Earle, Sylvester Zolieski

  • DICTIONARY OF CANADIAN BIOGRAPHY ARTICLE: Elizabeth W. McGahan, “EARLE, SYLVESTER ZOBIESKI (Sobieski, Zolieski, Solieski),” in Dictionary of Canadian Biography, vol. 11, University of Toronto/Université Laval, 2003–. https://www.biographi.ca/en/bio/earle_sylvester_zobieski_11E.html
  • DCB profile notes:
    • Physician and municipal politician; b. 7 Aug. 1822 at Kingston, Kings County, N.B., son of Sylvester Zobieski Earle and Maria Hughson; m. in 1847 Catherine McGill Otty, and they had eight children; d. 1 March 1888 in Saint John, N.B.
    • Sylvester Zobieski Earle, the grandson of a loyalist merchant and the son of a doctor and assemblyman, received his early education in Kings County. He then chose his father’s profession and studied medicine at the University of the City of New York. Awarded the degree of md in 1844, Earle visited a number of medical centres in Europe before he returned to New Brunswick in 1845 and received his practitioner’s licence. He joined his father in practice at Hampton, Kings County.
    • The fire was first discovered on a wharf in the city’s waterfront and business district. Before it was contained the next day it had destroyed the most densely populated and prosperous part of the city and spread through more than nine miles of streets containing 1,612 buildings.
    • The citizens of Saint John praised Earle’s efforts, and in 1878 he was re-elected mayor. A highlight of the reconstruction campaign was the laying of the corner-stone of the new city hall on 29 May 1878. But many residents left the city, and it has been estimated that Saint John did not recoup its loss in population until 40 years after the fire. Moreover the calamity occurred at a time when wooden shipbuilding, Saint John’s major industry, was being surpassed by the new technology of steam and steel. It is possible that the economic and social dislocation caused by the 1877 fire simply accelerated the decline which the city underwent in the late 19th century. Mayor Earle was criticized, especially by the merchant community, for not acting more quickly in rebuilding the city’s vital waterfront, and it was said that he lacked economic acumen in his discussions with the federal government over financial relief for the port. No immediate federal assistance was provided for its reconstruction. When Earle sought a third term as mayor in 1879 he was defeated.
  • Grandson of Loyalist listed in Loyalist Directory –https://uelac.ca/loyalist-directory/detail/?wpda_search_column_id=2515
  • Find a GRAVE: https://www.findagrave.com/memorial/181104313/sylvester-zobieski-earle