Although it took more than two centuries for all citizens to gain the right to vote, early voting lists still good for genealogical information

REPRESENTATIVE government was born in Canada in October 1758 when the first elected assembly in our future nation convened in Halifax. An important consideration in creating this legislative body was to attract settlers from New England to mainland Nova Scotia and New Brunswick. New Englanders were used to having a colonial assembly to deal with local matters.

Having representatives in an assembly gave the taxpaying voters some say in how they were governed. They expected those whom they elected to be accountable to them. Loyalty to formal political parties was still in the future. MLAs tended to pay attention to their electorate, knowing that they—and not some remote political boss—were the employer. Independent MLAs negotiated to ensure that their concerns were addressed. On election day the choice came down to the best candidate.

Political carnival

Early elections were rowdy affairs by today’s standards. The hustings was a platform of some kind, upon which stood the candidates and the sheriff conducted the proceedings. Voters stepped forward to declare the candidate of their choice. That lent itself to intimidation and made it easier to bribe an elector since often the bribe wasn’t paid until after the vote had been openly declared. Agents were not averse to hiring roughs to encourage known supporters and discourage those favouring the opposing candidate. This made for commotion, brawls or outright rioting.

The privilege of voting was limited at first to male Protestants who owned property of a certain value. To all intents and purposes women, Catholics, Jews, natives, Acadians and blacks were not in the club. Gradually things changed to become more inclusive, but there was no true democracy in terms of an electorate until well into the 20th century. Once the vote became a right rather than a privilege reserved to the fortunate few, it was impossible to deny anyone the opportunity of voting.

Voting eligibility

Votes were entered in polling books by clerks attending the hustings. Polling went on for several days. Some of those books exist, held by archives or local historical societies. Find an ancestor in such a record and you know where he was living, whether he was eligible to vote, who he voted for, perhaps more. Voters might be challenged and required to prove that they could vote. This went into the poll book, too.

The practice of posting lists of eligible voters came into use by the late 1800s. Such lists were posted in public places, such as post offices, at church doors, general stores, wherever people congregated. These lists are another document to help you track your ancestors. They can be very helpful in rural areas where there exist few if any published directories of residents. Duplicate listings were delivered to the houses in a polling district to enable people to see well before polling day that their names were on the lists, or have them added in time for election day. These lists repay examination. They arranged names in order of residence, showing us who next door neighbours were.

If you have a relative who was elected to a legislature, you can go back and find records of what issues he supported or opposed and whether he was an active member. While this is not absolutely certain, my best genealogical guess is that one man elected in 1758 has a direct descendant living in the province where he was an MLA. That man was Alexander Kedie, or Keddy, whose fifth great-grandson, Gerald G. Keddy, was a member of Parliament until the 2015 federal election.

The principle of having members represent those who elected them is an important cornerstone of our system of government. After all, it’s the candidate—not the party—who will represent you and your issues. At least, that’s the democratic ideal.

Dr. Terrence M. Punch is a Member of the Order of Canada. His latest book, Montbéliard Immigrants to Nova Scotia, 1749-1752, is available in a revised edition from genealogical.com.