Wurtele, Jonathan Saxton Campbell

  • DICTIONARY OF CANADIAN BIOGRAPHY ARTICLE: Carman Miller, “WÜRTELE, JONATHAN SAXTON CAMPBELL,” in Dictionary of Canadian Biography, vol. 13, University of Toronto/Université Laval, 2003–. https://www.biographi.ca/en/bio/wurtele_jonathan_saxton_campbell_13E.html
  • DCB profile notes:
    • Lawyer, seigneur, politician, office holder, business man, professor, and judge; b. 27 Jan. 1828 at Quebec, son of Jonathan Wurtele, a merchant, and Louisa Sophia Campbell, sister of notary Archibald Campbell; m. first 7 Jan. 1854 in Montreal Julia Nelson (d. 1870), daughter of Wolfred Nelson, and they had five children; m. secondly 1 June 1875 in Staten Island (New York City) Sarah Braniff, widow of —— O’Brien; d. 24 April 1904 in Montreal.
    • The eldest son of a prominent merchant family of German origin which had integrated into the Anglo-Protestant élite of Lower Canada, Jonathan Saxton Campbell Würtele grew up on Bourg-Marie-Est, the seigneury his father inherited from his father, Josias, in 1831.
    • After inheriting his father’s 3,450-acre estate, which included the seigneuries of Deguire (also known as Rivière-David), Bourg-Marie-Est, Saint-François, and La Lussaudière, Würtele rendered fealty and homage at the Château Saint-Louis on 3 Feb. 1854, the last Canadian to do so. A stern, dutiful, exacting man, he went with his wife to live in the manor at Saint-David-d’Yamaska, where he became jp, mayor of the parish, chairman of the school board, commissioner for the summary trial of small causes, president of the local agricultural society, and a founder and later president of the Société Saint-Jean-Baptiste at Saint-David.
    • Würtele had been elected to the Legislative Assembly for Yamaska in 1875 and he thanked his electors with a donation of $250 towards the construction of a convent at Saint-David. Initially a moderate Liberal, he voted with his party in the opposition and criticized the government takeover of the North Shore Railway, a step which he felt was beyond the financial capacity of the provincial administration.
    • A staunch loyalist, he had the royal coat of arms placed above the seats of all judges in the province in 1897 and that same year he was president of the United Empire Loyalist Association of Quebec. He was keenly interested in the history of Canada as well as in its natural history (he served as vice-president of the Natural History Society of Montreal). Although a president of the St James Club, he was no less at home at the head table of the Société Saint-Jean-Baptiste during its 50th anniversary banquet and he contributed to the erection of a monument to the Patriotes at Saint-Denis, on the Richelieu, commemorating an event in which his first father-in-law had played a leading part. Equally proud of his German ancestry, Würtele served as honorary counsel to the German Society of Montreal.
  • Grandson of United Empire Loyalist listed in Loyalist Directory: https://uelac.ca/loyalist-directory/detail/?wpda_search_column_id=12261
  • Find A Grave: https://www.findagrave.com/memorial/116963927/jonathan-saxton_campbell-wurtele