Stephen Humbert (ca 1766 – January 16, 1849) was a merchant and politician 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 represented the City of Saint John from 1809 to 1820 and St. John County from 1830 to 1834 in the

Legislative Assembly of New Brunswick A legislature is an deliberative assembly, assembly with the authority to make laws for a Polity, political entity such as a Sovereign state, country or city. They are often contrasted with the Executive (government), executive and Judiciary, ...

. He was born in

New Jersey New Jersey is a state in the Mid-Atlantic and Northeastern regions of the United States. It is bordered on the north and east by the state of New York; on the east, southeast, and south by the Atlantic Ocean; on the west by the Delaware ...

, the son of Stephen Humbert, and became a baker like his father. The family, loyal to Britain, moved to Parrtown (later

Saint John, New Brunswick Saint John is a seaport city of the Atlantic Ocean located on the Bay of Fundy in the province of New Brunswick, Canada. Saint John is the oldest incorporated city in Canada, established by royal charter on May 18, 1785, during the reign of Ki ...

) in 1783. Humbert was also involved in shipping, was a general merchant, owned a book and music shop and operated a singing school. Humbert was a member of the Common Council for Saint John and served in the militia during the

War of 1812 The War of 1812 (18 June 1812 – 17 February 1815) was fought by the United States of America and its indigenous allies against the United Kingdom and its allies in British North America, with limited participation by Spain in Florida. It bega ...

and afterward. In 1818, he married his second wife Mary Adams. Humbert was defeated in bids for reelection in 1820, 1827 and 1834. He was a lay leader in the

Methodist 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 b ...

church at Saint John, publishing a history of Methodism in New Brunswick, and compiled the first

English language English is a West Germanic language of the Indo-European language family, with its earliest forms spoken by the inhabitants of early medieval England. It is named after the Angles, one of the ancient Germanic peoples that migrated to the is ...

collection of tunes published in Canada, which included some of his own compositions. Humbert died in Saint John. Humbert, who himself had frequently crossed the border with the United States to engage in illicit trade, received a commission from the Province to suppress the illegal plaster trade in Passamaquoddy Bay in 1820. The ensuing "Plaster War" was a disaster for Humbert, who was frequently threatened with violence and whose own son was kidnapped by plaster smugglers. New Brunswick's Assembly soon cancelled the plaster regulations. His son John served as a member of the provincial assembly for King's County.

References

Biography at the ''Dictionary of Canadian Biography Online''
* Smith, Joshua M., ''Borderland Smuggling: Patriots, Loyalists and Illicit Trade in the Northeast, 1783–1820'' (Gainesville, University Press of Florida, 2006). . * Smith, Joshua M. • "Humbert's Paradox: The Global Context of Smuggling in the Bay of Fundy," in Stephen Hornsby and John Reid, eds., ''New England and Atlantic Canada: Connections and Comparisons'' (Montreal & Kingston: McGill-Queen's University Press, 2005), 109-124 {{DEFAULTSORT:Humbert, Stephen 1849 deaths Members of the Legislative Assembly of New Brunswick Canadian Methodists Year of birth uncertain Year of birth unknown Colony of New Brunswick people American emigrants to pre-Confederation New Brunswick