Chris visits a Canadian grave: Adam Fergusson Blair

At the Lawyers Guns and Money blog, I frequently find myself reading the "Erik Visits an American Grave" feature. Erik Loomis, a prof of American history and pillar of LGM, is relentless in visiting graves of famous and obscure Americans from across the centuries and riffing on the website about their intriguing and often revelatory lives. I'm not nearly so energetic in grave-visiting as Loomis evidently is, but today I'm stealing his gimmick.

Recently in Burlington, Ontario, we happened on the grave of Adam Fergusson Blair beside the 1832 Anglican church of St. Luke's. A plaque salutes him as first President of the Privy Council of the Dominion of Canada.

Blair, a veteran Reform politician, was one of those who refused to leave the confederation coalition in 1867 when George Brown was striving to rebuild the Reform/Tory polarities and John A Macdonald was striving to create the illusion of a big-tent by coopting some Reformers into his election team.

It didn't work out well for Fergusson Blair.  He died in December, six months after Confederation, and John A. offered his seat to Joseph Howe.  The DCB has Fergusson Blair's biography here.