SAMUEL, JOSEPH (1785-1862)

SAMUEL, JOSEPH, retail merchant; b. c1785; m. Phoebe -; d. Nottingham, England, 13 Jun 1862.

Joseph Samuel and his family came to the Miramichi in 1824. By 1835 he was among the leading general merchants in Chatham. A newspaper advertisement from 1838 reveals that he had everything from furs to foodstuffs for sale. In 1843 he opposed the electioneering activities in which John Hea and others were engaged in Chatham and paid for this by having his property vandalized. When the Miramichi Mechanics' Institute was formed in 1846 he gave the society a free meeting room for a year. In 1847 he was one of the trustees of the stock company which placed the first steam ferry on the river. He still had his store in Chatham in 1855.

Samuel was of English Jewish origin, and in retirement he and his wife made their home in England. They died in Nottingham in 1862 and 1867 respectively. They had at least four children, three of whom died prematurely, including their son Solomon Samuel, who was a retail merchant at Richibucto.