February 14, 1835, of Scotch ancestry, and belonged to the
Banffshire family of that name. He received his education in
Montreal schools, and in entering on a business career chose that
which was his by inheritance, the milling business.
His grandfather, Alexander, erected in 1801, a mill at Jacques
Cartier, near Quebec, where was ground the first flour under
British rule that was ever exported to Europe. This old mill was
really the foundation of the immense business that was built up
by W. W. Ogilvie. In 1860 he entered into partnership with his
brothers, Alexander and John, grain merchants and proprietors
of a mill at Lachine Rapids. The growth of the business was
soon responsible for the building of the Glenora Flour Mills
on the Lachine canal. The business continued to grow, and the
Ogilvies erected mills at Goderich and Seaforth, Ontario and
Winnipeg, Manitoba; and later, the Royal Mills at Montreal. The
three brothers operated together until 1874, when the elder
brother retired, and on the death of his brother, John, in
1888 the entire business management devolved upon William W.
Ogilvie, whose well developed powers were entirely adequate to
the demands made upon him in the further control and management
of this extensive enterprise, of which he became the head. In
addition to the properties mentioned, Mr. W. W. Ogilvie afterward
purchased the City Mills, Montreal, and at the time of his death
had accepted plans for a very large mill at Fort William. Some
years previous to his demise to facilitate the administration of
his western business, the Ogilvie Milling Company of Winnipeg was
formed in which Mr. Ogilvie was the dominant factor. The Ogilvie
Flour Mills Company, of the present, was organized in 1903 and
is practically the successor of the Ogilvie Milling Company and
various other interests in this line, belonging to Mr. Ogilvie’s
estate.
[Illustration: WILLIAM W. OGILVIE]
Mr. Ogilvie and his brother John were the pioneer wheat buyers in
Manitoba. He had traveled through Canada’s present wheat fields
years before they were cultivated and many times afterwards. From
the first small shipment of five hundred bushels from Manitoba in
1876, the shipments, in Mr. Ogilvie’s lifetime, to his own mills
increased until they reached the enormous total of eight million
bushels of No. 1 hard wheat, all purchased by his own expert
buyers from the farmers, at his seventy elevators, extending all
over the wheat section of Ontario and the northwest.
In the manufacture of flour Mr. Ogilvie spent a lifetime and
spared neither time, labor or expense in bringing his product to
the very acme of perfection. By steady industry and indomitable
energy and most of all the superior quality of his products,
upheld at all cost, the business grew until it not only became
the largest of its kind in the Dominion, but the most extensive
flour business in the world controlled by one man.
Mr. Ogilvie was the first to introduce into Canada the patent
process of grinding by rollers. In 1868, he visited Hungary where
this system originated, for the purpose of investigating it.
He saw at once its value and adopted it. He invented improved
machinery used in the milling business, and was always ready to
adopt the improvements of others that were practical.
It was said that he had better knowledge of wheat and wheat lands
than any man in Canada. His business furnished a market for wheat
growers and proved a stimulating influence in the agricultural
development of the great wheat-raising section of middle and
western Canada. His labors were directly responsible for much of
the growth, progress and prosperity of Manitoba and the provinces
farther west, and his worth as a business man and citizen was
acknowledged by all.
Mr. Ogilvie’s identification with commercial interests was large
and diversified. He was a director of the Bank of Montreal;
the Montreal Transportation Company; the North British and
Mercantile Insurance Company; the Old Dominion Board of Trade;
and the Sailors Institute. He was president of the Corn
Exchange Association; St. Andrew’s Society; and the Montreal
Horticultural Society; governor of the Montreal General and
the Royal Victoria Hospitals; president of the Manufacturers’
Association, and served as a member of the Harbor Board.
In regard to agricultural and horticultural interests he
manifested an interest and enthusiasm that were contagious,
his efforts constituting an example that many others followed.
He served both on the council and board of arbitration of the
Montreal Board of Trade and was president of that body in 1893-4.
In matters of citizenship he was extremely public-spirited and
what he accomplished represented the fit utilization of his
innate talents and powers. His political belief is indicated
in the fact that in 1896 he was president of the Liberal
Conservative Club of Montreal. He was a forceful speaker in both
French and English and frequently, in his earlier days, addressed
public meetings during political campaigns.
As a young man he served as lieutenant and subsequently as a
captain in the Montreal Cavalry under his brother, being thanked
in brigade orders by Colonel Pakenham in 1866.
He was one of the prominent members of St. Andrew’s church.
Mr. Ogilvie always gave with a free hand toward various public
institutions, and there was no movement of importance to which
he did not contribute. His benefactions were liberal, varied and
by no means local. He gave thirteen thousand dollars, towards
making up a deficit for completion of the Jubilee wing of the
Winnipeg General Hospital. He was one of the first to subscribe
to the patriotic fund for the families of those who went with
the Canadian contingent to the Transvaal war. Mr. Ogilvie was a
man of great business capacity and to a most remarkable extent
maintained a personal knowledge of his diversified interests.
His death on January 12, 1900, was very sudden. He had been
at his office attending to business as usual, after which he
attended a directors’ meeting of the Bank of Montreal. On his way
home he was taken ill and passed away soon after reaching there.
Many of the leading mercantile houses and public offices flew
their flags at half mast through respect for him. The Montreal
Gazette at time of his death, said on January 13, 1900,
editorially:
“It is long since any event caused such a painful shock in
Montreal as did the death yesterday of W. W. Ogilvie. Strong
in body, clear in mind, actively interested in the details of
great concerns, he was one of the last whose taking away would
be thought of. His loss will be felt the more because of its
suddenness and it is a great loss, to the city’s commercial life.
Mr. Ogilvie’s business intelligence and energy long ago raised
him to a place not among Canada’s alone, but among the world’s
great merchants.
“It was a just pride that he felt in directing the greatest
milling interest in the world under one man’s control; and the
pride was more than personal. He early saw what the northwest
meant to Canada, both commercially and nationally, and it was a
pleasure to him to feel that as his business spread it was making
known the resources of the country, in all of whose affairs he
took the deepest interest.
“The success that he gained in his own business caused
his counsel to be sought in the direction of other great
enterprises. He was a director in the country’s greatest
financial corporation, and in other institutions in which he had
investments. On the Corn Exchange and on the Board of Trade, his
was an influential voice, and it was always raised in behalf of
that which was best and broadest.
“He knew how to give generously to a good cause. He earned
the respect of all who were brought into contact with him and
especially that of the hundreds of men who served him in the
enterprise of which his was the directing brain.
“It was a big place that he won through his heart as well as by
his head and it will be long ere there will be found another
capable of filling it.”
Mr. Ogilvie was survived by his widow and four children, three
sons and a daughter, Albert Edward, William Watson (died 1906),
Gavin Lang and Alice Helen. Mrs. Ogilvie previous to her marriage
in 1871, was Helen, a daughter of Joseph Johnston of Paisley,
Scotland.
R. A. BALDWIN HART.
R. A. Baldwin Hart, prominent as a representative of one of the
old families of Montreal, manager-executor of the Theodore Hart
estate, and a public-spirited citizen, was born in Montreal,
December 5, 1852, a son of Theodore Hart. For a long period the
family had been represented in this city, the name figuring
prominently in connection with its history. His education was
acquired in the schools of Montreal and his life was spent in his
native city.
In 1900 in Montreal Mr. Hart was united in marriage to Miss Mary
Isabella Owen, who survives him, the death of Mr. Hart having
occurred on the 11th of September, 1903, when he was yet in
the prime of life. He was very fond of outdoor sports. He was
a wide reader and kept abreast with the events of the day and
the progress of the times. Charitable and kindly in spirit, he
listened attentively and sympathetically to a tale of sorrow
or distress and no worthy object failed to receive substantial
assistance from him. Civic affairs were a matter of interest to
him and he supported movements which he deemed of benefit to
Montreal. His was indeed a well rounded character in which the
varied important interests of life received due consideration and
he stood as a high type of Canadian manhood and citizenship.
ALAN JUDAH HART.
Alan Judah Hart, founder of the Hart Manufacturing Company, of
Montreal, is a descendant of one of the oldest English speaking
families of Canada, the ancestry being traced back to one who
came from New York with General Amherst in 1759. For many
generations the family was represented at Three Rivers, Canada.
Lewis A. Hart, father of Alan J. Hart, has for forty years or
more been a notary in Montreal. He was born at Three Rivers
and was educated in Montreal, supplementing his preliminary
studies by advanced courses which won him the degrees of Master
of Arts and Bachelor of Civil Law. He married Fanny Elizabeth
Benjamin and they became the parents of four sons and four
daughters: Claude Benjamin, a commission merchant; Arthur Daniel,
a manufacturer’s agent; Philip Beyfus, a commercial traveler;
Alan Judah; Ethel Muriel; Mabel Ruth; Gladys Judith; and Dorothy
Marguerite.
Alan Judah Hart was born in Montreal, October 4, 1879. He was
educated in Montreal and for some years was employed by E. A.
Small & Company, manufacturers of men’s clothing, and later was
with A. H. Sims & Company, manufacturers of ladies’ clothing,
acting as superintendent of the house for three years. In 1902
he established the Hart Manufacturing Company for the purpose of
manufacturing ladies’ tailor-made suits and cloaks and in the
conduct of this business he has been very successful. Mr. Hart is
a director of H. Vineberg & Company, Limited, manufacturers of
the Progress Brand clothing and has become widely and favorably
known in commercial circles.
Mr. Hart married Miss Eva Vineberg, a daughter of Harris
Vineberg, and they have a family of five children: Edward Henry,
Gordon David, Lawrence Ezra, Alma Ruth and Vera Esther.
Mr. Hart is a life governor of the Montreal General Hospital
and a director of Mount Sinai Sanitarium at Ste. Agathe. He
was likewise a member of the executive board of the Canadian
Manufacturers Association, serving in that capacity in 1912 and
1913, and he is a member of the Montreal Board of Trade and
of the Royal Arcanum. His interests and activities are varied
and important, winning him recognition of his worth in both
commercial circles and in public life.
HON. LOUIS JOSEPH FORGET.
Hon. Louis Joseph Forget, whose name is written large on the
pages of financial and industrial history of Montreal during the
past forty years, left the impress of his great constructive
force and energy upon mammoth projects which are figured as
some of the Dominion’s leading enterprises. He was born March
11, 1853, at Terrebonne, P. Q., a district that has produced
many eminent statesmen, writers, merchants and financiers. He
was one of the nine sons of Mr. and Mrs. Joseph Forget and was
descended from a family that came to Canada from Normandy in
1600. Among those nine sons there were two priests, one of whom
declined episcopal robes, a notary, two lawyers, two contractors,
one farmer and he who was destined to become a power in the
financial world, Louis Joseph Forget. His education was acquired
at Masson College and his entrance into business circles was in
connection with a dry-goods establishment. He had almost reached
the determination of trying his fortune in the United States
when he chanced upon a newspaper that contained an advertisement
of office help being needed by Thomas Caverhill. Mr. Forget
applied for the position the next morning and was accepted.
From the beginning of his work with Mr. Caverhill the young man
displayed unusual aptness as well as great eagerness to learn.
He was not an ordinary boy. He took great interest in his work
and often asked questions about other features of the business
that did not come within his particular line of duties, but
a knowledge thereof added to his capability and rendered him
fit for promotion and opportunity offered later. It is only
natural that a young man of this character should attract the
attention of his employer. Mr. Caverhill took great interest
in him and was instrumental in causing Mr. Forget to enter the
brokerage business. The financial exploit during Jay Gould’s
celebrated Black Friday in Wall Street reflected no little credit
upon Mr. Forget, displaying in notable manner his insight and
ability, and soon afterward he was nominated for membership
in the Montreal Stock Exchange by his former employer. It is
interesting in this connection to note that he was the first
French-Canadian to be admitted to membership in that body and
that before he had reached his majority he purchased his seat
therein at a cost of nine hundred dollars. He began business as
a stock broker in Montreal in 1873, from which time until his
death, thirty-eight years later, his prominence and success in
the investment security business were not over-shadowed by that
of his contemporaries. He founded the financial house of L. J.
Forget & Company, one of the foremost in its line in Montreal and
remained its head during his life time. The Paris branch of L. J.
Forget & Company at 7 Rue Auber, was the first to be established
in continental Europe by a Canadian financial house and readily
secured a clientele that materially broadened the operations of
the firm.
[Illustration: HON. LOUIS J. FORGET]
Senator Forget was elected president of the Montreal Stock
Exchange in 1895 to succeed H. S. Macdougall and in May, 1896,
was reelected. His business and financial connections had been
constantly broadening and had long since included a prominent
identification with the foremost financial and industrial
projects of the time. In 1892 he became president of what was
then the Montreal City Passenger Railway Company, now the
Montreal Tramways Company. He remained its directing head until
1911, in which connection he accomplished what has meant much
to Montreal. To no one man is the city indebted as largely for
the upbuilding and development of its transportation system as
to Senator Forget. Under his regime the motive power was changed
from horses to electricity and the market value of the company’s
stock advanced from around one hundred dollars to three hundred
and thirty-seven dollars and a half per share.
In 1895 Senator Forget became president of the Richelieu &
Ontario Navigation Company. At that time the affairs of the
company were far from being on a dividend-paying basis and the
rehabilitation of its interests was but another illustration of
Senator Forget’s constructive genius. He resigned his position as
head of the company in 1905, but in the meantime the stock was
paying a six per cent dividend and the affairs of the company
generally were in a better condition than ever before.
One of the great achievements of Senator Forget was in carrying
through the merger of the Montreal Light, Heat & Power Company
and in doing so he accomplished what many predicted to be utterly
impossible, saying that nothing but failure and financial
disaster could result. This was in 1900 before the days when big
business interests were merged into mammoth enterprises and the
amount involved, seventeen million dollars, seemed to stagger
even the most progressive element in financial circles. Like
all of his undertakings, Mr. Forget had not entered into this
without due consideration and he had implicit confidence in its
success. It is doubtful if any but he could have swung that deal
and how well he succeeded is best indicated in the value of the
securities of the company in investment circles.
He was a prominent figure in the notable contest which took
place between the Dominion Coal Company and the Dominion Iron
& Steel Company. Originally a director and vice president of
the coal company he espoused the cause of the steel company in
its fight over the coal supply and ultimately the matter was
carried to the privy council and was there decided in favor
of the steel company. Mr. Forget was elected vice president
of the steel corporation when eventually the two companies
were merged and he continued to take an active part in the
administration of the affairs of the company to the time when
his health began to fail. Evidence of his wonderful insight and
sagacity in business matters is shown in the fact that when the
trouble first arose from which resulted the extended litigation
between the Dominion Iron & Steel Company and the Dominion Coal
Company Senator Forget went over the point in contention in his
characteristic deliberate manner and at once concluded that the
claim of the steel corporation would be sustained by the courts,
notwithstanding the contrary opinion of some of the greatest
legal authorities and business men of the day and time proved
that his judgment was correct.
He was the first French-Canadian to be elected to the directorate
of the Canadian Pacific Railway and was a member of its board at
the time of his death. His greatest enthusiasm was aroused while
viewing the untold resources of the west during the many times
he accompanied Sir Thomas Shaughnessy and R. B. Angus on their
annual tours of inspection. When the life work of Senator Forget
was ended the Montreal Daily Star said in part: “By the death of
Senator Forget a man of affairs has been lost to Canada. A man
of wide vision who saw far into the future and who modeled his
career accordingly. A glance through the financial district at
the half-masted flags at once conveys an idea of the number and
the prominence of the institutions that Senator Forget had been
interested in. Senator Forget stood out in Canadian finance, but
more than that, he was a true Canadian citizen and had done his
share towards the public weal, forgetting not his duty towards
the state in the midst of tremendous private enterprises. He was
a man of sympathies. At all times courteous and approachable,
he could thrust aside great business matters to attend to the
small wants of individuals, nor was he ever found wanting or
indifferent when charity offered a plea.
“In finance Senator Forget was a true leader. He was one of the
first men to loom large in high finance in Canada. He realized
many possibilities which other men have realized too--but he
followed that by action. He had the courage to follow his
convictions and many solid institutions which today enjoy in
themselves prosperity and largely aid in the advancement of the
Dominion, owe to him debts which can never be repaid to the
individual, though they will be to the people of the country. His
financial ability brought him into prominence in connection with
several of the largest corporations in the Dominion, prominent
among which were the Montreal Street, the Richelieu & Ontario
Navigation Company and the Montreal Light, Heat & Power Company,
the Dominion Coal Company, and the Dominion Iron & Steel Company.
“Senator Forget was one of the colossal figures about whom have
surged the tides and currents of Canadian finance. The news of
his death this morning was as much of a shock as a surprise, both
to those with whom he had been so long associated in connection
with the organization and the management of the great financial
and industrial enterprises of the Dominion and to the thousands
of others to whom his name had come to be the shibboleth of
success.
“But if Senator Forget represented one thing more than success
it was absolute unswerving fidelity to his word. In all the
heat and confusion of the stock market amidst the treacheries
which sometimes attend on high financing and the deception and
duplicity which beset the path of the successful man everywhere,
there was never a question of his own unfaltering veracity.
Senator Forget was wisely charitable, an intelligent patron of
the arts, and a strong supporter of all movements which made for
the better government of the city and the state. He will long be
remembered for what he was as well as for what he did.”
Another Montreal paper said of him: “His rise to financial fame
is written on the business history of Montreal, and the story
of his success in the financial world is the history of the
development of the city. Although Senator Forget’s estate will
count up into the millions, its accumulation was not effected by
continuous plain sailing.”
Obstacles and difficulties of grave import arose, but his
financial capacity and strict integrity had won the confidence
and trust of friends who rallied to his support, and although
he saw the storm clouds gather, he was able to turn threatened
disaster into brilliant achievement. His investments were most
judiciously made and his judgment concerning important financial
transactions seemed never at fault. Once his mind was made up as
to the value of a security nothing could shake his confidence,
and much of his success in life was due to his unerring judgment.