William Henry Steeves

A Father of Confederation

1814 - 1873

illiam Henry Steves was born in 1814 in the small cottage
which operates today as the Steeves House Museum. He was the
oldest of Joseph and Martha Steeves' eleven children. He was
also the great-grandson of Rachel and Heinrich Stief, who are
the founders of the Steeves family (The early form of Stief(f)
became Steves and, later, Steeves). William started his career in
Hillsborough in the form of a small grocery store and post office.
Later, after acquiring several acres of forests, he went into the
lumber industry. This connected him with the shipping industry.
At that time, the Petitcodiac River was used for shipping and its
shores for ship building. He and his brother Gilbert started a Ship's
Brokerage. It was because of this business that, sometime after
1861, he moved with his family to the city of Saint John, N.B. It
was there, in 1873 at the age of 59, that William Henry died and
was buried.

William Henry Steeves'
Grave in Saint John,
New Brunswick

William's brother Gilbert had earlier moved to Liverpool, England
to handle the overseas business since their Brokerage was doing so
well. After William's death, his wife took their six children and
moved to England as well. Because of this, all of William Henry Steeves' descendants
are in England. His great-grand-daughter, Edith, for example, married Evelyn Francis
Edward Seymour, the 17th Duke of Somerset. His two sons became prominent
Liverpool surgeons.

efore he moved to Saint john, William Henry Steeves
also had a big role in the politics of New Brunswick and Canada.
While New Brunswick was still independent, in 1846, Albert County
was given the right to send two members to the legislature.
William Henry was elected to be one of these representatives at
the age of 32. In 1851, he was appointed to the Legislative
Council. In 1854, he found a place in the Cabinet as Surveyor
General. Then, in 1855, he became the first Minister of Public
Works for New Brunswick and held the position twice. In 1864,
William Henry's role as a Father of Confederation began with his
attendance at the Charlottetown conference. He was also in
attendance at the Quebec conference, a follow-up to the Char-
lottetown conference, where he represented New Brunswick. In
the first vote on Confederation, New Brunswick was the only
province to reject the idea, but Albert County voted strongly in
favour of it. William's influence there was evident, even after
he had moved to Saint John. Finally, in 1866, the vote was turned
around and Confederation was accepted. After the vote, repre-
sentatives from the four provinces went to England to negotiate
with the British government to create the British North America
Act (BNA Act). When passed in 1867, the BNA Act created the
dominion of Canada. William Henry Steeves thus played a large
role in the founding and formation of Canada.