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Dictionary of Miramichi Biography

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SIVEWRIGHT, JOHN H. (1810-1866)

SIVEWRIGHT, JOHN H., first principal of the Newcastle Grammar School, 1836-51; b. Old Meldrum, Aberdeenshire, Scotland, 1810; m. 1837, Elizabeth Murray, d/o William C. Murray and Alexanderina Hyslop; d. Bathurst, N.B., 23 Mar 1866.

John H. Sivewright, who held an MA from King's College, Aberdeen, arrived on the Miramichi in 1833 and was employed as a teacher in Northumberland and Gloucester counties from that date until his death in 1866. In spite of his superior educational standing he first taught a common school for three years in Blissfield parish. While doing so he proved himself to be "a young man of respectable talents and exemplary deportment," and also "made himself very useful by conducting a Presbyterian Sabbath school." In the absence of a minister in the Upper Miramichi district he agreed to be appointed as a catechist in 1834 and was recommended by the Rev. James Souter for an annual allowance from the Church of Scotland in addition to his teacher's pay.

In 1836 Sivewright was hired as headmaster of the Newcastle Grammar School. This school was created by residents of the town and parish because their children could not conveniently attend the County Grammar School at Chatham, and because a school which had been started by the Rev. Mr Souter in 1833 was discontinued by the trustees of St James Church in 1835. While the Newcastle Grammar School was never officially recognized as such by the province, modest grants were made by the Assembly towards the cost of its operation.

Existing reports and records leave no doubt about the seriousness of purpose of Sivewright's school at Newcastle or the high standing which it enjoyed. In 1840 he had two pupils studying Greek, twelve studying Latin, and thirty studying such subjects as English reading, grammar, history and chronology, and the use of globes. A public examination conducted in 1842 "fully sustained Mr Sivewright's well-earned reputation as a most zealous and successful instructor of youth." At the same time, "his unassuming and courteous manners, his friendly and cheerful disposition, his simplicity of heart, and his integrity and honesty of purpose" made him a favorite of all. These feelings were expressed in the following inscription on the flyleaf of a Bible presented to him in 1846:

PRESENTED TO JOHN SIVEWRIGHT, A.M., MASTER OF THE GRAMMAR SCHOOL, NEWCASTLE, BY PARENTS AND PUPILS AND THEIR FRIENDS IN NEWCASTLE AS A MARK OF THEIR ESTEEM FOR THE UNWEARIED ASSIDUITY WITH WHICH HE HAS DEVOTED HIMSELF TO THE INSTRUCTION OF THE YOUNG, THE KINDNESS BY WHICH HE HAS WON THEIR AFFECTION, THE SUCCESS WITH WHICH HE HAS GUIDED THEIR PROGRESS IN THE PATH OF SCIENCE, AND THE FAITHFULNESS WITH WHICH HE HERE INCULCATED IN THEM THE PRACTICE OF MORALITY AND VIRTUE.

His students included Robert R. Call, John Chalmers, William Cruden, Robert Falconer, James Mitchell, Peter Mitchell, W. Millet Salter, Charles Sargeant, and other boys and young men of future accomplishment. Indeed, few New Brunswick teachers would have had a larger part to play in the education of so many business, professional, religious, and political leaders.

While he lived in Newcastle, Sivewright was one of the leading members of the congregation of St James Church. In 1839 he was on the committee which organized the combined Newcastle Total Abstinence and Temperance societies. He took part in other community activities too, and in 1850 he addressed a meeting of the Newcastle and Douglastown Mechanics' Institute on "Astronomy."

In 1844-45 Sivewright's salary was substantially less than that being paid most grammar school teachers in the province. This was because monies had to be raised privately to supplement the grants provided to support the Newcastle Grammar School. It was a state of affairs which Sivewright tolerated for a long time, but it probably influenced his decision to resign in 1851 and accept the principalship of the Gloucester County Grammar School at Bathurst. It was three years before a successor was hired at Newcastle, and the school never regained the prestige which it enjoyed under him.

Sivewright, who spent fifteen years in Newcastle, also devoted fifteen years to the grammar school in Bathurst before his death occurred in 1866, at age fifty-six. His wife, Elizabeth Murray, lived another forty-two years, and prior to her death in 1908, at age eighty-eight, she returned to live in her hometown of Newcastle. There were six children in the family, including John Sivewright Jr, William Sivewright, who taught school in Newcastle for several years before moving to British Columbia, and Jemima Sivewright, who was the telegraph operator in Chatham for a great many years prior to her retirement in the early 1920s.

Sources

[b] Graves (under John Sivewright Jr) [m] official records [d] Morning News 28 Mar 1866 / Advocate 4 Oct 1927; Gleaner 14 Aug 1838, 12 Mar 1839, 29 Nov 1842, 20 May 1850, 31 Mar 1866; Gregg; Hist. Presbyterian Church, Newcastle; Leader 1 Jan 1909


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