Wilmot, John McNeil

  • DICTIONARY OF CANADIAN BIOGRAPHY ARTICLE: T. W. Acheson, “WILMOT, JOHN McNEIL,” in Dictionary of Canadian Biography, vol. 7, University of Toronto/Université Laval, 2003–https://www.biographi.ca/en/bio/wilmot_john_mcneil_7E.html
  • DCB profile notes:
    • Businessman, politician, jp, and judge; b. c. 1775 in Poughkeepsie, N.Y.; m. 27 Oct. 1808 Susanna (Susan) Harriet Wiggins in Saint John, N.B.; d. 7 Sept. 1847 in Lincoln, N.B.
    • The son of Lemuel Wilmot, a captain in the Loyal American Regiment, and Elizabeth Street, a sister of merchant Samuel Street, John McNeil Wilmot was brought in 1783 to what became New Brunswick as part of the general loyalist migration. The elder Wilmot received land near Fredericton and here, on this loyalist frontier, his children were raised. Their experience produced in John and his brother William a curious amalgam of expectations as members of the élite and frontier rejection of the values which made that élite possible. Sons of a highly respected loyalist officer, they moved easily among the status-conscious first-generation loyalist patricians, married their daughters, and enjoyed the business advantages which membership in that group conferred.
    • In 1818 Wilmot obtained an auctioneer’s licence and acted as agent for merchants outside New Brunswick in the disposal of their goods. The following year, in partnership with James Kirk, he formed John M. Wilmot and Company, a firm that became increasingly involved in the rapidly expanding timber trade. For the next 18 years Wilmot had an important part in that trade and was generally recognized as one of the principal merchants of the province.
    • Wilmot’s business interests far transcended the activities of his own firm. He was an early leader of the Saint John business community, active in the promotion of the Chamber of Commerce and in other matters of common concern to the province’s merchants.
    • Wilmot also played an important role in public life. He was elected to the Saint John Common Council in 1815 and 1816 as alderman for Dukes Ward. The following year he was returned for Kings, and he served that ward from 1817 to 1821 and again from 1824 to 1828. As alderman he participated in the administration of the city, sat as a justice of the Inferior Court of Common Pleas, and served as a magistrate of the Saint John County sessions. During much of this time Wilmot also served as a member of the House of Assembly for Saint John County and City. He was first returned in 1820 and sat until 1827. 
  • Son of United Empire Loyalist listed in Loyalist Directory: https://uelac.ca/loyalist-directory/detail/?wpda_search_column_id=9159
  • Find A Grave: https://www.findagrave.com/memorial/139356898/john-mcneil-wilmot