Name Dettlieb Jessen | Role Judge | |
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Died August 12, 1814, Lunenburg, Canada | ||
Dettlieb Christopher Jessen (February 25, 1730 – August 12, 1814) was one of three founding fathers of Lunenburg, Nova Scotia, and helped the village through Father Le Loutre's War, the French and Indian War and the American Revolution. He was German born. After his emigration to Canada, he became a militia leader, judge, and politician in Nova Scotia. His first name also appears as "Detleff". He represented Lunenburg County in the Nova Scotia House of Assembly from 1785 to 1793.
Dettlieb Christopher Jessen was born in Holstein and came to Halifax as one of the Foreign Protestants in 1751, settling in Lunenburg two years later. He was a wine cooper. Jessen served as lieutenant in the local militia, reaching the rank of lieutenant colonel. He served in response to the Raid on Lunenburg (1756) and the Lunenburg Campaign (1758) during the French and Indian War and in the Raid on Lunenburg (1782) during the American Revolution. He was also a justice of the peace, a judge in the Inferior Court of Common Pleas, registrar of deeds and a customs collector. Jessen married Francisca Barbara Rudolf in 1755. He died in Lunenburg at the age of 84 and is buried in the crypt of St. John's Anglican Church.