commercial relations between Belgium and Canada that Mr. de Sola
was appointed, in 1904, vice consul for Belgium at Montreal, and
his work in helping to negotiate the arrangement between the
Belgian and Canadian governments, whereby the benefits of the
intermediate Canadian customs tariff was secured for Belgian
manufacturers, was rewarded by his advancement, in 1911 to the
full rank of consul.
Extensive as have been Mr. de Sola’s efforts in connection with
Belgian trade, he has also employed his energies in other fields,
for he is the managing director of the Canadian office of Swan,
Hunter and Wigham Richardson, Ltd., the great shipbuilders
of Wallsend-on-Tyne, and he has undertaken and executed many
contracts for the building of a large number of ships for traffic
on the Canadian Great Lakes, the River St. Lawrence and the
Atlantic oceans, amounting in all to quite a large fleet. The
Canadian government has also had several ships built for its
service by contracts awarded to Mr. de Sola, including some very
fine vessels for hydrographic survey work, that have made their
way through the ice-bound waters of Hudson’s Bay in dangerous
seasons. The first ship ever seen in American waters, or that
ever crossed the Atlantic ocean propelled by oil combustion
engines, was built by Swan Hunter and Wigham Richardson for Mr.
de Sola as consignee. It was the ship Toiler, and it was run by
Mr. de Sola on the St. Lawrence and lake route until sold by
him to James Playfair. An improvement on the Toiler, the ship
Calgary, was built during the following year and these were the
first Diesel oil combustion engined vessels to run in Canadian
waters.
Clarence de Sola is a director of the Reid-Donald Steamship
Company, of which he is the Canadian manager, and he is also a
director of the Farrar Transportation Company.
Mr. de Sola has become widely known as a leading factor in the
world-embracing Zionist Movement, for the settlement in Palestine
of the persecuted Jews emigrating from Russia and other eastern
European countries and for the restoration of the Holy Land as
the national home of the Hebrew race. He was for a long period on
the Actions Committee, which is the supreme governing council of
the Zionist Movement, and for many years has been president of
the Federation of Zionist Societies of Canada. This federation
is a huge organization having branch societies in about sixty
different cities and towns throughout the Dominion, and is the
most representative Jewish body in Canada. It was through his
initiative and foresight that the Zionists of Canada, at their
eleventh convention, established a special fund for purchasing
land in Palestine on which to settle Jewish colonists and two
Jewish colonies in the Holy Land owe their existence entirely to
this measure. The Canadian Century has aptly styled him “the head
and shoulders of the Zionist Movement in Canada.” He has also
figured prominently in the Zionist International Congresses.
Mr. de Sola is a recognized authority on Jewish history, more
especially the early records of the Jews of this country, to
which he has given years of research. A number of his articles
on this subject have appeared in print. He is an honorary
corresponding member of the American-Jewish Historical Society
and member of the Anglo-Jewish Historical Society. When Funk
& Wagnalls published the Jewish Encyclopedia Mr. de Sola was
selected to be one of the writers of the articles on Jewish
history and his contributions are to be found in most of the
twelve volumes. One of his most salient characteristics is his
loyalty to any cause which he espouses. Men have learned to know
that what he promises he will do, that what he undertakes he will
execute, and to all his work he brings the correct principles
of business; accomplishing with dispatch, with accuracy and
decision that which he sets out to do. He does not confine his
efforts to institutions for the benefit of those of his own
race. In fact his work has always been broad and nonsectarian in
character and any call for humanity’s sake has met with ready
response from him. He is a governor of the Montreal General
Hospital and an officer of numerous philanthropic societies. He
is the presiding warden (Parnas) of the Corporation of Spanish
and Portuguese Jews of Montreal, the handsome design of whose
synagogue building is due to the architectural taste of Mr. de
Sola, a taste which also made itself felt in the striking beauty
and individuality of his own home.
In 1901 Mr. de Sola was married to Miss Belle Maud Goldsmith,
daughter of Leopold Goldsmith, a prominent citizen of Cleveland,
Ohio. She completed a collegiate course with the Bachelor of
Arts degree, and is an active officer of various organizations,
including among nonsectarian ones the Victorian Order of Nurses,
the Royal Edward Institute, the Needlework Guild and many others.
Among Jewish societies she is founder of the Daughters of Zion in
Canada and of the Women’s League for Cultural Work in Palestine.
She also was one of those who organized the Friendly League of
Jewish Women, of which she was the first president. She has
written several absorbingly interesting literary articles, among
them being “The Higher Education of Women,” “The Origin of the
French Salon,” and “The Jew--Imaginary and Real.”
Mr. and Mrs. Clarence de Sola’s home, on Pine Avenue, is one
of the most beautiful in Montreal. It is a splendid example of
Saracenic architecture, such as is seen in southern Spain. In
both its general outlines and in its rich ornamental details
it is an exquisite specimen of the highest form of Andalusian
art. It is a home that is additionally attractive by reason of a
gracious and cordial hospitality.
EDOUARD GOHIER.
There is probably no other line of business that is equal as a
factor in a city’s growth and development to the real-estate
business when conducted by men who are reliable and who aim to
develop only properties of merit and value. Included among such
men in Montreal is Edouard Gohier, senior member of Edouard
Gohier & Company. Mr. Gohier has been connected with a number of
the largest high-class suburban property deals that have taken
place around Montreal in recent years. His long experience in
that line of business, as well as his straightforward business
methods, has secured for him a high position in real-estate and
financial circles.
Mr. Gohier comes from one of the oldest families in the
province of Quebec and was born April 29, 1861, at St. Martin,
Laval county, his parents being Benjamin and Celina (Crevier)
Gohier. Mr. Gohier’s early life was spent on a farm, but when
about twenty-two years old he entered business circles in
connection with the dry-goods trade at St. Laurent and was thus
engaged about seven years. He then turned his attention to
the real-estate business in that town and Cartierville, later
opening an office in Montreal. For sixteen years he served as
mayor of St. Laurent and has always taken a deep interest in
public affairs in that town. Among the larger deals negotiated
by Edouard Gohier & Company of late years have been La Cie des
Boulevards de l’Ile de Montreal and the sale to the Canadian
Northern Land Company of the land for the Model City, a suburb
of Montreal, transactions that have been profitable to the
principals and valuable acquisitions to the city. Mr. Gohier is
managing director of the Northmount Land Company as well as one
of the original promoters of the company. His connection with
public interests has been of value in various lines and always
marked by the same careful consideration given his own business
affairs. He is a director of Notre Dame Hospital and of Le
Devoir, while in March, 1914, he was appointed by the federal
government as a member of the Georgian Bay Canal Commission. In
political matters he is a supporter of the conservative party,
while his religious faith is that of the Roman Catholic church.
Mr. Gohier married at St. Laurent Phomela Gosselin, a daughter of
Narcise Gosselin, and to them have been born thirteen children,
eight of whom are living. Horace, a graduate of St. Lawrence
College, later attended Notre Dame University of South Bend,
Indiana. Aside from his connection with the firm of Edouard
Gohier & Company he is a member of the firm of Gohier & Bigras,
who handle city properties, Laval on the Lake and the properties
of the Montreal Extension Land Company. He is likewise a director
of the Montreal Turnpike Trust. Politically he is a conservative
and is an alderman of the town of St. Laurent. His wife bore
the maiden name of Rosa Jasmin. The other children of Edouard
and Phomela (Gosselin) Gohier are as follows: Joseph, a farmer
of St. Laurent, who married Alice Valois; Ernest, a graduate of
McGill University, who married Berthe Mont Briant of Montreal
and who is a civil engineer and a partner of F. C. Laberge of
Montreal; Edouard, a graduate of St. Lawrence College, who has
taken post-graduate work in Notre Dame University at South Bend,
Indiana, and is now a lumber merchant of St. Laurent; Amanda, who
married J. Bruno Nantel; Yvonne; Lorette; and Leo.
Mr. Gohier has always resided in St. Laurent, while his summer
home is in Cartierville. Among his individual holdings of real
estate in St. Laurent is a valuable stock farm of five hundred
acres. He is a successful business man whose career has been
marked by honorable methods and whose progressive ideas in
educational and civic matters have long since caused him to be
numbered among the valued and respected citizens of his town.
JOSEPH EMERY-CODERRE.
Joseph Emery-Coderre, a well known notary of Montreal, was born
April 14, 1880, at Ste. Anne de Stukely, in Shefford county,
Quebec, and is descended from an old family of St. Antoine on the
Richelieu river. He is a grandnephew of Dr. J. Emery-Coderre, who
was a professor at Victoria and Laval Universities in Montreal.
J. Emery-Coderre, father of him whose name introduces this
review, removed to Indian Orchard, Massachusetts, 1882 and to
Woonsocket, Rhode Island, in 1886 and there the son was educated
in the parochial school, while from 1892 until 1897 he attended
the Brothers of Mary school at Waterloo, Quebec, and from
September, 1897, to January, 1898, the Seminary of St. Hyacinthe.
In April, 1898, he returned to Woonsocket, Rhode Island, and
for two years was employed in the Globe Cotton Mills, old Braid
Shop, and by the American Wringer Company. In 1900 he left the
mills to continue his education at the Séminaire of St. Marie de
Monnoir at Marieville, Quebec, remaining there for six years. In
1906 he won his Bachelor of Arts degree from Laval University
and during the ensuing two years he clerked in the office of
Boisseau & Bazinet, notaries at St. Hyacinthe, Quebec. During the
succeeding two years he studied at Laval University and clerked
in the office of Biron & Savignac, notaries. Thus alternating
business activity with the acquirement of an education, he
at length reached a position that enabled him to pass the
examination before the board of notaries on the 10th of July,
1910. Immediately afterward he became a member of the firm of
Biron & Savignac, notaries, with offices at 99 St. James Street,
Montreal, the said firm having now another member and being known
as Biron, Savignac, Coderre & Poirier.
[Illustration: JOSEPH EMERY-CODERRE]
J. Emery-Coderre is secretary and treasurer of the corporation
of Montreal East and is a member of the Montreal East Land
Company. At the same time the firm with which he is connected is
accorded an extensive clientage, and thus his professional and
business interests are important. He has made wise use of time,
talents and opportunities, and his ability has advanced him to an
enviable position.
On the 12th of October, 1910, J. Emery-Coderre was married at
St. Hyacinthe to Bertha Tetrault, a daughter of François Xavier
Tetrault, and they have become parents of two children, François
Xavier and Maurice. J. Emery-Coderre is a member of the Club
Champetre Canadien. A young man, he has won popularity in both
professional and social circles, and he now has a wide and
favorable acquaintance in Montreal.
HON. COLONEL SIR RODOLPHE FORGET, M. P.
“One of the most powerful men in financial circles in Canada; he
can make and unmake and has seldom been beaten in a financial
battle.” Thus wrote the Canadian Courier concerning one of the
foremost French-Canadian citizens of Montreal--Colonel Joseph
David Rodolphe Forget, better known as Sir Rodolphe Forget,
banker, broker and legislator. He was born at Terrebonne,
Province of Quebec, December 10, 1861, and while spending his
youthful days in the home of his parents, David and Angele
(Limoges) Forget, he attended Masson College. In early manhood he
established a home of his own through his marriage in October,
1885, to Mlle. Alexandra Tourville. Subsequent to her death he
was married, in April, 1894, to Miss Blanche, youngest daughter
of the late A. R. McDonold, a stock broker of Quebec. Lady Forget
is prominent in charitable and benevolent circles, being a
director of the Montreal Day Nursery and the Notre Dame Hospital,
while in 1909 she was elected vice president of the Women’s
Canadian Club.
Sir Rodolphe Forget’s active connection with financial affairs
began in 1890, when he joined the Montreal Stock Exchange,
of which he was chosen chairman in 1908, continuing in that
position until 1911, when he resigned. He was for a time
connected with the business of L. J. Forget & Company, the
senior partner being the late Hon. L. J. Forget. In 1909 a
branch house was established in Paris and as banker and broker
Sir Rodolphe Forget has attained prominence equal to that which
has come to him in connection with public affairs. Many of the
extensive and important corporation interests of Canada have
been quickened and stimulated through his cooperation, while
his sound judgment has constituted a controlling force in their
management. He is president of the Quebec and Saguenay Railway,
the Quebec Railway Light, Heat & Power Company; vice president
of the Montreal Light, Heat & Power Company; and director of the
Toronto Railway Company, the Quebec Gas Company, the Sterling
Coal Company, Limited, the Canadian General Electric Company, and
the St. Lawrence Flour Mills Company. He was formerly president
of the Richelieu & Ontario Navigation Company, the Eastern Canada
Steel & Iron Works, Limited, the Royal Electric Company, and
the Mount Royal Assurance Company; and vice president of the
Canadian Securities Corporation and La Société d’Administration
Générale; and director of the Duluth Street Railway Company,
the Montreal-London Securities Corporation, the Black Lake
Consolidated Asbestos Company, the Union Brewery Company,
the Murray-Bay Lumber & Pulp Company, the City Central Real
Estate Company, the Montreal Smelting & Reduction Company, the
Prudential Trust Company, the Wayagamack Pulp & Paper Company,
the Crown Life Insurance Company, the Canada Marconi Wireless
Telegraph Company, the Payne Consolidated Mining Company, La
Banque Provinciale and Le Journal. In 1911 he founded La Banque
Internationale du Canada. He was rated as a millionaire by the
Montreal Star in 1907, which in itself is a testimonial of his
power as a financier. In 1911 he headed the navigation merger. He
has also been connected with the Canada Car Foundry Company, the
Industrial Development Company, the Butte Central Copper Company,
and the Montmorency Cotton Mills Company. All these indicate
something of the wonderful scope of his business interests and
activity and yet by no means give a complete record of his
interest and his efforts, which have been equally strong forces
in the control, development and upbuilding of organizations
having to do with the public welfare. In 1911 he made a gift
of two hundred and fifty thousand dollars to the Notre Dame
Hospital, of which he is a director. He is also president of
the Province of Quebec Rifle Association, and he was appointed
honorary lieutenant colonel of the Sixty-fifth Carabiniers,
“Mount Royal” of Montreal in 1907, and was promoted to honorary
colonel in March, 1914. He is a director of the Canadian National
Bureau of Breeding and is a life governor of the Antiquarian
and Numismatic Society. He was vice president of Credit Foncier
Franco-Canadien. He has been a member of the executive committee
of the Canadian Handicrafts Guild of Montreal, holding the office
in 1908.
In politics an independent-conservative, Sir Rodolphe Forget
has sat for Charlevoix in the house of commons since 1904. In
1911 he was elected for Charlevoix and Montmorency--said to be
the first occasion in the history of the Dominion in which a
member in opposition was elected for two constituencies. He was
offered a portfolio when Premier Borden formed his cabinet, but
declined. He believes in a direct contribution from Canada for
the imperial navy and opposed the Taft-Fielding reciprocity
pact. His religious faith is that of the Roman Catholic church.
In club circles he is well known as a member of the Mount Royal,
the St. James, Club Lafontaine, Club Canadien, Club St. Denis,
Canada, Montreal, Montreal Jockey, Montreal Hunt, Canadian,
Forest and Stream, Montreal Curling, Montreal Military Institute,
Royal Montreal Golf, Royal St. Lawrence Yacht Clubs, of Montreal,
and the Garrison Club of Quebec, in many of which he has held
official positions. He has been termed “the young Napoleon of St.
François Xavier Street.” He has manifested Napoleonic powers in
other connections and his strength, power and resource have given
him the position of honor and distinction which he now occupies.
His residence is at No. 71 Ontario Avenue, and his summer home is
“Gil Mont,” St. Irenee les Bains, Quebec.
FITZ-JAMES E. BROWNE.
One of the best known citizens of Montreal whose reputation in
business is international is Fitz-James E. Browne, president of
the famous and highly successful firm known as “The House of
Browne, Limited,” real-estate experts, auctioneers, architects
and fire insurance agents. He was born in Montreal on the 22d of
September, 1871, a son of the late John James and Agnes Dunlop
(Hay) Browne, and comes of Irish and Scotch ancestry. He acquired
his early education at the McTavish school and afterward attended
Lincoln College at Sorel, province of Quebec.
After leaving school Mr. Browne became associated in the
architectural profession with his father and soon after the
death of the latter, in 1893, Fitz-James E. Browne engaged in
the real-estate business, continuing the firm name of John
James Browne until 1894, when the present title of “The House
of Browne, Limited” was assumed, and no real-estate firm in the
Dominion is as widely known. Mr. Browne’s advertising measures
are both progressive and aggressive as well as unique. He has
been a pioneer in methods that others attempt to imitate. As
a real-estate auctioneer it is doubtful if he has an equal.
He has officiated at the biggest sales on record in Canada
and holds the proud honor of having sold the highest priced
property per foot in Montreal. He possesses a comprehensive and
accurate knowledge of values as well as a thorough and practical
understanding of all the intricacies of the real-estate business
in the city, and his upright business methods have won him the
esteem and confidence of all. His knowledge of architecture from
both the scientific and practical standpoint is broad, and as a
real-estate expert he stands in the front rank. He is frequently
called upon to address meetings of real-estate dealers and
deliver lectures upon real-estate selling in both Canada and the
United States.
Mr. Browne was married in August, 1896, to Miss Sarsie Geraldine
Nagle of Montreal. Her tragic death, resulting from injuries
sustained in being struck by a tram car, occurred on November 15,
1913. She is survived by two sons: John James Ethelbert and Henry
Shewbridge Bashford.
Like the majority of progressive business men of the day, Mr.
Browne keeps well informed on leading questions and issues, but
does not seek nor desire the honors and emoluments of office,
preferring to concentrate his attention upon his business
affairs. In his younger days he devoted much time to amateur
sport, in which he still retains deep interest. As a member
of the Montreal Amateur Athletic Association he was foremost
in opposition to the introduction of professionalism into the
organization. He was a prime factor in the organization of the
St. Patrick’s Amateur Athletic Association and has since been its
leading spirit. Mr. Browne is a very public-spirited man and any
movement for the advancement of the city, province or Dominion
finds in him a most hearty supporter.
PAUL BRISSET DES NOS.
Prominent in real-estate circles of Montreal is Paul Brisset
des Nos, whose activities in that field have had an important
bearing upon the growth of the city. He has successfully handled
important deals and has been connected with some of the largest
transactions consummated in real estate. At present he is manager
of the L’Alliance Immobilière, Incorporated, which he established
in 1912 and which is capitalized at one hundred thousand dollars.
He is among the successful Parisians who have selected Montreal
as their field of labor, and yet he often visits the land of his
birth. Having had all the advantages of an excellent education,
he understands mankind and judges conditions correctly, and these
features are largely the corner stone of his success. He was born
in Paris, November 17, 1873, and comes of a distinguished family,
his father being André Brisset des Nos, for many years manager
for La Foncière, Paris, and his mother Clémentine Hébert de la
Rousselière.
Paul Brisset des Nos enjoyed the advantages of a classical
course, attending the College of the Jesuits in his native city,
located at the rue de Madrid, and also the school of the same
order at the rue Bleury at Montreal. He made his first step into
the business world as partner of his father, who was engaged in
the wholesale wine and liquor business at 23 Gosford Street,
Montreal, the business being conducted under the name of André
Brisset & Fils. He was connected with this firm for six years but
in 1906 he opened a real-estate office. For about seven years he
was located at Pointe-aux-Trembles but subsequently gave much
of his time to two tracts of land which he had acquired in the
district of the Rivière des Prairies, which he subdivided into
eighteen hundred lots, all of which have been disposed of today.
Among other enterprises he was concerned in the building of
four butter factories near Montreal. In 1912 he established and
incorporated the L’Alliance Immobilière, with a capital of one
hundred thousand dollars, and has since been manager thereof. He
is a number of the Montreal Real Estate Exchange.
On the 11th of February, 1901, at Montreal, Mr. Brisset des Nos
was united in marriage to Miss Yvonne Lareau, a daughter of the
late Edmond Lareau, deputy of Rouville. Mr. and Mrs. Brisset des
Nos have the following children: Paul, ten years of age; Aliette,
aged eight; Yves six; and Madeleine, three.
It is conceded on all sides that realty activities largely
contribute to the growth of a community and in that way Mr.
Brisset des Nos has participated in the development and
commercial expansion of Montreal. He is public-spirited and takes
a deep interest in any forward movement promoted in the cause
of the general welfare. Although he has been connected with
real-estate transactions for a comparatively short time, he has
made his influence felt in that field to such an extent that his
opinions and advice are often sought by investors. L’Alliance
Immobilière, founded upon a solid basis, may well look toward a
prosperous future under the able management of Mr. Brisset des
Nos, whose wide experience and sound judgment are among the most
important assets of the corporation.
[Illustration: PAUL BRISSET DES NOS]
HON. SIR LOMER GOUIN.