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Dictionary of Miramichi Biography

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SHIRREFF, JOHN (1829-1897)

SHIRREFF, JOHN, general merchant, fish processor, and high sheriff, 1871-97; b. Chatham, 1829, s/o Adam Dixon Shirreff and Jane Hunter; m. 1859, Mary Henrietta Grahl, of Boston, Mass. (a relative of Elizabeth Grahl, the wife of Richard Blackstock); d. Chatham, 26 Feb 1897.

John Shirreff attended the County Grammar School when it was taught by William Jenkins and may have been employed for a time with his father, Adam D. Shirreff. Between 1859 and 1862 he and his brother, Adam D. Shirreff Jr, had a grocery, hardware, and dry-goods store in Chatham which they conducted under the name of J. & A. D. Shirreff. After the dissolution of their partnership John Shirreff carried on a similar business in his own name. For a number of years he also had a stand on Fox Island from which he exported fish to American and British markets.

In 1871 Shirreff was appointed to succeed James Mitchell as high sheriff of Northumberland County. In this position he was known for being judicious and non-partisan. "His whole policy and desire," stated the Miramichi Advance, "seemed to be to do right." This made him popular with all classes of people, but it was often said that he was too kind for his own good. "He would take the note of a man against whom he had an execution," observed the Chatham World, "and endorse it himself, rather than confiscate and sell the man's goods, and sometimes he had to pay such notes." He continued in office for twenty-six years, until he died from an attack of pneumonia in 1897.

Shirreff was a member of the Miramichi Religious Tract Society in the 1860s and 70s and was elected an elder of St John's Presbyterian Church in 1887. He and his wife, Henrietta Grahl, had a son and two daughters. "Miramichi Maiden Marries Millionaire Manufacturer" was the banner under which the Union Advocate announced the 1894 marriage of their younger daughter, Jennie G. H. Shirreff, to Ezra Butler ("E. B.") Eddy, the well-known match factory owner of Hull, Que. After her husband's death in 1906 Mrs Eddy sat on the company board of directors, while her brother Harry Shirreff occupied the office of vice-president. In 1920, she gave $300,000 to Dalhousie University to build a women's residence (Shirreff Hall) in memory of her parents. The gift was said to have been the largest made to a Canadian educational institution up to that time. When she died in 1921 other beneficiaries of her portion of the Eddy fortune included the Miramichi Hospital, the Chatham School Board, St John's Church, Riverside Cemetery, various relatives, and R. B. Bennett, a friend of the family since his Chatham days and solicitor for the E. B. Eddy Co.

Sources

[b/d] Advocate 3 Mar 1897 [m] Gleaner 2 Jul 1859 / Advance 4 Mar 1897; Advocate 4 Jul 1894, 26 Apr 1927, 30 Apr 1930; Gleaner 3 Mar 1860 (ad), 8 Nov 1862; Leader 4 Jun 1920; World 17 Aug 1921


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