| Background: |
Jonathan Odell was educated at the College of New Jersey, now Princeton University. Later, he received medical training and served as a surgeon in the British army before becoming a priest of the Church of England in 1767. He served as a missionary of the Society for the Propagation of the Gospel and practiced medicine in Burlington, New Jersey, before the American Revolution. He married Anne DeCou in 1772. At the outbreak of the war, Odell felt that justice for the colonists could be obtained through peaceful means, but when his feelings of loyalty became known, he was paroled and eventually forced to flee for his life in 1776, leaving behind his wife and family. Eventually he reached the protection of the British lines in New York, but his property was confiscated and he was not reunited with his family until 1779. When the colony of Nova Scotia was divided in 1784 after the arrival of the Loyalists, Odell received the appointments of provincial secretary, registrar and clerk of the council in the new colony of New Brunswick. He held these positions for thirty years and was succeeded by his son William Franklin Odell (1774-1844) as provincial secretary.
He died in Frederickton/Frederickstown (Fredericton) in 1818, at the age of 81 years, after a long and productive life, having exerted a profound influence on the early institutions of the Province. |
| Contents: |
The Papers include Jonathan Odell's letter book, with correspondence relating to his financial affairs, specifically to property in Burlington, New Jersey. There are letters to his lawyer, Daniel Ellis, to the Hon. James Kinsey in Burlington, and to a family member, Nancy, in London. Also included are legal documents, and a biographical sketch of Odell, which is found at the beginning of the reel. |
