2. Contributors
  3. Mountain, George J.

George J Mountain
1889-1963

George Jehoshaphat Mountain was a clergyman and Bishop of the Church of England. He was also a poet and an educator. He was born in Norfolk, England on 27 July 1789, and died 6 January 1863 in Quebec at the age of seventy-four.  Mountain was tutored at home for many years by Rev. Matthew Field, who lived with the Mountain family.  At the age of thirteen he wrote a small poem about Canada. In 1805, Mountain and his older brother Jacob went back to England to complete their educations. Mountain studied under Rev. Monro, then at Cambridge Trinity College. He studied math and classics, graduating without honors in 1810. In 1811 he returned to Quebec. He informed his father that he had decided to join the priesthood, and he became a student under the bishop’s tutelage. Mountain moved to Fredericton, NB on 20 October 1814. Mountain only remained in Fredericton for three years. While in Fredericton he established a local branch of the Society for Promoting Christian Knowledge. He gave his last sermon in Fredericton on St. Peter’s Day and went to Quebec from New Brunswick in 1817 where he established a system of “National Schools.” Mountain also played important roles in McGill and Bishop’s universities. In 1824 he became the first Principal of McGill University and Professor of Divinity. He held jobs there until 1835, helping McGill become an established degree granting university.  Mountain spent a great deal of his free time writing poetry.

Source

Taylor, Maxwell. "George Jehoshaphat Mountain." New Brunswick Literary Encyclopedia, Winter 2012. Accessed 4 May 2023.

Predominant New Brunswick Residences:

Fredericton

Archival Material

  • Location
    Library and Archives Canada
    View Archival Record
    Retrieval Number
    R8218-0-5-E
    Date Range of Material
    1825-1966
    Extent

    10 cm of textual records

    Scope and Content Note

    The Nicolls and Mountain family fonds consists of manuscripts which document its family history and its contributions to the Anglican church, education in Quebec, and Canadian society since the late eighteenth century. It holds obituaries of Mountain family members, 1827-1862; correspondence relating to the death of Elizabeth Mildred Wale Mountain (nee Kentish), April 1836; correspondence relating to the deaths of other members of the Mountain family, 1838- 1861; correspondence of George Jehoshaphat Mountain and Harriet Mary Nicolls (nee Mountain), 1834-1879; a manuscript history of the Mountain family, 1702-1797, written ca. 1850-1900; correspondence to Gustavus George Nicolls about the Mountain family, 1904-1905; religious licences and letters of orders of Gustavus George Nicolls, 1879-1881; genealogical material about the Nicolls family including a biographical sketch of Jasper Hume Nicolls, family tree chart and correspondence, 1825-1966; a history of the Church of All Saints in Thwaite, Norfolk, England by Charlotte Whitton and W. P. Tippen, 1934; research on the Wright, Hume, Tannatt, Thomson, and Croke families by Jasper H. H. Nicolls, ca. 1900-1960; clippings about the Mountain and Nicolls families, 1882-1965; and booklets titled The First Hundred Years of the Diocese of Quebec and The 200th Anniversary of the Birth of Jacob Mountain, 1893 and 1949.

  • Location
    McGill University Archival Collections
    View Archival Record
    Retrieval Number
    MG3044
    Date Range of Material
    approx. 1825-1851
    Extent

    6 cm of textual records

    Scope and Content Note

    The Mountain family papers consist of two albums. The first contains watercolours and sketches (probably by the daughters of Bishop Mountain, though only a few are identified) of scenes in Québec and Europe, as well as flowers and birds, and copies of Indian designs. There are also prints showing Swiss folk costumes. The second album is entitled 'Family Poems', and many are by Mountain. These are largely moral and lyrical reflections, with some occasional verse and translations.

  • Location
    Anglican Church of Canada General Synod Archives
    View Archival Record
    Retrieval Number
    M81-14
    Date Range of Material
    1828-1835 (photocopied 1964)
    Extent

    5.5 cm of textual records

    Scope and Content Note

    Fonds consists of Archdeacon Mountain’s bound correspondence (1828-1835) relating to McGill College, Montreal.

Headshot of George J. Mountain

George J. Mountain

Credit

"George Jehoshaphat Mountain.jpg." Wikimedia Commons. 14 May 2022. Accessed 4 May 2023.

See the New Brunswick Literary Encyclopedia entry.