Wetmore, Thomas

  • DICTIONARY OF CANADIAN BIOGRAPHY ARTICLE: Phillip Buckner, “WETMORE, THOMAS,” in Dictionary of Canadian Biography, vol. 6, University of Toronto/Université Laval, 2003–. https://www.biographi.ca/en/bio/wetmore_thomas_6E.html
  • DCB profile notes:
    • Lawyer, office holder, militia officer, politician, and jp; b. 20 Sept. 1767 in Rye, N.Y., fifth of the eight children of Timothy Wetmore and Jane Haviland; m. 17 March 1793 Sarah Peters in Gagetown, N.B., and they had 12 children; d. 22 March 1828 on his estate, called Kingswood, at Kingsclear, N.B.
    • Thomas Wetmore came to New Brunswick “with the loyal Emigrants” in 1783 and settled with his father, Timothy Wetmore, first in Carleton (Saint John) and then in Gagetown. He studied law in the office of Ward Chipman, became an attorney in 1788, and was admitted to the bar in 1790. Entering into partnership with his father, he was appointed deputy surrogate, clerk of the Inferior Court of Common Pleas, and registrar of deeds and wills for Queens County.
    • In 1808, when the provincial militia was embodied during a temporary crisis in Anglo-American relations, Wetmore served as a lieutenant-colonel in charge of the militia units stationed in Saint John. By his exertions he won the support of Lieutenant-Colonel George Johnstone, who was shortly to become administrator of the colony.
    • In 1809 Administrator Martin Hunter described Wetmore as “unquestionably the ablest and best qualified Barrister” in New Brunswick. In fact, Wetmore was a competent lawyer but not an outstanding one, and he does not appear to have made any significant contribution to the evolution of the law or the legal profession in the colony. He was also of marginal importance as a politician. As with many second-generation loyalists his primary claim to preference was that his family had been “ever firm in their loyalty.”
  • Proven United Empire Loyalist listed in Loyalist Directory: https://uelac.ca/loyalist-directory/detail/?wpda_search_column_id=8950
  • Find A Grave: https://www.findagrave.com/memorial/61902793/thomas-wetmore