The Encyclopedia Americana (1920)/Abbott, John Joseph Caldwell

ABBOTT, Sir John Joseph Caldwell, Canadian statesman: b. St. Andrews, Quebec, 12 March 1821; d. 1893. Graduated at McGill College, Montreal, he became a lawyer, and was regarded as among the nest Canadian authorities on commercial law, being dean of the McGill College Law Faculty for 10 years. In 1859 he was elected to the Lower House of Quebec, representing Argenteuil until Confederation (1867), when he was returned to the Canadian House of Commons. In 1862 he was solicitor-general in the Sandfield Macdonald-Sicotte Cabinet. In 1887 he joined Sir John A. Macdonald's Cabinet as minister without portfolio, and on Macdonald's death in June 1891 became premier of the Dominion; but resigned from ill health November 1892.