Wiki: Albert James Smith - Wikipedia
"Sir Albert James Smith PC KCMG QC (March 12, 1822 – June 30, 1883) was a New Brunswick politician and opponent of Canadian Confederation. Smith's grandfather was a United Empire Loyalist who left Massachusetts to settle in New Brunswick after the American Revolution."
More here on Albert who built the manor for his lady:
SMITH, Sir ALBERT JAMES – Dictionary of Canadian Biography
"SMITH, Sir ALBERT JAMES, lawyer and politician; b. 12 March 1822 in Shediac, N.B., son of Thomas Edward Smith and Rebecca Beckwith; m. 11 June 1868 Sarah Marie Young, and they had one son; d. 30 June 1883 at Dorchester, N.B .
Albert James Smith’s grandfather, Bowen Smith, was a Massachusetts loyalist who settled in Kingston, N.B., after the American revolution and moved to Shediac in 1807. His eldest son, Thomas, married a woman also of loyalist stock, and they had seven children. Operating a retail outlet in Shediac, Thomas Smith proved to be a shrewd entrepreneur specializing in the timber trade and merchandising. By the late 1830s he was prosperous enough to erect an impressive Georgian mansion for his family. Reared in relative comfort, Albert James Smith attended the Madras School of the Church of England and continued his education at the new Westmorland County Grammar School. After working for a year or two with his father in the store, he articled in the Dorchester law offices of Edward Barron Chandler*. At that time Chandler was the leader of the provincial “compact” government which dominated New Brunswick politics until 1854. Smith thus received an inside view of the political system while learning his profession. On 6 Feb. 1845 he was admitted as an attorney and on 4 Feb. 1847 was called to the bar. Intelligent and possessing a rapier tongue, Smith, “a tall man with black hair and black eyes,” had marked success with juries and soon had a lucrative practice, especially in the areas of commercial and marine law. Appointed district receiver of crown debts and a member of the provincial barristers society, he appeared to be headed for a distinguished and profitable legal career.
A vacancy for Westmorland County in the House of Assembly in 1852 changed his course. Ignoring the advice of relatives and friends by offering himself as an opponent to the Chandler “compact,” Smith issued his “political creed” before the by-election, identifying himself as a liberal who advocated such reforms as voting by ballot, biennial elections, an elected legislative council, strictly limited public spending, a reduced salary for the lieutenant governor, and the removal of the provincial capital from Fredericton, which was dominated by an “oligarchy . . . a few families.” Elected easily on 18 May, Smith attended the short fall session and supported the government-sponsored European and North American Railway to be built from Saint John to Shediac. Over the next couple of years Smith rose to the front rank of a growing opposition which condemned the government for wanting “to jog along as they were.”
What set Smith apart in the assembly was his vendetta against the privileges of the establishment."
More here: Sir Albert Smith - MyNewBrunswick.ca
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"In the federal election of 1878 the Macdonald Conservatives were returned to power on the platform of the National Policy as a solution to the depression that had plagued the Liberals throughout their years in office. Across New Brunswick, however, Smith’s popularity helped to take 11 of the 16 seats. “No man in the Province can beat AJ Smith,” wrote an observer. “I consider it only folly for any one to try.” The completion of the Intercolonial Railway in 1876, the reconstruction of Saint John after the fire of 1877, and the erection of such government works as the federal penitentiary at Dorchester had all helped to alleviate the gloom of the depression in New Brunswick."
source: SMITH, Sir ALBERT JAMES – Dictionary of Canadian Biography
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