Biographies

John Evans Adamson (1884-1961) was the first Manitoba-born Chief Justice of Manitoba. The son of Alan Joseph and Julia Adamson, he was born at Nelson Manitoba, one of the ‘ghost town’ settlements that moved into Morden when the railway came there. Educated in public schools in Manitoba and Saskatchewan, he also attended St. John’s College and the University of Manitoba, from which he graduated in 1907. He studied law in Winnipeg and was called to the bar in 1910. In May 1922 he became the first Manitoba-born lawyer to be elevated to the Court of King’s Bench. In January 1948 he was appointed a justice of the Manitoba Court of Appeal and in January 1955 he was appointed Chief Justice of Manitoba. He retired, in failing health, in February 1961 and died later that year. The journal, which was presented to the Manitoba Archives by his daughter, is the record of Adamson’s life when he was just fifteen years old.

Mentioned in:

diaries

1. John Evans Adamson diary entry dated 6 January 1899
2. John Evans Adamson diary entry dated 10 January 1899
3. John Evans Adamson diary entry dated 11 January 1899
4. John Evans Adamson diary entry dated 14 January 1899
5. John Evans Adamson diary entry dated 29 January 1899
6. John Evans Adamson diary entry dated 20 February 1899
7. John Evans Adamson diary entry dated 3 March 1899
8. John Evans Adamson diary entry dated 7 March 1899
9. John Evans Adamson diary entry dated 10 March 1899
10. John Evans Adamson diary entry dated 16 March 1899
11. John Evans Adamson diary entry dated 20 March 1899
12. John Evans Adamson diary entry dated 31 March 1899
13. John Evans Adamson diary entry dated 4 April 1899
14. John Evans Adamson diary entry dated 8 April 1899