William Abrams
William Abrams (c. 1785 – 6 February 1844) was a businessman with a military and judicial career in New Brunswick.
Abrams was born in Plymouth, England and was in businesses in Greenock, Scotland before emigrating to New Brunswick in 1819. There, he started a business funded by himself and five partners in Scotland.[1] He and his family settled in the Miramichi region and he ran a business there, first with partners and later on his own, until his death.
In Rosebank, Abrams founded a shipyard, which suffered in the Miramichi Fire of 1825.[1] Total losses were approximately £40,000.[2] Trans-Atlantic trade was rising, however, and the company financially recovered.[1] In total, the shipyard built 25 sailing vessels.[3]
In 1838, the Miramichi Abrams shipyard built the Actaeon, which sailed to Liverpool and registered there in the year of its construction.[4] The ship, a three-masted barque, was scuttled in 1853 in the Falkland Islands.[5]
Community involvement
[edit]Abrams was active in the community and served as a justice of the peace and a justice of the Inferior Court of Common Pleas in New Brunswick.[3] Additionally, he served as an Anglican vestryman, militia battalion captain, agricultural society treasurer, school trustee, hospital commissioner, Northumberland County Board of Health member, and Miramichi Port harbormaster.[1] In 1827, he ran for a Northumberland County seats in the House of Assembly but was defeated.[2]
He also brought needed banking services to the area and promoted the foundation of the local Chamber of Commerce.[1] He was a prominent early shipbuilder in New Brunswick and, as such, contributed to the developing economy of the time.
Personal life
[edit]Abrams married Sarah Trigholon in 1807, and they had ten children, two sons and eight daughters. Two of his children died in the Miramichi Fire.[6] Abrams belonged to the Church of England.[1] He died 6 February 1844 in Newcastle, New Brunswick.[7] Portraits of Sarah and William Abrams, painted by Boston artist Albert Gallatin Hoit, are owned by the New Brunswick Museum.[3]
References
[edit]- ^ a b c d e f "First families". NB Genealogy Association-Miramichi. Retrieved 2025-03-27.
- ^ a b "ABRAMS, WILLIAM". Dictionary of Canadian Biography. Retrieved 2025-03-27.
- ^ a b c "Dictionary of Miramichi Biography". New Brunswick, Canada Provincial Archives. Retrieved 27 Mar 2025.
{{cite web}}: CS1 maint: url-status (link) - ^ Lawson, Eric (Oct 2004). "Members' News" (PDF). Argonauta, the Newsletter of the Canadian Nautical Research Society. 21 (4): 20.
- ^ "Actaeon Shipwreck". Falklands Maritime Heritage Trust. Retrieved 2025-03-27.
{{cite web}}: CS1 maint: url-status (link) - ^ "ABRAMS, WILLIAM". Dictionary of Canadian Biography. Retrieved 2025-03-27.
- ^ "ABRAMS, WILLIAM". Dictionary of Canadian Biography. Retrieved 2025-03-27.