Stephen Humbert

A Loyalist, Stephen Humbert arrived in New Brunswick in 1783 (see Canada and the American Revolution). He was granted a plot of land in Saint John in 1785 and lived on it until his death. A baker by trade, he later established himself as a ship builder, a general merchant, and a book and music seller.

He was also, by turns, a captain of the local militia, a city alderman, a member of the House of Assembly (1809–20, 1830–34), and head of a commission to seize by force American vessels engaged in offshore smuggling.

But it was, perhaps, as a church musician that he made a lasting mark. In 1791, Humbert organized Saint John's first Methodist congregation, and in 1796, he opened a sacred vocal music school. (See also Singing Schools.) He compiled the first English-language collection of vocal music, Union Harmony: British America's Sacred Vocal Musick. He also wrote The Rise and Progress of Methodism in the Province of New Brunswick from Its Commencement until about the Year 1805 (1836). In 1840, he founded a sacred music society.