the knowledge acquired in attendance at L’Assomption College, the
Montreal Seminary and McGill University, being graduated from the
last named in 1874 with the B. C. L. degree, having determined
to make the practice of law his life work. In the meantime he
had studied law under Sir La Jette and Senator Beique, in the
firm of Jette & Beique, and after being called to the bar on the
10th of January, 1875, he began the practice of his profession
in Montreal as a partner of his former law preceptors, being
admitted to the firm of Jette & Beique, where he remained about
four years. Subsequently he practiced alone for six years, during
which time he acquired a clientele that was not surpassed by any
of his contemporaries. He afterwards became partner in the firm
of Mercier, Beausoleil & Choquet, so continuing from 1884 until
1892, when the senior partner, the late Hon. Honore Mercier,
withdrew, and the firm style of Beausoleil & Choquet was adopted.
Judge Choquet was created a king’s counsellor by the Earl of
Aberdeen on March 7, 1893.
Many important duties have devolved upon him, either in the
direct or indirect path of his profession. He was a royal
commissioner to revise the charter of Montreal in September,
1897, and was appointed judge of the session of the peace, police
magistrate, and license commissioner of Montreal on the 27th of
December, 1898. He was also appointed an extradition commissioner
under the extradition act, July 20, 1901. In more strictly
professional lines his service as a member of the council
of the Montreal bar continued from 1894 until 1897, and he was
appointed a delegate to the general council of the bar of the
province of Quebec.
[Illustration: HON. FRANCOIS X. CHOQUET]
He has been a continuous student of his profession, constantly
broadening his knowledge by reading, study, research and
investigation until today his opinions are largely accepted as
authority concerning any vital legal problems.
In the course of his professional career, Judge Choquet
successfully handled many important railway and municipal cases.
He made a special study of the law relating to transportation
matters and also the laws governing municipal affairs, while on
the law of elections, the Montreal Herald has referred to him as
“the highest authority of the province.”
In June, 1884, Judge Choquet was married to Miss Marie
Caroline Barry, a daughter of John E. Barry, of Saguenay and
Trois Pistoles. Both Judge and Mrs. Choquet are prominently
connected with the Montreal Children’s Aid Society, of which
he was president for some time, while Mrs. Choquet has been
vice president. He is also president of the Cooperative Funeral
Expense Society. Their religious faith is that of the Roman
Catholic church, and Mrs. Choquet was granted an audience by the
pope in 1906. Judge Choquet is vice president of the Shawinigan
Fishing Club, holds membership also with the Engineers and
Winchester Clubs, and has been president of the latter for ten
years. He resides at No. 814 Dorchester Street, West, Montreal,
through the winter seasons and has a summer home at Rigaud, P. Q.
HON. LOUIS TELLIER.
On the list of representatives of the judiciary of Montreal
appears the name of Hon. Louis Tellier, puisne judge of the
superior court of the province of Quebec. A native of Berthier,
Quebec, he was born on the 25th of December, 1844, a son of
Zephirin Tellier of Ste. Melanie d’Aillebout and Luce Ferland,
the latter a daughter of V. Prisque Ferland. After attending
Joliette College Louis Tellier was called to the bar in 1866,
and thus for almost half a century he has been a representative
of the legal profession in the province. For a number of years
he held the office of deputy prothonotary of the superior court,
also deputy clerk of the circuit court and deputy clerk of the
peace and of the crown for the district of St. Hyacinthe. He had
studied law under the late Mr. Baby, who became a justice of the
court of queen’s bench in the province of Quebec, and afterward
under Mr. Chagnon, who became a judge of the superior court for
the province of Quebec in the district of Iberville, and had come
to the bar well equipped for the honors and responsible duties
of the profession. His ability was early manifest in the manner
in which he prepared and conducted his cases, and in 1873 he was
appointed crown prosecutor for the district of St. Hyacinthe. He
also became a recognized leader in political as well as in legal
circles, and in 1878 he was elected to the house of commons for
the St. Hyacinthe riding at the general election and sat for
that district until 1882. He was appointed queen’s counsel in
1882 by the Marquis of Lorne. He resumed the practice of law and
was raised to the bench as puisne judge of the superior court
of the province of Quebec by the Marquis of Lansdowne on the
12th of November, 1887. He was appointed for the district of
St. Hyacinthe, succeeding Justice Sicotte, but in 1903 he was
removed to the district of Montreal, where he now presides. His
decisions on the bench are models of judicial soundness, showing
a comprehensive grasp of the law with ability to accurately apply
its principles.
On the 26th of May, 1868, Judge Tellier married Hermine, daughter
of the late Dr. A. Malhiot. She died in 1878, and on the 18th
of July, 1882, Judge Tellier married Elzire Hamel, daughter of
Joseph A. Hamel, collector of customs in St. Hyacinthe division.
Her death occurred October 6, 1906. On the 26th of January,
1914, the Judge married Mrs. Jules Richard whose maiden name was
Regina Royer and who was the widow of Jules Richard, advocate,
practicing his profession at Sherbrooke in the district of St.
Francis. Judge Tellier has three sons and five daughters.
He is an administrator of Laval University and is a member of the
Catholic church. His mind is naturally analytical, logical and
inductive, and his clear reasoning finds expression in judicial
opinions from which colleagues and contemporaries seldom take
exception.
HENRY JOHNSTONE ELLIOTT.
Henry Johnstone Elliott, senior member of the law firm of Elliott
& David, has been a lifelong resident of Montreal, and is a son
of the late Hugh Elliott. He received his early education in
the schools of his native city and pursued his preparation for
the bar at McGill University, from which he was graduated B.
C. L. in 1898. The same year he began practice as an advocate,
and ten years’ successful work as a representative of the legal
profession won him position among the king’s counselors, being
created such in 1908. He understands thoroughly the necessity for
careful preparation before presenting his cause in the courts,
and in the trial of cases it is seen that his knowledge of the
law is exact and comprehensive, while in the application of legal
principles he is seldom if ever at fault.
Mr. Elliott finds enjoyment in golf, and interest and recreation
in various outdoor sports, exercises and athletics. He belongs
to the Beaconsfield Golf Club, Outremont Golf Club, Montreal
Athletic Association, the Engineers Club and the Temple Club, all
of Montreal. His religious belief is that of the Anglican church
and he has been a delegate to the synod.
REV. MALCOLM A. CAMPBELL.
Rev. Malcolm A. Campbell, pastor of the First Presbyterian
church of Montreal and known in that city as a man of superior
attainments and of active religious zeal, was born in Bruce
county, Ontario, October 10, 1875. He acquired his education in
high school at Port Elain, in his native province, and later
attended the Collegiate Institute at Owen Sound. He supplemented
this by a course in McGill University and in the Presbyterian
College at Montreal, from which he was graduated in April,
1909. He was ordained in the following October and in January,
1910, became minister of the First Presbyterian church of this
city, a position which he still retains. This is one of the
most important parishes in Montreal, being a combination of
St. Gabriel’s and Chalmers Presbyterian churches, the former
the first Protestant church in Canada. Rev. Campbell brings to
the duties of his responsible position well directed energy,
unflagging zeal and a firm belief in the importance of the work
in which he is engaged, and the results of his labors are seen in
the excellent condition of the parish and its constant growth.
On the 26th of October, 1910, Rev. Campbell was united in
marriage to Miss Louise Crippen, of Trout River, New York. He is
a member of the Masonic order, being grand chaplain of the Grand
Lodge of Quebec province, and he is widely and favorably known in
Montreal, where he is recognized as a man sincere in his aims and
purposes and one whose honorable and upright life is always in
strict conformity with the doctrines which he professes.
ARTHUR JOSEPH RICHER, M. D.
In preparation for the onerous and difficult duties and
responsibilities of the profession Dr. Arthur Joseph Richer has
studied under eminent physicians and surgeons of the old world
and the new, and his labors have manifestly been of marked value
to his fellowmen, especially in the conduct of the Brehmer Rest,
a sanitarium promoting a preventive treatment for tuberculosis.
He was born at Upton, P. Q., November 16, 1868, and is a son
of Damase and Celina (Larvie) Richer, of Antonvale, P. Q. His
education was acquired at Sabrevois Mission College and in
Bishop’s College at Lennoxville, P. Q., where he was accorded
the degrees of M. D. and C. M. in 1892. Since that time he has
taken post-graduate work in New York and for a year and a half he
was connected with the Pasteur Institute of Paris. He was also
assistant under Dr. Roux in his private laboratory, and under his
guidance and that of Pasteur, Metchkinoff and others, Dr. Richer
performed many successful experiments. Later he was assistant at
L’Ecole de Pharmacie Superieure at Paris for a short time and
was appointed house surgeon at the faculty surgical clinic at
Krakow, Austria, in 1895. He next went to Breslau for a winter’s
study before returning to Canada. At different times he was a
student at Dresden, Leipzig, Halle, Berlin and Hamburg and was
an assistant in the laboratory of physiology of the faculty of
medicine of Paris.
Dr. Richer returned to Canada in 1897 and located for practice
in Montreal. He has since carried on an active crusade against
tuberculosis in this country. The scheme of a recuperative home
such as Brehmer Rest at Ste. Agathe des Monts was suggested by
Dr. Richer. He has been a lifelong worker in fighting the dread
disease and in the early spring of 1905 Brehmer Rest was opened
as the result of his untiring efforts. In his first annual report
concerning the institution he said: “When we select for treatment
convalescents from pneumonia, pleurisy, and typhoid fever, as
well as those affected with anaemia, chlorosis and debility,
we do so with a definite object in view. Nine-tenths of those
affected as above will inevitably become victims of tuberculosis.
“If they can be treated and trained before they become a
prey to the dread scourge, the saving is evident from every
viewpoint. In the pre-tuberculosis stage a patient can be
restored to health in eight or ten weeks; when tuberculosis has
developed it becomes a matter of as many months. At the last
International Congress, held in Paris, October, 1905, one of the
delegates present expressed his opinion in very strong terms
regarding the treatment of the conditions of disease known as
‘pre-tuberculosis;’ they comprise the group above mentioned. In
this respect Brehmer Rest stands out as supplying an actual need,
and enjoys the unique distinction of being the first institution
in the world devoted to that special class of work. Brehmer
Rest has undoubtedly anticipated the movement of the future,
particularly when considered in the light of the statements
recently made by Von Behring in connection with his method of
vaccination against tuberculosis. The new product (Tulase), which
this distinguished scientist offers to the world, is a substance
extracted from the cultivated germ of the disease (tuberculosis),
so modified as to impart resisting power to the human organism
without impairing health. It is markedly curative in the first
stage of the disease, thus its action is twofold, protective and
curative.”
Dr. Richer’s efforts along this line have gained him not only
national but international fame and distinction. His name is
known on the other side of the Atlantic as well as on this, and
he has joined hands with the men of earnest purpose who are using
the highest scientific skill and knowledge to blot out the dread
disease. His labors have been effective in hundreds of cases and
thus his life work has been a valuable contribution to mankind,
placing him with the benefactors of the race.
JOSEPH TREMBLAY.
Joseph Tremblay, chief of the Montreal fire brigade, was born at
St. Isidore, a little village a few miles from Montreal, where
his parents were the proverbially poor but honest French-Canadian
small farmers. His education was the usual course of reading,
writing and arithmetic gleaned from the village priest. At the
age of twelve years he left school and the farm, thinking to
find more congenial and profitable occupation in the city. He
made his way to Montreal with all his earthly possessions tied
in a bundle, after the manner of Dick Whittington of old. At
that period he knew no English, but he had little difficulty in
finding a position as errand boy with one Beauvais, a merchant
tailor of Chaboillez Square. Being an errand boy had small
attractions in those days and it did not suit Joe Tremblay to
remain one for long. He, therefore, gathered up his bundle, put
his money in his sock and departed for the United States. For a
while he lingered on that side the border, learning many lessons
in the school of experience which have since been of much use
to him. Following his return to Montreal he sought to establish
himself in the tailoring business, which he had followed during
his sojourn in the United States. He located at Ste. Cunegonde,
then a separate municipality south of Westmount and north of
Point St. Charles. There he hung out two neat brass signs, one
of which read Joseph Tremblay, Tailleur, and the other Joseph
Tremblay, Tailor, thus soliciting business from both the English
and French population. While he was then ready for business, it
appeared that business was not ready for him. F. Beecher Edwards,
in an article in a Montreal paper, said:
[Illustration: JOSEPH TREMBLAY]
“Fate, wishing to do some good to poor old Montreal for a change,
glimpsed one Joseph Tremblay working busily in his little
tailoring and men’s furnishing shop on the southwestern borders
of the city. Whereupon, things went very badly for the said
Joseph Tremblay in his little tailoring and men’s furnishing
business. People to whom he owed money camped on his doorstep
and people who owed him money left for parts unknown in the dead
of night, so Joseph Tremblay put up the shutters on his little
tailoring and men’s furnishing shop on the southwestern borders
of the city and went into the Ste. Cunegone fire department.
Consequently the Montreal fire department is today a thing to be
proud of in a city which has little enough reason to be proud of
the vast majority of its civic enterprises.
“Fate, it will be observed, may be a trifle circumlocutious in
her methods, but she gets there in the end. So we may thank fate
that made Joseph Tremblay an unsuccessful tailor and haberdasher,
for the fact that during the tragic Christmas week--1913--when
through somebody’s outrageous blundering the greater portion
of this great Canadian metropolis went inadvertently dry; when
the fire menace, ever present, hovered more threateningly
over thousands of human lives and millions of dollars worth
of property, because of the fact that our strongest barrier
of defense was broken down with the collapse of a few feet of
unstable concrete somewhere out beyond Point St. Charles, we
may thank fate for the fact that we had at the head of the
Montreal fire department, deprived from no fault of its own of
its heaviest ammunition, a man of the quality, the resource and
the ability of Joseph Tremblay, the bad tailor who became one of
the greatest, if not the greatest of fire chiefs on the North
American continent.
“At the time that Joseph Tremblay became a member of the fire
department he was much as he is now, with the exception of recent
inclination to embonpoint, a well set up, good looking man of
above the average build and as strong as two ordinary men. He had
a brain, too, but they did not find that out until he had been
in the Ste. Cunegonde force at least a week, when it began to be
hinted that there was more to this young man than to the average.
Six months after Joe Tremblay joined the Ste. Cunegonde fire
brigade the chief of the brigade retired from office; whereupon,
to the amazement of one and all, the Ste. Cunegonde council made
the new recruit, the man who had been an unsuccessful tailor,
chief. This may safely be put forward as the world’s record for
rapid promotion.
“In the course of time Ste. Cunegonde was annexed to Montreal
and Chief Tremblay became Sub-Chief Tremblay, in charge of the
western division. This was in 1906. In 1907 he was made a deputy
chief to Chief Benoit and when one year later the veteran retired
in his turn Deputy Chief Tremblay became head of the Montreal
fire brigade.
“Chief Tremblay is an omnivorous reader of all literature
appertaining to fires and fire fighting and he is not above
learning from other cities and makes at his own expense at least
one trip a year to the principal cities in the States to see what
helpful piece of information he can pick up.
“One of his first official acts was to institute an inspection
system which was largely instrumental in reducing the rates
of fire insurance here. In 1905, 1906 and 1907 the fire loss
was around nine dollars per annum per capita. In 1913 it was
something like two dollars and thirty-four cents per capita. He
was responsible for the introduction of automobile fire apparatus
here; he started the firemen’s drill school at Chaboillez Square,
and he had the fire headquarters transferred from the City Hall
to its present location on Craig Street. The chief is well known
by sight to Montrealers. His inspiring figure has bulked large
on the horizon of many a panic stricken householder at hundreds
of fires during the last few years. He is a big, handsome man,
and his very size begets confidence. He works his men hard and
he works himself just as hard, for he believes that the citizens
should get full value for their money. He has one or two hobbies,
all of them connected with fire fighting, a high pressure system
for the down town district, a fire tug for the harbor and the
placing of the firemen’s benevolent fund on a sound footing.
Chief Joseph Tremblay is a man’s size man and if there was any
doubt on the subject lingering in anyone’s mind it was banished
by the splendidly efficient manner in which he handled the
appalling situation during the water famine of December, 1913.”
PAUL E. MERCIER.
Paul E. Mercier, one of the best known civil engineers in
Montreal and a member of the firm of Baulne & Mercier, has won
a position of high standing in his profession. He was born at
St. Hyacinthe, Quebec, March 15, 1877. His father was the late
Hon. Honore Mercier, premier of Quebec, of whom a more extended
mention appears elsewhere in this work, while his mother previous
to her marriage was Virginie St. Denis.
When four years of age Mr. Mercier was brought to Montreal and in
the schools of the city pursued his early education. He afterward
attended St. Mary’s College and was graduated with honor from
Ecole Polytechnique with the Bachelor of Science degree in 1899.
During his holiday periods he was employed by the Canadian
Pacific Railway Company and following the completion of his
college course he went to the Yukon, where he spent a year as
assistant engineer of the Dominion public works and two years as
district engineer in the Yukon.
Following his return Mr. Mercier was for two years district
engineer of Dominion public works for the district of Quebec
and from 1904 until 1907 was engineer in charge of work of the
National Transcontinental Railway. In the latter year he returned
to Montreal and opened an office as consulting engineer, while in
1910 he formed a partnership with S. A. Baulne, with offices in
the Shaughnessy Building. Reading between the lines one may see
that his progress has been continuous and that he has advanced
step by step until he now occupies a commanding position in
engineering circles. His ability has increased through experience
and continuous study and investigation. He keeps abreast with
the leaders of the profession in all that pertains to his
chosen life work and his ability has won him wide recognition
and well earned reputation. In 1911 he was appointed professor
of railway engineering at Ecole Polytechnique and in 1913 was
appointed on the board of examiners for the Canadian Society of
Civil Engineers. On May 16, 1914, he was appointed deputy chief
engineer of public works of Montreal. He has important membership
relations along professional lines. He has been secretary of the
Association des Anciens Elèves de L’Ecole Polytechnique since
its organization and he has been professor of transportation
and communication at l’Ecole des Hautes Etudes Commerciales de
Montreal. He is a member of the American Railway Engineering
Association, the Quebec Land Surveyors’ Corporation, the Society
of Civil Engineers of France and the Association International
Congress of Navigation. Mr. Mercier is also well known in
military connections. He is captain of the Corps of Guides of the
Canadian Volunteer Militia and organized and commands as major
the Canadian Officers Training Corps of Laval University.
On the 29th of June, 1901, Mr. Mercier was married, at
Whitehorse, Yukon, to Miss Marie Louise Tache, of Ottawa,
Ontario, and their children are Simone, Jeanne, Yvonne and Heva.
JAMES MORGAN.
James Morgan, an influential citizen of Montreal, is perhaps
best known as president of Henry Morgan & Company, Limited.
His activities, however, have extended to other lines, all of
which have proved beneficial to Montreal in its material, civic
or moral upbuilding. In the utilization of opportunities that
others have passed heedlessly by, he has achieved distinction
and honorable success, and yet the acquirement of wealth has
been but one phase of his existence, never excluding his active
participation in and support of other vital interests which go
to make up community and national life. He was born in Glasgow,
Scotland, a son of the late James Morgan, a native of Saline,
Fifeshire, who was associated with his brother, Henry Morgan,
in the conduct of the business now carried on by Henry Morgan &
Company, Limited.
In early life James Morgan became a resident of Montreal and
attended the Montreal high school. He then became connected with
the business founded by his uncle and father, and gradually
worked his way upward in that connection. Mr. Morgan, moreover,
is president of the Colonial Real Estate Company and has been
prominently connected with various other business enterprises
of far-reaching importance. He aided in promoting the British
Columbia Bank Note Company in 1904 and in organizing and
developing the Montreal Cement Company in 1905. He was likewise
vice president of the Accident & Guarantee Company of Canada,
and in all these associations his judgment is sound, while his
ability to coordinate and unify seemingly diverse elements has
been one of the strong features in his growing success. While he
has reached the millionaire class, his business methods have ever
been such as will bear the closest investigation and scrutiny, in
that there is no esoteric phase in his entire career and what he
has accomplished, both for himself and the community at large,
represents the fit utilization of the innate powers and talents
which are his.