Skip to content

Chapter M: C. Baillairgé, Quebec (50)

Text size

=Belanger, Louis-Charles=, Advocate, Sherbrooke, Quebec province, was born on 19th May, 1840, at Rapide Plat, province of Quebec (Flat Rapids), on the Yamaska river, about seven miles below the city of St. Hyacinthe, in the parish of Ste. Rosalie, county Bagot. He is the eldest son of Charles Belanger, farmer and master blacksmith, and Angélique Renault-Blanchard. The subject of our sketch, Mr. Belanger, has six brothers and six sisters, all living, ten of whom are in the province of Quebec, and two in Worcester, Mass. The last named two brothers edit _Le Courrier de Worcester_, a leading French newspaper in New England. One of his brothers, Louis-Arthur, is the managing editor of _Le Progrès de l’Est_, a lively newspaper published at Sherbrooke, and the only bi-weekly paper in the Eastern Townships. His paternal grandfather, Paul Belanger, came from Beauce, and was one of the pioneer settlers in the St. Hyacinthe district. The late Louis Renault-Blanchard, his maternal grandfather, sat in the Legislative Assembly of Lower Canada, before 1841. This gentleman took an active part in the troubles of 1837-’38, and was forced to take refuge in the United States, along with one of his sons, the late L. P. R. Blanchard, C.E. and P.L.S. Mr. Belanger studied at St. Hyacinthe College from 1853 until 1860, when he removed to Sherbrooke, and spent two years as professor in the old Commercial French College of those days, and in this town he has resided ever since. He began the study of law in 1862, with the late William-Locker Felton, Q.C., who sat in parliament for Richmond and Wolfe, during the years 1854-’58, and took an active part in the separate school bill then before the house,—his wife being a Roman Catholic and one of the most accomplished women of her time—and was admitted to the bar of Quebec province, in October, 1866. On the 13th October, 1866, he entered into partnership with H. C. Cabana, now joint prothonotary of the Superior Court for the district of St. Francis, as advocates, etc., and with him established the _Pionnier de Sherbrooke_ newspaper, being the first French newspaper published in the Eastern Townships. In July, 1874, the partnership was dissolved, and Mr. Belanger practised law alone for a while. In the autumn of that year, he and his brother, L. A. Belanger, purchased the _Sherbrooke News_ and started the _Progrès_, both of which they published until May, 1878, when they sold their establishment to a company by which the _Pionnier_ has been published ever since. In 1882, he started the _Progrès de l’Est_, which he handed to his brother now with him, and to which he is an active contributor. He was a member of the 53rd battalion from 1882 until 1885, as active captain of No. 4 company, composed chiefly of French Canadians. From 1881 until 1883, he occupied a seat in the council, and was president of the St. Jean Baptiste Society in 1874, at the time of the National Convention at Montreal, and also in 1884, when the great celebration took place in the same city. Was one of the organizers of the St. Joseph Society, a Workingmen’s Mutual Benefit Society, in 1874. He has also been a school commissioner ever since 1865. In August, 1874, he was made honorary member of the St. Patrick’s Society, of Sherbrooke and vicinity. In 1876, he contested Richmond and Wolfe with Lieutenant-Colonel Hanning for the House of Commons, secured a majority of 114 in Wolfe, but was defeated by a larger majority against him in Richmond. Again, in February 1887, he contested the seat in Sherbrooke with R. N. Hall, the sitting member. There had been no contested election in that constituency for the Commons up till this time, since 1867, but after a most gallant fight, he was defeated. He had conducted the Crown business (French cases), ever since 1878, and he is now the sole Crown Prosecutor for the district of St. Francis, since February, 1887. In religion, he is a Roman Catholic, but well-known for his liberal views in religious and educational matters. In politics, he is an independent Conservative, but separated from the present government on account of the North-West troubles. On October 23rd, 1865, whilst studying law, he married Margaret Henrietta Bradshaw Unsworth, daughter of the late James Unsworth, who came from England to this country about the year 1852, and was engaged on the editorial staff of the Montreal _Gazette_ for a while, after which he removed to St. Hyacinthe, where he held the office of agent for the Grand Trunk Railway Company, and died of cholera in 1854. Mr. Unsworth left four sons, one of whom, Joseph, is superintendent of the government railway on Prince Edward Island. His widow, still living in Sherbrooke, is the sister of the well-known English composer, John Hatton, who died a couple of years ago, in London. Mr. Belanger has only one child, a daughter, having lost two in their infancy. Mr. Belanger’s motto is “Live and let live!” He stands up for equal rights to all men, and is a thorough Canadian. In 1867, Mr. Belanger’s father and family removed from Ste. Rosalie to Cookshire, county of Compton, where he purchased a large farm, now carried on by Mr. Belanger and his youngest brother. His father died two years ago, much regretted by a large circle of friends.

* * * * *

=Berryman, John=, M.D., M.P.P., of St. John, N.B., is of Irish extraction, his father, John Berryman, being a native of Antrim, who emigrated to St. John, and married Miss Wade, a lady of U. E. Loyalist parentage. Dr. Berryman was born in St. John, 9th December, 1828, and received his early education at the grammar school in that city. After leaving school he began life as a clerk in a flour store in St. John, then in a hardware shop, and for a half year in a flouring mill owned by his father. In 1848 he visited the West India Islands of Trinidad, Jamaica, and Cuba; Santa Fe De Bogata and Rio Hacha in New Granada. In 1849 he built, in St. John, a steam meal mill for grinding corn, and ran it until the fall of 1851, when he sold out and left for the Cape of Good Hope, and subsequently Australia, where he resided for five years, and carried on business as a miner, merchant, truckman, builder, and carpenter. Having early manifested a strong bent for the profession of medicine, after his return from Australia he entered upon a careful course of studies, at first in St. John and afterwards at the University of Edinburgh, where he assisted, in his professional labors, Professor Sir J. Y. Simpson, and resided in his house for two years. It is part of the course of a good student to engage in actual work either in the city of Edinburgh or at the university. In this way a medical student acquires in the rough duties of a city physician a practical knowledge of the minutiæ of his arduous employment, which must afterwards be of great service to him, especially when, as so often happens, he elects his field of labor in some remote country town, or on the outskirts of civilization, where books are not to be had, and consultations with other physicians are necessarily few and far between. Students at Edinburgh frequently attend to outside patients, furnish statistics of mortality to the official registrars, and deliver lectures on professional subjects. It so happened that Dr. Berryman’s fate cast him very soon into a field of work which tested his practical knowledge and his natural resources to the utmost. The war of the United States rebellion broke out in 1861, and the demand for men and scientific skill of all kinds, but particularly for skilled physicians, became enormous. Dr. Berryman went to the front and tendered his services, which, being accepted, found a large field. He was appointed by Surgeon-General Hammond a member of an examining board in connection with Professors Stillie, DeCosta, Weir, Mitchel, and Gross, of Philadelphia, and Dr. Smith, an army surgeon, to decide what disposition should be made of the three thousand soldiers under treatment in the hospital. He saw many thrilling scenes in the field of battle and in the crowded war hospital. In the rough exigencies of army life, and amid the countless horrible cases which war engendered, he had an ample field for his abilities, and at the same time had opportunities of perfecting himself as a surgeon in most difficult and delicate surgical operations. The training so acquired has been of inestimable value to him in his subsequent career in St. John and elsewhere. After the war was over he settled down in his native city and speedily worked up an extensive and lucrative practice. There was a great demand for the services of an army doctor. He took an interest in the volunteer movement, and served as surgeon of the garrison artillery of St. John from 18th April, 1864, to September, 1875. He was also surgeon of police from 1863 to 1875. Besides these appointments and the calls of his large city practice, he has frequently been sent for to attend severe cases of disease in other parts of New Brunswick and also Nova Scotia. Dr. Berryman first came before the public in the role of a candidate at the general election held on the 26th of April, in 1886. He and his colleague, John V. Ellis, were elected to represent the city of St. John in the House of Assembly, the vote standing, Ellis, 1673; Berryman 1611; defeating E. McLeod, 1500; and R. F. Quigley, 1220. Dr. Berryman is a Liberal and will, no doubt, before long give a good account of himself on the floor of parliament. His large practical experience of men and manners gives him a great advantage in politics. In 1850 he was made a Mason in Hibernia Lodge, St. John. He married, on the 16th March, 1864, Mary A., daughter of G. S. Brodie, of London, England.

* * * * *

=Jaffray, Robert=, Toronto, is a Scotchman by birth, having been born at Bannockburn, Scotland, in 1832. He is the second son of William Jaffray and Margaret Heugh. His father carried on farming near the celebrated battlefield where King Robert Bruce defeated the English army of invasion led by King Edward, and gave Scotland her freedom. Here Robert passed his early days, and when only twelve years of age, his father dying, he was thrown on his own resources. After attending school at Stirling, until he was about fifteen years of age, he entered the service, as an apprentice, of J. R. Dymock, grocer and wine merchant, Edinburgh, Scotland, where he remained for five years. At the expiration of this time, he sailed for Canada, and arrived in Toronto in the fall of 1852. Here he joined his brother-in-law, John B. Smith, grocer and wine merchant, and was appointed as his manager. The establishment was situated on the site now occupied by Jaffray & Ryan, corner of Yonge and Louisa streets, then the most northern shop on Yonge street. Three years later Mr. Jaffray became a partner in his brother-in-law’s business, and the new firm traded under the name of Smith and Jaffray. In 1858 a disastrous fire swept away Mr. Smith’s lumber yard and sash and door factory on Niagara street, by which a great loss was sustained, and shortly after this event, Mr. Smith retired from the firm, leaving Mr. Jaffray to carry on the business alone. Being possessed of great energy and perseverance, he soon succeeded in building up a lucrative trade, and such was his success that in 1883 he was able to retire with a competency, handing the business over to his brother, George Jaffray, and James Ryan, who now carry it on. During Mr. Jaffray’s residence in Toronto he has been, outside his own business connected with many successful enterprises. He was appointed by the Hon. Alexander Mackenzie, one of the directors of the Northern Railway Company, in which capacity he served three years looking after the country’s interests, the government of Canada having advanced a large sum of money to that corporation at various times. From information furnished by Mr. Jaffray, a royal commission was appointed by the government to look into the affairs of the “Northern,” which resulted in a satisfactory settlement of the then existing claims. He was afterwards chosen a director of the Midland Railway Company, of which board he is at present an efficient member. In 1874 he took an active part in organizing the Toronto House Building Society (now the Land Security Company), of which he is vice-president. He is president of the Toronto Real Estate Investment Company; and is also a director of the Toronto Trust Company, director of the _Globe_ Printing Company, director of the Sovereign Insurance Company, director of the North America Life Insurance Company, director of the Peterborough Real Estate Investment Company, director of the Central Canada Land Investment Company, director of the Ontario and Sault Ste. Marie Railway Company, director of the Imperial Bank, and director of the Homewood Retreat or Private Asylum for Inebriates and Insane at Guelph. He is a member of the Caledonian and St. Andrew’s societies. In politics, Mr. Jaffray has identified himself with the Reform party, and although often solicited to accept nominations for civic and parliamentary honors, he has invariably declined. Immediately after the exciting political campaign of 1879, one of the most daring attempts was made to kidnap several of the leading men of the Reform party, ostensibly with the object of, extorting from them a large ransom. Among those marked for this object were the late Hon. George Brown, Hon. Oliver Mowat, and the subject of this sketch. Through a chain of circumstances, Mr. Jaffray was drawn into the snare, and taken from his residence at a late hour at night under pretence of arrest, he giving himself up to his captors on their producing a document purporting to be signed by Judge Wilson, acting for the minister of justice at Ottawa, directing him to be immediately brought to the judge’s residence for examination relative to certain charges of a grave character. Mr. Jaffray went with his captors, having no suspicion of foul play; but instead of being taken to Judge Wilson’s home, he was driven to a lonely spot on the east side of the Don and Danforth road, where, it afterwards appeared, his captors intended to imprison him in a cave they had previously prepared for his reception. The place was afterwards discovered by two detectives while they were searching in the neighborhood. It was dug out of the hill on a farm owned by Mr. Playter, and was capable of accommodating several persons. Mr. Jaffray, on alighting from the carriage, in the neighborhood of the cave, and finding himself the victim of a dastardly plot against his personal liberty, struggled with his captors and managed to get out of their clutches. He then succeeded in awakening the inmates of a house in the neighborhood, when his abductors made their escape. The officers of the law at once made great efforts to discover the perpetrators of the outrage, and suspicion having fallen on two brothers—Thomas and Ross Dale, they were arrested and tried for the crime. Thomas was found guilty, and sentenced by Judge Burton to two years in the county jail, Ross Dale being discharged. Thus ended one of the boldest plots to deprive several leading citizens of their liberty ever known in the province of Ontario. In 1860, he married Sarah, youngest daughter of John Bugg, by whom he has two sons and two daughters.

* * * * *

=Jamieson, Philip=, Clothier and Outfitter, Toronto, is a native of Scotland, having been born in Edinburgh, on the 31st July, 1850. His father, Hugh Jamieson, carried on the tailoring business in “Auld Reekie,” and his mother, Elizabeth Marshall, was born near Musselburgh. Young Jamieson received his education in Bell’s School in his native city, and after receiving a fair commercial education, was apprenticed to a jeweller. Here he served seven years, and at the end of his term was considered a first-class workman. After working a short time at his trade in Edinburgh he left for Canada, and reached Toronto in March, 1873. He brought with him a stock of ready-made clothing, and shortly afterwards opened a store on Queen street west. Business succeeding, he opened a branch store, further west on the same street. At this time he had a partner named Spain, and they traded under the name of Spain and Jamieson. This partnership continued about two years, when Mr. Jamieson elected to carry on the business alone, and from this time may be dated the success of his business, now grown to large dimensions. He shortly afterwards secured the large premises he now occupies on the corner of Yonge and Queen streets, and further extended his operations by opening branch establishments on Queen street west, and in the city of Hamilton. And Mr. Jamieson has now the largest retail clothing and outfitting establishment in the Dominion of Canada. He employs eight salesmen in his retail shop, five cutters, and over one hundred and fifty operative tailors. In politics, Mr. Jamieson, like the majority of the intelligent Scotch in Canada, is a hard-working and enthusiastic Reformer, and does not hesitate when the occasion calls for it to spend both time and money for party purposes. In religion he is an adherent of the Presbyterian church. On the 11th of March, 1873, he was married to Dorcas Wilson Menzies, daughter of William Menzies, of Edinburgh, and has a family of six children, four girls and two boys.

* * * * *

=Schiller, Charles Edward=, Montreal.—The late Mr. Schiller was a descendant of an old family which originally came from Hamburg, and was related to the great poet of that name. His grandfather, Augustus Schiller, was the first of the family to arrive in Canada, having come in the capacity of surgeon to one of the Hessian regiments in 1778. His father, Benjamin Schiller, served with great distinction and valor in the _Voltigeurs Canadien_ at the battle of Chateauguay, under Colonel de Salaberry, and was promoted from lieutenant to captain on the field of battle for bravery in carrying his captain when wounded to the ambulance under a heavy fire. Charles Edward Schiller was born on the 17th September, 1819, at Rivière du Loup (_en haut_), and was educated at Benjamin Workman’s Academy, Montreal. He entered the court house in 1835, where he soon became chief clerk, and in 1847 was appointed deputy clerk of the crown and peace. He assisted at the famous trial of Jalbert, who was accused of the murder of Lieutenant Weir at St. Denis, during the rebellion of 1837. He also took a prominent part as officer of the court in the trial of the St. Alban’s raiders, in 1864, as well as in the trial of the Fenians after the invasion of 1866. Mr. Schiller was appointed joint clerk of the peace with Mr. Carter. On Mr. Carter’s leaving the office, Mr. Schiller was appointed clerk of the crown, and acted as such for a number of years. At the advent of the Joly government, at Quebec, in 1880, Mr. Brehaut, the then acting police magistrate, was appointed jointly with Mr. Schiller, as clerk of the crown. On the sudden death of Mr. Brehaut in 1882, the present clerk of the crown, L. W. Sicotte, was named Mr. Schiller’s partner. Mr. Schiller was, without doubt, the person who possessed the largest criminal experience in the Dominion, having had cognizance of the most important trials that took place since 1853. He was an excessively hard worker, and the only holidays he took during his term of office of fifty years, was one month when he went to New Orleans. Holidays and Sundays, from morning to night, he continued his labors. His time was so much taken up during the week in giving information and advice to gentlemen of the bar, that the routine work naturally fell behind, but when the new week began, the work of the past one was always completed. The employés in the offices of the clerk of the crown always found a true and kind friend in him, and when the supplies were refused by the Legislative Council in 1880 to the Joly government, Mr. Schiller paid the salaries of the clerks of the police court and of his own office out of his private means. The late Judge Ramsay, as well as Justice Johnson and Justice Aylwin, were warm personal friends of the deceased, and placed unbounded confidence in his experience. Judge Ramsay frequently consulted Mr. Schiller in criminal matters, and every crown officer who prosecuted for the crown, always found him willing to supply them with any information. In his entire public career, Mr. Schiller won the confidence and esteem of all with whom he dealt, and counted as his friends many of the most influential public men of the day. Always a staunch Conservative, he was a special protégé of the late Sir George Cartier, who had great confidence in him, and of the Hon. Mr. Chapleau. Mr. Schiller at one time took an active part in the local militia, and held the rank of captain. He nearly lost his life in the Gavazzi riots in 1853, having been in the midst of the firing by the troops. He leaves one sister, married to M. P. Guy, Montreal’s oldest notary. He died 25th April, 1887, after fifty-two years of consistent attendance to his active duties.

* * * * *

=Ouellette, Rev. J. R.=, President of St. Hyacinthe College, Quebec province, was born at Sandwich, Ontario, on the 26th of December, 1830. He received his education in the college he now so ably presides over. Father Ouellette was ordained a priest at Paris, on the 20th of December, 1856, and in 1857 was appointed assistant at St. Mary’s Church, Toronto, under the Rev. John Walsh, now bishop of London, Ontario. Shortly after his settlement in St. Mary’s, he was transferred to St. Michael’s Cathedral, in the same city, as assistant, and later on was appointed rector. Two years afterwards, in 1859, he resigned his position in St. Michael’s Cathedral, and joined the teaching staff of St. Hyacinthe College. In 1882, on the retirement of the Rev. Joseph Sabin Raymond, who had been president of the college for a great number of years, he was chosen to fill the vacancy, and has since successfully conducted this popular institute of learning. He is one of the titular canons of the cathedral chapter of St. Hyacinthe.

* * * * *

=Grant, Henry Hugh=, Collector of Inland Revenue, Halifax, Nova Scotia, was born at Newport, Hants county, N.S., on the 15th April, 1839. His parents were John Nutting Grant and Margaret McCallum. Captain John Grant, grandfather of John N., first came to America with his regiment, the 42nd Highlanders, or “Black Watch.” He married in New York, and having retired from the army, he settled in Brooklyn, N.Y. He afterwards served, under Sir William Johnston, in some provincial corps raised in New York for operations against the Indians, and saw some hard service in Western New York, as well as in Ohio, where he distinguished himself in a number of engagements with the famous chief, Pontiac. His wife’s family favoring the rebels at the breaking out of the American revolution, induced him to leave for the West Indies, where, however, his loyalty and sense of duty did not allow him to remain. He soon returned and finding his regiment in New York ready to receive him, he joined again as captain, and with it fought at the battle of Long Island, when Washington was defeated, in 1776. At the conclusion of the war he removed to Nova Scotia, his property in Brooklyn having been confiscated. On his arrival there the Crown granted him a tract of land in Kempt, Hants county, and the part of this property on which he resided he named “Loyal Hill,” and here he remained until his death. Margaret McCallum was the granddaughter of Jean Baptiste Moreau, who came out to Halifax as chaplain and secretary to Lord Cornwallis. He was the first Episcopal clergyman to land in Halifax, and his son, Cornwallis Moreau, was the first male child born there after its settlement. Mr. Moreau was a relative of Napoleon’s celebrated general of that name. He was a convert from the Roman Catholic faith, having been educated for and taken priests’ orders in that church in France, Mr. Grant, the subject of our sketch, received his academic education in the Collegiate School at Wolfville, N.S. He afterwards spent some years as clerk in mercantile establishments, first in Windsor, N.S., and afterwards in New York. He returned from New York in 1871, and engaged in shipbuilding and mining enterprises, at the old homestead, Loyal Hill. In October, 1879, he was appointed to the civil service as exciseman, and served in the Toronto division until September, 1880, when, after passing a first-class examination, he was removed to Halifax, and promoted to the collectorship in October, 1882. He served several years in the 7th regiment of militia in the county of Hants, and holds a captain’s commission dated October 10th, 1867. Mr. Grant was appointed United States consular agent at Kempt in April, 1873, but resigned the office, on his removal from there, in 1877. He was made a master Mason, in Walsford Lodge, No. 924, Windsor, N.S., in 1866, and has ever since taken a deep interest in the order. He is a Conservative in politics, and in religion leans towards the Episcopal church. Mr. Grant was married at Newport, Hants county, on January 25th, 1872, to Georgie, daughter of George Allison. The fruit of this union has been five children, only two of whom are living, viz., Marion Allison, aged 13, and Frank Parker, aged 8.

* * * * *

=Webster, Walter Chester=, Hardware Merchant, Coaticook, Quebec province, was born in Hatley, P.Q., on the 27th November, 1841. His father, Oscar F. Webster, was a farmer. His mother, Eliza Watson, was a native of Antrim, Ireland. Mr. Webster received a sound commercial education at Hatley Academy. Before settling down to business he devoted some time to travel, and spent about three years in California. On his return to Canada, he turned his attention to farming, which he successfully prosecuted for eight years, and then adopted a mercantile life. In 1876 he opened a hardware and crockery store in Coaticook, and through close attention to business he has succeeded to his entire satisfaction. In 1873 Mr. Webster was appointed a justice of the peace by the Joly government, and for a number of years he has been a member of the municipal council of Coaticook, and also that of the township of Barnston. He was one of the original promoters of the Coaticook Knitting Company; and holds a considerable amount of this company’s stock. He is also a director of the Stanstead and Compton Agricultural Society. Mr. Webster takes a deep interest in the Independent Order of Oddfellows, and is an active member of this benevolent organization. Recently he was offered the position of mayor of the town by his fellow citizens, but owing to the pressure of business he was forced to decline the proffered honor. But, nevertheless, though refusing to take office, it is not to be presumed he lacks public spirit. There is no man in the community that does more to promote the prosperity of the place of his adoption than he does. He is always to be found amongst its workers, and is often consulted by both political parties when anything is on the _tapis_ for the promotion of the interests of either town or county. In politics, Mr. Webster is a Liberal, and in religion, a member of the Episcopal church. He was married, on the 20th September, 1865, to Adella A. Kennedy, second daughter of Washington Kennedy, of Hatley, and to them have been born six girls and one boy, a very promising youth of eighteen years, and named after his grandfather.

* * * * *

=Papineau, Hon. Louis Joseph=, was born in Montreal, 7th October, 1786. He was the son of Joseph Papineau, a well-known notary of his day, and one of the principal promoters of the constitution of 1791, and a member of the first parliament after the conquest. Louis Joseph was educated chiefly at the seminary of Quebec, and having studied law was admitted to the bar of Lower Canada in 1811. So brilliant were his prospects and his talents even before this that in 1809, and while still a student, he was elected to the Legislative Assembly for the county of Kent, now Chambly, and in 1815 was appointed speaker of the house. This office Mr. Papineau held, with only two years’ intermission during his mission to England as delegate of the Assembly in 1822-’23, for the long period of twenty years, or until the year 1837, the year of the unfortunate troubles, when he threw himself heartily into what he considered the right and lawful course of action to gain that which the present generation enjoys, through his and his _confrères’_ endeavors then,—Responsible Government—and all the liberties of the British Constitution which had so long been denied in practice. In 1820, when Lord Dalhousie became governor, he appointed Mr. Papineau to a seat in the Executive Council, but this post was soon declined by him, when he found it a vain honor without the influence the council should have had on the determination of the governor. In 1822, the union of Upper and Lower Canada having been upon the _tapis_, and the subject being distasteful to many, Louis Papineau and John Neilson went to England, and were successful in getting the union postponed for the next two years. In 1827, unfortunate difficulties arose between the governor and Mr. Papineau, and to such a height did they reach that the former refused to acknowledge Mr. Papineau as speaker, though duly elected to that high office by a large majority of the Assembly. The Assembly triumphed, and Lord Dalhousie resigned his office as governor, after having dissolved the Assembly. He was succeeded by Sir James Kempt, who, after the next election, duly accepted Mr. Papineau as the speaker again appointed, and giving him, perhaps, one of the greatest triumphs ever achieved by any person in the political arena of any country. Political troubles grew worse as years rolled on, and in 1836 they culminated in the events of that and the next two years, which for the time threw Canada into a state of turmoil and anxiety, now happily all passed away, leaving only the fruits so bravely and indomitably sought for, constitutional government and unbiased representation. The so-called leaders of the disturbance having had rewards for apprehension placed on their heads, Mr. Papineau, as one, fled to the United States, where he resided from 1837 to 1839. He then removed to Paris, France, where he lived till 1847, when the issue of the amnesty proclamation enabled him to return to his native land. He again entered parliament, and was continued there until 1854, when he retired into private life, and for the next seventeen years enjoyed the calm of a green and sturdy old age, the love of books and horticulture, and the personal esteem of those who best knew his character. His death took place on Saturday, the 23rd September, 1871, at his residence at MonteBello, at the patriarchal age of eighty-five. His son, Louis Joseph Amédée Papineau, is the present joint-prothonotary of Montreal.

* * * * *

=Greenwood, Stansfield=, Manager of the Coaticook Cotton Company, Coaticook, Quebec province, was born in Lancashire, England, on the 28th of June, 1853. His father, Edward Greenwood, was a manager of a large cotton mill in Lancashire, His mother was Mary Chadwick, a descendant of the celebrated Sir Joshua Chadwick, of Lancashire. Mr. Greenwood, the subject of our sketch, was educated at Longholme Normal School, receiving an elementary education. After leaving school he entered the cotton mill in which his father was manager, and there learned all the details of the business. At the age of twenty-two, he came to Canada, and took charge of one of the departments of the Valleyfield Cotton Mills, which position he filled for six years. After that period he entered into a partnership with Wallace Bros., and started the Chambly Cotton Company at Chambly Canton, P.Q. This partnership lasted a year, when it was turned into a limited liability company. After another term of two years he retired from that company and took entire charge of the works of the Coaticook Cotton Company. Their mill, under the skilful management of Mr. Greenwood, has paid a good dividend, and still continues to do so. Mr. Greenwood is a Liberal of the Gladstone style, and in religion a Methodist. He was married on the 12th August, 1874, to Mary Ann Bury, daughter of John Bury, of Oswaldtwistle, Lancashire, and the fruit of the union has been three sons and a daughter.

* * * * *

=Smith, Rev. James Cowie=, M.A., B.D., Pastor of St. Andrew’s Church, Guelph, province of Ontario, was born in Aberdeenshire, Scotland, on the 17th January, 1834. His father, James Smith, followed the calling of a farmer. His mother was named Jane Cowie. The future divine received his elementary education at Smith’s Classical Academy, at Fordyce, Scotland, and on coming to Canada entered Queen’s University, Kingston, where he graduated, taking the degrees of B.A. in 1862, M.A. in 1864 (holding the first place in the university examinations), and B.D. in 1880. He was licensed to preach the gospel by the presbytery of Kingston, and was inducted into the pastorate of Cumberland and Buckingham Presbyterian congregations, July 11th, 1864. During this pastorate, he discharged the duties of local superintendent of schools, in the township of Cumberland, and acted as chairman of the Grammar School board. He was translated, in 1868, to St. Andrew’s Church, Belleville, where he remained some years, acting as inspector of schools in the town, in addition to his ministerial duties. About this time, having met the requirements for county school inspector, he was officially declared eligible for such a position by the chief superintendent of education of Ontario. Having been called to the vacant pastorate of St. Paul’s Church, Hamilton, Rev. Mr. Smith was translated thither about 1872, when he was again called to succeed the Rev. Dr. Hogg, deceased, in his pastorate charge, St. Andrew’s Church, Guelph. At different times Rev. Mr. Smith has served, in the capacity of stated clerk, successively in the presbyteries of Ottawa and Kingston; and while pastor in St. Paul’s Church, Hamilton, was appointed moderator of the Synod of Hamilton and London. For several years he has also been chosen to, and still holds at present, the responsible position of member of university council, Queen’s University, Kingston. He was at one time called to St. Andrew’s Church, Peterborough, and twice to St. Andrew’s Church, St. John, New Brunswick, both of which invitations he declined. Rev. Mr. Smith is very popular among his congregation, and takes a deep interest in all matters calculated to improve the social and spiritual condition of the people among whom his lot has been cast. He is in full harmony with the doctrines of his church, and can always be depended on to defend its standards. He was married, June 21st, 1866, to Emily Georgina, third daughter of the late Captain Archibald Petrie, R.N., of Cumberland, Ontario.

* * * * *

=Carling, Hon. John=, London, Ontario, Minister of Agriculture of the Dominion, M.P. for the City of London, Ontario, is the youngest son of Thomas Carling, a native of Yorkshire, England, who came to Canada in 1818, and settled in the county of Middlesex the following year. The future minister of state was born in the township of London, on the 23rd of January, 1828, and received his education in the public school of his native city. While quite young he became a member of the brewing firm of Carling & Co., London, and was an active member of it for a number of years. He took part in nearly all public matters, and was for several years a director of the Great Western Railway Company; the London, Huron & Bruce Railway Company; the London & Port Stanley Railway Company, and was also chairman of the Board of Water Commissioners of the city of London. In 1857 Mr. Carling aspired to parliamentary honors, on the Conservative side, and was returned by a considerable majority over the Liberal candidate, Elijah Leonard, and continued to represent London in the Legislative Assembly of Canada continuously down to the time of confederation. In 1862 Mr. Carling made his first appearance as a cabinet minister, having been appointed receiver-general that year. At the general election, after the consummation of confederation, Mr. Carling was elected to the House of Commons, and was likewise returned as a member of the Legislative Assembly of Ontario. In the Ontario Assembly he was appointed minister of agriculture and public works, under the Sandfield-Macdonald administration, and this portfolio he retained till 1871, when fortune went against the administration, and it was forced to resign. In 1878 Hon. Mr. Carling was again returned to parliament, and took his seat in the House of Commons, at Ottawa, but he did not hold a portfolio in the new cabinet. However, in 1882, he was made postmaster-general, and this office he held until the 25th September, 1885, when he became minister of agriculture, and he has held this office ever since. At the general election of 1887 he was re-elected to the House of Commons, after a lively contest with Charles S. S. Hyman, a local Liberal, his majority over his opponent being thirty-nine votes. Hon. Mr. Carling is not a demonstrative member, but the same clear-headedness and calm judgment that had served him so well in his important successful business affairs has stood him in good stead as a parliamentary representative. He has proved himself a capable minister of the crown, and although he seldom makes a speech in the House of Commons, yet when he does he always speaks to the point. In politics Hon. Mr. Carling is a Liberal-Conservative, and in religion he belongs to the Methodist church. He is married to Hannah, eldest daughter of the late Henry Dalton of London, Ontario.

* * * * *

=Smith, Arthur Lapthorn=, B.A., M.D., Montreal, member of the Royal College of Surgeons of England, fellow of the Obstetrical Society of London, lecturer on diseases of women in the medical faculty of Bishop’s College, Montreal, consulting physician to the Montreal Dispensary, is the second son of William Smith, deputy minister of marine, Ottawa, and was born on the 6th June, 1855, at St. John, New Brunswick, where his father was at that time comptroller of customs. His mother was Jane Busby, a granddaughter of the late Colonel Bayard, of Nova Scotia, at one time on the staff of the Duke of Kent. He received his early education at private schools, and from tutors in St. John and Chatham, New Brunswick, and in Melrose and Galashiels, in Scotland. He then entered the classical course at the University of Ottawa, where, after four years’ study, he graduated as B.A. in 1872. He then began his medical studies at Laval University, Quebec. At the end of his second year he took the degree of B.M., and at the end of his fourth year he obtained the degree of M.D., and the Sewell prize in 1876. He then proceeded to London, and studied during two winter sessions at Guy’s and the London hospitals, after which he passed the examinations of the Royal College of Surgeons. He spent two summers in Paris and Vienna. During six months of his stay in London, he held the position of resident clinical assistant at the East London Children’s Hospital. On his return to Canada, in 1878, he began practice in Montreal, where he has ever since remained. Shortly after his arrival he was appointed assistant demonstrator of anatomy in Bishop’s College Medical School, and attending physician to the Montreal Dispensary. He was also elected a member of the Medico-Chirurgical Society, in whose proceedings he has always taken an active part. He was for some time treasurer of this society. He soon became demonstrator of anatomy, and two years later he was appointed professor of botany, and held this position for two years, when he was given the chair of medical jurisprudence. In 1887 he was appointed lecturer on the diseases of women in the same university. He has always taken great interest in temperance matters, and was twice elected president of the Band of Hope, and for three years he was president of the Young Men’s Association of St. Andrew’s Church, of which he is now the youngest elder. He has long been a Mason, and has held the position of secretary of Royal Albert Lodge for several years. He has also reached the eighteenth degree in the ancient and accepted Scottish rite. He has been surgeon of the 6th Regiment of Cavalry for the past eight years, and has regularly camped out with his regiment when it was necessary to do so. Although he has a large practice as a specialist for diseases of women, he still finds time to contribute numerous articles to the medical journals, to deliver an occasional lecture on popular science before the Young Men’s Association, as well as to take an active interest in everything that concerns the welfare of his adopted city. As an instance of his energy, we may mention that, having heard of a new application of electricity to the treatment of hitherto incurable diseases of women, he immediately started for Paris, and remained with the inventor, Dr. Apostoli, until he had become thoroughly acquainted with all its details, and he subsequently published a translation of Dr. Apostoli’s latest work on this subject. Dr. Smith’s amiable manner and sympathetic nature has won for him the affection and esteem of his pupils and patients, especially among the poor. In politics, he is an ardent supporter of the policy of the Conservative party, which he considers will be the means of ultimately building up, in the north-west part of this continent, a great and wealthy nation. In 1884 he was married to Jessie Victoria, third daughter of Alexander Buntin, of Montreal, by whom he has had a son and a daughter.

* * * * *

=Boak, Hon. Robert=, Halifax, N.S., President of the Legislative Council of Nova Scotia, was born in Leith, Scotland, on the 19th of September, 1822. His father was Robert Boak, of Shields, in the county of Durham, England, who, on his retirement from the army, became an officer in her Majesty’s Customs, in Halifax in 1839, and retained that position until he was superannuated. His son, Robert Boak, the subject of our sketch, came to Halifax in 1831, and in 1847 became a member of the firm of John Esson & Co., wholesale grocers. In 1854 he retired from that firm, and formed the firm of Esson, Boak & Co., and engaged in the West India trade. In 1864 this latter firm was dissolved, and he then continued business in his own name, and under the firm style of Robert Boak & Son, until 1875, when he retired from business. Mr. Boak was president of the Nova Scotia Repeal League in 1869; became a member of the Legislative Council in 1872, and president of that body in 1878; and a member of the government, being treasurer of the province from December, 1877, to October, 1878. At present he is president of the Acadia Fire Insurance Company; vice-president of the Union Bank, and the Nova Scotia Sugar Refinery; also a director of the Gas Light Company. He has always been a Liberal in politics, and has done yeoman service for that party in the maritime provinces during the last decade.

* * * * *

=Normand, Telesphore Euzebe=, Contractor, Three Rivers, Quebec, was born on the 18th August, 1833, at Quebec city. His father, Edward Normand, was a well-known contractor of that city, and was the leading contractor of his time, having built the St. Maurice bridge in 1832, and again in 1841; also Montmorency, Chaudière and other bridges, as well as the greater part of the wharves at Quebec. His mother was Louise Martin, of Quebec. He was educated at Nicolet College; stood high in his class, and exhibited considerable promise as a student. On leaving the college, he went to Three Rivers, in 1851, and has resided there since then. He began life as a notary clerk under V. Guillet, with whom he was engaged from 1853 to 1858; and concurrently with this he was engaged in the office of the St. Maurice public works. In 1858 he set up for himself as a public notary, but in 1871 abandoned the legal profession for the purpose of following his father’s business. From 1861 to 1865 he was city councillor and school board commissioner at Three Rivers. He was elected mayor in 1873, defeating Mr. Bureau in the contest, after which he was elected by acclamation each year for the three following years, when he resigned. During the time he was mayor he was the means of consolidating the city debt, and carried out other important matters. He was captain of the city volunteers from 1863 to 1865. In politics he is a Conservative, and has given valuable assistance to his party. In 1871 he contested the seat for Champlain, but was defeated, by Senator Trudel, by forty-eight votes. As a contractor he stands in the foremost rank, and has a deservedly high reputation for first-class work. He was the contractor for the bridge over the St. Maurice, which is considered one of the most skilful pieces of workmanship—so far as wood bridges are concerned—in the province, if not indeed in the Dominion. The bridge in question is built in two sections, one of which is 1,400 feet, and the other 700 feet in length. The whole structure is built of the best material obtainable, and is a most excellent specimen of first-class work. Mr. Normand has constructed many other public works, such as wharves, piers, booms and railways, at Three Rivers, Quebec and Crane Island. Among other projects he carried out was that of the system of water-works which the city of Three Rivers possesses—a system which is inferior to none in the Dominion. Not only is Mr. Normand entitled to great credit for the energetic manner in which he pushed the work to completion, but also, what was even more needful, for obtaining the money wherewith to carry on the work—which he did by securing subscriptions in Quebec and England. He is held in the highest regard by the community, and is deservedly popular with all classes, not only in Three Rivers, but in Quebec city, where he is well-known. He was married in October, 1856, to Alphonsine, daughter of Joseph Giroux, one of the wealthiest and most prominent merchants in Three Rivers, who died in 1856, universally regretted. By this marriage there have been born nine children, five of whom survive.

* * * * *

Comments

Log in to leave a comment.

A Cyclopaedia of Canadian Biography: Being Chiefly Men of the TimeChapter M: C. Baillairgé, Quebec (50)

0%33 min left in chapter