Stuart, Sir James

  • DICTIONARY OF CANADIAN BIOGRAPHY ARTICLE: Evelyn Kolish, “STUART, Sir JAMES,” in Dictionary of Canadian Biography, vol. 8, University of Toronto/Université Laval, 2003–. https://www.biographi.ca/en/bio/stuart_james_8E.html
  • DCB profile notes:
    • Lawyer, office holder, politician, and judge; b. 2 March 1780 in Fort Hunter, N.Y., third son of the Reverend John Stuart and Jane Okill; m. 14 March 1818 Elizabeth Robertson in Montreal, and they had three sons and a daughter; d. 14 July 1853 at Quebec.
    • A prominent member of the ruling élite of Lower Canada, James Stuart had pursued a career that was the logical outcome of his family background and his undoubted energy and talents. His father was not only a loyalist but also a respected Church of England clergyman, for many years the rector at Cataraqui (Kingston), Upper Canada.
    • James, a talented and precocious lad, completed his eminently conservative and Protestant schooling at King’s College, Windsor, N.S., and at the early age of 14 began his apprenticeship in the law in Lower Canada. After four years with John Reid, clerk of the Court of King’s Bench in Montreal, and two years at Quebec with Jonathan Sewell, then attorney general, Stuart was called to the bar in the spring of 1801.
    • An able and ambitious man, James Stuart was inevitably drawn into the political and ethnic conflicts that dominated the period. As a politician, with the exception of the interlude of his attack on Sewell, he was a supporter of the British party. As a jurist, he recognized the potential of the law as a means of assimilation, and he was at one with many of his British colleagues in striving to introduce more English law into the province. Although he was respected for his legal knowledge and talent, his personality was unendearing. Preoccupied with personal advancement, Stuart lacked both the attractive character and the diversity of interests that distinguished his brother Andrew and the literary ability and statesmanlike breadth of vision shown by his long-time rival Jonathan Sewell.
  • Son of Proven United Empire Loyalist listed in Loyalist Directory: https://uelac.ca/loyalist-directory/detail/?wpda_search_column_id=8220
  • Find a GRAVE: https://www.findagrave.com/memorial/117234376/james-stuart