Moses Henry Perley (31 December 1804 – 17 August 1862) was a lawyer and entrepreneur in colonial New Brunswick.

Biography

Born in

Maugerville Maugerville ( ) is a New Brunswick unincorporated community located on the east bank of the Saint John River in Maugerville Parish, Sunbury County, in the Canadian province of New Brunswick. The settlement is located on provincial Route 105, 16 ...

Sunbury County Sunbury County (2021 population 27,864) is located in central New Brunswick, Canada. A large military base (CFB Gagetown) is located in the western part of the county south of the town of Oromocto. The county also hosts forestry and mixed farm ...

, Perley received his primary school education in Saint John. In 1829, he married Jane, daughter of the

United Empire Loyalist United Empire Loyalist (UEL; or simply Loyalist) is an honorific title which was first given by the 1st Lord Dorchester, the governor of Quebec and governor general of the Canadas, to American Loyalists who resettled in British North Ameri ...

Isaac Ketchum. They had eight children. Perley studied law and was called to the Bar in 1830. Perley played a dominant role in producing the New Brunswick ''Indian Act'' of 1844. He had an extensive knowledge of Indian affairs through his travels and communication throughout the province. He was appointed commissioner for Indian affairs and further influenced matters covered under the ''Indian Act''. Between 1849 and 1852 he wrote several studies on the prospects for the further development of the province's ocean and river fisheries, a task which saw him travel some 900 miles throughout New Brunswick (500 of them by canoe) collecting information and statistics. Perley's findings on these trips were detailed in his ''Report on the Fisheries of the Gulf of Saint Lawrence'' (1849), ''Report on the Sea and River Fisheries of New Brunswick, Within the Gulf of Saint Lawrence and Bay of Chaleur'' (1850), and ''Report upon the Fisheries of the Bay of Fundy'' (1851), all of which were compiled in a one-volume omnibus entitled ''Reports on the Sea and River Fisheries of New Brunswick'' (1852). His knowledge of the fishery also meant that he had a commanding influence on the fishery legislation drafted between 1849 and 1852. Perley was appointed as emigrant agent for the province and, in 1855, was appointed a fishery commissioner to enforce the

Canadian–American Reciprocity Treaty The Canadian–American Reciprocity Treaty of 1854, also known as the Elgin-Marcy Treaty (after its key negotiators, James Bruce, 8th Earl of Elgin and William L. Marcy), was a treaty between the United Kingdom and the United States that applied ...

. He died after an illness on board HMS ''Desperate'' near

Labrador Labrador () is a geographic and cultural region within the Canadian province of Newfoundland and Labrador. It is the primarily continental portion of the province and constitutes 71% of the province's area but is home to only 6% of its populatio ...

while engaged in duties associated with this post.

Bibliography

* Reports on the sea and rivers fisheries of New Brunswick (1850)
Reports on the sea and rivers fisheries of New Brunswick
2nd edition (1852)
A hand-book of information for emigrants to New Brunswick
(1857)
On the early history of New Brunswick
(1891) * Camp of the Owls : sporting sketches and tales of Indians (1990)

References

External links

Biography at the ''Dictionary of Canadian Biography Online''
{{DEFAULTSORT:Perley, Moses Henry 1804 births 1862 deaths Colony of New Brunswick people

Biography

Bibliography

See also

Further reading

References

External links