LESLIE, ROBERT (1764-1851)

LESLIE, ROBERT, farmer and JP; b. Morayshire, Scotland, c1764; married; d. Nelson parish, 17 Jan 1851.

Robert Leslie came to Halifax around 1788 and to the Miramichi about two years later. In the 1820s he was a school trustee for Nelson parish. He was a justice of the peace, a member of the committee for the construction of St James Presbyterian Church in Newcastle, and one of the church's first elders.

Leslie was "intelligent" and "principled" and lived "an excellent and useful life." Unlike many of his rural contemporaries he was "liberal in his sentiments" and "no bigot." He was predeceased by his wife and one or more of their children. A son who survived him was John Leslie, a lumberman and sawmill operator who was also a Northumberland County magistrate.