- John Willson
John Willson (
August 5 1776 –May 26 1860 ) was a judge and political figure inUpper Canada .He was born in
New Jersey in 1776. He arrived in the Niagara District around 1789 and settled in Saltfleet Township, where he became a farmer, in 1797. In 1809, he was elected to the5th Parliament of Upper Canada in a by-election in the West riding of York County. He supported reform and voted against the suspension ofhabeas corpus in the province during theWar of 1812 . He helped introduce the Common Schools Bill, which introduced public support ofelementary school s. In his later periods in office, he adopted more a more conservative position, although he continued to represent the interests of farmers. In 1832, he supported a bill to dispose of theclergy reserve s, proposing that the proceeds go to education.He became a justice of the peace in the Gore District (present day
Hamilton, Ontario ) in 1811 and, in 1838, became a judge in the district court. In 1839, he became a member of the Legislative Council. He served as commissioner for the Burlington Bay andWelland Canal s.He died in Saltfleet Township in 1860.
His great-great-granddaughter is one of Canada's preeminent portrait sculptors, Dr. Elizabeth Bradford Holbrook (1913– ).
Tribute
In 1986 was inducted into the "Hamilton Gallery of Distinction." cite web| title = The Hamilton Gallery of Distinction| url=http://www.myhamilton.ca/myhamilton/LibraryServices/gallery/| accessdate = 2007-03-13]
References
External links
* [http://www.biographi.ca/009004-119.01-e.php?&id_nbr=4253 Biography at the "Dictionary of Canadian Biography Online"]
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