Timothy Houghton (21 August 1727 – 10 May 1780) was the founder of

Chester, Nova Scotia Chester is a village on the Chester Peninsula, Mahone Bay, Nova Scotia, Canada. The nearby waters of Mahone Bay and its numerous islands are well known for yachting and have made the Chester Yacht Club into a cruising destination. A provi ...

(1759). In the wake of the American patriot rebellion in the Siege of Fort Cumberland during 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 ...

, while Chief magistrate and Justice of the Peace for the Chester township, he was jailed for betraying the Loyalist cause. Among other crimes, he was accused of helping American privateer prisoners escape back to Boston. According to historian Barry Cahill, this trial was the most important court proceedings against a New England Planter patriot along Nova Scotia’s South Shore, which included the Townships of Liverpool, Yarmouth and Barrington. One of his four accusers was John Umlach of the

Royal Nova Scotia Volunteer Regiment The Royal Nova Scotia Volunteer Regiment, also known as the Loyal Regiment of Nova Scotia Volunteers and Loyal Nova Scotia Volunteers, from 1775-1780, the Royal Regiment of Nova Scotia Volunteers, from 1780-1783, and the Royal Nova Scotia Volun ...

. Through the trials for sedition, the Nova Scotia (Loyalist) government at Halifax was able to establish the “legal repression and the general criminalization of political dissent.” Houghton's trial was only one of two in the province ( John Frost (minister) was the other) that were successfully prosecuted.

Career

Houghton was born in Bolton, Massachusetts. During 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 ...

, from April to November, 1754, he served on the eastern frontier in Col. John Winslow's regiment. In the Crown Point expedition, Aug. 9, 1755, he was adjutant in Col. Samuel Willard's regiment. In 1756 he led a company largely recruited by his lieutenant from Walton, Mass. Joining the migration of

New England Planters The New England Planters were settlers from the New England colonies who responded to invitations by the lieutenant governor (and subsequently governor) of Nova Scotia, Charles Lawrence, to settle lands left vacant by the Bay of Fundy Campaign ( ...

into Nova Scotia, Timothy Houghton and Eunice Whitcomb left Boston, Massachusetts, on 30 July 1759 and arrived in Chester, Nova Scotia, on 4 August.3. Houghton along with Reverend

John Seccombe Rev. John Seccombe (25 April 1708 – 27 October 1792) was an author, a founder of Chester, Nova Scotia and was “the best-known and most highly respected clergyman in Nova Scotia.” He was also the author of ''Father Abbey's Will'', which was ...

founded the Chester Township. During the American Revolution, Timothy Houghton was sentenced to six months in jail for

seditious Sedition is overt conduct, such as speech and organization, that tends toward rebellion against the established order. Sedition often includes subversion of a constitution and incitement of discontent toward, or insurrection against, establ ...

statements about the King. The foreman of the grand jury that indicted Houghton was

John George Pyke John George Pyke (4 January 1744 – 3 September 1828) was an English-born merchant and political figure in Nova Scotia. He represented Halifax County from 1779 to 1793 and Halifax Township from 1793 to 1800 and from 1802 to 1818 in the Nova Sc ...

. He served two months of his sentence and was released on 10 February 1777. (Rev.

was arraigned but never prosecuted, undoubtedly due to his popularity.)Reference to Seecomb's "negro woman-servant".
/ref> Houghton died on 10 May 1780 at

Halifax, Nova Scotia Halifax is the capital and largest municipality of the Canadian province of Nova Scotia, and the largest municipality in Atlantic Canada. As of the 2021 Census, the municipal population was 439,819, with 348,634 people in its urban area. The ...

, at age 52, of small-pox.

References

{{DEFAULTSORT:Houghton, Timothy 1727 births 1780 deaths History of Nova Scotia

Career

See also

References