Author: Fisher, John Charlton
Biography:
Fisher, John Charlton (1794-1849: DCB)
Born in Carlisle, a brilliant student with an LLD, he emigrated to the US with his wife Elinor Isabella Auchmuty. If the Poems (Boston 1820) are correctly attributed to him, the couple perhaps tried Boston first, but by 1822 they were in New York City, where Fisher was one of the founding editors of a newspaper, the Albion. In 1823 he accepted an offer from the authorities in Lower Canada to relocate to Quebec and become the editor of the official Quebec Gazette. To this he soon added the position of king's (and then queen's) printer, which he held until his death. Known as "Dr. Fisher," he was deeply involved in the cultural life of Quebec: a founder and later president of the Literary and Historical Society; president of the Quebec Library Association; and a popular lecturer on historical subjects. He compiled and edited Hawkins's Picture of Quebec (1834), and played host to Charles Dickens when he visited in 1842. The Fishers had one daughter. He died at sea on a return voyage after a trip to England. (DCB 4 Dec. 2018)