Title proper
Sampson Salter Blowers
General material designation
- Textual record
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- Source of title proper: Title based on contents.
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Fonds
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Physical description
7 cm of textual records
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Biographical history
Sampson Salter Blowers (1742-1743) was the Chief Justice of Nova Scotia from 1787 to 1832. A Loyalist, Blowers was born in Boston, Massachusetts, and relocated to Halifax, N.S., after the Revolutionary War had ended in 1783.
In 1763, Blowers graduated from Harvard alongside his friend and fellow Loyalist Johnathan Bliss. He was admitted to the bar in 1766, and in 1770 he became a barrister in the Massachusetts Superior Court. He received notoriety and criticism for his Loyalist views, and left the colony in 1774 when revolution seemed immanent. After a brief stay in England, he returned to America, where he worked in the British-controlled cities of Newport, R.I., and New York. Meanwhile, his name appeared in the Massachusetts Banishment Act of 1778, which forbade him and other Loyalists from ever returning to the state.
Blowers was among the more than 29,000 Loyalists evacuated from New York in 1783, a few months before the British troops withdrew. He and his family resettled in Halifax, N.S., where he would advance rapidly through the ranks of the judicial system. In 1784, not wanting to relocate his family again, he turned down the position of attorney general for the newly created province of New Brunswick, but was appointed attorney general of Nova Scotia that same year. In 1787, he was appointed Chief Justice of Nova Scotia—a position he retained until his retirement in 1832. He died on 25 October 1842, seven months after his 100th birthday.
Blowers married Sarah Kent in Boston in 1774. They had no children but adopted Sarah Ann Anderson, who later married William Blowers Bliss, the son of Blowers’ friend Jonathan Bliss and later puisne judge for the Supreme Court of Nova Scotia.
In his will, Blowers provided for his wife and left small legacies to his sisters, nieces, and nephews, but the bulk of his estate went to Sarah Ann, his adopted daughter.
Custodial history
This fonds has been separated from the Odell papers.
Scope and content
This fonds includes the legal documents, land papers, stock certificates and other material of Sampson Blowers.
Physical condition
Immediate source of acquisition
Acquired from Mrs. Kinsley Hume n 1953, and Mary K. Odell's estate
Arrangement
Language of material
- English
Script of material
Location of originals
S 35 - 7
Microfilm available on interlibrary loan
Availability of other formats
Restrictions on access
No restrictions
Terms governing use, reproduction, and publication
Finding aids
Detailed inventory available
Associated materials
A writ register belonging to Blowers is in MC2279 at the Provincial Archives of New Brunswick
Accruals
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Subject access points
Place access points
Name access points
- Bliss, Jonathan (Subject)
- Bliss, William Blowers (Subject)