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Biographical Sketch

Dr. Wolfred Nelson

Among the most distinguished associates of Louis J. Papineau, in the Canadian rebellion of 1837, which laid the foundation for Canada's present provincial and comparatively independent government, was Dr. Wolfred Nelson.

Arrested and imprisoned and exiled to Bermuda, he made his escape and fled to the states, making his home in Plattsburgh, where his great skill as a surgeon and physician readily won for him a wide practice.

Under the bill of general amnesty, he returned to Canada, and in 1845 was elected to Parliament. In 1854 he was elected mayor of Montreal.

His triumphal procession through the streets of Montreal in 1854, presented a marked contrast to his entry in a prisoner's cart in 1838.

His son, Dr. Horace Nelson was a distinguished surgeon and publisher of the Northern Lancet. He married a daughter of Col. David B. McNeil, of Plattsburgh.

Source:

• Plattsburgh Sentinel Annual for the Year 1893,  W. Lansing & Son, Plattsburgh, New York, 1893; transcribed 8 August 2002 by Emily C. Ford.