John Robertson (1799 – August 3, 1876) 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

New Brunswick New Brunswick (french: Nouveau-Brunswick, , locally ) 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. It is the only province with both English and ...

. He served as a member of the

Senate of Canada The Senate of Canada (french: region=CA, Sénat du Canada) is the upper house of the Parliament of Canada. Together with the Crown and the House of Commons, they comprise the bicameral legislature of Canada. The Senate is modelled after the B ...

from 1867 to 1876. He was born in

Perthshire Perthshire (locally: ; gd, Siorrachd Pheairt), officially the County of Perth, is a historic county and registration county in central Scotland. Geographically it extends from Strathmore in the east, to the Pass of Drumochter in the north, ...

and married Sophia Dobie. In 1817, he came to New Brunswick where he worked first as a clerk for his uncle and then for Thomas Millidge. He later became a partner in the business after Millidge retired. He also owned a

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 ...

and was president of the Victoria Coal Mining Company. In 1836, he was elected mayor of Saint John. Robertson served as a member of the Legislative Council of New Brunswick from 1837 to 1867. He was also a magistrate and was a member of the Chamber of Commerce, serving as its president for several years. Robertson was a member of the local militia, becoming lieutenant-colonel. While still a member of the Senate, Robertson retired to

England England is a country that is part of the United Kingdom. It shares land borders with Wales to its west and Scotland to its north. The Irish Sea lies northwest and the Celtic Sea to the southwest. It is separated from continental Europe b ...

and died in office in

Essex Essex () is a county in the East of England. One of the home counties, it borders Suffolk and Cambridgeshire to the north, the North Sea to the east, Hertfordshire to the west, Kent across the estuary of the River Thames to the south, and G ...

. He is buried in the churchyard of

St Mary's Church, Lawford St Mary's Church stands on Church Hill, Lawford, Essex, England. It is an active Anglican parish church in the deanery of Harwich, the archdeaconry of Colchester, and the diocese of Chelmsford. The church is recorded in the National Heritage Lis ...

, Essex.

References

Biography at the ''Dictionary of Canadian Biography Online''
* 1799 births 1876 deaths Businesspeople from Saint John, New Brunswick Canadian senators from New Brunswick Mayors of Saint John, New Brunswick Members of the Legislative Council of New Brunswick Colony of New Brunswick people Scottish emigrants to pre-Confederation New Brunswick Burials in Essex Canadian magistrates {{Canada-business-bio-stub