Wolfred Nelson (10 July 1791 – 17 June 1863) was the

mayor of Montreal The mayor of Montreal is head of the executive branch of the Montreal City Council. The current mayor is Valérie Plante, who was elected into office on November 5, 2017, and sworn in on November 16. The office of the mayor administers all ci ...

, Quebec, from 1854 to 1856.

Biography

Nelson was born in

Montreal Montreal is the List of towns in Quebec, largest city in the Provinces and territories of Canada, province of Quebec, the List of the largest municipalities in Canada by population, second-largest in Canada, and the List of North American cit ...

. His father, William Nelson, was an immigrant to

Colonial America The colonial history of the United States covers the period of European colonization of North America from the late 15th century until the unifying of the Thirteen British Colonies and creation of the United States in 1776, during the Re ...

from Newsham, North Yorkshire,

England England is a Countries of the United Kingdom, country that is part of the United Kingdom. It is located on the island of Great Britain, of which it covers about 62%, and List of islands of England, more than 100 smaller adjacent islands. It ...

. His mother, Jane Dies, was a teacher and daughter of an important land owner in the New York area. Along with his younger brother Robert Nelson, he was known as a member of the Patriotes and for his leading role in the

Lower Canada Rebellion The Lower Canada Rebellion (), commonly referred to as the Patriots' Rebellion () in French, is the name given to the armed conflict in 1837–38 between rebels and the colonial government of Lower Canada (now southern Quebec). Together wit ...

. Nelson studied at the school of his father in William Henry. He became a

physician A physician, medical practitioner (British English), medical doctor, or simply doctor is a health professional who practices medicine, which is concerned with promoting, maintaining or restoring health through the Medical education, study, Med ...

in January 1811 and subsequently served in that capacity with the British troops on the

War of 1812 The War of 1812 was fought by the United States and its allies against the United Kingdom of Great Britain and Ireland, United Kingdom and its allies in North America. It began when the United States United States declaration of war on the Uni ...

. He moved to Saint-Denis-sur-Richelieu where he opened a

distillery Distillation, also classical distillation, is the process of separating the component substances of a liquid mixture of two or more chemically discrete substances; the separation process is realized by way of the selective boiling of the mixt ...

. He entered politics when elected in William Henry in 1827. He supported the Parti Patriote. In 1827, he was elected as a member of the

Legislative Assembly of Lower Canada The Legislative Assembly of Lower Canada was the lower house of the bicameral structure of provincial government in Lower Canada until 1838. The legislative assembly was created by the Constitutional Act of 1791. The lower house consisted of e ...

, but he gave up active politics in 1830, without disavowing his reformist allegiance. He became a Patriote leader in the region of the

Richelieu River The Richelieu River () is a river of Quebec, Canada, and a major right-bank tributary of the St. Lawrence River. It rises at Lake Champlain, from which it flows northward through Quebec and empties into the St. Lawrence. It was formerly kno ...

valley, and supported the use of arms at the '' Assemblée des Six-Comtés'' in 1837. In a prelude to the

of 1837, Nelson led 5,000 Patriotes in the two-day

Assembly of the Six Counties The Assembly of the Six Counties () was an assembly of Patriote leaders and approximately 6,000 followers held in Saint-Charles, Lower Canada (present-day Quebec) on October 23 and October 23, 1837, despite the June 15 Proclamation of the g ...

in Saint-Charles,

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 ...

(present-day Quebec), on 23 and 24 October 1837, to protest the government's Russell Resolutions, taking place despite the 15 June Proclamation forbidding public assemblies. At one point he interrupted Papineau's speech, saying, "As for me, I am of a different opinion from that of M. Papineau. I claim the time has come to melt our spoons to make bullets." The conference delegates approved the Thirteen Resolutions, based on the republican document '' Rights of Man'' written by British and later American

Revolutionary A revolutionary is a person who either participates in, or advocates for, a revolution. The term ''revolutionary'' can also be used as an adjective to describe something producing a major and sudden impact on society. Definition The term—bot ...

Thomas Paine Thomas Paine (born Thomas Pain; – In the contemporary record as noted by Conway, Paine's birth date is given as January 29, 1736–37. Common practice was to use a dash or a slash to separate the old-style year from the new-style year. In ...

, which was also adopted by proponents of both the

American Revolution The American Revolution (1765–1783) was a colonial rebellion and war of independence in which the Thirteen Colonies broke from British America, British rule to form the United States of America. The revolution culminated in the American ...

and the French Revolution. A ''Column of Liberty'' was also erected in Saint-Charles' Square. Warrant to arrest Wolfred Nelson

On 16 November 1837, he and 25 others were charged with high treason.

Louis-Joseph Papineau Louis-Joseph Papineau (; October 7, 1786 – September 23, 1871), born in Montreal, Province of Quebec (1763–1791), Quebec, was a politician, lawyer, and the landlord of the ''seigneurie de la Petite-Nation''. He was the leader of the reform ...

and Edmund Bailey O'Callaghan joined Nelson at Saint-Denis at some point before 23 November 1837, where Papineau and O'Bailey decided to resist arrest and escape to the

United States The United States of America (USA), also known as the United States (U.S.) or America, is a country primarily located in North America. It is a federal republic of 50 U.S. state, states and a federal capital district, Washington, D.C. The 48 ...

(into

Vermont Vermont () is a U.S. state, state in the New England region of the Northeastern United States. It borders Massachusetts to the south, New Hampshire to the east, New York (state), New York to the west, and the Provinces and territories of Ca ...

) following the Battle of Saint-Denis. On 28 February 1838, after having crossed the border from

, Nelson, along with 300 to 400 Patriotes from a secret group called Frères Chasseurs, distributed copies of a declaration of independence written by Nelson's brother, Robert Nelson. Inspired by the

United States Declaration of Independence The Declaration of Independence, formally The unanimous Declaration of the thirteen States of America in the original printing, is the founding document of the United States. On July 4, 1776, it was adopted unanimously by the Second Continen ...

, the document listed their grievances with the British colonial government in

, and defended their right to overthrow that government. Later, he led a group of armed citizens who resisted arrest by the authorities at St-Denis. He was arrested soon after. (See

.) Exiled to

Bermuda Bermuda is a British Overseas Territories, British Overseas Territory in the Atlantic Ocean, North Atlantic Ocean. The closest land outside the territory is in the American state of North Carolina, about to the west-northwest. Bermuda is an ...

in 1838, Nelson was granted amnesty by the British colonial government and came back to Montreal in 1842. In 1844, he was elected to the new

Parliament of the Province of Canada The Parliament of the Province of Canada was the legislature for the Province of Canada, made up of the two regions of Canada West (formerly Upper Canada, later Ontario) and Canada East (formerly Lower Canada, later Quebec). Creation of the Parl ...

. In 1854, he became mayor of Montreal, and he died in June 1863. He is interred in the Anglican cemetery in

Sorel-Tracy Sorel-Tracy (; ) is a city in southwestern Quebec, Canada and the geographical end point of the Champlain Valley. It is located at the confluence of the Richelieu River and the St. Lawrence River, on the western edge of Lac Saint-Pierre, down ...

and is commemorated by a park in Mercier-Hochelaga-Maisonneuve borough.

Works

* ''Report of Dr. Wolfred Nelson, one of the inspectors of the provincial penitentiary, on the present state, discipline, management and expenditure of the district and other prisons in Canada East'', 1852 (exists also in French) * ', 1853
''Practical views on cholera, and on the sanitary, preventive and curative measures to be adopted in the event of a visitation of the epidemic''
1854 (exists also in French) *Five years in Panama (1880-1885)

Gallery

Image:Wolfred-nelson.jpg Image:Nelsonw.jpg

References

Sources

* * * * * (via Vigile.net) * {{DEFAULTSORT:Nelson, Wolfred 19th-century mayors of places in Quebec Mayors of Montreal Members of the Legislative Assembly of Lower Canada Members of the Legislative Assembly of the Province of Canada from Canada East Lower Canada Rebellion people Quebec revolutionaries 1791 births 1863 deaths Canadian republicans Quebec sovereigntists Canadian exiles Canadian people of American descent Anglophone Quebec people