John Sewell Sanborn was a Canadian

Canada

Canada is a North American country consisting of ten provinces and three territories. Located in the northern part of the continent, it extends from the Atlantic Ocean in the east to the Pacific Ocean in the west, and northward into the Arctic Ocean...

 educator, lawyer, judge and political figure.

He was born in Gilmanton, New Hampshire

Gilmanton, New Hampshire

Gilmanton is a town in Belknap County, New Hampshire, United States. The population was 3,777 at the 2010 census. Gilmanton includes the villages of Gilmanton Corner and Gilmanton Ironworks...

 and graduated from Dartmouth College

Dartmouth College

Dartmouth College is a private, Ivy League university in Hanover, New Hampshire, United States. The institution comprises a liberal arts college, Dartmouth Medical School, Thayer School of Engineering, and the Tuck School of Business, as well as 19 graduate programs in the arts and sciences...

, later studying at the University of Bishop’s College

Bishop's University

Bishop's University is a predominantly undergraduate university in Lennoxville, Sherbrooke, Quebec, Canada. Bishop's is one of three universities in the province of Quebec that teach primarily in the English language...

 in Lennoxville, Quebec

Lennoxville, Quebec

Lennoxville is an arrondissement, or borough, of the city of Sherbrooke, Quebec, Canada. Lennoxville is located at the confluence of the St. Francis and Massawippi Rivers approximately five kilometers south of downtown Sherbrooke....

. He was the principal at a secondary school in Sherbrooke. He later articled in law and was called to the bar in 1847.

He was elected to the 3rd Parliament of the Province of Canada

3rd Parliament of the Province of Canada

The 3rd Parliament of the Province of Canada was in session from 1848 to 1851. Elections were held in the Province of Canada in January 1848. The first session was held at Montreal, Canada East. In 1849, rioters protesting the Rebellion Losses Bill burned the parliament buildings...

 representing Sherbrooke County

Sherbrooke (electoral district)

Sherbrooke is a federal electoral district in Quebec, Canada, that has been represented in the Canadian House of Commons since 1925.-Geography:This riding in the south of the province is located in the Quebec region of Estrie...

 in a by-election in March 1850. At the time, he supported annexation of the Eastern Townships

Eastern Townships

The Eastern Townships is a tourist region and a former administrative region in south-eastern Quebec, lying between the former seigneuries south of the Saint Lawrence River and the United States border. Its northern boundary roughly followed Logan's Line, the geologic boundary between the flat,...

 with the United States

United States

The United States of America is a federal constitutional republic comprising fifty states and a federal district...

. He was re-elected in 1851, no longer supporting annexation. The annexation issue had played an important role in establishing a rail link connecting the region to Maine

Maine

Maine is a state in the New England region of the northeastern United States, bordered by the Atlantic Ocean to the east and south, New Hampshire to the west, and the Canadian provinces of Quebec to the northwest and New Brunswick to the northeast. Maine is both the northernmost and easternmost...

. In 1854, he was elected in Compton

Compton (electoral district)

Compton was a federal electoral district in Quebec, Canada, that was represented in the Canadian House of Commons from 1867 to 1949, and again from 1968 to 1997.-History:...

. In 1863, he was acclaimed to the Legislative Council

Legislative Council of the Province of Canada

The Legislative Council of the Province of Canada was the upper house for the Province of Canada, which consisted of the former provinces of Lower Canada, then known as Canada East and later the province of Quebec, and Upper Canada, then known as Canada West and later the province of Ontario...

 for Wellington division and he was re-elected in 1864. He supported an elected Senate in the discussions leading up to Confederation

Canadian Confederation

Canadian Confederation was the process by which the federal Dominion of Canada was formed on July 1, 1867. On that day, three British colonies were formed into four Canadian provinces...

. In 1867, he was appointed to the new Senate of Canada. In 1872, he was appointed to the Quebec Superior Court

Quebec Superior Court

Quebec Superior Court is the highest trial Court in the Province of Quebec, Canada. It consists of 144 judges who are appointed by the federal government.Chief Justices : [partial listing]* Edward Bowen...

 for Saint-François district and he was appointed to the Court of Queen's Bench at Montreal

Montreal

Montreal is a city in Canada. It is the largest city in the province of Quebec, the second-largest city in Canada and the seventh largest in North America...

 in 1874.

He died at Asbury Park, New Jersey

New Jersey

New Jersey is a state in the Northeastern and Middle Atlantic regions of the United States. , its population was 8,791,894. It is bordered on the north and east by the state of New York, on the southeast and south by the Atlantic Ocean, on the west by Pennsylvania and on the southwest by Delaware...

in 1877.