When the new diocese of Quebec was created in 1793 Jacob Mountain was appointed its first bishop. He was born at Thwaite Hall, Norfolk, England and graduated from Cambridge.
At the start of his episcopate he had 9 clergy which had increased to 60 when he died in 1825 in Quebec City. Bishop Mountain encouraged a new school system in Lower Canada and obtained a charter for McGill University in Montreal. He made 8 tours of Upper and Lower Canada under pioneer conditions.
He vigorously defended his church’s claim to the Clergy Reserves. Several governors and British colonial secretaries found his repeated demands difficult and even some of his clergy considered him more fitted for an English rather than a colonial see. But, aided by clergy and laity and with assistance from government and especially from the Society for the Propagation of the Gospel, he laid strong church foundations on which his successors were able to build.