William Botsford (April 29, 1773 – May 8, 1864) was a lawyer, judge and political figure in the pre-

Confederation A confederation (also known as a confederacy or league) is a union of sovereign groups or states united for purposes of common action. Usually created by a treaty, confederations of states tend to be established for dealing with critical issu ...

Province of New Brunswick, Canada. He was born in

New Haven New Haven is a city in the U.S. state of Connecticut. It is located on New Haven Harbor on the northern shore of Long Island Sound in New Haven County, Connecticut and is part of the New York City metropolitan area. With a population of 134,02 ...

Connecticut Colony The ''Connecticut Colony'' or ''Colony of Connecticut'', originally known as the Connecticut River Colony or simply the River Colony, was an English colony in New England which later became Connecticut. It was organized on March 3, 1636 as a settl ...

, the son of Amos Botsford and Sarah Chandler, and went to

Annapolis Royal, Nova Scotia Annapolis Royal, formerly known as Port Royal, is a town located in the western part of Annapolis County, Nova Scotia, Canada. Today's Annapolis Royal is the second French settlement known by the same name and should not be confused with the n ...

with his family in 1782. The family settled at

Westcock, New Brunswick Westcock is a Canadian rural community in Westmorland County, about eight kilometres southwest of Sackville. In 1866, Westcock was a farming and lumbering settlement with about 62 families, while in 1898, Westcock had 1 post office, 1 sawmill, 1 ...

two years later. Botsford was educated at

Yale College Yale College is the undergraduate college of Yale University. Founded in 1701, it is the original school of the university. Although other Yale schools were founded as early as 1810, all of Yale was officially known as Yale College until 1887, ...

, studied law with

Jonathan Bliss Jonathan Bliss (October 1, 1742 – October 1, 1822) was a lawyer, judge and political figure in New Brunswick. He represented St. John County in the Legislative Assembly of New Brunswick from 1786 to 1792 and from 1796 to 1802. He was born in ...

and was called to the bar in 1795. In 1802, he married Sarah Lowell Murray. From 1803 to 1808, he served as judge in the

vice admiralty court Vice Admiralty Courts were juryless courts located in British colonies that were granted jurisdiction over local legal matters related to maritime activities, such as disputes between merchants and seamen. American Colonies American maritime act ...

. He was elected to 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, ...

in 1812 for Westmorland County following the death of his father. In 1816, he was named solicitor general and, in 1817, speaker for the assembly. In 1823, he became a judge in the province's Supreme Court. He retired to Westcock in 1845 and lived there until his death in 1864. His sons

Bliss BLISS is a system programming language developed at Carnegie Mellon University (CMU) by W. A. Wulf, D. B. Russell, and A. N. Habermann around 1970. It was perhaps the best known system language until C debuted a few years later. Since then, C b ...

, Hazen and Chipman served in the legislative assembly and his son Amos Edwin served in 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 ...

External links

Biography at the ''Dictionary of Canadian Biography Online''Yale Obituary Record
{{DEFAULTSORT:Botsford, Amos 1773 births 1864 deaths Lawyers in New Brunswick Members of the Legislative Assembly of New Brunswick Speakers of the Legislative Assembly of New Brunswick People of colonial Connecticut United Empire Loyalists Yale College alumni Colony of New Brunswick judges