Montreal bar and a statesman whose grasp of affairs has made him
largely master of situations affecting government interests, was
born at Grondines, P. Q., March 19, 1861, a son of Dr. J. N.
and Victorie Seraphine (Fugere) Gouin. The family has long been
established in this province. Sir Lomer Gouin in the attainment
of his education attended successfully Sorel College, Levis
College and the Laval University. He won his LL. B. degree in
1884 and in 1902 the honorary degree of LL. D. was conferred upon
him while McGill also created him an LL. D. in 1911. He pursued
his law studies under the direction of the late Sir John Abbot
and the late Hon. R. Laflamme, two of the most eminent members
of the bar of Montreal. Passing the required examinations, Sir
Lomer Gouin was admitted to practice as an advocate in 1884, and
his advancement in his profession has brought him to a position
of leadership at the provincial bar. He was at one time a law
partner of Judge Pagnuelo and afterward of the late Hon. H.
Mercier. His knowledge of the law is comprehensive and exact and
in the application of its principles he has proven himself one of
the ablest representatives of the bar in Montreal. He was elected
batonnier-general of the provincial bar in 1910, was appointed
an officer of de l’Institut Public of France in 1902 and also
of the Legion of Honor in 1907. Aside from his profession, he
is known in financial circles as a director of the Royal Trust
Company, of the Montreal City and District Savings Bank and of
the Mount Royal Assurance Company. The Venerable Archdeacon Kerr
characterized him as “a straightforward business man,” and in all
his career he has never deviated from high standards of manhood
and citizenship.
In 1908 he was knighted by King George at the Quebec Tercentenary
celebration. His public service has been of an important
character and is of wide scope, and in 1898 he was appointed
a member of the council of public instruction, P. Q., and in
1910 was elected president of the North American Fish and Game
Protective Association. He has likewise been president of the
Canadian Camp. In 1900 he was chosen an alderman of Montreal
and exercises his official prerogatives in support of various
measures for the general good. Mr. Gouin is a liberal in
politics and for some years has been active in the party. He
unsuccessfully contested Richelieu for the House of Commons at
the general election in 1891, and he sat for Montreal, St. James
division, in the local house in 1897-1908. Since then he has
sat for Port Neuf. He is regarded as an administrator of breadth
of view, great knowledge and ability and unimpeachable probity.
From 1900 until 1904 Sir Lomer Gouin was commissioner of public
works under the Parent administration, and since March 23, 1905,
has been premier and attorney-general for the province of Quebec.
An eminent statesmen has characterized him as “the greatest
prime minister the province has ever known.” His comprehensive
knowledge of the law and his ready grasp of affairs, combined
with his unfaltering loyalty to the best interests of government,
classes him with the most prominent Canadian statesmen. In 1906
he was chairman of the Ottawa Inter-Provincial Conference and
was a delegate thereto in 1910. He has edited a special edition
of the Quebec Municipal Code, and he seems familiar with all
the various phases of the important municipal, provincial and
national problems which are now engaging public attention.
Sir Lomer Gouin was married in May, 1888, to Miss Eliza Mercier,
a daughter of the late Hon. Honore Mercier, prime minister
of Quebec. Lady Gouin passed away in September, 1904, and in
September, 1911, he wedded Alice, daughter of the late Auguste
Amos of Montreal. Sir Lomer Gouin was present by invitation at
the coronation of King George and Queen Mary in Westminster Abbey
in June, 1911. He is well known in club circles as a member of
the Garrison Club of Quebec; the Club St. Denis, the Montreal
Reform Club, and the Mount Royal Club of Montreal. His religious
affiliation is with the Roman Catholic church.
ISAAC GOUVERNEUR OGDEN.
The enterprise which has brought the western world to a par
with the old world in all that touches business activity and
progress finds exemplification in the life record of Isaac
Gouverneur Ogden, now vice president of the Canadian Pacific
Railway Company. It would be a partial view, however, if one
were to consider his life record only from the standpoint of
business advancement, as his labors have been directed with equal
efficiency along lines which touch the general interests of
society or have their root in a broad humanitarian spirit.
Born across the border, Mr. Ogden is a native of New York, the
date of his birth being October 10, 1844. His parents were
Isaac Gouverneur and Elizabeth Katherine (Williamson) Ogden,
representatives of old and distinguished families of the Empire
state. His education was acquired in local public schools, while
his early business training came to him in a mercantile house
in his native state where he secured employment in 1860. He
early recognized the eternal principle that industry wins, and
industry became the beacon light of his life. He turned from
merchandising to banking, entering the house of Fisk & Hatch
with which he remained until March, 1871, when he made his
initial step in railway service as paymaster and accountant for
the Chicago & Pacific Railway Company. The duties of the dual
position were promptly and capably discharged until 1876, when he
was made auditor, serving in that capacity for five years under a
receiver.
In 1881 he became auditor for the western division of the
Canadian Pacific Railway Company, was advanced to the position of
auditor for the Canadian Pacific in 1883 and so remained until
1887. For fourteen years thereafter he was comptroller for the
Canadian Pacific and since December, 1901 has been vice president
of the most important railway that crosses the Dominion. Long
experience has made him familiar with various phases of railway
operation and management, and thus he came well equipped to
his present position, ready for administrative direction and
executive control.
In early manhood Mr. Ogden wedded Miss Julia M. Baker and they
reside at No. 457 Mackay Street. Home and business interests,
however, by no means comprise the extent of his activities which
reach out into the fields of religious and philanthropic work and
also prominently into club life. He is an Anglican, is president
of the Montreal College of Homeopathic Physicians and Surgeons;
and is a life governor of the Montreal Homeopathic Hospital. In
1901 he was elected president of the Association of American
Railway Accounting Officers and in 1905 was a delegate to the
International Railway Congress. He brings to bear upon public
questions the same keen discrimination and sound judgment that
have characterized his activities in railway circles. His social
nature finds expression in his membership in the St. James, Mount
Royal, Forest and Stream, Royal St. Lawrence Yacht and Montreal
Hunt Clubs of Montreal; the Lotus and Transportation Clubs of New
York, and the Manitoba Club of Winnipeg.
CHARLES HAZLITT CAHAN.
It cannot be denied that members of the bar have been more
prominent actors in public affairs than any other class of the
community. This is but the natural result of causes which are
manifest and require no explanation. The ability and training
which qualify one to practice law also qualify him in many
respects for duties which lie outside the strict path of his
profession and which touch the general interests of society.
Holding marked precedence among the members of the bar and
recognized also as an influential factor in political circles,
Charles Hazlitt Cahan is a well known and honored resident of
Montreal. He comes of a family of Irish origin and was born at
Hebron, Yarmouth, Nova Scotia, October 31, 1861, his parents
being the late Charles and Theresa Cahan, of Yarmouth. He
supplemented his early educational training by study at Yarmouth
Seminary and in Dalhousie University, winning his Bachelor of
Arts degree in 1886 and Bachelor of Laws degree in 1890. He began
practice as a barrister of Nova Scotia in 1893 and was created
king’s counsellor there in 1907. In the same year he entered
upon the practice of law in the province of Quebec and was made
king’s counsellor in this province in 1909. While a resident of
Halifax he was a member of the law firm of Harris, Henry & Cahan
but since 1909 has been in practice in Montreal. He has always
specialized in corporation law, in which department he has had
wide and varied experience in North and South America and in
Europe.
There was an interval between the completion of his course and
his active connection with the bar in which he devoted his time
and energies to journalistic interests, being connected with the
Halifax Evening Mail and Herald, resigning, however, to devote
his attention to law and politics in 1894, and he has made for
himself a prominent name and position in the latter as well as
in the former connection. He contested Shelburne, Nova Scotia,
in the conservative interest and following the election sat in
the Nova Scotia legislature from 1890 until 1894, during which
period he was the recognized leader of the opposition. In 1896 he
unsuccessfully contested Shelburne and Queen’s for the house of
commons, and also Cumberland at the general election in 1900. He
declined a nomination for the St. Lawrence division of Montreal
at the general election of 1911, and he also refused political
honors when he decided not to accept the portfolio offered him
in the Dominion cabinet in 1896. Public activity has ever been
with him a matter of public duty, as he has ever placed the
general good before partisanship or self-aggrandizement. He was
for several years honorary secretary of the Halifax branch of
the Imperial Federation League and honorary secretary of the
Liberal-Conservative Association in Nova Scotia. With all the
duties that have been imposed upon him in his political and
professional connections, he has found time and opportunity
to cooperate in the management of various successful business
corporations and interests. He is now the president of the
Western Canada Power Company and of the Corporation Agencies,
Ltd., and a director of several other important financial and
industrial companies. He has closely studied vital public
problems, and he took a decided stand against the Taft-Fielding
reciprocity compact, against which he delivered various addresses
during the political campaign of 1911. He has been termed a
courageous, ready and powerful speaker. He presents his arguments
with clearness and force, and their logic is convincing.
On March 1, 1887, Mr. Cahan was united in marriage to Mrs. Mary
J. Hetherington of Halifax, Nova Scotia, and they now reside at
No. 740 University Street, Montreal, with a summer residence at
“Belmont,” Halifax, Nova Scotia. Mr. Cahan’s club relationship
is with the Mount Royal and Montreal Clubs, Montreal; the
Halifax Club, Halifax; and the Jockey Club of Mexico. He filled
the presidency of the Dalhousie University Alumni Association
in 1893-4. One of the elements of his success is found in his
ability to entirely concentrate his thought and efforts upon the
question or work in hand and then turn with equal enthusiasm and
capability to his next duty or undertaking. The trend of his mind
is analytical, logical and inductive, and as a corporation lawyer
he stands among the foremost representatives of the profession in
Montreal.
LEANDRE BELANGER.
Leandre Bélanger, for forty years or more one of the most
prominent notaries of the province of Quebec, was born March 29,
1848, at St. François de Sales, Laval county. His father, Leandre
Bélanger, was a carriage maker by trade and married Marie Nadon.
His grandfather, François Bélanger, was a farmer of Laval county.
In his native village Leandre Bélanger, Jr., spent his boyhood
and was educated at Terrebonne College. For five years he studied
law in the office of Melasippe Prevost in Terrebonne and on
the 11th of June, 1871, was commissioned a licensed notary in
Quebec. For a year thereafter he engaged in practice at St.
François de Sales, but, seeking a more extensive field, he
located in Montreal on the 1st of May, 1872, and in this city
soon built up a large and lucrative practice. Until 1909 he was
alone in practice, but in that year formed a partnership with his
son Adrien under the name of Bélanger & Bélanger, with offices at
No. 30 St. James Street. For twenty-five years Mr. Bélanger has
been a member of the board of notaries of the province of Quebec
and for three years served as president of that board. For eight
years he was president of the Montreal Association of Notaries
and his contemporaries in the profession accord him a high
position in their ranks. He has been a member of the Antiquarian
and Numismatic Society for many years, and he is also a member of
the Chambre de Commerce.
[Illustration: LEANDRE BELANGER]
Mr. Bélanger is a member of the Catholic church and of L’Union
Catholique and has served as a director and vice president of the
latter. In politics he has ever remained independent. In 1870
he was married at St. François de Sales, to Claire Viger, and
they became parents of two children: Joseph, a resident of St.
Hyacinthe; and Maria, the wife of Dr. Archambault, of Fall River,
Massachusetts. In 1879 Mr. Bélanger was married, in Montreal,
to Miss Laura Viau and they have seven children: Leandre, an
electrician in Montreal; Adrien, who is in partnership with his
father; Armand; Laura; Evelina; Antoinette; and Alice. The family
home is on St. Catherine road in Outremont.
HON. LOUIS ONESIME LORANGER.
Hon. Louis Onesime Loranger, whose name is prominently associated
with the history of Montreal’s judiciary, retired from the bench
in May, 1910, but has never ceased to feel a deep interest in
his profession or in the great and vital problems which are most
closely connected with the welfare and progress of the country.
He was born at Yamachiche in the province of Quebec on the
7th of April, 1837, a son of the late Joseph and Marie Louise
(Dugal) Loranger. In the acquirement of his education he attended
Montreal College and St. Mary’s College, the latter a Jesuit
school of Montreal, and in preparation for the bar, having
determined to make the practice of law his life work, he began
a thorough course of reading and on the 3d of May, 1858, was
admitted to practice at Montreal. He then joined his brothers,
Hon. T. J. I. Loranger, late judge of the superior court and
the late J. M. Loranger, K. C. They acquired an extensive
practice and, in fact, were accorded a large share of the most
important law work in the city during the greater part of the
later half of the nineteenth century. Mr. Louis O. Loranger was
created a king’s counsel by the Marquis of Lorne in 1881 and
the honorary degree of LL. D. was conferred upon him by Laval
University in 1901. He continued in the active profession of law
until appointed judge of the superior court for the district of
Montreal in 1882, and remained upon the bench for twenty-seven
years, or until May, 1910, when he entered into the enjoyment of
a full pension.
Judge Loranger’s public service aside from his connection with
the judiciary has been extensive and of an important character.
He was alderman of Montreal from 1868 until 1879, covering
a period of eleven years, and he sat for Laval in the local
legislature for a period of seven years, or from 1875 until 1882.
He was attorney general in the Chapleau administration from 1879
until 1882. It was upon his retirement from that position that he
was made puisne judge, continuing upon the bench for twenty-seven
years thereafter. His public service also covers incumbency in
the office of president of the St. Jean Baptiste Society in
1895-6. In 1906 he was elected governor of Laval University and
the same year was made president of Notre Dame Hospital.
Judge Loranger was twice married. In 1867 he married Marie Anne
Rosalie Lafranboise, a daughter of the late Hon. Mr. Justice
Lafranboise. To them were born seven children: Louise, the
deceased wife of Henry Masson; Louis J., a prominent advocate of
Montreal, whose sketch appears elsewhere in this volume; Adele,
now Mrs. H. Prefontaine; Caroline, now Mrs. Hubert Desjardins;
Joseph, a well known advocate of Montreal; Maurice, a well known
attorney of this city; and Rosalie, now Mrs. Emile Chaput, of
Montreal. The mother of these children died in May, 1883, and
Judge Loranger was again married in May, 1888, his second wife
being Mrs. Antonette (Valois) Verin, a daughter of the late S.
Valois.
Hon. L. O. Loranger is a communicant of the Roman Catholic
church. He belongs to Club Lafontaine and is an advocate to
conservative principles. He enjoys high reputation as a lawyer
and as a debater and still takes an exceedingly active interest
in political affairs. He has long since passed the Psalmist’s
span of three score years and ten, having now reached the age of
seventy-seven, but in spirit and interest seems yet in his prime.
Old age need not necessarily suggest inactivity; on the contrary,
there is an old age which grows stronger and better mentally and
morally as the years go by and gives out of the rich store of
its experience for the benefit of others. Such is the record of
Hon. Louis Onesime Loranger, whose opinions carry weight in many
councils and are always worthy of an interested hearing.
EDOUARD O. CHAMPAGNE.
Edouard O. Champagne, superintendent of the department of boiler
inspection for the city of Montreal, has been connected with
that department of the city government for thirty-five years,
during which time he has established a reputation for capability
and efficiency in his line that is probably unsurpassed on the
continent. Thoroughly progressive and up-to-date, he has kept
fully abreast of the advancement made in all lines of manufacture
and usage affecting his department.
Mr. Champagne comes from one of the old and prominent families
of the province, a family whose members for nearly two hundred
and fifty years have been identified with provincial history and
have been regarded as of the highest type of French-Canadian
citizenship. Edouard O. Champagne was born at Sorel, Quebec,
in 1848. His education was acquired at the Christian Brothers
College, where he excelled in mechanical drawing and civil
engineering and also at the John Allan Model and Classical school
of Sorel. He served his apprenticeship as a machinist in the St.
Lawrence engine works, after which he was for fourteen years
employed on steamboats on the Ottawa and St. Lawrence rivers and
Lakes Champlain, Erie and Ontario in his professional capacity.
[Illustration: EDOUARD O. CHAMPAGNE]
His splendid record as an engineer of various boats induced the
harbor commissioners of Montreal to engage him to run the St.
Peter, their best boat, which was never outdistanced during
the four years in which he was in charge. In 1872 he obtained
a first class certificate from the federal government as a
mechanical engineer, being the first French-Canadian to whom
was accorded that distinction. In 1879 he was appointed boiler
inspector for the city of Montreal by a council, the majority of
whose members were English-speaking. His experience has enabled
him to solve many of the difficult and intricate problems that
arise in connection with the operation of engines, pumps, steam
plants, elevators and water and gas plants. In a word, he has
expert scientific knowledge and practical mechanical ability and
is splendidly qualified for the onerous and important duties
which devolve upon him in this connection. As an example of his
capability, as well as the value of his services to the city,
mention might be made of the heating apparatus of the public
baths. In July, 1913, when the question of heating water for the
public baths was being considered by the city officials, various
types of expensive and complicated apparatus were shown and
inspected. The expense of installation, as well as that of fuel
and maintenance, represented a large sum if any of those systems
had been adopted. Mr. Champagne had given the matter some thought
and, with a system of entirely his own planning, offered to
install an efficient and economical apparatus for that purpose.
How well he succeeded may be inferred from the fact that at an
expense of ten dollars he secured the same result, in less than
one-half the time, that a system costing ten thousand dollars
would have accomplished. Three such equipments were supplied by
him, representing a first cost saving of thirty thousand dollars
to the city. Being in the city’s employ, he waived all claims
to remuneration as an inventor. The city’s requirements in the
future will call for a number of such installations, each one of
which will mean a saving of an additional ten thousand dollars.
At their annual meeting in 1880 the various members of the
Association of Boiler Inspectors of the United States and Canada
were invited to submit designs from which the organization’s
official seal was to be selected. Mr. Champagne, through illness
in his family, was unable to attend this meeting. However, he
submitted the design he had planned, and it was adopted. This has
ever since been in use as the official seal of the association.
The first impression made from the seal, together with a small
photogravure of the original drawing, were sent to Mr. Champagne
by the officials. The design of the seal is unique and highly
appropriate, containing accurate drawings of sixteen dangerous
types of boilers which form its circular border. Mr. Champagne
has frequently been called upon as an expert in determining
causes of boiler explosions, and in matters generally pertaining
to his line of business there are few, if any, better posted men
in the Dominion.
Mr. Champagne is also a noted marksman and one of the best
snapshots in the Dominion. He came into permanent possession
of several challenge cups as evidence of his skill. Few men
would probably display more modesty over achievements of equal
importance and significance than he has done.
In 1895 he came into public notice through his heroism at the
Longue Pointe Asylum fire, when he and Chief Benoit saved the
lives of over ninety inmates. It is characteristic of him that he
never considers himself in the presence of imminent danger, and
his faithfulness and fidelity in public service have won him the
confidence and high regard of all who know aught of his career.
As a citizen he represents the best of the French-Canadian type,
has reared an excellent family and, with them, is highly esteemed
and respected.
HON. FRANCOIS XAVIER CHOQUET.
Hon. François Xavier Choquet, judge of the juvenile court,
Montreal, since January 2, 1912, is uniformly recognized as an
eminent legist and jurist, as well as an able member of the
judiciary. He occupied for many years a position of distinction
at the Montreal bar, where his name figured in connection with
the court records of some of the most prominent cases heard in
the province.
Judge Choquet was born on the 8th of January, 1851, at Varennes,
in the province of Quebec. His father, Jean Baptiste Choquet, was
a farmer at Varennes and descended from one of the oldest French
families in the province, while the mother of Judge Choquet,
Adeline Provost, a daughter of Amable Provost, also belonged to
an old and honorable family.
The Choquet family has been identified with the history of the
province since 1665, the founders, who originally belonged to
Picardie, France, settling in Canada in that year.