was born in the city of Edinburgh, Scotland, in 1816. His father,
Archibald Wilson had a large family. One of his sons, Dr. George Wilson,
well known as an eminent chemist, was for some time professor of
technology in the University of Edinburgh, and died in 1859. Dr. Daniel
Wilson, the subject of our sketch, after passing through the High
School, entered the University of his native city; and when he had
reached his twenty-first year, went to London, England, to push his
fortune. After a residence there of several years, during which he
relied for support chiefly on the reward of his literary labors, he
again turned north, and continued to wield his pen in Edinburgh, where
he soon became distinguished for his ardent love for archæological
studies. In his twenty-seventh year he came to Canada, at the insistance
of the historian Hallam, who, with Lord Elgin, the then governor-general
of Canada, warmly recommended the appointment of the young _littérateur_
and zealous secretary of the Scottish Society of Antiquaries to the
chair of history and English literature in University College, Toronto.
The removal to Canada was a grave step in itself. But it was more than
this when it broke in, as it did, upon serious studies pursued with
great ardor, severed the dearest ties, social and professional, and
withdrew from a promising field of labor one who was not only fast
making his way to the front, but whose genuine abilities and true
scientific devotion, had he remained in it, would doubtless have gained
him rich pecuniary rewards, with many accompanying honors. However, to
Canada he came, and one of the interesting as well as valuable
_souvenirs_ of his parting with his Scottish friends and scientific
associates is a costly service of silver in the learned doctor’s
possession, the inscription on which bears the testimony of his
associates in the Society of Antiquaries of Scotland, “To Dr. Wilson’s
intelligent and faithful labors as secretary, and to their admiration of
his great learning and genius so successfully devoted to the
investigation of the archæology of Scotland.” Devoted student as he was
of archæology, and much as he had done in Scotland to enrich the subject
by laborious local research, Dr. Wilson, in coming to Canada, found a
wide field for its pursuit on the American continent; and much has he
assiduously gathered in the interval to add to the stores of information
and reasonable conjecture in this interesting branch of science. The
fruit of this is abundantly found in important treatises on the subject
which have come from his pen, as well as in the many occasional papers
contributed to the scientific journals and transactions of learned
societies in both hemispheres. The number and bulk of the latter would
fill many portly volumes, and are in themselves a monument of
intellectual labor. In the brief space at our disposal we can give but a
bald enumeration of the more important works which have come from Dr.
Wilson’s pen. The first of these was “Memorials of Edinburgh in the
Olden Time,” a work in two volumes, published in 1847, with
illustrations from the author’s facile pencil. This interesting work,
with his “Reminiscences of Old Edinburgh,” published in 1878, reveal Dr.
Wilson’s tastes as an antiquary and his varied accomplishments in
undertaking the work of tracing the history, antiquities and local
traditions of the Scottish metropolis. A contemporary critic affirms of
the first of these books, that “these volumes will do the author honor
in his native city so long as the ancient capital of Scotland stands.”
In 1851 appeared a kindred but more ambitious work in the wider field of
Scottish antiquities, entitled “The Archæology and Prehistoric Annals of
Scotland.” This scholarly and elaborate production drew from the
historian Hallam the criticism that it was the most scientific treatment
of the archæological evidences of primitive history which had ever been
written. The reviewers were also equally laudatory, a high authority
saying that the work was “full of original views, bearing everywhere the
stamp of independent investigation and of an independent judgment,” and
calculated “to form an epoch in the study of the earlier antiquities of
Scotland and of Britain at large.” Another competent authority speaks of
this work as “one of extraordinary merit, particularly in the lucidity
of its scientific combinations and inductions, the charm of its style,
and the perfect fidelity of its many pictorial illustrations.” A second
edition being called for, the author in 1863 republished the work, with
large additions and a careful revision, under the shorter title of
“Prehistoric Annals of Scotland.” The term “Prehistoric” in its earlier
use, in 1851, it may be worth noting, was, we believe, a coinage of the
author’s; he, at least, was the first to bring the word into vogue. In
1863 also appeared what may be considered the author’s _magnum opus_, a
work embodying the results of researches in archæology and ethnology in
both hemispheres, and of which two subsequent editions, considerably
re-written, have appeared. Of this production, which bears the title of
“Prehistoric Man: Researches into the Origin of Civilisation in the Old
and the New Worlds,” the Edinburgh _Witness_ at the time under the
editorship of the geologist, Hugh Miller, remarks that “the topic is not
only vast in range, complex in material, and difficult from its nature,
but brings the man who ventures to discuss it into contact with
momentous and perplexing questions touching the origin of civilisation,
the unity of the human race, and the time during which man has been a
denizen of this planet. Dr. Wilson proves himself at all points equal to
his task.” This emphatic verdict has been endorsed in other eminent
quarters, and high commendation passed upon the book, not only for its
scientific value, but for the attractiveness of its literary style. To
these works have to be added three volumes, which, though notable in
themselves, by no means represent the bulk of Dr. Wilson’s purely
literary labors. They are respectively entitled “Chatterton: a
Biographical Study” (1869); “Caliban, the Missing Link” (1873); and
“Spring Wild Flowers,” a volume of graceful verse. In the Chatterton
biography, the author has lovingly gathered all that is worthy of record
in the career of the ill-fated Bristol dreamer; and the volume is the
best tribute known to us to the young poet’s genius. “Caliban” is an
interesting Shakespearian study, combining great imaginative power with
a strong critical faculty, and giving the reader much curious
information, with not a little fanciful disquisition, on the Evolution
theory. The little volume dedicated to the Muses, of which two editions
have appeared, emphasises the twin sisterhood of Science and Poetry, and
enshrines some thoughtful lines on religious and moral subjects, with
several happy examples of lighter verse. In addition to these published
works, a whole library of contributions from the author’s pen is
scattered through the “Proceedings” of the Society of Antiquaries of
Scotland, the London Anthropological Institute, the Edinburgh
Philosophical Institution, the British and American Associations for the
Advancement of Science; the “Journal” of the Canadian Institute (for
some years edited by Dr. Wilson); and the “Transactions” of the Royal
Society of Canada. Of this latter society, to the vice-presidency of the
literature section of which Dr. Wilson was nominated by its founder, the
Marquis of Lorne: the doctor has been the chief working supporter, and
to it has contributed many valuable papers, both in literature and
science. To the present (ninth), as well as to the earlier (eighth),
edition of the “Encyclopædia Britannica,” Dr. Wilson has also been an
extensive contributor. In the current edition, the articles on “Canada,”
“Confederation,” and “Toronto” are from his pen, as are the biographical
articles on “Ferguson” and “Chatterton”; while the article on
“Edinburgh,” it is understood, was written by him, and, oddly enough,
was sent to Scotland from Toronto. Besides this mass of literary work, a
number of contributions from the same source, on literary and historical
subjects, with a good many reviews, art critiques, and academical
addresses, have from time to time appeared in the pages of the “Canadian
Monthly,” the “Canada Educational Monthly,” _The Week_, and other native
journals. These, with other important philanthropic and Christian labors
in Toronto, covering the period of half a lifetime, bear witness to Dr.
Wilson’s untiring industry, and the force and range of his mental
powers, as well as mark the nobleness of his personal character. A
sketch, however brief, of the life and work of Dr. Wilson would be
singularly incomplete which contained no reference to his labors as an
educationist, and to his onerous duties in University College, both as
professor and since 1881, when he succeeded Dr. McCaul, as its executive
head. In some respects, and perhaps with truth, it may be said that Dr.
Wilson would have done more justice to himself if he had made a choice
in his life’s work between literature and science rather than, as he has
done, given the prose side of his mind to archæological studies, and
reserved its poetical side for literature. But the financial
circumstances of the institution with which he has been so long
connected, made this from the first impossible, and compelled him,
laboriously and ardently, to toil on in dual and somewhat incongruous
fields of work. With the result, however, no one can reasonably quarrel,
for in both fields it must be said he has acquitted himself well and won
merited fame. He who would trace Dr. Wilson’s life in the sphere of his
academic labors must do so with real enthusiasm, with loving sympathy,
and with hearty admiration for the scholar and the man. His lifelong
interest in Toronto University, the many sacrifices he has made for it,
his devotion to the subjects he has so ably taught in the college, and
his inspiring and elevating influence upon the students who have
successively come under his care, are matters that require little
dwelling upon by any local pen. Nor is there need to say a word to any
graduate, of the college at any rate, of the learned doctor’s ever ready
courtesy, of his kindness of heart, of his simplicity of character, or
of his high moral worth. Testimony to these and other lovable qualities
in the president of University College is, we are sure, as abundant as
testimony is emphatic to the learning and genius of their gifted
possessor. If the state, strangely enough, has done little to mark Dr.
Wilson’s services, both to science and education, throughout a long and
unwearying life, he has at least this consolation, that, among those who
have had the honor of personally knowing him, appreciation of their
number and worth lies deep in every breast. The passing years have dealt
kindly with the subject of this brief sketch; the figure, always spare,
is still erect, and the step has lost little in the march of time of its
early elasticity. The eyes look at you with the old-time keen, rapid
glance; and there is the same kindly note in the voice, which rises and
falls with that familiar, soft, measured cadence, which belongs
distinctively to those who hail from the Scottish metropolis. For
thirty-five years President Wilson has been connected with the
University and College of Toronto, and has given to that institution the
abundant fruitage of a rich, matured, and industrious life. During that
long period, though he has daily gone in and out among almost all
classes of the people of Toronto, and in many ways has contributed to
the intellectual life and to the enriching of the scientific thought of
Canada, and, indeed, of the continent, there are not many, we fear,
outside of academic circles who recognise the genius, the learning, and
the pre-eminent abilities of Dr. Wilson, or who appreciate him as a man
at his true worth. In a general way the few in Toronto may know him as a
learned scientist, and perhaps as an accomplished _littérateur_; but to
the mass of his fellow-citizens he is little more than a prominent
educationist, and the head of the national university. If this statement
seems unfair, let us ask, how many know of his great reputation and high
recognised status in the first scientific circles of the Old World, or
who think of him in the light of his deserts—as one of the foremost men
of the age in his own special departments of archæological and
ethnological science? Canada as yet has not been fertile in great men;
but here doubtless is one, if we are to take the measure of his worth
not only from his books, though these undoubtedly are an author’s best
and truest memorial, but from the estimation in which he is held in high
scientific circles abroad, and the unsought honors conferred upon him by
many of the learned societies of Europe. Only eminent services to
science could have secured him the recognition of crowned heads and the
issue of royal diplomas setting forth these services, with enrolment
among the distinguished honorary members of the great scientific
societies and learned institutions of the mother land, and of France,
Italy, and Denmark. Dr. Wilson has now reached the evening of his days,
and as the lengthening shadows fall athwart him and his labors, the
writer of this, with many who love him, may well wish that a life so
singularly pure and worthy may be prolonged and continued for many years
yet at the service of his adopted country. But when the line of the
allotted span has been crossed, wishes we know must be vain; and the
granite shaft in yonder cemetery, with its touchingly beautiful tribute
“to the wife of his youth,” who “was the bright sunshine of a long and
happy life,” is a monition which neither he nor any wise friend can
disregard, however distant all may wish the day when the Master’s
summons shall come to one who has been eminently faithful, and the
sombre curtain shall drop for ever upon his work.
* * * * *
=Miller, John Stewart=, Centreville, Ontario, Treasurer of the Township
of Camden, M.P.P. for Addington, was born on the 17th September, 1844,
in the township of Camden, county of Addington. He is the only son of
Thomas Miller and Christina Madden. The family came originally from
Ireland and settled in New England. During the revolutionary war they
left that country and moved to Three Rivers, and subsequently, in 1790,
took up their abode in the Bay of Quinté. He received his primary
education in the schools of his native place, and then entered the
Commercial College at Belleville, where he graduated in 1871. He then
began farming on the homestead, lot No. 30, seventh concession of
Camden, and here he continued his agricultural pursuits until 1886. In
1883 Mr. Miller began with a partner, business as a general merchant in
the village of Centreville, and is still engaged in mercantile pursuits.
He has taken a deep interest in military affairs, and in 1879 held the
rank of lieutenant in the 48th battalion, and on the disbandment of this
corps became attached to the 47th battalion. In 1875 he was appointed
clerk of Camden township, and on resigning this office in 1886, received
the appointment of treasurer of the same township, and this office he
still holds. He joined the Orange Association in 1864, and served as
county master in 1878-9. He became a member of Prince of Wales lodge,
No. 146, of the Free and Accepted Masons in 1869; assisted in organizing
Victoria lodge, No. 229, and was its master in 1870-71; and in 1883 he
helped to organize Lorne lodge, No. 404, and was elected its first
master, holding the office for three years. Mr. Miller has always taken
an active interest in politics, and in 1880 was elected
secretary-treasurer of the Liberal-Conservative Association of
Addington. He presented himself in 1886 for parliamentary honors, and in
December of the same year was elected to represent his native county in
the Ontario legislature by a handsome majority over his opponent. In
politics, as will be seen above, Mr. Miller is a Liberal-Conservative.
His mother joined the Methodist church in 1828—who, by the way, is
still alive, and a member of the same church—and the son is connected
with the same religious body. He has been twice married; first, in 1871,
to Carrie, second daughter of James Hawley. She died on the 24th
February, 1874. He married, the second time, in 1877, Anne, eldest
daughter of the late Robert Robertson, of Kingston.
* * * * *
=Choquette, Philippe Auguste=, LL.B., Advocate, Montmagny, Quebec
province, M.P. for the county of Montmagny, was born on the 6th January,
1854, at Belœil, county of Verchères. His ancestors came from Amiens,
Picardie, France, in 1643, and settled in Varennes, in the county where
the subject of our sketch was born. His parents were Joseph Choquette,
farmer, and Marie Thaïs Audet. He received his education at St.
Hyacinthe College, and at Laval University, Quebec, and graduated B.C.L.
from the latter institution in 1880, having previously taken the silver
medal given by the governor-general, Lord Lorne. While he was
prosecuting his studies at Laval, he acted as private secretary to the
Hon. Honoré Mercier, then solicitor-general in the Joly administration,
and now premier of Quebec province. He held, for about three years and a
half, the position of book-keeper in a wholesale boot and shoe
establishment in St. Hyacinthe before he began to study law. He then
returned to Quebec in 1877, and entered the office of the Hon. François
Langelier, M.P., and mayor of Quebec, to study law. After being admitted
to the bar of Lower Canada in 1880, he removed to Montmagny, where he
successfully practised his profession. Since 1877 he has been a
contributor to _L’Union_, of St. Hyacinthe, and _L’Electeur_, of Quebec;
and was publisher of _La Sentinelle_, a weekly paper at Montmagny,
during the years 1883 and 1884. In 1878 he began to take an active part
in politics; and in 1882 he ran for a seat in the House of Commons at
Ottawa against A. C. P. R. Landry, the Conservative candidate, but was
defeated by a majority of 120 votes. At the general election held in
1887 he again presented himself in opposition to Mr. Landry, and this
time carried his election by a majority of 193 votes. Mr. Choquette has
travelled through the principal parts of the United States. He has been
secretary of the Reform Club of the county of Montmagny since 1881. In
politics he is a strong Liberal, a free trader, in favor of commercial
union, and would not object to annexation to the United States. He is an
adherent of the Roman Catholic church, but objects to the clergy
interfering and mixing in political contests. On the 29th August, 1883,
he was married to Marie, daughter of A. Bender, prothonotary of the
Superior Court, and granddaughter of the late Sir E. P. Taché baronet,
A.D.C. to her Majesty the Queen, and one of the promoters of
confederation.
* * * * *
=Méthot, Right Rev. Michel Edouard=, A.M., D.D., Quebec, Domestic
Prelate of his Holiness, also Professor of Literature at Laval
University, and of Moral Theology at the Grand Seminary of Quebec,
member of the Archiepiscopal Curia of Quebec, was born on the 28th July,
1826, in the parish of Ste. Croix, county of Lotbinière, province of
Quebec. His parents were Joseph Méthot, farmer, and Marie Xavier
Desrochers. In 1839 he entered the Little Seminary of Quebec, where he
followed the literary and scientific course of that institution. In
1847, having completed a classical course of instruction, he entered the
Grand Seminary of Quebec, and went through a course of theology, being
admitted to the holy orders in 1849. It may truly be said that Monsignor
Méthot has devoted his entire life to the education of the youth of his
country, teaching at first in the Little Seminary of Quebec, and then
successively at the Grand Seminary and at Laval University, where he
gave a public course of literature. He was also prefect of studies for
ten years at the Little Seminary, twice director of the Grand Seminary,
librarian of Laval University, and lastly, superior of the Seminary and
rector of the University for seven years. He was the first vice-rector
of the branch of Laval University in Montreal, which positions he
resigned at the end of the academic year 1886-7 owing to ill-health. He
visited Europe twice, the first time in 1860, when he went to England,
France, and Italy. Our readers need not be surprised if we tell them
that Monsignor Méthot visited the principal institutions of learning,
colleges, museums, the most celebrated libraries, and monuments of arts
of those countries, his taste and eagerness for learning leading him to
choose those attractions in preference to all others. In 1866, having
obtained leave of absence to recuperate from the exhausting labor of
teaching, he crossed the Atlantic a second time and passed a whole year
in Belgium. Rest, however, consisted in further studies. On his arrival
in Belgium he went to the Catholic University of Louvain and applied
himself to the study of theology, scriptures, and ecclesiastical history
in that celebrated institution of learning. He has contributed to the
newspaper and periodical press of the Province of Quebec several
articles, biographical sketches and literary essays, which will help the
historian of the future to write accurately the history of our Dominion.
Mgr. Méthot was elevated to the dignity of domestic prelate by his
Holiness Pope Leo XIII. in 1887.
* * * * *
=Cloran, Henry Joseph=, B.C.L., Barrister, Montreal, was born in that
city on the 8th May, 1855. His father and mother are both Irish. The
former, Joseph Cloran, is a native of county Galway, and the latter, Ann
Kennedy, is from county Limerick. Having received his primary education
in the Christian Brothers’ School at home, and passed a year in the
public schools of New York, he entered the Montreal College in 1868,
where he made a complete and successful course of classical studies. On
graduating from college in 1875, he left for Europe, where during three
years he prosecuted a course of scientific, philosophical and
theological studies in the celebrated college of St. Sulpice, in Paris.
During his sojourn in Europe he visited Italy, Switzerland, France,
England and Ireland, and returned to Canada strongly equipped for the
combats of the future with an extensive stock of knowledge, and a
precious _ensemble_ of information on the Irish question and general
European politics. On his return home, Mr. Cloran filled for a year a
professorship of English literature in his _alma mater_, the Montreal
College. He then took a course of law in the Universities of Laval and
McGill, and graduated from the latter with the degree of B.C.L. He
studied in the offices of the eminent legal firm of the late Edward
Carter, Q.C.; Hon. R. Church, now judge of the Court of Queen’s Bench;
and of Hon. J. A. Chapleau, ex-premier of Quebec, and now Secretary of
State. At the close of his law studies, the editorship of the Montreal
_Post_ and of the _True Witness_ became vacant in 1882 by the
resignation of J. C. Fleming. This responsible and important position
was offered to Mr. Cloran, who accepted, and then commenced a
journalistic career which has been crowned with marked success. We have
no need to dwell upon the cleverness, judgment and ability displayed by
Mr. Cloran in the functions of editor, nor upon the success he achieved.
The _Post_ is the only Irish daily paper in America, and he made it the
organ of Irish Canadian opinion, esteemed by friends and feared by foes.
The articles from Mr. Cloran’s pen have been widely reproduced and
commented on by the leading papers in Canada and the United States, and
even in the European press. In 1886 when the board of directors wished
to give the support of the _Post_ to certain Tory candidates in the
general provincial elections of that year, the young editor declined to
obey their mandate, and rather than write a single line inconsistent
with his convictions, he threw up the editorship of the paper. Mr.
Cloran is a man of principle, and has on all occasions the courage of
his convictions. There is no hypocrisy in his nature; he is at all times
manly and straightforward. Animated by no prejudice, he bends and yields
to none. His public opinions are also his private ones—a trait which is
not always to be discovered in the character of public men. He is an
ardent lover of fair play, and finds his pleasure in championing the
cause of the weak and the wronged. An Irish Canadian, and an
uncompromising Home Ruler, like all patriotic Irishmen, he ranks among
the number of those broad and liberal minds who do not shut themselves
up in the narrow circle of an exclusive programme. The cause of the half
breeds of the North-West—which is, after all, the same in many respects
as that of the Irish people—naturally found in Mr. Cloran a willing and
earnest advocate. His attitude on the North-West and Riel questions was
inspired by the purest and most patriotic of motives. Living in the
midst of French Canadians, whose friend he is, and a patriot from a
Canadian as well as an Irish standpoint, Mr. Cloran rightly believed he
was consistent with himself in joining with them in the province of
Quebec to defend provincial rights and autonomy. He finds, with much
reason, that Home Rule, if it is good for Ireland, is equally good for
Canada; and he has in consequence labored with all liberal minds for the
cause of provincial autonomy, which is, in Canada, the condition
necessary to ensure union and harmony among the different races, and
consequently the condition essential to the future grandeur and
prosperity of our country. Mr. Cloran’s public and political career
began on the 16th November, 1885, when he was unanimously chosen at a
meeting of citizens, jointly with George H. Duhamel, now the
solicitor-general of the province, to fill the position of secretary to
the national movement that was inaugurated to secure the defeat and
overthrow of Sir John A. Macdonald’s government, for the
mal-administration of the North-West Territories, and the execution of
the leader of the half breeds. He took a prominent part in the historic
mass meeting of fifty thousand people assembled, from all parts of the
province, on the Champ de Mars, Montreal, where he distinguished himself
at one bound as an orator capable of speaking in both the French and
English languages. He went through the famous winter campaign of 1886,
and during the late provincial elections he fought a brilliant and
victorious battle in company with Messrs. Laurier, Mercier, Bellerose,
Duhamel and Bergeron, which resulted in the final overthrow of the old
Conservative government, and the general break-up of the Tory and “Bleu”
party which had controlled the destinies of Quebec almost
uninterruptedly since confederation. No one contributed more to the
establishment of the National administration of Hon. Honoré Mercier in
Quebec than Mr. Cloran. There was not a National candidate who made a
vain appeal to him for assistance. Always in the breach, and always at
the disposal of his friends, Mr. Cloran covered almost the entire
province; he addressed mass meetings in over forty counties, and
everywhere he appeared he won the esteem and the confidence of the
people who heard him. In the short space of one year he became one of
the most popular orators, and one of the political lights of the
province. Mr. Cloran placed himself at the service of the Liberal party
to fight out the election campaign in Ontario, and put down the “No
Popery” brigade in favor of the Mowat administration, which carried the
standard of honest government and of civil and religious liberty. He
took an active part in the struggle in the counties of Glengarry,
Stormont and Prescott, where the three Liberal candidates were elected
by large majorities. In showing no hesitation to go to Ontario to assist
the Liberal government of Mr. Mowat, Mr. Cloran and his Quebec friends
contributed much towards giving its true signification to the National
movement. They clearly proved thereby that in the minds of none of them
there never was harbored the slightest thought of a war of races, as was
pretended by the Tory press and speakers; that far from attempting to
divide and separate the different races, they were, on the contrary,
ready and willing to strengthen more firmly than ever the bonds that
unite us from one end to the other of the Dominion, irrespective of race
and creed. In the general elections of 1887 for the House of Commons at
Ottawa, Mr. Cloran was selected by the Liberal party as their standard
bearer for Montreal Centre, one of the largest and most important
constituencies in the Dominion. Although defeated, he almost doubled the
Liberal vote given in the election of 1882, and succeeded in reducing
the previous majority of his opponent, J. J. Curran, Q.C., M.P., by some
five hundred votes. Before becoming one of our most noted public men,
Mr. Cloran had occasion, at different times, to give proof of his energy
and ability in occupying honorary positions in a number of literary,
athletic and national and other organisations to which he was called by
the confidence and esteem of his fellow citizens. It was thus that he
was elected president of the Catholic Young Men’s Society, of Montreal,
in 1880 and 1881. He was chosen secretary of the Parnell Reception
Committee, which was the grandest accorded the great Irish leader in his
memorable visit to America seven years ago. He has filled the office of
president of the Press Association of the province of Quebec. An amateur
of Canadian sports, he is the president of the renowned Shamrock
Lacrosse Club. A Home Ruler, he is president of the Montreal branch of
the Irish National League. He was a delegate to the Irish National
Convention at Chicago in 1886, where he distinguished himself by two
eloquent speeches. He was chairman of the organisation that gave Michael
Davitt, the father of the League, a reception which has never been
surpassed for brilliancy and enthusiasm. He is first vice-president of
the St. Patrick’s Society; and is a director of the Montreal Diocesan
Colonization Society, under the presidency of his Grace Mgr. Fabre. At
the convention of the Young Liberals of the Dominion, held last July, he
was elected as the Irish representative from Quebec province on the
executive committee. Mr. Cloran was also a delegate to the Central
Trades and Labor Council, in the foundation of which he took an active
part. Since his _début_ in public life he has not ceased to interest
himself in the welfare of the working classes. His pen and voice were
always at their service. He was also the chief organiser of the immense
popular demonstrations and receptions accorded to William O’Brien, M.P.,
editor of _United Ireland_, on the memorable occasion of the latter’s
visit to Montreal. Having abandoned journalism, he prepared himself for
the bar, and on the 7th July, 1887, after a severe and brilliant
examination, he was admitted with honors to the practice of the law.
Although still young in years Mr. Cloran has acquired much valuable
experience, and, as has been seen, has played an honorable and
influential _rôle_ in society, and has rendered distinguished service to
his country. Mr. Cloran married, in 1882, Agnes, the third daughter of
Michael Donovan, a leading Irish citizen and business man of Montreal,
and for years president of the St. Patrick’s Society, and of the Irish
National League.
* * * * *
=Edwards, William Cameron=, Manufacturer of Lumber, Rockland, Ontario,
M.P. for the county of Russell, was born in the township of Clarence,
Russell county, in 1844. His father, William Edwards, was a native of
Portsmouth, England, and came to Canada about 1820, and settled in
Clarence township. Here, for a long period, he took a leading part in
all movements intended for the advancement of the district in which he
resided, and was for over twenty years reeve of the township. The mother
of the subject of our sketch, Ann Cameron, was a native of Fort William,
Scotland. William was educated in the Ottawa Grammar School, and when he
had reached the age of nineteen was employed by Cameron & Edwards,
lumbermen, of Thurso, and here he remained for a number of years. In
1868 he joined in a partnership with James Wood, and they, having built
a small steam sawmill at Rockland, on the Ottawa river, commenced the
lumber business under the firm name of W. C. Edwards & Co. The business
having proved successful, in 1871 Cameron & Edwards gave up their
establishment at Thurso, and threw in their lot with W. C. Edwards &
Co., at Rockland. A large mill was then erected, and their business
steadily increased. In 1875 a fire visited the locality, and
unfortunately destroyed the whole premises of the firm, including mills,
docks, buildings, plant, and indeed everything pertaining to the
establishment, and besides a large stock of sawn lumber. And to add to
this misfortune, the amount of their insurance did not cover one-third
of the loss. Nothing daunted, the firm went to work, the same year, to
rebuild, and in the spring of 1876 they were at work again. Since this
time their business has largely increased, and the firm now give
employment to a great number of hands. Previous to the opening of the
mills at Rockland there were only two or three houses in the place; but
to-day the village has a population of about fifteen hundred; is
incorporated; and has a post office, telegraph office, stores, school
house, churches, a good public hall, a division court, etc. Mr. Edwards
has always been the sole manager of the firm’s business, and, as may be
seen, has very successfully conducted its affairs. In 1866 he succeeded
in forming the Thurso infantry company, and for three years, up to his
leaving the village, was captain of this company. He has been for many
years a justice of the peace, and has also been reeve of the village of
Rockland. During the past four years he has been president of the County
of Russell Agricultural Society, and has done considerable towards
promoting the improvement of stock and the general advancement of
agriculture in the county. He is a Liberal in politics, and in 1882 he
unsuccessfully contested Russell for a seat in the House of Commons
against Moss Kent Dickinson. Again at the last general election he
entered the field, and was elected by a majority of 156 votes over C. H.
McIntosh, who opposed him. Mr. Edwards is an adherent of the Baptist
church. In 1885 he was married to Catherine M., eldest daughter of
William Wilson, of Cumberland, Ontario, who for many years has been the
leading business man of his township, and over twenty years its reeve,
and a justice of the peace.
* * * * *
=Jones, Sir David=, Brockville.—The late Sir David Jones, who was born
in 1794, died on the 23rd August, 1838, at Brockville, Ontario, where he
and his family long resided. Few men were more respected, and none could
be held in higher estimation by his countrymen. He was an uncompromising
supporter of British interests. On visiting England in 1835, as agent of
the Brockville Loan and Trust Company, he received the honor of
knighthood from His Majesty William IV., at Windsor Castle, being the
first native of Ontario who had the honor of receiving so distinguished
a mark of royal favor. Sir David died after an illness of only five
days, and his early demise cast a gloom over his native place.
* * * * *
=Kemble, William=, Quebec.—This talented journalist was a native of
Surrey, England, and a member of a distinguished mercantile family in
London, one of whom, at the time of Mr. Kemble’s death, was a member of
the Imperial parliament, for the county above mentioned. He was born in
1781, and died at Quebec, on the 25th February, 1845. While editing the
Quebec _Mercury_, from 1823 to 1842, he greatly distinguished himself as
a writer, and the spirit and raciness that characterized his writings
will long be remembered by his _confrères_ of the press. His talents
were of a high order. He was also a generous contributor to many
periodicals, including the then celebrated “Simmond’s Colonial
Magazine,” of London, England.
* * * * *
=McMicken, Hon. Gilbert=, Winnipeg, Manitoba, Agent of the Commercial
Union Assurance Company of London, England, is a native of England,
having been born in London in 1813, but was from earliest infancy
brought up in Glenluce, Wigtonshire, Scotland, of which country, his
father was a native. He left Scotland in 1832, and landed at the port of
Quebec on the 1st July of the same year. He proceeded to Montreal, and
remained there about three weeks, and then went to Toronto (then Little
York). From Toronto he removed, in September, to Chippewa, and engaged
in the forwarding business. In July, 1838, he was appointed collector of
customs, at Queenston, and subsequently held the same office at
Suspension Bridge, near Niagara Falls. In 1851 was warden of the united
counties of Lincoln and Welland; and was the first mayor of Clifton, and
served for several subsequent terms in the same office. In 1857 Mr.
McMicken entered the political field, and was elected to represent the
county of Welland in the parliament of Canada, which he did for four
years. In 1860 he moved to the county of Essex; and in 1864 was
appointed stipendiary magistrate with jurisdiction over the whole
Western Canada frontier, and in this capacity he successfully quieted
frontier excitement, especially in the cities of Detroit and Buffalo,
and afterwards received the special thanks of Lord Monck, the then
governor-general of Canada, for his services on this occasion. He
managed the extradition of Burley, for piracy on lake Erie; and also
adjudicated upon and extradited the parties in the two celebrated
express robbery cases of Reno and Anderson and of Morton and Thomson. He
discovered and arranged the settlement of the disputed line of
international boundary at the St. Clair flats canal. In 1865 Mr.
McMicken was specially charged to watch over the Fenian movement in the
United States in that year, and continued to do so until their last
efforts at invasion failed in 1870. During these exciting times, and on
the occasion of the murder of T. D’Arcy McGee, on Sparks street, Ottawa,
he had committed to his care the government and parliament buildings in
that city, and the persons of the members of the government and of
parliament then at the capital; and protected, by convoy, the persons of
Black, Richot and Scott, delegates from Manitoba, from the United States
to Ottawa, during the first troubles in the North-West. In 1869 he was
appointed to accompany his Royal Highness Prince Arthur, and his suite,
with Governor-General Young, Lady Young, and Colonel Elphinstone, in
their tour through Ontario, thence to Montreal, and then on to Ottawa,
and for the valuable services rendered the party he received the special
thanks of Prince Arthur, accompanied by a valuable _souvenir_. In 1871
he was made agent of the Dominion lands in Manitoba, and assistant
receiver-general, Dominion auditor, manager of the Dominion savings
banks, and immigration agent. In the same year he was instrumental in
preventing a rising of the Metis when the Fenians offered to come over
from the United States to help them. From 1874 to 1877 he was the acting
inspector of the Manitoba Penitentiary, and in the latter year he
retired from the government service on a pension, having served the
Dominion faithfully and well. In 1879 he was elected to represent
Cartier in the Manitoba legislature, was chosen speaker of that body,
and retired from political life on the dissolution of the parliament in
1883. In 1879 he was appointed agent of the Commercial Union Assurance
Company of London, England, and this position he still holds. Though
greatly advanced in age, he is still hale and hearty, and a good many
years of usefulness are still apparently before him. Hon Mr. McMicken
married at Chippewa, on the 19th February, 1835, Ann Theresa,
grand-daughter of Commodore Grant.
* * * * *
=Masson, Lt.-Colonel Louis François Roderique=, ex-Lieutenant-Governor
of the Province of Quebec, was born at Terrebonne, on November 7th,
1833. He is the fourth son of Hon. Joseph Masson, a member of the
Legislative Council of Canada, at the time of his death, and M. G.
Sophie Raymond, of Laprairie. Mrs. Masson died in 1883, at Terrebonne,
where she was buried. The ceremonies of her funeral were very
impressive, the archbishop of Montreal officiating; the musical service,
under the leadership of Professor Guillaume Couture, of Montreal, with a
select choir of forty male voices, was the grandest ever performed in
the country. Besides distributing a considerable fortune to her children
and relatives, she left princely legacies to various charitable
institutions, the Deaf Mute Institution of Montreal receiving for its
share a sum of $20,000. The ancestors of Mr. Masson came to Canada very
early, and settled originally in Saint Eustache. At the present time the
ramifications of the family spread over the whole province of Quebec.
The subject of our sketch was educated at the Jesuits’ College,
Georgetown, Worcester, Mass., and at St. Hyacinthe, Quebec, where he
completed his classical studies. During this period he travelled for two
years through Europe and the Holy Land, in company with that
distinguished scholar, Rev. Mr. Désaulniers, of St. Hyacinthe College.
Their tour lasted twenty four months, and was productive of immense
benefit to young Masson, both in a physical and mental point of view. At
the conclusion of his classical course he entered the law office of the
late Sir George Etienne Cartier, in Montreal, where he resided three
years, and in November, 1859, he was admitted to the bar. He never,
however, practised his profession. Since October, 1862, he has held a
commission in the Canadian volunteer force. On August 21st, 1863, he was
appointed brigade-major 8th military district of Lower Canada, doing
active duty on the frontier during the first Fenian raid, March, 1866;
and also during the second raid in the same year, and was promoted to
the rank of lieutenant-colonel in 1867. Colonel Masson has held various
offices in the municipality of his native town, and was mayor of
Terrebonne in 1874. In 1867 he was first elected to parliament as
representative for the county of Terrebonne, and at every subsequent
election he was re-elected by acclamation. He is perhaps the most
popular man in the province of Quebec among his constituents. He is a
Conservative, and stands very high in the estimation of his chiefs. In
1873 he was offered a seat in the Macdonald cabinet, but declined; the
outspoken views he held on the amnesty for political offences in
Manitoba, and on the settlement of the New Brunswick mixed schools
question, forbade his acceptance of the honour proffered, unless he
should make a sacrifice of principles. He is in favour of a reciprocity
treaty with the United States, provided Canada is able to get equitable
terms; of a moderately protective tariff, and he always advocated the
construction of the Canadian Pacific Railway wholly on Canadian soil. In
1878, when the Mackenzie administration resigned, Mr. Masson, who was
travelling in Europe, was offered a portfolio in the new cabinet, and he
sailed immediately for Canada. On his arrival (19th October), he was
sworn in a member of her Majesty’s Privy Council and minister of militia
and defence. Under his energetic administration numerous improvements
and useful changes were effected in the Canadian militia
organization,—more especially the establishment of drill associations
in educational institutions, the supply of military clothes from
Canadian manufacture, the manufacturing in the country of gunpowder,
cartridges, heavy guns, etc. For reasons of health he was forced to
discontinue the arduous labours he had undertaken, and on the 16th
January, 1880, he resigned his position of minister of militia and
defence, and was appointed president of the Privy Council. Mr. Masson
resigned his seat in the cabinet in 1880, and in 1882 was called to the
Senate. In 1884 he was appointed a member of the Legislative Council of
Quebec, and he held that position until the 7th November, 1884, when he
resigned, to assume the duties of lieutenant-governor of the province of
Quebec. In 1856 Col. Masson married Louise Rachel, eldest daughter of
Lieut.-Col. Alexander Mackenzie, and granddaughter of Hon. Roderique
Mackenzie, once a member of the Legislative Council of Canada, and a
partner in the North-West Fur Company; by this marriage he had issue
five children, three sons and two daughters. Mrs. Masson died, and in
1884 he married his second wife, Cécile Burroughs, eldest daughter of
John H. Burroughs, prothonotary of the Supreme Court of Canada.
* * * * *
=Belleau, Sir Narcisse=, K.C.M.G., Q.C., ex-Lieutenant-Governor of the
Province of Quebec, was born on the 20th October, 1808, in the city of
Quebec, where he was educated, and where he still resides. Shortly after
leaving school he chose law as a profession, and soon built up a
lucrative business. Being a public spirited gentleman, he took an active
part in municipal affairs, and in 1860, when the Prince of Wales visited
Canada, Mr. Belleau was mayor of Quebec, and on this auspicious occasion
he had the honour of knighthood conferred upon him. He entered the
Legislative Council in 1852, soon made his mark there, and in 1857 was
elected speaker of that body. This elevated position he retained until
1862, when he received the appointment of minister of agriculture in the
Cartier-Macdonald administration. In 1865 he was persuaded to undertake
the responsible duties of premier and receiver-general, and held these
important offices until appointed lieutenant-governor of the province of
Quebec in 1867. Sir Narcisse took an active part in all the most
celebrated trials at this time in contested election cases, and his
voice was no insignificant one in all and more than peculiarly delicate
questions which so frequently arose during the time he was speaker of
the upper house before confederation. As a legal adviser in civil cases
he had few compeers at the time of his practising in Quebec that were
recognized as his equal, still less his superior. Though now well
advanced in years he still possesses a large circle of friends inside
and outside of politics, and is a gentleman highly respected in his
native city. His excellency Señor Don Boniface de Blas, minister of
foreign affairs, by order and in the name of his Majesty the King of
Spain, for services rendered on the occasion of the projected invasion
of Cuba by the filibusters, conferred upon him the dignity of commander
and grand officer of the royal order of Isabella la Catolica, in 1872,
and on the 24th May, 1879, he had the still higher honour conferred upon
him of being made a knight commander of the order of St. Michael and St.
George, by her Majesty Queen Victoria, at the hands of the Marquis of
Lorne, late governor-general, in the presence of her Royal Highness the
Princess Louise. Sir Narcisse Belleau, now an old man, can look back on
his past record as barrister, mayor, speaker of the Legislative Council,
minister of agriculture, receiver-general, premier and
lieutenant-governor of his native province, with satisfaction—having
filled these high offices with credit to himself and honour to his
country—and enjoy the remainder of his days as a public benefactor and
a humane sympathetic Christian gentleman should always be able to do. On
the 15th September, 1835, Sir Narcisse was married to Mary, daughter of
the late L. Gauvreau, at one time a member of the Legislative Assembly
of Lower Canada. There is no issue by the marriage.
* * * * *
=Desaulniers, François Sévère Lesieur=, B.C.L., Yamachiche, M.P. for St.
Maurice, Quebec Province. The subject of this sketch is a member of one
of the oldest, most well known and respectable families of the province
of Quebec—the Desaulniers having come from France to Canada some time
during the seventeenth century (1642), and settled in the district of
Three Rivers. He is descended from Charles Lesieur, who was a notary
royal and solicitor general under the French government, and of
Françoise de Lafond, a niece of Pierre Boucher, the illustrious governor
of Three Rivers under the government of M. de Mésy (1663). Mr.
Desaulniers is the son of the late François Lesieur Desaulniers, and of
the late Marguerite Pothier, and was born at Yamachiche on the 19th
September, 1850. He received his education at Nicolet College, an
institution to which both church and state are greatly indebted for
having produced many citizens who distinguish themselves in the various
walks of public life. After successfully passing his examinations, Mr.
Desaulniers was admitted to the bar on the 13th January, 1879, at Three
Rivers, and is now a member of the legal firm of Desilets, Desaulniers &
Duplessis of that city. But his love for journalism was evidently
greater than for the law, for we meet him, while studying law, editing
the _Constitutionnel_ at Three Rivers, a journal founded by one of the
most distinguished French Canadian writers, the late Hon. E. Gérin,
legislative councillor. Later on, from 1875 to 1877, we find him in
Quebec, as assistant editor of _Le Canadien_, whilst he contributed
several editorials and political articles to the _Revue Canadienne_ of
Montreal, to _Le Foyer Domestique_ of Ottawa, as well as to several
other papers. Mr. Desaulniers’ political career began in 1878, when he
was, for the first time, returned to the Quebec parliament, at the
general elections, for his native county, St. Maurice, P.Q. He was
elected by a majority of 245 votes over his opponent, L. A. Lord. At the
general elections of 1881 he was re-elected for the same constituency by
a majority of 110 votes over S. J. Remington. While in the Quebec
parliament he was a moderate Liberal-Conservative, and a strong
supporter of the conciliatory and moderate policy inaugurated by the
Chapleau government. In 1886, at the late provincial elections, Mr.
Desaulniers withdrew from the political arena to accept a charge from
the provincial government. Upon the recommendation of the Hon. M. de la
Bruère, speaker of the Legislative Council, he was, on the 2nd November,
1886, appointed by the Ross government deputy-clerk and clerk of the
private bills of the Legislative Council of Quebec, _vice_ J. A. Jodoin,
resigned. Lately a vain attempt was made to deprive him of this office,
but by a unanimous vote of the Legislative Council his appointment was
confirmed. On the 22nd February, 1887, Mr. Desaulniers was returned to
the Dominion parliament for his old and faithful constituency of St.
Maurice, where he enjoys a well-deserved popularity. He won the contest
this time by a majority of 267 votes over his opponent, L. A. Lord.
While devoting all his energies to the fulfilment of his numerous duties
as representative of the people, Mr. Desaulniers, who takes a deep
interest in agriculture, has been unanimously elected for ten years
consecutively as president of the Agricultural Society of the county of
St. Maurice. He has also been a justice of the peace since 1878. In
politics Mr. Desaulniers is a staunch Conservative. He strongly endorses
the protective policy adopted some years ago, and is a warm supporter of
the Sir John A. Macdonald administration. In July, 1877, he married, at
St. Guillaume d’Upton, Marie Aglaé Maher, daughter of Francis Maher,
merchant, whose ancestors came from Stuttgart, Germany. They have five
children living. Mr. Desaulniers is extremely popular in his own
constituency and in the neighbouring counties, where he has often
addressed large meetings on all the vital issues of the day, and
performed many acts of kindness and liberality—winning, at the same
time, for himself the esteem and respect of all by his social qualities,
his proverbial hospitality, his sterling integrity, and his devotedness
to the public interests.
* * * * *
=McClelan, Hon. Abner Reid=, Senator, Riverside, Hopewell, New
Brunswick, was born where he now resides, in 1831. He is the youngest
son of the late Peter McClelan, who was for a considerable period a
justice of the peace, and of the common pleas, in the county of Albert.
His paternal ancestry were Irish; but his mother (Robinson) was
descended from the Clarkes, of New Hampshire. A. R. McClelan was
educated at the district school, and at the Mount Allison Wesleyan
Academy, of which he was subsequently one of the Board of Governors. In
1854, Mr. McClelan was elected one of the representatives of his native
county in the New Brunswick legislature, and continued to hold the
position till the union, in 1867. He is liberal in politics, and united
with the Hon. Charles Fisher, the Hon. S. L. Tilley, and other Liberals
of that day, in the overthrow of the Conservative administration, and in
the establishment, on a firmer basis, of the rights of all under the
responsible system of government. Mr. McClelan was an ardent supporter
of the treaty of 1854, which secured free reciprocal trade with the
United States. In addition to other reforms, he succeeded in obtaining
amendments to the law of inheritance, including the removal of the
rights of primogeniture, and in providing postal regulations for the
better observance of the Sabbath day. His efforts were always employed
to obtain a fair and equitable distribution of the public
appropriations, and the county which he so long represented derived
considerable advantages thereby. In 1865, he was an unsuccessful
candidate for the speakership of the Assembly. During that year he
helped to lead the opposition against the government formed to oppose
the union, and on the resignation of the ministry, he accepted a seat in
the new administration with the portfolio of public works, which he held
till the union, when he was called to the Senate. He advocated the
construction of the railway from Shediac to St. John, now a part of the
Intercolonial, and subsequently the establishment of branch lines,
including an ample subsidy for the Albert Railway, which was guaranteed
by the Dominion government, upon the special request of the friends and
promoters of the road. Mr. McClelan at the outset urged the government
which he was then supporting to subsidize a short line to Hillsboro’,
which was done, and the road afterwards extended to Hopewell. He
prepared and introduced the original Act of Incorporation, assisted in
securing the aid of the Dominion guarantee, and asked for and obtained a
loan of rails to facilitate a branch line to Hillsboro’. As a member of
the Dominion parliament, Mr. McClelan has continued on the side of
liberalism and free trade, believing and affirming that the policy of
protection is not based on equitable principles, that it is generally
injurious in its tendencies, and especially detrimental to the smaller
provinces by the sea. Though formerly in mercantile business, the Hon.
Mr. McClelan has partially retired therefrom, owing to delicate health.
In the Senate, it may be added, he is a man of much usefulness, for he
gives to public questions a thoughtful and impartial study. To the broad
interests of Canada, the Hon. Mr. McClelan has been always loyal, and
there is nothing hollow about his patriotism. He is married to Anna J.,
eldest daughter of W. J. Reed, of Harvey, New Brunswick.
* * * * *
=Clemo, Ebenezer=, Inventor, was a native of London, England, and came
to Canada in 1858. He was, although young, a person of great genius and
ability. On his arrival in Montreal he was reduced to such necessity,
that he applied to John Lovell, publisher of that city, for employment
as a message boy; but Mr. Lovell knowing his acquirements, engaged him
to write a couple of books. Hence “Simon Seek,” and “The Canadian
Homes,” which appeared in the same year. Not works of the highest
standard of literature certainly, but evincing much talent, and giving a
good insight into Canadian character and life. He was the inventor and
discoverer of making paper pulp out of straw, an industry which has
grown to great proportions since his day; and when engaged in erecting
machinery for the manufacture of such paper at Morristown, New Jersey,
died in 1860, at the early age of thirty.
* * * * *
=Fullerton, James S.=, President of the Osgoode Literary and Legal
Society, Toronto.—Mr. Fullerton is a native Canadian, having been born
on April 3, 1843, in the township of South Dorchester, Elgin county,
Ontario. Early in life he formed a taste for the law, and finally came
to Toronto a student. He studied with N. G. Bigelow, John Leys and
Beverly Jones, and ten years ago he was admitted to the bar. He had the
honor of taking third and fourth year scholarships. He has now practised
his profession for a decade, and is senior partner in the firm of
Fullerton, Cook & Miller. He has had more of the successes of life than
fall to the lot of most men. His practice has steadily increased, and it
is said in legal circles that in three years he has only lost a couple
of cases—and those it was well nigh impossible to win. His reputation
for office work is great, and his unusual capabilities for making a jury
think as he thinks have given him considerable counsel work to do.
* * * * *
=Begg, Alexander=, Dunbow Ranch, North-West Territory, Canada, is a
native of the parish of Watten, Caithness-shire, Scotland, and was born
7th May, 1825. He is a son of Andrew Begg, farmer, and Jane Taylor, of
Houstry, Dunn, Watten. His father was also miller of the mill of Dunn
until about fifty years ago, when it and similar small oatmeal mills
throughout Caithness were discontinued. The work of kiln-drying oats,
formerly done by every farmer at home on his own kiln,—the winnowing of
the shelled grain after it had first passed between the mill stones, and
the sifting of the meal had to be done by hand; but about that time was
transferred to larger mills erected by each proprietor for his tenants.
The modern mill was furnished with a fanning mill to clean the shelled
oats, and sieves which sifted the meal thoroughly. A kiln was also
attached for the use of the tenants, who were bound each to bring his
grain to the mill belonging to the estate on which his farm was situate
and pay toll there. Mr. Begg received his elementary education at a
somewhat celebrated select school, taught by William Campbell, near his
father’s house at Backlass, Dunn. Up to the age of eighteen he assisted
on the farm and attended the Watten parish school. Subsequently he
attended the Normal School at Edinburgh, from which he received a
diploma qualifying him as a teacher. This he utilized by teaching at
Cluny, Aberdeenshire, until 1846, when he emigrated to Canada. Soon
after his arrival at Belleville, where some of his school fellows had
formerly emigrated, he taught school in the townships of West Huntingdon
and Madoc, and afterwards at Oshawa. There he met J. E. McMillan (now
sheriff in Victoria, B.C.), and joined him in publishing _The
Messenger_, the first newspaper published in Bowmanville. After a couple
of years he sold out to Mr. McMillan, and purchased the plant of the
Cobourg _Sun_, removing it to Brighton, Ontario, and published _The
Sentinel_, the first newspaper published there. He afterwards started
_The Advocate_ at Trenton, also the pioneer newspaper of that place.
Shortly afterwards he disposed of his interest in the printing business,
and visited his native land. On his return to Canada he received an
appointment in the customs, serving at the ports of Morrisburg, Port
Dover, Brockville and Cornwall; and in 1869 was promoted to be collector
of customs and inspector of inland revenue for the North-West
Territories, accompanying the lieutenant-governor, Hon. Wm. McDougall
and party, as far as Pembina, when the French half-breeds under Riel
stopped their advance, compelling their return. To conciliate certain
parties, another collector of customs was sent out to Fort Garry after
Riel’s flight to the United States. Mr. Begg was transferred to the
Inland Revenue department, but being dissatisfied at being deprived of
his position without any fault on his part, he left the service of the
Dominion government, and accepted the office of emigration commissioner
in Scotland for the Ontario government. In that work he was remarkably
successful, and during several years continued to send out a superior
class of emigrants. Owing to a change in the emigration policy, only one
agent for Ontario was retained for Great Britain, at Liverpool. Mr. Begg
then turned his attention to the establishment of a temperance colony in
the Parry Sound district. The township of McMurrich was chosen as being
then without any settlers. A grist mill, saw and shingle mills were
erected by him at Beggsboro’ in 1874, to encourage the settlement; and
although by a decision of the Provincial government, that settlers,
other than strictly temperance men, could be admitted to the colony, it
became and still continues a prosperous settlement. Whilst engaged in
opening up roads through the wilderness and fostering the colony, Mr.
Begg became editor and joint proprietor of the Muskoka _Herald_,
published at Bracebridge; and soon afterwards commenced in Toronto the
publication of the _Canada Lumberman_, a paper devoted to the interest
of lumber dealers. This paper was purchased by a Peterboro’ firm, and
has attained a leading position in the lumber trade. Next we find him,
in 1879, at the World’s Exposition in Paris, where he had on view, and
received prizes for, a landau carriage from London, Ontario, and a
sleigh from Orillia, at which latter place his family have resided since
their return from Scotland. He also brought across the Atlantic with him
from the Muskoka lakes, a number of live black bass, the first ever
brought alive across the ocean from the new to the old world. Some of
the bass were deposited at Dunrobin, the seat of the Duke of
Sutherland’s family in Scotland; some in England, and a few more taken
across the English channel to Paris, for which latter he received a
medal from the Paris Société d’Acclimatation. In 1881 Mr. Begg made a
tour to the North-West by way of Chicago, St. Paul and Bismarck, as the
Toronto _Mail_ correspondent; taking the steamer up the Missouri to Fort
Benton, the head of navigation, the Northern Pacific Railway not having
been completed farther than Bismark at that time. The journey onward and
northward from Benton to Fort McLeod was made by team and on horseback,
camping out by the way. His Excellency the Marquis of Lorne reached
McLeod from Battleford and Calgary on his tour across the continent at
the same time Mr. Begg arrived from the south, so he had the opportunity
of meeting the governor-general and party, and of including in his
correspondence the earliest written news of their arrival there, and the
enthusiastic reception given them by the Bloods, Piegans and a party of
Indians (Blackfeet), under Chief Crowfoot. From McLeod, Mr. Begg
proceeded to Morley, where one of his sons (Magnus) was farm instructor
of the Stoney tribe of Indians on the reserve there. Magnus has since
been promoted to be chief agent at the Blackfoot reserve. From Morley,
Mr. Begg rode up Bow River to the foot of the Rockies, where an advance
party of the Canadian Pacific Railway engineers were at work to
ascertain if the railway line could be located by that route. Returning
to Calgary, he proceeded north to Edmonton and St. Albert; then eastward
to Battleford, Prince Albert and Duck Lake, on to Humboldt, Fort
Qu’Appelle, Fort Ellice and Brandon, which latter place the Canadian
Pacific Railway had just reached. At Humboldt he was obliged to sell his
saddle and pack horses and take the stage, as winter had fairly set in,
and travelling alone was no longer safe, especially without stopping
places for the night. Next year, Mr. Begg returned to the North-West by
the same route, taking one of his sons (Robert) with him to establish a
sheep, cattle and horse ranch (Dunbow) at the confluence of High river
with Bow river. This summer (1887) another of his sons (Roderick) joined
him on the ranch, which is now well stocked and flourishing. His sons,
Alexander and Peter, have recently been engaged in the Eastern States in
connection with a printing establishment; another son, Ralph, is
attending the Military School in Toronto, whilst the sixth, Colin, is
studying at the High School in Orillia, where Mrs. Begg and five
daughters yet reside. This autumn Mr. Begg was appointed emigration
commissioner by the government of British Columbia, to arrange with the
Crofter fishermen of Scotland to settle on the western shores of the
island of Vancouver, to develop the valuable deep sea fisheries of the
Pacific. On this important mission he left Canada in October, having
formulated a scheme which will, he considers, solve the difficulty which
has hitherto prevented the Imperial government from advancing funds to
assist the emigration of the Crofters.
* * * * *
=Panneton, Louis Edmond=, Q.C., B.C.L., LL.M., Barrister, Sherbrooke,
province of Quebec, was born at Three Rivers, in that province, on the
6th July, 1848. His parents were André Panneton and Marie Blondin. Mr.
Panneton received his education at the college of Three Rivers, where he
took the classical course. In 1865 he removed to Sherbrooke, and in 1870
was admitted to the bar of Lower Canada. He was elected a school
commissioner in 1877, and in the same year was appointed a member of the
Catholic Board of Examiners for granting diplomas to teachers. In 1878
he was elected president of the Club Cartier (Conservative Association),
and a member of the city council in 1886. The degree of B.C.L. was
conferred upon him in 1882, and that of LL.M. in 1885. He is a professor
of civil law at Bishop’s University. He was chosen president for the
years 1885 and 1886 of the Eastern Townships Typographical Company,
which published _Le Pionnier_. He was made a Queen’s counsel in 1887,
and in the same year was elected president of the bar of the district of
St. Francis. Mr. Panneton travelled through the United States in 1876,
and made an extended tour through Europe in 1878. In religion, he is an
adherent of the Roman Catholic church, and in politics, a Conservative.
He was married on the 6th July, 1886, to Corinne Dorais, of St.
Gregoire, daughter of L. T. Dorais, M.P.P. for the county of Nicolet,
Province of Quebec.
* * * * *
=Blair, Frank I.=, M.D., St. Stephen, New Brunswick, was born on 6th
January, 1855. His father, Dugald Blair, M.D., was a Scotchman by birth,
having been born in Greenock, Scotland, and afterwards settled in New
Brunswick. His mother, Sarah Henrietta Marks, was a native of St.
Stephen, and was a descendant of Captain Nehemiah Marks, a noted
loyalist. Dr. Blair received his early education in Sunbury Grammar
School and the University, Fredericton; and adopting medicine as a
profession, completed his studies at the Bellevue Hospital Medical
College, New York. He then returned to his native province, and began
the practice of his profession in St. Stephen, where he has succeeded in
building up a good business. He takes an interest in Masonry, and is a
Knight Templar. He has travelled a good deal, and found time to visit
Europe, California, and several other Western states of America. In
politics he is a Liberal-Conservative; and in religion an adherent of
the Church of England. On the 1st of December, 1881, he was married to
Alice J. Owen, of St. Stephen.
* * * * *
=Irving, Andrew=, Registrar of the County of Renfrew, Pembroke, Ontario,
was born at Chatham, Miramichi, Northumberland county, New Brunswick, on
the 14th of December, 1820. His father, Andrew Irving, was a second
cousin of the celebrated preacher and divine, Edward Irving, the founder
of the sect known as the “Irvinites,” and was born in the parish of
Middlebec, Dumfriesshire, Scotland. He emigrated to New Brunswick in
1816, and lived a quiet life as a farmer on the banks of the Miramichi
river, about a mile from the town of Chatham, where he died in 1864. His
mother, Margaret Henderson, came to this country some time after her
husband, and died at a ripe old age in 1871. Mr. Irving’s grandfather,
John Henderson, married Clarinda Douglas, the daughter of Sir Archibald
Douglas, of Castle Milk, and had the Cleugh Brae farm presented to him
by Sir Archibald on the day of his marriage. He died at the age of
fifty-eight. Having made his will only eight days before his death, it
was declared illegal, from the circumstance that at that time the law of
Scotland required that a testator must attend both kirk and market, and
live six weeks after making his will, otherwise it would be null and
void. The family contested the validity of this will in the courts, with
the usual results, namely that of financial ruin to them all. Andrew,
the subject of our sketch, was educated at the Grammar School at
Chatham, and afterwards studied medicine for three years with Dr. Key,
then the most successful practitioner in New Brunswick. Finding,
however, that too close application to study was endangering his health,
he abandoned medicine, and resolved to seek his fortune in Western
Canada. With this object in view, in the summer of 1842 he began his
journey westward, and rather than slowly voyage on board a schooner from
Miramichi to Quebec he chose the land route. He rode on horseback from
Miramichi to Dalhousie, a distance of over a hundred miles, then crossed
the Restigouche river at Campbelltown with his provisions on his back,
and walked across the country to the St. Lawrence river at Metis, a
distance of nearly a hundred miles. The road for the greater part of the
route was only a footpath, and the sole guide he and his party had was
the Indian blaze; and it took three hard days’ travel to make the
journey. He then walked the entire distance, two hundred miles, from
Metis to Quebec, in five days. When he arrived at Bytown (now Ottawa
city), he crossed the Ottawa river, and was driven to Aylmer in a
vehicle called a stage, a distance of nine miles, by a man named Moses
Holt, who is still alive, though bordering on his one hundredth year.
The next day he took passage in a bark canoe, working his way as far as
Fitzroy Harbor, a small village on the south banks of the Upper Ottawa.
The following day he embarked on the steamer _George Buchanan,_ which at
her best could not steam more than five miles an hour, and came on with
her as far as Farrel’s Wharf, in the township of Horton. The distance
from this point to Pembroke by the then route was nearly fifty miles,
and our dauntless young Scotch settler accomplished the distance in a
day and a half, arriving at his destination in good health and spirits.
At this time it took a traveller three days from Ottawa to Pembroke, and
now the journey can be made in about as many hours. In January, 1842, he
began his career as a teacher in Pembroke, the settlers having erected
for him a log school-house, in the bush, and agreeing to pay him a
salary of forty pounds ($60) and board for a year, which, we may say,
was not always promptly paid. However, our young teacher was satisfied,
and his indomitable pluck carried him through all difficulties, and he
is now one of the leading men in his county. For about three years Mr.
Irving filled the office of clerk of the township and village of
Pembroke, and was Division Court clerk for over twenty years. In 1861 he
was chosen county treasurer, and held the office until 1875. He was
local superintendent of education for a part of the county before the
law abolishing this office came into force; and was a member of the
Board of Education for a number of years, during three of which he acted
as its chairman. In 1861 he was appointed a justice of the peace; and
for upwards of ten years was license inspector. In 1866 he was appointed
registrar of the county of Renfrew, and this office he still holds, and
devotes all his time to the performance of his duties. Mr. Irving has
always taken a deep interest in municipal affairs, and it was he who
during the years from 1861 to 1865 led in the county town struggle for
Renfrew county, and it has since been conceded by both friends and foes
that it was through his good management that Pembroke came off
victorious. He has been an ardent politician, and was always found
fighting in the Reform ranks. On one occasion, during a hard election
contest, he was approached by an old and valued friend, and offered a
lucrative office if he withdrew his opposition to the government
candidate, but, with true Scotch pride, he replied, “My principles are
my own; they are neither those of John A. Macdonald or George Brown, and
you would think very little of me if I would abandon them for any such
offer.” This answer led to an estrangement between him and his friend,
but after some years his friend admitted he was right, and so the matter
was forgotten. Unfortunately Mr. Irving is not so liberal in his
religious views as he is in his political. He is a very strict
Presbyterian; and the highest of Calvinists, and would resist to the
death any innovation or reform in his church standards. In 1844 he was
married to Jane Reid, the eldest daughter of the late Peter Whyte, the
first settler in Pembroke. She died in 1852, and two of her children
survive her. He again married in 1860, his second choice being Mary,
daughter of the late Doctor William Cannon, of the Royal navy. This lady
is still alive, and has been the mother of five children, four of whom
are living.
* * * * *
=Laliberté, Jean Baptiste=, Fur Merchant, St. Roch, Quebec, was born in
the city of Quebec, in 1843. His father, who was the owner of one of the
largest tanneries located on St. Valier street, in that city, sent him
early to the Quebec Normal School, where he received a sound commercial
education. On leaving school he commenced work with a merchant, and was
afterwards apprenticed for a few years to a furrier to learn the trade.
Here he soon acquired a thorough knowledge of it in all its branches,
and laid the foundations of a successful business career. In May, 1867,
he began, in a small way, on his own account. Being attentive and
obliging and keeping all the latest styles in his stock, customers came
dropping in; and at the end of five years, having worked very hard, he
had accumulated sufficient means to enable him to re-build the store in
which he had begun, and which had now become too small to accommodate
his growing trade. After a lapse of a few more years he began again to
be crowded for room; and he then decided to enlarge his premises. This
time he erected a handsome building on St. Joseph street, St. Roch’s,
containing six floors, 110 x 45 feet, which he now occupies. On the top
of the building is a dome and flag-staff, on which he always hoists the
French flag on the 24th of June of each year, this being the anniversary
of his patron saint, St. Jean-Baptiste. Mr. Laliberté has made it a rule
to purchase his goods in the best markets of the world, and to offer for
sale only articles which may, by their excellence in regard to quality
and workmanship, defy the keenest competition. Not content with visiting
only the fur markets of New York, London, Paris and Leipsic, he, in
1880, and every year since, has visited in person the great fur emporium
of Russia, being the first furrier from the province of Quebec who has
done this. He has now branch offices in the principal cities of Europe,
and his managers at these places advise him weekly as to prices, etc.
Mr. Laliberté employs over three hundred persons, several of whom are
constantly employed trapping and hunting in our own northern forests,
and are paid the highest prices for furs and peltries in season and of
the best grades. He is both an importer and exporter, and when a choice
set of furs is wanted, even for the far west, the St. Roch fur emporium
is generally called upon to supply it, as it is well known that from his
immense stock, said to be the largest in Canada, it can readily be
selected. Mr. Laliberté is erect in stature, manly in bearing, and is
noted for his courteous demeanour to his fellow men. In short, he is a
fair representative of the progressive French Canadian of the present
day.
* * * * *
=Macdonald, Augustine Colin=, Merchant, Montague, Prince Edward Island,
was born on the 30th June, 1837, at Panmure, P.E.I. He is a son of Hugh
Macdonald, who came from Moydart, Inverness-shire, Scotland, to Prince
Edward Island in 1805, and settled at Panmure. The mother of the subject
of our sketch was Catherine, daughter of A. Macdonald, of Rhue Arisaig,
Inverness-shire. Augustine Colin Macdonald received his education at the
Grammar School of Georgetown, and at the Central Academy, Charlottetown,
P.E.I. He has taken part in all matters pertaining to the interests of
the island in which he was born, and has been on several occasions a
commissioner for managing the Exhibition of Local Industry for Prince
Edward Island. He, too, is interested in military matters, and is
captain in one of the local companies. He was first returned to the
Legislative Assembly, as representative for the third electoral district
of Kings county, P.E.I., in 1870. He supported the Railway bill, and on
a dissolution of the house was again elected by his political friends.
In 1873 he once more appealed to his constituents, and, as a supporter
of “confederation” and “better terms,” was elected. When Prince Edward
Island became part of the confederacy, Mr. Macdonald was returned a
member of the Dominion parliament as a supporter of Sir John A.
Macdonald. At the general election, held in 1874, he suffered defeat at
the polls, being beaten by a small majority; but at the general
election, held in 1878, he was again elected to a seat in the House of
Commons at Ottawa. In politics Mr. Macdonald is a Liberal-Conservative,
and during his parliamentary career at Ottawa rendered good service to
the government when they were carrying through the Canadian Pacific
Railway bill and the national policy resolutions. He is an adherent of
the Roman Catholic church. He married at Charlottetown, on the 27th
June, 1865, Mary Elizabeth, sixth daughter of the late Hon. John Small
Macdonald, and has a family of seven children.
* * * * *
=Harris, John Leonard=, Merchant and Manufacturer, Moncton, New
Brunswick, was born in Norton, Kings county, on the 27th September,
1833. He is the second son of Michael Spurr Harris, who came to Moncton
with his family in 1836. Here John L. Harris received his education, and
in early life became engaged with G. &. J. Salter, shipbuilders, as
their bookkeeper and chief business man. About the year 1856 he
associated with him his brother, C. P. Harris, in the shipbuilding
business, which they carried on under the firm name of J. & C. Harris.
And since 1858, as general merchants, they have largely imported
British, foreign and West India goods. From this business it may be said
was developed some of the most important industries of the town of
Moncton, viz.: a sugar refinery and a cotton mill—and these were
established in 1880 and 1882, under the supervision of this firm—J. L.
Harris being the president and managing director of both companies. But
it is largely to Mr. Harris’s own personal exertions and untiring energy
that his native town is indebted for the accomplishment of its most
important public benefit—a work which has been of equal benefit to
every citizen, and has not only placed Moncton at once in a position to
prosecute the industries and arts of life, but has fixed a permanent
value to real estate, while it protects property from fire, and insures
health, cleanliness and comfort for future generations. It was in 1878
that he organized the Moncton Gas Light and Water Company, the works of
which, although extensive, were carried to completion with great
promptness and success during the same year. Within three months 30,000
days’ labor were performed; and combined with this was erected the gas
works, during the same year, which subsequently included a system of
electric lighting. Mr. Harris has been the president and managing
director of this company, as well as of the sugar and cotton
manufacturing companies, from their organization to the present time;
and he has for many years been active in advocating and promoting a
harbor improvement enterprise for Moncton, having, with his colleagues,
obtained acts of the Dominion and Local parliaments incorporating the
Moncton Dock and Harbor Improvement Company. He has also been identified
with other public enterprises in the town, and generally those called
into existence by reason of the national policy of Canada, which he has
warmly supported. He is an upholder of the principles of the
Liberal-Conservative party. In 1881 and 1882 Mr. Harris was elected to
the position of mayor, and thus served two years as presiding officer of
the Moncton town council. He has been for many years very active in
Freemasonry, and is a past master of Keith lodge; past first principal
of Botsford Royal Arch Chapter; a member of the order of Knights
Templars, and has taken other advanced degrees. In religion he is an
adherent of the Presbyterian church. He was married August 11th, 1864,
to Mary, second daughter of the late Alexander Cowie, M.D.
* * * * *
=Joncas, Louis Zephrin=, General Agent, Grand River, M.P. for Gaspé, is
of Norman descent, and was born at Grand River, in the county of Gaspé,
province of Quebec, on the 26th July, 1846. His parents were Léon Joncas
and Esther Beaudin. His family was during many years engaged in the
fishing industry. Mr. Joncas, the subject of our sketch, received his
education at the College Masson, in Terrebonne, near Montreal, and after
having gone through his classical course of studies he began studying
law in Montreal, but in consequence of ill health was obliged to
discontinue it and go back to his native village, where during twelve
years he has carried on the business of fish-curing. In 1876 Mr. Joncas
was appointed sheriff of the county of Gaspé, in place of John Short,
and this office he held until the 20th February, 1887, when he resigned
to run for the House of Commons. Under the name and style of L. Z.
Joncas & Co., he keeps at Grand River a general agency and accountant’s
office. In 1883 he was chosen by the Dominion government one of the
commissioners to represent Canada, and more especially the province of
Quebec, at the International Fisheries Exhibition, held in London,
England, and in this capacity he won golden opinions both from the
British and from the Canadian press. At the Fishery Congress in
connection with the International Fisheries Exhibition, Mr. Joncas read
a paper on the “Fisheries of Canada,” which has been greatly appreciated
both abroad and at home. Speaking of this lecture, the London _Canadian
Gazette_ of the 5th July, 1883, said: “At a conference held on Monday,
the 2nd day of July inst., at the Fisheries Exhibition, the Hon. A. W.
McLelan, minister of marine of Canada, presiding, a remarkably
comprehensive and interesting paper upon the various fisheries of
British North America was read by Mr. L. Z. Joncas, one of the Canadian
commissioners at the Exhibition. The subject was a large one, but Mr.
Joncas’ practical knowledge of it enabled him to do justice to all its
branches, and he concentrated in his paper much information of great
value upon all sections of the trade. We hope at an early date to give
some extracts from it of interest to our readers. By order of the
executive committee of the Exhibition this work has been published and
thousands of copies are being distributed.” The London _Daily
Telegraph_, alluding to the same paper, says: “The most important of the
papers yet read at the International conference was that of Monday, 2nd
instant., on the ‘Fisheries of Canada,’ by Mr. L. Z. Joncas, one of the
executive commissioners for Canada, which was at once able, valuable,
and as far as possible exhaustive.” In 1884 Mr. Joncas was asked to
lecture on the same subject before the members of the British
Association then assembled in Montreal, and he read a paper considering
the fisheries from an economical point of view. This paper, which makes
a pamphlet of over sixty pages, has been largely distributed both in
Europe and in Canada by the Dominion government. In 1887, when Dr.
Fortin, who had represented Gaspé in the House of Commons since 1867,
signified his intention of resigning, Mr. Joncas was asked to come
forward by a large number of the electors of Gaspé, and he was elected
at the general election held on the 22nd March, 1887, to the House of
Commons of Canada. In politics he is an independent Conservative; and in
religion is an adherent of the Roman Catholic church. On the 18th July,
1870, he married Emerentienne Blouin, of St. Valier, in the county of
Bellechasse, province of Quebec, a sister to the Right Rev. F. A.
Blouin, curé of Carleton, Bonaventure county, and general vicar of the
diocese of Rimouski, P.Q.
* * * * *
=Law, William=, Shipping and Commission Merchant, Yarmouth, Nova Scotia,
M.P.P. for Yarmouth, was born in Belfast, Ireland, on 5th August, 1833,
and in October, 1847, he came to Yarmouth. Here he remained until 1849,
when he went to Oxford, in the state of Massachusetts, and did business
there until 1855, when he again took up his abode in Yarmouth. Since
that time Mr. Law has been extensively engaged in business, as head of
the firm of William Law & Co., shipping and commission merchants. In
1870 he was appointed a justice of the peace for Yarmouth county. He has
filled the office of president of the Oriental Marine Insurance Company
for eight years; and was appointed manager, for Nova Scotia, of the
Boston Marine Insurance Company, in 1881. In 1886 he was chosen to
represent Yarmouth county in the Nova Scotia legislature. In politics he
is a Liberal, and is a strong advocate of free trade and commercial
union with the United States. In his religious views he is an
independent. While living in Oxford, Mass., he was married to Mary A.,
daughter of Enoch and Abigail Brown, of Douglas, Mass. Mr. Brown
represented the town of Douglas in the Massachusetts legislature.
* * * * *
=Laurie, John Wimburn=, Major-General, Oakfield, Nova Scotia, was born
on the 1st October, 1835, in London, England. He is the eldest son of
John Laurie, M.P. for Barnstaple, of 10 Hyde Park Terrace, London, and
Marshalls, Havering atte Bower, in Essex; justice of the peace for
Middlesex and Essex, and deputy-lieutenant for both counties. His mother
is Eliza Helen Collett, youngest daughter of Kenrick Collett, master in
Chancery, of Holcrofts, Fulham, Middlesex, England. Major-General Laurie
received his education at Harrow, and Dresden, Saxony, and graduated
with honors at the Royal Military College at Sandhurst, obtaining a
commission without purchase. He was appointed to the 2nd Queen’s Royals
in depot, in 1853, and volunteered for active service against the
Russians in 1854, and appointed to the 4th King’s Own regiment of foot.
With this regiment he served ten months at the siege and fall of
Sebastopol. He was twice wounded in the trenches, and was mentioned in
despatches for his gallant defence of advanced positions against a
largely superior force of Russians. He never missed a day’s duty during
the twenty months he spent in the Crimea, except when wounded. He was
present at the attacks on Sebastopol on the 18th June, with a storming
party on Barrack battery on the 8th September, and at the capture of the
stronghold on the 9th. September, 1855. He served at Mauritius in 1857,
to keep order among the Indian coolies during the excitement consequent
on the Indian mutiny; and in Central India against the rebellious Sepoys
during 1858-59-60, as staff officer of a field force with irregular
cavalry and camel corps, making forced marches in the Rewah and Mahi
Kante districts. He was promoted to major, unattached, for distinguished
service, in 1861. In 1854 and 1856 Major Laurie attended the School of
Musketry at Hythe, and took a prominent part in introducing musketry
instruction and rifle practice in the army. He passed a competitive
examination, and entered Staff College at Sandhurst in 1861; but on the
occurrence of the _Trent_ affair he volunteered for active service, and
was sent to Canada to organize the militia, and was retained in Nova
Scotia by the Marquis of Normanby and General Sir Hastings Doyle, and
remained as inspecting field officer until that province joined the
confederation. In 1866 he placed 15,000 men under arms to repel the
threatened Fenian invasion, and also took over the garrison duties at
Halifax, so that the regular troops might go to the New Brunswick
frontier. In 1869 he took over the duties of brigade major, and
succeeded to the position of deputy adjutant-general on the death of
Colonel Sinclair, continuing in command in Nova Scotia until 1881, when
he was transferred to British Columbia. When on leave in England, in
1877, he offered to raise a regiment in Canada for active service
against the Russians, and for this he received the personal thanks of
the secretary of war; and in 1881 he volunteered and accompanied Sir
Frederick Roberts to South Africa, with the expedition against the Boers
of the Transvaal. On the conclusion of peace he returned and assumed
command in British Columbia, and remained there until 1882, in which
year he was promoted, by selection, to the rank of major-general in the
army. In 1885, on the outbreak of the Servo-Bulgarian war, he was
appointed commissioner to the headquarters of the Servian army, under
the Red Cross Convention, and remained until the conclusion of peace in
1886, in charge of hospitals organized by him, and in carrying aid to
the wounded and those suffering from contagious and epidemic diseases;
and with Baron Mundy, the eminent philanthropist of Austria, jointly
organized an ambulance train for the conveyance of wounded from the
field by railway trains, for all of which services he received the
personal and repeated thanks of the King and Queen of Servia, as well as
of the Red Cross Society of Great Britain, and of Austro-Hungary. On the
outbreak of Riel’s rebellion in the North-West of Canada, he volunteered
for service under General Middleton, who was his junior in the army, and
after joining the advanced column, was appointed commandant of base and
line of communication, which position he filled until the close of the
campaign. He has received, as decorations for his war services: from her
Majesty, Queen Victoria, the Crimean medal, with clasp for Sebastopol,
Indian mutiny medal for Central India, North-West Canada medal; from the
Sultan of Turkey the Russian war medal and the Imperial Order of the
Medjijie; from the King of Servia the Servian war medal and the
decoration of Knight Commander of the order of St. Sava; and from the
Queen of Servia, the order of the Red Cross for saving life.
Major-General Laurie was elected councillor for his district, and first
warden of Halifax county on the organization of the municipality in
1879, and again in 1880. He was appointed a justice of the peace for
Halifax county in 1869. For ten years he has been president of the
Provincial Board of Agriculture in Nova Scotia, and has been active in
organizing joint stock companies for the development of manufactures. He
carries on a large experimental farm at Oakfield, about twenty miles
from Halifax. He has been elected for ten years grand master of the
Freemasons of Nova Scotia; and was also president of the St. George’s
Society of Halifax; and aided in organizing the Royal British Veteran
Society, a self-supporting benefit society, composed of members who have
served in the army or navy, and of which he is president. He contested
Shelburne county, a Liberal stronghold, at the general election of 1887,
as an independent supporter of the national policy, and was defeated by
thirty-four votes. During the thirty-four years of his active service,
Major-General Laurie served her Majesty in a campaign in every quarter
of the globe; has written descriptive articles for the contemporary
press, and was called upon by the Admiralty authorities in Britain to
publish his views as to the most suitable position for a naval base for
Great Britain in the Pacific. He is a strong advocate for closer union
and more harmonious united work amongst all Evangelical denominations.
He married, in 1863, Frances Robie, youngest daughter of the Hon. Enos
Collins, of Gorsebrook, Halifax, granddaughter of the late Chief Justice
Sir Brenton Haliburton, and great-granddaughter of Bishop Inglis, of
Nova Scotia, who, as rector of Trinity Church, New York, at the time of
the revolution, continued to offer prayers for the king, although
levelled guns warned him that his life would be taken unless he
desisted. Two sons are now serving in the army: the elder in the 4th
King’s Own, in which General Laurie won his spurs, and the younger in
the old 86th, now the Royal Irish Rifles.
* * * * *
=Hall, John Smythe=, Jun., B.A., B.C.L., Q.C., M.P.P. for Montreal West,
is a native of Montreal, having been born there on the 7th August, 1853.
He is the son of John S. Hall and Emma Robins Brigham. Mr. Hall, sen.,
was a member of the old firm of Grant, Hall & Co., extensive lumbermen,
and subsequently flour millers. Mr. Hall, jun., received his primary
education at Bishop’s College School, Lennoxville, and afterwards
entered McGill University, taking the degree of B.A. in 1874, and that
of B.C.L. in 1875. He was called to the bar in 1876, and at once took a
prominent place. He is now a member of the well-known law firm of
Chapleau, Hall, Nicholls & Brown. He has always taken a deep interest in
educational matters. In 1883 he was chosen representative fellow-in-law,
and became a member of the corporation of McGill University, and
re-elected to the same position in January, 1886. He was also president
of the University Literary Society; in 1884 president of the Graduates’
Society; and in 1887 president of the University Club. In politics he is
a Conservative, and an active member of the Junior Conservative Club,
occupying the position of president in 1885. This year (1887) he was
made a Q.C. Mr. Hall has taken an active interest in the volunteer
force, and is now a captain in the Montreal Field Battery of Artillery.
He is a member of the Church of England; and on the 3rd January, 1883,
married Victoria Brigham, daughter of the late T. C. Brigham, of Ottawa.
At the last general election for the province of Quebec, Mr. Hall
contested Montreal West against G. W. Stephens, Liberal, and W. W.
Robertson, workingman’s candidate, for a seat in the Quebec legislature,
and was returned by a majority of 127 over Mr. Stephens, and 1,000 over
Mr. Robertson.
* * * * *
=Labelle, Rev. François Xavier Antoine=, the “Apostle of Colonization,”
Parish Priest, St. Jerome, county of Terrebonne, Province of Quebec, was
born in the village of Ste. Rose, Laval county, on the 14th November,
1834, his father being Antoine Labelle, a master shoemaker, who was
married to Angélique Mayer. In 1844 he was sent to the Seminary of Ste.
Thérèse, and in that institution completed a full course of classical
studies. He was chiefly remarkable at college for his sound judgment and
his happy and retentive memory. The consideration he enjoyed among his
fellow-students caused him to be chosen president of the Grammar
Society, and vice-president of the Literary Society of the college. His
favorite studies were history and philosophy, and his favorite authors
DeMaistre, Balmès, DeBonald, and Nicholas, chiefly the latter, whom he
possessed almost by heart, and thereby gained the surname of “Nicholas,”
given him by his companions. He chose the ecclesiastical state, and
received the first of the minor orders in 1852, at the Seminary of Ste.
Thérèse, where during three years he was a teacher, performing at the
same time the humble duties of recreation room master and attendant of
the convocation room. In 1855 he went to the Grand Seminary of Montreal,
where he devoted himself exclusively to the study of theology. He was
only twenty-two years old when he was ordained priest, in 1856, in his
native village, by Mgr. Pinsonneault, eight days after the consecration
of that prelate. By virtue of an edict of the Holy See the privilege of
ordaining a certain number of priests before they had attained the
required age, was granted to the bishop of Montreal, and Father Labelle
was one of the first on whom the honor was conferred. He was appointed
vicar to Father Vinet, since promoted to the dignity of prelate to the
Holy See, then parish priest of the beautiful and wealthy parish of
Sault-au-Récollet. The young vicar rendered great services to his _curé_
in the difficulties the latter had to encounter in connection with the
building of the Convent of the Sacred Heart. Father Labelle resided two
years and a half in the parish of Sault-au-Récollet, and the
parishioners expressed the livliest regret when he was sent to help the
parish priest of St. Jacques-le-Mineur, Rev. Father Morin, who required
rest; in this parish he resided nine months. In 1859 he was appointed
parish priest of St. Antoine Abbé, a mixed parish on the border. Here he
had many difficulties to smooth over as first resident _curé_ of this
parish, which had been divided in two for civil purposes by the division
of the counties of Huntingdon and Chateauguay. In the midst of the
greatest obstacles he had to create everything; he succeeded, however,
in having the parish civilly erected and organized as a scholastic and
municipal corporation, in spite of the electoral influences which
prevented him from attaining his aim immediately. Religious
embarrassments also existed, but thanks to the energy and tact displayed
by Father Labelle, these were overcome. The impetus given to St. Antoine
Abbé during the four years’ residence of the _curé_ in that parish,
placed it in the way of progress, and it is at the present day one of
the most prosperous in the province of Quebec. A few years ago the
humble chapel, which had been erected in the first days of the village,
was demolished, and in its place stands one of the finest church
edifices in the county. It was here that Rev. Father Labelle experienced
a deep sorrow in the death of his father, who had followed the fortunes
of his only son. In 1863 he was sent to Lacolle by his bishop, Mgr.
Bourget, who had had occasion to appreciate his energy and charity.
Grave difficulties had arisen, owing to the choice of a site for a new
church, which had been selected outside of the village as the centre of
the parish, causing division, fed by a few Protestants, who went even so
far as to offer help to build the church in the village. When Father
Labelle arrived to take the place of Father Bourbonnais, the situation
was almost desperate; but the inhabitants of St. Antoine predicted to
those of Lacolle that nothing would resist the efforts of their new
pastor. And, in fact, despite the intelligence and wealth in league
against him, despite the efforts of the Protestants who owned the
greater portion of the territory, he succeeded through perseverance and
diplomatic acuteness to make Lacolle what it is to-day, one of the
finest villages in the country. When he left the parish, both
Protestants and Catholics recognized his ability and admitted the
justice of his previous claims. It was during his sojourn in Lacolle
that the Fenian invasion of 1866 took place. The spot offered an easy
access to the enemy, being at the entrance of the plain leading to St.
John’s. The patriotism roused by the _curé_, however, in the hearts of
his parishioners caused the enemies of the country to choose another
point to enter Canada. “If the Fenians come here,” the pastor said, “I
will place myself at your head to repel them.” In 1868 he was
transferred to the curacy of St. Jerome. After having passed his first
years of priesthood in the midst of struggles, it was a welcome change
to the good man to settle in a quiet and well organized parish. He fell
on his knees on the threshold of his presbytery to return thanks to God
for his mercy. He discovered in his parishioners the spirit of union, so
efficacious in the performance of noble works. The site of the village,
the progress already made, the intelligence and ambition of its
inhabitants, everything tended to forebode an era of happiness such as
he had never before experienced. He knew the North only from
geographical descriptions and hearsay; but the position of St. Jerome at
the foot of the Laurentian mountains, in that broad and fertile valley
of the Ottawa river, opened up to his view the perspective of a vast
field for the exercise of his patriotism. He wanted to convince himself
_de visu_ of the resources of the country, and with that end in view, he
organized an expedition to explore the valley to its most extreme
limits, and he returned with the conviction that this vast plain should
be the cradle of a numerous and vigorous population, whose industry and
needs would develop an important trade. The best means to attain that
end, he thought, was to build a railroad, which, reaching the Gatineau,
would in after years be an immense feeder to Montreal, whilst helping to
colonize that part of the province; for he had found, during his voyage,
a fertile soil and a wealth of timber and minerals hardly surpassed in
any other part of the Dominion. He was also thinking of the great number
of willing and vigorous workers who, after receiving so many favors in
their native land, left it to go and enrich the foreigner, while their
own country’s resources were undeveloped for the want of their sturdy
sinews. “Any subject,” he would say, “who willingly leaves the
benevolent shadow of the British flag, proves a loss to the country and
an evil to the subject.” Before undertaking to build a railroad,
however, colonization roads must be built, the country must be opened;
so he turned his attention to the roads at once. Public men know what it
costs to obtain favors from a government which, in spite of its
patriotism and good-will, is often-times hampered in the distribution of
its favors. The influences of the southern part of the province, which
set up the plea that they had not obtained enough at the hands of the
government, tempered the generous impulses of the ministers. To this
Father Labelle offered a strong argument: “The south has received a
great deal, the north almost nothing; when the south receives, the north
derives no benefit; whilst, when the north is prosperous, the overflow
of its wealth benefits the south.” He begged and supplicated, but was
repulsed. Nothing daunted, he kept asking. “I wish you would send your
_curé_ to his parishioners,” a minister said one day to the member for
Terrebonne. “You can do that yourself,” said the latter; “if he annoys
you, give him what he asks, otherwise you will never get rid of him.”
After months of waiting and innumerable requests, the ministry
acquiesced to the just demands of the north, and granted subsidies
according to the means at the disposal of the government. Let us say
right here that the zeal of Father Labelle was vigorously seconded by
the Hon. Mr. Chapleau, who has always done all he could in the interest
of his constituents, and also by the Hon. Mr. Masson, the late
lieutenant-governor of the Province of Quebec, and the then
representative of the county in the House of Commons. The zealous priest
was also sustained by the successive administrations of the province,
and by the sympathy and energy of the citizens of St. Jerome, among whom
may be mentioned Messrs. Laviolette, M. J. B. Lefebvre-Villemure,
Prévost, de Montigny, William Scott, J. A. Hervieux, and many others.
The whole parish is in accord with its _curé_, for, in French Canada,
when works of public utility are in view, political divisions are laid
aside. The priests of the adjoining parishes also accorded a loyal and
energetic support to Father Labelle. The principal work of this
indefatigable man is certainly the railroad commenced under his
auspices, known at first under the name of “Chemin à lisses de bois,”
but laid to-day with steel rails. His matchless energy was displayed in
its construction; and in the pursuit of this object he undertook
struggles, voyages, writing, etc., the recital of which would be the
recital of the stormy beginnings of two great railways which at the
present day are the pride of the country. Father Labelle has always
looked upon the “Colonization Railroad of the North” as part of the
Canadian Pacific, and also took a great interest in the latter, which he
considered as the artery destined to carry the wealth of the West, as
well as the treasures of Japan and China, to our seaports through
Canadian territory, favoring and feeding industry and commerce all along
its immense length. He admired the plan of Sir George E. Cartier, and
regretted the failure of Sir Hugh Allan, through the intrigues of his
opponents, in his attempt to float the loan necessary to its
construction. He foresaw, in the construction of the Pacific Railway, a
powerful means of immigration, and calculated that in ten years, the
indirect contributions paid by the new settlers into the Federal
treasury, and the increase in value of the North-West lands, would pay
the largest portion of the debt contracted for the undertaking. It is
needless to add that his predictions were correct, as it has been amply
proved since. His appreciation of the advantages and disadvantages
offered by the diverse routes proposed, reveal the foresight of a true
statesman. He worked also in the interest of the North Shore road, and
helped it by his writings, visits and timely interference at critical
periods. But his favorite road has always been the Colonization road. He
is called its father, and he cannot possibly disclaim his offspring. He
said one time, on the occasion of a visit paid him by the members of the
Montreal press, that such children were the only ones the members of his
calling were allowed to beget. At the same time he thanked the
newspapers for the tender care they had exercised in nursing and
clothing his child. If doubts existed on any one’s mind as to the
important share of glory accruing to Father Labelle on account of this
work, the following extracts which were communicated to us by an
indiscreet friend of the _curé_ of St. Jerome, would be sufficient to
dissipate them. Sir Hugh Allan wrote him on the 25th July, 1883:—
MY DEAR FATHER LABELLE,—You have been happy to hear, I am sure,
that the contract for the construction of the Colonization
railroad has at last been signed. This result is in a great
measure due to your industry and increasing efforts, and if
there is a man who ought to reap any glory from the completion
of this work, that man is yourself.