John Try (1780-1855)

He was born in England at Lambeth which was then in Surrey and is now a Borough of London. In 1794, he was apprenticed to a carpenter and by 1803 he had emigrated to Portland, Maine. He came via Boston to Montreal in 1807 with the stucco-worker Daniel Reynerd - the principal ornamental plasterer to Charles Bulfinch. In 1812, he was commissioned to complete the interior of the original Christ Church on Notre-Dame Street. This was followed by commissions for the country house of Thomas Porteous and the David Ross House, that might then have been, "the grandest town residence in British North America". His "architectural masterpiece" was the British-American Hotel (1824) that replaced the conversion he had completed of Sir John Johnson's former townhouse into the Mansion House Hotel (1821).

His reputation in Montreal could now be measured by the offices to which he was appointed: Director and Commissioner of the Montreal General Hospital (1821); Director of the Montreal Library (1829); Director of the Bank of Montreal (1828-33); President of the House of Industry (1830-31); and, Director of the Montreal Savings Bank (1831). He returned to London in 1833, which appeared to be a permanent decision, but returned in 1837 and among other eminent positions was the Chairman of the Montreal Harbour Commission from 1840 to 1853. He died two years later while summering at Saco, near Portland in Maine, and is buried at Montreal. His executor was John Molson Jr., of Belmont Hall, and he left his widow (Elizabeth Barnett) an annuity of £2,500 a year. He was also survived by two daughters, Mrs Harwood and Mrs Davies. His grandson, Capt. John Try-Davies, married Eleanor Papineau, grand-daughter of Louis-Joseph Papineau.