Bliss, Jonathan

  • DICTIONARY OF CANADIAN BIOGRAPHY ARTICLE: Phillip Buckner, “BLISS, JONATHAN,” in Dictionary of Canadian Biography, vol. 6, University of Toronto/Université Laval, 2003–. https://www.biographi.ca/en/bio/bliss_jonathan_6E.html
  • DCB profile notes:
    • Lawyer, office holder, politician, and judge; b. 1 Oct. 1742 in Springfield, Mass., fifth child of Luke Bliss and Mercy Ely; m. there 11 July 1790 Mary Worthington, and they had four sons; d. 1 Oct. 1822 in Fredericton.
    • The roots of Bliss’s loyalism are not difficult to unravel. His family was moving up in society and, like many lawyers of his generation, Bliss looked to the crown for preferment. He had studied law in the offices of two prominent loyalists and he remained closely associated with Hutchinson, who as acting governor of Massachusetts appointed Bliss a justice of the peace on 9 May 1770 and as governor commissioned him a major in the militia on 23 April 1771.
    • After the battle of Lexington, Bliss sailed for England.
    • At the end of the war he could not return to Massachusetts, since he had been proscribed in 1778 and his property had been confiscated in 1781. When Blowers declined an appointment in 1784 as attorney general of the newly created province of New Brunswick, Bliss obtained the post.
    • On 2 Feb. 1785 Bliss received his warrant of appointment and set off for Parrtown (Saint John), where he assumed office on 16 May. As attorney general he was theoretically chief legal adviser to the government. In 1786 Bliss admitted, “I have as little to do in the Government as an Attorney General can have.” Yet he was not displeased with the limited role assigned to him since he disliked “the Labor of the Bar” and yearned to retire “to a Farm on the Kennebecasis.”
  • United Empire Loyalist listed in Loyalist Directory: https://uelac.ca/loyalist-directory/detail/?wpda_search_column_id=645
  • Find a GRAVE: https://www.findagrave.com/memorial/60845509/jonathan-bliss