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Memoir of the Life of the
Honorable William Blowers Bliss - Page 24 |
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But it is otherwise in regard to his early life, and
his career at the Bar. As in the case of many other distinguished Nova
Scotians prominent in our past history, no record has been kept, and such
glimpses as we have are very meagre and unsatisfactory. In his case, of
course all those who enjoyed his acquaintance, and were associated with
him either at the Bar, in the Legislature or on the Bench have long since
passed away, and there are few members of the profession now living who
practised before him, or even remember him at all.
William Blowers Bliss came of Loyalist stock, that
stock which has given so many able men to the public service in the
different Provinces of Canada. He was the third son of Jonathan Bliss who
during the American Rebellion was proscribed, and driven from his home in
Massachusetts for his loyalty to his country, and his King. He went to
England, and in 1785 was
appointed by the Crown Attorney-General of the newly constituted Province
of New Brunswick, about that date severe’d from the Province of Nova
Scotia. That office he retained until he was appointed Chief Justice of
New Brunswick in 1809, and
remained Chief Justice until the time of his death. One of his classmates
at Harvard, and great friend, was our former Chief Justice Blowers after
whom Judge Bliss was named. His mother was Mary Worthington, a daughter of
the Honorable Colonel Worthington, of Springfield, Massachusetts, an
eminent lawyer, and a man of great influence. Mr. Justice Bliss was born
in St. John, New Brunswick, on the 24th August,
1795, in the house, it is
said, which formerly belonged to General Benedict Arnold of American
Rebellion fame. Of his early years as I have said nothing is now known
except that he was educated at King’s College, Windsor, where he
graduated at the early age of eighteen. He then went to England, and
pursued his studies for the Bar at the Inner Temple under Sir William
Wightman, afterwards an eminent English Judge.
After he had completed his studies and was called to
the Bar in England great inducements were held out to him to remain and
practise his profession there. Apparently his heart
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