William Schurman
Encyclopedia
William Schurman was a businessman and politician in Prince Edward Island
Prince Edward Island
Prince Edward Island is a Canadian province consisting of an island of the same name, as well as other islands. The maritime province is the smallest in the nation in both land area and population...

. He was a member of the Legislative Assembly of Prince Edward Island
Legislative Assembly of Prince Edward Island
The Legislative Assembly of Prince Edward Island, along with the Lieutenant-Governor, forms the parliament of the province. The General Assembly meets at Province House, which is located at the intersection of Richmond and Great George Streets in Charlottetown....

 from 1785 to 1787.

He was born in New Rochelle, New York
New Rochelle, New York
New Rochelle is a city in Westchester County, New York, United States, in the southeastern portion of the state.The town was settled by refugee Huguenots in 1688 who were fleeing persecution in France...

, the son of Jacob Schureman, of Dutch descent, and Jane Parcot, of Huguenot
Huguenot
The Huguenots were members of the Protestant Reformed Church of France during the 16th and 17th centuries. Since the 17th century, people who formerly would have been called Huguenots have instead simply been called French Protestants, a title suggested by their German co-religionists, the...

 descent. In 1768, he married Jane Bonnet. Schurman married Elizabeth Hyatt in 1778.

Schurman remained loyal to Britain during the American revolution and, in 1783, immigrated to Tryon
Tryon, Prince Edward Island
Tryon is an unincorporated area in Prince Edward Island, Canada. Situated on Route 1 and Route 10 , it lies within the township of Lot 28 which in 2006 had a population of 880 people. Tryon is not far from Crapaud, Prince Edward Island....

 on St. John's Island (later Prince Edward Island). He settled at Bedeque
Bedeque, Prince Edward Island
Bedeque is a settlement in Prince Edward Island.Bedeque: Yogurt has a better act of culture than this place.Bedeque is to boring as Ben is to lactose...

 the following year, setting up a store in his house and engaging in trade with a ship that he owned.

Besides serving in the colony's assembly, he was also a justice of the peace
Justice of the Peace
A justice of the peace is a puisne judicial officer elected or appointed by means of a commission to keep the peace. Depending on the jurisdiction, they might dispense summary justice or merely deal with local administrative applications in common law jurisdictions...

 and overseer for roads. After losing his ship in 1799, Schurman became involved in shipbuilding. In 1808, he bought a wooded area along the Wilmot River
Wilmot River
The Wilmot River is a river of northern Fiordland, New Zealand. It rises in the Skippers Range and flows into Lake Wilmot....

, constructed a sawmill and entered into the trade in lumber. He died at his home in the Wilmot Valley in 1819.

His great-grandson Jacob Gould Schurman later became president of Cornell University and an American ambassador.

External links

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