Date of Birth: 
About Adam Robertson (politician)
- Adam Robertson (ca 1812 – May 28, 1882) was a Scottish-born foundry owner and politician in Ontario, Canada.
- He served as mayor of Guelph in 1873.He arrived in Canada during the 1830s and stopped in Brantford and Paris before arriving in Guelph in 1847.
- He established two iron foundries there with various partners and then, in 1852, he established his own foundry.
- Robertson's foundry mainly produced farm implements.
- However, during the American Civil War, a cousin of Robertson, Bennet Burley, who was sympathetic to the South, persuaded him to manufacture several cannons and cannonballs.
- The munitions were to be used to free Confederate prisoners imprisoned on Johnson's Island and capture a Union warship guarding the island.
- The Union army became aware of the plot and the conspirators were forced to flee.
- Robertson's cousin was later arrested but escaped; the ringleader, one John Yates Beall, was tried and executed.
- Burley later changed his surname to Burleigh and became a famed British war correspondent.
- Robertson remained a prominent Guelph citizen, serving several terms on Guelph council.Robertson died in Guelph at the age of 70.Robertson's former home has been designated as a heritage property by the city of Guelph.
Read more at Wikipedia