Botsford, Bliss

  • DICTIONARY OF CANADIAN BIOGRAPHY ARTICLE: C. C. Alexander Pincombe, “BOTSFORD, BLISS,” in Dictionary of Canadian Biography, vol. 11, University of Toronto/Université Laval, 2003–. https://www.biographi.ca/en/bio/botsford_bliss_11E.html
  • DCB profile notes:
    • Lawyer, landowner, politician, and judge; b. 26 Nov. 1813 at Sackville, N.B., the seventh son of William Botsford, a politician and judge, and Sarah Lowell Murray, née Hazen; m. in 1842 Jane Chapman, and they had five children; d. 5 April 1890 at Moncton, N.B .
    • Following in his father’s footsteps, he studied law, under William End of Gloucester County, and in 1838 was admitted to the bar. In 1836 Botsford moved to the Bend of Petitcodiac (Moncton) where he practised until 1870. When he arrived at the Bend it consisted of a few small shops, an inn, and less than 20 dwellings surrounded by marsh and forest. Botsford established for himself a large home with extensive grounds in the centre of the village, and as the settlement grew he began to acquire lands through purchase, mortgage, settlement of estates, and court judgements.
    • Botsford had been an active participant in Moncton’s changing fortunes on the provincial as well as the local level. From 1851 to 1854 and again from 1856 to 1861 he had been a member of the assembly for Westmorland County, but he did not distinguish himself in the legislature. In 1865 he declared himself an opponent of New Brunswick’s entry into confederation, and after his election in March of that year he became surveyor general in the anti-confederate government of Albert James Smith. The following year Smith’s government was defeated at the polls, but Botsford was personally re-elected and from 1867 to 1870 served as speaker of the New Brunswick assembly, a post previously held by both his father and his grandfather.
    • By 1870 Botsford was one of Moncton’s most respected citizens, and he was known for his hospitality. He was also an active freemason, and in 1870 the Royal Arch Masons named their new chapter after him. In the same year he was appointed judge of the county court for Westmorland and Albert, a post he held until his death. He was respected as a judge for his fairness, sympathetic treatment of young lawyers, logical and concise charges to juries, and the firmness of his decisions.
    • On 5 April 1890 Botsford was leaving his club rooms, located on the second floor of a building on Main Street, when he collapsed on the stairs and fell through a large window to the board sidewalk below. He died of massive fractures and internal haemorrhages a few hours later. On the day of Botsford’s funeral, official mourning was declared in Moncton, which was to be incorporated as a city just two weeks later.
  • Grandson of Loyalist listed in Loyalist Directory –https://uelac.ca/loyalist-directory/detail/?wpda_search_column_id=712
  • Find a GRAVE: https://www.findagrave.com/memorial/206163006/bliss-botsford