England with the governor-general and his family, and after visiting
Italy, Switzerland and France, sailed once more for Quebec, where, in
1831, he married Eliza Cecilia, daughter of the Hon. Chief Justice
Bowen. Chief Justice Bowen was born in Kinsale, Ireland, in 1780. He was
one of three brothers, the eldest of whom, Lieutenant-Colonel Bowen,
C.B., Madras army, was killed at Seringapatam; and the youngest, while
captain in the Royal Navy, won no little distinction for gallant conduct
in H.M.’s frigate _Apollo_. The Bowens are descended from an old Welsh
family, the name being originally Ap Owen. Mr. Bowen’s father, M.D. and
surgeon in H.M.’s forces, died in the West Indies, whither he had gone
with his regiment. His mother was the beautiful Isabella Cassan,
daughter of Richard Sheffield Cassan, and grand-daughter of Alexander
Hamilton, M.P., of Knock, county Dublin. In 1833, Mr. Hale moved to
Sherbrooke, and there built for himself a homestead, now known as
“Sleepy Hollow,” to which, to his dying day, he was much attached. He
was a member of the Special Council for Lower Canada in 1839, and
represented the county of Sherbrooke in the Legislative Assembly from
1841 to 1847; and, besides many other public offices, from 1866 to 1875
he held that of chancellor of Bishop’s College, Lennoxville, an
institution for which he had a sincere affection, and which owes much of
its present prosperity to his energy and good management. In 1867, he
was appointed a member of the Legislative Council for the province of
Quebec, which position he held for the remainder of his life. At the
meeting of the Legislative Council (next following his death) November,
1875, the Hon. Messrs. De Boucherville, Ferrier and Fraser offered many
tributes of respect to the memory of their venerable colleague, and Mr.
Fraser, addressing the House in French, said:
Mr. Hale was a member of the Special Council of Lower Canada in
1839 and 1840, and, as such, assisted in conferring important
benefits on this province, such as the law which granted the
seigniory of St. Sulpice to the seminary of that name, at
Montreal, the acts or ordinances of registration, turnpike
roads, and other measures, which powerfully contributed to the
development of the country. His grandfathers were officers of
high rank in General Wolfe’s army, and distinguished themselves
in the important events of those times. On his father’s side his
ancestors were persons of distinction in old England, and his
mother was a sister of Earl Amherst, whose ancestors were
followers of William the Conqueror, and one of whose
descendants, Hamo de Herst, in the reign of Edward III. (1339),
held large estates in the county of Kent, which the present Lord
Amherst still holds. I feel it a most pleasing duty to recall to
your memories his agreeable manners—those of the perfect
gentleman—which were natural to him. He was open, frank and
honest, never hiding his thoughts or opinions, but always
expressing them in language at once courteous and elevated. He
was as cheerful as he was amiable, his conversation was most
attractive, his powers of narration were great, and his mind was
filled with interesting and original anecdotes, at once lively
and entertaining, which rendered him a most agreeable and much
desired companion.
At a meeting of the Synod in Quebec, of which he had been a delegate for
many years, his lordship Bishop Williams, made the following remarks in
alluding to his death:
My reverend brethren and brethren of the laity.—Before
proceeding to read, in accordance with our custom, the summary
statement which I have prepared of the ecclesiastical events of
the diocese, I must advert, however briefly, to a matter
belonging to the history of the Synod itself. Since last we met,
one who from the Synod’s first creation has been an honored
member of the same, has been taken from us. The death of the
Hon. Edward Hale caused us a loss not easily repaired. During
the whole time of my residence in this country he has been my
valued friend, but for a record of his fine qualities we need
not go to the reminiscence of a friend. He carried it with him
wherever he went. His prompt and punctual attention to all
public duties, the kindness of his heart, and the courtesy of
his demeanor are known to all. His genial presence we shall see
no more, his peace-loving spirit will, I trust, remain with us
for ever.
Mr. Hale died April 26th, 1875, at Quebec, whither he had gone to attend
to his parliamentary duties, and was buried at Sherbrooke. Mrs. Hale
died at Boston, United States, in 1850. She was the mother of seven
children, of whom six are now living. The eldest son, Edward John, at
Quebec, at the old house which has been the home of four generations of
Hales. The second son, Edward Chaloner, at “Chaloner,” near Lennoxville;
and the youngest, William Amherst, at the old homestead, “Sleepy
Hollow,” near Sherbrooke. Two of the daughters live in Sherbrooke, and
the third is the wife of Henry Turnour Machin, assistant treasurer of
the province of Quebec. During a residence of upwards of forty years in
the Eastern Townships, Mr. Hale aided materially, and watched with
interest, the growth of Sherbrooke from an obscure hamlet of a few
straggling houses to the large and prosperous town it now is. When the
rebellion of 1837 and 1838 broke out, he joined the volunteers, refused
a commission, and, for the sake of example, served in the ranks.
Although a Conservative in politics, Mr. Hale placed individual merit
far above party, creed, or class, and by his impartiality and just
judgment, living above suspicion or reproach, he won the respect and
esteem of all who knew him, and of him might truly be said, as he so
often said of others, “the rank is but the guinea’s stamp, the man’s the
gowd for a’ that.” But it was to his children and intimate friends that
his noble Christian life was best known. Possessed of charity in the
widest sense of the word, full of love and compassion for those in
trouble or distress, ever ready to help the poor and needy, his active
sympathy and generosity made him beloved and revered by all classes. The
example of his pure, unselfish life is not forgotten, and he still lives
in the hearts of those who loved him.
* * * * *
=Withall, William John=, Montreal, Que., was born on the island of
Jersey, November 22nd, 1814. His father was born in London, and his
mother in Jersey. He received what was considered in those days an
education sufficient to commence training for commercial pursuits.
Leaving school in 1826, and having a strong desire to visit other parts
of the world, he pressed on his parents to grant him permission to leave
home. Being only twelve years of age, and having an uncle and aunt in
Gaspé, it was decided that he should go thither, and arriving there on
the 30th April, found that country covered with deep snow. His uncle’s
occupation was farming, fishing and lumbering. During that year his
mother died, and being a minor, he had no choice but to make Gaspé his
abode. That country was thinly populated, and almost isolated from the
outside world. He received a letter from Jersey in winter, the postage
of which was four shillings and sixpence. It was the custom then to
dispatch a courier in January from Gaspé for Quebec, carrying the
mail-bag on his back. This was a perilous journey, there being hardly
any habitation between Gaspé and Quebec for two hundred and fifty or
three hundred miles. When sixteen years of age, he thought, if his uncle
would allow him his independence, he could, by working and trading, do
something better for himself, but when he made the proposal, his uncle
said he was too young, and could not provide for himself. His answer
was, “Give me my freedom.” Although young, and feeling confident that
where others could make a living he could do the same. On getting his
uncle’s consent, he then commenced the battle of life. He managed,
through perseverance and economy, to save a little money each year. At
the time he arrived in Gaspé, the language spoken was French, which he
could neither speak nor understand. There being no schools, he made use
of the only means at his disposal. There was a local Methodist preacher
from the island of Guernsey using the French language. Young Withall was
punctual in his attendance every Sabbath (and has continued to identify
himself with the same church ever since). He commenced by repeating the
hymns and Scriptures when read out by the preacher, and soon acquired
the French pronounciation, and became familiar in reading and writing
that language. This in after life became very useful, and to some extent
he attributes it to his financial success. The winter of 1832 was passed
in St. Thomas, below Quebec, and between teaching, fishing and trading,
he began to have a balance to the good. In 1835 he took passage to his
native land, the island of Jersey. After visiting several places in
Europe, he returned to Gaspé, having made an engagement with a Jersey
merchant to take charge of his stores and fishing establishments. In
1837 he took a joint interest in purchasing a large block of land in the
north-west arm of Gaspé Bay. The intention was to build a saw mill for
the lumber trade. The prospect for the future not coming up to his
ideas, he sold out his interests. In 1840 he left Gaspé for Quebec, and
commenced, by opening a provision and grocery store. In 1841 he married
Elizabeth, widow of the late Peter Bott, who departed this life in 1882.
In 1883 he married Eleanor, widow of the late Richard W. Langmuir. In
1850 he commenced taking an active interest in the different
institutions connected with the city of Quebec; was elected city
councillor and director in the Union Building Society in 1865; was
elected a director in the Quebec Bank; joined, as silent partner, in a
soap and candle factory; and was one of the promoters of the National
Bank; the Quebec Steamship Company; the Quebec Marine Insurance Company;
the Quebec Street Railway Company; the Lake St. John Railway Company;
was proprietor of the Quebec Rubber Company; took an interest in the
Quebec Worsted Company; the Quebec Tow Boat Company; and was either
president or director in the above companies until 1884. In 1867 he was
appointed justice of the peace. In 1854 he joined a party of four for
the building of two vessels intended to trade between Chicago and ports
on the ocean. These were built by the Messrs. McCarthy, at Sorel, one
being named _Chicago_, and the other _Quebec_. These vessels made
voyages direct from Chicago to Newfoundland and Liverpool, but, being
built with centre-boards and considered unsafe, the underwriters
declined to cover them by insurance, and the adventure, not proving
profitable, was discontinued. It is believed these were the first
vessels that sailed direct from Chicago to the ocean. In 1884 Mr.
Withall left the city of Quebec, and is now a resident of Montreal,
filling the offices of vice-president of the Quebec Bank, and director
of the Sun Life Insurance Company, the Canadian Rubber Company, the
Quebec Steamship Company, the Guarantee Company of North America, the
Royal Electric Company, and still holding one-half interest with his
nephew, Thomas A. Piddington, in the Bulstrode Tannery, near Arthabaska,
Quebec. During his mercantile life he never entered into any transaction
beyond his own resources, and when anything proved unprofitable, himself
only was the sufferer. Mr. Withall is now in the seventy-fourth year of
his age, possessing a good constitution, sound in body and mind, and
enjoying the confidence and esteem of a wide circle of friends and
acquaintances.
* * * * *
=Hammond, John=, St. John, New Brunswick, a professional Artist of many
years’ standing, was born in Montreal in the year 1843; has studied in
England, France, Holland, and Italy; is a regular exhibitor in the
annual exhibitions of both the Royal Academy, London, and the Paris
Salon, and is principal of the Owen’s Art Educational Institution of St.
John, New Brunswick.
* * * * *
=Mackenzie, Hon. Alexander=, Toronto, M.P. for East York, ex-Premier of
Canada. About the end of the year 1842, three young men resided in the
city of Kingston, who were destined to act prominent parts in the public
life of Canada. One of the three was a rising young lawyer of pleasing
address and popular manners, who had won distinction by his defence of
Von Schultz and other state prisoners connected with the troubles of
1837. The second had been a student in the office of this young lawyer,
and was this year—1842—called to the bar. The third was a Scottish
youth of twenty, who had landed in Kingston in April, and was beginning
his Canadian life as a stonemason. The young lawyer is now the Right
Hon. Sir John A. Macdonald, First Minister of Canada. His student is now
the Hon. Oliver Mowat, Premier of Ontario. The youthful stonemason is
now the veteran statesman whose name stands at the head of this
sketch—a name respected and honored by every clean man in the Dominion
of Canada. Mr. Mackenzie was born on the 28th January, 1822, and is two
years younger than his friend, the Hon. Oliver Mowat, and seven years
younger than his rival, Sir John A. Macdonald. He was born in the parish
of Logierait, Perthshire, Scotland. His parents had neither poverty nor
riches, but they and their connections had what was better than either:
they had brain-power, intelligence, untiring industry, sterling
integrity, and an honorable ambition to rise in the world. Along with
these good qualities they had a strong liking for Whig politics.
Alexander was the third son in a large family. His school days were few.
Two years in a private school in Perth; two more in the parish school of
Moulin; less than a year in the grammar school of Dunkeld, and the
education of the future Premier of Canada was finished so far as the
schoolmaster was concerned. At the early age of fourteen his father
died, and, like many another brave Scotch lad who has made his mark in
the world, young Mackenzie began to earn his bread on the old Eden
principle—by the sweat of his brow. Like Hugh Miller, he learned the
trade of stonemason, and like Hugh Miller, he was fond of reading. His
spare hours were spent in diligent study, and the habits then formed
have clung to him all his days. When twitted with being a book-worm,
Thos. D’Arcy McGee replied that he always preferred the society of good
books to that of middling men. No doubt Mr. Mackenzie has always
cherished the same preference, though perhaps he has never said anything
about it. A worthy member of the House of Commons, whose reading days
were over, felt lonesome in the same boarding-house with Mr. Mackenzie
and David Mills, because, as he explained it “the moment Mackenzie and
Mills came in from the house they sat down to their books.” In the
following year, 1843, Mr. Mackenzie was joined in Kingston by his
brother, Hope F. Mackenzie, who afterward represented Lambton and North
Oxford in parliament. Hope Mackenzie was a man of fine spirit, great
energy, and high attainments. He was rising rapidly as a public man when
his career was suddenly ended by death. Had his life been spared, his
ability, industry, and natural force of character would soon have placed
him in the front rank of Canadian statesmen. After laboring five years
in Kingston, during which time he probably became familiar with the
well-known force of the man he afterwards so often faced in parliament,
Mr. Mackenzie moved to the neighborhood of Sarnia. His mother and
brothers came out from Scotland about the same time, and the whole
family made their first Canadian home in that western town. Here Mr.
Mackenzie resumed operations as a builder and contractor, lines in which
he had been successful before leaving Kingston. It is useless to
speculate on what might have been; but had Alexander Mackenzie continued
in the building and contracting business, he might perhaps have become
the millionaire head of the syndicate that built the Canadian Pacific
Railway. In a country where there was so much to be built, almost
anything was possible to a man of his patient industry, economical
habits, sterling integrity, sound judgment, and all but invincible
energy. But Alexander Mackenzie was not to be a millionaire contractor.
Like many Scotchmen, he had a keen relish for politics. Five years’
residence in Sir John’s favorite city probably increased his eagerness
to join in the fray. In Scotland he had been a Whig, and in Canada he
joined the Liberal party as a matter of course. Though a man of quiet,
retiring habits, it is no secret that Alexander Mackenzie keenly enjoys
debate. To measure swords on the platform with a foeman worthy of his
steel was never to him an unpleasant duty. The roar around the hustings
never made him nervous. To his natural liking for public discussion and
his intensely strong convictions, his love of Liberalism, his popular
sympathies, his intense hatred of tyranny in all its forms, his love for
the people and desire that they should have fair play—to these
qualities add his undoubted capacity for public affairs, and one can
easily see why it was impossible for Alexander Mackenzie to keep out of
politics. Keep out of politics he certainly did not, for five years
after he had started business in Sarnia we find him editing the Lambton
_Shield_. Under his editorial management the _Shield_ soon became a
power in the west. His editorials educated the electors of Lambton in
Liberalism, and were extensively quoted by other journals. Sam Jones is
credited with saying that if there is one thing in this world he does
hate it is a quiet time. Whether a quiet time is a good time for Mr.
Jones or not, it certainly is not a good time for a politician. Mr.
Mackenzie had the undoubted advantage of entering the political arena in
a stormy period. The battle for responsible government was being fought
out and slowly won. The fight had been long and fierce. Under Lord
Sydenham and Sir Charles Bagot the recommendations of Lord Durham’s
report in favor of responsible government were being carried out. Sir
Charles Metcalfe succeeded Sir Charles Bagot, and spent the four years
of his official career in trying to deprive Canadians of the rights
secured to them by his predecessors. Mr. Mackenzie resided in Kingston
during the whole time that Metcalfe was governor, and it goes unsaid
that when he removed to Sarnia he was in the right humor to do battle
for responsible government. In 1861, Hope Mackenzie, who had represented
Lambton in parliament, declined re-election. The future Premier was
offered the nomination by a convention of the Liberal party, and
accepting, carried the constituency by a considerable majority. When he
entered parliament he had nothing to learn but the forms of procedure,
and even these he probably know as well as many who had sat in previous
parliaments. His accurate and full knowledge of all public questions,
his almost infallible memory, his marvellous capacity for mastering the
details of every question that came before him, and his power to make
clear and concise speeches on any question on the shortest notice, soon
placed him in the front row, along with the most experienced
parliamentarians. Mr. Mackenzie has never claimed credit for his
oratorical powers, nor have his friends put forth any such claim; but
the fact remains that in twenty-five years of active public life he
never needed to take a back seat in any oratorical company. He could
always hold his own, and generally do a good deal more. He is one of the
very few speakers in this Dominion whose speeches will stand a
_verbatim_ report. He builds a speech just as he used to build a stone
wall—clear, clean-cut, concise; sentences are laid one upon another in
an orderly and compact manner, and when the speech is finished you can
no more knock a word or sentence out of it than you can knock stones out
of a well-built wall. His accurate knowledge, never-failing memory, and
quick perceptive powers, make him specially formidable in reply. Running
through many of his speeches, especially those delivered in hot debates,
there is a mingled vein of mild sarcasm and dry, pawky Scotch humour
that is very effective. The effect is greatly increased by the manner in
which the work is done. You see the bolt across the house and you see
quite easily that it has struck. You look to the spot from which it was
thrown and you see a serious, almost solemn-looking man, going on with
his work as if nothing had occurred. The plainness and apparent
simplicity of the speaker give the humor and sarcasm a great effect.
Soon after entering upon his parliamentary duties, Mr. Mackenzie saw his
political friends take office under the premiership of Hon. John
Sandfield Macdonald, who had associated Hon. Mr. Sicotte with him as
leader of the lower Canadian section. This government lasted about a
year, and was followed by another in which Hon. Mr. Dorian took the
place of Hon. Mr. Sicotte. Mr. Mackenzie had in those days some
experience as a government supporter—a kind of experience which has
seldom been his during his long parliamentary life. After a short and
troubled reign Hon. Sandfield Macdonald resigned, and Mr. Deadlock
reigned in his stead. Then came a truce and the negotiations which
resulted in confederation. A coalition was formed for the purpose of
uniting the provinces. Hon. George Brown and a large majority of the
Liberal party were in favor of a coalition. Mr. Mackenzie was of the
opinion that the Liberal party should give the government a generous
outside support in forming the union, but at the same time keep itself
clear of all entangling alliances. The union was not long formed until
it became painfully evident to the Liberal party that Mr. Mackenzie was
right. When the first parliament met after confederation the Liberals
were without a leader, Hon. George Brown having been defeated in South
Ontario. The position was offered to Mr. Mackenzie, who accepted it, and
displayed great tact in welding into one solid body the somewhat
discordant elements that came from the different provinces. The task was
no easy one, but in discharging his duties as a leader of her Majesty’s
loyal Opposition the member for Lambton displayed the same ability and
unwearied diligence that have marked his whole parliamentary career.
Ever at his post and ever faithful to his trust, Mr. Mackenzie soon
gained the confidence of his followers from all parts of the Dominion.
The crisis of 1873 found him not only a successful leader but a
parliamentarian of recognized position and ability. When the government
fell he was entrusted with the duty of forming a ministry. In less than
two days the names of his colleagues were announced, and the new
government was ready for business. The question on everybody’s lips was,
will there be a general election? It is understood that Mr. Mackenzie
received such assurances of support from some of his former opponents as
might have induced a less cautious man to go on with the business of the
country without an appeal to the people. But the new premier was not to
be caught napping. His Scotch caution assured him that a parliament
elected under the auspices of his opponents, and the influence of Sir
Hugh Allan’s liberal contribution, was not the kind of parliament to be
trusted in an emergency. He dissolved the house, and in January, 1874,
swept the country. Had the majority given him by the people been half as
large as it was, the task of the new premier might have been a good deal
easier. To enumerate the good measures that were introduced and passed
by Mr. Mackenzie’s government would be to write the parliamentary
history of Canada for the five years ending in 1878. His friends may
challenge their opponents to show a record of equal merit during any
five years in the history of the Dominion, in the history of Old Canada,
or in the history of any province that now forms part of the Dominion.
Let these restless characters who are everlastingly clamoring for
revolutionary measures and hunting for strange gods to worship, sit down
for a moment, and quietly read over the titles of the acts passed by Mr.
Mackenzie’s government between 1873 and 1878, and say if they have
anybody in their ranks that can serve the country better than it was
served by Canada’s Grand Old Man. It is quite true that he went down in
’78, but he went down with his escutcheon untarnished and all his colors
flying. His was no milk-and-water policy. He did not try to run with the
Free Trade hare and hunt with the N.P. hounds. He believed it was wrong
to increase the burdens of the people in a time of depression. He went
to the polls on this issue, and was defeated by the people he was
bravely trying to help. Burke told the electors of Bristol that he
advanced their interests contrary to their opinions. Mr. Mackenzie tried
to do the same thing for the people of Canada and failed. A few years
will show, if the revelation has not already been made, whether the
electors of Canada did a wise thing when they dismissed a faithful
public servant for not taxing five millions of people to enrich a few.
Never did British or Colonial statesman display more moral heroism than
was displayed by Alexander Mackenzie in ’78 when he stood by his
principles while the pistol was pointed at his head—held at times, with
shame be it said, by some who pose as moral reformers. If there is no
room in the public life of Canada for a man who bravely faces defeat
rather than do what he believes to be wrong, then Canada is morally
rotten and should be buried out of sight. Soon after his defeat in ’78,
Mr. Mackenzie became a resident of Toronto. Owing to declining health he
found it inconvenient to represent a large constituency like West
Lambton, and in 1882 stood for East York. For this constituency he has
been twice elected. East York derives as much honor from its
representative as Mr. Mackenzie derives from representing an historic
constituency of which he is justly proud. For the same unfortunate
reason, Mr. Mackenzie found it necessary some years ago to resign the
leadership of the Liberal party. His strength was not equal to the task,
and Alexander Mackenzie never was the man to undertake anything unless
he could do it thoroughly. The arduous and irksome nature of the work of
an Opposition leader in Canada may be learned from the fact that the
distinguished gentleman who succeeded Mr. Mackenzie—a gentleman who
once could work eighteen hours out of the twenty-four with impunity—has
since broken down in health and has been compelled, temporarily at
least, to leave public life. The one great mistake of Mr. Mackenzie’s
life was his brave attempt to attend to the details of his department
while Premier and Minister of Public Works. It is easy to be wise when
events are over, but one cannot help thinking that had he worked less
then he might be the able and trusted leader of his party to-day, and
the party needs a leader badly enough. Mr. Mackenzie’s parliamentary
services have not been confined to the Dominion parliament, and the
parliament of Old Canada. In 1871, he ran for West Middlesex, was
elected, and on the downfall of Sandfield Macdonald’s government soon
after, took office under Hon. Mr. Blake, first as provincial secretary,
and afterwards as provincial treasurer. Dual representation being
abolished, both he and Mr. Blake left the Local Legislature at the same
time. Besides his parliamentary work, Mr. Mackenzie has rendered Canada
good service by his well-written biography of his friend and leader,
George Brown. The tone of the book is moderate throughout, and though
written by a strong party man, the facts, so far as we know, have never
been seriously questioned. It has occasionally been charged against Mr.
Mackenzie that his manner is cold, and his language curt. It is quite
true that he calls a spade a spade, and a scoundrel a scoundrel. It may
be true that when scaly politicians have asked him to help them to carry
out dirty jobs he gave them a reply not always couched in diplomatic
language. Quite likely he met the pious proposal of some moral reformers
to tax the people for their benefit with language that may have seemed
to them unnecessarily vigorous. All this may be so; but those who know
Alexander Mackenzie know him to be a warm-hearted man, as kindly as he
is firm and true—a man ready at any moment to help the needy, or make
sacrifices for his friend. He hates humbug, and scorns shams, and can
unmask a hypocrite with rare skill; but no more kindly man stands in the
Dominion to-day. May a kind heaven send Canada more Mackenzies.
* * * * *
=Clarke, Edward Frederick=, M.P.P., Mayor of the City of Toronto,
Ontario, was born in the county of Cavan, Ireland, on the 24th April,
1850. His father, Richard Clarke, was a general merchant and flax buyer,
favorably known in that capacity throughout the whole north of Ireland.
His mother, Ellen Reynolds, the only daughter of the late Charles
Reynolds, of Belturbet, county of Cavan, Ireland, is still living, and
resides in Toronto. Mr. Clarke came to Canada early in the sixties, and
after a short sojourn in Michigan, moved to Toronto, where he has ever
since lived. He served his time as a printer in the _Globe_ office, and
afterwards, in the practice of his calling, was foreman of the
_Express_, the _Sun_ and the _Liberal_, and was compositor and
proof-reader on the _Mail_, etc. He took a prominent part in the
printers’ strike and attendant labor troubles of 1872, being one of
those arrested for alleged intimidation. In 1877 a company was formed
for the purchase of the _Sentinel_, the organ of the Loyal Orange
Association. He was chosen manager and editor of the paper, but after a
short time he purchased the shares of the stockholders, and became sole
proprietor. He has since conducted the _Sentinel_ successfully in
connection with a large job printing business. He has for many years
taken an active interest in secret societies, especially in the United
Workmen, Freemasons and Loyal Orange Association. He is a past master of
Rehoboam lodge, No. 65 A. F. & A. M., and at the regular annual meeting
of the Loyal Orange Association, held at Belleville, in May, 1887, he
was elected to the high office of Deputy-Grand Master of the Order in
British America. At the provincial elections of 1886, Mr. Clarke was
returned at the head of the poll as one of the city of Toronto’s quota
of three representatives to the Legislative Assembly. In December, 1887,
he was put forward as the people’s candidate for mayor of his adopted
city for 1888, and was elected by a plurality of nearly nine hundred
votes in a field of three candidates. He is a Liberal-Conservative in
politics, and during the last session of the provincial legislature made
a favorable impression as a speaker and debater. He is a fluent, ready
speaker, of good address, and well informed upon all public subjects. He
was married on 30th December, 1884, to Charlotte Elizabeth, fourth
daughter of Dan Scott, of Toronto, and has issue, two daughters. Mr.
Clarke is a consistent member of the Reformed Episcopal Church, and,
although not a total abstainer, is an advocate of temperance reform.
* * * * *
=Carignan, Onesime=, Three Rivers, Quebec, was born on October 16th,
1839, at Champlain, district of Three Rivers, Que. His parents, Pierre
Carignan and Josephte Turcotte, were well-to-do farmers, who were highly
esteemed by their neighbors. The subject of this sketch was sent to the
parish school, and at the age of fifteen, commenced his business career
by accepting a clerkship in a general store in Champlain. Two years
after he went to Three Rivers, where he procured a situation as clerk in
a grocery store. In 1863 he entered into partnership with Francis Hamel,
but two years after, this partnership was dissolved, and Mr. Carignan
entered into business for himself in the house he still occupies. His
business has continually increased, until now it is conceded that he has
the leading grocery of Three Rivers, doing a wholesale as well as a
retail trade. His success is due to economy, good administrative
abilities, and constant attendance to the details of a growing business.
He has been an alderman of Three Rivers since 1876, and has been acting
mayor on more than one occasion. He has also held the position, of
president of L’Union St. Joseph since 1885. Mr. Carignan has taken an
active part in the public enterprises undertaken in his neighborhood,
notably in connection with the Three Rivers Water Works, the St. Maurice
Bridges, and the Three Rivers drainage. He has been president of several
benevolent and religious societies, has been president and is now
treasurer of the Three Rivers Conservative Association. He has always
taken an active part in political movements, municipal, provincial and
federal. In religion he is a Roman Catholic, an ultramontane. He was
married on November 15th, 1864, to Aglaé Lebel, of Quebec.
* * * * *
=Archibald, John Sprott=, Q.C., D.C.L., Professor of Criminal and
Constitutional Law in McGill University, Montreal, was born in the
village of Musquodoboit, Halifax county, N.S., on the 8th September,
1843. His father, William G. Archibald, was a native of the same county,
and his mother, Nancy Archibald, a cousin of his father, was born in
Truro, Nova Scotia. Their ancestors came from Londonderry, Ireland, in
1719. John is the fourth child, in a family of five, and was educated in
part in the Presbyterian Seminary, Truro. In 1864 he came to Montreal,
and took the arts course in McGill University; graduated B.A. in 1867,
and won the Prince of Wales’ gold medal for standing in mental and moral
philosophy. He then studied law in the office of the late John A.
Perkins, taking in the meanwhile the law course at McGill, graduating
B.C.L. in 1870, and receiving the Elizabeth Torrance gold medal for
highest general standing in his class. On the 18th of January, 1871, he
was admitted to the bar, and since that time has steadily pursued the
practice of his profession in Montreal, at first alone and subsequently
as a member of the firm of Archibald & McCormick, until the present
autumn (1887), when he dissolved his partnership, and formed a firm with
the Hon. W. W. Lynch, Q.C., for many years solicitor-general of the
province of Quebec, and George G. Foster, B.C.L., under the name of
Archibald, Lynch & Foster. It is unnecessary to say that this new firm
ranks among the leading law firms practising in Montreal. In the autumn
of 1871, Mr. Archibald was appointed lecturer on criminal law in McGill
University, and in 1880 he was made professor of criminal and
constitutional law in the same institution, a position which he has
filled with credit to himself and the college. He prepares himself with
great care for his arduous duties, and is a great favourite with the
students. In the spring of 1887 he received from his _alma mater_ the
degree of Doctor of Civil Law, and, almost concurrently, the distinction
of Queen’s counsel from the government of Canada. In 1884 Mr. Archibald
was elected alderman for St. Antoine ward, one of the largest and most
influential wards in the city of Montreal, which position he still
holds, having been re-elected in 1887 by acclamation. In 1885 he was
appointed revising officer, under the Franchise Act, for the electoral
division of Montreal West, which office he still holds. Mr. Archibald is
a member of the Presbyterian church, and in politics a Conservative. On
the 13th July, 1871, he was married to Ellen Hutchinson, of Bluevale,
Ontario, and has a family of five children.
* * * * *
=Haanel, Eugene Emil=, F.R., Ph.D., Professor of Chemistry and Physics,
Victoria College, Cobourg, Ontario, is a native of Breslau, Silesia,
Europe, and was born on the 24th May, 1841. He is a son of Franz Haanel
and Ann Herde. His father is a government officer, and occupies the
position of secretary of the council in Breslau. The Haanels were
originally from Sweden, the great grandfather of Franz Haanel having
been forced to leave his native country on account of his politics.
Eugene, the subject of this sketch, commenced his studies at four years
of age, and graduated at the Gymnasium in his native city in 1858. Soon
afterwards he left for the United States, and being in Baltimore when
the civil war began between the Northern and Southern states in 1861, he
joined the Northern army, and spent three years as a hospital steward,
and one year as first lieutenant Co. K., Second Regiment Maryland
Veteran Infantry, leaving the army at the close of the war in 1865. He
then became a student at the Michigan State University, Ann Arbor, and
in 1866 was appointed assistant professor of natural science at Adrian
(Michigan) College. The next year he held the same position in Hillsdale
College, Michigan; and in 1868 was master professor of the same
department in Albion College, Michigan, and occupied the chair for four
years. In 1872 Professor Haanel returned to Germany, and on the 7th of
June, 1873, took the degree of Doctor of Philosophy at the Royal
University, Breslau. He then left for Canada, to occupy the chair of
chemistry and physics in Victoria College, Cobourg. His coming to
Cobourg caused the erection of Faraday Hall, in 1876, a brick building,
50 by 100 feet, admirably arranged for the purpose it is intended, and
equipped with apparatus selected by the professor himself in the cities
of London, Paris, Bonn, Leipzig, Dresden and Berlin. While at the
University of Breslau in 1873, for the purpose of graduating, Professor
Haanel took for his thesis “The galvanometric method for the
determination of the earth’s magnetism and its oscillations,” for which
he constructed, in accordance with his original designs, “the galvanic
bifilar magnetometer,” which at this day constitutes the principal
instrument for observation at the magnetic observatory connected with
the University of Breslau. A few years ago it occurred to him that he
might remove the difficulty experienced by students in distinguishing
the oxyd coating on charcoal of bismuth from the similar one of lead, by
converting these coatings into iodides, and his experiments turned out
very satisfactory. (See paper read by him “On the application of
hydriodic acid as a blowpipe re-agent,” before the Royal Society of
Canada, May 25, 1883.) The method adopted then was to touch the coatings
with a drop of strong hydriodic acid, and direct the blowpipe flame upon
the charcoal just in front of the moistened spot. The heat of the
blowpipe flame volatilized the respective iodides, which were deposited
again upon the cooler parts of the charcoal, at a greater distance from
the assay. The iodide of lead gave a magnificent canary-yellow coating,
the bismuth a chocolate brown; cadmium and antimony, when treated in a
similar manner, a white and brick-red coating respectively. In the
extension of this method to other substances he found that other iodides
of very characteristic colours were formed. Many of these were, however,
altogether too volatile to be deposited satisfactorily on the charcoal,
charcoal being too poor a conductor of heat to lower the temperature of
the vapours of the iodides in question sufficiently to permit of their
condensation and consequent deposition as coatings. In order to utilise
to the fullest extent the value of hydriodic acid as a blowpipe
re-agent, it became necessary to adopt a support which, on account of
its better conductivity, would condense the various volatile iodides on
its surface as coatings. The choice of the kind of support best suited
was farther restricted by the following characteristics which a support,
to prove entirely practical and satisfactory, should possess. 1. It must
be cheap and easily made; 2. The surface of the support must be smooth
and white, to bring out the colours of the coatings, uninfluenced by
peculiarities of surface or admixture of tint of the support; 3. It must
resist the heat of the blowpipe flame; 4. It must be of sufficiently
porous texture to absorb the hydriodic acid, and supply it to the assay
gradually and constantly during the progress of the operation. After
some reflection and experimentation, he finally adopted plaster of Paris
casts in the form of narrow thin tablets as the support, and found that
it possessed the above-mentioned characteristics in an eminent degree.
Though a German, Professor Haanel speaks the English language with
eloquence and fluency; he is clear and concise as well as accurate in
his enunciation; an attractive lecturer, a successful experimenter, and
a laborious and untiring enthusiast at his work. He was married on the
5th of November, 1866, to Julia F. Darling, of Lake Ridge, Michigan,
United States, a graduate of Albion College, and they have a family of
five children.
* * * * *
=Kelly, Thomas Eugene=, Joliette, Province of Quebec, was born at
Joliette, in 1861. He is a son of Francis Kelly and Mary Collins, his
wife. The subject of this sketch was educated at Bryant & Stratton’s
Business College, at Montreal, taking the commercial course. He
afterwards travelled extensively through the Western States. He is a
Roman Catholic in religion, and is unmarried. He is engaged in the
manufacturing and wholesale lumber business, being a member of the firm
of Kelly Bros., Joliette, Quebec.
* * * * *
=Weir, W.=, Banker, Montreal.—There are few better known faces on the
streets of Montreal than that of the above named gentleman, head of the
banking firm of W. Weir & Sons, and president of the Banque Ville Marie.
Mr. Weir was born at Greenden, near Brechin, Scotland, on the 28th
October, 1823, and came to Canada in 1842, Like a good many successful
Canadians, he began life as a teacher, having taken charge of a public
school before he was twenty years of age. After two years engaged in
this honorable but ill remunerated occupation, during which time he
devoted himself to the study of the French language, and having further
improved his knowledge of that language by a short course at St. Thérèse
College, Mr. Weir accepted a bookkeeper’s situation in Montreal,
commencing business on his own account in 1849. In 1856 he removed to
Toronto, where he remained till 1859, when he returned to Montreal.
During his stay in Toronto he published and edited the _Canadian
Merchants’ Magazine_, a monthly periodical, the vigorous style of its
editorials soon bringing their author into notice. In 1858 he took the
prize of the Upper Canadian Board of Arts for the best essay on the
manufactures of Canada, and contributed many articles to the local press
on financial and commercial subjects. Among the early promoters of what
has since become known as the National Policy, Mr. Weir was a leading
spirit. At his suggestion, and largely through his exertions, the great
convention of manufacturers was convened at Toronto in 1858. At this
convention Mr. Weir was the secretary, and he held the same position in
the “Association for the promotion of Canadian Industry” then formed.
This society embraced among its members many prominent members of
Parliament, and its exertions and influence secured the changes in the
tariff of 1858 which gave the first great impulse to Canada’s
manufacturing industries. To the present generation, Mr. Weir is best
remembered for his successful efforts to effect the removal of the
“silver nuisance.” The suspension of specie payments in the United
States, in 1862, caused a large influx into Canada of American silver
coin, which, passing current in retail transactions and in payment of
wages, but not being bankable, caused great loss and inconvenience to
the public, who had daily to carry nearly all their receipts to the
brokers’ offices, to be sold at a discount for bankable funds. For
several years Mr. Weir urged upon the Government the importance of
removing the evil, and at his suggestion one million dollars was
exported at the public expense, he himself exporting a similar amount by
contract with the leading commercial houses. In 1869, he attempted to
export two millions more, but the attempt fell through owing to
inadequate support. Early in 1870 (the late Hon. Sir Francis Hincks
having become finance minister), Mr. Weir succeeded in obtaining the aid
of the Government to remove the whole depreciated coin from circulation.
He contracted with the Government to effect its removal, and carried
through that great work with complete success. Five million dollars were
exported between March and July, 1870, at a cost to the Dominion
exchequer of $118,000, the Government being recouped by assuming the one
and two dollar note circulation, a measure suggested by Mr. Weir to meet
the objection on the score of expense. Seventy banks and bank agencies
assisted in the work, the shipments being made from every place of
importance between Quebec and Sarnia. The coin was purchased at five,
five and half, and six per cent discount, for half and quarter dollar
pieces, the smaller coins, to extent of $500,000, being exported by Mr.
Weir at his own expense, making the total amount exported by him over
seven million dollars, or over two hundred waggon loads. Since 1870, Mr.
Weir has taken an active part in discussing the leading financial
questions of the hour. He assisted in reorganizing the Jacques Cartier
Bank, of which he was vice-president when offered the presidency of the
Banque Ville Marie, a position he has held for the last six years,
during which period the bank has trebled its business and strengthened
its position. To the people of Cote St. Antoine and west end of
Montreal, he is best known for his services and public spirit in
securing the opening up of Western Avenue, destined to be the great
western entrance into the city. Mr. Weir married, in 1849, a daughter of
the late John Somerville, of Chatham, P.Q., and has five sons living,
and one son and one daughter deceased. Three sons are in business; the
two youngest are graduates of McGill University, Arthur the youngest
being already well known as a talented writer both in prose and verse.
* * * * *
=Madill, Frank=, M.A., M.P. for North Ontario, Barrister, etc.,
Beaverton, Ontario, was born in the township of Scott, in the county of
Ontario, province of Ontario, November 23rd, 1852. He is youngest son of
Henry and Eliza Madill, who came to Canada from Monaghan, Ireland, in
1837, and eventually settled in the township of Scott. Henry Madill is
one of the old pioneers, and was for many years a prominent member of
the council of that municipality, until his removal to the village of
Vroomanton, in same county, a few years ago, where he and his good lady
still reside, amidst a large circle of children, grandchildren and
friends, universally respected. The subject of this sketch was educated
at Uxbridge and Whitby high schools, and the University of Toronto,
where he graduated B.A., in 1873, and M.A. in 1876; studied law in the
office of the late Hon. John Hilliard Cameron, Q.C., M.P., and was
called to the bar of Ontario, Michaelmas Term, 1877, and still practises
his profession at Beaverton. During his university course he was one of
the university athletes, and held the championship of the university. He
was also a prominent member of the university football team,—the
champions of the Dominion for four years. He was lieutenant of No. 4
company, 34th battalion, V.M.I., and is now paymaster of the same
battalion, with rank of captain. He was first returned to the
Legislative Assembly of Ontario, 4th June, 1881, and sat until the
general election, 1883, at which he was defeated by twenty votes. At the
last general election for the House of Commons he was elected for the
same riding by a majority of 158, over A. P. Cockburn, ex-M.P. He is a
Liberal-Conservative, and Supporter of the government of Right Hon. Sir
John A. Macdonald. He was a member of the Grand Lodge of Royal Black
Knights, and was at one time D.M. of King Solomon Preceptory, 292, at
Toronto. He is a member of the executive committee of the
Liberal-Conservative Union of Ontario; is a Freemason, and is an
ex-warden of Murray lodge, Beaverton. He has taken an active part in all
political contests in the Midland District, but has never taken any
active part in municipal matters. He is commodore of the Beaverton Yacht
Club, vice-president of the Beaverton Gun Club, and president of the
Chicker Lacrosse Club. His travels have been confined to the United
States and Canada. He has always belonged to the Presbyterian church of
Canada, in connection with the Church of Scotland, known as the “old
Kirk,” of which his father is an elder. He was married on the 5th day of
May, 1886, to Florrie, eldest daughter of Charles T. Young, of
Beaverton, one of the village fathers.
* * * * *
=Welton, Daniel Morse=, D.D., Professor of Hebrew, Baptist College,
Toronto, Ont., was born in Aylesford, Nova Scotia, July 20th, 1831. His
father was Sydney Welton, and his mother, Isabel Morse. His ancestors on
both the father and mother’s side came from New England at the time of
the Revolutionary war. He prepared for college in Horton Collegiate
Academy, Nova Scotia; entered Acadia College, Nova Scotia, in 1850, and
graduated therefrom in 1855. After occupying the place of tutor in
Acadia College for twelve months (1856), he went to Newton Theological
Institution, Mass., where he remained a year. In September, 1857, he was
ordained to the pastorate of the Windsor Baptist Church, Nova Scotia,
which position he filled till October, 1874, when he was called to the
chair of Hebrew and Systematic Theology in the Theological Department of
Acadia College. He remained here till 1883, with the exception of two
years (1876 and 1877) which he spent in Leipzic, Germany, engaged
chiefly in Semitic studies under Professor Delitzsch. He received the
degree of Doctor of Philosophy from the University of Leipzic in 1878,
his dissertation for the same being “The History of Hebrew Learning in
England.” His Semitic studies in Leipzic chiefly embraced the Hebrew,
Chaldee, Syriac, Samaritan and Arabic. In 1883, he was appointed to the
chair of Hebrew and Old Testament Interpretation in Toronto Baptist
College, which he fills at the present time. In 1884 he received the
degree of D.D. from Acadia College, his _alma mater_. In the years 1876,
1877 and 1878 he also visited London, Paris, Berlin, Vienna, and the
principal cities of Italy. He was married to Sarah Eliza Messenger,
daughter of David and Catherine Messenger, September 23rd, 1857.
* * * * *
=Gagnon, Hon. Charles Antoine Ernest=, M.P.P., Kamouraska, was born at
Rivière Ouelle, Quebec, on the 4th of December, 1846. The family came
originally from Vendee, France, and settled in Canada in 1633, being
thus one of the oldest Canadian families, having representatives still
living. The subject of this sketch is the son of Antoine Gagnon,
merchant, of Rivière Ouelle, and a nephew of Senator Pelletier, C.M.G.
He was educated at St. Anne’s College, and was very successful in his
studies. Taking up the study of law, he was appointed notary public in
1869. In 1870 he married Marie Malvina, third daughter of Francis
Gagnon, farmer. Throughout his life, Mr. Gagnon has taken the keenest
interest in politics and has done yeoman service to the Liberal party
with which he is identified, in numberless contests in both Provincial
and Dominion affairs. He also directed considerable attention to
municipal affairs, his knowledge of those being recognized by his
appointment as secretary of the municipality, and, later, secretary of
the Board of School Commissioners. He also fills the office of treasurer
of the Fabrique. He was president of the board of liquidators of the
late Stadacona Fire and Life Insurance Company of Quebec. In October,
1885, he was appointed president of the Board of Notaries, of the
province of Quebec, and this position he still holds. In 1873 he was
appointed valuator for the St. Lawrence District of the Intercolonial
Railway, which was then under construction, and a year later was
appointed receiver of wreck for the district of Kamouraska, holding
those offices concurrently until March, 1878, when he resigned to
contest Kamouraska in the Liberal interest. He was successful in the
contest, as he was in the next election in 1881. He was unseated after
this election, each party paying its costs, but was again elected in
1883, and has continued to represent the constituency ever since. He was
one of the strongest and ablest supporters of the Joly administration
during its short career, and when the Liberal party went into opposition
he rapidly came to the front as a leading man in the small but resolute
band which opposed the policy and methods of the Conservative government
under its successive leaders. When the Nationalist agitation arose, he
took the same position as his leader, Mr. Mercier, that the interests of
the Dominion demanded that a fair field should be given to the people of
Quebec, and that union on the part of those people was the best means of
calling attention to their demands. Battling strongly on this line, it
was natural that when the Nationalist cause triumphed under Mr.
Mercier’s leadership, Mr. Gagnon should be called to a position of honor
and responsibility. He was sworn in as Provincial Secretary and member
of the Executive Council on 29th June, 1887.
* * * * *
=Reid, Rev. Charles Peter=, Sherbrooke, Quebec, was born at Cornwall,
Ont., on the 14th of August, 1811. He was the eldest son of the late
Rev. James Reid, D.D., for fifty years rector of Trinity Church,
Freleighsburg. He was educated at the Grammar School founded by the
Royal Institution in Montreal, and taught by the late Alex. Scakel, and
for a while at the similar school in Quebec, taught by the Rev. R. R.
Burrage. He took his Divinity course at the Theological Seminary at
Chambly, at which the late Rev. J. Braithwaite, M.A., was the principal.
He was admitted to the diaconate by the Right Reverend Dr. Stewart,
bishop of Quebec, on the 23rd of June, 1835, and to the priesthood at
the first ordination held by the late Right Reverend Dr. Mountain,
bishop of Quebec, on the first of Nov., 1836. His first mission after
his ordination was Rawdon, in the present diocese of Montreal, where he
remained a short time. He removed from Rawdon to St. John’s, as curate
to the Rev. D. Baldwin, and missionary at Laprairie. While at St. John’s
he was married to Julia Gray, eldest daughter of John Gray of her
Majesty’s Customs. He then removed to Compton, where he remained
fourteen years, building two churches, and organizing the work of the
mission on a secure basis. On the 1st of April, 1854, he was appointed
to Sherbrooke, of which place he has been rector for thirty years.
During this long ministry the church under his charge has grown into a
strong and flourishing one, and he has been identified with every good
work which has been accomplished in the town. Not only by active
interest, but by liberal donations, he has helped to support various
charitable institutions. Bishop’s College, Lennoxville, is specially
indebted to him. There are few figures more widely known or more truly
beloved throughout the whole District of St. Francis, than that of Dr.
Reid. He is spending his ripe old age in Sherbrooke, and, still active
in mind and body, is never so happy as when assisting in the services of
God’s house or ministering in his old field of labor, to those who have
become endeared to him by a life-time of loving intercourse. Dr. Reid
has been one of the trustees of Bishop’s College from the foundation, in
1843. He received the honorary degree of M.A., in 1855, and of D.C.L.,
in 1884. He has been for many years rural dean of the District of St.
Francis.
* * * * *
=Power, Michael Joseph=, was born at Halifax, Nova Scotia, on the 23rd
day of February, 1834. He is the son of Michael Power. His mother’s
maiden name was Ann Lonergan. Both parents are natives of Waterford,
Ireland. Mr. Power received his early education at the Union Academy, in
Halifax. He is a prominent representative of the Roman Catholics in that
city. Mr. Power has taken an active interest in civic affairs for many
years. He was an alderman for six years, representing ward 4. He has
also been chairman of the City Board of Works for one term; chairman of
the Fire department for eight years; vice-chairman of the Board of
School Commissioners for two years; and president of the Charitable
Irish Society. He does business at 75 Buckingham street, Halifax. He is
the Imperial government army contractor for land transport. In his
younger days he took considerable interest in militia affairs, holding
various commissions in the 63rd battalion of Rifles, and is now retired
with the rank of captain. Mr. Power’s connection with the city council
brought him into relations with the Commissioners of Public Gardens, of
which body he is vice-chairman. He is also a justice of the peace for
Halifax county. At the general election of 1878, Mr. Power, together
with Hon. P. C. Hill, then Provincial Secretary and Premier, and Donald
Archibald, M.P.P. for several terms, and now high sheriff of the county
of Halifax, were the candidates of the Liberal party, running in
opposition to Charles J. McDonald, W. D. Harrington and John Pugh. The
Conservatives carried the elections and the Liberals were out of power
for one term. But in the next elections in 1882, Mr. Power, running with
Hon. W. S. Fielding, now Provincial Secretary and Premier, and Jas. G.
Foster, against W. D. Harrington, Jonathan Parsons and John Pugh, was
elected. Messrs. Fielding and Harrington were also elected, Halifax
being represented in that legislature by two Liberals and one
Conservative. At the general election of 1886, Mr. Power, Hon. W. S.
Fielding and William Roche, jr., defeated John Y. Payzant, W. D.
Harrington and James N. Lyons by over 1000 majority. On the assembling
of the Local parliament, Mr. Power was elected Speaker of the House. He
married on the 20th November, 1860, Ann Sophia, daughter of the late
Patrick Kent, a Halifax merchant. In politics Mr. Power is a Liberal.
* * * * *
=Paquet, Rev. Benjamin=, Priest and Household Prelate to his Holiness
Leo XIII., Doctor of Theology, Superior of the Quebec Seminary, and
Rector of Laval University, was born at St. Nicholas, county of Levis,
in 1832. His father was Etienne Paquet, husbandman, captain of militia,
and descendant of an old French family. He was one of the most
remarkable citizens of the county of Levis. His mother was Ursule
Lambert. He received his education at the Quebec Seminary and Laval
University. After having finished his classical course, he gave himself
up to theology, to prepare for the priesthood. After having been
employed in the active ministry for five years as priest at the
Basilica, Quebec, he entered the Seminary of Quebec as professor of
belles-lettres about a year. In 1863, he went to Rome to complete his
theological studies, with the intention of teaching in the faculty of
theology at Laval. He studied at Rome for three years, at the celebrated
Roman College, where he took his degrees. He returned to Quebec, and
taught moral theology at Laval University for a great number of years.
He was afterwards purveyor of Quebec Seminary for five years. During
this interval, he built the new Quebec Seminary, one of the most
beautiful edifices of the Dominion. After having been director of the
Grand Seminary for two years, he was, in 1887, appointed Superior of the
Seminary and Rector of Laval University. In 1878, he was appointed
secret domestic to his Holiness Pope Pius IX., on account of his eminent
services to religion in the cause of Laval University. In 1888, he was
given, by Pope Leo XIII., the title of household prelate to his
Holiness, which entitles him to take part in the court of honor of his
Eminence Cardinal Taschereau. Doctor Paquet has made five trips to
Europe in the interests of Laval University, and sojourned in Rome eight
years.
* * * * *
=Campbell, Sir Alexander=, K.C.M.G., Lieutenant-Governor of Ontario,
residence Toronto. Like several of Canada’s leading statesmen, Sir
Alexander Campbell was not born in this country, but he was only two
years old when his father, an English physician, came to Canada in the
year 1823, and took up his residence at Lachine, in the province of
Quebec. Sir Alexander’s birthplace was the village of Hedon, near
Kingston-upon-Hull, in Yorkshire, England; and he has ever retained the
warmest sentiments of loyalty and attachment to the British empire. Sir
Alexander’s parents gave him the best educational advantages the country
afforded. They placed him first under the tuition of a Presbyterian
clergyman, and afterwards sent him to St. Hyacinthe College, Quebec, and
still later to the Royal Grammar School at Kingston, Ontario. He was of
a studious turn of mind; and, although he left school at what would now
be considered a comparatively early age, he had imbibed all the
essential elements of a liberal education. At St. Hyacinthe College he
acquired a considerable knowledge of the French language, and a
consequent interest in French literature which has accompanied him
through life. On occasion he could make a French speech in the Senate;
though he rarely exercised the gift, and only perhaps to meet some
playful challenge of the French members. He studied the classics also up
to a certain point; but above all he acquired a knowledge and command of
his own language, and a habit of using words with a peculiar force and
directness. The phrase may not always be the smoothest, but it has a
quality that tells—something a trifle Cæsarean in its brevity and
point. However this is a good opportunity for reminding ourselves of
Buffon’s dictum that “_le style c’est l’homme_.” Mere school education
does not give this. A man may learn at school to avoid technical errors
of speech; but the style he eventually acquires will be more or less the
reflex of his own personality. Mr. Campbell was only seventeen years of
age when he entered on the study of the law at Kingston, whither his
family had some years previously removed. No stories have reached us of
his student days, but he seems to have applied himself earnestly to his
work, seeing that he was able, on completing his course and being called
to the bar, to form a partnership immediately with John A. (now Sir
John) Macdonald, whose reputation even then was rapidly growing. The
partnership subsisted for many years under the name of Macdonald and
Campbell; and the business, in the hands of these two exceptionally able
men, was a lucrative one. Politics, however, soon began to absorb the
attention of the senior partner, and the burden of the office work fell
upon Mr. Campbell. The experience which the latter thus acquired, aided
by his studies, made him one of the soundest lawyers at the bar of Upper
Canada; and had he not, while still a comparatively young man, diverged
into politics, there is little doubt that he might long since have
occupied a distinguished position on the bench. It was in the year 1858
that Mr. Campbell made his _début_ in politics by carrying an election
for the Cataraqui division, and taking his seat in the Legislative
Council of Old Canada. He very quickly familiarised himself with his new
surroundings, and became an efficient and highly esteemed member of the
Upper House. No new member probably ever had less crudeness or
inexperience to rub off; and no one seemed at all surprised when, in
three or four years after his first election, the member for Cataraqui
division was placed in the Speaker’s chair. The position was, indeed,
one for which, by temperament and character, he was pre-eminently
fitted, but not one in which his practical energies could find much
scope; and a wider sphere of usefulness was opened up to him, while the
administrative strength of the government of 1864 received a great
reinforcement when the Speaker of the Council was assigned to the
position of Commissioner of Crown Lands. Here his knowledge of law and
prompt business methods found ample exercise, and it was admitted on all
hands that he filled the office in an admirable manner. From this time
forward Mr. Campbell was looked upon as one of the strong men of his
party, though one whose strength was shown rather in council than in
fight. His was the balanced judgment and sound knowledge of affairs, and
one can only regret that the influence he was so fitted to exert, and
must at many critical moments have exerted, in favor of sound, safe and
honorable methods of party management, could not have asserted itself at
all times. A very ugly chapter of Canadian political history might then
never have been written. In 1867 the first government of the Dominion
was constituted under the leadership of the then newly knighted Sir John
A. Macdonald, and Mr. Campbell was sworn in as Postmaster-General. The
new position did not call, to the same extent as the previous one, for
the exercise of legal acumen, but it involved dealing with large public
interests and a very extended patronage. During the period that Mr.
Campbell remained at the head of the post office much solid progress was
made, in all of which he took a lively interest, and exerted a judicious
control. As regards the patronage of the department, it was administered
by the Postmaster-General with a constant eye to the good of the
service, and occasionally with a wholesome indifference to mere party
demands. One of the chief characteristics of Mr. Campbell during his
administrative career was that he was never willing to descend to the
level of the mere party politician. Some have said that this was due to
the fact that his position exempted him from dependence on the popular
vote; but we have seen other senators whose high position did not seem
to exercise any very elevating effect on their political methods. After
a six years’ tenure, exactly, of the Post Office department, Mr.
Campbell accepted the portfolio of the newly constituted department of
the Interior. Here everything was to create, order had to be called out
of a most discouraging chaos; but the new minister was proceeding
bravely with his task, when the government of which he was a member met
an inglorious defeat over the “Pacific Scandal.” The operations which
led to this result had been carried on wholly without Mr. Campbell’s
knowledge: he was not indeed the kind of a man to whom the schemes
formed at that time for creating an election fund were likely to be
confided. He did not, however, like Sir Richard Cartwright, see in the
occurrences to which we are referring sufficient reason for separating
himself from his party. He probably judged that he could render better
service to the country in the ranks of the Conservative party than
anywhere else; and he looked forward, doubtless, to the time when that
party, rendered wiser by experience, would again be called to control
the destinies of the country. From 1873 to 1878 Mr. Campbell acted as
leader of the opposition in the Senate, and discharged the duties of the
position with the same ability as well as with the same fairness and
moderation as when he had represented the government. To act a really
factious part was, we may say, almost wholly out of his power:
certainly, it would have been foreign to his nature. When the
Conservative party returned to office in November, 1878, Mr. Campbell
first accepted the position of Receiver-General, but in the spring of
1879 he returned to his old office of Postmaster-General. Thence he
passed in the month of January, 1880, to the department of Militia and
Defence, which, during a brief term of office, he did not a little to
invigorate. The end of the year saw him back in the Post Office
department, which he again left in the month of May of the year
following (1881), to assume the portfolio of Justice. Meantime (24th
May, 1879) he had been created by her Majesty a Knight Commander of the
Order of St. Michael and St. George, an honor which his eminent public
services had very fully merited. Sir Alexander remained at the head of
the department of Justice until the latter part of the year 1885, when
he once more returned to the Post Office department, which he finally
left in the spring of 1887 to accept the Lieutenant-Governorship of
Ontario. His appointment to the latter office was viewed with pleasure
and approval, even by his political opponents. On all hands it was felt
that in Sir Alexander Campbell her Majesty would have one of the most
constitutional of representatives, such a man as she probably would
herself have delighted to choose for the position. Before proceeding to
Toronto, however, Sir Alexander went to England at the request of the
government, to represent Canada at the Colonial conference. That
conference was not empowered to enact any measures, or even to concert
any scheme, for the modification of the relations existing between Great
Britain and the colonies; but it gave an opportunity for a confidential
exchange of views between members of the British government and leading
representatives of the colonies; and there is little doubt that it has
smoothed the way for the future discussion of questions of the greatest
moment. As a departmental chief, Sir Alexander Campbell was deservedly
popular. He was not, perhaps, the most accessible of men, and his
general manner may have been a trifle distant and brief; but it was soon
discovered that he had a kind heart and a strong sense of justice. He
was not a man to be trifled with; he believed in holding men to their
duty; but on the other hand, he was always glad of an opportunity of
rewarding faithful service. He had a keen insight into character, and
had, consequently, little difficulty in dealing with men on their
merits. His confidence was seldom given where it was not deserved, or
withheld where it was deserved. He was always ready to form his own
independent opinion on any matter properly submitted to him, and having
formed his opinion, he knew how to stand by it. No department of the
government came amiss to him, for the simple reason that his sound
business methods were applicable everywhere. How useful such a man must
have been to the cabinet as a whole, and particularly to its leader, may
be imagined, but the full details are not likely ever to become known.
It will be remembered that while Minister of Justice it became the duty
of Sir Alexander to draw up a memorandum explaining and defending the
policy of the government in executing Riel. This he did in a manner that
for force, conciseness, and logic left nothing to be desired. Perhaps,
however, the chief merit of the statement was the strong accent of
conviction that pervaded it. It was not a partisan manifesto; it was the
fitting utterance of the highest organ of executive justice in the
country.
* * * * *
=Vidal, Henry Beaufort=, Major in the Infantry School Corps. He was born
on the 16th of May, 1843, at the town of Chatham, in the county of Kent.
He is the only surviving son of the late Alexander Thomas Emeric Vidal,
a vice-admiral in the Royal Navy, and for some years a resident in the
county of Lambton, and Marie Antoinette, his wife, daughter of the late
Henry Veitch, for many years H.B.M’s Consul-General in Madeira.
Vice-Admiral Vidal was the youngest, and Captain Vidal, R.N., of Sarnia,
the eldest son of Emeric Vidal, who was for many years a flag officer’s
secretary in the Royal Navy. He preferred to remain in the service of
Britain at the time that the remainder of his family elected to return
to France, from which country their forefathers had emigrated on the
revocation of the Edict of Nantes, being at that time settled at the
town of Montauban, in the department of Tarn et Garonne. The subject of
this sketch was educated by private tutors and at Trinity College School
in Toronto. He was admitted as student-at-law in Easter term, 1860, and
was called to the bar of Ontario, Michaelmas term, 1872. He entered the
militia of Canada as ensign in the 24th battalion, Lambton, 3rd August,
1860. On the 23rd May, 1862, he joined the British army as ensign,
became a lieutenant in the 4th regiment of foot on the 16th of August,
1804, and served with that regiment in the Mediterranean, India,
Abyssinia, etc. He was present at the action of Arogie and capture of
Magdala. Having retired from the British army, he at once re-entered the
Canadian militia, as a captain of the 7th battalion “Fusiliers,” London.
In 1882 he became a regimental major in the 12th battalion, from which
corps he was transferred to the permanent infantry on its first
formation. Major Vidal is a Freemason, a Royal Arch Mason, and is also
in the A. & A. Rite. Since his return to Canada he identified himself
with the Conservative party, and is in politics a Tory. In religion, he
is a member of the Church of England. He has travelled in all the four
great continents. He was married in January, 1869, to Kate Allen, who
died in 1884, and by whom he had issue (surviving), an only son and
daughter. Charles Emeric Kerr, the son, was born on the 6th of February,
1870; educated at Upper Canada College, Toronto, and at the high schools
of St. John and Halifax. He matriculated as student in medicine at
Bishop’s College, Lennoxville, 1885; entered the militia of Canada at
the age of fifteen years and ten months as 2nd lieutenant, 6th
Fusiliers, and became lieutenant in June, 1887.
* * * * *
=Rogers, Rev. Jabez A.=, Windsor, Nova Scotia, is the son of David and
Rebecca Rogers, and was born at St. John’s, Newfoundland, on the first
day of March, 1843. He received his early education at the Wesleyan
Academy in St. John’s, and at the Grammar School in Harbour Grace. At
the age of sixteen he was converted and united with the Wesleyan
Methodist Church, an occasion of great joy in his father’s
household—prayer being turned into praise on the happy night when he
made his peace with God. The event was the more a subject of heart-felt
joy inasmuch as his friends had expected that he was destined for the
legal profession, a career in which a man of his brilliant parts and
great eloquence would assuredly have attained no mean place. Shortly
after his conversion Mr. Rogers felt that he was called to preach the
gospel. He still attended the Grammar School at Harbour Grace, devoting
his time to the study of the classics and the Greek Testament, under the
direction of the scholarly and accomplished Principal, J. J. Roddick.
When but seventeen years of age he preached his first sermon, and was
appointed a local preacher of the Wesleyan Methodist church. He then
entered upon theological studies, with the view of preparing to offer
himself as a candidate for the ministry. In his twentieth year he was
recommended by the Newfoundland District Meeting to the Methodist
Conference of Eastern British America, and was received on probation.
This is the first step in the Methodist ministry. In June, 1862, he was
appointed as a probationer to Catalina, Trinity Bay, and in 1864 to
Exploits Notre Dame Bay, Newfoundland. In June, 1866, he was received
into full connection by the Methodist Conference of Eastern British
America, and was ordained a minister in full standing in the Centenary
Church in St. John, New Brunswick. His first appointment as minister was
to Charlottetown, Prince Edward Island, for one year, as the assistant
of that great light in the Methodist church, the Rev. Matthew Richey,
D.D. In the next year, 1867, Rev. Mr. Rogers was appointed to the church
in Dartmouth, Nova Scotia, where he remained the full itinerary term of
three years, and gained a great reputation as a fervid and eloquent
preacher. On the Lyceum platform he also occasionally appeared with
marked success. A very popular and able lecture of his was delivered in
Halifax, Windsor and other places on the subject of “True Greatness.” In
more recent years he has lectured on “Moral Warfare,” “The Old Lamp and
the New Lights,” and “The Land of the Pharaohs.” In 1870 he was
appointed to Brunswick Street Church, the largest of the eight Methodist
churches in Halifax. Here he remained three years, or until 1873, when
he removed to Wesley Church, Yarmouth. Three years later the exigencies
of the itinerary system placed him in Truro. In 1879 he removed to the
church in Amherst, and three years later he returned to Wesley Church,
Yarmouth. In 1885 he was appointed to the Methodist Church in Windsor, a
pulpit which has for many years been filled by the very best men in the
ministry. His next field of labour will be Brunswick Street Church in
Halifax again, he having received an invitation to that church in 1887.
Rev. Mr. Rogers has always been a hard-working man in his chosen sphere,
and has from time to time been honored with many of the most honorable
offices in the church. From 1876 to 1878 he was Journal secretary, and
from 1879 to 1884 secretary of the Nova Scotia Conference of the
Methodist Church of Canada. He worthily filled the office of chairman of
district from 1879 to 1852, and again from 1884 to 1887. He was a
delegate to the General Conferences of 1878, 1882, 1883 and 1886. He was
also appointed a member of the Union Committee which met in Toronto in
November, 1882, and which formulated the basis for the union of the
different branches of the Methodist church. This union, in the face of
much opposition and controversy, was consummated in 1883. There were
great financial difficulties to be overcome, and old time differences
between the Methodist Episcopal church and the Wesleyans had to be
smoothed over. In 1884 Rev. Mr. Rogers was elected the first president
of the Nova Scotia Conference of the Methodist church. In 1870 he was
united in marriage to Jane M., daughter of Rufus S. Black, M.D., of
Halifax, N.S., grandson of the Rev. Wm. Black, the founder of Methodism
in Nova Scotia. The Black family have, with few exceptions, continued
staunch members of the church of their forefathers. Three years ago
there was opened at Sackville, N.B., a handsome memorial hall in honor
of the Rev. Wm. Black, on which occasion Rev. Mr. Rogers, by
appointment, represented the Nova Scotia Conference. Rev. Mr. Rogers has
a family of six children living.
* * * * *
=Paquet, Hon. Anselme Homere=, M.D., St. Cuthbert, province of Quebec,
Senator for De la Valliere, was born at St. Cuthbert, on the 29th
September, 1830. He is a son of the late Captain T. Paquet and Mary F.
Robillard. He received his education at the College of L’Assomption. He
is one of the numerous pupils of the “Ecole de Médicine et de Chirurgie
de Montréal,” and was licensed as a physician by the provincial medical
board on the 10th of May, 1853. In 1863, he entered politics, but was an
unsuccessful candidate in March of that year for the Legislative
Council. He was, however, elected to the Legislative Assembly in June,
1863, where he sat until Confederation. He was elected for the House of
Commons in 1867, and again in 1872, after contests, and by acclamation
in January, 1874. He was called to the Senate by Royal proclamation in
February, 1875. He was president of the Permanent Building Society of
Berthier, one of the originators and directors of La Banque Ville Marie,
Montreal, and one of the governors of the Medical College of the
Province of Quebec, from 1877 till 1880. He was appointed in 1879, as
professor on hygiene in the Medical School, Montreal, affiliated with
Victoria University, and is now one of the consulting physicians in
Hotel Dieu Hospital, and professor of medical clinics in the same
hospital. He was appointed in September, 1887, a member of the
provincial commission on hygiene. In religion, Hon. Mr. Paquet is an
adherent of the Roman Catholic church, and in politics a Liberal. He was
married at L’Assomption, on the 24th September, 1854, to Marie Alp.
Henriette Gariépy, fourth daughter of Captain P. Gariépy and Mary Roy.
* * * * *
=Kelly, Samuel James=, M.D., M.S., Joliette, Quebec province, was born
on the 12th of August, 1856, at Joliette. His parents were Francis Kelly
and Mary Collins. He received his classical education in his native
parish, and prosecuted his medical studies in Quebec and Montreal.
Having graduated, he returned to Joliette, where he began the practice
of his profession, and has succeeded in building up a good business. In
addition to his professional practice, he has an interest in the lumber
business of Kelly & Brother, Joliette. He is a member of the Roman
Catholic church. He was married on the 29th of November, 1881, to
Emmelie Mandehard.
* * * * *
=Russell, Willis=, Quebec.—While this work was under compilation, the
subject of this sketch was somewhat suddenly called to appear before the
tribunal of Heaven, after a long and well-spent life of seventy-three
years, and with him has passed away one of the oldest and best known
landmarks of the ancient capital. A local paper, the _Daily Telegraph_,
of the 17th October, 1887, the day after his deeply lamented death, had
the following biographical notice of the deceased gentleman:—
For nearly half a century the name of Willis Russell has been a
household word, not only in the city of Quebec, but amongst all
who have been in the habit of coming here, on visits of business
or of pleasure, and we know of no one whose loss would be more
widely felt than his, or more deeply regretted amongst both
residents in and visitors to the old rock city. A native of one
of the New England states, where he was born in 1814, the late
Mr. Russell took up his abode in Quebec over forty-three years
ago, and has been an uninterrupted resident of our city ever
since, remaining identified all that time with the business in
which he lived and died—the maintenance and the management of
the principal hostelries of the ancient capital. It would be
difficult at this distant date to follow the deceased gentleman
very minutely through the early part of his career in this city.
Suffice it to say that in 1844 he entered, on his arrival here,
upon the business which he made his life work, and that his
untiring efforts to make the houses which he controlled the best
of their kind in the locality never failed of success. For some
time Mr. Russell was proprietor of an hotel known, we believe,
as the St. George’s, situated in the old union, building on
Place d’Armes, now the property of Mr. D. Morgan, merchant
tailor. This was before he became proprietor of the Albion
Hotel, on Palace street, which, during his management, extending
over a long term of years, was the leading hostelry of the then
capital of united Canada. Mr. Russell’s later career as
proprietor of the St. Louis Hotel and Russell House is well
known to the present generation of Quebecers and to all
travellers and tourists in the habit of visiting Quebec. For
some years back, there has not been sufficient business in town
to keep both houses open during the winter season, but in summer
they are frequently crowded to their utmost capacity, and some
time back Mr. Russell also became the lessee of the Albion Hotel
on Palace street, and sometimes utilised it for the excess of
his summer business. Mr. Russell’s success in business was, of
course, largely due to the attention which he gave it, and to
his admirable adaptability for it. His career is an example to
all young men about to start out in business, to first select
that particular line to which they feel they can devote their
best energy and efforts, and then, so far as they legitimately
can, to permit nothing to stand between themselves and success.
Mr. Russell’s attention to his business was proverbial, and the
comfort of his guests was his first and principal care. With
this object in view, he skilfully contrived to have the best
possible _menu_ always before them, so that travellers from all
parts of the United States and Canada have always been able to
claim that the best tables to which they have been accustomed
have been those of the St. Louis Hotel. In the matter of
gentlemanly and polite attendance the same hotel has always
stood deservedly high, the leading officials connected with the
management having been always selected from those foremost in
the business. In common with all the citizens of Quebec, Mr.
Russell has been for some time aware that Quebec is behind the
age in the matter of a proper hotel building. He has always been
foremost, therefore, in the various efforts that have been made
to secure a new hotel for our city. A few years ago it seemed as
if success was about to crown Mr. Russell’s efforts in this
direction. He had all but completed the formation of a company
to build a splendid new house on Dufferin terrace, on the site
of the old Normal School. The necessary charter incorporating
the Chateau St. Louis Hotel was duly obtained from the local
legislature, and large subscriptions of stock were being made by
a number of prominent citizens towards the undertaking. Mr.
Russell brought on a famous architect from New York to draw the
plans of the proposed hotel, and everybody remembers how much
they were admired at the time, and how they received the
approval of the Princess Louise, who manifested considerable
interest in the undertaking. However, after the expenditure of
an immense amount of money and time on the subject, Mr. Russell
had the mortification of seeing the scheme fall through, in
consequence of some difficulty at Ottawa about the land required
for the site. It will be observed, all the same, that it was not
Mr. Russell’s fault if the city of Quebec was unsuccessful in
her attempt to obtain the new hotel. The deceased gentleman has
occupied many important positions of trust amongst his
fellow-citizens. He was a J.P. for many years past. Realizing
its vast promise of success, and the necessity which existed for
it, he became one of the most active promoters of the North
Shore railway. Years afterwards he was a member of the city
council for about six years. He was elected to represent St.
Louis ward in the municipal body, and retired from office nearly
four years ago. During most of the period in which he occupied a
seat at the council board, Mr. Russell was chairman of the fire
committee. This was immediately after the last great fire in the
suburbs, and Mr. Russell was indefatigable in his efforts to
secure a thorough reorganization of the fire department, and the
acquisition of additional steam engines and other appliances for
fighting the flames. The prolongation of the old Durham terrace
to the dimensions of the present Dufferin terrace is also
largely due to Mr. Russell’s determined efforts. The deceased
gentleman has always been a determined advocate of the proposed
Quebec and Levis bridge. In American politics, in his earlier
days, he was a great Dan Webster man. Though a naturalized
Canadian, he never took a very decided stand in our politics,
though he formed many personal friendships amongst our public
men. One of his closest friends for the past thirty years has
been the esteemed member for Quebec West, Owen Murphy. Another
was Colonel Rhodes. Mr. Russell’s active mind was never content
to remain fixed alone upon the hotel business, and he speculated
largely at different periods in lumber and mines. His mining
property was situated principally in the eastern townships, and
for some time he was at the head of a number of saw mills and a
lumber company at Arthabaskaville. His recreation consisted
principally in salmon fishing, and his favorite fishing ground
was the Marguerite river, above Tadousac, of which he controlled
the right, and where, in company with a number of American
capitalists, he formed the St. Marguerite fishing club. The
deceased gentleman was the proprietor of the Music Hall (now the
Academy of Music), which he purchased some five years ago, and
in which he has given at various periods an immense number of
the most brilliant public dinners and balls, the _sine qua non_
of a fashionable event of the kind in Quebec being that it
should be entrusted to Mr. Russell’s management. Our regretted
friend was a member of the congregation of the English
Cathedral, and in his last illness received the consolations of
religion at the hands of the Revs. Messrs. Petry and Fothergill.
Notwithstanding the delicate state of his health for some years
past, he attended to business to the very last day, and his
death may be considered both sudden and unexpected. He was
downstairs in the public office of the St. Louis Hotel on
Friday, apparently as well as he had been at any time during the
last year, and on Saturday he was dead. It is supposed he must
have taken cold, for congestion of the bowels declared itself,
and when he felt compelled, by his inflammatory pains on Friday
afternoon, to retire to his room, he was destined never to leave
it again. He grew rapidly worse during the night, and on
Saturday morning it was evident that the end was approaching.
All day he continued to sink rapidly, expiring at ten minutes to
ten o’clock at night. He was surrounded by his wife and
children, and was perfectly conscious to the last. With Mrs.
Russell and her children—W. E. Russell and Mrs. H. J.
Miller—we sincerely sympathize in this hour of deep affliction.
Their sorrow is shared by all our people, who feel that they
have lost one of their best, most useful and most patriotic
citizens. The rotunda of the St. Louis Hotel without his
well-known figure, pleasant countenance, hearty laugh and
amusing anecdote, will indeed be sadly changed.
The _Morning Chronicle_, the leading paper of Quebec, also had an
extended notice of the deceased, and the French papers of the city
devoted much of their space to praise of his useful life and the
expression of regret at his death. His funeral was one of the largest
and most imposing ever witnessed in Quebec, and was attended by all
classes of the local population, including the ministers of the federal
and provincial governments in town at the time, ex-provincial ministers,
members of the Dominion parliament and provincial legislature, and
leading citizens generally.
* * * * *
=Monk, Hon. Samuel Cornwallis=, LL.D., Senior Puisné Judge of the Court
of Queen’s Bench of the Province of Quebec, Montreal, was born in
Halifax, Nova Scotia, on 29th July, 1814. His father, Samuel Wentworth
Monk, was descended from a family of U. E. loyalists, who left Boston,
in Massachusetts, on the breaking out of the revolutionary war, and
settled in Nova Scotia. The Monk family was related to the Goulds,
Wentworths, Deerings, Apthorps, and the Hon. Edward Cornwallis, at one
time governor of Nova Scotia, all of whom were persons of note in those
early days. Judge Monk’s great grandfather was attorney-general of Nova
Scotia, and his grandfather a judge of that province. One of his
granduncles, Sir James Monk, was chief justice of the Court of Queen’s
Bench for Montreal. Samuel Cornwallis Monk was educated in Windsor,
N.S., and was subsequently prepared for entering Trinity College,
Dublin, Ireland, but it was thought advisable that he should immediately
begin the study of law in Canada, and this he did in 1831, and was
admitted to the bar in 1837. He then made an extended tour, which
occupied two years, in Europe, and on his return entered into a
partnership with Sir John Rose, baronet, now of London, England, who at
that time was carrying on an extensive law business in Montreal. In 1854
Mr. Monk was appointed a Queen’s counsel, and for some years represented
the attorney-general of Lower Canada in Crown prosecutions. In 1859 he
was raised to the bench, and for a period of nine years sat as a puisné
judge in the Superior Court of Lower Canada. In 1868 he was promoted to
the Queen’s Bench, on the retirement of Justice Aylwin. His reputation
as a judge stands high. His natural talents, united to his vast
knowledge and graceful elocution, have made him one of the most
instructive and agreeable persons to listen to whenever he has a
judgment to deliver in the Court of Appeals or a charge to make in the
Criminal Court. His knowledge of both the English and French languages
is so perfect that it would be impossible for a stranger to tell by his
speech to which nationality he belonged. The old French law, which forms
the basis of the jurisprudence in the province of Quebec, is so familiar
to him that when a case is heard in the Court of Queen’s Bench before
him and his associates, after reading the printed factum of both
parties, he is generally ready to give his opinion and support it with
the most learned arguments. The capabilities of this learned judge, as
shown in criminal matters, are always very highly appreciated. When he
represented the Crown before the criminal courts as Crown prosecutor,
before being elevated to the bench, he met with great success, and his
reputation as a criminal lawyer stood very high. Upon the bench he has
met the expectations of his admirers by the dignity with which he
presides in court, and the vast legal knowledge, combined with the high
sense of justice which he displays in discharging his duties. He had the
degree of LL.D. conferred upon him a number of years ago by Laval
University, Quebec. Judge Monk was married in 1844 to a daughter of the
late Hon. P. D. DeBartzch, member of the Legislative Council of Lower
Canada. The fruit of this marriage has been five sons and one daughter,
the latter having died some years ago.
* * * * *
=Taillon, Alphonse Antoine=, Sorel, Quebec, was born at Ottawa, on the
17th July, 1847. His parents were John Taillon and Dame Geneviève
Lionais. His father was one of the first merchants of Bytown, and took a
prominent part in promoting the interests of the future city of Ottawa.
Wm. P. Lett, Ottawa’s poet, in his poem, “Recollections of old Bytown,”
alludes to him as one of the good, honorable citizens of the time, and a
man of genial character. The subject of this sketch received a full
commercial course at the College of Ottawa, now the University. He
served in the “Chasseurs Canadiens” at St. John’s, Laprairie and St.
Armands during the first Fenian raid in 1866; was appointed lieutenant
in 1869, and captain in 1870. He entered the Merchants Bank, at
Montreal, in 1867, and became manager of the Sorel branch in 1871. The
bank closed its branch in 1881, and handed the business over to Mr.
Taillon, who continued as a private banker, and is one of the leading
business men of the town. He was an alderman and chairman of the Finance
Committee in 1883 and 1884, and was elected by a large majority over
Senator Guévremont as mayor in 1887. He is president of Richelieu County
Conservative Association, and was several times called on to be a
candidate for both local and federal parliamentary honors, which he
invariably declined. He was president of several local societies, and
was the promoter of many public enterprises. He is a Roman Catholic. On
the 12th January, 1871, he was married to Josephine de Boucherville,
eldest daughter of P. V. de Boucherville, M.D., of Beauharnois. He has
had eight children, six of whom are living.
* * * * *
=Vallee, Thomas Evariste Arthur=, M.D., Quebec, is one of the leaders of
the medical profession in that city, and a well-known specialist in
insanity and toxicology. He was born in Quebec on the 22nd December,
1849, of the marriage of Prudent Vallée and Henrietta Casault, and was
educated at the Quebec Seminary and Laval University, from which last
institution he graduated as an M.D. in 1873. He also had the advantage
of a three years’ course of medical study in London and Paris. In 1878
his _alma mater_, Laval University, fittingly recognized his abilities
by appointing him one of the professors of its medical faculty. First
called to the chair of medical jurisprudence and toxicology, which he
filled with distinction, he was, on the death of the late Dr. Alfred
Jackson, in 1885, transferred to that of tocology and gynæcology, which
he still occupies. In 1879 he was further appointed visiting physician
of the Beaufort Insane Asylum, and medical superintendent of the same
great institution in 1885. For several years past he has also been
visiting physician of the institutions of the Good Shepherd, the Sisters
of Charity, the Hotel Dieu and the Lying-in Hospital, at Quebec. In
questions of insanity and toxicology, Dr. Vallée is one of the
recognized authorities of his native province, and his great skill as an
analyst, where death by poisoning is suspected, has frequently been of
the most valuable service to its authorities and the cause of justice.
Among the _causes célèbres_ in Lower Canadian criminal annals in which
it has more recently been called into requisition to assist the
administration of the law, may be mentioned more specially the Coats’
case at Sherbrooke, and the Boulet and Lagacé poisoning cases in the
Quebec district. In the Boulet case, the prisoner, Mrs. Boulet, was
found guilty and sentenced to be hanged, but during the night preceding
the execution, and after the gallows had been erected, her sentence was
commuted to imprisonment for life, owing to some technical objection
raised by the unfortunate woman’s counsel, F. X. Lemieux, M.P.P. (of
notoriety also as Riel’s counsel), and to the popular dislike of
visiting the last penalty of the law on a woman. As an expert in
insanity, Dr. Vallée also figured very prominently before the public in
the celebrated Lynam case, which created so much excitement in Montreal
a couple of years since. While studying for his profession, in 1871, the
subject of this sketch further obtained a diploma from the Quebec
military school. A gentleman of literary taste and culture, he was
elected president of “L’Institut Canadien de Quebec” in 1878, and filled
that office down to 1880. He has travelled extensively in the United
States, England, France, Belgium, Italy, Turkey and the East for
pleasure and to extend his knowledge of his profession. In religion Dr.
Vallée is a Roman Catholic, and on the 30th April, 1878, he married
Honorine Chauveau, daughter of the eminent French-Canadian
_littérateur_, educationalist and statesman, Hon. P. J. O. Chauveau,
late premier of the province of Quebec, and now sheriff of Montreal.
* * * * *
=Walker, Thomas=, M.D., St. John, N.B., was born on the 20th March,
1840, at Hampton, in Kings’s County New Brunswick. He is of English
extraction and is the eldest son of Rev. William Walker and Anne Walker.
He is descended on the paternal side of the house from Elizabeth Yates,
who was a sister of the famous Pendrell brothers, who was instrumental
in saving King Charles II., after the fatal battle of Worcester. In
consideration of these services, a pension was granted to the Pendrell
family when the merry monarch came to his own. The pension is still
received by the descendants of the Pendrells, though cut up by a failure
of male heirs. Though coming of good old royalist stock, the subject of
this sketch is a thorough Liberal of the Liberals and opposed the
confederation of the provinces. He served his party actively and well in
many fights. His early school days were passed at the Grammar School of
his native county. He completed his classical course of study at King’s
College, Fredericton, from which university he received the degree of
B.A. From this college, which was modelled after King’s College,
Windsor, N.S., the oldest degree-conferring college in British North
America, have gone forth many of the ablest men in the learned
professions in the Maritime provinces. It is an unsectarian institution,
liberally endowed and supported out of the Provincial treasury. In order
to prepare himself for the labors of the medical profession, Dr. Walker
crossed the Atlantic in 1859, and spent the following four years in
close study at the University of Edinburgh, where he graduated M.D. in
August, 1863. In the same year he obtained the license of the Royal
College of Surgeons. In July, 1866, Dr. Walker married Mary R., eldest
daughter of the late William Jack, Q.C., formerly Advocate-general of
New Brunswick, and sister of I. Allan Jack, D.C.L. recorder of the city
of St. John, N.B. Of this marriage, have been born seven children. Dr.
Walker speedily arose to eminence in his profession, and was president
of the New Brunswick Medical Society in 1884 and 1885. He now holds the
office of treasurer of the society. He is also a member of the Council
of Physicians and Surgeons of New Brunswick. He has never seen any
active service in warfare, but holds the position of surgeon in the
62nd, St. John Fusiliers. No troops from New Brunswick were ordered to
the front during the late troubles in the North-West. He is a member of
the Church of England, holding moderate views in the many divisions of
his church. Like most medical men, Dr. Walker is an active member of the
Masonic fraternity, which order he joined in 1871. He is N. and E.
Commander of the Encampment of St. John Knights Templars, on the
registry of the Chapter General of Scotland. Among his other positions
of public esteem and influence, Dr. Walker is a commissioner of the St.
John Public Hospital.
* * * * *
=Shehyn, Hon. Joseph=, Provincial Treasurer, Quebec, is politically,
commercially and socially one of the conspicuous figures of the hour in
the province of Quebec. As the Treasurer of the Province, he is at the
head of the most important of its public departments, and, as one of the
leading merchants of the port of Quebec, his commercial and social
standing is of the highest. With talents rather of the solid than the
brilliant order, he is pre-eminently what is termed “a safe man,” and a
striking example of the success which attends a well-regulated
character—his probity and industry in business being only equalled by
his consistency and moderation in politics. Of Irish and French-Canadian
parentage, Mr. Shehyn was born in the city of Quebec, in 1829, and was
also educated there, partly at the Quebec Seminary, and partly by
private tuition. Entering commercial life, he rapidly rose to wealth and
distinction, finally becoming a member of the great wholesale dry goods
firms of Sterling, McCall & Co., and McCall, Shehyn & Co., of London,
Montreal and Quebec. For many years he has been the representative and
head of the last named firm at Quebec, where it holds a foremost
position in the dry goods importing trade, and does an extensive
wholesale business with all parts of the province through its commercial
travellers. But it was not until he entered the Quebec Board of Trade
that the subject of our sketch began to attract much public attention
outside of commercial circles. As a member of that body, his natural
taste for figures, his intimate acquaintance with financial questions,
his seemingly inexhaustible fund of statistics and the earnest and
intelligent lead he always took in all that concerned the trade of
Quebec and generally of the St. Lawrence, soon made him a marked man.
Elected a member of the Council of the Board of Trade, his name was
prominently and constantly before the public as one of the ablest
champions of Quebec’s interests. On different important occasions he
represented them as a delegate to Ottawa, or defended them before the
Board in speeches and published papers with a logic and force which
commanded wide-spread notice and respect, and the Board expressed its
confidence in him by electing and re-electing him its president until he
was compelled to decline further acceptance of the honor, on being
called in 1887 to the discharge of still higher public duties, which
promised to absorb all his available time from his private business. It
was during his presidency of the Board that he contributed to its
records an important paper entitled “Railways vs. Canals,” which was
considered so valuable that the Board unanimously ordered it to be
printed in pamphlet form for the public information. No more powerful
argument has yet been adduced against the injustice of saddling the
Dominion at large with Montreal’s harbor debt, including the cost of
deepening Lake St. Peter, and against the folly generally of expending
public money on the improvement of artificial water courses in the face
of the overshadowing competition and advantages now-a-days of railways
as inland trade carriers. Mr. Shehyn’s services were also warmly
appreciated by his fellow citizens of Quebec outside of the Board of
Trade. A Liberal in politics, though a moderate man in his views, he was
first selected as the party’s candidate for the important division of
Quebec East at the general elections for the Legislative Assembly of the
province of Quebec in 1875, and was returned by a large majority. At the
general elections of 1878, he was re-elected for the same division by a
handsome majority, and again at the general elections of 1881 he was
elected by acclamation. At the last general elections in October, 1886,
opposition to his re-election was deemed futile by his adversaries, and
he was accordingly again returned by acclamation. These were the
elections which brought the Liberal opposition into power in the
province under Hon. H. Mercier, and, in the latter’s assumption of the
reins of office as Premier of Quebec, in January, 1887, Mr. Shehyn, as
one of the ablest of his lieutenants, and as the financial authority and
critic _par excellence_ of his party, was among the first invited to
enter his cabinet, which he did to the general satisfaction as Treasurer
of the province, when the electors of Quebec East immediately signified
their approval by once more electing him by acclamation. During the
session of the legislature, which followed in March, the new Treasurer
did not disappoint the high estimate formed by the public of his
financial abilities. His Budget speech dealt in a masterly manner with a
fiscal situation of unusual complication and difficulty, and the
remedial measures he proposed not only met with the sanction of the
House, but the approbation of all business minds. The result has been
eminently satisfactory. Under Mr. Shehyn’s skillful management the
finances of the province, which were very seriously embarrassed when he
took charge, have steadily improved; new sources of revenue, hitherto
undeveloped, have been opened up, the license laws have been more
vigorously enforced, as well to the benefit of the public treasury as of
public morals; and some long-pending questions in legislation or in
dispute, such as the tax on commercial corporations, etc., have been
advantageously settled. Method and economy are the prevailing
characteristics of his administration, and, as a whole, the province of
Quebec has reason to be congratulated upon it. As a member of the Quebec
government, Mr. Shehyn also took an important and leading part in the
late Inter-Provincial Conference at Quebec, and his princely residence
of Bandon Lodge, opposite the parliament buildings, was the home of
Premier and Mrs. Mowat, of Ontario, as well as the scene of many of the
splendid social festivities on that memorable occasion. In religion, Mr.
Shehyn is a Roman Catholic. He has been a member of the commission of
the peace for the Quebec district since 1874. On the 16th of August,
1858, he married Marie Zoe Virginie, daughter of Ambroise Verret, of
Quebec, and by her has had a large issue of children, six of whom are
living; the eldest son, Lieutenant Shehyn, of the 9th battalion of
Quebec, served with distinction with his regiment in the Northwest,
during the last rebellion. Mrs. Shehyn is one of the leaders of Quebec
society, and much of its brilliancy is due to her graceful influence and
example.
* * * * *
=Maclaren, James=, Lumber Manufacturer, Buckingham, province Quebec, was
born in Glasgow, Scotland, about the year 1818. His parents came to
Canada when he was a young boy and settled in the township of Tarbolton,
on the Upper Ottawa. His father, who was a man of education and culture,
set to work vigorously to make himself a new home in his adopted
country. Among other enterprises, he went into the manufacture of
lumber, and had succeeded in erecting a saw mill, when a freshet came
and carried away the dam, thereby entailing upon him a heavy pecuniary
loss. But nothing daunted by this mishap, he went to work, again
constructed the dam, and soon had his mill in running order. James, the
subject of our sketch, at this time was a mere lad, but an observing
one, and picked up from his father a fund of practical knowledge with
regard to mills and dams, which, when he went into the lumbering
business on his own account years afterwards, proved of great benefit to
him. Mr. Maclaren’s first business as a merchant was at the “Pesche,” in
the township of Wakefield, on the Gatineau river, where his sagacity
enabled him to select a spot between the hills and the Gatineau river,
where there was just land enough for the road, and a store and a
dwelling, and where consequently every one going up and down the
Gatineau must pass at the very door of his store. He soon built up a
large and lucrative business with the farmers and settlers all around;
erected grist and other mills, and supplied many jobbers and others
engaged in getting out saw logs and timber. About this time he, in
company with the late J. M. Currier, leased the extensive saw mills,
&c., at the mouth of the Rideau river, near Ottawa, belonging to the
late Hon. Thomas McKay, and for years, carried on a large business.
Later on Mr. Maclaren purchased these mills and the adjoining property
and carried on the business in his own name. About the year 1864, he
purchased the large lumbering establishment and extensive lumber limits
on the River du Lievre, formerly owned by the late Baxter Bowman, and
changed his residence to the village of Buckingham, where he has since
resided. He was also largely interested for some years in the saw mills
and large lumber business carried on, on the opposite side of the River
du Lievre, as well as in the saw mills on the North Nation river. For
some years, too, he carried on a square timber business, near Lake
Temiscamangue, on the Upper Ottawa. In spite of these varied and
important occupations, Mr. Maclaren found time to establish the Bank of
Ottawa, of which he has been president since its establishment, and is
now its largest stockholder. He is also largely interested in railways,
and is the vice-president of the Ontario Central. His business
operations are not confined to Canada. At Burlington, Vermont; at
Boston, Massachusetts; and in Michigan, he is interested in large and
flourishing lumber concerns, whose success is largely due to his great
energy, clear-headedness and business sagacity. In religion, Mr.
Maclaren is a Presbyterian, and his munificent gift to Knox College,
Toronto, testifies to the interest he takes in religious education. He
is now a wealthy man, being possessed of property worth millions of
dollars. This fortune has all been acquired by hard work, honesty and
integrity, and while making his money he has retained the respect and
esteem of all who know him. In politics Mr. Maclaren is a Liberal.
* * * * *
=Denoncourt, Nazaire Lefebvre=, Advocate and Q.C., Three Rivers, Que.,
was born in the parish of La Pointe du Lac, in the county of St.
Maurice, district of Three Rivers, on May 4th, 1834. His father was
Joseph Lefebvre Denoncourt, a descendant of Ignace Lefebvre Sieur de
Belle Isle, who came to Three Rivers in 1656. His mother was Marie
Louise Panneton. The subject of this sketch was sent to Nicolet College
and received an excellent classical education. After the usual course of
study in law he was called to the bar on 1st September, 1861, and was
made a Queen’s counsel on the 11th September, 1880. He has since
practised his profession successfully in the city of Three Rivers. He
has appeared for the Crown in several cases, was appointed city attorney
on May 16th, 1878, and legal adviser of the Hochelaga Bank in 1885; has
pleaded before all the courts of the province; and successfully
maintained the rights of the local legislature before the Supreme Court
and Court of Appeal, to authorize municipalities to levy taxes on the
sale of liquors and on commercial travellers. On October 14th, 1862, he
married Marie Ann Cecile Garceau, a daughter of Louis Benjamin Garceau,
descendent of an Arcadian family. Her mother was Adele Poulin de
Courval, one of the ancient and most important families of New France.
* * * * *
=McConville, Joseph Norbet Alfred=, Advocate, Joliette, Que., was born
at Berthier (_en haut_) Que., on March 1st, 1839. His father, John
McConville, who was headmaster of the Berthier Academy from 1833 to
1846, was born at Newry, county Down, Ireland, came to Canada in 1818,
was married at Berthier, on January 7th, 1832, and died at St. Paul,
Quebec, September, 10th, 1849. His grandfather, Meredith McConville,
while living at Portadown, county Down, Ireland, joined the United
Irishmen in 1798, and died March 4th, 1838. His grandmother, Mary
McCardle, died on Easter Sunday, 1827, in church, having lived to a good
old age: her father, who died at the age of 109, was well able to plough
two years before. His mother, Mary Magdalen McKie, was born at St.
Melanie, Quebec, June 28th, 1813, was married at Berthier, January 7th,
1832, and died at Joliette, April 30th, 1878. Her father, John McKie,
surveyor, was born at Alloa, Scotland, 1767, was married at Sorel,
Quebec, September 23rd, 1805, and died at St. Melanie, October 11th,
1818. Her mother, Mary Magdalen McKay, was born at St. Cuthbert, Quebec,
about 1790, was married at Sorel, September 23rd, 1805, and died at St.
Melanie, September 25th, 1817. Angus McKay, one of his mother’s
grandparents, was of extraordinary physical strength, married Magdalen
Fauteux, at Sorel, August 19th, 1789. The subject of this sketch was
educated at L’Assomption College, Quebec, studied law at Drummondville,
and was admitted to the bar at Three Rivers, in February, 1865. He was
captain and paymaster of No. 1 Joliette Provisional Battalion, from 1872
to 1875. He was secretary-treasurer of the Municipal Council and School
Commissioners of Grantham, Windover and Simpson, from 1862 to 1866; town
councillor of Joliette from 1872 to 1875; and is now one of the school
commissioners of Joliette. He is a shareholder in the St. Jacques
Brewery; a shareholder and secretary of the Joliette Lumber Co.; was
editor and proprietor, in conjunction with his late brother, (L. Arthur
McConville) of the newspaper _L’Industrie_ in 1872-73; and is now
shareholder in _L’Imprimerie de la Gazette de Joliette_. In politics he
is a Conservative, and was the defeated candidate at the Dominion
general election in 1882, contested the election, but was again defeated
at the new election in the fall of the same year. In 1885, he was,
however, more successful, being elected a member of the Quebec
legislature in September, but was again defeated at the election in
October, 1886. In July and August, 1883, he made a foreign tour,
visiting in the course of his travels, Londonderry, Dungannon,
Portadown, Newry, Drogheda, with the Boyne battle-field, and Dublin, in
Ireland; Liverpool, Leicester and London, in England; and Boulogne,
Amiens, Paris, Rouen and Dieppe, in France. In religion, he is a Roman
Catholic. He was married at Berthier, Que., May 12th, 1874, to Annie
Magdalen Kittson, daughter of the late Alexander Kittson, merchant, and
Sophie Desantels, born in Berthier, October 12th, 1842, and a niece of
Commodore Norman Kittson, of St. Paul’s, Minnesota.
* * * * *
=Dunn, Timothy Hibbard=, Quebec, is one of the veterans of the Quebec
timber trade, and certainly one of the most conspicuous and best
respected citizens of the ancient capital, with whose history and
commerce he has been closely identified for nearly half a century. He is
of Scotch descent, but thoroughly Canadian in sentiment. He was born,
like his father (the late Charles Dunn) before him, at Ste. Ursule, near
Three Rivers, in the year 1816, and received his education in the common
school of his native place. He was early initiated into acquaintanceship
with the staple industry of the country, the lumber trade, and in 1841
entered as a clerk in the Quebec office of the great timber firm of
Calvin, Cook & Counter, of Kingston, Ontario. Four years later he was
admitted to the position of a partner of this house, and was entrusted
with the management of the extensive business of its Quebec branch,
which was thenceforward carried on under the name of Dunn, Calvin & Co.
After the dissolution of the firm in 1850 or thereabouts, Mr. Dunn,
whose ability and success had won general confidence and respect,
associated himself with the late Thomas Benson, and, in partnership with
that gentleman under the name of T. H. Dunn & Co., continued the
business at Quebec. Two years later, Mr. Benson went out, and down to
1860 Mr. Dunn remained the sole head of the house, which ranked among
the foremost of the Quebec market in making advances to timber
manufacturers in the west, and doing business on commission, especially
in hardwoods. About 1860 he formed a new partnership with the late
William Home, of Quebec, under the name of Dunn & Home, and, among other
important ventures of this firm, was the successful building of one of
the most difficult sections of the Intercolonial Railway below Quebec.
In 1872, the firm of Dunn & Home was dissolved, Mr. Home going out, Mr.
Dunn then retired from active business on his well-earned wealth and
honors, and his two sons, Logie and Stewart Dunn, assumed control of the
old house under the name of Dunn Bros. In 1877 W. A. Griffith, of
Quebec, was added to the firm, when its name was changed to Dunn,
Griffith & Co. In 1884, Mr. Griffith retired, and ever since the firm
has been Dunn & Co. In its fortunes, the subject of our sketch still
continues to take a keen paternal interest, notwithstanding his
seventy-one years, with unimpaired physical and mental vigor, which is
an object of envy to many of his juniors. He can yet be seen any day on
“Change,” and no figure is better known on St. Peter street, where the
business men of Quebec most do congregate. He is one of the last
remaining representatives of the old school who were identified with the
ancient capital in its palmier days, and a type of a class of men who,
unhappily for its present prosperity, have nearly all passed away.
Strange to say, notwithstanding his extensive mercantile connections,
Mr. Dunn never crossed the Atlantic, but he has travelled a good deal in
North America, and especially in the West. In 1845 he married Margaret
Turner, of Sorel, a niece of the late Captain Charles Armstrong, and a
cousin of the present ex-chief justice of the Windward Islands, Hon.
James Armstrong, now of Sorel, and by her had issue nine children, four
sons and five daughters. As already stated, two of the former have
succeeded him in the business at Quebec. The other two have boldly
struck out in a new field and are now successful farmers in Manitoba.
Mr. Dunn has been a widower for the last fourteen years, his wife having
died in 1874. He is a member of the Church of England, and has always
taken a hearty interest in its affairs. He was one of the founders of
St. Mary’s Church and parsonage on the Island of Orleans, where his
beautiful summer retreat, “Island Home,” is an object of admiration to
every visitor and to the passengers in every vessel passing up and down
the St. Lawrence from the harbor of Quebec. In politics he is a
Conservative, but has never taken an active part in public affairs,
though frequently pressed by his fellow-citizens to do so. He was,
however, for many years a conspicuous member of the Quebec Board of
Trade and its Council, and a director of the Quebec Bank. He was also a
delegate to the first railroad convention held in Boston in 1851. In his
younger days he held a commission as captain in the militia, and served
under the late Colonel Boucher, of Maskinonge, P.Q. Throughout all the
relations of life, Mr. Dunn has been an exemplary citizen, and his long
and successful career is only another illustration of the triumph of
well-applied industry and honorable dealing with his fellow men.
* * * * *