Roblin, David

  • DICTIONARY OF CANADIAN BIOGRAPHY ARTICLE: James A. Eadie, “ROBLIN, DAVID,” in Dictionary of Canadian Biography, vol. 9, University of Toronto/Université Laval, 2003–. https://www.biographi.ca/en/bio/roblin_david_9E.html
  • DCB profile:
    • Lumber merchant and politician; b. 19 April 1812 in Adolphustown Township, Upper Canada, fifth of the nine children of John Roblin and Mary Moore; m. in 1832 Pamelia Hawley, and they had ten children; d. 1 March 1863 at Napanee, Canada West.
    • John Roblin, an Adolphustown farmer and Methodist lay preacher, died when David was still a child. Largely “self-educated,” David opened a small general store in Richmond Township in 1832, moved his business to Napanee in 1841, and during the next decade expanded into the timber trade and speculation in United Empire Loyalist scrip with considerable success.
    • Like most Upper Canadian politicians of the period, Roblin entered politics through municipal channels. He was Richmond Township’s first reeve (1841–57), and served as first warden (1849–57) of the United Counties of Frontenac and Lennox and Addington. He used his considerable municipal influence to promote the passage of the Grand Trunk Railway legislation, the construction of the Addington Colonization Road, and the rebuilding of the county courthouse and jail in Kingston. His political influence also gained him such dividends in the 1850s as a large timber limit in Frontenac from the Francis Hincks administration, a Grand Trunk Railway sub-contract to build a bridge over the Napanee River, and an appointment as company arbitrator for the GTR in April 1854.
    • Though he continued to identify himself as a Baldwin Reformer, he supported John A. Macdonald loyally on every major issue, including Macdonald’s unpopular stand against representation by population. In 1857 Macdonald wrote of Roblin: “When I was in straits, he stood by me like a man & I can never forget him.” Yet for all Roblin’s faithful support of the Liberal-Conservative coalition, he continued to have a Reform identity, which was undoubtedly the root of his eventual defeat for it satisfied neither Clear Grits nor Conservatives in a period when the polarization of parties made the separate existence of the Baldwin Reform group both meaningless and irritating.
  • Grandson of United Empire Loyalist listed in Loyalist Directory: https://uelac.ca/loyalist-directory/detail/?wpda_search_column_id=7075
  • Find a Grave: https://www.findagrave.com/memorial/188705497/david-roblin