Date Published:
July 2005

L’Encyclopédie de l’histoire du Québec / The Quebec History Encyclopedia

John Forsyth

Forsyth, John (1762-1837), merchant, was born in Scotland on December 8, 1762, the sixth son of William Forsyth, of Huntly, and Jean, daughter of George Phyn, laird of the Corse of Monelly. His mother's sister married Alexander Ellice; her brother George married the sister of Edward Ellice; another brother, James, became the head of the firm of Phyn, Inglis, and Ellice, in London; and another sister was the mother of the Hon. John Richardson. John Forsyth emigrated to Canada in 1779, and about 1790 he became the head of the firm of Forsyth, Richardson and Co., which was one of the firms behind the so-called XY Company, and which acquired an interest in the North West Company in 1804. In 1827 he was appointed a member of the Legislative Council of Lower Canada, and he continued, a legislative councillor of the province until his death in London on December 29, 1837. He died at Morley's Hotel, which used to stand at the south-west corner of Trafalgar Square ; and he was buried in Kensal Green. He married Margaret, the daughter of Charles Grant; and by her he had two sons and one daughter. The elder son, William, married his cousin, Eweretta Jane, daughter of Joseph Forsyth, and later assumed the name of Forsyth-Grant. The younger, John Blackwood, married Mary, daughter of Samuel Gerrard; and the daughter, Jane Prescott, married George Gregory, the son of John Gregory.

Source  : W. Stewart WALLACE, ed., The Encyclopedia of Canada, Vol. II, Toronto, University Associates of Canada, 1948, 411p., pp. 363-364.