Peters, Charles Jeffery

  • DICTIONARY OF CANADIAN BIOGRAPHY ARTICLE: Phillip Buckner and Burton Glendenning, “PETERS, CHARLES JEFFERY,” in Dictionary of Canadian Biography, vol. 7, University of Toronto/Université Laval, 2003–. https://www.biographi.ca/en/bio/peters_charles_jeffery_7E.html
  • DCB profile notes:
    • Lawyer, office holder, judge, and politician; b. 8 Oct. 1773 in Hempstead, N.Y., second son of James Peters and Margaret Lester; m. first 23 Nov. 1797 Elizabeth Baker in Upper Canada, and they had 12 children; m. secondly 19 Nov. 1823 Marianne Elizabeth Forbes in Saint John, N.B., and they had nine children; d. 3 Feb. 1848 at Salamanca Cottage, just outside Fredericton.
    • Originally named Jeffery in honour of Sir Jeffery Amherst, Peters was renamed Charles Jeffery after the death of his younger brother Charles in 1775. In 1783 he accompanied his father, a central figure among the loyalist élite and one of the signers of the famous “petition of the 55” , on the spring fleet to Nova Scotia, arriving at Parrtown (Saint John) in May.
    • Despite warnings that a legal career would not pay the bills, he made a success of his private practice and received appointments to many public offices, including those of solicitor general and attorney general, although he once claimed difficulty in supporting his family “in decency and comfort.” The conservative Peters was a government supporter, and during a trial in 1800 he defended enslavement.
    • Peters’s primary responsibility as attorney general was to represent the crown’s interest before the courts and to initiate public prosecutions. 
  • Son of United Empire Loyalist listed in Loyalist Directory: https://uelac.ca/loyalist-directory/detail/?wpda_search_column_id=6550
  • Find a GRAVE: https://www.findagrave.com/memorial/253204287/charles-jeffrey-peters