Chapter M: C. Baillairgé, Quebec (28)

=Ouimet, Hon. Gédéon=, Q.C., D.C.L., Quebec, Superintendent of Public Instruction for the Province of Quebec, officer of Public Instruction of France, Commander of the Order of St. Gregory the Great, member of the “Academie des Arcades de Rome,” president of the Council of Public Instruction, and of the Roman Catholic Committee, of the province of Quebec, was born in Ste. Rose, Laval county, on the 3rd June, 1823. His father, Jean Ouimet, farmer, was descended from an old French family; and his mother was Marie Bontron _dit_ Major. Mr. Ouimet received a classical education at the colleges of St. Hyacinthe and Montreal, having at the last named place been under the charge of the noted instructor, l’Abbé Duchaine. He studied law with Mr. Sicotte, who was afterwards promoted to the bench, and was admitted to the bar, at Montreal, in August, 1844. Mr. Ouimet practised his profession for about five years, when he removed to Vaudreuil. In October, 1853, he returned to Montreal, and continued his profession along with L. S. Morin and L. W. Marchand, and afterwards with P. Morean and J. A. Chapleau. He soon rose to prominence in his profession, and was highly respected by his fellow-citizens. He was created a Queen’s counsel in 1867, and for a period served as _bâtonnier_ for Quebec province. In 1869 he filled the position of president of the St. Jean Baptiste Society of Montreal. He has also held the president’s chair of the _Institut Canadien-Français_; and is a member of the Literary and Historical Society; and the Geographical Society of Quebec. He was appointed commissioner to the Indian and Colonial Exhibition, in 1886. Entering political life, he represented the county of Beauharnois from 1857 to 1861 in the Legislative Assembly of Canada. From Confederation in 1867 to 1876 he represented the county of Two Mountains in the Quebec legislature, and was attorney-general of the province until February, 1873, when he became premier, minister of public instruction (succeeding the Hon. P. J. O. Chauveau), and provincial secretary. At that time it was necessary that the minister of public instruction should be a member of the parliament; but after a while it became evident to observant statesmen that the two positions were too burdensome for one man to hold, if not inimical to the best interests of education. Consequently, in 1875, the Assembly passed an act abolishing the dual office, and the administration of the educational affairs of the province was put in the same position it was before confederation, namely, in charge of a superintendent. The judgment of the proper authorities, as well as public sentiment, pointed to the Hon. Mr. Ouimet as the person best fitted to this highly responsible position, and he was, on the 1st February, 1876, appointed superintendent of public instruction for the province, when he retired from public life. Since that time educational matters have been greatly improved; and in all cases in which Protestant and Roman Catholic educational interests infringed upon each other, or came into collision, he has succeeded in smoothing down the conflicting elements by his strictly impartial decisions. And judging from his many published addresses, and the frequency of his visits to Protestant schools on public occasions, it cannot be questioned that he is at heart a real friend of education, irrespective of creed or nationality. His well-known urbanity, legal eminence, experience in public business, and impartial zeal in the cause of public education not only qualify him, in a mixed community like that of Quebec, for the important public post which he occupies, but justify the bright future for education in his province. Hon. Mr. Ouimet is a D.C.L. of the University of Bishop’s College, Lennoxville, and of Laval University. He is the author of the “Law on District Magistrates”; and while in the legislature he secured important amendments to the law relating to the qualification of jurors in criminal cases, and also in the code of procedure. Herein it will be seen that he has, in more ways than one, and is still leaving the impress of his well-disciplined and powerful mind in the archives of his native province. In 1878 he was named by the French government “Officier d’Instruction publique,” as a mark of distinction and approbation of the scholastic exhibition of Quebec province during the International Exhibition held in Paris that year. In August, 1850 he was married to Jane Pellant, daughter of the late Alexis Pellant, and they have had a family of six children, five of whom are married.

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=Gauvreau, Rev. Antoine=, Parish Priest, Lévis, was born at Rimouski, on the 22nd September, 1841. His father was Pierre Gauvreau, a notary public, and his mother Elizabeth Dubergès. Rev. Mr. Gauvreau was sent to the college of Ste. Anne de Lapocatière, in the county of Kamouraska, where he followed a complete course of classical studies. At the completion of his course he determined to enter the holy orders, and with that purpose in view was admitted to Laval University to study theology. On the 2nd of October, 1864, he was ordained priest, and appointed missionary vicar to the parish of Rivière-au-Renard, Gaspé. This charge he retained until 1866, when he was called to the city of Quebec, to assume the duties of almoner at the archbishop’s palace, being at the same time chaplain to the Sisters of Charity, the Christian Brothers, and St. Vincent de Paul Society. In 1870 he was removed by his ordinary to the curacy of St. Nicholas, Lévis county, where he remained until 1875. He was then transferred to Ste. Anne de Beaupré, the place of pilgrimage of the Roman Catholics of the whole American continent. Every summer thousands of devout pilgrims wend their way to the shrine of the saint. It is said that the number of people who visited Ste. Anne this season (1887) exceeded one hundred thousand. Two golden crowns of great value were lately presented to the present curate of Ste. Anne by the citizens of Quebec, and his eminence Cardinal Taschereau presided at the ceremonies incidental to the blessing of the princely gift. The attendance was so large that an altar was improvised and high mass was said in the open air, an eloquent proof that faith is still deep-rooted in the hearts of the faithful of the province of Quebec, reports to the contrary notwithstanding. Rev. Mr. Gauvreau exercised his ministry in Ste. Anne until 1878, when he took charge of the important parish of St. Romuald d’Etchemins, county of Lévis, and retained it until 1882. At that date he removed to Lévis, and has had charge of that parish ever since. Rev. Mr. Gauvreau is remembered in all the parishes over which he presided as a kind and considerate pastor.

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=Peck, Charles Allison=, Hopewell Hill, New Brunswick, Barrister-at-law, was born at Hopewell, in the county of Albert, N.B., on the 12th August, 1840. He was educated at Fredericton. Mr. Peck is the youngest son of Elisha and Sarah Peck. His father was an extensive landowner in the county, and captain in the militia, and was one of the first appointed to the magistracy. Charles Allison Peck studied law in the office of the late Sir Albert J. Smith, and was called to the bar in Easter Term, 1861, receiving a first-class certificate. Shortly after he formed a law co-partnership with the Hon. Bliss Botsford, at present Judge Botsford, and practised his profession at Hopewell, residing upon the old homestead. He first appeared in public life in 1865, when he unsuccessfully contested Albert on the Quebec scheme of confederation, to which he was opposed, against the Hon. John Lewis and A. R. McLellan, but was defeated by a small majority. After the union in 1867 he was elected to the New Brunswick Legislature for Albert, where he sat for three sessions, and was generally found supporting progressive legislation; but devoted much of his time to the Albert Railway question, the necessary legislation for which railway he secured against much opposition, the construction of this railway being largely due to his efforts while in the legislature, and subsequently. He was the solicitor of the company until its completion. He organized, and was the first president of, the Albert Southern Railway. In politics he is a Liberal-Conservative. He has more than once declined candidature for political honors, preferring to devote himself to his profession. Mr. Peck was appointed captain of the militia; trustee of Albert county Grammar School; and is a referee in equity. He is not a member of any religions denomination, but a liberal supporter of all. Mr. Peck was married, in 1864, to Amelia, youngest daughter of the late Solomon Nichols, of the city of St. John, who was president of the Bank of New Brunswick at the time of his death. Mrs. Peck is an Episcopalian; and her ancestors were loyalists, who, on coming to the Maritime provinces, left behind them at Flushing, New York state, large and valuable properties. They have two sons, Henry Brougham and Charles Allison, and one daughter, Celia Isabel Frances. The elder son, Henry, who is a student at law, recently entered the civil service.

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=Sénécal, Hon. Louis Adelard=, Senator, was born at Varennes, county of Verchères, on the 10th of July, 1829. The man who, in after years, became so universally known throughout the length and breadth of the continent, received but a rudimentary education afforded by the humble school of his native village, and attended a common school in Burlington, Vermont, for a few months. After a residence of two years in the United States, he settled in Verchères, province of Quebec, where he established a general store. Such was his _début_ in trade; and from the outset he showed the indomitable energy, the undaunted courage, and the business tact which caused the admiration even of his opponents. In 1853 he purchased the steamboat _Frederic George_, which was at Ogdensburg, took command of her, came down the river in the midst of floating ice, and arrived at Montreal on the 9th of April. Since that time he was known as “Captain Sénécal.” The _Frederic George_ did service between Montreal and Sorel. In 1854 he repaired his steamboat, renewed her machinery and boilers, and named her the _Verchères_. In 1857 he built the steamboat _Yamaska_ in the short space of two months and a-half, to inaugurate navigation on the river Yamaska, and established a line from St. Aimé to Montreal. The next year he built the _Cygne_, and established a regular service on the river St. Francis, between St. Francis and Sorel. Thus he was the first to open navigation on these rivers, and later on, by his energy and with government aid, he improved the service to a considerable extent. In 1859 he launched the steamboat _Ottawa_ to run in opposition to the Richelieu Company’s boats between Montreal and Quebec. Since 1882 he was the president of the Richelieu and Ontario Navigation Company, and it is due to his admirable management that the company was enabled to refit its steamers and place its finances on a sound and paying basis. When he took charge of the company’s affairs its finances were almost disorganized; he left it in full prosperity and almost doubled its field of operation and its monetary value. Meanwhile Mr. Sénécal was doing a large trade in lumber and grain in the United States. He had become the owner of eleven steamers and eighty-nine barges plying between Montreal, Sorel and Whitehall. One can easily form an idea of his marvellous activity from the fact that during the year he was forced to suspend his operations, he did three million dollars worth of business, without leaving the village of Pierreville, which was the centre of his operations. The losses suffered by several Montreal firms on account of the suspension were the subject of much comment at the time; it is only fair to say that all of these firms had derived benefits from their connection with him, certain houses having endorsed his notes at the rate of two per cent., others again having loaned him money at rates varying from 10 to 40 per cent. It was during the American civil war; he obtained money at par at three months and was obliged to reimburse in bankable (?) value, and pay a high rate of interest besides. Mr. Sénécal has built and was the owner of several saw and grist mills at St. David, St. Guillaume, Wickham, Wickham West, Yamaska, Kingsey, Pierreville and Acton. The Pierreville mill was destroyed by fire on the 20th June, 1868. He rebuilt in forty-seven days, and on the 5th August 146 saws were in operation. The fire had been extinguished at one o’clock on Saturday afternoon, and at twelve o’clock on the following Monday the foundations of the new building were under way. The same mill was destroyed a second time on the 14th January, 1870. He had not a single piece of timber on hand and was obliged to draw from the forest the pine and oak necessary for the building of the manufactory. Moreover, he was forced to buy new machinery in the United States. In spite of these difficulties, and although it was mid-winter, thirty days later, on the 15th February following, the smoke from the new building was rising out of its chimney, and the buzz of the saws proved that the Pierreville mill was giving life to a busy population. In 1866 he purchased almost the whole of Upton township, and it was at this period that he gave full scope to the development of colonization, and that he found the solution of this important problem. He cleared a piece of land at his own expense, sold it to a farmer, and employed him to clear an adjoining lot to be sold again in the same manner. In 1871 he turned his attention to railroading and solved another problem, that of building excellent railroads with very limited resources. He first built forty-three miles of road laid with wooden rails between Sorel and Wickham, _via_ Yamaska and Drummondville, during the year 1871, and finished it before the time agreed on by the contract; he thus had the benefit of the line during all the year 1872. The boldness he displayed on that occasion is a matter of astonishment, for all the resources he could dispose of to complete the undertaking, including rolling material, right of way, embankments, ballast, the Yamaska bridge, station buildings, wooden rails, etc., etc., were only $5,000 in bonds per mile, on which he was able to realize but $4,250 per mile. This road was sold to the South Eastern, and he undertook, on his own account, to replace the wooden rails by iron ones, and to build thirteen extra miles in order to reach Acton. The contract was signed in September of 1875, and on the 15th of February, 1876 the railroad was entirely completed. When he obtained the contract he had not a single tie at his disposal, and received only $2,300 per mile; yet he built fifty-four miles of a first-class railway, in about seventeen months, at a total cost of $6,550 per mile. It must be said, however, that the South Eastern Company furnished the iron rails, which amounted to a value of about $2,000 per mile. In 1877, the contractor of the Laurentian Railway having failed, Mr. Sénécal was called upon to complete the road, hardly half built, with the scanty resources left. He could dispose of a subsidy of $4,000 per mile, and bonds on the road which could not be negotiated. Col. King, of Sherbrooke, consented to advance $50,000, and Mr. Sénécal built the six or seven miles not constructed, as well as the bridges, and the ballasting in three months. He then proceeded to Lévis and undertook the Lévis and Kennebec line, the contractors of which were also bankrupt. There was very little left of the subsidies available, and with these, and the revenue from the running of the road, he built several miles of the new line, ballasted the whole, and made it a first-class road. In the execution of this enterprise he showed his wonderful power of perseverance and energy in the face of difficulties. The English shareholders, who owned all the bonds and stock of the road, had thought they would be able to control the operations of the line, and a number of business and professional men were certain they would not meet with any obstacle. Mr. Sénécal saw the situation at a glance, attacked the enemy in the front, and defended himself for two years in civil and criminal suits. He resisted the police and orders of the court, kept possession of the road as long as he wanted, and in the end he proved that he was in the right, for he obtained judgments in his favor in forty or fifty cases brought against him by the Hon. Mr. Irvine. However, as there was no money to be made out of the line, he abandoned it, according to the terms of his contract, after making it a first-class-road. One of the most striking traits of his character was that he never allowed himself to be legally or financially cornered, and had always gained his object, even when he had no resources available, and had to struggle against combined wealth, talents and influence. He has built the following railroad lines:—From Sorel to Acton, from Lanoraie to St. Felix de Valois, the Berthier branch, the St. Eustache branch, the ice railway; and he completed the St. Lin road and the Lévis and Kennebec line. When he was appointed general superintendent of the Q., M. O. & O. Railway it was far from finished, and the experience he had acquired in railroad construction was of great benefit to the government in the completion of the provincial road. The services rendered by Hon. Mr. Sénécal in that transaction have been misrepresented by his political adversaries; however, he effected important savings for the provincial government. As these matters still belong to the domain of political history, we will merely place this observation on record. In 1881 he formed a syndicate for the purchase of part of the road. The history and developments of this transaction are too well known to require comment. Later on he sold the road to the Grand Trunk Company, and when the Canadian Pacific Railway Company obtained possession of the line, they were obliged to discharge the bonds issued by the Grand Trunk to pay the first possessors. Although Mr. Sénécal was the bearer of a considerable amount of these bonds, they were not available, and he received only about $100,000 out of the transaction. Mr. Sénécal was one of the founders of the Cumberland Mining and Railway Company, which is to-day the most powerful company in the maritime provinces. In 1883-84 he was president of the Montreal City Passenger Railway, and, had he so desired, he would probably have filled the position until now, but he resigned on being re-elected. He has generally encouraged all great enterprises. He took a large amount of shares in the Coaticook Cotton Company, and also in the Richelieu pulp factory. A few years ago he spent a large amount of money to introduce the electric light system, and he obtained, by a statutory charter, the power to dam the Caughnawaga rapids. The purchase of timber limits, and of the Hull mills, for which he paid more than a million dollars, proved a disastrous venture. His plan was perfect; but no individual was in a position to advance such an enormous amount, and he had to give up the undertaking after losing nearly $400,000. This loss we look upon as a national calamity, because his main object in purchasing such an immense tract of territory was to put a great industry into the hands of his countrymen. It is well known that when Mr. Sénécal had money, it was used to the benefit of everybody, for in his opinion the hoarding of wealth was contemptible. Through the vicissitudes of his eventful career, there were moments when his financial resources were _nil_, as in 1878-79, when his subsidies and his railroad bonds were practically not worth a cent. Nevertheless he undertook the task, at that period, to bring about the dismissal of Lieutenant-Governor Letellier de Saint-Just, on account of his famous _coup-d’état_ of the 2nd of March, 1878. He sold his life insurance policy, some real estate, and, in fact, everything which he could convert into cash, for a few thousand dollars, proceeded to Ottawa, where he took up house and passed the session of 1879, in order to keep the Lower Canadian members united, and finally succeeded in carrying a point considered as irretrievably lost after the refusal of the Marquis of Lorne to sign the dismissal of the Hon. Letellier de Saint-Just. In the same year he employed the same tactics in Quebec and brought about the fall of the Joly ministry. In politics Mr. Sénécal has played a prominent part. He was the mainspring of the Conservative party in the Quebec provincial election in 1881, and again in the Dominion election of 1882, and it is mainly due to his efforts that the party gained such brilliant victories at that time. He was an admirable organizer, and possessed the talent to infuse his own courage into others. His iron will, his energy, and the quickness of his movements carried the day every time. When he had once made up his mind to do a certain thing, it was done. Hon. J. A. Chapleau, who has the reputation of knowing how to gauge a man at his proper worth, and deservedly so, knew the ability of this man of large heart and energy, and honored him with his entire confidence. The secretary of state, who also remembers services and rewards merit when the occasion presents itself, never missed an opportunity to render homage to his valor and to the eminent services he had rendered. He did not hesitate to give him a substantial proof of his gratitude as soon as he found himself in a position to do so, by calling him to the senate, the highest distinction in the gift of the government. In 1882 the French government sent to Mr. Sénécal the cross of a commander of the Legion of Honor. Before giving his allegiance to the Conservative party Mr. Sénécal had been a Liberal, and he was elected as such to the Legislative Assembly for the county of Yamaska, which he represented from 1867 to 1871; at the same time he had been elected for Drummond and Arthabaska to the House of Commons, in which he sat from 1867 to 1872. He is the only man in the country who has been elected in two separate constituencies for two separate chambers in two separate elections. In 1874 he had formed the project, with Hon. Mr. Cauchon, to unite the two political parties, and had almost succeeded, when Mr. Joly, then leader of the opposition, destroyed the _entente_ in a speech delivered at a banquet in Montreal. He then abandoned the Liberals, and the chiefs of the party have often expressed their bitter regrets at losing such a man. On the other hand the Conservatives expressed the same regret, when he was forced to abandon the Conservative government at Ottawa on the Riel question. In 1850 Senator Sénécal married Delphire Dansereau, daughter of Lieutenant-Colonel Dansereau, merchant, of Verchères. Several children were the fruit of this marriage, two of whom only survive: Madame Judge Gill, and Madame W. E. Blumshart. Senator Sénécal was a brother-in-law to Dr. Hercule Dansereau, of Thibodeau, La., Hon. Felix Geoffrion, Captain St. Louis, the late Cyril Archambault, barrister, and uncle to F. X. Archambault, Q.C.

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=Sweeny, Right Rev. John=, D.D., Roman Catholic Bishop of St. John, New Brunswick, was born in Fermanagh, Ireland, in May, 1812. His parents, who belonged to the farming class, were James Sweeny and Mary Macguire. The family emigrated to Canada, and settled in St. John in 1828, taking up land for farming. Bishop Sweeny received his literary education in schools in New Brunswick, and studied theology in the Grand Seminary in Quebec city. In 1844 he was ordained priest by Archbishop Turgeon. He was then appointed to missionary work, and returned to St. John and entered upon his labors. Subsequently he was engaged in similar mission work at Chatham and Shediac, until 1851, when, on the death of the Right Rev. Dr. Dollard, he became administrator. A little later he was appointed vicar-general under the Right Rev. Thomas Connolly, bishop of St. John; and in 1860, on the elevation of Bishop Connolly to the archbishopric of Halifax, he was made bishop. During the many years Bishop Sweeny has occupied his high and responsible position he has done good work for his people, irrespective of his spiritual administration. He has built the St. Vincent Convent and Orphan Asylum; the Convent of the Sacred Heart; the Episcopal residence; the side chapels and spire of the cathedral, and a considerable portion of the cathedral itself; a large brick structure for school purposes; St. Malachi and St. Joseph halls, and an Industrial School near St. John city. His lordship has a large diocese which includes the southern half of New Brunswick, embracing the counties of Westmoreland, Albert, Kings, St. John, Charlotte, Queens, Sunbury, York, Carlton, and the larger part of Kent. On this immense diocese he keeps a vigilant eye, and is ever careful of his people’s spiritual wants. As a preacher his discourses are eminently practical; and whenever he expounds any of the doctrines of his church, he never fails to clearly point out how they should affect the lives of the thousands who listen to his voice. His style is plain, simple, and unaffected, so that a listener is at once impressed with the idea that his aim is rather to instruct than to make a display. In the administration of his diocesan affairs he keeps quietly at work, and every year shows an improvement in all its branches. He seldom undertakes anything that he does not finish; and seems to know not the import of the word “fail.”

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=Pidgeon, J. R.=, Justice of the Peace, Indiantown, New Brunswick. Mr. Pidgeon was born where he still resides, in April, 1830, and is consequently in his fifty-eighth year. His father and mother, who are still living at the age of 83, were among the earliest settlers, and tell many amusing anecdotes of life in New Brunswick in the early part of the century. Our subject received his education in the Common and Normal schools of his province, and at the age of eighteen began the study and practical education of lumber surveyor. At the age of twenty-five he obtained what was termed a “warrant” qualifying him to practice his profession as surveyor which he did until his 42nd year. That year he received the appointment of railway mail clerk on the Intercolonial Railway which appointment he still holds being one of the oldest employés of the postal department on that road. It is however in connection with the temperance reform that he is best known, having espoused the principles of total abstinence as long ago as 1848. He has held the highest offices in the gift of the various temperance societies of his native province, and there are few platforms in the maritime provinces that have not at one time or other resounded with his eloquent voice. In religious belief Mr. Pidgeon is a Baptist, having united with that body in 1864. He is also a member of the Masonic craft of long standing, and has often occupied positions of eminence therein. For some years he has been in the commission of the peace for New Brunswick, a distinction well merited in his case, to say the least. As a speaker, Mr. Pidgeon is forcible, logical, and eloquent, abounding in anecdote and bubbling over with fun. Politically he is a Prohibitionist through and through, and his whole life seems to be to educate the people up to his standard. To the Independent Order of Good Templars in New Brunswick he has been and still is a tower of strength, and wherever he is known enjoys the respect of all and the hatred of none.

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=Worthington, Edward D.=, A.M., M.D., F.R.C.S. (Edin.), Sherbrooke, P.Q. The subject of our sketch is one of the oldest physicians and surgeons in the District of St. Francis, having been in practice nearly fifty years, and gained for himself the reputation of being the leading surgeon in that part of Canada. He was born in Queen’s county, Ireland, on the 1st December, 1820. His parents, John Worthington and Mary Dagge, left Queen’s county on the 11th April, 1822, and after a short stay in Dublin, sailed from that port for America on the 2nd May, and reached Quebec on the 23rd June. Here they remained until 1828, when Mr. Worthington was induced to remove to Upper Canada. Taking his family with him, he started from Quebec on the 28th April of that year, and reached Queenston on the 12th May. This journey proved a most disastrous one, for the whole family suffered from fever and ague, and other misfortunes, and within a few days of one year they returned to Quebec. Here Mr. Worthington remained until his death, he and his wife having resided over fifty years in the city where they first landed after having left their native country. Their bodies now repose in Mount Hermon cemetery, on the banks of the St. Lawrence, surrounded by the graves of seven of their children. The subject of this sketch and his brother John, a druggist in Brooklyn, New York, being all who are left of a large family. In 1834 Dr. Worthington was indentured for seven years to the late Dr. James Douglas, of Quebec, who at that time occupied the foremost rank in his profession in Canada, he and the late Dr. Valentine Mott, of New York, being considered the most accomplished surgeons in America. After serving over five years, Dr. Douglas relieved him from the balance of his indenture, to enable him to accept an appointment as staff-assistant-surgeon in the British army. An assistant-surgeoncy in the army, however, in those piping times of peace, with its “7s. 6d. sterling per diem, and rations,” presented few attractions, so, after serving two years, he left the army, and went to Edinburgh, where he spent two years in attending lectures and “walking” the hospitals. While in Edinburgh he was awarded the medal of the Royal College of Surgeons, and also won the friendship of many of her eminent men, with some of whom he still keeps up a friendly correspondence. Among the students at that time from this side of the Atlantic, were the present Sir Charles Tupper, M.D., C.B.; the Hon. Dr. D. McNeil Parker, of Halifax; and the late Dr. R. H. Russell, of Quebec. On his return to Canada he received, on the 1st August, 1843, the license of the Montreal Medical Board, and immediately settled in Sherbrooke, Eastern townships, where he soon built up an extensive practice, and where he has since continued to reside. He has the fullest confidence of the community in his skill as a physician, and for over thirty years has had nearly all the surgical practice in his district of country. He has the full confidence of his _confrères_, who frequently send for him from long distances for consultations. Dr. Worthington, it will not be out of place to say here, was the first surgeon in Canada who performed a capital operation under ether as an anæsthetic, and was also among the first to use chloroform. On the 10th March, 1847, he amputated below the knee, under ether; and in January, 1848, three cases under chloroform, one being excision of bone. In 1854 the University of Bishop’s College, Lennoxville, conferred upon him the degree of M.A., _honoris causa_; and in 1868, McGill College, Montreal, that of M.D.C.M., _ad eundem_. He is also a fellow of the Royal College of Surgeons of Edinburgh; corresponding member of the Medico-Chirurgical Society of Montreal, and of the Gynæcological Society of Boston, Massachusetts; member of the Canada Medical Association, having been, in 1877, vice-president for the province of Quebec; and for many years one of the governors of the College of Physicians and Surgeons of Quebec, for the District of St. Francis. The doctor has received several substantial marks of public favor, among others, a solid silver tea-service, for his gratuitous attendance on the poor; and a gold watch and chain for his energetic and successful efforts to prevent the spread of that most loathsome of all diseases in Sherbrooke, the small pox. In the years 1837-8, Dr. Worthington served as a private in Captain Le Mesurier’s company of the Quebec regiment of Volunteer Light Infantry, the adjutant being the late Lieut.-Colonel Thomas Wily. The doctor is a warm supporter of the volunteer movement in Canada, and has served in the 53rd Battalion since its formation. He was on active service in both Fenian raids, and retired in 1887, retaining his rank as surgeon-major. He has written a good deal for medical periodicals, and especially for the _Canada Medical Journal_, published in Montreal, and some of his papers have been copied into the medical journals of Great Britain and the United States. Among the many papers he has contributed to the Canadian press are: “A new method of bed-making in fractures” (1871); “Glue bandage in fractures” (1872); “Case of gun-shot wound in abdomen, with perforation of stomach” (1876); and “Acute fibrinous bronchitis, with expectoration of tube casts” (1876). Dr. Worthington is a member of the Church of England, and has been a delegate to the Provincial Synod. In politics he is a Conservative. On the 16th October, 1845, he married Fanny Louisa Smith, eldest daughter of the late Hon. Hollis Smith, the first member elected to the Legislative Council for the Division of Wellington. Mrs. Worthington died on the 17th April, 1887, aged fifty-nine years. Of her eight children, five are now living, two daughters and three sons. The younger daughter is married to Major Antrobus, superintendent of the North-West Mounted Police. Of the sons, Edward Bruen, aged twenty-seven, is senior captain in the 53rd battalion; an LL.B. of Bishop’s College University, and in successful practice in Sherbrooke, as a notary public. Arthur Norreys, aged twenty-five, graduated in medicine at McGill College University in 1886, and after spending some time in Europe, settled in Sherbrooke. He was recently gazetted surgeon to the 53rd battalion, on his father’s retirement from the volunteer service. In September, 1887, he married, at Toronto, Emma May, daughter of H. H. Cook, M.P. for Simcoe East. The youngest son, Hugh Standish, is now at Bishop’s College Grammar School, Lennoxville. Arthur Norreys served through the North-West rebellion in the Field Hospital Corps, and so greatly distinguished himself for his humanity and bravery as to receive the following notice in the official report of Dr. Bergin, surgeon-general:

Many of these young men did noble work, regardless of danger.
Where the bullets fell thickest, with a heroism that has never
been exceeded, they were to be found, removing the wounded and
the dying to places of shelter and of safety in the rear. Some
cases of individual heroism are reported to me, which I feel
call for more than a passing remark; and embolden me to say that
amongst these non-combatant lads, and the staff to which they
belonged, are to be found some of the greatest heroes of the
war. At Batoche I am told that during the fight a flag was
thrust from the window of the church, and was observed by a
surgeon and a student who were under shelter from the fire at a
couple of hundred yards distance. The student, immediately he
perceived it, proposed that a party should at once go to the
relief of the one demanding succor. No one appeared willing to
second his proposal. To go to the church through the open under
such a terrible fire as was being poured from the Half-breed
pits, seemed to be like proceeding to certain death; but
persisting, the surgeon said: “if you are determined to go, and
we can find two volunteers to assist us in carrying a stretcher,
I am with you.” Two men from the Grenadiers of Toronto at once
stepped forward; and the four started upon their perilous
journey—crawling upon their bellies—taking advantage of any
little inequality of ground to cover them, and to shield them
from the bullets of the Half-breeds. They reached the
church—the bullets tearing up the earth all around
them—without a scratch, and, breathing a short prayer for their
deliverance thus far from death and danger, they looked around
for him whom they had risked, and were still risking, their
lives, to succor and to save. They found him in the person of a
venerable priest, who had been wounded in the thigh, and they at
once proceeded to remove him, after administering temporary aid.
To remain in the church was to court certain death. To return to
their corps seemed to be no less perilous; but they chose the
latter. When they sortied from the church, so astonished were
the Half-breeds at their daring that they ceased their fire for
a moment. This time, returning, they had no cover, and were
obliged to march erect. Bullets flew thick and fast; but the
condition of the wounded man precluded anything like hurry, and
they hastened slowly. God watched over them and protected them,
and they reached their comrades in safety, their wounded charge
also escaping without further harm. Such conduct deserves
recognition, and I beg respectfully to call attention to it in
this official way. I have not yet been able to obtain the names
of the two noble fellows belonging to the Grenadiers, but I hope
this notice of it will bring the information I desire. The other
two are Surgeon Gravely, of No. 1 Field Hospital, and Mr.
Norreys Worthington, from the same hospital. The manner in which
Captain Mason was rescued and brought in by, I believe, Dr.
Codd, of the 90th, and one of the young dressers (Mr. Norreys
Worthington), was an exhibition of marked courage by members of
the medical staff. Other instances well deserving of
commendation have been reported to me, and I would respectfully
suggest inquiry into all such cases, and if they be found as
reported to me, that honorable recognition of them be made.

Mr. Worthington claimed descent through Bruen Worthington, of Ashton Hayes, in the county of Chester, and of Philpotstown, in the county of Meath, clerk in the Irish House of Commons, in 1734; from Hugh Worthington, of Worthington, in the county of Lancaster, and of the Manor of Adlington, in Standish parish. He held the lordship of Worthington in the 13th year of Edward IV., A.D. 1474.

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=Vaughan, William=, St. Martins, N.B., was born in 1843, in Liverpool, England, and is consequently in his forty-fifth year. He is the son of the late Captain William Vaughan, of St. Martins, and it is by a mere accident that he claims Liverpool as his birthplace. He received his earlier education in a private school, and afterwards attended the Model school of St. John, N.B., and the Horton Academy at Wolfville, N.S. At the age of seventeen Mr. Vaughan was placed in the office of Farnworth & Jardine, a large shipping firm, of Liverpool, staying there for two years, getting his initial knowledge of business life therein. Returning home, he, in 1866, commenced business on his own account in St. Stephen, N.B. This he continued successfully until 1873, when, in partnership with another gentleman, he established the West India produce house of Vaughan, Clerke & Co. of St. Stephen. On the incorporation of the town, Mr. Vaughan was elected a member of the first town council, and was re-elected as such for the two succeeding years. In 1876 he commenced operations in St. Martins as shipbuilder, building vessels of the larger class. In 1878 the subject of our sketch sold out his interest in the St. Stephen firm, and again made his residence in his boyhood’s home—St. Martins. In 1882, in consequence of the failure of a Liverpool house which were large clients of his, and also in consequence of the depreciation which took place in wooden ships, Mr. Vaughan was compelled to relinquish business. Soon afterwards he was appointed manager of the Government Savings Bank at St. Martins, which position he still holds. In religious belief Mr. Vaughan is a prominent member of the Baptist church, being admitted to fellowship therein in 1857. He has held many positions of honour in this connection, all of which he has filled with credit to himself and with satisfaction to the denomination. Mr. Vaughan is also prominent in Masonic circles, being a past master of Sussex Lodge, St. Stephen; past principal of St. Stephen R. A. Chapter; and past eminent commander of St. Stephen Encampment K.T. In 1867 the subject of our sketch married a daughter of John Marks, of St. Stephen, and has a family of three boys and two girls. Mr. Vaughan has been a life-long total abstainer, not even knowing the taste of alcoholic liquors. At the present writing (1887) he is the grand chief templar of the Independent Order of Good Templars in New Brunswick, and has held the position for two years. Politically, Mr. Vaughan is a Conservative, although, as between the question of prohibition and party, if necessary, the latter would have to bow to the former. A man of good physique and energetic character, Mr. Vaughan is one of the many of her sons of whom his province, and, in fact, his country, may be proud.

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=Fraser, Hon. Duncan C.=, B.A., Barrister, New Glasgow, Nova Scotia, was born at New Glasgow, Nova Scotia, on the 1st of October, 1845. His parents were Alexander Fraser and Annie Chisholm. He received his primary education at the Normal School, and graduated B.A. at Dalhousie College in 1872. He also took a course of instruction in the Military School. He chose law as a profession, and has succeeded in building up a large and lucrative business. Mr. Fraser has taken an active interest in municipal affairs, and for some time was town clerk, and a school trustee. He was then elevated to the mayoralty of his native town, and occupied the office for two terms. In provincial politics, he has also participated, and during the administration of the Hon. P. C. Hill, which held the reigns of power from 1875 to 1878, he was a member of the Legislative Council, and held a position in the government without a portfolio, but he resigned his seat in the council and returned to private life. In politics he is a Liberal, and a pronounced free trader. He has been long connected with the temperance reform, and takes a deep interest in all societies having for their object the extermination of the traffic in intoxicating drinks. At present he is the chief of the Independent Order of Good Templars in Nova Scotia. He is connected with Masonic and Oddfellows orders; and has been a deputy-grand master of the Masonic body. Mr. Fraser is familiar with the Maritime provinces, and has twice taken a trip to the Pacific coast. He is an adherent of the Presbyterian church, and occupies the position of elder. On the 24th of October, 1878, he was married to Bessie G. Graham, daughter of William and Annie Graham, of New Glasgow.

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=Matheson, Colonel Roderick.=—The Honorable Roderick Matheson, Senator, was born in the parish of Loch Carron, Ross-shire, Scotland, in December, 1793. He was descended from the last recognized Chief of Clan Mathan, Dugald Matheson, of Balmacara, Loch Alsh, Ross-shire, who joined Earl Seaforth in the Jacobite rebellion, and was killed in the action of Glen Shiel, Glenelg, on 10th June, 1719. Dugald Matheson left four sons. The three younger brothers went out to India, and did not return; the eldest, Roderick, remained at home and married Christina, daughter of Kenneth Mackenzie, with issue John, Dugald, and a daughter. John married Flora, daughter of Donald Macrae, of Strath Conan, who also fought in the Jacobite cause at Culloden, and was obliged to leave Scotland for some years after the rebellion. John Matheson had issue two sons, one of them the subject of our sketch, and three daughters. Col. Matheson’s father died while he was a boy, and while attending school at Inverness; he was brought out to Canada at the age of twelve, by his elder brother, and completed his education at a school in Lower Canada. When the war of 1812 broke out, a regiment was raised by the Imperial Government, called the Glengarry Light Infantry Fencibles, and on the 6th Feb., 1812, Roderick Matheson was gazetted senior ensign, and in 1813, he was appointed lieutenant and paymaster. During the war he saw a great deal of active service, being present at the actions of York, Sackett’s Harbor, Cross Roads, Fort George, Lundy’s Lane, and Fort Erie, and in nearly all the engagements on the Niagara frontier. He was twice wounded, once very severely at Sackett’s Harbor, where he was in command of his company. After the war, he was allowed a year’s leave on full pay on account of his wound, and in December, 1816, on the reduction of the army, he was retired on half-pay. In 1817, with a large number of his comrades in arms, he settled at the town of Perth, Ont., then founded, and continued to reside there up to the time of his death, on 13th January, 1873. During the rebellion of 1837, he volunteered with five hundred men for service in Lower Canada, and, as Colonel commanding the First Military District of Upper Canada, he took an active interest in the organization of many of the present volunteer companies in the Ottawa Valley from 1855 to 1863. In 1847, Col. Matheson was appointed a life member of the Legislative Council of Canada, and, on the confederation of the provinces in 1867, he was appointed a Senator of the Dominion. Previous to the appointment of county judges, he was also Chairman of the Quarter Sessions. He married first, Mary, daughter of Captain Robertson, of Inverness, Scotland, who died in 1825; second, in 1830, Anna, daughter of the Rev. James Russell, minister of Gairloch, Ross-shire, Scotland, by whom he had a large family. In politics Col. Matheson was a staunch Conservative.

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=Peters, Simon=, J.P., Builder and Architect, Quebec, was born in Youghal, county Cork, Ireland, on the 18th September, 1815. His father, who died in 1837, had been color-sergeant in H. M. 1st Battalion 60th Regiment, and had seen active service in the memorable battles of Salamanca, Vittoria, and Pampalona. The family had come to Canada some years before the father’s death, and settled in Quebec. The subject of this sketch had but slight educational advantages, being entirely self-taught until over twenty years of age. He was apprenticed to the building trade at the age of sixteen, developing marked talent as a mechanic. In 1836 he left Quebec for New York, where he remained for four years. In 1838 he married Eliza Jane Lamoreux, daughter of the late Abraham Lamoreux, high constable of New York. In the same year he secured his first schooling in the form of a six months’ course of drawing lessons, during which he proved himself an apt and interested scholar. In 1840 he returned to Quebec, where winter was just setting in. Though possessed of little of this world’s goods, Mr. Peters was not dismayed, but by dint of natural ability and hard work, soon made a place for himself. In the winter of 1841-42 he finished his scholastic education with a season’s course in the night classes of the British-Canadian school, under the late Mr. Geggie. He also employed his evenings, for seven years, learning vocal music, and attained a good reputation as a tenor singer at St. Patrick’s Church, and also at concerts for charitable objects. He found good friends in the late Alexander Simpson, cashier of the Bank of Montreal, and Rev. Mr. McMahon. His worldly affairs prospering, he was able to take charge of his widowed mother, sister and four brothers. The brothers became in turn apprenticed to him at the building trade. In 1853 he built a steam sash, door, and blind factory, the first ever built in Quebec. This factory worked continuously until 1864, when it was destroyed, together with a large quantity of lumber. The proprietor’s loss was very heavy, as there was little insurance. Two years later he built the present works on the corner of Grant and Prince Edward streets, known as the St. Charles Steam Saw and Planing Mills, blind, door, sash, box, and car factory, a large and important industry. He constructed the joiner work of the first steamer _Quebec_, and the steamer _Union_, plying on the river St. Lawrence. Mr. Peters has reached the topmost round of success in his profession, having been engaged in the construction of a great variety of works, many of them most important. A mere catalogue of some of the chief ones will serve to indicate the wide range of contracts he has undertaken:—Upper Town market-house, gas works, St. Paul street market-house, Wesleyan church, St. Peter’s church, St. Sauveur church, Sisters of Charity church and buildings, Masonic hall, Lévis Episcopal church, music hall, jail and court house at St. Hyacinthe, and also at St. Thomas, Montmagny; Wellington barracks, at Halifax, Nova Scotia; hotel at Tadousac, and the Earl of Dufferin’s house, at the same place. He restored Quebec custom house after the fire; built the wharf and light-house at Point St. Laurent Island of Orleans; also the outer ballast wharf, and the Louise embankment connected with the same, at the mouth of the St. Charles river; the Allan wharf; also a large number of dwellings; notably, Hamwood, Cataraqui, Elmsgrove, Bandon Lodge, Bijou, Sans Bruit, and Sir George Stephens’ elegant house, at Grand Metis, lined and finished inside with British Columbia cedar, brought over by the Canadian Pacific Railway for the purpose. Of fourteen children born, four sons and four daughters remain, all the daughters and two of the sons being married. In religion, Mr. Peters is a Roman Catholic. He has been for years vice-president of the Quebec and Lake St. John Railway Company, as well as a member of the council of the Quebec Board of Trade. He has been a member of St. Patrick’s Society for over twenty-five years, and was its president for the year 1878-1879. He has won his success not by adventitious aids, but is emphatically a self-made man, an honor to Canada, and to the race from which he sprung.

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