Robert Watt Elliot Writes to Sir John A. MacDonald

This piece of correspondence is in the collection of the Library and Archives of Canada (LAC).  It's tremendously exciting to me as a family historian for several reasons.  We get to see the letterhead of the Elliot family business!  That might be kind of frivolous,  but it's the kind of detail I love to uncover.   More significantly, it shows again how the Elliots and the Scotts are in close relationship with each other over the generations.  It also shows the scope of Robert Watt Elliot's influence;  perhaps not everyone would feel in a position to recommend a political appointment to the Prime Minister of Canada.

To look this up on the LAC website, the MIKAN number is 461557.  It is from the correspondence of Sir John A. MacDonald, Vol. 23 pp. 8438-8440.  The letter is dated November 26, 1879.


The above letter is not the only time that Robert Watt Elliot corresponded with Sir John A. MacDonald to help out a family member.  The following letter was sent on behalf of Richard Hawley.  I believe that Richard Hawley is a relative of Sarah Hawley of Detroit, the second wife of Thomas Chalmers Scott.  This letter is dated May 22, 1883.  The MIKAN number is 563207, from Volume 393, pp. 188065-188066.

I don't really know what to make of the next letter.  It appears that Robert is using his influence to try and avoid an investigation into the activities of one of his friends, John Forsyth, on the grounds that the inquiry would injure Mr. Forsyth's wife and children (presumably from the scandal).  We don't know what the charges are, but it's certainly a different era when a man can be defended from an investigation on the basis of being a good husband and father. MIKAN number 461559.