wilkins (May 24, 1801 – March 15, 1885) was a lawyer, judge and political figure in Nova Scotia. He represented Windsor Township from 1833 to 1838 and from 1852 to 1856 and Hants County from 1843 to 1847 in the Nova Scotia Hou ...

. His grandson, also named John Creighton, also served in the province's assembly.

References

{{DEFAULTSORT:Creighton, John 1721 births 1807 deaths Nova Scotia pre-Confederation MLAs People from Glastonbury Colony of Nova Scotia judges American Revolutionary War prisoners of war held by the United States

Career

Personal life

See also

References