Chapter XI: Preface (11)

=Desjardins, Dr. Louis Edouard=, Montreal, was born at Terrebonne, on the 10th of September, 1837. According to the “Dictionnaire Généalogique” of l’Abbé Tanguay, his ancestors came to the country more than two hundred years ago. He married Mademoiselle Emilie Zaïde Paré, second daughter of Hubert Paré, a partner in the large commercial firm founded by F. Souligny, one of the most important firms of Montreal at that period. Dr. Desjardins entered upon his classical studies at the College Masson, Terrebonne, and terminated them at the Seminary of Nicolet. After practising medicine in Montreal during seven or eight years, he took a first trip to Europe to study ophthalmology. On his return, a year after, he established at the Hôtel-Dieu, of Montreal, a special department for the treatment of eye diseases. In 1872, he made a second voyage to Europe to complete his ophthalmic studies. He followed the clinics of Bowman and Critchett, in London; and of Giraud-Teulon, Wecker, Sichel and Meyer, in Paris. During his sojourn in London, he was admitted a member of the International Congress of Ophthalmology. When he returned to Montreal in 1873, he founded the ophthalmic institute of the Nazareth Asylum, for the gratuitous treatment of the poor suffering from diseases of the eye, and at the same time to give clinics on those diseases to the medical students. It is the first institution of the kind founded in Montreal. He was one of the founders of the “Société Médicale,” and of the journal _L’ Union Médicale_, to which he was a contributor for many years. This year (1887), in concert with the Hon. Dr. Pâquet, Dr. Hingston, and Dr. Beausoleil, he founded the _Gazette Médicale_, of Montreal. Since 1870, he has been surgeon-oculist to the Hôtel-Dieu, and professor of ophthalmology at the School of Medicine and Surgery of Montreal. He is one of the founders and one of the supporters of the newspaper, _L’Etendard_. He advocated, and was chiefly instrumental in bringing about, the nomination of a Royal Commission, in 1883, to institute an inquiry into the affairs of the Catholic schools of Montreal; and before that commission he energetically took the defence of the fathers of families against the encroachments of the school commissioners of that city. In the difficulties which arose between the School of Medicine (Victoria) and Laval University, from 1876, he took an active part in the struggle the school had to sustain for the maintenance of its rights. In consequence of an erroneous interpretation of the decrees of Rome, in relation to the establishment of Laval at Montreal, the Archbishop of Quebec (now Cardinal Taschereau) and nearly all the bishops of the province of Quebec, undertook to destroy the School of Medicine, in order to give more scope to the Laval branch. The school tried, but vainly, to defend its cause with the episcopacy; and in June, 1883, Mgr. Taschereau fulminated against this institution his famous sentence of rebellion against the church. Dr. Desjardins was then delegated to Rome, to appeal from the sentence. Despite this, the bishops of Montreal, St. Hyacinthe, and Sherbrooke in their turn hurled sentences of excommunication against the professors and pupils of the school, and even against the parents who should continue to send their children to it. Once in Rome, Dr. Desjardins was enabled to lay his appeal at the feet of the Holy Father, and obtained a favourable judgment. The order “_Suspende omnia_,” was sent by a telegram of the Cardinal-Prefect of the Propaganda to the Bishop of Montreal, on the 24th of August, 1883. In the month of September following, Mgr. Smeulders was delegated by Leo XIII., as Apostolic Commissioner to Canada, with power to definitely settle the difficulties existing between Laval and the school. At the present day the School of Medicine is doing its noble work as in the past, and has more than two hundred pupils.

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=Dickson, William Welland=, M.D., Pembroke, Ontario, was born on the 9th of January, 1841, at Pakenham, county of Renfrew. His father, Samuel Dickson, and mother, Catherine Lowe, were both natives of Ireland. When but eighteen years of age, Mr. Dickson, sen., came to Canada, and like many a young man in those days, was without money, but possessed of a great deal of faith in his own right arm. Shortly after his arrival he married and began to make for himself a home in the township of Pakenham, in Lanark county. Things succeeding, he commenced the manufacture of square timber, and after a while became a successful lumber manufacturer and exporter. He lived and died in the township in which he first settled. William received his education at the Perth Grammar School, Ontario, at Bishop’s College, Lennoxville, Quebec, and pursued his medical studies at McGill College, Montreal, where he graduated. He began the practice of his profession at Portage du Fort, in June, 1863, and in 1866 removed to Pembroke, where he has since resided, and succeeded in building up a paying business. He is also principal in the business conducted by the Dickson Drug Company in the same place. From 1870 to 1874, Dr. Dickson held the position of captain of No. 7 company, 42nd Battalion of Volunteers, and from 1873 to the present time, he has acted as coroner for the county of Renfrew. During the years 1877, ’78, ’79, he had a seat in the town council of Pembroke, and in 1880, ’81, ’82, he was mayor of the same town. From 1881 to 1886, he was one of the examiners of the College of Physicians and Surgeons of Ontario. Dr. Dickson’s parents were Presbyterians, and he has followed in the same safe path. In 1869, he was married to Jessie Rattray, daughter of D. M. Rattray, of Portage du Fort, province of Quebec.

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=Stockton, Alfred Augustus=, Barrister-at-Law, D.C.L., Ph.D., LL.D., M.P.P. for the city and county of St. John, New Brunswick, residence, St. John, was born November 2nd, 1842, at Studholm, Kings county, N.B. His father is William A. Stockton, of Sussex, Kings county, N.B., and his mother, Sarah, daughter of the late Robert Oldfield, who came to this country from Stockport, England. He is descended on the paternal side from Richard Stockton, who emigrated from Cheshire, England, some years prior to 1660, settled for a short time in Long Island, New York, and afterwards removed to Princeton, New Jersey, where he became the grantee of extensive tracts of land. His great-great-grandfather was Richard Witham Stockton, who was born at Princeton, N.J., in 1733, and was a cousin of his namesake who signed the Declaration of Independence. Richard W. Stockton served under the Crown with the rank of major during the war of the revolution. His son, Andrew Hunter Stockton (Mr. Stockton’s great-grandfather), also served under the Crown, with the rank of lieutenant, throughout the revolutionary war, and at its close they both, with other members of the family, came with the U. E. loyalists to St. John, then known as Parr Town. They were among the original grantees of that city. They subsequently removed to Sussex, Kings county, and became grantees of extensive tracts of land there. His great-grandfather, Lieutenant Andrew Hunter Stockton, was married at St. John (Parr Town) on the 4th day of April, 1784, to Hannah Lester. It was the first marriage which took place at Parr Town. Alfred A. Stockton was educated at the Academy and at the University of Mount Allison College, Sackville, N.B.; graduated B.A. there in 1864, being the valedictorian of his class, and M.A. in 1867. He also graduated LL.B. at Victoria University, Cobourg, Ontario, in 1869; Ph.D., on examination at Illinois Wesleyan University in 1883, and received the degree of D.C.L. from the University of Mount Allison in 1884; also LL.D. in course from Victoria University in 1887. He studied law with his uncle, the late C. W. Stockton, and was admitted to the bar of New Brunswick in Trinity term, 1868, and was for some years senior member of the law firm of A. A. and R. O. Stockton, of St. John, N.B. This legal firm having been dissolved, he is now practising law on his own account. As an advocate and as a speaker, Mr. Stockton stands high, and has done good service for his profession in compiling the rules of the Vice-Admiralty Court of New Brunswick, and editing in 1882, with very extensive notes, “Berton’s Reports of the Supreme Court of New Brunswick.” He is an examiner for degrees at the University of Mount Allison in political economy and constitutional history, and in law at Victoria University; is also registrar of the Court of Vice-Admiralty of New Brunswick; a director of the Provincial Building Society of New Brunswick, and legal adviser of the same; a member of the Board of Governors of the University of Mount Allison College and secretary of the Board; president of the Historical Society of New Brunswick; a member of the Council of the Barristers’ Society of the province; a director of the Society for the Prevention of Cruelty to Animals, and also its legal adviser and prosecuting counsel. He was at one time a director of the St. John Mechanics’ Institute and corresponding secretary of that corporation. In July, 1883, a vacancy having occurred in the New Brunswick Assembly, in consequence of the death of the Hon. Wm. Elder, LL.D., the provincial secretary, on the 23rd of August following, Mr. Stockton was elected to the House of Assembly to represent the city and county of St. John, to fill the vacancy caused by Mr. Elder’s death. He was returned again for the same constituency at the last general election in April, 1886. He was appointed in June, 1887, by the government of New Brunswick, an advisory and honorary member of the commission to report upon the amendment of the “Law and Practice and Constitution of the Courts of that Province.” Mr. Stockton was opposed to the confederation of the provinces under the terms of the Act of Union, but favoured a union of the Maritime provinces. Having been brought up in the old school of New Brunswick Liberals, he is naturally opposed to the policy of protection so-called. He is a Liberal in Dominion politics, and in favour of manhood suffrage, and thinks the lieutenant-governors of the different provinces should be elected by the people of the province at large, and that the Senate of Canada should be elected for a specific term either by the direct vote of the constituencies or by the Provincial legislatures. He has always taken an active interest in higher education, and has written considerable for publication on different subjects. At one time was one of the editors of the _Maritime Monthly_, since ceased publication, and also a correspondent of _La Revue Critique_ of Montreal, which has also stopped publication. Mr. Stockton for a number of years took an active interest in military affairs, and held a commission as captain in the militia of the province at the time of the union in 1867. He is a past master of the Masonic order, and a member of the Grand Lodge of New Brunswick. He is also prominently identified with the temperance reform movement. In religious matters he is a member of the Methodist denomination, and has always belonged to that church, and at present is one of the trustees of the Centenary Methodist Church in St. John. He was married on the 5th September, 1871, to Amelia E., second daughter of the Rev. Humphrey Pickard, D.D., of Sackville, N.B., who was for over a quarter of a century president of the educational institutions at Sackville, and one of the most prominent educationists of the Maritime provinces of Canada.

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=Cram, John Fairbairn=, Wool Merchant and Farmer, Carleton Place, Ontario, was born on October 13, 1833, in the township of Beckwith, county of Lanark, Ontario. His grandfather, Peter Cram, in the year 1820, with his wife, five of his sons and two daughters, left their native village of Comrie, in Perthshire, Scotland, and set out for Canada, to seek their fortune as farmers. After a tedious journey by sea and land, extending over two months, they reached the township of Beckwith, in Lanark, Ontario, where their eldest son John had settled two years before, and had prepared for them a primitive shanty in the woods. Here the family took up their temporary abode, and shortly afterwards, the father and several of his sons selected lands in the eleventh concession of Beckwith. The lots they selected were of good quality, and though heavily timbered, these sturdy Scotch pioneers did not feel the least dismayed, but soon succeeded in making a clearing in the forest, and establishing a comfortable home for themselves. In 1830, James, one of the sons of Peter Cram, and the father of the subject of our sketch, married Janet, daughter of John McPhail, of the township of Drummond, and settled on a lot adjoining his father’s farm, and in course of time this worthy couple were blessed with a family of six sons and three daughters, all of whom are still living, though they and their descendants are now scattered throughout Canada and the United States. The old couple passed away a few years ago, Mr. Cram at the age of eighty-seven years, and Mrs. Cram about ten years younger, both greatly respected and regretted by their numerous relatives and neighbours. John Fairbairn, who was the second eldest son of James Cram, was at the age of seven years sent to a school about three miles from home, and was able to attend pretty regular until May, 1846, when unfortunately his father’s dwelling house, with barn and all other outbuildings, were destroyed by fire, when he had to give up attending school and go to work on the farm. After this he had few opportunities presented him in the way of school learning; and at the age of seventeen left home and apprenticed himself to John Murdock, of Carleton Place, as a tanner, for three years. He honourably served his apprenticeship, and in the spring of 1853, joined in a partnership with his brother, Peter, when they built for themselves a tannery at Appleton, about three miles from Carleton Place. The brothers carried on the tanning business pretty extensively for about sixteen years, when John sold out his interest in the business to Peter, and removing to Carleton Place, erected a wool and pelt establishment for himself. In 1872, Mr. Cram was elected a member of the Board of Education of Carleton Place, and was re-elected continuously for the following twelve years. He occupied a seat in the Municipal Council of the village for eleven years, three of which he presided as reeve. At the end of this period, finding the position too onerous, he declined re-election. Mr. Cram is a total abstainer, and has been connected with the order of the Sons of Temperance, the Good Templars, and the County Temperance Alliance. In religious matters, he is an adherent of the church of his fathers—the Presbyterian church. Twenty-seven years ago he became a member of this church, and for the last eighteen years has been one of its managing committee, and six years ago was elected a deacon of the church. In politics, he is a staunch Reformer, and is president of the Reform Association of Carleton Place. Mr. Cram has been fairly successful in business, and although like many another self-made man, has had his trials and difficulties, yet he can afford to look back on his struggles and say that with the help of God and an indomitable will, I have succeeded in making enough of this world’s goods to enable me to spend the remainder of my days in comfort. In 1865, Mr. Cram was married to Margaret, only surviving daughter of William Wilson, of Appleton. This estimable lady died on the 21st of November, 1886. The fruit of the union was one daughter (deceased) and three sons.

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=Ross, Alexander Milton=, M.D., Montreal, the eminent Canadian philanthropist, scientist and author, has had a career of striking interest. He was born on December 13th, 1832, in Belleville, Ontario. His father, William Ross, was a grandson of Captain Alexander Ross, an officer of General Wolfe’s army of invasion. Captain Ross took part in the battle on the Plains of Abraham, which resulted in the defeat of the French and the conquest of all Canada. He subsequently received a grant of lands from the Crown, and settled in Prince Edward County, Upper Canada, where he lived until his death, which occurred in 1805. Captain Alexander Ross was a grandson of Alexander Ross, laird of Balnagown, Ross-shire, Scotland, who descended in a direct line from Hugh Ross, of Rariches, second son of Hugh, the sixth and last Earl of Ross, of the old family. Dr. Ross’s grandmother, on his father’s side, was Hannah Prudence Williams, a descendant of Roger Williams (1595-1683), the famous liberal preacher, and apostle of freedom, of Rhode Island. His mother, Frederika Grant, was the youngest daughter of John Grant of the British army, who died from wounds received at Niagara, in the war of 1812-1814. His maternal grandmother was Mary Jenks, a daughter of Joseph Jenks, colonial governor of Rhode Island. Governor Jenks has left a famous record of public services. He was speaker of the House of Representatives of Rhode Island, from Oct., 1698, to 1708; deputy governor from May, 1715, to May, 1727; governor from May, 1727, to May, 1732. He was a staunch and persistent friend and advocate of political and religious liberty. In his boyhood Dr. Ross made his way to New York city, and after struggling with many adversities, became a compositor in the office of the _Evening Post_, then edited and owned by William Cullen Bryant, the poet. Mr. Bryant became much interested in young Ross, and ever after remained his steadfast friend. It was during this period that he became acquainted with General Garibaldi, who at that time was a resident of New York, and employed in making candles. This acquaintance soon ripened into a warm friendship, which continued unbroken down to Garibaldi’s death in 1882. It was through Dr. Ross’s efforts in 1874 that Garibaldi obtained his pension from the Italian government. In 1851 Dr. Ross began the study of medicine, under the direction of the eminent Dr. Valentine Mott, and subsequently under Dr. Trall, the celebrated hygienic physician. After four years of unremitting toil, working as compositor during the day and studying medicine at night, he received his degree of M.D. in 1855, and shortly after received the appointment of surgeon in the army of Nicaragua, then commanded by General William Walker. He subsequently became actively and earnestly engaged in the anti-slavery struggle in the United States, which culminated in the liberation from bondage of four millions of slaves. Dr. Ross was a personal friend and co-worker of Captain John Brown, the martyr. Although Dr. Ross’s sphere of labour in that great struggle for human freedom was less public than that of many other workers in the cause, it was not less important, and required the exercise of greater caution, courage and determination, and also involved greater personal risks. Senator Wade, vice-president of the United States, said, in speaking of the abolitionists:—“Never in the history of the world did the same number of men perform so great an amount of good for the human race and for their country as the once despised abolitionists, and it is my duty to add that no one of their number submitted to greater privations, perils or sacrifices, or did more in the great and noble work than Alexander Ross.” He has received the benediction of the philanthropist and poet, Whittier, in the following noble words, which find their echo in the hearts of thousands:—

DR. A. M. ROSS.

For his steadfast strength and courage
In a dark and evil time,
When the Golden Rule was treason,
And to feed the hungry, crime.

For the poor slave’s hope and refuge,
When the hound was on his track,
And saint and sinner, state and church,
Joined hands to send him back.

Blessings upon him!—What he did
For each sad, suffering one,
Chained, hunted, scourged and bleeding,
Unto our Lord was done.
JOHN G. WHITTIER,
_Secretary of the Convention in 1833,_
_which formed the American Anti-Slavery Society._

The sincere radical abolitionists, with whom Dr. Ross was labouring, were despised, hated and ostracised by the rich, the powerful and the so-called higher classes; but Dr. Ross always possessed the courage of his opinions, and prefers the approval of his own conscience to the smiles or favours of men. During the Southern rebellion he was employed by President Lincoln as confidential correspondent in Canada, and rendered very important services to the United States government. For this he received the special thanks of President Lincoln and Secretary Seward. When the war ended, with the downfall of the Confederacy, Dr. Ross offered his services to President Juarez, of Mexico, and received the appointment of surgeon in the Republican army. The capture of Maximilian, and the speedy overthrow of the empire, rendered Dr. Ross’s services unnecessary, and he returned to Canada and to the congenial and more peaceful pursuits of a naturalist. The object of his ambition now was to collect and classify the fauna and flora of his native country, a labour never before attempted by a Canadian. He has collected and classified five hundred and seventy species of birds that regularly or occasionally visit the Dominion of Canada; two hundred and forty species of eggs of birds that breed in Canada; two hundred and forty-seven species of mammals, reptiles, and fresh water fish; three thousand four hundred species of insects; and two thousand species of Canadian flora. The _Montreal Herald_ of August 19, 1884, says:—“Dr. Ross has been a member of the British Association of Science for the last fourteen years, and of the French and American Associations for the past ten years. The following brief sketch will, therefore, prove doubly interesting in view of the approaching gathering of scientific men (meeting of the British Association, Sept., 1884), in this city. He has devoted special attention to the ornithology, ichthyology, botany and entomology of Canada; has personally made large and valuable collections of the fauna and flora of Canada; has enriched by his contributions the natural history museums of Paris, St. Petersburg, Vienna, Rome, Athens, Dresden, Lisbon, Teheran and Cairo, with collections of Canadian fauna and flora. He is author of “Birds of Canada” (1872), “Butterflies and Moths of Canada” (1873), “Flora of Canada” (1873), “Forest Trees of Canada” (1874), “Mammals, Reptiles, and Fresh water Fishes of Canada” (1878), “Recollections of an Abolitionist” (1867), “Ferns and Wild Flowers of Canada” (1877), “Friendly Words to Boys and Young Men” (1884), “Vaccination a Medical Delusion” (1885), and “Natural Diet of Man” (1886). He received the degrees of M.D. (1855), and M.A. (1867); and was knighted by the Emperor of Russia (1876), King of Italy (1876), King of Greece (1876), King of Portugal (1877), King of Saxony (1876), and received the Medal of Merit from the Shah of Persia (1884), the decoration of honour from the Khedive of Egypt (1884), and the decoration of the Académie Française from the government of France (1879). He was offered (and declined) the title of baron by the King of Bavaria, in recognition of his labours as a naturalist, and was appointed consul to Canada by the King of Belgium and the King of Denmark. Dr. Ross was elected a fellow of the Royal Society of Literature and the Linnean and Zoological Societies of England; the Royal Societies of Antiquaries of Denmark and Greece; the Imperial Society of Naturalists of Russia; the Imperial Botanical and Zoological Society of Austria; the Royal Academy of Science of Palermo, Italy; a member of the Entomological Societies of Russia, Germany, Italy, France, Switzerland, Belgium, Bohemia and Wurtemburg; member of the Hygienic Societies of France, Germany and Switzerland; honorary member of the Royal Canadian Academy of Arts, and member of the European Congress of Ornithology. For several years past Dr. Ross has laboured with his characteristic zeal and energy in behalf of moral and physical reform. He is the founder (1880) of the Canadian Society for the Diffusion of Physiological Knowledge, and enlisted the sympathy and active support of the Archbishop of Canterbury, Earl Shaftesbury, the Archbishop of Toronto, and two hundred and forty clergymen of different denominations, and three hundred Canadian school-teachers in the work of distributing his tracts on “The Evils Arising from Unphysiological Habits in Youth”; over one million copies of these tracts were distributed among the youth of Britain and Canada, calling forth thousands of letters expressing gratitude from parents and friends of the young. Dr. Ross is one of the founders of the St. Louis Hygienic College of Physicians and Surgeons, in which he is professor of hygiene, sanitation and physiology. He is always on the side of the poor and the oppressed, no matter how unpopular the cause may be. He does his duty as he sees it, regardless of consequences to himself. The philanthropic Quakeress, Lucretia Jenks, thus speaks of Dr. Ross:—

No, friend Ross! thou art not old;
A heart so true, so kind, so bold,
As in thy bosom throbs to-day,
Never! never! will decay.

Some I know, but half thy years,
Are quite deaf to all that cheers;
They are dumb when they should speak,
And blind to all the poor and weak.

There are none I know, in sooth,
Who part so slowly with their youth,
As men like thee, who take delight
In helping others to live right.

LUCRETIA JENKS.
Rhode Island, 22, 11mo., 1885.

When Dr. Ross had attained his fiftieth birthday, he was the recipient of many tokens of regard and congratulations from friends and co-workers. From the poet Whittier the following:—

DEAR FRIEND—Thy fifty years have not been idle ones, but filled
with good works; I hope another half century may be added to
them.

From Wendell Phillips:—

MY DEAR ROSS—Measured by the good you have done in your fifty
years, you have already lived a century.

From Harriet Beecher Stowe:—

DEAR DR. ROSS—As you look back over your fifty years, what a
comfort to you must be the reflection that you have saved so
many from the horrors of slavery.

During the small-pox epidemic in Montreal in 1885 Dr. Ross was a prominent opponent of vaccination, declaring that it was not only useless as a preventive of small-pox, but that it propagated the disease when practised during the existence of an epidemic. In place of vaccination, he strongly advocates the strict enforcement of sanitation and isolation. He maintains that personal and municipal cleanliness is the only scientific safeguard against zymotic diseases. When the authorities attempted to enforce vaccination by fines and imprisonment, Dr. Ross organized the Anti-Compulsory Vaccination League, and successfully resisted what he considered an outrage on human rights. Dr. Ross is a radical reformer in religion, medicine, politics, sociology and dietetics, and a total abstainer from intoxicants and tobacco. He is a graduate of the allopathic, hydropathic, eclectic and botanic systems of medicine, and a member of the College of Physicians and Surgeons of the provinces of Quebec, Ontario and Manitoba.

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=Ellis, William=, Superintendent of the Welland Canal, St. Catharines, Ontario, was born near London, England, on the 31st August, 1826, and came to Canada in 1853, to take charge of the construction of an eighty-two mile section of the Grand Trunk Railway. His father and mother, Thomas and Margaret Ellis, were members of two old Yorkshire families. William Ellis received his education in Cheshunt, Herts, and London, England. Before coming to Canada, he acted in England as engineer and contractor’s agent on various railway works, and in Canada on the Grand Trunk Railway; and during the last seven years he has been superintendent of the Welland canal. While a resident of Prescott in 1861, he was elected town councillor; and in 1864, he was chosen mayor. For three years in succession he was president of the Prescott Mechanics’ Institute, the Grenville County Agricultural Society, the Prescott Board of School Trustees, and the Prescott Choral Society. At present he is and has been for the past three years president of the St. Catharines Philharmonic Society. Mr. Ellis belongs to the Episcopal church, and occupies a prominent position in the denomination. He was for three years churchwarden while in Prescott, and for twenty-one years lay delegate for that parish. For St. Catharines, he has been lay delegate for six years, and is also churchwarden of St. George’s Church, and warden of St. George’s Guild. During the Fenian troubles in 1866, Mr. Ellis served as lieutenant in the Garrison Artillery in Prescott, and retired from military service on the disbandment of his company. He has travelled a good deal, and has twice visited France. He has been married twice. First, in October, 1855, to M. E. A. Jessup, of Prescott, daughter of Edward Jessup, formerly M.P., for the Johnstown district. This lady died, leaving a family of two children. The son has graduated M.D. in McGill University. He married the second time in May, 1886, to M. A. A. Bryant, daughter of Shettelworth Bryant, of Blackheath (Eng.), and cousin of Colonel Bryant, St. Leonards, England.

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=Call, Robert Randolph=, Newcastle, New Brunswick, was born in Newcastle, Miramichi, N.B., September 12, 1837. His father, Obadiah Call, was a native of the state of Maine, having been born in the village of Dresden, August 1, 1800, and is still alive. Margaret Burke, his mother, was born in Limerick, Ireland, in 1810, and came to Miramichi with her father, who was a house-carpenter, shortly after the great fire in 1825. She died on the 10th of May, 1877. Robert, the subject of this sketch, was educated at the Grammar School of Newcastle, and soon after leaving this institution developed an aptitude for business. In 1871, in company with John C. Miller, he built the side-wheel steamer _New Era_, and established the first line of passenger steamers that ran on the Miramichi river. During the past twenty-five years he has been interested in the steamboat business, and occupied the position of agent for the Quebec and Gulf Ports Steamship Company, and for other lines of steamers that have called at the port of Newcastle. On November 26, 1866, he received the appointment of United States Consular Agent at Newcastle. In June, 1867, was elected chairman of the Northumberland County Almshouse Commissioners; and in January, 1874, was made a member of the board of Pilotage Commissioners for the Miramichi district of New Brunswick, under the Pilotage Act, which then came into force, and was chosen its secretary-treasurer. Mr. Call is owner of the gas works in his native town, and they are operated under his own immediate direction. On the 9th September, 1865, he was appointed a lieutenant in the 2nd battalion Northumberland County Militia; and on October 1st, 1868, at a public meeting held in the town of Newcastle for the purpose of organizing a battery, was chosen captain of the Newcastle Field Battery of Artillery, and was gazetted as such on the 18th December of the same year. On the 18th December, 1873, he was made major, and lieutenant-colonel on the 4th February, 1885. He still retains the command of this battery, which he was mainly instrumental in raising. In 1875 this corps was called into active service during the school riots in Caraquet, Gloucester county. Lieutenant-Colonel Call, with Lieutenant Mitchell second in command, and part of the battery, in all forty-six persons, with horses, sleds, two nine-pounder guns, ammunition, etc., left Newcastle on the afternoon of the 28th January for Bathurst, the shire town of Gloucester county, and had to traverse a distance of fifty-five miles through a comparatively desolate country. The weather was very unsettled, and more severe than it had been for years. The snow was fully four feet deep on the level, while in many places it was drifted so badly that the men had to shovel for hours before the teams could pass. They, however, after experiencing great fatigue, and with hard labour, succeeded in reaching their destination on the evening of the 29th, having accomplished the journey in twenty-eight hours, without resting, except while the horses were being fed on the road, the men in the meantime keeping their seats on the sleds, and eating the provisions they had brought from home with them. On their arrival in Bathurst they found that twenty-six of the leading rioters had been safely lodged in the jail there. The infantry that followed them proceeded to Caraquet. Here the battery remained for about six weeks, making the court house their barracks, until the excitement was calmed down and quiet was restored. Mr. Call became a member of Northumberland lodge, A. F. and A. Masons, in 1863, and in the years 1866 and 1867 was master of the lodge. In 1873 he was appointed representative to the Grand Lodge of New Jersey. He is also a member of the Northumberland Highland Society, and one of its vice-presidents. He has travelled a good deal, having visited England for his health in 1863, going over and returning in a sailing vessel. In 1881 he went, _via_ Lake Superior, to Rainy River, Lake of the Woods, Winnipeg, etc., to Portage la Prairie, then the extreme end of the Canadian Pacific Railway, for the purpose of having a look at this wonderful country, and has taken an occasional trip to the United States. Mr. Call is a Presbyterian, is one of the Trustees of St. James’ Church, and has been its secretary and treasurer since 1874. He was married, May 21st, 1862, to Annie Rankin Nevin, who was born in Stonehaven, Kincardineshire, Scotland, on 5th December, 1836.

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=Dowdall, James.=—The deceased, James Dowdall, who for many years practised as a Barrister-at-Law in the town of Almonte, Ontario, was born at Perth, county of Lanark, on the 31st December, 1853, and died on the 27th October, 1885. His father, Edward Dowdall, was a son of the deceased Patrick Dowdall, a reputable and well-educated magistrate of the township of Drummond, in the county of Lanark; and his mother, Mary O’Connor, was a daughter of an equally respected and literary farmer of Drummond township,—Denis O’Connor, who was successful in life, and died February, 1887. James Dowdall received his education at the Public and High schools of Almonte, to which town his parents removed when he was four years of age. In 1872 he commenced his law course with Joseph Jamieson, M.P., Almonte, and concluded his studies in the office of Hon. Edward Blake, at Toronto, and was called to the bar in 1877. He then formed a partnership with D. G. Macdonell, and the firm in a very short time attained to a high position in the legal fraternity, and secured a large share of public support. He was president of several literary, debating, benevolent and other societies, from his seventeenth year continuously until his death in 1885. He also occupied the position of president of the local Reform Association; was founder and president of the Almonte branch of the Catholic Mutual Benefit Association; chairman of the Separate School Board; had a seat on the High School Board; and for years sat in the town council. He had a very large law practice, and for years previous and up to his demise was Crown counsel for the counties of Lanark and Renfrew. Mr. Dowdall was a public spirited man, and took an active part in everything that went to improve his native place and the surrounding district. He was a staunch Reformer, and took an intelligent interest in politics. As a speaker, he was eloquent and argumentative, and travelled through Lanark and other counties in Ontario during several local and federal election campaigns, and did good work for his party. In 1879 he married Onogh T. Nogle, daughter of the late William Nogle, and left a family of children. The _Almonte Gazette_ thus alludes to his death:—“Mr. Dowdall was an able antagonist in court, quick to see the weak points in an opponent’s case, and no less expert in concealing his own. These qualities, as well as his careful study of the law in each case, made him a generally successful lawyer in court, while his knowledge of human nature gave him great advantage in cross-examination. Had his life been spared there is no doubt he would have risen to the highest point in his profession. His many good qualities more particularly demand our grateful recognition. Many a battler with the world can tell of a hand stretched out and aid given just at a time when a friend in need was a friend indeed. Many a struggling tradesman can tell how often he has mounted the office stairs to ask for help to meet a note or some other similar emergency, and that he did not ask in vain. Many a poor and perplexed one took up his time by recounting some act of another’s from which they were or had been suffering, and from him obtained as much attention and as carefully considered advice as though they had carried a large fee in their hands. The blank caused by the death of Mr. Dowdall will be a wide one: not all at once will it be discovered how much he is missed, but as the days and weeks glide by there will be many occasions when parties will long for the sound of a voice that is still, and it is safe to say in his case that take him for all and all it will be long before we look upon his like again. Mr. Dowdall was a Roman Catholic, and the Roman Catholic church of this town will miss his counsel and assistance greatly, but it can be said to his credit that though himself a devoted Catholic he was as broad-minded and liberal as he was zealous in religious matters. Throughout his career he always showed a warm feeling for his co-religionists, while nothing ever prevented his doing justice to those who differed from him. The Reform party, too, will greatly miss him.” The _Central Canadian_, of Carleton Place, also spoke of him in this kindly manner:—“As a member of the corporation of Almonte, he contributed of his judgment, knowledge, energy, and life to make everybody happy and everything prosperous. Mr. Dowdall’s prominent play in politics and his long sphere of operations as a lawyer of much discretion and accuracy brought out his innermost self in a way few other professions do, and showed what manner of man he was. Yet though thus so fiercely exposed to hostile criticism, he made iron-bound friends where-ever he went. He had a personality so attractive, a character so disarming in its tenderness and self-abnegation; he was so clear and candid that he broke down all barriers of prejudice. Moreover, among his intimates he possessed that mysterious gift of attraction which in colloquial symbolism is called magnetism. On the 28th September, Mr. Dowdall first complained and was advised by his physician to take rest, which he did, but contrary to advice he went out on Tuesday and drove up to the Reform meeting, and died on the 27th October, 1885.” Richard J. Dowdall, barrister, has succeeded to the practice of the late James Dowdall. He had just completed his law course at the time of his brother’s death, and at once commenced practice in the old offices at Almonte.

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=Crocket, William=, A.M., Chief Superintendent of Education for New Brunswick, Fredericton, was born in Brechin, in the north of Scotland, on the 17th of May, 1832. His parents were James Crocket and Martha Procter. William received his elementary education at the High School of his native parish, and then went to King’s College, Aberdeen, where he took the university course. His professional training he received at the Established Church Normal School in Glasgow. He came to New Brunswick in 1856, and from this date to 1861, filled the position of principal of the Superior School at Campbellton, New Brunswick. In 1861, he was appointed rector of the Presbyterian Academy, at Chatham, New Brunswick, and acted as such until 1870, when he was appointed principal of the Normal School of New Brunswick, and this office he held until 1883. On the 13th November of that year, he was appointed by the government of New Brunswick, its chief superintendent of education for the province, and this office he now holds, and is greatly respected by all with whom his official position brings him in contact. Mr. Crocket has been faithful to his profession; has laboured zealously to improve the method of teaching in the Public schools of the province, and has the satisfaction of knowing that his efforts have not been barren of results. He has also taken a deep interest in the higher education of the province, and has been for over ten years one of the examiners for degrees in the University of New Brunswick, and is likewise a member of the University Senate. He belongs to the church of his fathers, the Presbyterian; and was married to Marion, daughter of William M. Caldwell, of Campbellton, New Brunswick, on the 13th of April, 1858.

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=Barclay, Rev. James=, M.A., Pastor of St. Paul’s Presbyterian Church, Montreal, is a native of Paisley, Scotland, having been born in that town on the 19th June, 1844. His parents were James Barclay and Margaret Cochrane Brown. He received his primary education in Paisley Grammar School, and Merchiston Castle School, Edinburgh, and then went to the University of Glasgow, where he graduated with high honours. He was then called to St. Michael’s Church, Dumfries. On the occasion of his ordination, the Rev. Dr. Lees, of St. Giles, Edinburgh, who was present, spoke in the most kindly manner of the young minister, and said that during Mr. Barclay’s college course the presbytery of Paisley had great cause to be proud of him; he had carried off one prize after another—in fact, his name was seen on every list of honours published by the university. Rev. Mr. Barclay’s next charge was Canobie, Dumfriesshire; then he preached for some time in Linlithgow, and was afterwards induced to seek a wider field for his talents, and was chosen colleague of the Rev. Dr. McGregor in St. Cuthbert’s Church, Edinburgh. Here he soon won for himself a name, and became one of the most popular preachers in the Scotch metropolis. St. Paul’s Church, Montreal, being without a pastor, it extended a unanimous call to Mr. Barclay, asking him to come to Canada and take charge of this church, which he consented to do, and was inducted as its minister on the 11th of October, 1883. Since then his ministry in Montreal has been eminently successful, and his influence among the young men of that city is greatly marked, so much so that they flock to his church in great numbers, and regard him in a special sense as their friend. The Rev. Mr. Barclay has great mental qualities, is an independent thinker, and never hesitates to enunciate the scientific and theological thoughts of the times we live in. His sermons are prepared with great care, and are delivered with earnestness and force. He is a good reader, an impressive platform speaker, and his prayers are solemn, reverential and spiritual, leading man up from self and earth and sin into the presence of God, the Father of all. Physically the Rev. Mr. Barclay is tall and muscular, giving one an idea of strength and power. He belongs to the Charles Kingsley school, and is a lover of outdoor pastimes and sports, a champion cricketer and golf player, and a great admirer of the “roaring game”—curling. The Edinburgh _Scotsman_ has spoken of him as being the best all round cricketer in Scotland, and a terrifically fast bowler who has won victory after victory for the west of Scotland. He was captain of the Glasgow University cricket and football clubs for some years, and also captain of the “Gentlemen of Scotland.” We are glad that in this matter of out-door recreation, and also in some other matters, he has shown the courage of his convictions, and we do not think he has lost anything by it. There is such a thing as being too professional and too priestly, and there can be little doubt but that this has done its full share in creating the somewhat general prejudice that exists among young men against religion. This popular divine has been honoured by being called on to preach before Queen Victoria on several occasions, and he stands high in her Majesty’s estimation as an expounder of the gospel of Christ. The congregation of St. Paul’s Church is large and influential. Its ministers have always been men of commanding intellect and gentlemanly bearing, and who held their several pastorates for a considerable number of years. Their names and good deeds are kindly remembered by the citizens and the members of the church and congregation. The regular communicants of the church number about six hundred, and the Sacrament of the Lord’s Supper is administered three times a year. The several organizations of the church are doing good work for humanity, and there is a large and flourishing Sunday school. The Victoria mission, at Point St. Charles, is supported and carried on by this church; and it also supports a missionary in Central India. Its annual revenue amounts to about $22,000.00, and the pastor’s salary is $7,300.00, the largest paid to any minister in the dominion.

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=Watson, George=, Collector of Customs, Collingwood, Ontario, was born on the 2nd of December, 1828, in the parish of Strathdon, near Aberdeen, Scotland, on a farm that had been occupied by his forefathers for over two hundred years, and which one of the family still occupies. The first of the Watson family, an aunt of the subject of our sketch, came to York, Upper Canada, in 1816, at the solicitation of Bishop Strachan, who came to Canada in 1812 from the same parish. His uncle-in-law, William Arthurs (father of the late Colonel Arthurs), was one of the first city councillors of Toronto, William Lyon Mackenzie, mayor. His father, Alexander Watson, emigrated to Upper Canada in 1832, and settled on a farm in the township of Chinguacousy, about twenty miles from Toronto, and died at Collingwood on the 30th of November, 1877, at the ripe old age of eighty-four years and six months. His mother was named Annie Watt, and died at the family homestead in Scotland when only twenty-nine years and nine months old. George received his early education in the parish school of Strathdon, and coming to Canada in 1843, finished his course of studies in the Grammar School at Toronto. He went on his father’s farm and continued there until 1855, when he took the position of passenger conductor on the Northern Railway, and continued as such for nearly twelve years. In October, 1866, in consequence of ill health, he gave up railroading, and in November of the same year received the government appointment of sub-collector at the port of Collingwood. In 1873, when the port was made an independent one, he was made collector, and this position he still holds. He has now resided in Collingwood over thirty-two years, and occupied the position of government officer of customs over twenty years. In 1867 Mr. Watson was elected mayor of Collingwood, and held the office for five consecutive years, and at the end of this time he declined to serve any longer; but in 1877, however, he was again induced to accept the office, and served another term. He is a justice of the peace; and has been chairman of the board of license commissioners for West Simcoe since the passing of the Ontario License Law in 1876. He is an enthusiastic Scot, and has filled the office of president of the Collingwood St. Andrew’s Society since its organization in 1880. Mr. Watson is also surveyor and registrar of shipping for the Collingwood district. He is an adherent of the Presbyterian church, and in politics a Reformer, as were his forefathers. In June, 1865, Mr. Watson was married to Joanna, daughter of the late John Watson, of Chinguacousy, and has a family of three sons, George, aged twenty years, Lorne Mackenzie, aged four years, and Norman, aged four months. Mr. Watson is one of Nature’s noblemen, and has through life manifested a thoroughly independent spirit, and one well worthy of imitation by any young man starting out in life. He has earned for himself a competency “for the glorious privilege of being independent.”

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=Crisp, Rev. Robert S.=, Pastor of the Methodist Church, Moncton, New Brunswick, is one of two brothers (Robert S. and James Crisp), who came to the Maritime provinces during the years 1871 and 1872, for the purpose of entering the Methodist ministry. Robert S., the elder of the two brothers and subject of this sketch, was born near Norwich, England, July 1st, 1848. He is the eldest son of James and Sarah Crisp, and is descended on his mother’s side from a junior branch of the Walpole family, some members of which occupied important positions in English politics during the reigns of George I. and George II. Many interesting traditions and relics, as well as valuable estates in Norfolk, still remain in this branch of the family. After receiving a general education in the public schools and in a private school of his native place, Mr. Crisp took theological studies under the direction of the Rev. Thomas G. Keeling, M.A., well known in certain divinity circles in the old country, purposing to offer himself for the Methodist ministry in connection with the English conference. A letter from the late Rev. Dr. Geo. Scott, urging him to go to America, decided him, however, in an early purpose he had formed of some time offering himself for the work under the control of the (then) Eastern British American conference, which he accordingly did in October, 1871, and on arriving in this country was appointed assistant to the Rev. F. W. Harrison, in a large country charge on the banks of the St. John river, in New Brunswick. Among other charges held by Mr. Crisp, have been Charlottetown, P.E.I., Chatham, Portland, and Moncton, N.B. Mr. Crisp’s especial aim has been to adapt himself as far as possible to the actual needs and tastes of the people among whom he has laboured in word and doctrine. As a result of this he has been successful in his work, and the church to which he belongs has been extended and consolidated in his various charges. He is also well known as a lecturer and enthusiastic temperance worker. In the latter capacity he has sometimes aroused much opposition. He was chosen to deliver an address of welcome at the annual meeting of the Sons of Temperance in Moncton in 1886, and as a result of remarks he made regarding the appointment of a man who was transacting business in liquor, to the office of justice of the peace in a town in which the Scott Act had been adopted, he was sued for libel with damages laid at $10,000. Rev. Mr. Crisp, however, kept on steadily in his course, and soon after the local government appointed a commission to enquire into the charges preferred. Mr. Crisp is still a young man (1887), and hopes to have very many years of labour before him in various departments of Christian work.

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=Harris, Joseph A.=, Barrister-at-law, Moncton, New Brunswick, is the fifth son of Michael S. Harris, and was born at Moncton, New Brunswick, on the 23rd of August, 1847. He received his educational training at the Mount Allison Academy, New Brunswick, and in the Liverpool Collegiate Institution, England. After leaving school he followed mercantile pursuits until 1872, when he began the study of law in the office of the late Albert J. Hickman, barrister, Dorchester, New Brunswick, and continued here until September of 1873, when he entered Harvard University, Massachusetts. In this university he remained for over two years. He then returned to his native province, and entered the office of the Hon. John J. Fraser, Q.C., J.S.C., at Fredericton, New Brunswick, as a student, and continuing there until October, 1876, when he was admitted to the bar of the Supreme Court of New Brunswick. In 1877 Mr. Harris became a member of the Suffolk bar in Massachusetts, and practised his profession in Boston until 1885, when he returned to Moncton, was re-sworn in a barrister, and is now in active practice in that town being counsel for several leading corporations. On the 29th of April, 1879, Mr. Harris was married at Warren, Rhode Island, U.S., to Isabel F. E. Brown, daughter of the late Hon. Charles Frederick Brown, of Rhode Island.

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