the attainment of his education attended Holy Cross College at
Worcester, Massachusetts, from 1846 to 1851; St. Mary’s College
at Montreal from 1852 until 1855 and Laval University at Quebec
from 1855 until 1857. He won the degrees of Bachelor of Arts
and Bachelor of Laws and thoroughly qualified for the bar. He
studied with the Hon. Jean Thomas Taschereau in 1857 and with
the law firm of Bethune & Dunkin in Montreal. He was received at
the bar of Lower Canada in 1859 and was offered a partnership in
the firm of Laflamme & Laflamme but declined in order to enter
his father’s printing office, in which connection he remained in
Quebec until 1865, when he went to Ottawa which had been made the
new seat of government. In Quebec he published several volumes
of original French-Canadian literature, among which were: Le
Foyer Canadien in three volumes, eleven hundred and thirty-six
pages; La Littérature Canadienne, in two volumes, seven hundred
and eighty pages; Essais Poétiques, Lemay, in one volume, three
hundred and twenty pages; Les Anciens Canadiens, P. A. de Gaspe,
in one volume, four hundred and twelve pages; Mémoires de M. de
Gaspe in one volume, five hundred and sixty pages; Canadians of
Old (English) in one volume, three hundred and thirty pages; Mère
Marie de l’Incarnation, L’Abbé H. R. Casgrain, in one volume,
four hundred and sixty pages; Vies des Saints, Abbé Casgrain,
in one volume, seven hundred and fifty pages; Lives of the
Saints (English) in one volume, seven hundred and fifty pages;
Chansons Populaires du Canada, Ernest Gagnon, in one volume,
three hundred and seventy-five pages; Contes Populaires, Paul
Stevens, in one volume, two hundred and sixty-five pages; Traité
d’Art & d’Histoire Militaire, L. T. Sugor, in one volume, four
hundred and seventy-two pages; Instructions Chrétiennes pour les
Jeunes Gens, in one volume, three hundred and twenty pages; and
Le Protestantisme, Etc., Abbé Guillaume, five hundred and fifty
pages.
On removing to Ottawa in 1865 Mr. Desbarats occupied a building
erected for this purpose which was begun during his father’s
lifetime and belonged to the estate. Malcolm Cameron, who had
been Queen’s printer with the father of George Edward Desbarats
after the death of Stewart Derbishire, held the patent alone from
1864 to 1869 and was G. E. Desbarats’ partner in the printing
business. The building erected there in Ottawa was one of the
largest business blocks of the city at that time. It was in this
building that the Hon. Thomas D’Arcy McGee lodged in company with
Sir Hector Langevin and others on the occasion of his atrocious
assassination and it was upon the place where the murder occurred
that Mr. Desbarats caused to be erected a memorial tablet. This,
it has been supposed gave offence to a certain lawless element in
the population, resulting in the destruction of the noble pile
of buildings by the incendiary’s torch. After the destruction of
the building by fire on the 21st of January, 1869, it was not
rebuilt. The Cartier-Macdonald government was then in power and
gave out the Gazette, laws, etc., to public competition. G. E.
Desbarats was appointed Queen’s printer and charged with making
the schedules, getting the tenders and adjudging the contracts.
He held the office for about a year and then resigned to remove
to Montreal, where he had large interests in a lithographic
and photo-engraving business which he had established there in
connection with the Leggo Brothers. The fire of January 21,
1869, destroyed the complete first edition of Les Oeuvres de
Champlain, which G. E. Desbarats was publishing at that time,
the compiler and annotator being L’Abbé Laverdiere, librarian
of Laval University. Not only was the manuscript destroyed but
also the electrotype plates and illustrations. The only copy
saved was that in proof sheets in Mr. Laverdiere’s hands. Mr.
Desbarats determined to republish the work at once. The second
edition was printed direct from the type, being limited to one
thousand copies. The six volumes, which are quarto, contain some
sixteen hundred and fifty pages and are copiously illustrated
with facsimiles of the original charts, maps and cuts produced
by the Leggotype process. This great work was published by G. E.
Desbarats in 1870 and is considered the finest book issued so far
from the Canadian Press. He was also the publisher, in Ottawa, of
H. J. Morgan’s Bibliotheca Canadensis.
At the fire in Ottawa G. E. Desbarats’ net loss was over one
hundred thousand dollars. The estate also lost heavily on the
building, which was only partly insured. At a meeting of citizens
an address of sympathy was voted to Mr. Desbarats and afterwards
presented to him, handsomely engrossed, bearing the city seal,
signed by the mayor and others and framed.
In 1869 G. E. Desbarats built a printing office on St. Antoine
Street, Montreal, and there founded The Canadian Illustrated
News, the first number of which was issued on October 30, of that
year, with Alexander Robertson as the first editor and E. Jump as
chief artist. The illustrations were at first photo-electrotypes
produced by the Leggotype process. In 1870 Mr. Desbarats founded
a French companion paper to the Canadian Illustrated News called
L’Opinion Publique, a twelve-page paper, the illustrations in
which were for the most part the same as those in the English
weekly. The editors were J. A. Mousseau and L. O. David.
Among the contributors to its pages were P. J. O. Chauveau,
L. H. Frechette, Joseph Marmette, J. A. Poisson, Benjamin
Sulte, W. Gelinas, Joseph Tassé and many other distinguished
French-Canadian writers. By arrangement with Ferdinand Gagnon,
L’Opinion Publique absorbed L’Etendard National of Worcester,
Massachusetts.
In May, 1871, Mr. Desbarats became proprietor of a weekly
literary paper named The Hearthstone. The editorial work of
The Hearthstone was performed by J. A. Phillips. Mr. Desbarats
owned and conducted The Dominion Telegraph Institute which had
been started by Churchill, continuing this for two years, during
which time were sent out many capable telegraph operators now at
the head of their profession. In 1872 he organized the Graphic
Company to publish a daily illustrated paper in the city of
New York. This was the first illustrated daily ever published
and it came to end in about a year, being too far ahead of its
time and lacking the necessary capital. Still the field of his
activity and usefulness constantly broadened, and at all times
he was in the lead among those who have wrought for advancement
and progress in connection with the printing and publishing
business. In March, 1873, he founded The Canadian Patent Office
Record and Mechanics Magazine, a quarto monthly of thirty-two
pages devoted to engineering, manufacturing, mining and other
industrial pursuits. With each number was issued the official
patent office record, the whole amply illustrated, the two parts
together forming a book of from sixty to eighty pages monthly,
the subscription price to which was only a dollar and a half a
year.
In 1873 it was thought advisable to form a stock company to carry
on the Canadian publications and the general Montreal engraving
and printing business. The Desbarats Lithographic & Publishing
Company was therefore organized by G. E. Desbarats, W. P. Hussey,
Luke Moore, William Angus, Jonathan Hodgson, Alexander Buntin and
Daniel MacLellan as provincial directors; G. E. Desbarats and
W. P. Hussey as managers. In April, 1874, Mr. Desbarats entered
into negotiations with G. B. Burland with a view to amalgamating
the two concerns and formed The Burland-Desbarats Lithographing
Company, from which he retired in 1876. He then opened a small
office in the old postoffice building and in 1878 moved to
larger premises and laid the foundation of the present Desbarats
Printing Company, one of the most important establishments of
this character in the Dominion. In 1879 G. E. Desbarats joined
with Notman & Sandham in organizing The Artotype Printing Company
and went himself to New York to learn the artotype work.
In 1884 W. C. Smillie, founder and first president of The
British American Bank Note Company entered into negotiations
with G. E. Desbarats & Company to revive the Canada Bank Note
Company which absorbed G. E. Desbarats & Company’s business
and in which G. E. Desbarats and H. Drechsel were appointed
managers. In 1887 Mr. Desbarats admitted his son, William,
to a partnership and together they published the Dominion
Illustrated, a weekly illustrated paper which also had to be
discontinued for lack of capital. Half-tone engraving was then
in its infancy and Mr. Desbarats was the first to introduce
it into Canada. The process was largely used in the Dominion
Illustrated and a photo-engraving plant was installed to meet
the paper’s requirements. While all days were not equally bright
in his career and indeed in his business experience he saw the
gathering of clouds that threatened disastrous storms, yet his
rich inheritance of energy, determination and initiative enabled
him to turn defeat into victory and promised failures into
brilliant successes. His strict integrity, business conservatism
and judgment were always so universally recognized that he
enjoyed public confidence to an enviable degree and naturally
this brought him a lucrative patronage. In early manhood he
showed conspicuously the traits of character that made his life
brilliantly successful and his mental and physical activity,
combined with thorough training, brought him to an eminent
position as a representative of the printing and publishing
business in Canada.
The business career of Mr. Desbarats with its steps of
successive advancement has been given but what of the man and
his personality? All who remember him speak of him as of the
highest type of gentlemen, his kindly nature and courteous
manner winning for him many warm friends. Even now, twenty years
after his demise, his old employes mention him with the greatest
respect and love. It has been said that there is no better way
to judge an individual than by his treatment of those in his
employ. Judged by this standard, no man has been more worthy
of regard. While in Ottawa his employes presented him a silver
goblet and tray as a mark of esteem. The employes of the Canadian
Illustrated News presented him with two bronze statues and a
necklace for Madame Desbarats and the employes of the Canada Bank
Note Company presented him a water pitcher when he severed his
connection with that company.
Aside from his extensive printing and engraving business Mr.
Desbarats was deeply interested in all that pertained to the
city’s welfare, and those things which are a matter of civic
virtue and civic pride received his indorsement and cooperation.
He took great interest in the Montreal Philharmonic Society of
which he was one of the directors. He was captain in the Civil
Service Rifle Regiment, of a company composed entirely of men
in his employ. During the smallpox epidemic in Montreal in 1885
he was chairman of the citizens’ relief committee and took a
leading part in the establishing of a temporary hospital at the
exhibition grounds. His political allegiance was given to the
conservative party but he took no active part in politics. In
religious faith he was a Roman Catholic and in 1867 was president
of the Société St. Jean Baptiste in Ottawa.
On the 30th of April, 1860, G. E. Desbarats was married to Miss
Lucianne Bossé, eldest daughter of Joseph N. Bossé, advocate
who was afterward senator and subsequently judge. Mr. and Mrs.
Desbarats were married in Quebec and they became the parents of
five sons and two daughters. George J., born January 27, 1861,
and now deputy minister in the naval service, married Miss L.
Scott, a daughter of Sir Richard Scott. William A., born February
14, 1862, is president of the Desbarats Printing Company,
Limited. Edward S. C., born April 24, 1863, is president of the
Desbarats Advertising Agency and married Miss M. A. MacCallum,
daughter of Dr. D. C. MacCallum. Lucianne, born August 10, 1864,
married Lord de Blaquière. Cecile is superior of the Convent
of the Sacred Heart at New Orleans, Louisiana. Alexander died
in childhood; and C. H. Hullett married Miss J. Henkels of
Philadelphia. He is the secretary and treasurer of the Desbarats
Printing Company. He and his brother, William, succeeded to
the business upon their father’s death and it has since been
organized into a joint stock company.
Such in brief is the life history of one who had much to do with
shaping the development of the printing and engraving business
in Canada. His was largely the initiative spirit that brought
about improvement and advancement in methods of printing and
of illustration. He ever maintained the highest standards, was
quick to adopt any new methods which his judgment sanctioned
as of value, and he largely set the standards that others
have followed. His life continued one of increasing activity,
usefulness and of public benefit to the time of his death which
occurred in 1892.
ARTHUR WILLIAM PATRICK BUCHANAN.
In the practice of law devotion to the interests of his clients,
careful preparation of his cases and comprehensive knowledge
of the principles of jurisprudence are salient features which
have gained Arthur William Patrick Buchanan a place among the
well known representatives of the Montreal bar. He was born at
Montreal in 1870, the son of Alexander Brock and Elizabeth Ann
(Best) Buchanan and grandson of the late Alexander Buchanan,
Q. C., a distinguished lawyer and in his day the leader of
the Montreal bar, who married Mary Ann, the daughter of James
Buchanan, H. B. M. consul at New York from 1816 to 1843. After
attending the Montreal high school our subject entered McGill
University and later pursued his law course in Laval University,
where he took the degree of LL. B. in 1893. He was admitted to
the bar of the province of Quebec in 1894 and the same year
began practice as an advocate. He was created a king’s counsel in
1908 and practices in partnership with W. J. White, K. C. Their
clientele is extensive and of a representative character, and Mr.
Buchanan has proved himself a capable and careful lawyer. He is
interested in genealogy and has written a history of his family,
The Buchanan Book (1911).
In 1897 Mr. Buchanan married Berthe Louise, elder daughter of
William Quirin, of Boston and resides at No. 731 Pine Avenue
West. Mr. Buchanan is a life member of the Buchanan Society, a
governor of the Montreal General Hospital and a member of the
St. James Club, the Canada Club, the Montreal Hunt and the Royal
Montreal Golf Club.
ANDREW ROBERTSON.
In many public positions Andrew Robertson gained wide
acquaintance and the efficiency of his service in public behalf
marked him as one of Montreal’s most valued and prominent men. In
commercial circles he was well known as the founder and senior
member of the firms of Andrew Robertson & Company and Robertson,
Stephen & Company, wholesale dry-goods merchants, and later he
became a factor in insurance and financial enterprises. This
however represented but one phase of his life, as he became
connected with many public projects having to do with the general
development and improvement of the city, or with its charitable
and benevolent activities. Abraham Lincoln said, “There is
something better than making a living--making a life,” and it
was that spirit which actuated Andrew Robertson at all times.
He recognized his obligations to his fellowmen and again and
again he played the part of the Good Samaritan, not from any
unavoidable sense of duty but from a deep love for his fellows.
Mr. Robertson was of Scotch birth, the place of his nativity
being Paisley, and the year, 1827. When he arrived at school age
he entered the Paisley grammar school, where he gained a working
knowledge of the common branches of learning. All through his
life he was a student,--a student of books, of men, of affairs
and the signs of the times, and he became a thoroughly well read
man, whose judgment was regarded as sound and his sagacity keen.
After leaving school he learned the weavers trade and in 1840 was
sent to Glasgow and entered upon a four year’s apprenticeship in
a drapery and clothing establishment. Subsequently he became an
employe of a manufacturing firm and displayed such ability and
resourcefulness in this connection that he was soon afterward
admitted into a partnership, and as most of the work of the
firm devolved upon him, his health gave way and his physician
recommended that he go either to Australia or Canada.
Mr. Robertson’s choice fell upon the latter country and in 1853
he sailed for the new world, accompanied by his wife and two
sons. He at once joined the wholesale dry-goods firm of Brown
& Swan and, on retiring therefrom two years later, founded the
firm of Andrew Robertson & Company which in 1867 was merged with
the older established business of William Stephen & Company and
continued under the style of Robertson, Stephen & Company. With
the firm and its successors he was continuously connected
until 1885, when he retired. Early in the 60’s he built the
Auburn Woolen Mill at Peterboro, Ontario, for the manufacture
of Canadian tweeds, and successfully directed it from Montreal
until 1867, when he sold it as part of the purchase price of
the Stephen business. His methods were ever progressive, and
his close application and indefatigable energy constituted the
foundation upon which he builded his prosperity.
[Illustration: ANDREW ROBERTSON]
While building up a commercial enterprise of large and profitable
proportions, Mr. Robertson always found time to devote to public
duties and the promotion of the general welfare. Joining the
St. Andrew’s Society in 1857 he served as treasurer in 1862
and 1863, second vice president in 1864 and 1865, first vice
president in 1868 and president during 1869 and 1870. In 1876 he
was president of the Dominion Board of Trade and in that and the
following year was also president of the Montreal Board of Trade.
He had the honor of being chosen the first president of the
Dominion Commercial Travelers’ Association, and thus he figured
prominently among the men who were most active in commercial
pursuits. He himself extended his efforts as a business man with
the passing years and became president of the Royal Canadian
Insurance Company in 1876, in which position he continued until
his death, while from its formation in 1880 until his demise he
was president of the Bell Telephone Company of Canada.
His public service was of a varied character and embraced
connection with charitable and benevolent objects, with public
works and with movements having to do with general progress and
improvement. In 1872 Mr. Robertson became one of the governors of
the Montreal General Hospital and later was elected and served
successively as treasurer, vice president and president. In 1879
he was elected chairman of the board of harbor commissioners for
Montreal and remained in that position until his death. His name
figured also in connection with military activities, beginning
in 1861, when, during the Trent excitement he was gazetted first
lieutenant and quartermaster of the Montreal Light Infantry. Many
tangible evidences of his devotion to the public welfare may
be cited. He familiarized himself with all the details of the
management of the General Hospital and was greatly interested
in the proposal to enlarge it, so that in 1886 upon a trip to
England he consulted some of the best architects of that country
concerning the subject and brought back with him plans for the
proposed extension. The deepening of the ship channel between
Montreal and Quebec was a project which awakened his strong
and hearty enthusiasm, and he frequently said that when he saw
the completion of the plan he would retire from the active
duties of chairman of the board, well satisfied. He was of a
nervous temperament, possessed marked energy and was a tireless
worker, and before his health became impaired he was actively
and helpfully interested in the movement for the improvement of
the harbor and the prevention of damages by flood. During the
great flood of 1885 he was making a tour through the submerged
district in a canoe, propelled by one of the oldest river men.
His companion of that occasion testified to the deep interest
he took in the poor people of the district. He left the harbor
commissioners’ office with forty or fifty dollars in his pocket
and when he returned he had not enough cash to pay the boatman,
having given all to the flood sufferers. This is but one incident
of his generous spirit, which was constantly manifested. He
was of a most charitable disposition but he gave in a quiet,
unassuming manner, following the mandate not to let the left
hand know what the right hand doeth. Again and again his gifts
of charity were known only to the recipients.
On the 19th of April, 1850, in Scotland, Mr. Robertson was
married to Miss Agnes Bow, a daughter of the late Alexander Bow,
of Glasgow, and they became parents of ten children, four sons
and six daughters, of whom the sons and four daughters are still
living, six being residents of Montreal, while one daughter and
one son reside on the Pacific coast.
At the time of his death, which occurred March 29, 1890,
Mr. Robertson was chairman of the harbor commission and his
associates in that work, as also those in other relations of
life, entertained for him the highest regard. In politics he was
conservative and in church connection a Presbyterian. In his
Christian faith was found the root of a well spent, honorable
life, reaching out along many lines for the benefit of his
fellowmen. The world is better for his having lived and his
memory remains as a blessed benediction to those who knew him.
Mrs. Robertson survived her husband for nine years, passing
away suddenly in her beautiful home, Elmbank, Dorchester Street
West, on the 6th of July, 1899, mourned by a large circle of old
friends.
REV. JOSEPH GUILLAUME LAURENT FORBES.
Rev. Joseph Guillaume Laurent Forbes, bishop of Joliette, was
formerly the spiritual director of the thirty-nine hundred
families which make up the great French-Canadian parish of St.
Jean Baptiste in Montreal, a position of responsibility as
well as one of power and importance among the Catholic people
of the city. This responsibility rested upon the shoulders of
a conscientious, capable and God-fearing man and the power
was used wisely and humbly, so that Father Forbes has become
an important force in the conservation and propagation of the
doctrines which he teaches and professes. He is a native of the
province of Quebec, born in Isle Perrot, near Montreal, August
10, 1865, a son of John and Octavie (Léger) Forbes, both natives
of Vaudreuil. The Forbes family was founded in Canada in 1757 and
representatives of the Léger family came to Quebec with the first
French colonists in 1608. Both parents are still living, the
father having retired from active life.