From: "Montreal History and Gazeteer to the year 1892"
By Rev. J. Douglas Borthwick, John Lovell & Son, Montreal 1892
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The Honorable James Reid was the nephew of John Reid, Prothonotary of Montreal, who had removed from Quebec in 1780 and was one of the Trustees of the McGill estate. His wife built the Reid wing of the General Hospital, and the Manor House and Grounds are now Sohmer Park. He filled the judical office of one of the Judges of the Court of King's Bench, Lower Canada, for a period of thirty-three years, fifteen of which he presided as Chief Justice. Mr. Reid was admitted to the Bar in the year 1794, and in May, 1807,
raised to the Bench, as one of the Puisne Judges. In the year 1823, he
was elevated to the office of Chief-Justice, and presided as such on the
Bench until the year 1832, when the weight of declining years warned him
to seek repose, and he then resigned his office. After relinquishing office,
Mr. Reid and his family visited Europe, and while in England, the honour
of Knighthood was offered to him as a mark of the Royal approbation of
his long and valuable services; "but a long life of public service, and
a conscientious and faithful discharge of public duty, had secured him
the esteem of his fellow citizens, and conferred upon him a rank beyond
the records of the Herald's office, or the fugitive honors of a title,
and he declined accepting it." He died 19th June 1848, aged seventy-nine
years.
Note: Judge Reid's wife was the sister of Hon.William McGillivray *Researching James Reid..............Peter Grant |