What contribution to the Confederation did William Alexander Henry contribute?

Answer 1

William Franklin Odell was born into the circle of British North American office holders and named after his father's patron, William Franklin, the last royal governor of New Jersey. In 1784, when William was ten, his father became provincial secretary of the new province of New Brunswick where, according to historian William Stewart MacNutt*, he "spent a quarter of a century in sustaining the larger part of the business of government and finished his life as a poor man." No doubt it was the state of Jonathan's purse that kept William from having a university education and, in turn, it was the family's access to the small fruits of patronage that opened the way to a career in government service. On 16 March 1793, at age 18, he was appointed deputy clerk of the pleas of the Supreme Court, acting for the clerk, Colin Campbell; holders of this clerkship did not require legal training. He succeeded to the office on 19 July 1796 and became a pluralist, for the first time, on 2 Feb. 1802 when he received the additional appointment of clerk of the Legislative Council. He began reading law with Ward Chipman* in Saint John some time in the late 1790s and was named a notary public in 1802, admitted as an attorney in 1804, and called to the bar in 1806. His responsibilities in the Supreme Court were extended in November 1804: he became clerk of the crown with duties relating to the criminal jurisdiction of the court.