Barnabas Bidwell

Barnabas Bidwell (August 23, 1763 – July 27, 1833) was a dual Canadian and American politician of the late 18th and early 19th Centuries.

Bidwell was born to Adonijah Bidwell and Jemima Devotion in Township No. 1 (now Monterey, Massachusetts), and graduated from Yale College in 1785. He later attended Brown University in Providence, Rhode Island. He was admitted to the Massachusetts state bar in 1805 and commenced practice in Stockbridge, Massachusetts.

Bidwell was a Massachusetts State Senator from 1801 to 1804, Massachusetts House of Representatives from 1805 to 1807. Bidwell was elected as a Democratic-Republican and served in the Ninth and Tenth Congresses (March 4, 1805 – July 13, 1807). He was Attorney General of Massachusetts (June 15, 1807 – August 30, 1810).

Accused of embezzling money, he and his family fled to Canada in about 1812 and settled in Kingston, Ontario.

Bidwell won a seat in the Legislative Assembly of Upper Canada for Lennox and Addington, but failed to take his seat because his election was petitioned against on the grounds that he was a fugitive from justice, a person of immoral character and had taken an oath of allegiance to the United States.

Bidwell died in Bath, Ontario, and his remains are interred in Cataraqui Cemetery, Cataraqui, Ontario.

Legacy

His son Marshall Spring Bidwell successfully...
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