Absalom Shade ( – March 15, 1862) was a businessman and political figure in

Upper Canada The Province of Upper Canada () was a Province, part of The Canadas, 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 Province of Queb ...

. He was born in

Wyoming County, Pennsylvania Wyoming County is a county in the Commonwealth of Pennsylvania. As of the 2020 census, the population was 26,069. Its county seat is Tunkhannock. It was created in 1842 from part of Luzerne County. The county is part of the Northeast Penns ...

around 1793 and worked as a

carpenter Carpentry is a skilled trade and a craft in which the primary work performed is the cutting, shaping and installation of building materials during the construction of buildings, ships, timber bridges, concrete formwork, etc. Carpenter ...

Buffalo, New York Buffalo is a Administrative divisions of New York (state), city in the U.S. state of New York (state), New York and county seat of Erie County, New York, Erie County. It lies in Western New York at the eastern end of Lake Erie, at the head of ...

. In 1816, he was hired by William Dickson to manage his lands in Dumfries Township in Upper

Canada Canada is a country in North America. Its Provinces and territories of Canada, ten provinces and three territories extend from the Atlantic Ocean to the Pacific Ocean and northward into the Arctic Ocean, making it the world's List of coun ...

. Shade operated a general store, a mill and a

distillery Distillation, also classical distillation, is the process of separating the component substances of a liquid mixture of two or more chemically discrete substances; the separation process is realized by way of the selective boiling of the mixt ...

in the area. The settlement that developed on the Grand River, originally known as Shade's Mills and later became Galt (now part of

Cambridge, Ontario Cambridge is a city in the Regional Municipality of Waterloo, Ontario, Canada, located at the confluence of the Grand River (Ontario), Grand and Speed River, Speed rivers, in the central part of the Ontario Peninsula. The city had a population ...

). In 1819, he built a small bridge over the Grand River to serve customers on the other side; it lasted until 1932. Shade also secured a number of contracts to supply food and build roads for the

Canada Company The Canada Company was a private British land development company that was established to aid in the colonization of a large part of Upper Canada. It was incorporated by royal charter on August 19, 1826, under the ( 6 Geo. 4. c. 75) of the B ...

. He helped establish the Grand River Navigation Company to help transport goods along the river. He helped establish the Gore Bank in

Hamilton Hamilton may refer to: * Alexander Hamilton (1755/1757–1804), first U.S. Secretary of the Treasury and one of the Founding Fathers of the United States * ''Hamilton'' (musical), a 2015 Broadway musical by Lin-Manuel Miranda ** ''Hamilton'' (al ...

and also helped develop railroads in the area. He also helped to build Galt's Trinity Anglican Church in 1844 which still stands, and is in use, today. He helped establish the Grand River Navigation Company to help transport goods along the river and the Gore Bank in Hamilton. Shade also helped develop railroads in the area and was among those who funded the building of Trinity House Rectory in Galt as a major donor; he and William Dickson were also major donors toward the building of Trinity Anglican Church in 1844. In 1831, he was elected to 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 Li ...

representing Halton; he served until 1841. Shade died at Galt in 1862.

References

External links

Biography at the ''Dictionary of Canadian Biography Online''
{{DEFAULTSORT:Shade, Absalom 1790s births 1862 deaths People from Wyoming County, Pennsylvania Members of the Legislative Assembly of Upper Canada Year of birth uncertain American emigrants to pre-Confederation Ontario Immigrants to Upper Canada History of Cambridge, Ontario