George Okill Stuart

Who was George Okill Stuart?

George Okill Stuart was an Anglican clergyman and educator who was born into a Loyalist family that came to Canada in 1781 . He was born at Fort Hunter near Amsterdam, New York, the son of the Reverend John Stuart and Jane Okill. The family first settled in Montreal but moved to Kingston in 1785 .

Stuart studied at his father's schools in Montreal and Kingston. He went on to study at Union College in Schenectady, New York and at King's College in Windsor, Nova Scotia. Stuart opened a school in Kingston in 1795 . His formal education was completed at Harvard College, which granted him an AB in 1801. By that time he had been ordained a deacon of the Anglican Church of Canada. Stuart was sent to York. He opened a school there which became the Home District Grammar School and served as its first schoolmaster. He married Lucy, the daughter of John Brooks, later governor of Massachusetts, in 1803 and, in 1812, succeeded his father at Kingston. Stuart was also designated as the bishop's official in Upper Canada. He was named archdeacon of York in 1821 and archdeacon of Kingston in 1827.