Samuel Gerrard (1767 – March 24, 1857) was a Canadian fur trader, businessman, militia officer, justice of the peace, politician, and seigneur. He was the second president of the Bank of Montreal. From 1838 to 1841, he was a member of the Special Council of Lower Canada. In 1841, he acquired the seigneuries of Lanaudière and Carufel.[1]
Gerrard was born in Ireland at Gibbstown House, County Meath. The Gerrards were a prosperous Anglo-Irish family who had held Gibbstown, an estate of some 1,270 acres, since the mid 17th century, and previous to that were seated at nearby Clongill Castle.[2][3][4] Samuel was probably a grandson of the Samuel Gerrard of Gibbstown who was a friend of Jonathan Swift and visited London and Bath in 1740.[5] Samuel was probably a younger brother of the John Gerrard (d.1838) who was High Sheriff of Meath in 1818. By 1785, at the age of eighteen, Samuel Gerrard was established at Montreal as a merchant concerned with the fur trade from Timiskaming. In 1791, he went into partnership with his future brother-in-law, William Grant, and Étienne-Charles Campion. Gerrard acted as the firm's accountant, receiving a quarter of the profits.[6]
Legacy
Gerrard Street in Toronto is named in his honour.
External links
- "Biography". Dictionnaire des parlementaires du Québec de 1792 à nos jours (in French). National Assembly of Quebec.
- "Samuel Gerrard". Dictionary of Canadian Biography (online ed.). University of Toronto Press. 1979–2016.
References
- ^ Peter Deslauriers, “GERRARD, SAMUEL,” in Dictionary of Canadian Biography, vol. 8, University of Toronto/Université Laval, 2003–, accessed February 5, 2024, http://www.biographi.ca/en/bio/gerrard_samuel_8E.html.
- ^ North Leinster: The Counties of Longford, Louth, Meath and Westmeath
- ^ Topographical Dictionary of Ireland
- ^ Galway Landed Estates Database
- ^ The Alexander Pope Encyclopedia
- ^ "Samuel Gerrard". Dictionary of Canadian Biography (online ed.). University of Toronto Press. 1979–2016.
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