from 1907 to 1908 and of the school board from 1904 to 1906. He
also served on the executive of the Dominion Marine Association.
He was prominent as a member of the Board of Trade of Kingston
and upon leaving that town was presented with a handsome silver
salver on behalf of the board and with a silver loving cup by the
employes of the company.
He is a member of the Canada Club, the Engineers Club, the St.
George Snowshoe Club, the Canadian Club of Montreal, the Country
Club of Montreal, the Frontenac Club of Kingston, the Kingston
Curling Club, and the Heather Club of Westmount.
On April 30, 1890, Mr. Henderson was married to Miss Jennie Lena
Spencer, a daughter of the late L. B. Spencer, of Kingston. Their
children are Lawrence Spencer, Mabel Spencer, Ruth Sweetland,
Kenneth Robertson, Florence Lillian and Jean Lewis.
ALBERT PIERRE FRIGON.
Various corporate interests have felt the stimulus of the
cooperation and enterprising spirit of Albert Pierre Frigon,
who today stands in a prominent place on the stage of financial
activity in Montreal, his native city. He was born on the 14th
of June, 1872, a son of Benjamin and Philomene (Cassan) Frigon,
the former a general contractor for more than thirty years. Both
he and his wife are still living. The ancestors of the family
were all from France and the genealogy can be traced back to the
fifteenth century.
Albert P. Frigon was educated in the Catholic commissioner’s
school, Archambault’s, where he was graduated with the class
of 1888. Crossing the threshold of business life, he became
bookkeeper for P. P. Mailloux, a hardware merchant on St. Paul
Street in Montreal, with whom he remained for thirteen years, his
capability and fidelity being attested by his long connection
with the house. He resigned in 1901 to become business and
financial manager for the Seminary of St. Sulpice of Montreal
and in the intervening years to the present his activities
have constantly broadened in scope and importance. He is now a
controlling figure in various corporate interests and has large
investments in others. At the present writing he is a member of
the firm of St. Cyr, Gonthier & Frigon, bankers and brokers,
is vice president of Viauville Lands, Ltd., president of the
Star Realty Company, president of the Compagnie Immobilière
d’Outre-Mer, president of the Canadian Siegwart Beam Company
of Three Rivers, vice president of the New Ontario Oil &
Gas Company, Ltd., president of the Société de Construction
Lafontaine, president of the executive board of the General
Animals Insurance Company, president l’Immobilière du Canada,
vice president of the France-Canada Company, president of St.
Francis-Valley Railway Company and president of the St. Francis
Construction Company. This recital of his connections indicates
clearly the breadth of his interests and of his capabilities. In
various companies he is bending his energies to administrative
direction and executive control and he possesses notable power
in unifying and coordinating seemingly diverse elements into a
harmonious and resultant whole. His opinion upon complex and
involved financial problems is ever accepted with respect and
consideration by those well qualified to judge thereof. He is
the vice president of the General Trust Company of Canada,
president of Comité de Surveillance Caisse Nationale d’Economie
and is a member of the board of La Chambre de Commerce of
Montreal.
[Illustration: ALBERT P. FRIGON]
Mr. Frigon’s activities also extend to various public interests
which have no bearing upon his individual prosperity but arise
from a deep interest in the general welfare. He votes with
the liberal party but takes no active part in politics. He is
a gouverneur à vie de l’Hôpital Notre Dame and he belongs to
Société St. Jean Baptiste. He is also a Knight of Columbus and
one of the most sincere, earnest and enthusiastic workers of the
order, in which he has held a number of offices. His religious
faith is indicated in the fact that he is a past president of a
number of Roman Catholic societies. Along more strictly social
lines he is connected with the St. Denis and Canadian Clubs. Of
the former he is a life member and has also been a life member
since 1901 of the Montreal Amateur Athletic Association. He is
an honorary member of the Sixty-fifth Regiment. His official
municipal service has been that of mayor of the new village of
Sault au Récollet, to which office he was called in February,
1910, and as school commissioner of the same village, to which
position he was chosen in August, 1913.
On the 18th of April, 1898, in Montreal, Mr. Frigon was married
to Miss Malvina Perreault, a daughter of Jérémie and Victoria
(Saint Dizier) Perreault, both of whom are now deceased. Her
father was for a term of years alderman of the city of Montreal
and president of l’Association St. Jean Baptiste of Montreal. For
thirty years he conducted business here as a dry-goods merchant.
Mr. and Mrs. Frigon are the parents of two children: Jeanne, born
in Montreal on the 12th of February, 1899; and Germaine, on the
12th of November, 1900.
Mr. Frigon is a most enthusiastic supporter of his native city,
in which his entire life has been passed, taking keen interest in
its progress and having firm belief in the great future. He has
been an untiring worker for the construction of the Georgian Bay
canal, acting as president of the special commission appointed
by the Chamber of Commerce of Montreal to take charge of that
project. In all of his public as well as his private connections
he has been a man of action rather than of theory, formulating
his plans carefully and carrying them forward to successful
termination.
HUGH MACKAY.
On the list of Montreal’s lawyers appears the name of Hugh
Mackay, who in 1913, was created king’s counsel. His practice
covers a period of fourteen years, in which he has made
continuous advancement. He was born in Montreal in 1875, a son
of the Hon. Robert Mackay. His early educational opportunities
were supplemented by a course in McGill, where he was graduated
in 1900, with the B. C. L. degree. He has since practiced as
an advocate in his native city, and his professional career
has been one of growing success, a liberal and distinctively
representative clientage being now accorded him.
Mr. Mackay was married in 1903 in Montreal to Miss Isabel, a
daughter of J. N. Greenshield, K. C.
Mr. Mackay’s military history covers service as a captain of
the Royal Highlanders, and he is widely and favorably known in
military, professional and social circles, having many warm
friends in this city where his entire life has been passed.
ANDRE ODORIE RONDEAU.
Capable, earnest and conscientious, and well versed in the
knowledge of the law, André Odorie Rondeau enjoys a large
practice, especially among the French citizenship of Montreal,
ably representing valuable French interests in the local courts.
A man of sound judgment and logical reasoning, he readily
discerns the moving factor in any legal situation and presents
his views and conclusions so concisely that he seldom fails to
convince court or jury. He is gifted with all the qualities of
which a lawyer may be proud and has a deep insight into human
nature, understanding the springs of human conduct, which
qualities assist him in his work. As the years have passed he
has come more and more to the fore in his profession and is now
recognized as an authority upon many subjects of the law.
Born at St. Marcel, in the county of Richelieu, on the 8th of
June, 1876, André O. Rondeau is the son of Louis Rondeau, a
successful agriculturist, who was born in the county of Berthier,
and Lucie (Ouellette) Rondeau, a daughter of Godefroy Ouellette,
born in St. Ours, in the county of Richelieu. Both parents are
highly respected in their locality. The earliest record of the
Rondeau family goes back to one Pierre Rondeau, a son of Jean,
who married Catherine Verrier on September 30, 1669, at Ste.
Famille, and had a large family. Another of these early records
mentions Jacques Rondeau, born in 1663, who married Françoise
Beaudry at Trois Rivières on November 6, 1691, and had a family
of seven children.
André O. Rondeau after acquiring his preliminary education
attended a commercial college at St. Aimé and the preparatory
seminary of Ste. Marie de Monnoir, from which he obtained his
bachelor’s degree. He received his law diploma from Laval
University of Montreal, after having studied for two years at
St. Hyacinthe under the supervision of Blanchet & Chicoine,
well known barristers. Since Mr. Rondeau has joined the legal
fraternity of Montreal he has made great strides towards
success, having left the ranks of the many and joined those
of the successful few. He is skillful in the presentation
of his evidence, shows marked ability in cross-examination,
persuasiveness before the jury and has a strong grasp of every
feature of the case in hand. While his learning never intrudes
itself when uncalled for and he makes no display thereof, it
comes into requisition when wanted. He is a man who exemplifies
in his conduct the lofty ideals of his nation and noble calling
and he honors his profession by paying it honor and by his
adherence to the solid virtues and enlightened principles
underlying the law. It is his ambition to make his native talent
subserve the demands of the social and business conditions of the
day and he stands today as a splendid representative of a lawyer
to whom personal prosperity is secondary in importance to the
public welfare and less vital than many other elements which go
to make up human existence.
On June 29, 1908, at Montreal, at the church of St. Jacques, Mr.
Rondeau was united in marriage to Miss Rose Blanche Trudeau, a
daughter of Louis Napoléon Trudeau, a well known dentist. The
religious affiliations of Mr. and Mrs. Rondeau are with the
Catholic church. In his political views he was during his earlier
years a liberal but since 1906 has endorsed the nationalist
movement as he is in sympathy with their ideas. Outside of his
profession he has had important interests and is the builder
of the Boulevard Trudeau and Rondeau, in the Prairie River
district, which leads through lots Nos. 16 and 17. He was one
of the founders and also one of the first directors of La Cie
Zootechnique de Labelle, Limitée, at Macaza, P. Q., which has for
its purpose the raising of fur-bearing animals. Mr. Rondeau is
highly respected in Montreal as an able lawyer and as a citizen
of public worth and is especially popular and influential with
the French, of which race he is an able representative in this
city.
SAMUEL COTTINGHAM STEVENSON.
There was no man to whom the success of Canadian expositions
and exhibitions was more largely attributable than to Samuel C.
Stevenson, who as a commissioner, represented his province and
country in connection with a number of leading affairs of this
kind on the continent. He was born in Montreal in 1848 and came
of Scotch ancestry, being a son of James Stevenson, a native of
Scotland, who after his arrival in Canada was identified with
shipping interests, owning a number of boats. His wife was, in
her maidenhood, Miss Elizabeth Cottingham.
Their son, Samuel C. Stevenson, pursued a high-school course and
in 1872 was granted his Bachelor of Arts degree at McGill. He
was assistant secretary to the first large provincial exhibition
and was identified with all the expositions of the province from
that time until his death. When the first one was held at Mile
End, he was given entire charge of the industrial department. In
1876 he was appointed a commissioner of the province of Quebec
to the great Centennial Exposition held in Philadelphia and in
1877 when a permanent exposition committee was appointed for the
province, he was made its secretary for the industrial department
and held that position until the organization of the Montreal
Exposition Company in 1889. He was chief organizer and manager
of all the important expositions that were held in Montreal from
1886 until his demise and he represented the Canadian interests
as commissioner for the province of Quebec at the Colonial
and Industrial Exhibition in London, in 1886. In 1892 he was
appointed a member and secretary of the provincial commission
in connection with the World’s Columbian Exposition in Chicago
and was secretary of the council of arts and manufacture of the
province of Quebec. His long experience enabled him to know
adequately just what was most attractive for exhibition purposes
and how to assemble such, and the success of Canada’s exhibits,
both provincial and at the international expositions in the
United States, was due in large measure to his efforts. He was a
corresponding member of the Industrial Education Association of
New York and a director of the Great Northern Railway of Canada.
Mr. Stevenson’s military experience began in his youth. When a
boy he belonged to the High School Cadets and afterward joined
the Victoria Rifles, going to the front with his regiment
at the time of the Fenian raid of 1866. Later he received a
commission in the Prince of Wales regiment and was a subaltern
in the company of that corps which was sent to the relief of the
force that engaged the Fenians at Eccles Hill. He remained in
the corps until 1881, when he retired with the rank of major.
Mr. Stevenson’s interests and activities aside from those
already indicated were manifest from his membership in the Art
Association and in the Crescent Street church.
At Saugerties, New York, in 1878 Mr. Stevenson was married to
Mrs. Gertrude (Caldwell) Bennett, a representative of a southern
family, that lived in Virginia until the time of the Civil war
and then removed to New York. Mr. and Mrs. Stevenson had three
children: James Corliss; Elizabeth Lois, the wife of Herbert
Yuile; and Gladys Arnold, the wife of J. Hal Pangman.
Such is the record of Samuel C. Stevenson, who passed away
January 2, 1898. As a public-spirited citizen he was widely
known. None questioned his fidelity. He responded to every appeal
when it was needed for the benefit of the general good; to
build up rather than to destroy was his policy and he attacked
everything with a contagious enthusiasm.
FARQUHAR ROBERTSON.
The nature and variety of his interests and activities at once
place Farquhar Robertson among those citizens whose lives
constitute a most useful and serviceable force in bringing about
modern day conditions, progress and prosperity. While he is well
known as a business man, he has at the same time been a close
student of the sociological, economic and political questions of
the day, and has been actively allied with many movements seeking
the betterment of conditions for the benefit of the individual
physically, intellectually and morally. He has also been
connected with many projects that promote the municipal welfare,
and thus his life has come to be one of great usefulness in his
adopted city. A native of Ontario, he was born April 14, 1850,
at North Branch, Glengarry, a son of Hugh and Flora (McLennan)
Robertson and a brother of Lieutenant Colonel D. M. Robertson,
Toronto, Ontario. His education was acquired in his native county
and since entering upon his business career, he has largely given
his attention to the coal trade. In business affairs he carries
forward to successful completion what he undertakes, and his well
formulated plans are productive of far-reaching and beneficial
results.
His activities along other lines have been equally broad and
beneficial. He is identified with many movements which seek
to meet and improve modern conditions, and to this end he is
serving as a director of the Parks and Playgrounds Association,
and is vice president of the Montreal City Improvement League.
He was one of the promoters of the Montreal Typhoid Emergency
Hospital, and is one of the managing committee of the Montreal
General Hospital, a member of the committee of management of
Royal Edward Institute, and vice president of Victorian Order
of Nurses. Mr. Robertson is president of the firm of Farquhar
Robertson, Limited, and director of Merchants Bank of Canada,
Montreal Transportation Company, Canada Cement Company and the
Prudential Trust Company. He was president of the Montreal Board
of Trade in 1909, and it was largely due to his efforts during
his term of office, that a change in civic administration took
place, to a board of commissioners.
[Illustration: FARQUHAR ROBERTSON]
Mr. Robertson represented St. Andrew’s ward in the Montreal city
council for six years and was the council’s representative on the
Protestant board of school commissioners for the same period.
Mr. Robertson married Miss Flora Craig, daughter of the late
James Craig, M. P. P., Glengarry. They reside at No. 30 Ontario
Avenue, Montreal. They are Presbyterians in religion.
While not an office seeker in politics (in which he is a
conservative), in the usually accepted sense of the term, he is
deeply interested in all that pertains to the public welfare, and
the present government thought fit to appoint him as one of the
present harbor commission.
Mr. Robertson is president of the St. Andrew’s Society of
Montreal. He is well known in club circles, being a member of St.
James, Montreal, Montreal Hunt and Outremont Golf Clubs, and life
member of The Caledonian Society and Montreal Amateur Athletic
Association. His recreation is devoted to curling and farming.
JOHN ALLAN.
John Allan was a splendid example of what industry and
determination will accomplish for a man. Born in Strathmiglo,
Scotland, on the 28th of November, 1863, a son of David
and Christian (Roy) Allan, he became one of the successful
merchants of Montreal, dealing in clothing, hats, caps and men’s
furnishings. He was educated in the schools of his native country
and when eighteen years of age crossed the Atlantic to Canada,
making his way to Montreal, where he entered the employ of Henry
Morgan & Company. After some time spent with that house he joined
his brother, Robert Allan, who was engaged in the bottling of
ginger ale. Subsequently he embarked in business on his own
account on Craig Street in a small way, having a limited line of
clothing, hats, caps and men’s furnishings. He closely applied
himself to the development of the trade and in that connection
steadily worked his way upward, his patronage increasing as the
years went by until he won a substantial measure of success. He
was truly a self-made man, having been both the architect and
builder of his own fortunes and his record proved what may be
accomplished when determination and energy point out the way.
Mr. Allan was married in Cupar, Scotland, in 1894, to Maria
Isabella Hood, a native of that place and a daughter of Robert
and Agnes (Moncrief) Hood, and they became parents of five
children: John Roy, Agnes Isabelle, Robert Bruce, Douglas Hood
and Malcolm Moncrief. Mr. Allan enjoyed curling as a recreation
and his more serious interests were represented in membership in
the Masonic fraternity and in Knox church. He was a member of
the Young Men’s Christian Association for many years and took
a deep interest in its affairs. His death occurred January 11,
1912, and thus was ended a life of activity and usefulness. He
had made good use of his time and opportunities and had proved
that prosperity and an honored name may be gained simultaneously.
REV. JOSEPH LEONIDAS DESJARDINS.
Rev. Joseph Léonidas Desjardins, secretary general of Laval
University at Montreal since September 14, 1907, was born at Ste.
Thérèse, in the county of Terrebonne, on the 27th of November,
1880, a son of Joseph and Odile (Boileau) Desjardins, the former
of whom followed agricultural pursuits. The son pursued his early
studies in the Seminary of Ste. Thérèse and in the Grand Seminary
of Montreal. His determination to prepare for the priesthood,
followed by a thorough course of study, led to his ordination
by Monsignor P. La Rocque on the 3d of July, 1904. His time and
energies have ever since been devoted to educational service
save for a period which he devoted to further study. Following
his ordination he became a professor in the Seminary of Ste.
Thérèse, where he remained during 1904 and 1905. The following
year he went abroad for further study in Rome, where he remained
from 1905 until 1907, winning the degree of Doctor of Theology.
Following his return to the new world he entered again upon
active connection with educational interests as secretary general
of Laval University at Montreal, being appointed to his present
position on the 14th of September, 1907. In his life work mental
and moral instruction go hand in hand, and his efforts constitute
an important element not only in the upbuilding of character
among individual students but also in the extension of Catholic
teachings and influence.
HIRSCH COHEN.
Hirsch Cohen, most actively identified with the educational and
moral progress of the Jewish people in Montreal, may point with
justifiable pride to various schools and synagogues which have
been established through his instrumentality. A Russian by birth,
his natal day was in April, 1863, his parents being Hircom and
Sarah Cohen, both of whom have now passed away, the latter dying
in 1896 and the former in 1911 at a ripe old age, being over
ninety years old. Liberal educational advantages constituted the
foundation for the important and far-reaching life work of Hirsch
Cohen who was educated in a Hebrew college in Russia. The year
1890 witnessed his arrival in Montreal, since which time he has
been active in promoting work among the people of his own faith.
He has established eight synagogues, including one in Lachine
and one in the city of Quebec. At that period the people of
his faith could not stand the regular tithing system and there
were only a few small synagogues to carry on the work among the
Hebrew people. Prosperity, however, has come to many and a fair
degree of success to others and as they have prospered they have
contributed to the work of intellectual and moral progress with a
result that there are today a number of large congregations and
various smaller ones, each an active force in promoting the moral
development of the Hebrew people. Mr. Cohen has been a leader in
this work and he is also a director on the school board of the
Baron de Hirsch Institute. For the past seven years he has been
acting as chaplain for the Jewish prisoners in the province of
Quebec. He is chairman of various Hebrew schools in the city and
has been practically the founder of them all and in the meantime
has established places of study where adult Hebrews can acquaint
themselves with various lines of knowledge. He has founded three
different synagogues in Montreal since his arrival and another
important branch of his work has been the care which he has
given to newcomers during the periods of largest immigrations
to Canada among the Hebrew people. Moreover, he has taken a
most active and helpful part in bringing about the amalgamation
of the charitable institutions of the Jewish people into a
coordinate whole. He has seemed to neglect no line of effort that
contributes to the welfare of people of his faith. It was through
his instrumentality that all Jewish slaughter houses were brought
under the required supervision. He was one of those who took part
in the organization of the Free Loan Association, and he was one
who aided in establishing the Jewish Daily Eagle, to the columns
of which he makes frequent and welcome contributions. He is one
of the officers in the Zionist movement and one of the officers
in the Association of Orthodox Rabbis of the United States and
Canada, in which he is also a member of the executive committee.