Joseph Gibb Robertson (1 January 1820 – 13 March 1899) was a

Scottish Scottish usually refers to something of, from, or related to Scotland, including: *Scottish Gaelic, a Celtic Goidelic language of the Indo-European language family native to Scotland *Scottish English *Scottish national identity, the Scottish ide ...

-born merchant, farmer and political figure in

Quebec Quebec is Canada's List of Canadian provinces and territories by area, largest province by area. Located in Central Canada, the province shares borders with the provinces of Ontario to the west, Newfoundland and Labrador to the northeast, ...

. He represented

Sherbrooke Sherbrooke ( , ) is a city in southern Quebec, Canada. It is at the confluence of the Saint-François River, Saint-François and Magog River, Magog rivers in the heart of the Estrie administrative region. Sherbrooke is also the name of a territ ...

in the

Legislative Assembly of Quebec A legislature (, ) is a deliberative assembly with the authority, legal authority to make laws for a Polity, political entity such as a Sovereign state, country, nation or city on behalf of the people therein. They are often contrasted with th ...

from 1867 to 1892 as a

Conservative Conservatism is a cultural, social, and political philosophy and ideology that seeks to promote and preserve traditional institutions, customs, and values. The central tenets of conservatism may vary in relation to the culture and civiliza ...

. He was born in

Stuartfield Stuartfield is a small inland village in the Buchan area of Aberdeenshire, Scotland, situated south of Old Deer. It was formerly known as New Crichie, and the name is still used by locals as illustrated by the village association website bein ...

Aberdeenshire Aberdeenshire (; ) is one of the 32 Subdivisions of Scotland#council areas of Scotland, council areas of Scotland. It takes its name from the Shires of Scotland, historic county of Aberdeenshire (historic), Aberdeenshire, which had substantial ...

, the son of the Reverend James Robertson and Elizabeth Murray, and came to

Lower Canada The Province of Lower Canada () was a British colonization of the Americas, British colony on the lower Saint Lawrence River and the shores of the Gulf of Saint Lawrence established in 1791 and abolished in 1841. It covered the southern portion o ...

with his family in 1836. Robertson established a store in Sherbrooke and speculated in land. He owned the Sherbrooke Grist Mill and was a director of the Sherbrooke and Magog Turnpike Road Company. Robertson helped promote the Sherbrooke, Eastern Townships and Kennebec Railway (later part of the

Quebec Central Railway The Quebec Central Railway was a railway in the Canadian province of Quebec, that served the Eastern Townships region south of the St. Lawrence River. Its headquarters was in Sherbrooke. It was originally incorporated in 1869 as the Sherbrooke, Ea ...

) and served as its president. He served as secretary-treasurer for Sherbrooke and was mayor from 1854 to 1855, from 1857 to 1867 and from 1869 to 1872. In 1870, he married Mary Jane Woodward. Robertson was treasurer for the province several times during the period from 1869 to 1887. He resigned his seat in the cabinet in 1874 during the

Tanneries scandal The Tanneries scandal was a scandal implicating the government of the Province of Quebec, which led to the resignation of Conservative premier, Gédéon Ouimet, in September 1874. On July 16, 1874, the '' Montreal Herald'' announced that the prov ...

and again later that year because of his opposition to government ownership of the

North Shore Railway North is one of the four compass points or cardinal directions. It is the opposite of south and is perpendicular to east and west. ''North'' is a noun, adjective, or adverb indicating direction or geography. Etymology The word ''north'' is ...

. He was defeated when he ran for reelection in 1892. Robertson served as postmaster for Sherbrooke from 1892 until his death there at the age of 79. His sister was Margaret Murray Robertson, a novelist. His brother

Andrew Andrew is the English form of the given name, common in many countries. The word is derived from the , ''Andreas'', itself related to ''aner/andros'', "man" (as opposed to "woman"), thus meaning "manly" and, as consequence, "brave", "strong", "c ...

was a lawyer and governor for McGill University.

References

* * {{DEFAULTSORT:Robertson, Joseph Gibb 1820 births 1899 deaths Conservative Party of Quebec MNAs Mayors of Sherbrooke Scottish emigrants to pre-Confederation Quebec People from Stuartfield Immigrants to Lower Canada 19th-century members of the Legislative Assembly of Quebec 19th-century mayors of places in Quebec