James Bell Forsyth
James Bell Forsyth (25 December 1802 – 1 April 1869), was a prominent Quebec merchant and author. In 1831, he built the Cataraqui Estate in Sillery, on Saint-Louis Road. Background Born at Kingston, Upper Canada, he was the second son of Joseph Forsyth (1764–1813) and his wife Alicia, daughter of Major James Robbins of the Royal Artillery. The Forsyths were an influential merchant family with strong commercial ties to England, Scotland and the colonies. Through his grandparents he was connected to the important London trading house of Phyn, Ellice & Co., a subsidiary of which was Forsyth, Richardson & Co., of Montreal, where two of his uncles, Thomas and John Forsyth, were partners; this firm prospered in the fur trade and expanded into other activities such as the agent and forwarding business. Another of his uncles, James Forsyth, was associated with Lloyd's of London. James Bell Forsyth's father, Joseph Forsyth, came to Canada, in 1784, as the agent for Forsyth, Richardson & Co., at Kingston, Ontario. Forsyth was educated there and in England. Business career In 1821, he went into partnership with The Hon. William Walker M.P., and together they succeeded Forsyth's father as the agents to Forsyth, Richardson &