William Fairfield (c. 1769 – February 6, 1816) was a businessman and political figure in

Upper Canada The Province of Upper Canada (french: link=no, province du Haut-Canada) was a part of British Canada established in 1791 by the Kingdom of Great Britain, to govern the central third of the lands in British North America, formerly part of the ...

. He was born in

Pawlet, Vermont Pawlet is a town in Rutland County, Vermont, United States. The population was 1,424 at the 2020 census. History Pawlet was one of the New Hampshire Grants, chartered from Benning Wentworth, Governor of colonial New Hampshire. The charter was g ...

in 1769 or 1770, the son of William Fairfield, a farmer. His father fought with

Edward Jessup Edward Jessup (December24, 1735February3, 1816), together with his brother Ebenezer Jessup (July 1739 – 1818), was a large landowner in present-day New York State before the American Revolution, and later a soldier and political figure in Upp ...

's loyalist forces and moved with his family to Machiche ( Yamachiche) in

Quebec Quebec ( ; )According to the Canadian government, ''Québec'' (with the acute accent) is the official name in Canadian French and ''Quebec'' (without the accent) is the province's official name in Canadian English is one of the thirtee ...

in 1779. In 1784, they settled west of Kingston, near the current location of Amherstview. The younger Fairfield, in charge of a mill, built his own home in the village of Ernestown ( Bath) in 1796. He 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 became a member of the

Legislative Assembly of Upper Canada The Legislative Assembly of Upper Canada was the elected part of the legislature for the province of Upper Canada, functioning as the lower house in the Parliament of Upper Canada. Its legislative power was subject to veto by the appointed Lis ...

representing

Ontario Ontario ( ; ) is one of the thirteen provinces and territories of Canada.Ontario is located in the geographic eastern half of Canada, but it has historically and politically been considered to be part of Central Canada. Located in Central Ca ...

& Addington in 1799, replacing Christopher Robinson, who had died the previous year. His views tended to be more liberal and he was involved in establishing the Ernestown Academy in 1811. Together with his brothers

Benjamin Benjamin ( he, ''Bīnyāmīn''; "Son of (the) right") blue letter bible: https://www.blueletterbible.org/lexicon/h3225/kjv/wlc/0-1/ H3225 - yāmîn - Strong's Hebrew Lexicon (kjv) was the last of the two sons of Jacob and Rachel (Jacob's thir ...

and Stephen, he had interests in mills, shipbuilding and the sale of goods. He died of fever and an inflamed liver in Ernestown in 1816.

References

* 1769 births 1816 deaths Members of the Legislative Assembly of Upper Canada People from Pawlet, Vermont People from Mauricie People from Lennox and Addington County Canadian justices of the peace {{UpperCanada-politician-stub