Street, John Ambrose Sharman

  • DICTIONARY OF CANADIAN BIOGRAPHY ARTICLE: W. A. Spray, “STREET, JOHN AMBROSE SHARMAN,” in Dictionary of Canadian Biography, vol. 9, University of Toronto/Université Laval, 2003–. https://www.biographi.ca/en/bio/street_john_ambrose_9E.html
  • DCB profile notes:
    • lawyer, politician, and office-holder; b. 22 Sept. 1795 at Burton, Sunbury County, N.B., of loyalist ancestry, son of Samuel Denny Street and Abigail Freeman, and brother of George Frederick Street; m. April 1823 Jane Isabella Hubbard, and they had 11 children; d. 5 May 1865 at Saint John, N.B.
    • John Ambrose Street was educated at Burton and Fredericton, N.B. He studied law in his father’s office, and was admitted to the bar as an attorney on 22 Feb. 1817 and as a barrister on 4 Oct. 1819. In 1823 Street moved to Newcastle (where he resided until 1845) and that year was appointed registrar of wills and deeds for Northumberland County. For several years he served on Northumberland’s Board of Health. He became one of the county’s leading lawyers and for a number of years represented the interests of Joseph Cunard.
    • His father-in-law, William Hubbard, had sat as mha for Sunbury County from 1785 to 1792. In 1833, when Cunard resigned as mha for Northumberland County, Street was elected to succeed him, and re-elected in 1834 and 1837. In the latter year he was appointed qc, and in 1840 was appointed clerk of the crown in the Supreme Court.
    • Since 1851 Street had led the government in defending the method of appointing the chief justice and opposing attempts to reduce judges’ fees and the salaries of office-holders, whom Street believed should be properly compensated for their services. As the spokesman for those resisting changes, he earned the ire of the liberals who were calling for reform. In October 1854 the government was forced to resign following defeat in the assembly – the first time in New Brunswick’s history that such a resignation had occurred. Responsible government had come to New Brunswick.
  • Son of Proven United Empire Loyalist listed in Loyalist Directory: https://uelac.ca/loyalist-directory/detail/?wpda_search_column_id=8194
  • Find A Grave: https://www.findagrave.com/memorial/61844115/john_ambrose_sharman-street