=Kincaid, Robert=, M.D., Peterboro’, Ont., Surgeon-Major, was born June

10th, 1832, in the county Donegal, Ireland. He is the son of George

Kincaid, and Elizabeth Virtue, his wife, daughter of George Virtue, a

wealthy mill owner of Donegal. She was also related to the Virtues of

the great publishing house, London, England. Dr. Kincaid, the subject of

this sketch, came to Canada in 1847, and received his education at

Queen’s University, Kingston, graduating with honors in 1863. He has

been the surgeon of the 57th battalion, Peterborough Rangers, since it

was gazetted in 1866, and now holds the rank of surgeon-major. He

entered the service of the United States in 1863, and served until the

termination of the war, being present at the engagements of the

Wilderness, Mine Run, Coal Harbor, Spottsylvania Court House and

Petersburg. He was for a time surgeon in charge of Governor’s Island

Hospital, at the foot of Broadway, N.Y., the most important medical

office in the gift of the government of the United States; and was

afterwards, in 1864, transferred to Maine, as medical director of that

state, with headquarters at Portland. Upon the conclusion of the war he

returned to Canada, and in 1865 settled in Peterborough, where he has

resided ever since and built one of the largest and most important

practices in the midland district. In addition to his medical practice

he conducts a large stock farm of about 400 acres a few miles from town,

and has been prominently identified with the different agricultural

societies for some years. He has been surgeon of the county of

Peterborough since 1867; surgeon to the corporation of the town of

Peterborough since 1868, and he still holds both offices; he is also

senior surgeon of the Nicholls’ Hospital, examining surgeon for the

Canada Life, North American Life, Equitable Life, Federal Life and the

Manufacturers’ Life Insurance companies. In politics he has been a life

long Conservative, and still holds the same views, although at the last

Dominion election he warmly supported George A. Cox, the Reform

candidate, on strong personal grounds. In 1883, upon the death of the

late W. H. Scott, Q.C, M.P.P., the doctor was elected by acclamation to

represent West Peterborough in the Ontario legislature, he being the

only man in the riding acceptable to both parties, and the only man in

Canada who was ever nominated for parliament by both political parties

at the same time. At the end of his term, he declined re-nomination. Dr.

Kincaid is a fluent speaker. For many years he held the office of

coroner for the town and county of Peterborough, and in that capacity

conducted many important inquests; but upon his election to parliament

he resigned the office, and has since declined re-appointment. He has

frequently been asked to run for municipal honors, but always declined,

preferring to devote all his time to his profession. He was chosen to

the Senate of Queen’s University in 1886. For many years he was

prominently identified with the Masonic order, and held all the

different offices until he reached the high position of district deputy

grand master of Ontario district. He was initiated into Masonry in 1863,

in St. Lawrence lodge, Montreal, under the Grand Lodge of England. The

doctor has travelled through every state in the American Union and

through all parts of the Dominion. He was brought up in the faith of the

Episcopal Church, and was confirmed by John Toronto. He is still in

sympathy with the doctrines of that church, but being opposed to the

high church views which prevail in Peterborough, he does not attend the

services. Has attended the Presbyterian churches here, and for some time

was chairman of the Board of Managers of St. Andrew’s Church, but left

that body, consequent upon the change of ministers, when the Rev. D. J.

Macdonnell left Peterborough for Toronto. Dr. Kincaid was married in

1865 to Margaret M., daughter of James Bell, then manager of the

Commercial Bank of Canada, at Perth, now registrar of the county of

Lanark; niece of the Rev. Dr. Bell, of Queen’s College; niece of Judge

Malloch, of Brockville, and cousin of Prof. Bell of the Geological

Survey of Canada. The union has been blessed with several children, one

girl and three boys of whom are now living.

* * * * *

=Laurier, Hon. Wilfrid=, B.C.L., Q.C., Quebec, M.P. for Quebec East,

leader of the Liberal party in the House of Commons at Ottawa, was born

at St. Lin, L’Assomption, Quebec province, on the 24th November, 1841.

He is descended from a distinguished French family, who were among the

first to settle in Canada. His father was the late Carolus Laurier, who

in his lifetime was a provincial land surveyor. The future leader of the

Liberal party was educated at the college of L’Assomption, and having

finished his literary course there, he was entered for the study of the

law in the office of the Hon. R. Laflamme, Q.C. Here he devoted himself

diligently to the study of his chosen calling, and in due time was

called to the bar of Lower Canada. This was in the year 1865; but the

year previous he had taken, at McGill University, the degree of B.C.L.

In October, 1880, he was appointed a Queen’s counsel. Hon. Mr. Laurier

always from a very early age took a deep interest in public questions,

and was resolved, when the first opportunity offered, to seek a position

in the legislature. With this object in view, he gave his attention to

literature and journalism, and for a period edited _Le Defricheur_

newspaper. He was an earnest advocate of temperance, and was a delegate

to the Dominion Prohibitory Convention, held in Montreal, in 1875. At

the general election of 1871 his ambition to get into public life was

realized, he being that year elected to the Legislative Assembly of the

province of Quebec for Drummond and Arthabaska. He remained in the

legislature till January, 1874, when he resigned in order to contest the

same seat for the House of Commons. In the provincial parliament his

record had been excellent. He was known to be a sincere, upright, able

and well-informed public man, and had proven himself a genuine Liberal

in the truest and best sense of the word; so when he came to ask his

constituents to send him to the wider sphere of usefulness they did not

refuse him. On taking his seat in the House of Commons, his brilliant

abilities and his high character were at once acknowledged. Sir John A.

Macdonald, through his Pacific Railway transaction, had been relegated

to the opposition benches, and the Hon. Alexander Mackenzie had been

called upon to form an administration. Mr. Laurier was invited by the

new premier to enter his cabinet, and he was sworn in as member of the

Privy Council, September, 1877, and given the portfolio of Inland

Revenue. This office he held until the following year, when the

Mackenzie government resigned. On seeking re-election in his old

constituency, at the general election which followed, he was rejected;

but the Hon. I. Thibaudeau having resigned his seat in Quebec East, Hon.

Mr. Laurier was elected as his successor, and he has represented that

constituency ever since. On the retirement of the Hon. Edward Blake in

1887, in consequence of ill health, from the leadership of the Liberal

party in the House of Commons, Hon. Mr. Laurier was unanimously chosen

as his successor, and his friends have great hopes that he will prove a

leader worthy of the name. He is calm and reasonable, and always

receives respect and attention when he rises, and has always, on such

occasions, something to say. He speaks with a very pure French accent,

and is a very effective speaker. Hon. Mr. Laurier is a director of the

Royal Mutual Life Insurance Company. In religion he is a Roman Catholic.

He was married on the 13th May, 1868, to Miss Lafontaine.

* * * * *

=O’Sullivan, Dennis Ambrose=, M.A., D.C.L., Barrister-at-Law, etc.,

Toronto, Ont., is the youngest son of the late Michael O’Sullivan, of

Campbellford, farmer. His father came to this country from Cork,

Ireland, in 1832, and was one of the most respected men in his county.

His mother belongs to the family of Hennessys, well known to this day in

the south of Ireland. In the early days of this province, farmers’ homes

were frequently used for the purpose of having divine service therein,

and for many years, in the parish of Seymour, mass was said every second

Sunday in the house of Michael O’Sullivan, every year, in fact, up to

the building of the present Roman Catholic Church at Campbellford. He

brought up his children strictly within the church, and died in 1866,

greatly regretted. One of his sons, the late Dr. J. O’Sullivan, was well

known as a professional man; and in political life sat for eight years

as Conservative member for East Peterboro’. Dr. D. A. O’Sullivan was

born on the 21st February, 1848, in Seymour, Northumberland county,

Ontario. He is a practising lawyer in Toronto, and was called to the bar

in 1875. He was educated in a common school and in St. Michael’s

College, 1866-72, and graduated in the latter year in the University of

Toronto. He received the degree of M.A. in 1876, and the degree of LL.B.

in the following year, having been scholar and prizeman in the Toronto

University during each year of the course. Since that time he has

applied himself to the study of the law, and devoted his leisure hours

to legal and historical literature. In 1879 he published the first

edition of his “Government in Canada,” and a second edition of the same

work in 1887. This book is the text book on the Canadian constitution in

the Law Society of Ontario, and is extensively used in colleges

throughout Canada. In 1881 he published a volume on “Practical

Conveyancing,” and another on “How to Draw a Simple Will,” a little

volume intended for clergymen and doctors of medicine, and containing a

good deal of instructive and curious matter. In the following year he

was named a member of the senate of the University of Toronto by the

lieutenant-governor, and subsequently appointed one of the commissioners

of the Ontario government to inquire into the workings of the Central

Prison, and to report on prisons generally. He has lately devoted

himself to historical studies regarding the church in Canada, and the

origin of the Canadian laws. For essays and other productions in this

direction, published in American magazines, and by the Canadian

Institute annals, and for some light literature, the University of Laval

conferred on him, in June, 1887, the honorary degree of Doctor of Laws.

He is a regular contributor to several magazines and reviews, and is a

member of a number of historical societies in Canada and the United

States. He does not belong to any national, political or other

societies, except charitable societies; is secretary and one of the

managers of the House of Industry; a director of the Toronto

Conservatory of Music, etc. He is solicitor for all the Roman Catholic

charities in Toronto, for the Roman Catholic Episcopal Corporation, and

the colleges in the city. He was married, in 1881, to Emma Mary, the

eldest daughter of W. H. Higgins, editor of the Whitby _Chronicle_.

* * * * *

=Tartre, Joseph Raphael=, Notary Public, Waterloo, province of Quebec,

was born at St. Hyacinthe, Quebec, on the 3rd October, 1843. His father,

Charles Tartre, was a farmer and bailiff, of Roxton Falls, Quebec, and a

son of Charles Tartre and Marie Legros _dit_ St. Pierre, who settled on

the south side of the Yamaska river during the first years of the

present century. His mother, Marie Adelaide Beaudry, is a descendant of

the Beaudry family which settled in St. Jean Bte. de Rouville, Quebec,

early in the present century. His father was settled first in St. Pie,

county of Bagot, and moved thence to Roxton Falls, in September, 1851.

The subject of this sketch is the second of eleven children, the oldest

being a grey nun (called in religion Sister Ste. Elizabeth), since 1858.

He was educated at St. Hyacinthe College, from 1856 to 1861. When

twenty-one years of age, on account of ill-health, he was admitted, on

the 13th May, 1864, a bailiff of the Superior Court, and settled at

Waterloo on the 24th May, 1864. While practising as a bailiff, he began

the study of the notarial profession on the 15th June, 1866, and was

admitted to practise on the 3rd May, 1871. He was acting deputy

registrar of the county of Shefford, from May, 1874, to August, 1876;

and was secretary of schools for the township of Shefford, Waterloo

included, for 1872 and 1873. He has been secretary-treasurer of the

municipality of the county of Shefford since the 11th June, 1879; and a

member of the Roman Catholic school board of examiners of the district

of Bedford since 1875; also secretary-treasurer of the Roman Catholic

schools of Waterloo since April, 1883, the date of their organization;

and a commissioner of the Superior Court since 1872. He has also been

secretary-treasurer of the Waterloo Imperial Building Society since the

1st May, 1877. He has always taken a moderate part in politics, and in

municipal matters, and was mainly instrumental in having the parish of

St. Joachim de Shefford erected into a municipality, and was one of the

many who helped in starting the newspaper in Waterloo, called _The

Independent_. He is a staunch Roman Catholic in religion. He was

married, on the 29th January, 1866, to Malvina, second daughter of

Gabriel Hubert and Justine Marchessault, of Contrecœur, Quebec, and has

had issue ten children, eight of whom are still living. The eldest, C.

U. R. Tartre, twenty-one years of age, has just completed his classical

course at the St. Hyacinthe College, and is now studying the notarial

profession with his father. Mrs. J. R. Tartre is now (March, 1888,) a

candidate in the election of popularity, the object and proceeds whereof

are to erect, if possible, a commercial college in Waterloo. This

election closes on the 2nd July, 1888.

* * * * *

=Edgar, James David=, Barrister, Toronto, M.P. for West Ontario, was

born in the Eastern Townships, Quebec province, on the 10th August,

1841, where he received his early educational training. He is descended

from the elder branch of the Edgars of Keithock, Forfarshire, Scotland,

a family which has impressed its name on the annals of that country. Mr.

Edgar adopted law as a profession, and having gone through the usual

course of study, was called to the bar of Upper Canada, in Michaelmas

term, 1864. Since then he has successfully practised his profession in

Toronto, and is at present the head of the firm of Edgar, Malone &

Garvin, barristers, solicitors, notaries, etc. He first presented

himself for parliamentary honors at the general election of 1872, when

he was elected, and sat in the House of Commons at Ottawa until the

general election in 1874, when he was defeated. In 1872 he

unsuccessfully contested Centre Toronto, but on the 22nd August, 1884,

upon the resignation of the sitting member, he was elected by the

Reformers of West Ontario to represent them in parliament. At the last

general election he was again chosen by the same constituency, and

continues to sit in the House of Commons as their representative. In

1874, Mr. Edgar was sent by the Dominion government to British Columbia

to arrange terms for the postponement of the construction of the Canada

Pacific railway. He is of a literary turn of mind, and, apart from his

books on law, such as “Insolvent Act of 1864, with Notes, Forms,” etc.,

published in 1864; “An Act to Amend the Insolvent Act of 1864, with

Annotations, Notes of Decisions,” etc., published in 1865, he frequently

contributes to the columns of our daily press and periodicals. Indeed,

he has entered the realm of poetry, and a couple of years ago published

a no mean volume on a Canadian subject. He is a director of the

Confederation Life Association, of the _Globe_ Printing Company, and of

the Midland Railway Company. In politics he is a staunch Liberal, and in

religion belongs to the Episcopal church. In September, 1865, he was

married to Matilda, second daughter of the late T. G. Ridout, of

Toronto.

* * * * *

=Price, Herbert Molesworth=, Timber Merchant, Quebec, was born on the

31st of August, 1847, at Benhall, Ross, Herefordshire, England. His

father was William Price, gentleman. He was educated at private schools

at Hereford, and Norwood, near London, where he made rapid progress,

English and mathematics being his principal studies. Having at an early

age evinced a predilection for banking, a position was secured for him

in the West of England and South Wales District Bank, at Ross. He

entered on his duties in 1864, and remained in the service of that

institution until January, 1869, when he relinquished his situation for

a higher post in the Bank of British North America, London. He was soon

after transferred to the Montreal branch of that bank, and successively

filled positions at the following branches, viz., St. John, N.B.,

Halifax, N.S., New York and Hamilton, Kingston, Brantford, and

Dunnville, Ont., and Quebec. After serving at the latter branch as

accountant for four years, with great acceptance to the board, he

resigned his office and entered the Merchants Bank of Canada, Quebec, as

manager. This responsible position he held from 1879 until March, 1884,

when he retired from banking, after a continuous service of twenty

years, and joining the important firm of Hall Brothers & Co., in

connection with the Montmorency mills, embarked into business. His firm

is now composed of Peter Patterson Hall, and H. M. Price. Their

operations are confined to two mills besides those of Montmorency. The

firm makes 300,000 logs per annum on the rivers Chaudière, Gentilly,

Nicolet, Bécancour, Duchene, and Montmorency, employing in the work a

large number of men. In politics, Mr. Price is a Conservative of

independent and broad views. A member of the Church of England, he has

always taken a deep interest in religious thought and movement, and his

active mind has found expression in the conduct of the temporal affairs

of his church, where for some years he has been a member of the select

vestry of the English cathedral. He has held several prominent offices,

among which may be named those of the first vice-president of St.

George’s Society; provisional director of the Quebec Railway Bridge

Company; member of the council of the Quebec Board of Trade; member of

the Central Board Church Society, and member of the council of the

Literary and Historical Society of Quebec. In this latter position his

literary, historical, and antiquarian tastes find ample development. He

is a qualified justice of the peace. Mr. Price has always taken

considerable interest in athletic sports and pastimes. He has been

captain of the Quebec Cricket and Football clubs, and was a member of a

Football team for Canada which played against the Harvard University

Club of Cambridge, Mass., in Montreal, in 1875. J. M. LeMoine has given

an interesting sketch of Mr. Price, and of his summer residence,

Montmorency cottage, in his late book, “Monographies et Esquisses.” In

March, 1877, Mr. Price was married to S. A. Martha Hall, daughter of the

late George Benson Hall, of Montmorency Falls, P.Q., a lady of fine

social qualities and culture.

* * * * *

=Phelan, Cornelius J. F. R.=, M.D., C.M., Waterloo, Quebec, was born on

the 10th of May, 1840, at St. Columbin, county of Two Mountains, Quebec.

His father, John Phelan, was born 10th June, 1787, at Kilkenny, Ireland.

He was major of militia, mayor and magistrate. As magistrate he

generally settled disputes amicably and to the perfect satisfaction of

the litigants, thus saving acrimony and heavy law costs; he was also a

merchant and farmer, and did a very extensive business; he was generous

to a fault, always the poor man’s friend, and died the 9th April, 1862,

deeply mourned by all who knew him far and near. Dr. Phelan’s mother,

Mary Phelan, was born on the 15th August, 1798, and died on the 26th

July, 1874. She was a pious woman, a loving mother, and a devoted and

industrious wife. The late Bishop Phelan, of Kingston, was her brother.

He was a first-class administrator, a general favorite alike among

Protestants and Catholics, and his untimely death was universally

regretted. The subject of this sketch was educated at the seminary of

Ste. Therese de Blainville, Quebec, taking a full classical course,

afterwards pursuing his medical studies at McGill College, Montreal, and

graduating therefrom in 1865. In the spring of 1865, he began to

practise at Iberville, and in November of the same year removed to

Knowlton, Brome, Quebec, where he remained until January 8th, 1880, when

he went to Waterloo, his present home. As he took up the study of

medicine from pure love of the profession, it is not strange that his

success has been far above the average; and that the older he grows the

more he is in love with his calling. He is a member of the district of

Bedford Medical Association; a leading member of the Board of Health of

Waterloo; medical examiner for several leading Life Insurance companies

and has been physician to the Maple Wood Convent since 1881. This is one

of the finest institutions of the kind in the province, and is under the

direction of the Sisters of J.M.J., of Hochelaga. The house was formerly

the residence of the Hon. A. B. Foster, and is a splendid edifice

surrounded by beautiful and well-kept grounds. Dr. Phelan has been

secretary of the St. Patrick’s Benevolent Society of Shefford, and also

president of the St. Joseph Society of Waterloo. He has always been a

Conservative, but the duties of his profession have prevented him from

taking any active part in politics though often strongly urged to do so.

In 1864 he travelled through the United States, making a prolonged stay

at Washington to visit the military hospitals there, they being such

excellent schools for surgery. In religion he is a Roman Catholic. He

was married on the 8th November, 1864, to Mary Eledeanne M. Guindon, of

Montreal, a cousin-german of Judge Ouimet; she was educated in the

Congregational convent there. They have one daughter who is now pursuing

her studies at Maple Wood Convent.

* * * * *

=Bernier, Michel Esdras=, St. Hyacinthe, Quebec, Notary, J.P., and M.P.

for St. Hyacinthe, was born at St. Hyacinthe, on the 28th September,

1841. His ancestors came from France, and settled in the county of

L’Islet, Quebec, removing afterwards to St. Hyacinthe. He is the

youngest son of the late Etienne Bernier, farmer, and Julie Lussier, his

wife. The subject of this sketch was educated at the St. Hyacinthe

Seminary, afterwards studying law under H. St. Germain, notary and

registrar for the county of St. Hyacinthe, and was admitted to practise

as a notary in June, 1867. He was a member of the volunteer force from

1862 to 1865, and held the rank of captain. He served as a member of the

notarial board for the district of St. Hyacinthe, from 1867 to 1870, and

for the provincial board from 1873, and president for the same from 1882

to 1885, and is still a member of the board; was secretary-treasurer of

the municipal council and school commissioners of the parish of St.

Hyacinthe, from 1864 to 1878, and of the municipal council of the county

of St. Hyacinthe from 1864, and still holds that position; also official

assignee for the county of St. Hyacinthe from 1869 to 1874, and for the

district of St. Hyacinthe from 1874 to 1880. He has been a director of

the St. Hyacinthe Agricultural Society from 1881, and its president

since 1884, and holds that position to-day. He is a director of the Bank

of St. Hyacinthe; also of the St. Hyacinthe Manufacturing Company,

owners of the water powers, flannel mill, grist mill, and carding mill,

at St. Hyacinthe; of the St. Hyacinthe Gas and Electric Light Company;

of the St. Hyacinthe Macadamizing Company, and of the United Counties

Railway Company. He is the head of the firm of N. Bernier & Co., grain

and flour dealers; of the notarial firm of Bernier, Morin & Bordua; is a

commissioner for the provinces of Ontario, Quebec, Nova Scotia, and New

Brunswick, and a commissioner _per Dedimus potestatem_; is also engaged

in farming, and owns the “Bellevue farm,” near the city limits. Mr.

Bernier is a staunch Liberal in politics, and has taken an active part

in political movements since 1867; was offered, but refused, the

candidature for the county of St. Hyacinthe for the House of Commons, in

1878, and for the Quebec house in 1879; but in June, 1882, he accepted

the nomination of the party for the House of Commons, and was elected,

his opponent being the Hon. L. Tellier, now a judge of the Superior

Court. Mr. Bernier ran again in 1887, and was again successful. His

interest in agricultural, industrial, and commercial pursuits has been

of the most active character. In religion, he is a Roman Catholic. He

was married, on the 28th November, 1865, to Alida, a daughter of the

late Simeon Marchesseault, one of the chiefs of the rebellion of 1837,

and who was afterwards exiled to the Bermudas. Two daughters were born

of this marriage, the eldest being married to Dr. L. V. Benoit,

physician and apothecary at St. Hyacinthe.

* * * * *

=d’Orsonnens, Lt.-Col. the Count Louis Gustave d’Odet=, was born at

L’Assomption, April 17th, 1842. He is a descendant of a Swiss patrician

family of the Canton of Fribourg, who, according to Blanc de Charney, in

his history of the patrician families of Fribourg, “came towards the end

of the fourteenth century to settle in that city, and continue there its

_lustre_.” The General Lexicon of Switzerland, by Leu, published at

Zurich, in 1758, mentions the d’Odet d’Orsonnens with honor. Later, in

1789, Jean Jacques Holtzhalb, in his supplement to the Lexicon or

Dictionary of Leu, has also continued its history. The first member of

this distinguished family who came to this country, was Prothais d’Odet

d’Orsonnens, patrician of Fribourg, who came to Canada about the year

1810, with the famous Meuron’s regiment, as captain of the grenadier

company. After the disbandment of his regiment, Captain d’Orsonnens went

to the Red River with a strong party, and took Fort William for Lord

Selkirk, who was the governor of the Hudson Bay Company. The conduct and

bravery of Captain d’Orsonnens on this occasion was highly commended by

his superiors. He finally settled at St. Roch de l’Achignan, where he

built a house in the style of the manors of that time, and which he

named “La Chaumière Suisse.” He died suddenly of heart disease on the

16th March, 1834, leaving two sons and two daughters to mourn his loss.

The eldest, Thomas Edmond d’Orsonnens, was born at St. Roch de

l’Achignan, on 30th October, 1818, and was for many years president of

the medical faculty of the Victoria University in Montreal, knight of

St. Gregory, etc. His eldest son, Louis Gustave, the subject of this

sketch, upon whom the family nobility and titles were recognised with

the title of count, by his holiness Pope Pius IX., was educated for the

army, and was to have joined the Swiss regiment at Naples, in which his

cousin was captain, when the kingdom of Naples was overthrown by the

revolution. He joined the 1st battalion of rifles as ensign, on the 17th

of November, 1859; in 1860, he exchanged into the 2nd troop of cavalry,

being gazetted a cornet; was promoted to the rank of lieutenant on 3rd

June, 1861, and commanded the troop for nearly a year. He resigned his

command to study law, and was soon called to the bar. He then re-entered

the service and joined the 4th battalion of Canadian Chasseurs, and was

gazetted lieutenant on the 15th December, 1865. He served on the

frontier at Niagara, in 1866, as ensign and adjutant, and was promoted

to rank of captain in the 4th Chasseurs on the 8th of March, 1867. His

subsequent promotions are brigade-major, 3rd January, 1868, and

lieutenant-colonel, 19th February, 1869. In 1871, he held the temporary

command of the 6th military district at the divisional camp of

Laprairie. Lieutenant-Colonel d’Orsonnens holds certificates from all

the schools, as follow: Infantry school, 1st class, 24th August, 1864;

gunnery, 1st class, 4th July, 1868; cavalry, 1st class, 27th March,

1869. Towards the close of the year 1869 he went to Switzerland, where,

upon the invitation of the president of the Confederation he joined the

federal staff at Berne, and followed the army in its autumn manœuvres.

In 1874, inspired, doubtless, by the remembrance of the manœuvres of the

Swiss army, he published a pamphlet on the military organization of the

Canadian Confederation. He also was the first who, in 1867, suggested

the idea to his co-religionists to send military aid to the papal See,

and was instrumental in the decision of the movement which sent to Rome

more than 600 Canadian Zouaves. This expedition, which resembled, in

more respects than one, that of the first crusades, has, it is affirmed,

contributed more to make Canada known to Europe than many other things.

In 1883 he was sent, along with the other commandants of the infantry

schools, to England, by the Dominion government, to study the

organization of and follow the Imperial service, preparatory to taking

command of one of the infantry schools now in existence in Canada. Like

many other old families, the d’Odet family retains many souvenirs and

marks of appreciation from distinguished personages, such as autograph

letters from kings, princes, and others; amongst some of these in their

possession is a letter dated 8th of March, 1670, signed by Emmanuel, Duc

of Savoie, and King of Cyprus, in which the duke invites the family to

ask for favors in return for services rendered him. The Count d’Odet

d’Orsonnens was married in 1870, to Marie Louise Adèle Desbarats, and

has issue four sons and one daughter. The eldest, Viscount George Joseph

Gustave was born in 1872. ARMS: Azure, a lion, or, rampant, holding a

horn of plenty, of the same. COUNT’S CORONET; MOTTO: _Certa fides, certa

manus_.

* * * * *

=Guilbault, Edouard=, Joliette, Quebec, Mayor of Joliette, was born at

d’Aileboust, county of Joliette, on the 14th April, 1834. He is the son

of Charles Guilbault, and Marie Blanchard, whose ancestors came from

Normandy, France, in 1697, and were among the first settlers of

Charlesbourg, Quebec. The subject of this sketch was educated at the

College of Joliette, where he took a commercial course. He sat in the

Joliette town council for twenty years; was elected mayor in 1875, and

has continued to fill that responsible position since, having been

re-elected on the 10th January, 1888, for a further term of three years.

He is a Conservative in politics; is now president of the Conservative

Association, and has long taken an active interest in political affairs.

He was first returned to parliament at the general election, in 1882;

but resigned, and was re-elected, 7th December, 1882, and again, at the

general election of 1887. He organized the Agricultural Society of the

county in 1854; filled the position of secretary for twenty-five years,

and is now the president. He is the proprietor of several large farms,

in which he takes a deep interest, always working hard to improve

agriculture. In 1871 he formed a company which engaged in the lumber

business, and he continues as director of this company still; he is also

a director in a large foundry and agricultural implements works. In 1865

he established a boot and shoe factory, which he conducted under his own

name, and which he superintends personally, and has succeeded in

building up an extensive trade in that line. In the year 1884 he formed

a company to enter into the manufacture of Canadian tobacco, and is

president of this company, to which he gives considerable attention.

This is an industry which will bear a great deal of development. In 1885

he visited Europe, and made an extensive tour, with the object of

acquiring information as to trade and agriculture. He is a Roman

Catholic, but believes in liberty of conscience. He was married, in

1858, to Marie Hermine Lemaitre Auger, daughter of Major Desire Lemaitre

Auger, of Louisville.

* * * * *

=Dawson, Sir J. William=, C.M.G., LL.D., F.R.S., Principal of the McGill

University, Montreal, was born at Pictou, Nova Scotia, on October 13th,

1820. His parents had come from Scotland several years before, and, if

the Biblical knowledge of their son is any criterion, they were

doubtless good examples of that high piety and religious education which

distinguish the Scottish people. Young Dawson seems to have shown an

early interest in natural history and geology, and the opportunity for

an intellectual career was placed within his reach. He attended the

school and college at Pictou, and was then sent to Edinburgh University,

where he took the degree of M.A. at the age of twenty-two. Natural

history and practical chemistry occupied his attention chiefly at

Edinburgh; and it may be supposed that he listened with deep interest to

the fading echoes which would be heard then regarding the respective

claims of the Wernerian and the Huttonian hypotheses in geology. Here he

made his first attempts at authorship, which were published in Edinburgh

newspapers. He returned to Canada in 1842, and accompanied Sir Charles

Lyell in his geological exploration of Nova Scotia. He entered into the

work with characteristic enthusiasm, and the valuable assistance which

he was able to render to the great English geologist was not

unrecognised. Sir Charles Lyell has paid many tributes to the abilities

of Sir William Dawson as a geologist. He was then appointed to the

direction of a geological survey of the coal fields in that province,

and his report to the government proved a very valuable one. In 1850 his

attention was taken, so far as the business of his life was concerned,

from geology to education. He was appointed superintendent of education

for Nova Scotia. It was a reforming period in educational matters in

that province, and the new superintendent was entrusted with the work of

putting a new School Act into operation. His interest in education, to

judge from the articles which he published at that date, was not less

pronounced than his interest in science. The work was, therefore,

congenial, and the experience afforded in the task of administering the

affairs of the Nova Scotia schools doubtless proved valuable to the

future principal of McGill. His appointment to the principalship of

McGill in 1855 marks the beginning of an epoch in Canada’s intellectual

development. It is not a matter of ordinary course that McGill should be

the university she is to-day, or that she should wield the influence

that she does. It is a matter of surprise. The conditions which fifty

and a hundred years ago favored the advancement of great institutions of

learning in the American republic have ever been absent from Canada. The

wealth which poured into the treasuries of American colleges has only

been represented in Canada by dribbling subscriptions and small

legacies. Our colleges have struggled up with the aid of trusty and

generous, but seldom very wealthy, friends. The fortunes of McGill were

at a low ebb in 1855, and Principal Dawson had an extensive work before

him. The work of a college principal and president is supposed to be

limited to the duties of administration, but the financial condition of

McGill at that time made it necessary for the new principal to undertake

several laborious professorships as well. His influence, however, soon

began to make itself felt throughout the country, and the fortunes of

the university steadily advanced. Its stability is now assured, and from

being a matter of anxiety to Montrealers it has become an object of

pride. That the result is largely due to the vast energy and

administrative abilities of the principal there can be no question; and

it is a significant fact that when the university came in sight of the

horizon of prosperity he annually contributed to its resources by still

retaining arduous and unpaid work which he had taken upon his shoulders

at the outset. Leisure might seem to be an unknown experience in the

midst of labors indicated by the foregoing, but in addition to many

pamphlets on educational matters, and some excellent text-books on

geology and zoology, Sir William Dawson has published the following

volumes: “Archaia,” (1860); “Air Breathers of the Coal Period,” (1863);

“The Origin of the World,” (1869); “The Story of the Earth and Man,”

(1873); “Fossil Men and Their Modern Representatives” (1880). As

indicated by their titles, the three latter volumes deal more

particularly with the vexed questions concerning the nature of man’s

first appearance upon the earth, and the apparent conflict between

Biblical history and the result of modern scientific research. If his

treatment of the subject is not in all respects satisfactory to the

present schools of scientific thought, it is at least independent and

earnest. Whether his interpretations of the archæological facts bearing

upon prehistoric man will stand the test of time or not, time only can

show. At present he stands alone with regard to that subject, as far as

his scientific peers are concerned. The fact, however, has not prevented

the scientific worlds of Britain and America from recognizing and

honoring him for his many and valuable contributions to the science of

the day. These have comprised an extensive amount of original research

in biology, chemistry, mineralogy and microscopy, which has been

distinguished not only for its high scientific merits, but for the

attractive literary form in which it has been presented to the world.

For many years he has been an active and esteemed member of the British

Association for the Advancement of Science, and was elected president of

that learned body for 1886. It was also through his instrumentality that

the British Association met in Montreal in the summer of 1884, and it

was at the opening meeting in the Queen’s Hall that Lord Lansdowne

announced the honor of the knighthood. The American Association

testified to its appreciation of his scientific labors by electing him

to the presidency in 1883. The recognition which Sir William Dawson’s

scientific attainments have received abroad, however, should not

withdraw attention from the valuable services he has rendered, and is

rendering, to Canada’s intellectual development. With this every

Canadian is more or less practically concerned. The fact that a united

nationality can never be built up in this Dominion without an

educational foundation has been recognized by a good many of our public

men, but by none more earnestly than by Sir William Dawson. He early

took a broad view of the duties and privileges of a university as an

intellectual centre. Besides taking an active part in scientific and

other societies in Montreal, he has paid close attention to the

interests of struggling schools and colleges in the province, and for

many years has been perhaps the most active worker in connection with

elementary education. This latter subject has all the importance, in

Quebec province especially, which he attaches to it, and his efforts

should be more generally seconded. Like Principal Grant, he is also a

strong advocate for the higher education of women, who are now admitted

to McGill, thanks to the generosity of Sir Donald A. Smith. This sketch

would be incomplete without a reference to the annual excursions of the

Montreal Natural History Society. It is on occasions like these that Sir

William Dawson’s qualities as a teacher are well displayed. The members

go by rail to some point likely to be interesting to varied scientific

tastes, and then disperse for the purpose of collecting whatever

specimens, mineralogical, geological, or botanical, the district will

afford. A few hours generally suffice to bring in a large heap of

“booty,” which is placed before the president, usually Sir William

Dawson, who explains the nature of the specimens in clear and simple

language. These excursions have been the means of awakening an interest

in natural science in the minds of many who have been inclined to think

that “the long, learned names of agaric, moss, and fern” were invented

chiefly as a form of modern torture. Sir William Dawson is a pleasing

speaker, and it is a tribute to the real taste of the day to say that he

is always listened to with interest in spite of the fact that he does

not indulge in the cheap fire-works of oratory. The charm of his address

lies in this, that he conveys clear and definite ideas in clear and

definite language. His pronouncements at convocation are always awaited

with interest, and seldom fail to have a weighty effect upon the

deliberations of the governing board of the university, or upon

educational matters of the province when these are touched upon. His

university lecture, a short time ago, on the question of examinations

for the learned professions, was awaited by the friends of Protestant

education in the province of Quebec with as much interest as British

politicians await a premier’s speech at the Mansion House banquet. This

question, which affects not only the interests of the Protestant

universities of the province of Quebec, but the rights of the English

minority, is doubtless familiar to all who take an interest in

education. The action of the Council of the Bar of Quebec bears with

great severity upon McGill, and the Council is supported by the immense

power of the Catholic majority; but Sir William Dawson has opened the

battle for the Protestant universities in such a manner that there can

be no question about the ultimate removal of the difficulties. He is

relying upon a determined use of the weapons of irrefragable logic and

appeal to the highest courts of the empire for victory. The battle will

be a severe one, and it will result not only in winning security for the

universities, but in establishing the principle that the rights of the

minority in Quebec must be recognized. At such a crisis in the history

of Quebec education, it is a matter for the deepest congratulation that

such a man as Sir William Dawson should be leading the fight of liberty

and justice. Canada, indeed, is fortunate in having able, broad-minded,

and progressive men at the head of her principal universities. No other

circumstance can tell so strongly in the future for the building up of

all that is best and lasting in the nation. Like all growth, the effect

of educational work is imperceptible to the observer watching its

progress, but the growth and effect are there. When the historian in the

next century takes account of the elements concerned in the development

of Canada during this century, he will not neglect to mark the broad and

solid lines of our educational progress attributable to Sir William

Dawson.

* * * * *

=Cockburn, George Ralph Richardson=, Toronto, M.P. for Centre Toronto,

was born in Edinburgh, Scotland, 15th February, 1834. He received his

education in the High School and University of his native city, where he

graduated in 1857, with the highest classical honors, carrying off the

Stratton prize. He subsequently prosecuted his classical studies in

Germany under the celebrated Professor Zumpt. On his return home he

engaged for several years as a teacher at Merchiston Castle Academy and

at Montgreenan House Academy. In 1858 he came to Canada and began his

career here as rector of the Model Grammar School, having been appointed

to this position by the Council of Public Instruction for Upper Canada.

Some time afterwards he was commissioned by the government of Canada to

inspect the higher educational institutions of the province of Ontario,

and the results of this investigation, which extended over a period of

two years, were given to the public in two comprehensive reports, in

which the condition and modes of higher education were carefully and

elaborately set forth. Mr. Cockburn then visited a number of the

principal institutions of learning in the United States, in order to

make himself familiar with their methods. In 1861 he was appointed

principal of Upper Canada College, and a member of the Senate of Toronto

University. For over twenty years he had a successful career as an

instructor of youth, and his able management of Upper Canada College

raised the institution high in public estimation both for the

thoroughness of its teaching and the excellent moral influence which

prevailed within its walls. After the resignation of the rectorship, Mr.

Cockburn travelled for two years in Europe, making himself acquainted

with the various systems of government on that continent. There are few

men in Canada who have done more than Mr. Cockburn for the cause of

education. The celebrated Dr. Schmidt, of Edinburgh, said of him that he

was no ordinary scholar, but a thorough philologist, possessing a good

insight into the structure, the relation and affinities subsisting

between the ancient and modern languages of Europe, and always

characterized him as one of the best Latin scholars that Scotland has

produced. Mr. Cockburn takes an interest in all public questions, and is

one of the live citizens of Toronto. He is president of the Toronto Land

and Investment Company; a director of the London and Canadian Loan and

Agency Company, the Building and Loan Association, the Glasgow and

London Assurance Company, and of the Ontario Bank. He was a member of

the Senate of the University of Toronto for over twenty years. At the

general election of 1887 Mr. Cockburn presented himself to the electors

of Centre Toronto for parliamentary honors, when they returned him by a

large majority—his opponent being Mr. Harvey. In religion he is a

Presbyterian; and in politics a Conservative. He is married to Mary,

daughter of Hampden Leane, of Kentucky, United States.

* * * * *

=Prior, James=, Manager of the Lybster Cotton Mills, Merritton, Ontario,

was born in Toronto, on the 12th November, 1849. His father, Richard

Prior, was a British soldier, who settled in Canada about the year 1847.

James was educated in the common schools of his native city. Shortly

after leaving school he went into a grocery store, where he served about

four years, and then into the warehouse of Gordon, Mackay and Co.,

wholesale dry goods merchants, Toronto. Here he remained about a year,

when in 1868 he was transferred to that firm’s cotton mills at

Merritton. Here he began his upward career, and worked in a subordinate

position until 1878, when he was appointed manager. Since then he has

steadily devoted himself to the business, and we can say there is now

not a more competent manager of a cotton mill in the Dominion. For

several years Mr. Prior has travelled through the New England States to

visit the New England mills, and pick up all the new ideas introduced,

and by this means he has been able to produce in the Lybster mills the

finest cotton fabrics in the Canadian markets. Mr. Prior has been a

temperance man from youth, and has in consequence exerted a good

influence among the employees in the mill and in the neighborhood in

which he resides. He has in his day taken a lively interest in the

Liberal-Conservative cause, especially in its protective policy; does

not favor commercial union with the United States. In religion he is an

adherent of the Episcopal church. He was married in October, 1878, to

Sara Ann, daughter of Alexander and Mary Winslow, of Thorold, Ontario,

and has a family of four children, two boys and two girls.

* * * * *

=Lemieux, François Xavier=, Barrister, M.P.P. for the county of Levis,

province of Quebec, is the leading criminal lawyer of the district of

Quebec, and well-known throughout the Dominion as the principal counsel

for the defence in the Riel case, in which he was associated with

Messrs. Fitzpatrick, of Quebec, and Greenshields, of Montreal. His

connection with this great _cause célèbre_, and the popular excitement

to which it and its tragic sequel gave rise throughout the country, but

especially in the province of Quebec, made his name very familiar at the

time. Mr. Lemieux was born at Levis, on the 9th of April, 1841. His

parents were of the farming class, but his uncle, the late Hon. François

Lemieux, was a man of great public note in his day, a leading member of

the Quebec bar, member for Levis county in the Legislative Assembly of

Canada, and one of the commissioners of crown lands and public works

before confederation. His memory is still warmly cherished by the people

of Levis. Our subject was educated at the Levis College and Quebec

Seminary, and studied law at Quebec with Hon. M. A. Plamondon, then a

prominent practitioner and now resident judge of the Superior Court in

the Arthabasca district, whose daughter, Diana, he afterwards married.

Called to the bar in 1872, he soon distinguished himself, especially as

a criminal pleader, and his fame in that branch of the profession has

since risen to such a pitch that no prisoner arraigned for trial before

the criminal courts of the Quebec and surrounding districts considers

his interests at all safe unless Mr. Lemieux has been retained for the

defence. This popular confidence in his abilities is undoubtedly

warranted by his wonderful success in the great majority of the cases

with which he has been connected. It has almost passed into a proverb

among the French Canadians of the Quebec district, that if any man can

cheat the gallows of its due, François Xavier Lemieux is the man to do

so. Indeed, as in the Boutel poisoning case, he has been known to save

his client from the last penalty of the law, even after the gallows had

been actually erected and within a few hours of the time fixed for the

execution. A man of rare eloquence and knowledge of human nature, deeply

versed in the criminal jurisprudence of the country and always armed at

all points for the fray, and endowed with marvellous energy and

versatility, he may be said to have no equal, and certainly no superior

in his specialty at the Lower Canadian bar to-day. The secret of his

forensic triumphs must unquestionably be looked for in his skill in

cross-examination and his power to sway juries, and it was these

characteristics which pointed him out as the fit and proper person to

lead for the defence in the Riel case at Regina. It was thought in Lower

Canada that if any one could snatch the half-breed leader from his

perilous position, Mr. Lemieux was the man, and, when he volunteered his

services for the purpose, his offer was accepted with an enthusiastic

burst of gratitude from a great body of his fellow-countrymen. For these

hopes on the occasion, the result of the trial proved disastrous, but

the effort he made to save Riel from the scaffold, as well on the trial

as afterwards, only served to increase Mr. Lemieux’s popularity and to

intensify the bitterness of the agitation which followed the rebel

leader’s execution. In that agitation Mr. Lemieux took a most active and

prominent part, figuring and speaking with his impassioned eloquence at

nearly all the great meetings at Quebec, Montreal, Levis, etc., to

protest against Riel’s hanging and the oppression of the half-breeds. In

fact, few men contributed more to the success of the so-called national

movement, which overthrew the Ross administration and brought the

Liberals and Conservative bolters into power under Hon. H. Mercier in

the province of Quebec after the general election of October, 1886. For

some years before the Riel trial, Mr. Lemieux had been a member of the

Quebec Legislature. He had been an unsuccessful candidate for

Bonaventure during the Joly administration in 1878, and again for Beauce

at the general election of 1882; but in November, 1883, on the

resignation of Hon. T. Paquet to accept the shrievalty of Quebec, he was

returned after a hard contest as the representative of Levis county, and

re-elected for the same constituency at the last general election, when

he passed over with his friends from the Opposition to the treasury

benches in the Legislative Assembly on the defeat of the Ross and the

formation of the Mercier government, during the session of 1887. In the

house, Mr. Lemieux is a ready debater, and few of his adversaries care

to cross swords with him. He belongs to the Roman Catholic faith; and in

politics is a Liberal.

* * * * *

=Jolicœur, Philippe Jacques=, Q.C., Assistant Provincial Secretary,

Quebec, is one of the prominent figures of official life at the ancient

capital, and a gentleman who has made his mark in the profession of the

law. He was born in Quebec, on the 30th April, 1829, and was educated in

the classics at the Quebec Seminary, which has turned out so many

eminent men in the church and the learned professions. On the completion

of his classical course, in 1849, he began the study of the law under

Sir N. F. Belleau, then a prominent practitioner at the Quebec bar, and

afterwards first lieutenant-governor of the province of Quebec, and on

his admission to the bar, in 1854, the two entered into a law

partnership which was only dissolved in 1858, when Sir Narcisse entered

actively into politics. Down to 1867, Mr. Jolicœur continued to divide

his attention between his extensive law practice and his duties as a

member of the city council of Quebec, in which he occupied a seat for a

number of years with honor to himself and advantage to his

fellow-citizens. During his career in the council, he was elected by his

colleagues to act as pro-mayor for the city in the absence of the

regular incumbent of that office, and gave public satisfaction in the

position of chief magistrate. A sound lawyer and one of the most

respectable and self-respecting practitioners, with talents rather of

the solid than the brilliant order, he was elevated to the silk and

created a Q.C. in July, 1867, and later on in the same month, on the

organization of the provincial departments at Quebec, at the outset of

confederation, he was offered and accepted the important post of

assistant provincial secretary, which he still holds, though he has been

tempted to accept more exalted appointments. The position of resident

judge of the Superior Court at Gaspé was in this way tendered to him,

but family bereavements and failing health compelled him to decline. As

an official, Mr. Jolicœur is noted for his efficiency, urbanity, and

assiduity and generally esteemed by all who come into contact with him

officially or otherwise. Though he never took a very active part in

politics before he entered the civil service, he was always an adherent

and supporter of the Conservative party. In religion he is a Roman

Catholic; and as a French Canadian he has ever taken a deep and

intelligent interest in the advancement of his race, holding office for

years in the St. Jean Baptiste Society of Quebec, and filling for some

time, also, the position of president of _L’Institut Canadien_ of that

city. In 1858, he married Honorine Matte, of Quebec, by whom he has had

issue eleven children, all of whom except four boys were carried away by

the hand of death while still young.

* * * * *

=Cabana, Hubert Charon=, Sherbrooke, Quebec, Prothonotary of the

Superior Court for the province of Quebec, district of St. Francis, was

born on the 14th of June, 1838, at Verchères, a parish situate on the

south side of the St. Lawrence river, about thirty miles from Montreal.

He is the son of Lambert Charon Cabana, a well-to-do farmer, of

Verchères, and of Marie Louise Endfield, granddaughter of Colonel Thomas

Endfield, who came direct from England to what is now the province of

Quebec, in 1760, and died in 1812, being eighty-two years of age. The

subject of this sketch was educated at the College of L’Assomption, in

the town of L’Assomption, a classical college, incorporated as such over

fifty years ago. He took a full classical course, leaving the college in

June, 1858; entered on the study of the law in October, 1858; was

admitted to practice on October 7th, 1862, at Sherbrooke, and practised

there as advocate, solicitor, and attorney, until the 17th September,

1885, when he was appointed prothonotary. On the 3rd October, 1880, the

degree of _Law Licentiate Magister_ was conferred on him by Lennoxville

University; has been professor of civil law at the Lennoxville

University since 1880; made Queen’s counsel on the 26th June, 1883;

elected _bâtonnier_ of the bar, district of St. Francis, on the 1st May,

1884; elected member of the city council of Sherbrooke, for the first

time, in January, 1876, and was continued in office until his

appointment as prothonotary, which appointment rendered him by law

unable to act any longer as councillor, when he was unanimously elected

mayor of Sherbrooke, in January, 1880, and again in 1885. On the 13th

October, 1866, he established the _Pionnier de Sherbrooke_, it being now

the oldest established French newspaper published in this part of the

province of Quebec, known as the Eastern Townships, in partnership with

L. C. Belanger, now practising in Sherbrooke as advocate. He bought out

Mr. Belanger’s interest in the paper on the 24th July, 1874, and

continued to publish it till April, 1878, when he sold it to “La

Compagnie Typographique des Cantons de l’Est,” of which company he was

chosen president, and continued to act in that capacity until September,

1885. In September, 1883, he went to Europe, and in the course of his

tour visited the principal cities and places of interest in France,

Belgium, and Italy. He is a Roman Catholic in religion. On the 13th

July, 1866, he was married to Marietta, eldest daughter of Francis Carr,

a well-to-do farmer of the township of Compton, about twelve miles from

Sherbrooke, and who had become a Catholic some time before her marriage,

her family being Protestant.

* * * * *

=Botsford, Hon. Bliss=, Moncton, N.B., was born on the 26th November,

1813, at Sackville, N.B. The Botsford family have taken a prominent part

in New Brunswick and Canadian history. He is the seventh son of the late

Hon. William Botsford, who was speaker of the New Brunswick Assembly,

and one of the judges of the supreme court of the province. His

grandfather, Amos Botsford, was a United Empire loyalist, from Newton,

Conn., and was the first speaker of the New Brunswick Assembly after it

became a separate province, and held that office for twenty-eight years.

Hon. Lieut.-Col. Amos E. Botsford, senator from New Brunswick, is an

elder brother of the subject of this sketch. Hon. Bliss Botsford was

educated at King’s College, Fredericton; studied law with the late

William End, of Bathurst; was admitted as an attorney in 1836; called to

the bar of New Brunswick in 1838; and practised his profession at

Moncton from 1836 to 1870. During those thirty-four years he had a fair

share of criminal as well as an extensive civil practice, and gained

well-merited distinction at the bar of his native province. He was

brought into special prominence by the celebrated Albertite suit, in

which he was the defendant’s attorney, and won the case. While at the

bar, his vigorous, earnest, and persuasive style of delivery always made

a favorable impression on a jury, being, like most of the members of his

family, of commanding presence, with a personal magnetism that was often

irresistible. He sat for Westmoreland in the New Brunswick Assembly,

from 1851 to 1854, from 1857 to 1861, and from 1865 to October 24th,

1870, when he was elevated to the bench. As a judge, he is held in high

esteem by the profession, being very painstaking, carefully weighing in

his mind all cases presented for his consideration, and is logical and

concise in his charges to the jury. He is not over-exacting in his

requirements of younger members of the profession, generally allowing

them considerable latitude and freedom; but when called upon to decide

any point of a relevant or irrelevant character, he is prompt and firm

in his decision. He was appointed surveyor-general in 1865, and was a

member of the executive council during the administration of the late

Hon. Sir Albert Smith, and speaker from 1867 until the general election

in 1870, his politics being Conservative. Judge Botsford was married in

1842, at Moncton, to Jane, daughter of John Chapman, from Cumberland,

England, and has had five children, three daughters and one son living,

all married, and another son who died. Sarah L., the eldest daughter, is

the wife of William J. Croasdale, civil engineer, Moncton; Eliza is the

wife of George C. Peters, son of Dr. George Peters, deceased, St. John;

Robert L. married Emily C., eldest daughter of Lewis Carroll, and is a

physician and surgeon, practising at Richibucto, N.B.; and Florence is

the relict of the late Thomas Byers, Moncton.

* * * * *

=Bain, James William=, St. Polycarpe, Quebec, M.P. for Soulanges, was

born at St. Polycarpe, Quebec, on the 22nd June, 1838. Mr. Bain is one

of that very large class of French Canadians who, though thoroughly

identified with their fellow-countrymen, are partly of Scottish blood.

The father of the subject of this sketch was Daniel Bain, from

Caithness-shire, a thorough Scot, having all the best characteristics of

his race. The mother was Adelaide Lantier, a descendant of an old French

Canadian family, sister of the late J. P. Lantier, M.P. for Soulanges.

The son has the Scottish cast of countenance, and might readily be

mistaken for a native of the “land of the mountain and the flood.” He

was educated in his native town, where he has ever since resided. On

arriving at man’s estate, he entered business with his father, who

carried on a large trade as a merchant in Polycarpe. Though taking an

active and prominent part in public affairs in his own district from an

early age, he has continued to devote his attention to his business,

extending it in every way, until it has brought him a large amount of

worldly prosperity. Mr. Bain first devoted attention to school affairs,

and when elected to the school board was soon made president of that

body, a position which he has retained for ten years. At the death of J.

P. Lantier, in 1882, the Conservatives of the county chose Mr. Bain as

their candidate in the election which was to follow. The contest was a

keen one, and resulted in the election of his opponent, G. R. S. De

Beaujeau, by a majority of two votes. Mr. Bain protested the election,

and an appeal being made to the Supreme Court, Mr. Beaujeau was

unseated. A new election followed in February, 1885, and Mr. Bain was

returned by a majority of twenty-six votes, and took his seat in the

House of Commons at Ottawa. The lot of the French Conservative member of

parliament was not altogether a happy one during the contest in 1887,

owing to the prejudice stirred up in relation to the unfortunate Riel

affair; but Mr. Bain did not shrink from the contest, and again accepted

the nomination of his party. The struggle was one of the keenest ever

known in the district; but the people had faith in their old

representative, and so he still sits in the house as the representative

for Soulanges. Though differing from the younger school of French

Canadian politicians, in that he lays little claim to being an orator,

and makes no effort to shine in the theatrical way so many of them

affect, Mr. Bain performs the duties of a representative of the people

faithfully and well. He is strictly regular in his attendance, and

brings to bear upon the legislation of the house practical experience in

business affairs, and good common sense. In 1877 Mr. Bain married

Georgiana, daughter of the late J. O. Lantier, well known in Montreal

for many years as a prominent merchant.

* * * * *

=Chisholm, Mrs. Addie=, Ottawa, President of the Women’s Christian

Temperance Union of Ontario, is a native Canadian, having been born in

the city of Hamilton, Ontario. Her early life was spent there, excepting

a few years devoted to study in the Genesee Wesleyan Seminary, at Lima,

New York, where she was distinguished for diligence, aptitude, and

general proficiency. Both before and after her marriage she was known as

an enthusiastic worker in every religious and charitable movement, and

many benevolent institutions had the advantage of her wise counsel,

gentle sympathy and bright encouragement. As an infant class teacher in

one of the Methodist Sunday schools of Hamilton, she was remarkably

successful in developing on right lines the tender minds that were

entrusted to her care, and here she passed through just the training to

fit her for the broader sphere of usefulness that was waiting her riper

talents and attainments. Sympathizing very deeply with the temperance

reformation, she could not but be drawn strongly towards the crusade

work which was so successful in the United States some years ago, and

when that great uprising of loving, ill-treated womanhood, was

crystalized into the effective and permanent form—the Women’s Christian

Temperance Union organization, Mrs. Chisholm at once came to the front

as one of its enthusiastic supporters, warmest advocates, and most

efficient directors. Mrs. Yeomans was the first president of the Ontario

Union, and was succeeded by Mrs. Chisholm, several years ago, and has

held the position up till to-day, being annually reinstated by the

unanimous vote of her appreciative sisters. Her success in this sphere

of responsibility must be judged by the facts already so well known in

regard to the results attained by this great organization—results that

were only possible through the united, prayerful, determined work of

many loving hearts and heads, as well as a skilful leadership possessed

of the faculty to govern, and guided and blessed by the wisdom and

strength without which all labor is in vain. Not merely in the many

organizations with which she has been connected, chief among which, of

course, is the Union, has Mrs. Chisholm shown her genius and skill. For

near four years she has been publisher and editor of the _Woman’s

Journal_, the Canadian organ of the White Ribbon Army. She has also

written tracts and pamphlets that have blessed and helped the temperance

cause everywhere. She has visited, spoken, organized, and worked with an

untiring energy that could only come from deep sympathy and fervent

zeal; while every act has been characterized by Christian gentleness and

kindness, that won where more openly aggressive methods would be sure to

fail. We earnestly hope that our good sister may long be spared to aid

with her tongue, her pen, and her brain, the cause that is so near to

our heart, and that under the management and direction of such as she,

and “the blessing that maketh rich and addeth no sorrow,” the Women’s

Christian Temperance Union may continue a mighty power for good, until

the end for which it was organized has been fully attained.

* * * * *

=Noyes, John Powell=, Q.C., Advocate, Waterloo, Quebec province, was

born at Potton, county of Brome, Quebec, on the 15th September, 1842.

His father, Heman B. Noyes, was of English descent, coming to Canada

from Tunbridge, Vermont, where six generations of the family are buried.

His mother, Sarah Powell, is also of English descent, but was born at

Potton, Quebec. The subject of this sketch was educated at Bangor,

Franklin county, N.Y., and at Fort Covington Academy. In 1861 he settled

at Waterloo, studied law first with Huntington & Lay, and afterwards

with Hon. Mr. Laframboise; graduated at the law school connected with

St. Mary’s College, Montreal; was admitted to the bar in October, 1866,

and was created a Queen’s counsel in 1879. He has held the offices of

secretary-treasurer of the township of Shefford and village of Waterloo,

chairman of the Waterloo school board, special commissioner of Bolton

lands, _bâtonnier_ of the Bedford bar, and is at present

_bâtonnier-general_ of the bar of the province of Quebec. He has been

secretary-treasurer of the Stanstead, Shefford, and Chambly Railway for

more than ten years. In 1864 he became editor of the Waterloo

_Advertiser_, and continued to be so until 1875, making the paper a

strong exponent of the principles of the Liberal party, as well as a

very readable general newspaper. He is a leading member of the Masonic

Order in his district; was worshipful master of his lodge for three

terms; first principal of the R.A. Chapter; and grand Z. of Grand

Chapter of R.A.M., of Quebec, for 1885 and 1886. He has taken part in

all political contests, and in municipal affairs, since 1860; has been

secretary, and later chairman, of Shefford County Reform Club for many

years; and this has kept him in politics a great deal, as it has been

remarked that this county seems to have a political contest always on

hand. As if to make good our words, a contest is now (February, 1888)

going on, and Mr. Noyes has been selected by the Reform or national

convention of the county as its candidate; but in a county where the

parties are so evenly divided, it is always difficult to tell in advance

who will be elected. In religion, he is Protestant, and belongs to the

Church of England; has often been a delegate to the Synod, and a valued

member of various committees there. He was married, in November, 1867,

to Lucy A., daughter of Joseph Merry, of Magog, Quebec, whose father was

one of the early pioneers there, by whom he had issue six children, only

four of whom are now living. Mrs. Noyes graduated before her marriage,

at McGill Normal School, with academy diploma, and is at present

provincial superintendent of the department of physiology and hygiene of

the Women’s Christian Temperance Union of the province of Quebec.

* * * * *

=Pope, Hon. James Colledge=, was born at Bedeque, Prince Edward Island,

on the 11th June, 1826. He was the second son of the Hon. Joseph Pope,

and his mother was Lucy Colledge, daughter of Capt. Colledge, of the 1st

regiment of foot, who married a daughter of the Hon. Thomas Wright,

several times administrator of the government of the island, and who was

one of the commissioners appointed to administer the oath to the members

of the first parliament which met in Charlottetown in 1773. The subject

of this sketch received his early education on the island, and was

afterwards sent to England to complete it. In early manhood he entered

upon a mercantile career, as merchant, shipbuilder and shipowner, at

Summerside, P.E.I., where he lived for many years, and which he was

largely instrumental in building up. He was one of the passengers by the

brig _Fancy_ to California, when the gold fever broke out there in 1849.

In 1863 he took up his residence in Charlottetown, where he remained

until 1878, when his acceptance of the portfolio of minister of marine

necessitated his removal to Ottawa. The last three years of his life he

spent at Summerside, his old home, where he died on the morning of the

18th May, 1885; and was buried at St. Eleanor’s, in St. Mary’s

churchyard (Episcopal), where a very handsome granite obelisk, erected

as a tribute from his many friends, marks the last resting-place of one

of Prince Edward Island’s most gifted and patriotic sons. Mr. Pope

entered political life in 1857, and from that time onwards he was

engaged in a constant turmoil of political excitement, having his ups

and downs like most politicians. On the 10th September, 1870, he became

leader of a coalition government, which, however, only lasted two years;

but he was, on the dissolution of the house, triumphantly returned for

Charlottetown, although he failed to secure a majority in the new house.

On the 19th October, 1878, he was sworn a member of her Majesty’s Privy

Council for Canada, and received the portfolio of minister of marine and

fisheries, a position he held but a short time, when in 1881 he was

forced, to the inexpressible grief of his many friends, by a general

breaking up of his mental and physical powers, to retire from the active

duties of his office, never, as the sequel proved, to resume them again.

He always occupied a foremost place among those with whom his lot was

cast. In his early life he took a very active interest in the volunteer

movement, and passed through the various grades, retiring with the rank

of lieutenant-colonel. Besides being one of the most prominent

merchants, he was also one of the largest landholders on the island, and

farmed more extensively than any other man on it. He was also engaged in

fishing industries, besides being interested in many other business

ventures. He, however, attempted too much for his powers of endurance,

and thus brought a useful life to an early close. In everything that he

undertook, however, whether political, commercial or agricultural, he

had the interests of the island at heart, and his memory will ever be

revered by his countrymen, who possess monuments of his energy and worth

more enduring than brass. The Prince Edward Island Railway is a memento

of his public career that will ever serve to keep his memory green. In

1852 he married Eliza, second daughter of Thomas Pethick, of

Charlottetown, by whom he had issue eight children.

* * * * *

=Germain, Adolphe=, Barrister, Sorel, province of Quebec, was born in

St. Ours, in the same province, in June, 1837. His father was François

Germain, an old patriot of 1837-38. Mr. Germain received a classical

course of education at St. Hyacinthe College, Quebec province, and

afterwards studied law; and for over fifteen years he has successfully

practised his profession in Sorel, first alone, but latterly under the

firm name of Germain & Germain, his partner being his eldest son, S.

Adolphe Germain. In 1878 he was created a Queen’s counsel. He has been

frequently called upon to represent the attorney-general of Quebec

province in Crown cases, and was one of the joint counsel in the

celebrated Provencher trial, in which the accused was found guilty,

along with his paramour, of poisoning the latter’s husband, and

afterwards executed for the murder—the woman being sent to the

penitentiary for life. Mr. Germain has been mayor of Sorel, and is dean

of the bar of Quebec, for the district of Richelieu. He is a

public-spirited gentleman, and has identified himself with the leading

improvements—among others the fine public buildings recently

erected—in the thriving town in which he resides. He has also taken an

active interest in all the political movements of the country, and

stands high in the estimation of his fellow-citizens. In religion he is

an adherent of the Roman Catholic church; and in politics is a staunch

Liberal. In February, 1862, he was married to Marie Louise Demers, and

the issue of the marriage has been five children.

* * * * *

=Sears, James Walker=, Lieutenant South Staffordshire regiment, was born

in St. John, New Brunswick, on the 22nd January, 1861. He is a son of

John Sears, of St. John, N.B., and Ann, daughter of the Rev. William

Blackwood, of Nova Scotia, and grandson of Thatcher Sears, a United

Empire loyalist, of the former place. He received his primary education

in various private schools in his native city. He left St. John in 1877,

and after spending a year at the Collegiate Institute at Galt, Ontario,

became a cadet at the Royal Military College at Kingston. Here, on the

25th June, 1881, after a course of studies lasting for three and a half

years, and having passed a successful examination, he was awarded a

commission in the Canadian militia, and a commission in Her Majesty’s

38th South Staffordshire regiment of foot. In this regiment he served

throughout the Egyptian campaign of 1882, was present at the

reconnaissance in force at Kafr-el Dwar on the 5th August, the surrender

of Damietta by Abdulal, and the subsequent occupation of Cairo. For

those services he received a medal and the Khedive’s star. He visited

the Holy Land in April, 1883, and in May of the same year returned to

Malta from Egypt with his regiment. He was appointed Lieutenant in the

Infantry School corps by the Canadian government in December, 1883, in

which corps, at Toronto, he has since held the appointment of adjutant.

He served in the North-West rebellion of 1885 as brigade major of the

Battleford column, and was present at the battle of Cut Knife Hill, and

subsequently commanded the scout corps of the Turtle Lake column in the

pursuit of Big Bear. He was mentioned in despatches, and received the

medal and clasp. He became brevet captain in the Canadian militia on the

21st December, 1887.

* * * * *

=Proulx, Hon. Jean Baptiste George=, Nicolet, province of Quebec, was

born at Nicolet, on the 23rd April, 1809, and died on the 27th January,

1884. He was the son of J. B. Proulx and Magdalen Hébert. His great

grandfather was one of the oldest settlers of Nicolet, having settled

there in 1725. The subject of this sketch was educated at Nicolet

College. He was elected, in 1860, for De La Vallière, and sat in the

Legislative Council until the union. In 1867, he was appointed to the

Legislative Council for life. He was a Liberal in politics. He was one

of the patriots of 1837; and was charged with having cast bullets, but

was not arrested. He was married, on the 20th January, 1835, to Julia,

daughter of Dr. Calvin Alexander, a graduate of Harvard, and had issue

as follows:—Rev. M. G. Proulx, of Nicolet College, and Revs. Edward and

Stephen Proulx, of the Society of Jesus.

* * * * *

=Charlebois, Alphonse=, Contractor, Quebec, is well known throughout the

Dominion as an extensive and successful undertaker of great public

works. A French-Canadian, he is endowed with more than the ordinary

energy and versatility of his race, and his career furnishes an apt

illustration of the triumph of tact and pluck over adverse

circumstances. He was not of the fortunate class who are said to come

into the world with “a silver spoon in their mouth.” His parents were

simple Lower Canadian _habitants_, and our subject was born of their

marriage at the town of St. Henri, Hochelaga county, on the outskirts of

Montreal, on the 15th December, 1841. His father, Arséne Charlebois, was

a native of Pointe Claire, in Jacques Cartier county, P.Q., and his

mother was Edwidge Chagnon, of Verchères, P.Q. On his father’s side he

is closely related to the late Mr. Charlebois, M.P.P. for Laprairie; to

the Rev. Mr. Charlebois, curé of Ste. Therese, and to the late Dr.

Charlebois, of Bleury street, Montreal; and, on his mother’s, to the

late Sir George Etienne Cartier, who owed his election for Verchères,

then one of the most Liberal constituencies in Lower Canada (after his

defeat in Montreal East by the present Chief Justice Sir A. A. Dorion),

mainly to the exertions and influence of her brother, the late Paschal

Chagnon, of Verchères. Young Charlebois was educated partly at the

Christian Brothers’ School and partly at Maxwell’s Commercial School,

both in Montreal, receiving a fair commercial training, in French and

English. After leaving school he served about a year to the builder’s

trade in Montreal, and then entered the hardware trade in that city as a

clerk to the late Mr. Brewster, with whom he remained nine years down to

1865, when he bought out the business on the retirement of his employer.

Two years later, he abandoned hardware, and boldly took up the lumber

trade in Montreal, making advances to the lumberers on the Gatineau, and

otherwise speculating in the great staple of the country with more or

less success until 1872, when he took a new and still more enterprising

departure. Since the days of the Hon. François Baby in Lower Canada, no

French-Canadian had figured prominently as a public contractor. In that

field, the English speaking element were virtually without competition.

Mr. Charlebois pluckily resolved to enter it, and the results have more

than justified this step on his part. He is to-day known from Halifax to

Vancouver as a leading contractor, and the country is indebted to him

for the successful execution of some of its most important public works.

His first undertaking in this line was on the Lachine canal, and since

then he has been connected with the contracts for the Dufferin

improvements at Quebec, the graving dock at Levis, the Georgian Bay

branch of the C.P.R., the construction of four sections of the same road

in British Columbia, and the erection of the new parliament buildings at

Quebec, and of the new departmental buildings on Wellington street,

Ottawa. The two last mentioned structures remain as lasting monuments,

as well to his taste and skill, as to his energy as a builder. He is a

director of the Clemow syndicate for the construction of the Great

North-Western Central Railway, Manitoba, and before his removal from

Montreal to Quebec, which is now his residence, he was during three

years an alderman, and afterwards, during four years, mayor of his

native town of St. Henri. He belongs to the Roman Catholic faith, and

during his residence in the Montreal district was elected people’s

trustee for life of the Roman Catholic parish church of St. Henri. He

has travelled exclusively in Canada and the United States, chiefly on

business. In 1865 he married Marie Flore Charlotte Valois, daughter of

the late Dr. Valois, of Pointe Claire, and at one time M.P. for the

county of Jacques Cartier, P.Q., and by her has had issue four children,

all of whom are still in their teens.

* * * * *

=Dupré, Rev. L. L.=, Sorel, province of Quebec, was born in Sorel, in

1841, and educated at the Seminary of St. Hyacinthe, P.Q. In 1868, he

was ordained a priest, and placed as vicar in the Roman Catholic

cathedral. In 1873, he was called as vicar to his native town, and in

1875 was appointed to the important post of curé of Sorel. Sorel being

the most considerable place in the Roman Catholic diocese of St.

Hyacinthe, requires the unremitting exertions and oversight of the

pastor, and no one could perform the duties more zealously and

unremittingly than does the present worthy incumbent. The rev. father

has, in addition to his special duties, assisted in many ways in

promoting the material welfare of his native town. As an instance, it

may be mentioned that in 1880, by his exertions amongst his parishioners

subscriptions were raised to an amount sufficient to build a large

addition to the general hospital of Richelieu county, rendering that

institution much more comfortable for the patients, and more suitable to

the growing requirements of the town. He was also mainly instrumental in

furthering the erection of the new college building, which is

acknowledged to be the finest structure of the kind in the province.

Since his incumbency, he has had the former parish of St. Peter’s

divided into three distinct parishes—St. Peter’s, Ste. Anne, and St.

Joseph. The parish of Ste. Anne, of which parish Mr. Dupré is the curé,

is quite a populous one, and through his active exertions, a commodious

stone church was soon built in the parish, on one of the finest sites of

the St. Lawrence. That the curé possesses very superior administrative

abilities is sufficiently proved by the foregoing, and is further

attested by the manner in which he performs his onerous ecclesiastical

duties. He has a remarkable memory, is a fluent speaker, and as a pulpit

orator is unequalled by few. He is an ardent admirer of art, which he

patronises liberally, and is possessed of a considerable collection of

valuable and rare books, engravings, etc., proving a literary and

cultivated taste. He is much esteemed by his parishioners and by the

community of Sorel generally.

* * * * *

=Tessier, Jules=, Barrister, Quebec, M.P.P. for Portneuf, is one of the

most conspicuous and popular figures in the legal, political and social

life of the ancient capital. His distinguished father, Hon. U. J.

Tessier, is a judge of the Court of Queen’s Bench for the province of

Quebec, and was formerly member for Portneuf in the Canadian parliament,

commissioner of public works in the Macdonald-Sicotte administration,

speaker of the Legislative Council before confederation, and at one time

mayor of Quebec. Between the careers of the father and son there are

many points of resemblance. The father was one of the most prominent

members of the Quebec bar in his day; the son is a rising member of the

same bar. The father represented Portneuf in the Canadian parliament;

the son represents the same constituency in the Quebec legislature.

Lastly, the father was a member of the city council and mayor of Quebec;

the son to-day is one of the councillors for St. Louis ward of that

city, and a prominent member of the civic body, though still quite a

young man. He was born at Quebec, in 1852. His mother, now deceased,

before her marriage, was a Miss Kelly, and a member of the Drapeau

family, seigneurs of Rimouski. His maternal grandfather was of Irish

extraction, but the remainder of his parentage is French-Canadian on

both sides. Educated in the classics at the Quebec Seminary and the

Jesuits’ College, Montreal, he afterwards studied law, and was called to

the bar in 1874, and soon acquired a considerable practice, together

with the confidence of the public and the esteem of his professional

brethren. He is one of the editors of the ‘Quebec Law Reports.’ In

politics, Mr. Tessier, like his father while in public life, is what is

termed a moderate Liberal, but almost from his youth he has been

actively identified with all the struggles of the Liberal party in the

Quebec district. He was secretary of the National Convention held in

1880, and was elected president of the Quebec Liberal Club after its

reorganization for the last provincial and federal electoral campaign,

which office he still holds. As such, he was selected as the party’s

candidate to oppose ex-Mayor Brousseau, of Quebec, in Portneuf county,

for the Legislative Assembly of the province, at the general election of

October, 1886, and defeated his adversary, who had been the sitting

member, by a very heavy majority. In the house, he is recognized as one

of the staunchest supporters of the Mercier government, and has proved

himself a most useful member. To his exertions Quebec was mainly

indebted for its selection for the holding of the Provincial Exhibition

of 1887, which was so great a success. Mr. Tessier is a member of the

Church of Rome; and for many years past one of the principal officers of

the St. Jean Baptiste Society, of Quebec. He is a director of the Lake

St. John Railway Company, and a member of the Provincial Board of Arts.

He is married to a daughter of Edmund Barnard, the well-known Q.C., of

Montreal, and his two sisters are the wives respectively of the Hon.

Alexander Chauveau, who was solicitor-general in the Joly

administration, and is now police judge at Quebec, and of Lieut.-Col.

Duchesnay, deputy adjutant-general for the Quebec military district.

* * * * *

=Aikins, Hon. James Cox=, P.C., Lieut.-Governor of Manitoba and Keewatin

Territory, was born in the township of Toronto, Peel county, Ontario, on

the 30th of March, 1823. His father, the late James Aikins, emigrated

from the county of Monaghan, Ireland, to Philadelphia, in 1816, and

after a residence of four years there he removed to Upper Canada, and

took up a quantity of land in the first concession north of the Dundas

road, in the township of Toronto. The subject of our sketch was the

eldest son, and was brought up on his father’s farm, and was early

inured to the hardships of rural life in Canada in those primitive

times. He united with the Methodist body at an early age. He attended

the public schools in the neighborhood of his home, and afterwards spent

some time at the Upper Canada Academy, at Cobourg, which subsequently

developed into Victoria College and University. At the first collegiate

examination, which was held in 1843, he figured as one of the merit

students. After completing his education he settled down on a farm in

the county of Peel, a few miles from his paternal homestead. In 1845,

soon after leaving college, he married Mary Elizabeth Jane Somerset, the

daughter of a neighboring yeoman. In 1851 he was tendered the nomination

as the representative of his native constituency in the Legislative

Assembly, and declined, but at the general election held in 1854, he

offered himself as a candidate on the Reform side, in opposition to the

sitting member, George Wright, and was elected. Upon taking his seat he

recorded his first vote against the Hincks-Morin administration, and

thus participated in bringing about the downfall of that ministry. He

voted for the secularization of the clergy reserves, and his voice was

occasionally heard in support of measures relating to public

improvements. In the election of 1861, owing to his action on the county

town question, which excited keen sectional opposition, he was defeated

by the late Hon. John Hillyard Cameron. The following year he was

elected a member of the Legislative Council for the Home Division,

comprising the counties of Peel and Halton. He continued to sit in the

council so long as that body had an existence; and when it was swept

away by confederation he was called to the Senate of the Dominion. On

the 9th of December, 1867, he accepted office in the government of Sir

John A. Macdonald, as secretary of state, and has ever since been a

follower of that statesman. During his tenure of office the Dominion

lands bureau was established—which has since extended until it has

become an independent department of state under control of the minister

of the interior. The Public Lands Act of 1872, is another measure which

dates from Mr. Aikins’ term of office. The disclosure with reference to

the sale of the Pacific Railway charter resulted, in November, 1873, in

the overthrowing of the government. Upon Sir John A. Macdonald’s return

to power in October, 1878, he again accepted office as secretary of

state, and retained that position until the month of November, 1880,

when there was a readjustment of portfolios, and he became minister of

inland revenue—which he held until his resignation, 23rd May, 1882. On

the 22nd September, 1882, he was appointed lieutenant-governor of the

province of Manitoba, and Keewatin Territory. He is major of the 3rd

battalion Peel Militia, and chairman of the Manitoba and North-West Loan

Company.

* * * * *

=Taschereau, Hon. Jean Thomas=, LL.D., Quebec, late Judge of the Supreme

Court of the Dominion of Canada, is a gentleman, the simple mention of

whose name recalls a family famous in the political annals of Lower

Canada, and which has given more eminent men to the church and bench

than probably any other in the country. It has almost passed into a

proverb among the French Canadians of the province of Quebec that “there

is always a Taschereau on the bench.” As a matter of fact, three

generations of the family have been represented on it, and five

Taschereaus in all have exercised the highest judicial functions in the

province or in the dominion. In the case of our distinguished subject

not only was he himself a judge, but his father before him was a judge,

his son after him is a judge of the Superior Court of the province, and

another of his relatives, the Hon. Elzear Taschereau, is at present one

of the judges of the Supreme Court of the Dominion. Still another member

of the family, Hon. Andrée Taschereau, now deceased, was resident judge

of the Superior Court in the Kamouraska district, and one of the most

eminent jurists of his day. Others again have held the office of sheriff

of the Beauce district; one is now a prominent member of the bar of that

district, and was the representative of Beauce county in the Canadian

House of Commons during the last parliament; and one, Lieutenant-Colonel

Taschereau, holds one of the most important military commands in the

Quebec district. But the judicial, political, and military distinction

of the Taschereau family is altogether eclipsed by the lustre conferred

upon it by the fact that the first Canadian wearer of the Roman purple

was selected from among its members. His Eminence, Cardinal Taschereau,

Archbishop of Quebec, is a brother of our subject, and the “bright

particular star” whose elevation to the exalted dignity of a Prince of

the Roman Catholic church, has made the name of Taschereau famous all

over the civilized world. The family is also one of the oldest and most

distinguished in Lower Canada, its founder there being Thomas Jacques

Taschereau, of Touraine, France, who was a son of Christopher

Taschereau, King’s counsellor, director of the mint and treasurer of the

city of Tours, and who came to New France towards the beginning of the

last century, was appointed by the French viceroy as treasurer of the

marine, and in 1736 obtained from the French Crown the grant of a

valuable seigniory along the banks of the river Chaudière in Beauce,

P.Q. Our subject’s father was the Hon. Jean Thomas Taschereau, senior,

long a prominent member of the parliament of Lower Canada, and one of

the advocates and champions of constitutional liberty in that province,

who suffered imprisonment for their opinions in 1810. He was afterwards

raised to the dignity of puisne judge of the Court of Queen’s Bench for

his native province, and distinguished himself as an able and upright

magistrate. Our subject was one of his sons by his wife, Maria Panet,

daughter of the late Hon. Jean Panet, first speaker of the Lower

Canadian House of Assembly (an office which he held for twenty

consecutive years), and was born in the city of Quebec, on the 12th

December, 1814. He was educated at the Quebec Seminary, where, like his

brother, the present cardinal, he greatly distinguished himself in

different branches, taking the leading prizes, especially for Latin,

mathematics, etc. On the completion of his classical course, he studied

law with two of the most eminent local practitioners of the day, Hon.

Henry Black, afterwards judge of the Vice-Admiralty Court at Quebec, and

Andrew Stuart, Q.C., afterwards Her Majesty’s solicitor-general for

Lower Canada, and was called to the bar of that province in 1836,

subsequently following several law courses in Paris, France. On his

return to Canada, he opened a law office in the city of Quebec, and for

the next twenty years practised his profession with success and

distinction. In 1855, he was honored by Laval University with the title

of LL.D., and in September of the same year he was called by the

government to act as assistant judge of the Superior Court in the place

of one of the regular judges of that court, during the sitting of the

special court formed under the act to abolish feudal rights and

seignorial dues in Lower Canada. Twice afterwards, in 1858 and in 1860,

in which last mentioned year he was also created a Q.C., was he honored

by a similar mark of the government’s appreciation, and in 1865 he was

definitely appointed to the bench as a puisne judge of the Superior

Court, as successor to the Hon. A. N. Morin, deceased. On the 11th

February, 1873, he mounted another rung of the judicial ladder, being

appointed puisne judge of the Court of Queen’s Bench for the province of

Quebec, and some two years later on, the 8th October, 1875, he was

elevated to the still more exalted position of puisne judge of the

Supreme Court of the Dominion, which he retained until the 19th October,

1878, when he resigned on account of ill-health, and retired on his

well-earned pension, after having served the public in all nineteen

years on the bench as a judge. Our subject enjoyed to the utmost the

confidence of the bar and the people, as well for his scrupulous and

painstaking character, as for the almost invariable soundness of his

decisions. It is needless to say that his religion is the Roman

Catholic. In the spring of 1887, the Roman Pontiff, Leo XIII., conferred

on him the decoration or cross of the Order of St. Gregory the Great. He

has been twice married—firstly, in 1840, to Louise Adele, daughter of

the late Hon. Amable Dionne, M.L.C., who died in 1861; and lastly in

1862, to Marie Josephine, daughter of the late Hon. R. E. Caron, second

lieutenant-governor of the province of Quebec, and a sister of Sir A. R.

Caron, Dominion minister of militia. He is the father of twelve

children, ten of whom survive. His eldest son, Hon. Henri Thomas

Taschereau, formerly Liberal M.P. for Montmagny, has been a judge of the

Superior Court for the province of Quebec since 1878; and another son,

by his second union, is now a rising member of the Quebec bar.

* * * * *

=Morin, Eusebe=, St. Hyacinthe, Quebec province, was born on the 14th of

July, 1853. He is the son of François Morin, merchant, and Marguerite

Maheux. At the age of ten years he entered the St. Hyacinthe Seminary,

which he left after taking a classical course of education. At the age

of sixteen years he entered as clerk with L. V. Sicotte, dry goods

merchant, but after spending one year in this establishment he left, and

entered into partnership with Mr. Lamoureux, and traded under the firm

name of Lamoureux & Morin for about fifteen months, when he bought his

partner out, and assumed the business himself. When he entered into this

business, a friend lent him $800 to start with, and this money he

honorably paid with interest about a year after he had received it. He

continued alone in business until he was twenty-three years of age, in

the meantime becoming the first merchant in St. Hyacinthe, in his line,

thus proving what can be done by close attention to business. After

this, and by the time he had reached his twenty-seventh year, he had

established small wholesale and retail houses, trading under the various

names of Morin & Lamothe, Morin & Dion, Morin & Robitaille, Morin &

Brodeur, both in the city of St. Hyacinthe and the neighboring country.

Being of delicate health, he was almost given up by the doctors, and was

obliged to liquidate the firms in order to proceed to Europe for the

benefit of his health. After an extensive tour through England,

Scotland, Ireland, France and Italy, he returned to Canada with a large

and varied assortment of European goods, and was thus enabled to

re-establish his trade on a sound and more extensive basis than ever,

creating the following firms:—Morin & Co., in the liquor trade; Morin &

Laline, general store; Morin & Bergeron, dry goods, all in St.

Hyacinthe, with a capital of $200,000, he being principal partner in all

the above establishments. When thirty-two years of age, becoming tired

of the retail trade, he sold to his partners his interest in all the

stores he had established, with the object of embarking in real estate

transactions, and in this he has proved equally successful. He has built

one of the finest private residences in the city of St. Hyacinthe, and

finds himself, at the age of thirty-three, the most important property

owner in the county of St. Hyacinthe. He enjoys a good reputation, and

his numerous partners and friends have reason to be thankful to him for

his aid at various times. The city of St. Hyacinthe is also indebted to

him for the erection of numerous blocks of magnificent stores, and

several private residences. Although Mr. Morin is yet comparatively

young, he is exceedingly popular in his district, and has been several

times requested to enter public life, but has invariably declined, on

the ground that he could be of greater use to his friends and the

country at large, in promoting private and public enterprises. He is

looked upon as the Vanderbilt of St. Hyacinthe.

* * * * *

=MacDowall, Day Hort=, Prince Albert, M.P. for Saskatchewan, North-West

Territory, was born in 1850, at Carruth House, Renfrewshire, Scotland.

He is the second son of Henry MacDowall, of Garthland, Renfrewshire,

Scotland, _vide_ “Nesbitt’s Heraldry.” Mr. MacDowall was educated at

Windlesham, Surrey, England, and Trinity College, Glenalmond, Scotland.

He was a captain in the Renfrewshire Rifle Volunteers from 1872 to 1879.

He accompanied Gen. Middleton’s force through the Northwest rebellion of

1885, and took charge of the party dispatched by the general through the

rebel district from Humboldt to Prince Albert. He was a member of the

North-West Council for the district of Lorne, from June, 1883, to

October, 1885; and was returned to Parliament, as the member for

Saskatchewan, at the general election in 1887. He is a Conservative in

politics. He was married August 12th, 1884, to Alice Maude Blanchard,

daughter of Charles Blanchard, Truro, N.S. He is a member of the

Manitoba Club, Winnipeg; Wanderers’ Club, Pall Mall, London, Eng., and

Rideau Club, Ottawa, Ont.

* * * * *

=Prévost, Oscar A.=, Brevet-Major, (late of the regiment Canadian

artillery, then A and B batteries, permanent artillery), Quebec, was

born in Montreal on the 9th of May, 1845. His father, Amable C. Prévost,

was a descendant of an old French family of Anjou, (Prévost de la

Boutèlière). He was a merchant of Montreal, very successful in business,

leaving an estate of over half a million dollars. He died in February,

1872. His mother, Rosalind E. Bernard, was born in Montreal, educated at

Notre Dame congregation, and was married to Amable C. Prévost, March,

1838. The subject of this sketch was educated at St. Mary’s College,

Montreal, taking a classical course, including mathematics and natural

philosophy; he afterwards studied law; was admitted to the bar of Lower

Canada in October, 1866, and practised his profession until 1870. He

joined, as lieutenant, the 4th battalion in the year 1865; served on the

frontier during the Fenian raid of 1866; was transferred in 1870 to the

Quebec rifle regiment of the North-West expeditionary force under

Colonel (now General, Sir) Garnet Wolseley; remained stationed in the

North-West till February, 1872, being transferred in July, 1872, to the

School of Gunnery, Quebec, and gazetted to B battery as lieutenant with

rank of captain; was adjutant of the School of Gunnery B battery,

August, 1873, till February, 1880. He went to Woolwich, England, for a

special course in the Royal Arsenal, and on his return was appointed

superintendent of the government cartridge factory at Quebec, and still

holds that appointment. In 1882 he was sent by the minister of militia

and defence, Sir A. P. Caron, to England to purchase machinery required

for a small ammunition factory to be erected in the government buildings

in Quebec. The plans, specifications, alterations to buildings, placing

machinery, including boilers and steam engines, and putting the whole

plant in working order, was done under his immediate supervision,

bringing forth his ability as a practical engineer, and his scientific

attainments. This factory has now been at work since 1883. It produced

2,000,000 rounds of ball ammunition, in three months, during the

North-West rebellion of 1885, and now supplies the whole Dominion with

service ammunition. It can give employment to four hundred hands. He

submitted to a board of artillery officers in September, 1886, a new

projectile for light and heavy rifled guns, which increased the range

and accuracy of guns in a remarkable degree. A foundry, in connection

with the cartridge factory, was erected for the manufacture of these

projectiles, in July, 1887, and the work now goes on daily. Thus two

entirely novel industries have been started in Canada, and the military

efficiency of the Dominion increased. In 1876 he travelled through

France, Italy, Austria, Hungary and Germany, being authorized to visit

the imperial arsenal at Vienna, and obtain information with regard to

the new field ordnance and carriages at that time introduced into the

Austrian service. Major Prévost was married on 25th May, 1874, to Louisa

J., daughter of Hon. Juschereau Duchesnay, of Quebec, ex-senator for the

division of Lassale, province of Quebec; seigneur of the seigniories of

Fossambault and Gaudarville. Hon. Mr. Duchesnay’s father commanded a

company of _Voltigeurs_ under Colonel de Salaberry, his cousin, at the

victorious battle of Chateauguay, in 1812. The Juschereau Duchesnay

family were connected to Robert Giffard, first seigneur of Beauport,

near Quebec, to whom this seigniory had been granted in 1635 by the

“Compagnie de la Nouvelle France,” under authority of the French King.

The Duchesnays inherited this seigniory in 1668, and they owned it for

over two hundred years.

* * * * *