Chapter M: C. Baillairgé, Quebec (31)

=McHenry, Donald C.=, M.A., Principal of the Cobourg Collegiate Institute, Cobourg, Ont., was born in Napanee, Ont., in 1840. He is son of Alexander McHenry (from county Antrim, Ireland), and Ellen Campbell, daughter of Archibald Campbell, Adolphustown, county of Lennox, a descendant of the Campbells of Argyleshire. Mr. McHenry, senr., was for some years engaged in the timber business on the Ottawa, but subsequently he was in the dry-goods business in connection with his brother-in-law, Alexander Campbell, Napanee. He died in 1847, leaving a widow and three children, the eldest, the subject of this sketch; a daughter, now Mrs. Alexander Henry, Napanee, and Miss Nellie, still living with her mother in their native town. The father, about the time of his marriage, united with the Wesleyan Methodist church, of which he remained a faithful member until his death. Upon Mrs. McHenry devolved the arduous task of bringing up her three children; and any success they have attained, they are proud to say, they largely owe to their devoted Christian mother. D. C. McHenry received his early education in Napanee. When thirteen years of age he went to learn the printing business, soon became fairly acquainted with its details, and rose to the position of foreman in the office of the _Standard_. The printing office proved, indeed, a second school to him, and his spare hours were given to reading and study. He longed for a higher education, and when about nineteen years of age, he closed the door of the printing office to open that of the academy, as an eager student, under R. Phillips, head master, a man beloved by all who have ever been under his instruction. After remaining here a year or two, he was induced to undertake the management of a new paper started in Napanee by the McMullen Bros., of Picton. At the end of one year the paper was removed to Newburgh, seven miles distant, but after eight months Mr. McHenry returned to Napanee. A vacancy having occurred in the second position in the Grammar school, he was advised to apply for the appointment. He did so, and was soon an occupant of a teacher’s chair, in the school where he had lately been a pupil. The work of teaching proved congenial, and he was soon fixed in this as his probable life-work. His ambition led him to desire a university course, and with this in view he devoted himself assiduously to the study of classics, being aided in Latin, but getting up his Greek with very limited assistance. After six years of very successful work in this position, he resigned, in 1869, and left for Victoria College, from which he graduated in 1873. His course was one of close application and uniform success—first-class honours in classics and moderns—receiving the second Prince of Wales’ medal for general proficiency, and the scholarship for excellence in moderns. Five months prior to graduation he was offered, and accepted the classical mastership of Cobourg Collegiate Institute—a substitute being accepted in the meantime. After one year he was promoted to the principalship, which position he has filled for the past thirteen years. It was at this time (1874), that he was united in marriage to Alice, daughter of John Grange, of Napanee. His school was, for many years, about the only one that prepared students for Victoria, and notwithstanding the multiplication of institutes (from four to eighteen), it has held its own, and sent up for arts alone about two hundred and fifty during Mr. McHenry’s thirteen years, besides a large number for teachers’ examinations, for law, medicine, theology, etc. In regard to Mr. McHenry’s personal and professional qualities, we quote from testimonials of well-known educationists:—

(1.) REV. CHANCELLOR NELLES.—“He is an accurate scholar, a good
disciplinarian, and a most successful teacher, and, indeed, has
few if any equals in the general management of High school
work.”

(2.) REV. DR. BURWASH.—“It is not too much to say that in the
teaching profession he has few equals in this province. Both as
an editor of classical literature and as a writer on the science
of teaching, he has proved himself a master in his work; while
in the instruction of a class and in the organization and
government of a large school he stands in the foremost rank of
teachers. As a Christian gentleman, his life and personal
character are a model for young men; while his quiet, dignified
independence and energy commend universal respect.”

(3.) DR. HAANEL.—“His advice and counsel as a member of our
senate has always been highly appreciated as sound, and
calculated to advance real scholarship. Energetic and zealous in
every good cause, Mr. McHenry has long been an important factor
in educational and social circles here.”

(4.) DR. BURNS, HAMILTON.—“One of the most successful educators
of our country. His scholarship is broad and reliable. Although
a comparatively young man, he has secured a status among
educators that he may well be proud of. His record is an
exceedingly honourable one, both for talent, success, and
personal character. Socially, he would be an acquisition to any
circle.”

Mr. McHenry’s is one of those cases where a boy or young man has had the advantages arising from being early thrown upon his own resources. What he has accomplished or attained is evidently the result of personal energy and self-reliance.

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=Allard, Joseph Victor=, Berthierville, Quebec, was born at St. Cuthbert, county of Berthier, 1st February, 1860. His father, Prosper Allard, was a most successful agriculturist, who cultivated his farm until 1884, when he sold his rural belongings and removed to Berthierville. His wife (the honored and beloved mother of the subject of our sketch), Genevievre Aurez Laferriere, died in 1881, when he married a second time—12th September, 1887,—the lady of his choice this time being a most estimable lady, the widow of Captain Romuald Fauteux, who himself had been a merchant at Berthier. Young Allard was educated at L’Assomption College, receiving an excellent classical training. From there he entered Laval University, Quebec, and in the years 1878-9 passed his examination successfully and took the degree of bachelor of arts. In 1881 he entered on the study of law at Sherbrooke and was called to the Quebec bar in 1884. Mr. Allard is one of the rising young men and a lawyer of repute in the town of Berthierville. In religion he is a devout Roman Catholic; in politics he is a consistent Liberal-Conservative, and there is but little doubt that in the future he will be found advocating the cause of his party in the local legislature or on the floor of the Dominion parliament. He is the legal representative of the Legal and Commercial Exchange of Canada for the county of Berthier. On 21st January, 1885, Mr. Allard was married to Blanche Doval, daughter of Alexandre Damase Doval and Amilié Lengendre. Mr. Doval in his life-time was a well-known advocate, as well as inspector of schools for the counties of L’Assomption, Berthier and Joliette. Mrs. Allard is niece of our celebrated French-Canadian writer, Napoleon Lengendre, F.R.S.C.

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=Dessaulles, George Casimir=, St. Hyacinthe, Quebec, President of the Bank of St. Hyacinthe and of the St. Hyacinthe Manufacturing Company, and an enterprising citizen, was born in St. Hyacinthe, on the 29th of September, 1827. His father was Jean Dessaulles, seigneur of St. Hyacinthe, one of the founders of the place, a member of the Lower Canada parliament for years, and at the time of his death, in 1835, a member of the Legislative Council of the province of Quebec. The father of Jean Dessaulles was from Switzerland, coming to Lower Canada in the latter part of the last century. The mother of our subject was Rosalie Papineau, sister of the Hon. Louis J. Papineau. She died in 1867. Mr. Dessaulles was educated at the College of St. Hyacinthe, taking a complete classical course, and studied law, but never engaged in its practice. His time has been largely employed in looking after his seignorial estate and other property, and attending to the various municipal and other offices which he has held, or still holds. He was councilman for twelve years, mayor of the city for ten years, making twenty-two consecutive years’ service in the municipality, and then declined the chief magistracy against the wishes of the people; was a school commissioner at one period; a justice of the peace, and the second president of the bank of St. Hyacinthe, taking that position in 1878. The manufacturing company, of which he is president, is a large institution, and doing a variety of business—carding wool, manufacturing flannels and cloths, flour for custom market, etc. It is such enterprises as this that have helped to build up the city of St. Hyacinthe; and in efforts made in that direction no man has done more than the subject of this sketch, whose energies and business tact and talent are thoroughly devoted to the interests of his native city. He is connected with the Catholic church, and was at one time president of the St. Jean Baptiste Society. His moral character is unblemished. Mr. Dessaulles was first married, in 1857, to Emma Mondelet, third daughter of the Hon. Dominic Mondelet, of Three Rivers, she dying in 1864, leaving one son and two daughters; and the second time, in 1869, to Frances Louise Leman, daughter of Dr. Dennis S. Leman, an English physician, and by her has two daughters and two sons.

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=La Roque, Gedeon=, M.D., Quebec. Sergeant-at-Arms of the Legislative Assembly of the Province of Quebec, is not only a conspicuous contemporary figure in that province, but a gentleman who has taken an active part in its politics, and contributed in no slight degree to the development of its resources and material prosperity. He was born at Chambly, in the province of Quebec, on the 22nd December, 1831. He springs from a stock as remarkable for its fruitfulness and attachment to the soil, as for the eminent positions to which some of its members have attained. Originally from France, in the early days of the colony, and mostly farmers, his ancestors were among the pioneers of settlement and civilization in Chambly county, P.Q., locating along the banks of the little river “Montreal,” about a mile from Chambly basin, tilling the soil, raising large families, and laying the foundations of what is to-day one of the most populous and thriving agricultural communities in Lower Canada. The family of Dr. La Roque’s paternal grandfather, composed of eleven brothers and three sisters, nearly all occupied adjoining farms in the parish of Chambly. His uncle, the late Monseigneur Joseph La Roque, formerly Roman Catholic coadjutor bishop of Montreal, and afterwards bishop of the diocese of St. Hyacinthe, who died in November, 1887, was the last survivor of a family also composed of fourteen members. Another deceased bishop of St. Hyacinthe, Monseigneur Charles La Roque, previously for many years parish priest of St. John’s, P.Q., was also a near relative of the subject of this sketch. Both these prelates were in their day men of high standing, great learning and marked ability, and their names are still venerated as among the most illustrious in the Lower Canadian hierarchy. Dr. La Roque began his classical education at Chambly College, so ably presided over at the time by its zealous founder, Rev. P. Mignault, parish priest of Chambly. Subsequently young La Roque was entered at the St. Hyacinthe College, where he continued and completed his studies under the immediate eye of his uncle, Rev. Joseph La Roque, the superior of the institution, and afterwards bishop of St. Hyacinthe. On leaving college he decided to study medicine, and was accordingly indentured for the purpose to another of his uncles, Dr. Luc Eusebe La Roque, of St. Jerome, Terrebonne, P.Q., now the parish of Father Labelle, the great apostle of colonization in the province of Quebec. It was while pursuing his medical studies that young La Roque first became interested in the cause of colonization, to the advancement of which he has so patriotically devoted so much of his subsequent career. His uncle, Dr. L. E. La Roque, who had then but lately returned from the gold fields of California, and who was one of the few survivors who had crossed (both ways) the deadly swamps of the Isthmus of Panama, had become largely interested in the settlement of the wild lands in the upper part of the River du Nord, in the county of Terrebonne, and in the fall of 1851 young Gedeon La Roque was despatched by him, in charge of a squad of men, to open up a settlement at _Lac à la Truite_, some forty miles from St. Jerome. The youthful pioneer and his companions only succeeded in reaching their destination, after enduring the greatest hardships and suffering. It took them two days to accomplish the last twelve miles of their fearful journey through the wilderness, but the result must be regarded as a fitting reward of the heroism displayed on the occasion. To-day the beautiful and populous parish of St. Agathe des Monts, in the county of Terrebonne, surrounds the spot where young La Roque and his men felled the first trees, and erected the first log hut on the western shore of _Lac à la Truite_. To the late Hon. A. N. Morin, then provincial secretary for Lower Canada, under the newly formed cabinet of Hincks-Morin, and Dr. Luc Eusebe La Roque, undoubtedly belonged the honor of being the instigators of the first great movement of colonization in that section of the country, but the credit of actually opening up the first settlement in the township of Abercrombie (Terrebonne) must be awarded to Gedeon La Roque, who, after this incident, resumed and completed his medical studies at the School of Medicine and Surgery at Montreal, finally passing as a licentiate in medicine on the 9th October, 1855, before the College of Physicians and Surgeons of Lower Canada, of which the late Dr. Fremont was then president, Drs. Landry and Pelletier, secretaries, and Dr. Jones, _actorum custos_. After his admission, Dr. Gedeon La Roque settled down to practise his profession at Longueuil, opposite Montreal, where he met with early and gratifying success. By 1863 he had so grown in the confidence and esteem of his fellow citizens, that in that year he was elected mayor of Longueuil, after a hard contest with Mr. F. X. Valade, N.P., and was subsequently re-elected three times to the same office without opposition. He also filled the responsible position of warden of the county Chambly during four years. At the time of confederation, in 1867, Dr. La Roque was pressed by his many friends to accept the candidature of the county for the Quebec Legislative Assembly, in the interests of the Conservative party, but, though he declined the honor for himself, he worked and secured the election, for the party, of Mr. J. B. Jodoin, against Mr. F. David, who was not only supported by the Liberal party, but by his brother-in-law, Mr. L. Betournay, a man of great influence in the county, and a member of the same legal firm as the late Sir George E. Cartier (Cartier, Pominville & Betournay). At the general elections of 1871, Dr. La Roque, being again solicited by his friends to stand for the county for the Local House, decided to come forward, and was put in nomination against Mr. P. B. Benoit, M.P. This was before the abolition of dual representation. Dr. La Roque was supported both by Conservatives and Liberals, and elected by a large majority, his opponent resigning after the close of the first day’s polling. His parliamentary career was marked by much independence of thought and action, especially during the Chauveau and Ouimet Administrations, when he spoke and voted against the Government on the questions of the lease of Beauport asylum, dual representation, and some matters concerning teachers and education. After the so-called Tanneries’ scandal, and the resignation of the Ouimet ministry, the member for Chambly, believing that a vigorous railway policy was essential to the opening up and development of the province, gave an unhesitating support to the railway programme of their successors the De Boucherville cabinet, and was invited by the premier, Mr. De Boucherville, to move the address in reply to the speech from the throne, on which occasion he was very ably sustained by the member for Huntingdon, Dr. Cameron, as seconder of the resolution. As a friend of colonization, Dr. Larocque was an ardent advocate of railway building, and as such the proposals of the De Boucherville government in the house regarding the construction of the Northern Colonization (so called at the time) and the North Shore Railroads, not only met with his warm approval and active support, but during 1874 and 1875 he even gave his services as agent to the contractors of the Northern Colonization road, Messrs. McDonald & Abbott, in order to purchase the right of way from River des Prairies to Aylmer. On the 15th June, 1875, a vacancy having occurred in the position of Sergeant-at-Arms of the Legislative Assembly, he was appointed to fill it, and this important and responsible appointment he still continues to hold with general acceptance, enjoying not only the confidence and regard of succeeding ministers and parliaments, but the respect of the public as well, for his tact and firmness in the discharge of the regular duties of his office, as for the energy, ability and taste with which he has at different times supervised and carried out works that had to be executed at short notice, including the fitting up and decorating of both Houses of the Legislature on such occasions of mark as the receptions of the Marquis of Lorne and H.R.H. the Princess Louise, in 1878, of the lieutenant-governors of the province, of the speakers of the Legislative Assembly, and last, but not least, of Madame Mercier, wife of the premier of the province, on the occasion of the Interprovincial Conference, in October, 1887, and in honor of the delegates to that important congress, of which Dr. La Roque was also named accountant. Another distinctive feature of his life-work, and one which does infinite honor to his intelligence and patriotism, is the ardor which he has ever shown in endeavouring to ameliorate the system of agriculture pursued in his native province. In and out of the legislature, no man has done more to advance that important cause in Lower Canada, both by preaching and personal example. His published treatises on agriculture and horticulture have become handbooks among his fellow countrymen, and his valuable little work on “The Culture of Tobacco,” has contributed largely to the promotion and improvement of that industry in the province of Quebec. He also owns a large farm at Beaumont, below the city of Quebec, which is actually under the management of his son, and is deservedly regarded as a model establishment of its kind. Dr. La Roque was married three times—firstly, on the 30th June, 1856, to Miss Marie Felicity Thibault, a sister of the late Rev. Messrs. George and Amable Thibault, parish priests respectively of Longueuil and Chambly, in the diocese of Montreal; secondly, in May, 1870, to Miss Rosalie Brauneis, of Montreal; and lastly, in January, 1874, to Miss Marie Asilda Davignon, daughter of Simon Davignon, N.P., of Belœil, P.Q. By these three marriages he has had eighteen children, of whom ten are still living.

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=Robillard, Alexander=, M.P.P., Russel, was born in the township of Gloucester, county of Russel, in 1843. He comes of the best French-Canadian stock, his father having been a man of extensive business as a contractor in Ottawa. His father died at the ripe old age of 87 years, his mother being still alive and in the enjoyment of good health at an equally advanced age. Young Robillard had the benefit of a sound commercial education at St. Joseph’s College, Ottawa, and this education he has used to such advantage that he is now one of the heaviest operators in contracting work and quarrying. He was the contractor for the construction of the Model School, one of the most substantial buildings in the city, which was put up by the Ontario Government. His career in business has been one of steady advance, his record having been throughout such as none could find fault with. Being of adventurous disposition, Mr. Robillard has travelled extensively and in places which, when he saw them, were new and strange. He made extensive tours in the West, especially on the Pacific coast from Panama to British Columbia. He has crossed the Isthmus of Panama twice and has been through a great portion of South America. He has also visited Europe several times, making it a point to see all the out-of-the-way places his time would permit him to visit, and has crossed the Pacific to the Orient twice. These travels have been undertaken at various times and the effect of them is plainly to be seen in his toleration of opinions differing from his own and his great knowledge of foreign lands. Mr. Robillard was married at the age of twenty-two, to Miss Sophia Lafleur, who died in May, 1885. The children of the union are seven in number, of whom six are boys. Political affairs have always had great attraction for Mr. Robillard, and he has taken an active part in all the municipal and political contests of his district since he was entitled to vote. His record as a municipal councillor is a long and honorable one, he having been elected Deputy Reeve of Gloucester for five years and afterwards Reeve for three years. In 1886 he was elected to represent his native county in the Legislative Assembly of Ontario. In that capacity he has served only one session, but he enters upon his career with the confident belief on the part of his constituents that he will certainly make his mark. He is a Liberal in politics.

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=Rexford, Rev. Elson Irving=, B.A., Secretary of the Department of Public Instruction, Quebec, was born at South Bolton, Brome County, P.Q., on the 17th June, 1850. He is the eldest son of Orrin Rexford, (who married Eliza Dimond), and a grandson of one of seven brothers who came from the shores of Lake Champlain about 1790, and settled in the County of Stanstead, on the shores of Lake Memphremagog. The Rexford family on this continent are descendants of Arthur Rexford, who was master of a trading vessel between England and the West Indies and the New England colonies, and who died in New Haven, Conn., in 1727. The Rev. Elson I. Rexford attended the elementary and superior schools of his native county until he was sixteen years of age, when he entered the McGill Normal School, Montreal, where he obtained a Model School diploma at the end of a two years’ course of training, taking first place and the Prince of Wales’ medal. He held the positions of assistant master in the model training school of the McGill Normal School and head master of one of the city schools under the Protestant Board of School Commissioners, Montreal, for three years. During this time he took an active part in the local association of Teachers, of which he held the position of Secretary for some time. He entered upon the Arts course of McGill University, Montreal, in September, 1871. He graduated with honors in mental and moral philosophy in 1876, having dropped out for one year when he entered upon the study of theology; this study he continued during the last two years of his arts course. He was ordained by the Right Reverend Ashton Oxendon in 1876, and immediately entered upon the charge of St. Luke’s Church, Montreal. This charge he was obliged to resign after a few months, in consequence of ill-health, by which he was deprived of the use of one leg for about two years. On account of this he returned to the work of teaching, first as head-master of his former school in Montreal, and afterwards as assistant head master of the Montreal High School. During this time he was President of the Local Association of Montreal Teachers, and Secretary of the Provincial Association of Protestant Teachers, Quebec. In 1882, he was called from the High School to fill the position of English Secretary of the Department of Public Instruction, Quebec, rendered vacant by the retirement of Dr. Miles, which position he still holds. He was elected several times Representative Fellow on the Corporation of McGill University, and on his removal to Quebec, he was appointed Governor’s Fellow of the University. In September, 1882, he married Louisa Norris, of Montreal.

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=Derbishire, Stewart.=—If variety in the career of a man tend to render his life—other things being equal—more interesting than those of his fellows, who maintain an even tenor on their way, following the profession through life in which they have been brought up and educated, then will our readers find this element of interest not wanting in the life of the subject of the following sketch. Beginning life as a soldier, the late Mr. Derbishire soon turned to the study of the law, and though he found himself on the high road to distinction in this profession, he relinquished it for the more exciting pursuit of journalism, which led him to Spain during the Constitutional war, where he drew his sword on behalf of Queen Isabella. When however, the decisive action, which ended in the defeat of Gomez, placed the crown upon her head, he embarked in the very opposite mission of endeavouring to bring peace to a distracted country, in the train of Lord Durham. Unlike his master, however, he did not leave this country on the apparent failure of that nobleman’s truly humane and generous efforts on behalf of the people; but being drawn into the political life of the country, after executing some very delicate missions of a diplomatic character, he was elected the first member for Bytown, now Ottawa; which constituency he continued to serve in parliament for several years, until, after the passing of the Independence of Parliament Act, he gave up his seat, having become Queen’s Printer for united Canada in 1841. So slight are the causes to which we are sometimes led to attribute the direction given to our current of life, that Mr. Derbishire was often heard to say, that it was owing to his belief that the rebellion was by no means finally quelled, but that there would be another spurt before long, and wishing—to use his own words—“to see the fun,” that Canada finally became his home—a home to which he accorded a loyal affection and admiration, and whose fluctuating course, after he had retired from the political arena, he watched with anxiety and interest to the end of his life. Stewart Derbishire, born in London, in the year 1800, was the third son of Philip Derbishire, M.D., and Ann Masterton, daughter of Allan Masterton, of Edinburgh, an intimate friend and companion of Burns, whose verses he was fond of setting to music. Miss Masterton, who was gifted with great personal charms, and of more than average mental ability, was the subject of those lines by Burns, entitled “Beware o’ Bonnie Ann.” At the age of sixteen, Mr. Derbishire commenced life as an ensign in the Eighty-second regiment, but very soon afterwards, the peace having caused the reduction of the army to one half its strength, he became a student of law of the Honorable Society of Gray’s Inn, about the year 1824. He was engaged in several cases of much public interest, in the conduct of which he distinguished himself, and amongst which was that of the Dorsetshire labourers, prosecuted for machine-breaking in 1832. The case created great interest throughout England, and was reported at unusual length in the _Times_ of that period. From an early age Mr. Derbishire was of very strongly pronounced Liberal views in politics, and being drawn into the vortex of political journalism, aided very effectually the movement which ended in the passing of the Reform Bill. Having gained the warm regard of Sir de Lacy Evans, commander of the British Legion, which championed the cause of Queen Isabella in 1837, and having become much interested in the struggle going on in Spain, Mr. Derbishire proceeded to the troubled scene as special correspondent of the _Morning Chronicle_. Not satisfied, however, with using his pen only in the cause, and desiring to be more actively engaged in the struggle, he volunteered at the assault of Irun, and for his personal bravery received a medal, as well as a very flattering letter from Sir de Lacy. He also earned the high approbation of Narvaez, under whom he served in the campaigns of Castile, Valladolid and Sagovia, for which services he was made a Knight of the Christian and Military Order of San Fernando, and received several medals for his gallantry. The honor of saving the life of Narvaez in a mutiny, has been attributed to him, and he is also said to have been the first to point out to the Melbourne ministry—then active champions of the Quadruple Alliance—the inefficiency of Espartero, and to foretell the rise of Narvaez. In 1838, the subject of our sketch came out to Canada as attaché to the Earl of Durham. He held this nobleman in high esteem, as well for his personal qualities as for his generous and large-hearted statesmanship, and like him, he considered a lenient policy the only one to be pursued towards the recently insurgent population, amongst whom he acted as an emissary of mercy, visiting in the Montreal district the localities, which, like Saint Benoit and Saint Eustache had been desolated by the flames of civil war, carrying consolation and assistance to the victims of the strife. He continued after the troubles had ceased, to have a warm corner in his heart for the rebels, some of whom became his personal friends, and towards whom—more especially Dr. Wolfred Nelson and Dr. Rolph—he entertained, not only feelings of affectionate regard, but of high respect and admiration, as towards men who had taken up a course detrimental to their own interests, in the hope of gaining for the country that which, in a short time, all but an insignificant minority agreed the country must have. For some of the less fortunate among their brethren, who remained in exile, he used his influence with the Canadian government. Later in the day, when many of the former rebels were serving their country in honourable positions, and it was no singular thing to be in friendship with them, one of Lord Metcalfe’s aides was heard to say, “How are your friends the rebels, Derbishire?” “Oh,” was the reply, “I can’t get to see them now, you keep them at government house; when Viger was in jail we could get to him, now we can’t.” Viger was then president of the council. In the course of Mr. Derbishire’s diplomatic duties, he brought up from New York the news from Britain that, as he expressed it, “would make his lordship kick and throw up his commission,” as indeed it did, and shortly after the Earl’s departure, the rebellion again breaking out, as all along he had predicted it would, he was asked, as one who knew the country and the people, to undertake the dangerous service of carrying despatches to New Brunswick and Halifax, demanding immediate re-inforcements of troops; this he did, travelling in mid-winter from Quebec to Halifax by sleigh and on horse-back, and resting neither night nor day till his mission was fulfilled. Finding everything tranquil on his return to Lower Canada, he endeavoured to regain his native land, but owing to the badness of the roads, arrived in New York too late for the packet, by which he intended sailing. There were at that time matters of great interest in agitation at Washington, and Mr. Fox—then British minister there—engaged his services to draw up several papers upon the international relations between Great Britain, the United States and the Canadas, which were sent home to the Foreign office with high commendations, and Mr. Derbishire was just on the eve of embarking with strong recommendations to Lord Palmerston, when a letter reached him, stating, that Mr. Poulett Thompson, afterwards Lord Sydenham, wished him to join his government, whereupon he once more turned his footsteps in the direction of the country which appeared fated to become his home. Before leaving the United States, however, Mr. Fox commissioned him to travel leisurely through Maine, on his way from New Brunswick to Canada, and endeavor to find out the feelings of the people of that state upon the vexed question of their northern boundary; he did so, and found the Mainites in a highly irritated, and what he considered to be, wholly unreasonable frame of mind on that subject, and he drew up a somewhat lengthy paper on the knowledge gained through his enquiries, which Mr. Fox spoke of as containing some extremely valuable information, and the gist of which would form a useful addition to the history extant upon the subject. In 1841, Mr. Derbishire was elected member of Parliament for Bytown, having been personally recommended by Lord Sydenham, as “a friend of my own, qualified by his ability to do honor to any constituency.” Sir Charles Bagot’s administration, Mr. Derbishire considered in the highest degree successful, and full of promise to the young country, whose factions were beginning to coalesce and work in harmony under the straightforward, wise and honorable policy of that governor. If, however, he was so fortunate as to have his political sentiments at one with those of each governor-general who had ruled in the country since his arrival in it—during whose administrations had been developed and brought into action that principle of responsible government which was to release the youthful limbs of the country from the bands that had hitherto confined them, allowing them to gain strength within the bounds of legitimate freedom—responsible government, “without which, British rule in this part of the empire must have become a monument of cruelty, injustice and folly”—it was far otherwise when Sir Charles Bagot’s unfortunate successor came upon the scene—the former happy unity of sentiment ceased. Admiring, as he did, Lord Metcalfe’s benevolent _heart_, it could only be with a sorrowful foreboding that he watched the reversion, by this nobleman’s want of _head_, of all that the three former governors had striven to establish. Lord Metcalfe was only “fighting again a battle which had been already fought and lost; but fighting it with diminished forces, and positions considerably less favorable, reviving a contest lost by Sir F. B. Head.” Believing, that until prepared with other ministers, granting a reasonable time for the construction of a cabinet, it is out of all rule of representative, responsible, or any government short of a despotism, to dismiss, or what is the same thing, promote the resignation of an existing ministry, his vote condemned the claim advanced by the governor-general, to make appointments without the knowledge of the cabinet, although a threat of dismissal from the office of Queen’s printer—which had been bestowed upon him in 1841—was held over his head. It was a question to him whether the country should progress in that development, which seems to be the lot of all new countries where free play is given to the instinct of the Anglo-Saxon race for self-government, or whether the irritation caused by the frustration of this instinct, should break out again into civil war, bringing anarchy and annexation in its train. Being a man of honor, of course all personal considerations were dwarfed beside the gigantic proportions assumed by this question, in view of the future welfare of the country. Not long after this critical period, Mr. Derbishire gave up his seat in parliament, on the passing of the Independence of Parliament Act, but after retiring from active politics, as was to be expected of a man, the bias of whose mind was toward political life, his interest in the destinies of his adopted country did not grow dim with years. He watched her course with keen sight, and continued to champion what he considered her best interests in the press, both of the colony and of the mother country. In 1849, when financial ruin stared the country in the face, and Britain, by her oft-repeated neglect, seemed callous to her fate, he, with many others, sorrowfully believed that annexation was inevitable, and with much bitterness of spirit, expressed himself to a friend in England, who had for many years been a public servant in this country: “In view of annexation, I feel, as I suppose a man feels who knows that one of these coming days he is to be led out to the scaffold to be strangled in presence of numerous spectators who come to enjoy the sport, and so feel a good many, I fancy.” His feelings towards Canada had been one of peculiar loyalty—in the first years of his residence in it he wished people to believe that he had taken root and identified himself with its interests, and with a lavish hand, spent the large income he received, that they might know that it was not riches he sought in making Canada his home. United to his talents in public life, Mr. Derbishire possessed those qualifications which make a man the admired favorite of society. A wide range of sympathies, rare scholarship and artistic taste, joined to a warmth and geniality of disposition, which caused him to help with heart and hand and purse all those who appealed to his sympathy, made the domain in which he ruled by affection, a wide and varied one. One, a friend from the time he first came to the country, says of him, “Coming within the vast pale of those whom he admitted to sympathy, from the highest to the lowest, to whom he extended the generous helping hand, and knowing him better, I believe, than those with whom he was intimate, or the public, I was deeply impressed with the depth of his philosophy and his accomplished literary power and taste.”

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=Adam, Lucien Alexandre Samuel=, Sheriff of the District of St. Hyacinthe, in the Province of Quebec, was born at Coteau du Lac, county of Soulanges, district of Montreal, the 10th day of November, 1847. His parents were Louis Adam, notary, and Henriette Bourgeois, third daughter of the late Captain François Louis Bourgeois, who came to Canada with the title of captain, in a company of the regiment of the Meurous. He was a native of Neufchatel, in Switzerland. Before the recall of his regiment, Captain Bourgeois remained in this country, which he made his retreat, and died in 1860, at the home of his son-in-law, Louis Adam, at Coteau du Lac, aged ninety-one years. Madame Bourgeois was a daughter of the late Dr. Stubenger, surgeon, etc., who died in this country several years ago. In 1837, Louis Adam was among the number of patriots who assisted and took part with his father, Augustin Adam, at St. Charles. He was then only fourteen years of age. Lucien Samuel Adam took his classical course at the Grand Seminary of St. Hyacinthe, which he left the 15th June, 1866, after having been admitted as a law student. He studied his profession with the late Louis Taché, then notary and sheriff of St. Hyacinthe, and acted as deputy sheriff during six years. In April, 1870, at the time of the Fenian invasion, Mr. Adam was attached to the staff of the St. Hyacinthe regiment, then under the command of Lieut.-Colonel Romuald St. Jacques. The regiment was called out on duty and set out for the frontier to suppress the insurrection, with others from Montreal, where the subject of our sketch was appointed paymaster. In May, 1871, he was admitted as a member of the legal profession, by the Assembly of Notaries at Laval University, Quebec, and on the 14th of July he commenced the practice of his profession at St. Hyacinthe, which he continued until May, 1881, when he was made sheriff by the Chapleau government, in place of the late Louis Taché, deceased, the 1st April of the same year. Mr. Adam took part in several election contests, provincial as well as federal, and was always a staunch supporter of Conservative interests. On the 15th of May, 1872, he was married at St. Hyacinthe, to Miss Marie Zoé Boivin, second daughter of the late Leonard Boivin, merchant and importer, of St. Hyacinthe, and in later years collector of inland revenue for the said place, whose wife was Madame Marie Zoé Lagorce and who died in August, 1872. Mr. Adam has three brothers, the Rev. F. L. T. Adam, of Hochelaga, Montreal; A. A. Adam, advocate of Ottawa, and the Rev. Father Adam, Jesuit, of Montreal. In religion, it is needless to say, Mr. Adam is an earnest and devout Roman Catholic. He was appointed sheriff at the early age of thirty-three, and to-day is but forty years of age. Possessing all the necessary requirements—talent, industry and integrity—of success, Mr. Adam has undoubtedly a brilliant career before him.

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=McConnel, William George=, Berthierville, Quebec, was born in the city of Quebec, on the 12th of July, 1838. His father, John McConnel, and his mother, Margaret, were both born in the north of Ireland, in the good old county Derry, but both parents died while the subject of this sketch was still a mere youth. Thrown thus on his own resources, William George found his way to the New World, and received a good commercial education at the Protestant Orphan Asylum, Quebec. At the age of thirteen he was bound to a clergyman of the Church of England, for the sum of $100, to learn farming. He soon found, however, that his talent lay in another direction, and in a short time he was sent to Mr. J. S. Dixon, merchant, of Berthier, and here he obtained that thorough knowledge of mercantile affairs which has been so useful to him in later years. He remained with Mr. Dixon for thirteen years, when his entire savings, some $1,300, were swept away by the failure of his master. Mr. Dixon, however, resumed business, and, nothing daunted, Mr. McConnel entered into partnership with his former master, and they continued in business together for three years. On October 1st, 1868, Mr. McConnel entered into business on his own account as a general produce merchant, but making flour his chief business, and he still continues to make a specialty of this indispensable article. In 1881 he entered into partnership with Mr. Robillard, M.P.P., in the wholesale grain business, but this partnership was dissolved in the fall of 1886. Mr. McConnel is a member of the Montreal Corn Exchange, which he joined in 1879. He is a staunch Liberal in politics, and has always thrown his influence heartily into every contest, so as to make that party successful in the county of Berthier. He has been an alderman of the town since 1881; and the esteem in which he is held by his fellow-townsmen is shown in the fact that his election is always by acclamation. In 1888 he was appointed a justice of the peace for the county of Richelieu. He is a faithful adherent of the Church of England. In 1881 he was elected people’s churchwarden, and since that time the church has been independent of outside support. He is also one of the trustees of the Berthier Protestant Academy. He was married on December 1st, 1872, to a French lady, Miss Amelia Mailloux, daughter of Antoine and Marie Louise Mailloux, of Berthier, by whom he has a family of nine children, of whom seven only are living. All of them speak the French and English languages fluently. Mr. McConnel is a good conversationalist, with an intimate knowledge of men and places acquired in the course of constant travel in the United States and Canada.

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=Maynard, Rev. Thomas=, M.A., D.D., Rector of Christ Church, Windsor, and Canon of St. Luke’s Cathedral, Halifax, Nova Scotia, was born in Halifax, N.S., on the 8th of November, 1814. His father, Thomas Maynard, a post-captain in the British navy, was a native of Devonshire, England, who, after seeing a great deal of service, settled in Halifax, and became high sheriff of the county of Halifax; he was a man of great integrity, and died at the advanced age of 87 years. His mother was Lucy Creighton, of Halifax. Her father, J. Creighton, belonged to Somersetshire, England, and was among the first English settlers in Nova Scotia. Mr. Creighton owned the Cathedral Hill, and sold it to the Duke of Kent, and received, in part payment, a house called Grenadier Fort, where Trinity church now stands. There was a small wooden fort at the gate of this property, built to keep off the Indians. Rev. Dr. Maynard received his educational training at the Collegiate School, and at King’s College, Windsor, N.S., where he graduated in arts in 1832. He studied law, and was afterwards admitted a barrister; but, changing his mind, he determined to devote himself to the work of the Master, and accordingly, in 1841, was ordained deacon by the Right Rev. John Inglis, bishop of Nova Scotia, and priest by the same bishop a year later. He was curate, for a year, of Dartmouth, and after, about the same length of time, of St. George’s Church at Halifax. Afterwards he occupied the position of rector of Rawdon, and subsequently of Digby, for five years each; then of Sackville, near Halifax, four years; and was appointed rector of Windsor in 1859, where he has since administered his holy office. Canon Maynard has often held the position of examiner in divinity in King’s College, and has on several occasions been a delegate to the Provincial Synod, held in Montreal, as well as to the Diocesan Synod. King’s College has conferred upon him the degrees of M.A. and D.D. In his ministration, Dr. Maynard is free from display, but constantly shows a yearning love for the best welfare of his hearers. He has a rare faculty of attracting the young, and he is held in very high respect by his people. He is withal possessed of a genial disposition, and has a keen sense of humor. His preaching corresponds with his life, and is highly calculated to impress and deepen the spiritual life of those under his care. He has done good work in the Lord’s vineyard. He was married on the 8th March, 1843, to Sarah Wilkins, daughter of the Hon. Lewis Morris Wilkins, at one time speaker of the House of Assembly, Nova Scotia, and subsequently judge of the Supreme Court of Nova Scotia. Miss Wilkins was a woman of very superior intellect and literary attainment, and was a great favorite wherever she was known. She was a great aid to her husband in all his efforts to do good in the church. She died on the 30th September, 1884, aged 70 years. The family of Wilkins was one of the most important in this county. Dr. Isaac Wilkins represented the county of West Chester, in the State of New York, before the American Revolutionary war; he sided with the British, and gave up wealth and power to live under the British flag. He came to Nova Scotia, and settled at Shelbourne; he represented that county in the provincial legislature. Some years after the peace he returned to the United States; having formerly studied for the Christian ministry, he was ordained by Bishop Leabury, and was rector of the parish of West Chester, where he died at an advanced age. His son, Lewis Morris Wilkins, and his grandson of the same name, both became judges of the Supreme Court of Nova Scotia. His grandson, Martin Isaac Wilkins, was a distinguished lawyer and prothonotary of the Superior Court. Judge Wilkins had three daughters, Sarah Wilkins, the wife of Canon Maynard, being the youngest. The fruit of the union has been a family of eight children.

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