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Samuel Rettie

Canadian politician (1818-1883)

Correspondence, annotated notebooks and portrait silhouettes prepared for research
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Record originEnglish Wikipedia
Text licenseCC BY-SA 4.0
Source revisionSep 20, 2026
Entity authorityQ16063092 ↗
Source-derived summary

Samuel Rettie (January 23, 1818 – January 20, 1883) was a merchant, shipbuilder and political figure in Nova Scotia, Canada. In 1867, he spoke in favour of Canadian Confederation. He represented Colchester County from 1871 to 1874 in the Nova Scotia House of Assembly as a Liberal-Conservative member.

He was born in Pictou, Nova Scotia, the son of John Rettie and Christine Gallie. In 1859, he married Elmira Cox. Rettie was a justice of the peace. He died in Truro at the age of 64.

Samuel Rettie is the Great-Great Uncle of Senator Jim Cowan.

Editorial summary

Begin with the source’s own compact description: “Samuel Rettie” is canadian politician (1818-1883). The dossier treats that line as a proposition to test through Samuel, Rettie and Canadian, not as a finished interpretation.

Editorial reviewStrongest as a route into the people, institutions and dated events that shaped the subject’s public record. The current lead gives the account dated anchors—1818, 1883, 1867, 1871—that can be checked directly. The linked authority record independently contributes the date 1818-01-23. For this dossier, Samuel, Rettie and Canadian is the immediate research focus.
Editorial analysis

Why this record matters

The phrase “canadian politician (1818-1883)” supplies a clear boundary for inquiry. It also exposes the unanswered questions: who defined that boundary, when it became stable and which sources sit outside it.

Evidence profile

The entry’s evidential value lies in the named roles, institutions and publications that can be tested against primary documentation. The source revision retrieved here is dated Sep 20, 2026. The linked authority identifier is Q16063092. 1 of 1 selected statements include explicit references; 0 carry qualifiers and 0 use preferred rank. The first chronological checks are 1818, 1883, 1867 and 1871.

Critical limits

Public reputation and documentary evidence do not always develop together; absence from a summary is not evidence of historical absence. The lead is largely declarative, so disagreement and counter-evidence require a deliberate search beyond the opening account. Authority statements aid reconciliation but still require their own references, qualifiers and ranks to be checked.

How to read it

Read biographical claims against dates, named institutions and the cited references. Distinguish a subject’s later reputation from evidence produced during their lifetime.

Best used for
  • Establishing names and roles
  • Building a first chronology
  • Locating cited institutions
Verify next

Personal papers, civil or court records, institutional files and the scholarship cited by the source.

Three-step research path

  1. Establish the record: confirm the title “Samuel Rettie”, its source revision and the description used here.
  2. Expand the search: follow Samuel Rettie primary sources, Samuel Rettie archive and Samuel research across catalogues and specialist indexes.
  3. Test the account: compare the strongest cited source with the responsible institution’s current record and note any disagreement.

Questions for further research

  1. Which source most directly establishes the central claim about “Samuel Rettie”?
  2. Which primary records establish identity, chronology and institutional ties?
  3. How has the subject’s reputation changed across later accounts?
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Source & attribution

This entry incorporates text from “Samuel Rettie” on English Wikipedia. Contributors are listed in the page history. Text is available under the Creative Commons Attribution-ShareAlike 4.0 License. Selected authority identifiers and statements are retrieved from Wikidata under CC0; their references and qualifiers remain part of the verification path.