Person:John Neilson (19)

Further Information

The Dictionary of Canadian Biography contains a long biography of which the following is a condensation:

NEILSON, JOHN, publisher, printer, bookseller, politician, farmer, and militia officer; b. 17 July 1776 at Dornald, in the parish of Balmaghie, Scotland, son of William Neilson and Isabel Brown; d. 1 Feb. 1848 in Cap-Rouge, Lower Canada.

In 1791 John Neilson joined his elder brother Samuel at Quebec to help him run the publishing firm of Brown and Gilmore, a legacy of their uncle William Brown, who had died in 1789. By 1792 Samuel was already expressing his pleasure at the “essential service” John was rendering him. As a result of Samuel’s untimely death on 12 Jan. 1793, John inherited the business but was a ward of the Reverend Alexander Spark* until he attained his majority in 1796. Another brother William came from Scotland to join him in September 1795 but went back home in 1797 or 1798.

On 6 Jan. 1797 at Trois-Rivières, in the presence of Anglican minister David-François de Montmollin* and in all likelihood of a Catholic priest as well, Neilson married Marie-Ursule Hubert, a niece of Jean-François Hubert*, the Catholic bishop of Quebec. .... At least 10 children were born – Isabel, Samuel, Mary, Elizabeth, William, Margaret, Janet, Agnes Janet, Francis, and John – some of whom died in infancy.

The income of Neilson’s printing-shop came mainly from government contracts for proclamations, statutes, the assembly journals, and so on, from private contracts for countless forms, posters, business cards, and similar items, and from the publication of the largest weekly newspaper in the two Canadas, the Quebec Gazette/La Gazette de Québec, which had been in existence since 1764. Aside from single copies sold, from the 1790s and until about 1806 there were some 500 subscribers a year. Around 1809–10 there were nearly 900 and in the period 1810–20, more than 1,000; half were French-speaking.

Besides the printing-shop and the newspaper, Neilson owned the principal bookshop in the Canadas until the 1820s. ....He supplied other printers and booksellers in both Lower and Upper Canada with stock-in-trade that he imported or went in person to get from specialized firms in the United States or Great Britain. He acquired foreign books in the same way and even tried to get works from France, although he at times took advantage of auctions of private libraries. He supplied the major public libraries in the colony, including that of the House of Assembly. Having a large printing-shop, he was able to turn out a good number of volumes himself – basically religious works and textbooks that were not available otherwise in wartime [The British government imposed a total embargo on trade between Quebec and France during the Napoleonic Wars.], political pamphlets, and technical books for the local market....Of some 42,120 books in French purchased at his bookshop between 1792 and 1812, 70 per cent dealt with religion, 21 per cent with school subjects. As for books in English, which Neilson could import and consequently did not have to publish, 38 per cent were school texts, 20 per cent religious works.

In 1822 handed his publishing firm over to his son Samuel and a partner from outside the family. In May 1836 Samuel, who was gravely ill, made the business over to his brother William and in July he gave his father power of attorney to settle his affairs.

Neilson was first elected to the Quebec Assembly in 1818. Until the end of his life in 1848, he was involved in politics at a time when English and French speaking Canadians were at loggerheads with each other. In 1841 the assembly of the united Canadas (now the provinces of Quebec and Ontario) was formed. In 1844 the assembly named him speaker, but on 25 November of that year he was given a seat on the Legislative Council, which he retained for the rest of his life.

"At his death on 1 Feb. 1848 Neilson left a sizeable fortune (20 years later it exceeded £30,000, real estate not included), and a reputation for integrity and good judgement. ....Shortly after his death, his son William paid £145 for a monument to be erected in the cemetery of the Presbyterian church in Valcartier, at the head of the grave.

"In essence, Neilson seems to have been one of the earliest exemplars of the “Canadian” in the modern sense: bilingual, connected with people of various origins, optimistic about the country’s future."

1. ↑ ^{1.0 1.1 1.2 1.3} Balmaghie Stone 43, in Mitchell, Alison. The Stewartry of Kirkcudbright monumental inscriptions pre 1855. (Edinburgh, Scotland EH1 2JL: Scottish Genealogy Society, c1990-)
   Vol 1, chap 4, p 41.

   In memory of William Neilson, wife Isabel Brown,
   daughter Isabel born Twynholm 10 Aug 1766, died Dornal 5 Nov 1771 interred here,
   son Samuel born Dornal 5 Aug 1768, died Quebec 12 Jan 1793, interred there.
   
   (Side 2) Janet Neilson born Dornal 12 Aug 1774, died Gatehouse of Fleet 1 Nov 1853, relict of Chas McKeand.
   Agnes Neilson born 20 Jan 1779, died Palnackie 7 Feb 1860, relict of Alexander Ross.
   
   (Side 3) The Hon John Neilson, member of the Executive Council of Canada, born Dornal 17 Jul 1776, died Cape Rouge, Quebec 1 Feb 1848, interred Valcartier
   Margaret Neilson, born Kirkchrist Twynholm 16 Jun 1768, died Shankfoot 16 Nov 1851, relict of William Palmer.
   
   (Side 4) In remembrance of William Neilson, the erector of this monument, was born Meikle Dornald 22 Sep 1772, died Gatehouse of Fleet 8 Sep 1857, interred here,
   his days were spent with care and industry in his native land and in America, being ever a zealous advocate for civil and religious liberty;
   he left a donation of £5 per annum for the education of poor children on the pauper list of this parish.

   This gravestone is more of a memorial to a family than a burying place. It is probable that only the son William and, possibly, the child Isabel were buried at this spot. Two of the three adult daughters are buried with their husbands within the graveyard, the third is in Girthon Cemetery at Gatehouse. The parents were buried in one of a series of Neilson family graves at Buittle.
   The gravestone is a four-sided obelisk and, unfortunately, the order in which the sides were transcribed in the published source is confusing. The presenter has taken the liberty to revise it.
   Dornal and Shankfoot were within easy walking distance of the church and graveyard.

2.   Sonia Chassé, Rita Girard-Wallot, and Jean-Pierre Wallot, “NEILSON, JOHN,” in Dictionary of Canadian Biography, vol. 7, published by the University of Toronto/Université Laval.