Appletons' Cyclopædia of American Biography/Meilleur, Jean Baptiste

MEILLEUR, Jean Baptiste, Canadian author, b. in St. Laurent, island of Montreal, 9 May, 1795; d. in Montreal, 6 Dec., 1878. He was educated at the College of the Sulpitians, Montreal, and studied law, but abandoned it for medicine, and was graduated at Castleton medical college, Vermont, in 1825. On his return to Canada he became one of the principal assistants to the “Tessier Journal,” and was elected a member of parliament in November, 1834. In May, 1842, he was appointed superintendent of public instruction by Sir Charles Bagot, and during the fifteen years he held this office he aided in founding forty-five superior educational establishments, with funds from the department. He was afterward postmaster of Montreal till 1862. He was the principal founder of the College of L'Assomption, was a provincial registrar, and a few days before his death received from France the decoration of “Les palmes académiques.” In addition to lectures and editorial work he wrote : “Treatise on Chemistry,” in French (Montreal, 1832); “English Grammar,” written in French (1833); “Treatise on the Rules of Epistolary Art,” in French (3d ed., 1852) and “Mémorial de l'éducation” (1860).