Background
Jonathan Bliss was born on October 1, 1742, in Springfield, Massachussets, United States, the son of Capt. Luke and Mercy (Ely) Bliss. He descended from Thomas Bliss of Belstone, Devon.
Jonathan Bliss was born on October 1, 1742, in Springfield, Massachussets, United States, the son of Capt. Luke and Mercy (Ely) Bliss. He descended from Thomas Bliss of Belstone, Devon.
His parents were well-to-do, and Jonathan received a good education, entering Harvard College where he graduated in 1763. He then read law in the office of Lieutenant-Governor Hutchinson, where he was a fellow student of Sampson Salter Blowers.
Jonathan Bliss commenced practise in Boston. He then acquired a good connection and quickly came to the front. In 1768 he was elected to the General Court of Massachusetts from Springfield, and was one of the minority of seventeen who were in favor of acceding to a demand of the home Government that a certain obnoxious vote should be rescinded - hence the reproachful term "rescinder. " He was a consistent supporter of the British Government throughout the pre-revolutionary troubles. At the outbreak of hostilities in April 1775, he accompanied Earl Percy on his march to Concord following the skirmish at Lexington. Later in the same year he removed to England and resided there for nine years, joining the New England Club of Loyalists in London. His name appeared in the Massachusetts Proscription Act, 1778, as an enemy of the State, and as such he was forbidden to return thither. In 1785 he was appointed by the Crown attorney-general of the newly formed province of New Brunswick, and leaving England, took up his residence at St. John, N. B. , where he practised for twenty-four years.
The year of his arrival Bliss was elected member for St. John in the House of Assembly, and was intimately associated with all the legislation of New Brunswick's formative period. His legal ability gave him a leading position at the bar, and he appeared as counsel in most of the important causes of his time. He was retained in 1790 by Benedict Arnold in the suit for slander which the latter brought against Manson Hart. In a test case on the subject of slavery heard in 1800 before the full bench, he appeared for the master. His speech was divided into thirty-two heads, despite which the court was divided in opinion. In 1809 he was appointed chief justice of New Brunswick and retained this position till his death at Fredericton, New Brunswick.
Jonathan Bliss married a daughter of Hon. John Worthington of Springfield, Massachussets.