Chapter M: C. Baillairgé, Quebec (41)

=Clinch, Robert Thomson=, St. John, N.B., is descended from an old Irish family of record in Ireland since the time of Edward the Second. His ancestors, Peter and Simon Clinch, took an active part on the Stuart side, in the troublous times of James the Second and William the Third. He was born at St. George, New Brunswick, June 27th, 1827, and is the seventh son of Patrick and Eleanor Clinch, and grandson of Captain Peter Clinch, who, for special services rendered the British government during the American revolutionary war, was awarded a large tract of land. Nearly half of the land on which the city of St. John now stands, and where at that time Captain Clinch resided, was ungranted. Taking with him two Indians, Captain Clinch traversed the province of New Brunswick, and on reaching Charlotte county was so struck with the beauty of Magaguadavic Falls that he resolved to select his land grant in this neighborhood. He then retired from the army, and became the first settler, and the founder of the town of St. George. This gentleman represented Charlotte county in the first House of Assembly in New Brunswick, which was opened in St. John, January 3rd, 1786, by Governor Thomas Carleton. His son, Robert Clinch’s father, also represented Charlotte county in the House of Assembly, some eight or ten years, and was a justice of the court of common pleas, and for several years editor of the _Provincialist_, a newspaper, published in St. Andrews. Mr. Clinch has been connected with the telegraph service ever since its introduction into New Brunswick, and for the past twenty years has been superintendent in the provinces of Nova Scotia and New Brunswick. He is a member of the Church of England, and has been four times elected representative to the Provincial Synod, and in 1880 was appointed one of the delegates from the Provincial Synod to the convention of the Protestant Episcopal Church of the United States, then assembled in New York. Mr. Clinch, for thirty-four years, has been an active member of the Masonic fraternity. In 1866 he was appointed district grand master by the late Earl of Zetland, and after the formation of the Grand Lodge of New Brunswick was thrice elected grand master. He is now the representative of the Grand Lodge of England to the Grand Lodge of New Brunswick, and is also past commander of the Knights Templars of St. John, and a member of the supreme council of the 33rd Ancient and Accepted Scottish Rite for the Dominion of Canada. He married in 1860, Henrietta, daughter of George W. Cleary, barrister, who died April 3rd, 1862. In 1866 he married Helen E., daughter of Thomas Barlow, a member of the old late house of E. Barlow & Sons.

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=Baudouin, Philibert=, St. John’s, province of Quebec, was born at Repentigny, Quebec, April 27th, 1836. He is a son of Pierre Baudouin and Margaret Hétu, his wife. He is a descendant of Jean Baudouin, who was a resident of Montreal in 1663, and whose son, Guillaume, settled at Repentigny, on the estate where M. Baudouin was born, and which has been in the family since its cession by the seigneur in 1698. The family name of Baudouin is derived from the language of old Gaul, and is the origin of the name Baldwin, which was first spelled Baudwin. The subject of this sketch was educated at L’Assomption College, and took a full classical course. He is a notary public for the province of Quebec, and in 1858 resided at Coteau Landing; in 1860, at Iberville; from 1862 to 1873, he was county clerk, clerk of the circuit court, etc., for Iberville county, and town clerk of Iberville; from 1875 to 1877, he was manager of the agency of the Banque de St. Jean, at Farnham; from 1877 to 1886, cashier of the Banque de St. Jean, at St. John’s; and since 1886 he has been manager of the agency of the Banque du Peuple, at St. John’s. He has travelled through the Eastern States, and was one of the many thousands at the Philadelphia exposition of 1876. He is a Roman Catholic in religion. Mr. Baudouin is a total abstainer from liquor, and is in the enjoyment of perfect health, although a hard brain-worker. He was married, August 22nd, 1864, to Caroline Annie Marchand, of the Marchand family, long established in St. John’s, the most prominent of which now are the Hon. F. G. Marchand, M.P.P., speaker of the Quebec legislature, etc., and Henri Marchand, prothonotary, S.C., at St. John’s; and on her mother’s side, a granddaughter of Isaac Phineas, long agent at Maskinonge of Seigneur Pothier’s estate, and one of the English Jews who settled in Canada about a century ago.

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=Lamarche, Felix Oliver=, Mayor of Berthierville, province of Quebec, was born at Montreal, Quebec, on 1st December, 1837. He is the son of Charles Lamarche and Marguerite Tranque, his wife, who is descended from an ancient Norman family, who, on leaving the old land, settled in Montreal. The subject of this sketch received an elementary school education at Berthier-en-haut. In 1839, he left Montreal for that town, and has resided there since. He was for several years actively engaged in the shipping interest, being the owner of several vessels, and for nine years commanded a vessel sailing on the St. Lawrence river. As a sailor, he was on several trips down the gulf to St. John’s, N.F.; Halifax, N.S.; St. John, N.B.; La Baie des Chaleurs, P.E.I., etc. For the past sixteen years he has been in the hay and grain business, and is now one of the largest hay shippers in the province of Quebec, having nine hay barns or sheds, with eleven hay presses, employing fifty men, and shipping some five thousand tons of hay annually to the United States and local markets. He is president of the Compagnie Industrial of Berthierville, and of the bolt manufactory; was a shareholder in the late Stadacona Insurance Company; and also in the Union Steam Navigation Company. In politics, he is a strong Conservative, and a liberal subscriber to its funds. He has been repeatedly solicited to allow himself to be brought forward as a candidate in the Conservative interest, but invariably refused. He was also offered government positions, but would not accept them in view of his business connections, and also because his busy life could not stand the restraint such a position would place upon him. In religion, he is a fervent Roman Catholic. He has been married twice—first to Alphonsine Ducharme, on the 7th November, 1858, by whom he had two children. This lady died on the 22nd August, 1861. Again to Caroline St. Cyr, on the 30th August, 1875, and by whom he has had seven children. Of the nine children, three only are living.

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=Bresse, Hon. Guillaume (William)=, Quebec, is the leading boot and shoe manufacturer of the ancient capital, and a member of the Legislative Council of the province of Quebec. An admirable type of the self-made man, Mr. Bresse has risen from obscurity to a commanding position of industrial eminence and affluence by the sheer force of native talent and enterprise. With no other educational advantages than those afforded by the parish school of St. Athanase, d’Iberville, P.Q., at which the present premier of the province of Quebec, Hon. H. Mercier, also received the rudiments of his education; he has climbed the ladder of fortune until he now stands on the topmost rung of wealth and influence, while still a comparatively young man. But he has not forgotten that he was once a workingman himself. One of the largest employers of labor in the province of Quebec, his workmen and women are more his friends than his employees, and the interest he takes in their comfort and welfare is altogether paternal. Born in Chambly, near Montreal, he is now in the fifty-third year of his age. His parentage was humble, but respectable. His father was a farmer, a typical French-Canadian _habitant_, and his mother was a member of the Rocheleau family, of Chambly. His uncle, Major Bresse, served in the Canadian militia under De Salaberry, at Chateauguay, during the war of 1812, and was the Lower Canadian hero’s most trusted lieutenant. After receiving such education as the school of St. Athanase could impart, our subject went out into the world to earn his own livelihood, and his life down to about 1863 was that of the ordinary workingman, laboring for his day’s wage in Montreal and the manufacturing centres of the New England States. During his sojourn in the latter, he formed a close intimacy with another workingman and fellow countryman, who has also since risen to wealth and fame in his native province—Louis Coté, the great boot and shoe manufacturer of St. Hyacinthe, P.Q., for many years the popular mayor of that city, and now a member of the Dominion Labor Commission. The two young French-Canadians were kindred spirits. Both were of an observant turn of mind and actuated by a laudable ambition to advance themselves. Happily, too, for themselves and their native province, they were both gifted with more than the usual pluck and enterprise of their race. Noting the preference given to their countrymen as factory hands in the United States, on account of their peculiar adaptability to the work, their orderly character, and their contentment with moderate earnings, they quickly came to the conclusion that if the French-Canadians were so profitable to their employers abroad, where the cost of living was high, they would be much more so at home. They accordingly returned to Canada with the determination to start in the business of boot and shoe manufacturing on their own account. The old city of Quebec seemed to offer the most favorable field for their undertaking. One of its staple industries, shipbuilding, was declining, and a large element of the local population were out of employment and ready to embark in any new branch which promised steady work. The tanneries of Quebec, already famous for the abundance and excellence of their leather, also offered the attraction of a cheap, plentiful, and convenient supply of the raw material, and altogether the situation appeared exceedingly propitious to make a bold bid for the Canadian trade. But the two young adventurers were without means or friends to help them, and their beginning was, consequently, on a very small and humble scale. By the merest accident, when they reached Point Levis, opposite Quebec, on their return from the United States in the winter of 1863, they met François Langelier, then a young lawyer returning, after completing his studies in Europe, and now the Hon. François Langelier, mayor of Quebec and member of the House of Commons for the electoral division of Quebec Centre. While being conveyed through the floating ice of the St. Lawrence over to Quebec, an acquaintanceship was formed between the three young men, which has since ripened into a warm and lasting friendship, personal and political. The encounter was a fortunate one for all three. To Messrs. Bresse and Coté it was particularly so, for a few days afterwards a reference to Mr. Langelier enabled them to secure the lease of a building in St. John’s suburbs, on favorable terms, suited to their purpose. It has often been asserted that the Messrs. Woodley were the pioneers of the great boot and shoe industry of Quebec city, but such is not the case. The Woodleys did not start in it until 1866, or three years after the firm of Coté & Bresse, who began manufacturing with machinery in St. George street, in St. John’s suburbs, in the spring of 1863. To these two enterprising French-Canadians rightfully belongs the credit of leading the way in a branch of trade which is now the most important of Quebec, and furnishes a means of support to a larger body of the population even than the lumber trade. From St. George street they removed to Des Fosses street, in Quebec East, when the partnership was dissolved, Mr. Coté going to St. Hyacinthe, and Mr. Bresse remaining in Quebec and removing to St. Paul street. His present factory and palatial residence on Dorchester street, Quebec East, erected in 1871, cover an entire block, and the factory itself is the largest and finest of its kind in the city. It gives constant employment to an average of four hundred hands, male and female, and the quantity of boots and shoes it turns out is enormous, while their excellence has rendered Mr. Bresse’s name famous all over the Dominion. From Newfoundland in the east to Vancouver in the west, his goods find a ready market, and his numerous hands are kept busy all the year round in filling orders. In addition, Mr. Bresse is the patentee of several valuable labor-saving machines of his own invention, and owns a large tannery at Arthabaska, several farms in the district surrounding Quebec, and property in Winnipeg, Montreal, and elsewhere. He also holds a controlling interest in the St. Hyacinthe Water Works Company, of which he is a director. He was a member of the Senecal Syndicate which purchased the North Shore Railway from the provincial government of Quebec, under the premiership of Hon. Mr. Chapleau, the present Dominion secretary of state, and acted as administrator of that road until it passed into the hands of the Canadian Pacific Railway Company. In fact, there are but few local undertakings, financial or industrial, in which he has not been, or is not now, concerned, and he may be truly said to be an eminently successful man. As a citizen, he is deservedly held in the highest respect, and his fellow townsmen some years ago marked their confidence in him by electing him as one of their representatives in the city council for Jacques Cartier ward. He sat in the council for one term, after which he declined re-election on account of the demands of his extensive business upon his time. As an employer of labor, he is probably one of the most popular in Quebec, having a genuine workingman’s sympathy for workingmen, and treating them more as his children than his servants. In politics, Mr. Bresse has always been a warm and consistent Liberal, and the opposition leader in the Dominion parliament, the silver-tongued Laurier, has no stronger admirer or supporter in his constituency of Quebec East. Hon. H. Mercier, the present premier of the province, is also one of his warmest friends, and it was by his government that Mr. Bresse was, in December, 1887, called with general public approval to the Legislative Council as the representative of Les Laurentides division upon the resignation of Hon. J. E. Gingras. On that occasion, the pleasant relations existing between him and his employees was marked by their presentation to him of a congratulatory address. In religion, he is a Roman Catholic, like the great majority of his fellow countrymen. He is unmarried.

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=Moreau, Right Rev. Louis Zephirin=, Bishop of St. Hyacinthe, St. Hyacinthe, Quebec, was born at Becancourt, province of Quebec, the 1st of April, 1824. His father was Louis Moreau, farmer, and his mother, Marie Margaret Champoux. He followed a classical course of study at the seminary of Nicolet, from 1839 to 1844, and taught in the same college for upwards of two years. In September, 1846, he went to the palace of the Bishop of Montreal, where he was ordained a priest in December of the same year. From 1846 to 1852, he remained at the palace in the capacity of chaplain to the cathedral, and assistant secretary of the diocese. On the 2nd of November, 1852, he left Montreal for St. Hyacinthe, as secretary to the first bishop of that place, Monseigneur J. C. Prince. He then occupied the position of parish priest and vicar-general of the diocese. On the 19th of November, 1875, he was appointed by His Holiness Pope Pius the IX. the fourth bishop of St. Hyacinthe, and was consecrated on 16th January, 1876. Since then his lordship has made two trips to Rome in the interest of his diocese, which is comprised of 120,000 Roman Catholics, and 18,000 Protestants, containing seventy-six churches, one hundred and sixty priests, two seminaries, three colleges, two male communities, five communities of women, and five hospitals in charge of nuns. The St. Hyacinthe Cathedral is one of the finest edifices in the Dominion, and it is owing to Bishop Moreau’s indefatigable efforts and energy that the citizens are indebted for its erection, as well as for the establishment of the other above-mentioned institutions of learning and benevolence.

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=Stevens, Hon. Gardner Green=, Waterloo, province of Quebec, was born on 13th December, 1814, at Brompton, Quebec. His father was born at Newfane, Windham county, Vermont, and his grandfather, Lemuel Stevens, at Petersham, Worcester county, Mass. The family moved into Canada soon after the close of the struggle for the independence of the colonies, they being strong adherents of the British crown. His mother came from Brookfield, Vt. His father, Gardner Stevens, was one of the early settlers in Brompton, and was, in his day, an industrious, well-to-do farmer, and a prominent citizen. He met with an accident in 1845, when sixty-three years of age, which terminated fatally. The subject of this sketch received the ordinary education of farmers’ sons in this locality fifty years ago; aided his father in cultivating the soil until of age; then took charge of a farm, mill, and store at Waterville, county of Compton, and was thus employed for ten years, when, in March, 1851, he became agent for the British American Loan Company, taking up his residence at Waterloo, and he has since devoted his attention almost entirely to that agency. Except four years spent at Roxton Falls, he has resided there for thirty years, holding various positions of trust and honor, both at Roxton and Waterloo. While at the former place, he was municipal councillor and mayor of the town. Here he has been justice of the peace for a long period; has been councillor, mayor of the township from 1870 to 1875 inclusive, and warden of the county. While warden he was _ex-officio_ a director of the South-Eastern Railway. He has been a director, and is now president, of the Stanstead, Shefford, and Chambly Railway, of which company he was the first treasurer. He is one of those enterprising men who like to have a hand in any movement calculated to benefit the country—its material interests, or for the improvement of the people. Since February 19th, 1876, he has represented the constituency of Bedford in the Senate of the Dominion, taking the place of Hon. Asa B. Foster, who resigned that year. In 1847, Senator Stevens married Relief Jane, daughter of Sidney Spafford, of Compton, and has issue five children—three sons and two daughters. The family attend the Methodist church. It was during the first term of Senator Stevens’ service in the mayor’s chair that Prince Arthur visited Waterloo, June 13, 1870, and he had the honor of presenting an address to His Royal Highness. The _Chronicler_ of Shefford thus speaks of our subject: “Mr. Stevens is emphatically a self-made man, and like all men of his class, his perceptive faculties, sharpened by cultivation, made him keenly cognizant of whatever affects his own interests, or anything committed to his trust. A man of extensive reading and retentive memory, with ready powers of conversation, he is eminently qualified to amuse or instruct. Accustomed to habits of industry, he appreciates this quality in others, and while he is ever ready to assist the young man who is bravely fighting the battle of life, he has no sympathy for one who shrinks from hardships, or who, with everything in his favor, makes shipwreck of his possessions.”

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=Wood, Rev. Enoch=, D.D.—This reverend gentleman, who died at Davenport, Toronto, on the 31st January, 1888, was among the early missionaries sent out to America from the old country. He was born in Lincolnshire, England, in 1804, and entered the service of the Wesleyan Missionary Society in 1825. After serving for three years in the West Indian missions, he was transferred to the province of New Brunswick, where he labored for nineteen years. At the close of this term of service he was appointed by the British conference superintendent of missions in Canada, when he removed his residence to Toronto. Dr. Wood had pastoral charges in St. John, N.B., in 1829, 1836, 1838, 1841, and 1844, and in Fredericton in 1846, in addition to others in New Brunswick. Of his work in that province, a writer says:—“The older Methodists of New Brunswick still treasure the memory of his long and powerful labors among them with emotions of almost filial gratitude, and recall his gentle, lovable manner and character with ever fresh delight.” In 1874, Dr. Wood came to Toronto as superintendent of missions, and afterwards as missionary secretary, and continued to hold that office while he was president of the Wesleyan Conference for seven years, from 1851 to 1857. He was again president of the conference in 1862. The honorary degree of D.D. was conferred upon him by Victoria University, in 1860. He was elected first president of the Toronto Conference in 1874, after the union of the several denominations in that year. He was on the list of superannuated ministers at the time of his death. Dr. Wood had been suffering for several years, and had been confined to his room, but he bore his illness with great patience and Christian resignation. He was strongly attached to the old-fashioned Methodism, and was a conservative with regard to any changes. He was a man of great tenderness, and of a very sympathetic nature, which made him a very impressive preacher. His sermons were suggestive rather than exhaustive. He possessed a very considerable amount of administrative ability, and presided with dignity over the conference during the time he was president. The death of his son-in-law, Rev. Dr. Nelles, some months ago, gave him a great shock, which doubtless hastened his end. He left behind him a daughter, the widow of the late Rev. Dr. Nelles, and two sons, John and R. A. Wood, of Toronto.

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=Courtney, Rev. Dr. Frederick=, Episcopal Bishop of Nova Scotia, is a native of Plymouth, England, and is fifty years old. He was educated in part at Christ’s Hospital, first at the preparatory school at Hartford, then the Bluecoat School in Newgate street, London. After that he graduated in the first class from King’s College, London, in 1863. He was curate of Hadlow, near Pembridge, Kent, from 1864 to 1865; incumbent of Charles Chapel, now St. Luke’s, Plymouth, from 1865 to 1870; incumbent of St. Jude’s, Glasgow, Scotland, from 1870 to 1876, and assistant minister of St. Thomas’ Church, New York, of which Dr. Morgan is rector, from 1876 to 1880. He began his labors with St. James’ Church, Chicago, in 1880, and remained in that pastorate until March, 1882, when he removed to Boston. He was elected Bishop of Nova Scotia in 1888. Dr. Courtney is tall, erect, and well formed. He has greyish blue eyes. His cast of mind is not one-sided, and yet it is logical, analytical, and acute, rather than emotional, poetical, or imaginative. In theology, he describes himself as “high, low, and broad.” It is sufficiently evident, however, that he has no doctrinal sympathy with ritualism, and that he is decidedly evangelical and spiritual in his views of the Christian religion. As a preacher, Dr. Courtney in many respects, at least, has very few equals. His sermons are about thirty-five minutes in length. He uses no manuscript or notes, and yet his discourses have a rhetorical finish which is marvellous. In a whole sermon he will not hesitate for a word, or use one infelicitously. His diction is not floral, but copious and expressive, and includes a fair proportion of metaphor. His illustrations are drawn mostly from Scripture, and he seems to carry the very words of the whole Bible on his tongue’s end. His delivery is generally calm and deliberate, but occasionally becomes impassioned. His enunciation is distinct, and his emphasis always correct.

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=Aubrey, Rev. François Fortunat=, Parish Priest, St. John’s, Quebec, was born in the parish of St. Lawrence, near Montreal, in July, 1830. He is the son of Hyacinthe Aubrey, a farmer, and Genevieve Leduc, his wife. The great-grandfather of Hyacinthe Aubrey was an Irishman, born in Ireland, and bearing the name of Cornelius O’Brennan. The subject of this sketch went through his classical course of studies in the College of Ste. Therese, county of Terrebonne, Quebec, and at 22 years of age entered the clerical order, and was ordained priest in September, 1855. He was professor in Ste. Therese college from 1852 to 1857, teaching rhetoric and natural sciences. In 1857 he was curate at Longueuil, and St. John’s, Quebec; in 1858-9 he was missionary at Prince Edward Island, and in the fall of 1859 he was appointed parish priest at Ste. Marthe, county Vaudreuil, diocese of Montreal. In the fall of 1862 he was called by the late Bishop Joseph Larocque, to be parish priest of the Cathedral of the city of St. Hyacinthe; but in the fall of 1864 he returned to Ste. Marthe, and remained two years. In the fall of 1866, he was called to succeed as parish priest of St. John’s, the late Bishop Charles Larocque, who had been appointed Bishop of St. Hyacinthe. He established, in 1868, an hospital conducted by the Grey Nuns of Montreal, and the same year had the Brothers of the Christian schools to teach the young boys. In the spring of 1878, he left for Europe; where he spent five months, visiting in the course of his tour the chief cities of France, Italy, Belgium, etc. Father Aubrey was always and hopes to be always a devout child of the Roman Catholic church, knowing quite well that the Holy Catholic Roman church is the only one founded by our Saviour Jesus Christ.

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=Lefebvre, Joseph Hubert=, Waterloo, province of Quebec, was born March 3rd, 1853, at Lawrenceville, township of Stukely, county of Shefford, Quebec. He is the eldest son of Joseph Lefebvre, a notary by profession, and who died May 11th, 1884. This family came from France and settled in Lower Canada, in the early part of the 17th century. His mother, Eulalie Boisvert, was a resident of the township of Stukely. The subject of this sketch received an excellent education, spending six years at an English Academy in Knowlton; then taking a classical course at St. Hyacinthe College; and afterwards a business course at the Montreal branch of Bryant & Stratton’s College. In 1870, he was articled to his father as a law student, and was admitted as a notary public, his commission being dated October 4th, 1877. From 1873 to 1876 he was in the lumber business with his brother, William R. Lefebvre, to whom he sold out his interest when he left the place. On being admitted to the notarial profession, Mr. Lefebvre practised a while at Granby, and in May, 1879, settled in Waterloo, where he succeeded to the business of Mr. Brassard, who had a large practice which was transferred to the hands of our subject, and his business consequently was brisk from the start. He was secretary-treasurer of the municipalities of the village of Waterloo, and township of Shefford, and of the schools of the village of Waterloo, and was secretary-treasurer of the municipality and schools of the parish of St. Joachim, when it was erected into a separate municipality, but he only held that position for a short time in order to get the municipality and school board into working order. He resigned all these secretaryships upon being appointed successor to his late father as registrar of the county of Shefford, his commission as such being dated November 7th, 1884. He was president of the Board of License Commissioners appointed under the License Act of 1883, and was appointed revising barrister for the county of Shefford, under a commission of the governor-general, dated October 26th, 1885. He is one of the promoters of the Shefford Agricultural Park Association, was instrumental in getting it incorporated, and has been its secretary-treasurer since its inception. He is largely interested in real estate, having purchased several thousand acres in the township of Minerve, in the county of Ottawa, which he is now colonizing. He was a volunteer in the frontier corps at the time of the Fenian raid in 1870; and was graduated at the Military Academy at Montreal, in 1872. He is a Conservative in politics, and has taken part in some of the political campaigns in Shefford and Brome counties; but is not a bitter partisan. He is a Roman Catholic in religion. He was married April 10th, 1877, to Clara Dorval, a daughter of the late Cajetan Dorval, formerly a merchant and postmaster of St. Césaire, and they have had seven children—six of whom are living and one is dead.

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=Howe, Hon. Joseph.=—The late Hon. Mr. Howe was born at the North-west Arm, about two miles from Halifax, in December, 1804. His father was John Howe, a U. E. loyalist, who was at one time a printer in Boston, but who subsequently became a writer for the newspapers. Young Howe went to school in an irregular fashion in Halifax, and picked up the rudiments of a rough-and-ready sort of education. He was of a rugged frame, had an exuberance of animal spirits, and was fond of crag, and forest, and hill. He had, indeed, those who knew him say, the “poetic temperament,”—though it must be confessed that he did not show much of it in the verses, by so many called poetry, which he afterwards wrote. In 1817 he began to learn the printing business at the _Gazette_ office, Halifax. This paper was owned by his younger brother, John. He served out his full apprenticeship, and then engaged himself in journeyman printing work. While learning his trade young Howe is said to have read voraciously every book that he could lay hands upon. He also published in the _Gazette_ a lot of verses, which, however, did not amount to very much as poetry. “One morning,” says a Canadian writer, “while taking a solitary swim in the Arm, he was seized with cramp and felt himself sinking. He cast an agonized look round, and caught sight of the dearly-loved cottage on the hillside, where his mother was just placing a lighted candle on the window-sill. The thought of the grief which would overshadow that woman’s heart on the morrow inspired him with a strength to give a last despairing kick. The kick dispelled the cramp, and, hastily swimming ashore, he sank down exhausted, but thankful for his deliverance. It was long before he could summon courage to acquaint his parents with the circumstance.” Joseph Howe began a newspaper business on his own account, in 1827, becoming part proprietor of the _Weekly Chronicle_, the name of which was afterwards changed to that of the _Acadian_. He, however, soon sold out the latter, and purchased the _Nova Scotian_. In this newspaper he wrote with great earnestness, eloquence, and force. His style was pregnant, trenchant, and sometimes overwhelming. Mr. Howe’s celebrated _Legislative Review_ began to appear in 1830, and attracted wide notice. In 1835 he published an article which the oligarchists could not tolerate, and he was indicted for libel. He consulted various lawyers. “There can be no successful defence made for you,” they all said, and some invited him to make a humble apology, and throw himself upon the mercy of his prosecutors. He borrowed a lot of law books, read all he could find on libel, and convinced himself that the learned men of the law were wrong. He pleaded his own case, and his heart became comforted, as he saw among the jurors an old man, with tears streaming from his eyes. The jury returned in ten minutes with a verdict of “not guilty,” and the lawyers who had said, “he who pleads his own case has a fool for a client,” were in a way dumbfounded. From this day forward Mr. Howe was a noted man. In 1836 he was elected to parliament for the county of Halifax; and two years later he travelled through Europe, in company with Judge Haliburton, better known as “Sam Slick.” Mr. Howe returned in 1838, and plunged into public work again. Sir Colin Campbell, the iron-headed autocrat, who was then governor, could not understand what the “common” people meant by talking about their “rights,” and with him, Mr. Howe, it need not be said, was at issue. On petition of the province, Governor Campbell was recalled, and was succeeded by Lord Falkland, a son of William IV., by Mrs. Jordan. After a time Falkland became a cat’s-paw in the hands of the Tories, and provoked fierce hostilities from the Liberals, at the head of whom was Joseph Howe. In 1848, the day of triumph came for the Liberals. Mr. Mackie was called upon to form a government, and Mr. Howe became provincial secretary. In 1851 he retired from the representation of Halifax; and in 1863 he became premier, in the place of Mr. Young, who was elevated to the bench. Since the entry into public life of Dr. Tupper, in 1855, there had been a steady, often a furious, hostility between himself and Mr. Howe. The strife was greatest between them on the question of union, to which Mr. Howe was opposed. But Dr. Tupper prevailed, not that he was a greater man than Mr. Howe; but because luck was on his side—there being a general movement in the direction of union, and the Imperial government desired the measure. When confederation was accomplished the now almost broken-down veteran was made to see, by Sir J. A. Macdonald, that he could be loyal to his province, by accepting the inevitable, and making the best of the new order of things. Hence he entered the Dominion cabinet in 1869 as president of the council. Ten months later he became secretary of state for the provinces and superintendent-general of Indian affairs. His health was now all the while growing feebler, and his mental retrogression seemed to keep pace with his physical. In 1873 he was appointed lieutenant-governor of Nova Scotia; but he died a few weeks afterwards. As an orator, Joseph Howe was the greatest man that the provinces which compose Canada have ever produced. He married, in 1828, Catharine Susan Ann, a daughter of Captain John McNab, of the Nova Scotia Fencibles.

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=Coté, Louis=, Manufacturer, St. Hyacinthe. St. Hyacinthe is one of the most flourishing cities of the province of Quebec, and probably also its greatest manufacturing centre. Its tanneries, and its manufactories for boots and shoes, of woollen and knitted goods, of machinery, organs, etc., are not only numerous, but important and thriving establishments. These great industries impart to the local trade an extraordinary amount of activity, which is further enhanced by the well-known fertility of the surrounding agricultural region, and moreover, provides business for a local bank and two branch banks, in addition to the business of the same kind done in Montreal. When a stranger visits this pretty little town, he is always struck by the pervading air of ease, progress, and prosperity. Its buildings are noted for the remarkable taste shown in their construction. The streets are fine, straight, well kept, generally lined with handsome shade trees, and, after dark, lit with the electric light. Besides the magnificent promenade provided by Girouard street, there are also those of the Park, which will be a charming spot when the plantations of trees, made within a few years back, shall have increased in growth. Altogether, the place bears the stamp of activity, enterprise, and progress in every shape. Although founded upwards of seventy-five years ago, it is only about twenty years since St. Hyacinthe entered upon its present era of extraordinary development. In and about 1860, it was still nothing more than a big country village, inhabited by a sleeping population. The magnificent water power of the Yamaska river was only utilized to run two grist mills and a rope factory, the remainder of the water running to waste, while no one dreamt of making use of it for manufacturing purposes calculated to furnish employment to a working population steeped in want. The only establishments which gave the city any importance were its splendid college and convents. A few years before this, the two Coté brothers, in partnership with Guillaume Bresse, had introduced into Quebec the boot and shoe industry, which has since developed to such an extraordinary extent in that city. The Messrs. Coté had been born and reared in the environs of St. Hyacinthe, and their native city had naturally a warm place in their regard. They had long been sensible of the adaptability of its advantages to manufacturing industry, and only an occasion, some happy circumstance, was needed to induce them to turn them to account. Mr. Bourgeois, now judge of the Superior Court at Three Rivers, was then a practising lawyer at St. Hyacinthe, where he wielded an amount of influence as extensive as it was well deserved. A gentleman of broad and patriotic views, sincerely anxious for the progress of his town, he believed it had all the requirements of a manufacturing centre, and, as the cousin and intimate friend of Louis Coté, he pressed the point upon his attention, and urged him to establish himself in St. Hyacinthe, convinced that, with the assistance of so intelligent and enterprising a man, the place could not fail to fulfil its manifest destiny. The proposition was favorably entertained by Louis Coté, for whom Judge Bourgeois also found a partner with some capital in the person of Victor Coté. Leaving Mr. Bresse at Quebec, Louis Coté removed to St. Hyacinthe in 1863, and in partnership with his brother George and Victor Coté, he opened the establishment which marked St. Hyacinthe’s first step towards manufacturing eminence. The success of this establishment, now one of the largest in the country, is too well known to be dwelt upon. But it is not alone as a successful business man that Louis Coté has distinguished himself. He is also famous as an inventor, and the boot and shoe industry is indebted to his ingenuity for several machines which have largely contributed to its development. Most of his inventions have, in fact, become so indispensable to the trade that no one dreams at present of manufacturing shoes without them any more than of driving nails without a hammer. Attempts have been made to infringe his patents, and, to vindicate his rights, Mr. Coté had even to do battle for them before the Supreme Court of the United States, but he won his case, and to-day his machines are deservedly regarded as the _ne plus ultra_ of perfection. His inventions are now in use all over in the great boot and shoe factories of Canada, the United States, England, Germany, and France. It will be easily understood that a man so intelligent and enterprising as our subject could not fail to exercise a marked influence on the progress of the city which had the advantage of counting him among its population, and the still more direct advantage of having him as its mayor during a number of years. In concert with Judge Bourgeois, who was also for many years a councillor and mayor of St. Hyacinthe, he always favored and stimulated industrial progress, or the encouragement of promising branches of manufacture. His own example, his prosperity, and the ever increasing success of his own establishment, were the means by which St. Hyacinthe was raised to the pinnacle of manufacturing importance on which it stands to-day, and on which it rests its claim to the dignity of the greatest industrial centre, in proportion to population, not only of the province of Quebec, but of the Dominion of Canada. But Mr. Coté’s beneficial influence was not alone felt in the commercial and industrial departments. As a member of the city council, and especially as mayor, he did much towards endowing St. Hyacinthe with improvements which are usually found only in the most populous and advanced cities. The superb waterworks which supplies the city and protects it against the recurrence of the disastrous conflagrations which ravaged it in the past, was built by a company of which Mr. Coté was the initiator, and is the principal stockholder and president. In the work of reform of the local school system, Mr. Coté labored hand in hand with the Rev. Mr. Gravel, then parish priest of St. Hyacinthe, and acting bishop of Nicolet; Jos. Naud, registrar; Euclide Richer, stationer; Charles Ledoux, and Mr. Chenet, all of whom gave in the matter proof of a zeal and devotion which entitles them to the lasting gratitude of their fellow citizens. He inspired, and was to a large extent the author of all the measures adopted to make the place the most prosperous and attractive manufacturing centre, not only in the province of Quebec, but in all Canada, outside of the great commercial cities. In a word, Mr. Coté, by his industry and example, made St. Hyacinthe. The brilliant and fruitful career of this good man furnishes a striking illustration of what can be done by intelligence, industry, good conduct, and love of country. He started out in life without education or pecuniary resource. After learning his trade in the United States, he returned to Montreal, where he soon secured a position as foreman in one of the great shoe factories of that city. There he devoted all his leisure time to study, and saved his earnings in order to procure for himself a good education. He followed the courses of the Jacques Cartier Normal School, and, thanks to the kindly interest taken in him by the Abbé Verrault, principal of that institution, he completed his studies there, and left it with that superior education in which so many of our great manufacturers and mechanics are deficient. Since then he has continued to instruct himself, and his library to-day offers him a source of information upon which he draws abundantly. The money which he saved by his self-denial not only furnished him with education but with a small capital which enabled him to start business on his own account, and to conquer fortune. By his intelligence and good conduct he has also given to the great question of capital and labor the only practical solution of which it is susceptible—he acquired capital by labor. To-day Mr. Coté is one of the wealthiest manufacturers in his line. He enjoys, in the fullest measure, the esteem and gratitude of his fellow citizens, and is known all over the country as a remarkable man. Although a Liberal in politics, the Federal government has paid homage to his merits and abilities, by appointing him a member of its labor commission, and, thanks to his intimate acquaintanceship with economic questions, his experience and practical knowledge, he is sure to make his mark in that connection as he has done in all others in the past. Louis Coté is still a comparatively young man, being only in his fiftieth year, so that, if he should be spared, there is still a bright career of usefulness before him for the good of his native city and the country at large. In religion, he is a Roman Catholic. He married, in 1868, Louise, daughter of Charles Pigeon, a most charming and distinguished lady; he has no family.

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=Casavant, Joseph Claver & Samuel=, St. Hyacinthe, Quebec. Joseph was born on 16th September, 1855, and Samuel on 4th April, 1859, in the city of St. Hyacinthe. These two gentlemen compose the firm of Casavant, Frères, organ builders, St. Hyacinthe, Quebec province. They are the sons of Joseph Casavant, who died the 9th March, 1874, aged 67 years, after a successful career as an organ-builder, in the course of which he built the organs for Kingston and Ottawa Roman Catholic Cathedrals, and many others. The subjects of this sketch were educated at St. Hyacinthe college, and after leaving this seminary of learning they were entered as apprentices with a prominent firm of organ builders. After acquiring a thorough insight into the details of the business, they went to Europe in 1878 and made an extensive tour of England, Holland, Belgium, Germany, Switzerland, Italy and France, the primary object of their travels being to gain an idea of the more recent improvements made by the more prominent organ builders in the countries visited. Returning to Canada in 1880, they entered into business on their own account, and have built many organs which testify to the ability of the builders, and the thoroughness with which they have grasped every detail of their profession. Among the best specimens of their work are the organs in the St. Hyacinthe Roman Catholic Cathedral, Varennes parish church, Notre Dame de Lourdes, in Montreal, etc. Ever on the watch for improvements, and determined to have a knowledge from personal investigation, of every new invention relating to their business, the brothers, in 1886, took another tour through the principal centres in Europe, returning by way of the United States. In the course of this tour they obtained many valuable hints which they have turned to good account in their latest instruments. They are now building an organ for Notre Dame French Church in Montreal, which will contain eighty-five sounding stops (one hundred knobs), and is estimated to cost thirty thousand dollars. It will be provided with all the modern improvements, and will contain several new features which have not yet been used in Canada, the most important being that of electric action. This magnificent organ will be the largest in Canada, and will be a credit alike to the builders and to the Dominion of Canada.

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=Kincaid, Robert=, M.D., Peterboro’, Ont., Surgeon-Major, was born June 10th, 1832, in the county Donegal, Ireland. He is the son of George Kincaid, and Elizabeth Virtue, his wife, daughter of George Virtue, a wealthy mill owner of Donegal. She was also related to the Virtues of the great publishing house, London, England. Dr. Kincaid, the subject of this sketch, came to Canada in 1847, and received his education at Queen’s University, Kingston, graduating with honors in 1863. He has been the surgeon of the 57th battalion, Peterborough Rangers, since it was gazetted in 1866, and now holds the rank of surgeon-major. He entered the service of the United States in 1863, and served until the termination of the war, being present at the engagements of the Wilderness, Mine Run, Coal Harbor, Spottsylvania Court House and Petersburg. He was for a time surgeon in charge of Governor’s Island Hospital, at the foot of Broadway, N.Y., the most important medical office in the gift of the government of the United States; and was afterwards, in 1864, transferred to Maine, as medical director of that state, with headquarters at Portland. Upon the conclusion of the war he returned to Canada, and in 1865 settled in Peterborough, where he has resided ever since and built one of the largest and most important practices in the midland district. In addition to his medical practice he conducts a large stock farm of about 400 acres a few miles from town, and has been prominently identified with the different agricultural societies for some years. He has been surgeon of the county of Peterborough since 1867; surgeon to the corporation of the town of Peterborough since 1868, and he still holds both offices; he is also senior surgeon of the Nicholls’ Hospital, examining surgeon for the Canada Life, North American Life, Equitable Life, Federal Life and the Manufacturers’ Life Insurance companies. In politics he has been a life long Conservative, and still holds the same views, although at the last Dominion election he warmly supported George A. Cox, the Reform candidate, on strong personal grounds. In 1883, upon the death of the late W. H. Scott, Q.C, M.P.P., the doctor was elected by acclamation to represent West Peterborough in the Ontario legislature, he being the only man in the riding acceptable to both parties, and the only man in Canada who was ever nominated for parliament by both political parties at the same time. At the end of his term, he declined re-nomination. Dr. Kincaid is a fluent speaker. For many years he held the office of coroner for the town and county of Peterborough, and in that capacity conducted many important inquests; but upon his election to parliament he resigned the office, and has since declined re-appointment. He has frequently been asked to run for municipal honors, but always declined, preferring to devote all his time to his profession. He was chosen to the Senate of Queen’s University in 1886. For many years he was prominently identified with the Masonic order, and held all the different offices until he reached the high position of district deputy grand master of Ontario district. He was initiated into Masonry in 1863, in St. Lawrence lodge, Montreal, under the Grand Lodge of England. The doctor has travelled through every state in the American Union and through all parts of the Dominion. He was brought up in the faith of the Episcopal Church, and was confirmed by John Toronto. He is still in sympathy with the doctrines of that church, but being opposed to the high church views which prevail in Peterborough, he does not attend the services. Has attended the Presbyterian churches here, and for some time was chairman of the Board of Managers of St. Andrew’s Church, but left that body, consequent upon the change of ministers, when the Rev. D. J. Macdonnell left Peterborough for Toronto. Dr. Kincaid was married in 1865 to Margaret M., daughter of James Bell, then manager of the Commercial Bank of Canada, at Perth, now registrar of the county of Lanark; niece of the Rev. Dr. Bell, of Queen’s College; niece of Judge Malloch, of Brockville, and cousin of Prof. Bell of the Geological Survey of Canada. The union has been blessed with several children, one girl and three boys of whom are now living.

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