Bellevue House - History

History

Much of what is known about the stay of Sir John A. Macdonald and his family at Bellevue has been gleaned from both general historical knowledge of the 19th century in Kingston and from five letters that Macdonald himself wrote while living at Bellevue. The Macdonalds rented Bellevue, a grand house that was beyond their middle-class means, in the sincere hope that the fresh air of what were then the outer suburbs of Kingston would assist in Isabella's recovery. Unfortunately, the experiment was largely a failure, and Isabella did not recover from her chronic malady. In addition to this burden, tragedy further struck the young family when their first-born son, John Alexander Jr., died in the house a month after his first birthday.

As a young lawyer and politician, as well as a prominent citizen of Kingston in this time period, Sir John would have been absent dealing with his political affairs quite frequently from Bellevue, something that very likely upset his wife. Despite her frail condition, she is said to have kept a watchful eye on the servants and the day-to-day affairs of the house.

While entertaining was indeed expected of prominent lawyers and politicians like Macdonald in the 19th century, Isabella's frail condition prevented her from fulfilling this part of her responsibility as a politician's wife. For this reason, the drawing room and the back parlour would have remained silent for most of the time while the Macdonald family stayed at Bellevue House. The only guest, in fact, that is known to have stayed at Bellevue House between 1848 and 1849 while the Macdonalds lived at the villa was Lt. Col. John Clark, an officer in the British military who was Isabella's brother and a trusted member of the family.

Given the expenses associated with renting Bellevue and the fact that Isabella continued to suffer from chronic illness, the Macdonald family moved from Bellevue House in 1849 to another house in Kingston.