Jonathan McCully

Who was Jonathan McCully?

Jonathan McCully was a participant at the Confederation conferences at Charlottetown, Quebec City, and in London, and is thus considered one of the Fathers of Canadian Confederation. He did much to promote union through newspaper editorials. For his efforts, he received a Senate appointment. He later became a judge of the Nova Scotia Supreme Court.

McCully was born at his family's farm in Cumberland County, Nova Scotia. He attended various local schools before going to work on the family farm. From 1828 to 1830, he taught school in order to fund his legal studies. One of his pupils was Sir Charles Tupper. He was called to the Nova Scotia bar in 1837, and set up his practice in Amherst. In 1842 he married Eliza Creed.

A confirmed Liberal by 1837, he expressed his views in frequent contributions to the Acadian Recorder. In addition, he was a contributor to the Halifax Morning Chronicle, the major Liberal newspaper of the province of Nova Scotia. Although he took a marginal role at the conferences at Charlottetown and Québec City he was an important promoter of union to Nova Scotians through editorials in both the Morning Chronicle and the Unionist & Halifax Journal.