Chapter M: C. Baillairgé, Quebec (37)

* * * * *

=McConville, Joseph Norbet Alfred=, Advocate, Joliette, Que., was born at Berthier (_en haut_) Que., on March 1st, 1839. His father, John McConville, who was headmaster of the Berthier Academy from 1833 to 1846, was born at Newry, county Down, Ireland, came to Canada in 1818, was married at Berthier, on January 7th, 1832, and died at St. Paul, Quebec, September, 10th, 1849. His grandfather, Meredith McConville, while living at Portadown, county Down, Ireland, joined the United Irishmen in 1798, and died March 4th, 1838. His grandmother, Mary McCardle, died on Easter Sunday, 1827, in church, having lived to a good old age: her father, who died at the age of 109, was well able to plough two years before. His mother, Mary Magdalen McKie, was born at St. Melanie, Quebec, June 28th, 1813, was married at Berthier, January 7th, 1832, and died at Joliette, April 30th, 1878. Her father, John McKie, surveyor, was born at Alloa, Scotland, 1767, was married at Sorel, Quebec, September 23rd, 1805, and died at St. Melanie, October 11th, 1818. Her mother, Mary Magdalen McKay, was born at St. Cuthbert, Quebec, about 1790, was married at Sorel, September 23rd, 1805, and died at St. Melanie, September 25th, 1817. Angus McKay, one of his mother’s grandparents, was of extraordinary physical strength, married Magdalen Fauteux, at Sorel, August 19th, 1789. The subject of this sketch was educated at L’Assomption College, Quebec, studied law at Drummondville, and was admitted to the bar at Three Rivers, in February, 1865. He was captain and paymaster of No. 1 Joliette Provisional Battalion, from 1872 to 1875. He was secretary-treasurer of the Municipal Council and School Commissioners of Grantham, Windover and Simpson, from 1862 to 1866; town councillor of Joliette from 1872 to 1875; and is now one of the school commissioners of Joliette. He is a shareholder in the St. Jacques Brewery; a shareholder and secretary of the Joliette Lumber Co.; was editor and proprietor, in conjunction with his late brother, (L. Arthur McConville) of the newspaper _L’Industrie_ in 1872-73; and is now shareholder in _L’Imprimerie de la Gazette de Joliette_. In politics he is a Conservative, and was the defeated candidate at the Dominion general election in 1882, contested the election, but was again defeated at the new election in the fall of the same year. In 1885, he was, however, more successful, being elected a member of the Quebec legislature in September, but was again defeated at the election in October, 1886. In July and August, 1883, he made a foreign tour, visiting in the course of his travels, Londonderry, Dungannon, Portadown, Newry, Drogheda, with the Boyne battle-field, and Dublin, in Ireland; Liverpool, Leicester and London, in England; and Boulogne, Amiens, Paris, Rouen and Dieppe, in France. In religion, he is a Roman Catholic. He was married at Berthier, Que., May 12th, 1874, to Annie Magdalen Kittson, daughter of the late Alexander Kittson, merchant, and Sophie Desantels, born in Berthier, October 12th, 1842, and a niece of Commodore Norman Kittson, of St. Paul’s, Minnesota.

* * * * *

=Dunn, Timothy Hibbard=, Quebec, is one of the veterans of the Quebec timber trade, and certainly one of the most conspicuous and best respected citizens of the ancient capital, with whose history and commerce he has been closely identified for nearly half a century. He is of Scotch descent, but thoroughly Canadian in sentiment. He was born, like his father (the late Charles Dunn) before him, at Ste. Ursule, near Three Rivers, in the year 1816, and received his education in the common school of his native place. He was early initiated into acquaintanceship with the staple industry of the country, the lumber trade, and in 1841 entered as a clerk in the Quebec office of the great timber firm of Calvin, Cook & Counter, of Kingston, Ontario. Four years later he was admitted to the position of a partner of this house, and was entrusted with the management of the extensive business of its Quebec branch, which was thenceforward carried on under the name of Dunn, Calvin & Co. After the dissolution of the firm in 1850 or thereabouts, Mr. Dunn, whose ability and success had won general confidence and respect, associated himself with the late Thomas Benson, and, in partnership with that gentleman under the name of T. H. Dunn & Co., continued the business at Quebec. Two years later, Mr. Benson went out, and down to 1860 Mr. Dunn remained the sole head of the house, which ranked among the foremost of the Quebec market in making advances to timber manufacturers in the west, and doing business on commission, especially in hardwoods. About 1860 he formed a new partnership with the late William Home, of Quebec, under the name of Dunn & Home, and, among other important ventures of this firm, was the successful building of one of the most difficult sections of the Intercolonial Railway below Quebec. In 1872, the firm of Dunn & Home was dissolved, Mr. Home going out, Mr. Dunn then retired from active business on his well-earned wealth and honors, and his two sons, Logie and Stewart Dunn, assumed control of the old house under the name of Dunn Bros. In 1877 W. A. Griffith, of Quebec, was added to the firm, when its name was changed to Dunn, Griffith & Co. In 1884, Mr. Griffith retired, and ever since the firm has been Dunn & Co. In its fortunes, the subject of our sketch still continues to take a keen paternal interest, notwithstanding his seventy-one years, with unimpaired physical and mental vigor, which is an object of envy to many of his juniors. He can yet be seen any day on “Change,” and no figure is better known on St. Peter street, where the business men of Quebec most do congregate. He is one of the last remaining representatives of the old school who were identified with the ancient capital in its palmier days, and a type of a class of men who, unhappily for its present prosperity, have nearly all passed away. Strange to say, notwithstanding his extensive mercantile connections, Mr. Dunn never crossed the Atlantic, but he has travelled a good deal in North America, and especially in the West. In 1845 he married Margaret Turner, of Sorel, a niece of the late Captain Charles Armstrong, and a cousin of the present ex-chief justice of the Windward Islands, Hon. James Armstrong, now of Sorel, and by her had issue nine children, four sons and five daughters. As already stated, two of the former have succeeded him in the business at Quebec. The other two have boldly struck out in a new field and are now successful farmers in Manitoba. Mr. Dunn has been a widower for the last fourteen years, his wife having died in 1874. He is a member of the Church of England, and has always taken a hearty interest in its affairs. He was one of the founders of St. Mary’s Church and parsonage on the Island of Orleans, where his beautiful summer retreat, “Island Home,” is an object of admiration to every visitor and to the passengers in every vessel passing up and down the St. Lawrence from the harbor of Quebec. In politics he is a Conservative, but has never taken an active part in public affairs, though frequently pressed by his fellow-citizens to do so. He was, however, for many years a conspicuous member of the Quebec Board of Trade and its Council, and a director of the Quebec Bank. He was also a delegate to the first railroad convention held in Boston in 1851. In his younger days he held a commission as captain in the militia, and served under the late Colonel Boucher, of Maskinonge, P.Q. Throughout all the relations of life, Mr. Dunn has been an exemplary citizen, and his long and successful career is only another illustration of the triumph of well-applied industry and honorable dealing with his fellow men.

* * * * *

=Steadman, James=, Fredericton, N.B., Judge of the County Court for the Counties of York, Sunbury and Queen’s in the province of New Brunswick, was born at Moncton, in the county of Westmoreland, N.B., on the 27th March, 1818. His father was William Steadman, who was born in Cornwallis, Nova Scotia, but settled in Moncton about the first of this century. He married in 1803, Hannah Trites, also of Moncton. Judge Steadman was educated at Moncton. He studied law in the office of the present Judge Botsford, of Westmoreland county, and was admitted an attorney in the month of February, 1844. For the next twenty-four years he practised law at Moncton and then, in the year 1866, removed to the city of Fredericton, where he has continued to reside up to the present time. He was elected to the Provincial legislature in 1854, and, being a prominent man, in May 1860, was sworn in as a member of the Executive Council and Postmaster General of New Brunswick. These offices he held until April, 1865. Judge Steadman, thus has seen the last days of parliamentary life in his native province, days which produced such men as the late Governor L. A. Wilmot, the late Judge Fisher, the late Sir Albert L. Smith, Sir Leonard Tilley, Judges King and Palmer, and many others whose eloquence enlivened the political campaigns and the sessions of the legislature for many years. Between the years 1836 and 1845 the battle of Responsible Government was fought out in New Brunswick. Those were stormy times in all of the provinces of British North America. The visit of Earl Durham to the Canadas, and his famous report upon the lines of which all the later political movements in the provinces have proceeded, gave an extraordinary impetus to the popular wish for a larger measure of political power. In all of the English speaking provinces the Reform party were steadily and fiercely opposed by small governing bodies variously known as “family compacts,” “council of xii,” and other suggestive appellations. Another stormy period in which Judge Steadman was himself a prominent figure, was the era just preceding the Confederation in 1867. As we have said, during these years he was a member of the Executive and Postmaster General. Party spirit ran very high in New Brunswick, and the first time that the question of Confederation was submitted to the people it was lost. In Nova Scotia the people were never asked to sanction the measure until the British North America Act had been passed and the union was consummated. After twenty years the question is still keenly debated in both of the leading Maritime provinces. Judge Steadman is connected with the Baptist denomination. He has for many years been a strong temperance man, having joined the order of Sons of Temperance in March, 1848. In 1865 he was elected Grand Worthy Patriarch, and still maintains his connection with this leading order. In June, 1887, he was appointed judge of the County Court. Judge Steadman has seen his native town of Moncton from the smallest beginning expand into a city of 9000 inhabitants, and become the headquarters of the Intercolonial Railway, with streets lighted by electricity, daily newspapers, an extensive and increasing trade, and all the signs of outward and moral improvement.

* * * * *

=Macdonald, Lawrence George=, Q.C., St. John’s, province of Quebec, was born at Chateauguay, Que., on July 30th 1831. His parents were born at Fort Howe, N.B. His father, James Macdonald, was a second son of the late Adjutant and Quarter-master, William Macdonald, late of the 104th Regiment of the line, and his mother Eliza Holland, a daughter of Captain E. Holland of the same regiment. Captain Holland served in Egypt and saw the great Napoleon while a prisoner at Elba. Adj. Macdonald took an active part in the war of 1812-14. Mr. James Macdonald was a merchant for many years in Chateauguay, and was actively engaged on the Loyalist side during the rebellion of 1837-38. The subject of this sketch commenced his studies under the Rev. Dr. Black, of Laprairie, afterwards attending two private schools, and finally taking a full classical course at the High School, Montreal. While studying law he continued to take private lessons from the Rev. David Robertson, chaplain to the forces in Canada. After leaving school he studied law in the office of Meredith, Bethune and Dunkin, of Montreal, and four years later was admitted to the bar in December, 1852. In 1854 he removed to St. John’s, where he has since resided. He was appointed a Queen’s counsel under the Joly government in March, 1878, which appointment was afterwards confirmed by the Dominion government. Mr. Macdonald has taken an active part in military affairs, obtaining a first-class certificate on May 12th, 1865, when he was appointed cornet in the St. John’s troop of cavalry, and was sent to the front during the Fenian raids. He was Crown prosecutor for several years in the Court of Queen’s Bench, St. John’s, district of Iberville. At present he is a director of the Richelieu Bridge Co. He is a member of the Episcopalian church, and in politics is a Conservative. He was married at St. John’s, in August, 1856, to Louise Gertrude, second daughter of the late Deputy Commissary-General Lister. Mr. and Mrs. Macdonald have one daughter, who is married to Dr. Robert Howard, of St. John’s, and who has issue four children.

* * * * *

=McCaffrey, Charles=, Lumber Merchant and Steam Saw Mill Proprietor, Nicolet, province of Quebec, was born at Drummondville, county of Drummond, Quebec. He is the son of Hugh McCaffrey and Rose McEvay. His father, Hugh McCaffrey, served as a soldier In the 27th British Regiment of the line, obtained his discharge at Chambly, and located, together with a number of other discharged soldiers, at Drummondville. The late Colonel Harriette procured lands for them to settle upon, and also obtained supplies from the government for them until they were able to build homes and clear sufficient land to enable them to supply themselves with the necessaries of life. During the time the government furnished the provisions, the commissariat stores were under the charge of Hugh McCaffrey, who was authorized to distribute the provisions to all those entitled to receive the same. The great majority of the new settlers, not being inured to farming life, or clearing the bush land given them by the government, sold out their claims for a nominal sum, and left for other parts. Hugh McCaffrey, however, settled down in his new home, and commenced getting out lumber, which he supplied to Colonel Harriette, who owned a saw mill near by, and his son Charles, the subject of this sketch, has continued in the lumbering business for the past forty years, with fair success. Apart from the regular annual output of sawed lumber, he has shipped hundreds of thousands of tamarac railway ties to Whitehall and Plattsburgh, N.Y., for the Delaware and Hudson Canal Co., and has contracted with the same company to supply a large number during the present season. He received his education partly in the common schools and partly at the hands of private tutors, high schools being at that time few and far between. In politics, he is a Conservative, and wields considerable influence in his locality. He has often been requested to allow himself to be put in nomination for both the Federal and Provincial parliaments, and in municipal and town councils, but has steadily refused to do so, or to accept any public office. He has travelled through several of the States, both east and west, also through the upper and lower provinces in connection with his lumber business. In religion he is a Roman Catholic. He was married in 1860, to Ann McLeod, a native of Campbelltown, N.B., who is of Scotch origin, and Presbyterian in religion. Mr. McCaffrey has resided in Nicolet for twenty-five years, and is much respected by the residents.

* * * * *

=Seymour, James=, Collector of Inland Revenue, St. Catharines, was born in Limerick, Ireland, in 1824, came to Halifax with his father four years later, and died in St. Catharines on the 9th of January, 1888. Mr. Seymour spent his boyhood in the maritime provinces, and after leaving school learned the business of printer. He then came west and worked in several offices, among others the Toronto _Globe_ and the Hamilton _Spectator_. In 1856 he purchased from Mr. Giles the St. Catharines _Constitution_, an influential weekly newspaper, which he continued to publish until he received the appointment of collector of inland revenue, and this office he held until the day of his death. In 1851 he joined St. George’s Masonic lodge, and very soon, through his faithfulness and zeal, became to be looked upon as one of the main pillars of the order. In 1871 he was elected Grand Master of the Grand Lodge of Canada, and this position he filled during the term of his election with great credit. He was a member of the Scottish Rite, and a P.G.M.G. of Royal and Oriental Freemasonry 33-96°⁂90°. He was buried with Masonic honors.

* * * * *

=Tims, Frank Dillon=, Deputy Provincial Auditor of the Province of Quebec, is a prominent figure in official life at Quebec, and few members of the Civil Service enjoy a larger share of the public respect. He is the youngest son of the late William and Catherine Dillon Tims, and was born in Oldcastle, county Meath, Ireland, on 26th December, 1829. The family came to Canada in 1834, and settled in the city of Quebec, where Mr. Tims, sr., died in 1836 and his widow in 1862. An elder brother of the subject of this sketch, Thomas D. Tims, now occupies the important position of Financial Inspector of the Dominion of Canada, at Ottawa, and their sister, the Reverend Mother St. Catherine, who entered the Monastery of the Ursulines at Quebec many years ago, is still living, after having occupied for two consecutive terms, the longest period permitted by the regulations, the high position of Lady Superior. Our subject was educated at the Seminary of Quebec and the Quebec High School, and subsequently studied law with Charles Alleyn, Q.C., subsequently Provincial Secretary of Canada, and now sheriff of Quebec. Seized with the “gold fever” in 1849, he gave up the study of the law, and on the 12th November, 1849, sailed on the barque _Rory O’Moore_, the first vessel leaving Canada bound for California, by the way of Cape Horn, finally reaching San Francisco after a five and a half months’ voyage. He remained in California, engaged principally in mining, until the fall of 1851, when he started on his homeward journey down the Pacific coast, stopping at San Juan del Sur and Lake Nicaragua for some weeks and then proceeding to Panama, where he crossed the isthmus and took steamer to New York from Chagres in January, 1852. He reached Quebec in February of the same year, and on the 23rd October following, was married at Sherbrooke, to Caroline Dudley, youngest daughter of the late Captain John Fraser, of H.M. 76th regiment, formerly town mayor of Quebec. He next removed to Upper Canada, where he was principally engaged in mercantile pursuits down to 1857, when he went to Illinois, entered the lumber business for some time, and while there in 1859, was licensed to practice as an attorney and counsellor-at-law in that state. Returning to Canada in 1861, he entered the employ of the late Hon. Jas. Skead, senator, then one of the largest lumber producers of the Ottawa district, where he remained in charge of the business until January, 1868, when he was appointed to the Audit branch of the Treasury department of the province of Quebec, and promoted to the office of Deputy Provincial Auditor in 1884, which he still holds. In religion, Mr. Tims is a Roman Catholic. In 1856, he held a commission as lieutenant and adjutant in the Waterloo (Ont.) Militia. He is a past president of the St. Patrick’s Society of Quebec, and has taken a prominent interest in the progress of the Geographical Society of Quebec, of which he has been the secretary for several years. In this last capacity, he was one of the principal promoters of the government exploring expedition, which was sent out within the last few years to endeavor to solve the mystery surrounding Great Lake Mistassini, in north eastern Canada. By his marriage, he has had issue thirteen children, seven of whom are living, four sons and three daughters. Of the former, three are actually settled in the Canadian North-West, at Swift Current and Beaver Lake, near Edmonton, where they are largely engaged in commercial pursuits. One of them, F. F. Tims, had the honor to be the first to erect a building at Regina, the present capital of the province of Assiniboia. During the late rebellion this son rendered valuable public service in freighting for the troops and in provisioning the Battleford contingent and Mounted Police.

* * * * *

=Ostigny, Joseph Henry=, Manager of the Bank of Hochelaga, at Joliette, Quebec, was born at St. Hilaire, county Rouville, Quebec, on the 5th of January, 1849. His father, Zephirin Ostigny, was an agriculturist, and lived for more than thirty years in the parish of l’Ange Gardien, county Rouville. His mother’s name was Sophie Montplaisir. The subject of this sketch, when fifteen years of age, told his father of his wish to give up farming, and get his livelihood in some other way. For that he required more education, and through the kindness of a father, who sacrificed his own personal interests to promote those of his children, he was sent to school at St. Césaire from 1863 to 1866, and from 1867 to 1869 at the Jacques Cartier Normal School, at Montreal. In the year 1870, he took the course at the Montreal Business College, and was for nearly two years a professor of that institution. When the Bank of Hochelaga commenced operations, April 6th, 1874, he entered it, and since then has worked up to be manager, which position he has held since January 25th, 1885. In religion he is a Roman Catholic. He was married on February 9th, 1886, to Maria Georgiana Athala Piché, daughter of Urgel Piché, broker, of Joliette.

* * * * *

=Ratcliffe, John=, was born in Lanarkshire, Scotland, on the 9th September, 1813. His father, Daniel Graham Ratcliffe, was a native of Cumberland, England, but removed to Scotland in early manhood, married Elizabeth Latham, a native of Hamilton parish, Lanarkshire, and spent the remainder of his days mostly in Avondale parish. The father was suddenly cut off in the prime of life, leaving a heavy burden to rest upon the shoulders of his son John, the eldest of the family. Before he had completed his twentieth year, in the spring of 1833, he sought the shores of Canada, in the hope of securing a better home and portion for the family. The township of Whitby, county of Ontario, was the part of Upper Canada to which he was directed. He purchased from the government the north half of lot 6, concession 6, where he settled. The following year the family removed to Canada, where they found a home ready for them. On October 31st, 1836, Mr. Ratcliffe married Margaret Hepburn, eldest daughter of John Hepburn, a native of Lanarkshire, who also came to Canada in 1833. To them were born seven sons and three daughters, all of whom are still alive. The subject of this sketch was a man of more than ordinary ability. Not having educational opportunities beyond a few months in the parish school, his pathway was made more difficult, but this loss was largely compensated for by extensive and careful reading. Time for reading was not abundant in the life of a pioneer, but moments were utilised, and to such good advantage that, having the misfortune to break his leg, he was, during the time of enforced rest from work, chosen to teach a school opened in the neighbourhood. When municipal affairs began to demand attention, he was alive to every question that agitated the public, and occupied a seat at the council board for many years, presiding as reeve over its affairs during the greater portion of the time. In the year 1863 he occupied the warden’s chair, thereafter retiring from public municipal life. For many years he was an active justice of the peace, and in the discharge of the magisterial functions won the respect and confidence of the whole community. During the years that East Whitby was without a township hall, his house was the court-room in which most of the petty trials of the township had a hearing. He always counselled a harmonious settlement of difficulties; and many a quarrel was satisfactorily disposed of, without “going to law,” by having the parties meet and talk over the trouble with him. In politics he was a consistent and pronounced Liberal, and for many years held the honorable and responsible position of president of the South Ontario Reform Association. His name was frequently mentioned when a candidate was to be selected, but he always declined the honor. In religion he was a loyal Presbyterian. With all his interest in public affairs, his relation to the church of Christ, and his responsibility to its Head were never allowed to be interfered with. In the year 1856 he was ordained to the eldership of the United Presbyterian church, which office he adorned until called higher. Only ill-health or absence from home ever kept him from his accustomed place in the house of God, or from his class in the Sabbath school. He was a most successful teacher, personally interested in every member of his class, and many were by his instrumentality led to decide for Christ. In his home he was tender and affectionate, yet firm, and his children remember with gratitude his kindly, wise counsel, and, above all, his Christian instruction and personal example. Suddenly, on March 9th, 1878, he was called to his rest and reward.

* * * * *

=Torrington, Frederic Herbert=, Organist of the Metropolitan Methodist Church, Toronto, Conductor of the Toronto Philharmonic Society and of the great Toronto Musical Festival, 1886, and without doubt the most prominent executive musician in Canada, was born at Dudley, Worcestershire, England, October 20th, 1837. He commenced playing the violin at the early age of seven years, and as he even then showed marked ability, he was placed under competent musical instructors at Birmingham, and articled, after the good old English fashion, to James Fitzgerald, then organist and choirmaster of St. George’s and Mary’s Churches, Kidderminster. At the age of sixteen he became organist and choirmaster of St. Anne’s Church, Bewdley. In 1857 he left England for Montreal, where he was, immediately on his arrival, appointed organist of Great St. James street Methodist Church, a post which he occupied for twelve years. During this period he founded several vocal societies and the Montreal Amateur Musical Union Orchestra, and was for two years bandmaster of the 25th regiment (regulars). Visiting Boston in September, 1868, he gave a performance on the Great Music Hall organ, which was warmly noticed in _Dwight’s Journal of Music_ and the Boston daily press. Shortly after, at the invitation of P. S. Gilmore, he formed the Canadian orchestral contingent for the first great Boston jubilee. A few weeks after the close of the festival, Mr. Torrington accepted the position of organist at King’s Chapel, Boston, and held it for four years. During this period he was one of the regular solo organists at the Music Hall, one of the first violins in the Harvard Symphony Orchestra, a teacher of the piano at the New England Conservatory of Music, and conductor of six vocal societies. On several occasions he was solo organist at the concerts in Henry Ward Beecher’s church, Brooklyn. In 1873 he came to Toronto, and was appointed organist and choirmaster of the Metropolitan Church, and conductor of the Philharmonic Society. This society was, at this time, in its infancy, and in a languishing condition, but Mr. Torrington’s energy and the enthusiastic music-lovers with whom he was able to surround himself enabled him to develop it into the greatest factor in the musical world of Canada, and into one of the greatest societies on the American continent, as will be shown by a glance at the society’s performances in fourteen years:—“Messiah” (4), “Elijah” (5), “Creation” (3), “Lay of the Bell” (2), “Fridolin” (2), “St. Paul” (2), “Stabat Mater” (2), “May Queen” (3), “Hymn of Praise” (2), “Walpurgis Night,” “Naaman” (2), “Spring’s Message,” “Bride of Dunkerron,” “Judas Maccabæus” (2), “Gypsy Life,” “The Last Judgment,” “Acis and Galatea,” “Preciosa,” “Redemption” (2), “Rose Maiden,” march and chorus (Tannhæuser), “March Cortege” (Reine de Saba), “Crusaders,” “Fair Ellen,” “Rose of Sharon,” “Mors et Vita,” “Spectre’s Bride,” “Golden Legend.” To this imposing list of choral works must be added numerous unaccompanied part songs, and the following orchestral works:—Larghetto, Second Symphony (Beethoven), Larghetto, Jupiter Symphony (Mozart), Surprise Symphony (Haydn), Hymn of Praise Symphony (Mendelssohn), the Maritana, Martha, Oberon and Preciosa overtures, Andante, First Symphony (Beethoven), G minor Concerto (Mendelssohn), Beethoven’s Piano Concerto, Beethoven’s Emperor Concerto, Arditi’s L’Ingenue Gavotte, and Delibes’ Valse lente e pizzicati, many of these works being heard for the first time in Canada, and some for the first time on this side of the Atlantic. The influence of the Philharmonic Society is most strikingly reflected in the immense improvement in the condition of church choirs throughout the city, and in the establishment of other flourishing vocal societies. But Mr. Torrington’s greatest work in the cause of music was undoubtedly the initiation and successful performances of the great musical festival of 1886. In this a monster chorus of over nine hundred voices, accompanied by an orchestra of one hundred skilled musicians, sang Handel’s “Israel in Egypt” and Gounod’s “Mors et Vita” with a degree of musical splendor that astonished every auditor. The soloists were of world-wide repute, being Fraulein Lilli Lehmann, Mrs. E. Aline Osgoode, Mrs. Gertrude Luther, Miss Agnes Huntington, Mr. Albert L. King, Mr. Max Heinrich, Mr. D. M. Babcock, Mr. Frederic Archer, Mr. Otto Bendix, Mme. Josephine Chatterton, Herr Henry Jacobsen, and Mr. Fred Warrington. Two miscellaneous concerts were also given in which the soloists and orchestra were assisted by a chorus of over one thousand three hundred school children, in whose training he was ably assisted by E. W. Schuch and A. P. Perrin. Mr. Torrington conducted these performances, which have been unparalleled outside of four or five of the largest American cities. The support and interest of the public were most gratifying, the receipts being $13,561.48, yielding a net profit, after all expenses were paid of $599.19, and entirely obviating the necessity of calling on the immense guarantee fund of $35,000. In the respect of being self-sustaining, the festival was unique, this rarely being the case, even in the largest cities of the United States. The ability of the city to provide such immense choral forces, and to support such an undertaking so liberally, may clearly be traced to the confidence placed in Mr. Torrington by the musical public, and to the great influence exerted by his unwearied efforts to advance and popularise the cause of true and pure music in Toronto. Mr. Torrington has laboured assiduously to organise a permanent orchestra in Toronto, and his efforts have been crowned with success; an efficient orchestra of sixty instrumentalists being now one of the chief musical features of the city, and one of its principal musical educators. Mr. Torrington’s wisdom in introducing the amateur element into this orchestra is shown by the fact that a well-balanced band, which is capable of performing oratorio accompaniments, is now in active life in the city. His labors have extended to Hamilton, where, as conductor of the Hamilton Philharmonic Society, he has produced “The Lay of the Bell,” “Messiah,” “Elijah,” “Hymn of Praise,” “Naaman,” “Rose of Sharon,” “The Three Holy Children,” and “Samson.” As conductor of the University College Glee Club, he has produced Mendelssohn’s music to “Antigone,” and Max Bruch’s “Frithjof.” As a composer, he has produced several church services, hymn tunes, organ voluntaries, secular choruses and songs. Mr. Torrington was brought up a member of the Church of England, but has for many years been connected with the Methodist church as organist. He is a Freemason, being a life member of Ionic lodge, Toronto, and is a fellow and gold medallist of the Society of Science, Letters and Art, London, England. He has also been, for the past five years, director of the musical department of the Ontario Ladies’ College, Whitby.

* * * * *

=Owens, John=, St. John, New Brunswick, an enterprising ship-builder and shipowner, but better known in these latter days as a public spirited and philanthrophic citizen, was born in St. John, New Brunswick, in the year 1790, and died in his native city in the year 1867. The Owens Art Institution of St. John is the outcome of his bequest “to be applied by his executors for the purpose of establishing a gallery, or school of art, for the instruction of young persons in drawing and other works of art.” The fact of this institution having been created without any outside assistance, and of its being operated with the view to be self-sustaining through voluntary support on its merits alone, warrants some reference to the circumstances which led up to its present efficiency as a thoroughly equipped art educational establishment. Hence, it may be said, the amount left for art purposes proving to be quite inadequate to effect the object as set forth, led the executors to believe the testator intended the amount so left to be merely a nucleus, to be added to by other persons desirous of promoting a love for the fine arts. From the outset the money was much sought after, but the fund remained unapplied, in consequence of all propositions for its use being destitute of the practical and financial accompaniments which the executors deemed absolutely necessary for the accomplishment of the object, in accordance with the terms of the will. A church property, together with a limited endowment fund, formed another bequest, vested in five trustees and their successors, the clergyman officiating in the church to be of either the Methodist, Presbyterian, Baptist, Independent or Episcopal persuasion. By reason of a combination of restrictions and limitations governing the trust, so much difficulty was experienced in its administration that a cessation of the church services took place in the year 1882, with little prospect of their early renewal. In this state of the two interests it became the opinion of the then sole surviving executor, Robert Reed, and the trustees of the church estate, namely, Robert Reed, Francis Jordan, Thomas Jordan, John Hegan, and Andrew D. Robertson, the latter having succeeded John Duncan, deceased, who was Mr. Owens’ business partner for about forty years, under the firm of Owens & Duncan, that if the several trusts were concentrated upon art, that object which the testator had in view might possibly be carried out; whereupon they joined in an application to the legislature to change the trusts, which was done by an act passed in the session of 1884. Immediately thereafter steps were taken, by the same trustees, to remodel the church edifice into what now appears to be a building thoroughly adapted for the purpose of art education, with the view of making the institution as attractive and as useful as possible under the circumstances; thereby hoping to create a more general interest in the fine arts, the trustees have put forth the whole strength of the means at their command, resulting in the gallery walls being covered with high class work, consisting mostly of examples from the brush of English Royal Academicians and other eminent artists of the present and previous two centuries, besides a very full and complete school outfit of casts from the antique, and drawing examples by leading artists, characteristic of the South Kensington schools. In consequence of the funds being thus exhausted, the institution is now solely depending for its income upon its school fees and a charge for admission to the gallery, but its being thus sustained solely on its intrinsic merits, is a problem now in course of solution. If the experiment succeeds in its aims it will prove to be a new departure in the maintenance of educational establishments of a kindred character. The school is in charge of John Hammond, a native of Montreal, who, in addition to being a professional artist of many years’ standing, has, since his connection with the Owens Art Institution, spent two years in European art study, and his works having been repeatedly hung in the annual exhibition of the Royal Academy of London, and the Paris Salon, gives him rank as among the leading artists of the day. In addition to the patronage from the city and outlying districts of New Brunswick, the school has thus far attracted pupils who have registered respectively from Nova Scotia, Prince Edward Island, Quebec, Ontario, Maine and Massachusetts.

* * * * *

=Corning, Thomas Edgar=, Barrister, Yarmouth, Nova Scotia, is of English descent. His ancestors came to America in 1640, and settled in Beverley, Massachusetts. His great grandfather removed in 1764, and was one of the first settlers in Yarmouth. His father is Nelson Corning, of Chegoggin, Yarmouth. Mr. Corning was born at Chegoggin on the 11th April, 1842. He received his early education in Acadia College, Wolfville, Nova Scotia, and graduated on the 6th June, 1865. Besides holding the degree of bachelor of arts, he has been elected a scholar and member of the senate of the University of Acadia. This latter event occurred in 1883. Having finished his classical studies, Mr. Corning entered upon the study of the law, and was admitted to the bar on 30th October, 1869. His thoroughness and practical business turn of mind soon secured to him a fair share of the legal business in Yarmouth, and he now enjoys the reputation of being one of the best lawyers in Yarmouth county. He is head of the firm of Corning & Chipman. In politics he is a Liberal-Conservative, but resides in a constituency which has always been intensely Liberal. However, at the general elections in 1882, Mr. Corning was elected as a supporter of the then Liberal-Conservative government led by the Hon. J. S. D. Thompson, now minister of justice at Ottawa. This government resigned shortly after the elections, giving place to the Liberal government first led by the Hon. Mr. Pipes, afterwards by the Hon. Mr. Fielding. In the House of Assembly Mr. Corning took a leading part in all the debates, and carefully considered every question upon its merits, aiming to give an intelligent vote always. Although staunch to his party, his candor and fairness made him popular and respected by the dominant party. On the dissolution of the house, in 1886, he was nominated by his party. But the secession agitation had begun, and the Fielding ministry went to the country with the cry of “Repeal.” To this issue Mr. Corning presented an unwavering opposition, but the popular enthusiasm was too great for him, and he was defeated in June, 1886, by a majority of one thousand. Since then he has continued in private life, but his integrity and ability will, no doubt, before many years bring him again to the fore in political matters. Mr. Corning has never travelled much outside of his native province. He has held the office of treasurer of the municipality of Yarmouth since 1874. Although one of the largest towns in the province, Yarmouth has never been incorporated, and is still managed in the old way. Nine of the county councillors, elected in the limits of the polling district of Yarmouth town, manage its affairs. Mr. Corning married, on the 25th August, 1880, Jane Alden Baxter, daughter of John Baxter, of Yarmouth. He is a Baptist in religion.

* * * * *

=Black, J. Burpee=, M.D., Windsor, N.S., was born at St. Martin’s, New Brunswick, on the 15th August, 1842. Dr. Black is of Irish extraction, his father, Thomas Henry Black, having been a native of county Armagh, Ireland. His mother’s maiden name was Mary E. Fownes, and resided in St. Martin’s. Dr. Black received his early education in St. Martin’s, and continued his course in St. John, New Brunswick, and at the Mount Allison Wesleyan Academy, Sackville, N.B. His family were Baptists, but, owing probably to his educational associations, Dr. Black has for twenty-five years worshipped with the Methodists, and has for some years been an active member of their church. Having completed his studies at Sackville, where he made the acquaintance of the lady who afterwards became his wife, he studied medicine at Berkshire Medical College, in Massachusetts, and received the degree of M.D., after finishing his course at the University of Philadelphia. He commenced the practice of his profession in the village of Hantsport, Hants county, N.S., but after residing there for five years removed to Windsor, where he has since resided, and has worked up one of the largest practices in Nova Scotia. Hantsport has been in its growth one of the most prosperous villages in Nova Scotia. It owes the greatest part of its success to the business ability, integrity and enterprise of the Hon. Ezra Churchill, who worked his way up from the humblest beginnings to the position of M.P. in Nova Scotia before confederation, and a senator of the Dominion. When he died, at Ottawa, in the spring of 1874, he owned a fleet of upwards of forty ships of various sizes, and his property was estimated at $800,000. He literally made Hantsport, most of the houses there having been erected under his supervision. His daughter, Bessie, was married to Dr. Black at Hantsport, on the 11th May, 1864. They have been blessed with a family of ten children, nine of whom are living, and one, the eldest, is married. Like his father-in-law, Dr. Black has always been a Conservative in politics, and in some campaigns has taken the stump in behalf of his friends. He has also been freely spoken of as a possible candidate for legislative honors. He was elected a member of the town council of the town of Windsor in October, 1882, and held the position until his time of service expired in 1884, when he was elected warden of Windsor without opposition. Windsor became an incorporated town in the year 1878. Previous to this time its affairs had been administered by justices of the peace sitting at quarter sessions. Its public moneys were voted at a town meeting held once a year. The chief officers were the town clerk, the commissioner of streets, and the collector of rates. During Dr. Black’s period of service as councillor the town was supplied with water from a reservoir on Fall Brook, a stream of water running from lakes on the South Mountain, six miles in rear of the town. The actual length of the water mains is about three miles. The cost of this public work, the greatest yet undertaken by the town, was $48,000, and $8,000 has since been expended in extending the system. Debentures paying five per cent in two half-yearly instalments were issued to raise this sum, which was readily procured, and has proved to be excellent stock, the bonds now selling considerably above par. All parts of the town are supplied cheaply and plentifully with excellent water, while the pressure, 86 lbs., is so great that the town has no need of fire engines, the supply from the hydrants being sufficient to quickly extinguish any fire which has yet broken out. Dr. Black was chairman of the water committee, and the works under his management were constructed for a less cost than that estimated by the engineer—a result very rare in public works. Dr. Black has also been interested in most of the new manufacturing enterprises of the town. On the expiry of his first term of service as warden, in 1884, he was re-elected by acclamation, and held the office until he retired in 1885. He is connected with no secret society except the Masonic fraternity. He was made a Mason in Mount Lebanon lodge, R.E., Prince Edward Island, in 1866. He held the office of master of Poyntz lodge, at Hantsport, from 1867 to 1870. In 1873 he became high priest of Hiram Chapter, at Windsor. He was also district deputy grand master of the Nova Scotia Grand Lodge in 1883 and 1885.

* * * * *

=Bingay, Thomas Van Buskirk=, Yarmouth, N.S., was born in 1814, at Shelburne, Nova Scotia. He comes of an old loyalist family. His mother, Sarah Van Buskirk, was the daughter of Jacob Van Buskirk, who saw stirring times during the American revolution. In the first American war he held the position of major, and during the war of 1812 he was colonel. Later on he became a judge of the old inferior court of Common Pleas, of Nova Scotia, in the list of the judges of which court occur some of the brightest names of Nova Scotians, such as Judge Haliburton (“Sam Slick”), John G. Marshall, and Peleg Wiswell. Jacob Van Buskirk’s father was Abraham Van Buskirk, who was colonel in the 4th battalion of New Jersey Volunteers, and second in command to Brigadier-General Arnold in his expedition to New London (being specially mentioned in his despatches for active exertions), and who, at the close of the revolutionary war, in 1784, settled in Shelburne. Shelburne was then a city of some ten thousand inhabitants, and Abraham Van Buskirk was its first mayor. Mr. Bingay is the eldest son of the late John Bingay, of Shelburne, who for some years represented the county of Shelburne in the provincial parliament, and who was deputy-sheriff of the county of Yarmouth, and subsequently, in 1836, first high sheriff of the county, which office he held until his death, which occurred in 1851. He was educated at Church Point, in Digby county, with the venerable Abbé Sigogne, for many years parish priest of the Acadian district of Clare, in which settlement he exercised great influence, and where his name is still held in great reverence. The abbé was a great friend of T. C. Haliburton whilst that author practised law in Annapolis Royal and represented the county of Annapolis in the House of Assembly. He was not only a very learned man, but also a typical country clergyman, being consulted by his flock on all occasions about affairs of every class. Mr. Bingay subsequently attended school in Halifax. He began to study law in Liverpool, N.S., but completed his term of apprenticeship in Halifax, where he was enrolled as attorney in 1835. In those days, a year elapsed before an aspirant for forensic honours after becoming an attorney, could be admitted to practice at the bar of this province. In 1835, Mr. Bingay became a barrister and began the active duties of his profession in Yarmouth. In 1839, he was appointed judge of probate, and in the next year, master in chancery. He was also a captain of the Yarmouth militia in 1839. In 1852 he left Yarmouth and made a voyage to Australia. On his way home he stopped in California, where his son, Thomas V. B., was born. He returned to Yarmouth in 1857, and has resided there ever since. Mr. Bingay has lived through the most prosperous times of Yarmouth. Has seen the rise, good times, and decadence of one of the most enterprising shipbuilding eras of this province, and has been professionally connected with most of the leading enterprises of his town. His first wife was Lois, daughter of the late Joseph Tooker, by whom he had two sons, who both died in early manhood, and a daughter who died in infancy. His second wife was Margaret J., daughter of the late James Budd Moody, who was a brother of the late Elisha W. B. Moody, and grandson of Col. James Moody, of New Jersey. Col. James Moody, at the close of the American war, settled in Weymouth, N.S. Of this marriage there were eight sons and a daughter, of whom two sons and the daughter died in infancy. Of his sons, the oldest three reside in Yarmouth. These are James Wentworth Bingay, Q.C., revising barrister, and major of Yarmouth county militia; George Bingay, barrister and captain of militia, and Thomas V. B. Bingay, accountant in the Exchange Bank of Yarmouth. All of these are men in first-rate standing. Mr. Bingay and his two oldest sons constitute the legal firm of Thomas V. B. Bingay & Sons. They are the solicitors of the following local corporations, viz.:—The Bank of Yarmouth; The Western Counties Railway Company (James Wentworth Bingay, sec’y.-treasurer); The Mutual Relief Society of Nova Scotia (James Wentworth Bingay, director and trustee); and the Yarmouth Water Company (George Bingay, sec’y.-treas.). Of the latter company George Bingay was one of the three original corporators. From his family antecedents, as well as his professional and social environment, as may be supposed, Mr. Bingay’s sentiments lean strongly towards Conservatism. He is the oldest representative of a family, which for a hundred years, has held a very prominent position in the western counties of Nova Scotia. His ancestors made great sacrifices for British connection. The family are Episcopalians in religion.

* * * * *