HOME, JOSEPH (1763-1842)

HOME, JOSEPH, JP and county treasurer; b. Berwick-upon-Tweed, England, c1763; d. Newcastle, 11 Jul 1842.

Joseph Home and his younger brother Richard arrived on the Miramichi from Britain around 1790 and entered business at the mouth of the Napan River as "coopers and killers of salmon." Later Joseph Home settled in Newcastle and his brother in North Esk parish. It would appear that neither man ever married.

Joseph Home was appointed a justice of the peace in 1800 and was one of the most dutiful of the county magistrates. He also had an appointment as treasurer of the county. In 1811 he was censured for impropriety in the handling of public funds. This led to his removal in 1813 and replacement by Joseph Saunders, but he was later exonerated. He was secretary-treasurer of the county again by 1828, and until 1839, when he was succeeded by William Loch.

In 1810 Home was a captain in the 1st Battalion of militia. In 1818 he was a school trustee for Newcastle parish. He was seventy-nine years of age at the time of his death in 1842. The "Judge Home Place," consisting of a farm fronting on the river at Newcastle, with an excellent dwelling house, good barn, and fishery in front of the property, was advertised for sale in 1850.