Chapter M: C. Baillairgé, Quebec (53)

=Scott, Captain Peter Astle=, R.N., Commander of the Squadron employed for the Protection of the Fisheries, and Chairman of the Board of Examiners of Masters and Mates of Canada, was born on the 25th of February, 1816, at Gillingham, Kent, England. His father, James Scott, a paymaster in the Royal navy, was born in Virginia, and left it with his father, a captain of the Royal army during the Revolution. Captain Scott received his education at the Rochester and Chatham Classical and Mathematical School, at Rochester, county of Kent. He joined the navy as a volunteer of the first class, on board the _Basilisk_ cutter, ten guns, at the Nore, on the 14th of February, 1829; removed to the _Prince Regent_, 120 guns, in August, 1830, spent part of his time in the Channel with the flag of Rear Admiral Sir William Parker, and also on the _Scout_, eighteen guns, in the North Sea. He then joined the _Thunderer_, eighty-four guns, and passed his examination for lieutenant, 1st September, 1835. While returning to England in November of that year in a merchantman, she capsized while crossing the Bay of Biscay, but righting again, her crew were fortunate enough to get her safely into Bristol with the loss of bulwarks, boats, and a few spars. He next joined the _Asia_, eighty-four guns, in 1836, and proceeded to the Mediterranean, and after serving a short time in the _Blazer_ steam vessel, returned to England in the _Barham_, fifty guns, and was paid off at Sheerness in January, 1839. In April, 1839, he joined the _Terror_, under Captain F. R. M. Crozier, her consort, the _Erebus_, being under the charge of Captain James Clark Ross. After spending a winter at Desolation Island (Kerguelans Land), these vessels reached Hobartown, Van Diemen’s Land, in August, 1840. It being necessary to have magnetic observations taken at that place in connection with those established by the various foreign governments all over the world, an observatory was erected at the expense of the Admiralty, and Lieutenant Jos. Kay was placed in charge, Captain Scott being first assistant, and placed under the orders of Sir John Franklin, who was then lieutenant-governor of Tasmania. Captain Scott, having some knowledge of naval architecture, built a yacht for the lieutenant-governor, of about 180 tons, and two gunboats of about 100 tons each, for the defence of the colony. He was relieved at the observatory by Lieutenant Smith in the autumn of 1844, and returned to England in May, 1845, only a few days too late to join the _Erebus_, of the Arctic expedition, as second lieutenant, under the command of his old friend, Sir John Franklin. In August, 1845, he was appointed to the _Columbia_ steam vessel, Captain W. Owen, who was then surveying the Bay of Fundy. In 1848 the _Columbia_ was paid off at Chatham, Kent, England. Captain Scott then joined the coast guard for six months, and in May, 1849, was reappointed to the _Columbia_, under Commander Shortland, R.N., as assistant surveyor, to continue the North American survey. In 1857 the _Columbia_ was condemned and sold out of the service, and the survey was continued in hired vessels. In January, 1862, Mr. Scott was promoted to the rank of commander, and in 1865, on Captain Shortland retiring from the command, he assumed the charge of the survey, and returned to England in May, 1866. In September of that year he retired with the rank of captain, and in April, 1869, having been invited to return to Canada, he took command of the Dominion steamship _Druid_, then employed protecting the fisheries. In the spring of 1870, he removed to the government steamship, _Lady Head_, and took charge of the vessels employed in the fisheries protection service. In 1871, in addition to the above duties, he was appointed chairman of the Board of Examiners of Masters and Mates for Canada, which office he still holds. In November, 1879, Captain Scott was directed to proceed to England, to bring out the corvette _Charybdis_, of about 2,000 tons, to be employed as a training ship. As the vessel could not be got ready until late in the winter, Captain Scott concluded to lay her up and return for her in the following spring. In May, 1880, he sailed her across the Atlantic, and moored her in St. John, in July of the same year. In February, 1886, on the United States government giving notice that the fishery clauses of the Treaty of Washington had terminated, Canada fitted out a small squadron to protect her fisheries; and Captain Scott again assumed the command, embarking on the government steamer _Lansdowne_, with two guns and thirty-three men. In August he took command of the government steamer _Acadia_, with one gun and thirty-three men, and is still in the service of the Canadian government. In March, 1847, he married M. A. Hobbs, daughter of George Hobbs, a merchant in Eastport, Maine, United States.

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=La Rocque, Rev. Paul S.=, St. Hyacinthe, Canon and Rector of St. Hyacinthe Cathedral, Doctor of Theology and Canon Law, was born at St. Marie de Monnoir, province of Quebec, on the 28th October, 1846. His father was Albert La Rocque, and mother, Genevieve Daigneault. His brother, the Rev. Charles La Rocque, is chaplain of the Good Shepherd Convent, at Montreal; and the Right Rev. Joseph La Rocque, and the Right Rev. Charles La Rocque, the first and second bishops of St. Hyacinthe, were his cousins. The Rev. Father La Rocque received his education at St. Theresa and St. Hyacinthe Colleges. He was ordained a priest on the 9th May, 1869, and from that time until 1880, was a missionary in Florida, United States. Without any official connection during his stay at Key West he acted as chaplain to the United States troops stationed there. He then returned to St. Hyacinthe, and the following year, 1881, he went to Rome, and pursued his studies in the Gregorian and the Appolinaire Universities. He remained in the Eternal City for two years and a half, and then made a tour of the principal cities of Europe. He also travelled to the Holy Land, and visited Jerusalem, Nazareth, etc. This journey was undertaken with the view of gaining all the information possible with regard to Bible history, and to put him in a position to communicate the most accurate information to his flock, with regard to that far-off country. As a linguist, Rev. Canon La Rocque has few, if any, equals in Canada, being able to speak five different languages. He is a great favorite with his parishioners, takes a deep interest in their material and spiritual affairs, and is very kind and attentive to the sick and needy. The degree of doctor of theology and canon law was conferred upon him at Rome.

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=Bowell, Hon. Mackenzie=, Minister of Customs of the Dominion of Canada, M.P. for North Hastings, Ontario, was born at Rickinghall, Suffolk, England, on the 27th December, 1823, and when about ten years of age accompanied his parents to Canada. Mr. Bowell, in early youth, exhibited much courage and enterprise, and one is not surprised to see what he has achieved when looking back at his career. He had a quick eye for business, and was seldom astray in judging what sort of enterprise was profitable, and what had better be avoided. He had also a military enthusiasm, and assisted in 1857, in raising and organizing a rifle company of sixty-five men, in what was known at that time as class B, to which no assistance was given by the government, beyond furnishing the rifles. He served on the frontier in the winter of 1864-5, during the American rebellion, and again during the Fenian troubles of 1866. He entered a printing office as an apprentice in 1834, and during his whole life up to the time when heavy political responsibilities fell upon his shoulders, he was connected with the newspaper press of Canada. He was editor and proprietor of the Belleville _Daily_ and _Weekly Intelligencer_ newspaper for a number of years, and at one time president of the Dominion Editors and Reporters’ Association. In education he has taken considerable interest, as is evidenced by the fact that he held for eleven years the chairmanship of the Board of School Trustees, of Belleville. He has always been a prominent Orangeman, and was for eight years grand master of the Provincial Orange Grand Lodge of Ontario East, which position he resigned, when in 1870 he was elected most worshipful grand master and sovereign of the Orange Association of British America. This office he continued to hold until he resigned in June, 1878. He was likewise president of the Triennial Council of Orangeism of the world, having been elected to that position at the council held in Derry, Ireland, in 1876. From Mr. Bowell’s connection with important public enterprises is gathered his connection with industrial and commercial movements. He was, for many years, president of the West Hastings Agricultural Society, and vice-president of the Agricultural and Arts Association of Ontario; president of the Hastings Mutual Fire Insurance Company, the Farren Manufacturing Company, and the Dominion Safe-Gas Company, and president of the Belleville and North Hastings Railway; and was captain of No. 1 company of the 15th battalion while on service during the Fenian troubles, and subsequently major in the 49th battalion of Volunteer Rifles. In 1863 Mr. Bowell contested the north riding of the county of Hastings for parliamentary honors, as the nominee of the Conservative convention, but refusing to join in the cries against the incorporation of Roman Catholic institutions, and what was then termed French domination, which were made test questions at the time, he was defeated. In 1867 he again presented himself to the electors of North Hastings, and having stated his views with that calm reasonableness which has always characterized his utterances, he was elected. He entered parliament therefore at confederation, but took no very prominent part in the debates of the house for the first two or three years. His first success in parliament was in his criticism of a measure introduced by the late Sir George E. Cartier, then minister of militia, for the purpose of reorganizing the militia force of Canada. Upon this occasion his practical experience and knowledge of the requirements of the volunteer force had its effect upon the house, and he succeeded in helping to defeat the government upon the details of the bill three times during one sitting of the house. Being an independent thinker, he was not always in accord with the leaders of his party, having voted against them upon many important measures, notably the Nova Scotia better terms resolutions, and upon the motion for the ratification of the Washington treaty. He was re-elected in 1872, and, consequently, in parliament, when the Macdonald government fell, and the Hon. Alexander Mackenzie succeeded to power. It was in opposition that Mr. Bowell took a leading part, not only in the business of the house, but upon the most important committees. He inaugurated and conducted the proceedings in the House of Commons which resulted in his moving the motion for the expulsion of Louis David Riel, member elect for Provencher, Manitoba, for the part he, Riel, had taken in ordering the shooting of Scott, a prisoner of his during the revolt in Manitoba in 1879. He also took an active part in bringing before the house the question of the violation of the provisions of the Independence of Parliament Act, by its speaker, and by a number of its members. The motion which he made upon this question, though defeated, led subsequently to the resignation of Mr. Speaker Anglin, one member of the cabinet, and four members of the house. He did not make many speeches, but whenever he spoke, the members always listened to him, for he had gained the reputation of being a man who had, first, something to say, and, second, a reasonable and a satisfactory way of saying it. He has been successful at every election since. On the 19th of October, 1878, upon the resumption of power by the Conservative party, Mr. Bowell was called to the Privy Council, and sworn in minister of customs, and that office he still holds. The member for North Hastings is level-headed, and possessed of a sound judgment. It is pleasing sometimes to sit in the gallery of the House of Commons and watch him answer questions or reply to allegations waged against the administration of his department. Under no circumstances, nor by any pressure or irritation, can he be moved to haste or ill-temper; but he sits there, disregarding feeling, and doing what he considers to be his duty as a minister of the Crown. Mr. Bowell married in 1847; Harriet Louise, eldest daughter of the late Jacob G. Moore, of Belleville, by whom he has nine children, five of whom are living.

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=Ritchie, Hon. Robert J.=, Solicitor-General of the Province of New Brunswick, M.P.P. for the county of St. John, was born in St. John, and educated in the city of his birth. Having studied and adopted law as a profession, he was called to the bar on the 16th of October, 1867. Since then he has worked up an extensive and prosperous practice. He has for many years taken a great interest in politics, and was first nominated for a seat in the House of Assembly just previous to the general election in 1878. He won his seat, and at once took a prominent part in the debates in the house. Having offered again in 1882, he was a second time successful. Again, at the general election on 26th April, 1886, he scored a great victory, standing second among the fortunate candidates. The vote was, Hon. D. McLellan, 2943; R. J. Ritchie, 2570; W. A. Quintin, 2531; A. A. Stockton, 2531; defeating James Rourke, 2188; J. A. Chesley, 1834; G. G. Gilbert, 1645; John Connor, 1468; A. T. Armstrong, 1823. In Nova Scotia, since confederation, the legal affairs of the local administration have been attended to by the attorney-general exclusively; but in New Brunswick they still keep up the office of solicitor-general as well. The talented premier, Hon. A. G. Blair, took the position of attorney-general when he formed his cabinet on the 3rd March, 1883, and another lawyer of excellent standing being wanted to complete the _personnel_ of the cabinet, the gentleman who forms the subject of this sketch was fitly selected as the best man for the position of solicitor-general. His appointment to the executive council necessitated his again going to the country and he was re-elected by acclamation. As a member of the government, he has taken an active part in all the measures which have been presented to the house, and has well sustained his prominent position. In addition to his duties, as an active and leading politician, Hon. Mr. Ritchie is connected with several of the local corporations of St. John, and his influence is felt in social and professional circles. Although, having suffered great losses by fire, the people of St. John have a spirit of business enterprise which has risen superior to their reverses. The shipping and lumbering business through which the money of her merchants was chiefly accumulated have languished of late years, and no compensating trade has sprung up to take their place. But the manufacturing activity of the inhabitants has proved successful, and the population of the city has not declined. The yield of the fisheries, as elsewhere down in the maritime provinces during the summer of 1887, was enormous. If St. John is favored by the Canadian Pacific Railway Company as regards making it a winter port, the outlook for the city’s future is good. The bar of St. John is rich in forensic talent. The head-quarters of the legal fraternity centres in Ritchie’s and Palmer’s blocks. The nearness of the lawyers’ quarters to one another enables the members of the bar to obtain counsel and intercommunication which is very advantageous and helpful. When the whirligig of politics brings the Liberals into power again in Dominion affairs there is probably no man in the opposition camp whose prospects of succeeding to a position on the bench are better than those of Hon. R. J. Ritchie. His talents peculiarly fit him for the position of one of Her Majesty’s judges.

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=McLelan, Hon. Archibald Woodbury=, Postmaster-General for the Dominion of Canada, M.P. for Colchester, Nova Scotia, was born at Londonderry, N.S., on the 24th December, 1824. He is descended from a family that emigrated from Londonderry, Ireland, during the last century, and settled in the province of Nova Scotia. His father, the late G. W. McLelan, during his lifetime sat for a long period of years in the Nova Scotia legislature. The future postmaster-general received his primary education in the schools of his native parish, and finished his classical course at Mount Allison Wesleyan Academy. In early life, he engaged in a mercantile line of life, and continued in it for a considerable term, but in later years became an extensive ship-builder and ship-owner. He began to take an interest in politics when comparatively a young man, and represented Colchester in the Legislative Assembly of Nova Scotia from 1858 to 1863; then North Colchester in the same legislature from the latter year up to confederation; and Colchester, in the House of Commons, at Ottawa, until called to the Senate of Canada on the 21st June, 1869. In 1881, he resigned his seat in the Senate, and on an appeal to his old friends in Colchester, they returned him again as their representative in the House of Commons. On his return to Ottawa, he was sworn in a member of the Privy Council, and made president of the council on the 20th May of the same year. On the 10th July, 1882, he was appointed minister of marine and fisheries; on the 10th December, 1885, minister of finance; and on the 27th January, 1887, postmaster-general, the office he now so ably fills. Hon. Mr. McLelan is a director of the Cobequid Marine Insurance Company. In 1869 he was appointed one of the commissioners for the construction of the Intercolonial Railway; and in 1883, was a commissioner from Canada to the Intercolonial Fisheries Exhibition held in London. As a recognition of his valuable services on this occasion, he was presented with a diploma of honor. He is a Conservative in politics. In 1854 he was married to Caroline Metzler, of Halifax.

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=Reesor, Hon. David=, Rosedale, Toronto, Senator of the Dominion of Canada, is a descendant of a German family. His great-grandfather, Christian Reesor, who was a Mennonite minister, emigrated from Mannheim to Pennsylvania about 1737, having under his charge a small colony, and settled in Lancaster county, where some of the family still reside. The original homestead, a splendid farm of three hundred acres, is still in their possession. The first settlement of this family in the township of Markham took place as early in its history as 1801, when Christian Reesor, the grandfather of the senator, his father, Abraham Reesor, together with three uncles, located in that section of the country. Here David Reesor was born on the 18th January, 1823. His, mother Anna Dettiwiler, was also from Lancaster county, Pennsylvania. She died in Markham in 1857, her husband having died in 1832. The early education of Senator Reesor was obtained in the common school of the township, but previous to his being put to any work he received three years private tuition from a competent instructor, which helped him considerably. His father’s farm was the first stage on which he enacted his part in the drama of life; then he became a merchant and manufacturer, and continued business in these lines for five years. In 1856 he published the first copy of the _Markham Economist_, a journal of strong Reform proclivities, which he edited and conducted with considerable skill for several years, and sold the business out about 1868. He has been a magistrate since 1848, a notary public since 1862, and for a long time was secretary and treasurer of the Markham Agricultural Society. When the counties of York, Ontario and Peel were united in 1850, he became a member of the county council and served several years, being warden in 1860. His career as a school trustee will not soon be forgotten, as it was chiefly through his exertions that Markham secured a grammar school. He has long been connected with the militia, and has held the rank of lieutenant-colonel of the reserve since 1866. He was appointed returning officer for the East Riding of York, July, 1854. In the more extensive region of politics Senator Reesor has not been less true to his principles, or less active as a general advocate of measures that tend to the public good, than when in the limited sphere of township councillor he supported and directed local improvements. He represented King’s division in the Legislative Council of Canada from 1860 until the confederation of the provinces, when he was called to the Senate by royal proclamation, October 23, 1867. At the time when the confederation scheme was under discussion in the Legislative Council, he moved a resolution, which, had it been passed, would have made the office of senator elective; but it was defeated on a division. He is a Liberal in politics. Senator Reesor is a member of the Methodist church, and every good cause obtains from him a hearty and willing support. He was for many years president of the Markham Bible Society. In February, 1848, he married Emily, eldest daughter of Daniel McDougall, of St. Marys, Ontario, and sister of Hon. William McDougall, C.B. They have five children, four daughters and one son, two of the former being married. Marion Augusta, the eldest daughter, is the wife of Dr. Colburn, of Oshawa, and Jessie Adelaide, the wife of John Holmes, of Toronto.

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=Read, Rev. Philip Chesshyre=, M.A., Professor of Classics, Bishop’s College, Lennoxville, Quebec province, was born on the 4th March, 1850, at Woodend, Hyde, Cheshire, England. His father, Rev. Alexander Read, B.A., late scholar of Trinity College, Dublin, was a descendant of an old Scotch family from Ayrshire, who settled in North of Ireland, in 1600. His mother, Anne Whiteway, is descended from a Devonshire family from Kingsteignton and Whiteway, and was a daughter of Philip Whiteway, J.P., of Runcorn, Cheshire, and Anne Chesshyre, of Rock Savage, his wife. Professor Read received his education in Manchester Grammar School from 1861 to 1867—being captain of the school in 1866. He then attended Lincoln College, Oxford, where he secured a brilliant record, and in 1872 was assistant lecturer in the college. In 1873 he was ordained by his lordship the Bishop of Salisbury. In 1872 he was appointed assistant master at Marlborough College; in 1874, secretary of the Church Council and examiner of schools under government in Barbadoes; in 1876, head master of the school at Newton, Lancashire; in 1877, rector of Bishop’s College, Lennoxville; in 1882, professor of Classics and Philosophy in Bishop’s College, Lennoxville; and in 1887 examiner to the Medical Board of the province of Quebec. In early life Professor Read began to take an interest in the volunteer movement, and was sub-lieutenant in the Oxford Rifle Volunteers. He is now captain of the school corps at Lennoxville. In 1886 and 1888 he occupied the position of chaplain in the Independent Order of Foresters. He has travelled a good deal, and found time to visit the West Indies, Spain, and several other foreign countries. In religion the professor belongs to the Episcopal church, and holds moderately broad views. On the 28th June, 1879, he was united in marriage to Helen Rosina, daughter of John W. McCallum, of Quebec, and Annie S. Brown, of Halifax, his wife. Mrs. Read is a lineal descendant of an old Scotch manufacturer who settled in Quebec shortly after the conquest of Canada. The fruit of the above union has been two promising children, Alexander Cuthbert Read, and Philip Austin Ottley Read.

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=Sterling, Alexander Addison=, Fredericton, N.B., High Sheriff of the county of York, New Brunswick, was born on the 22nd of August, 1838, at St. Marys, York county. He is the third son of George Henly Sterling, and his wife Susan Elizabeth McLean, and grandson of Captain John Sterling and Captain Archibald McLean, who were both loyalists and served in the war of the American revolution, but eventually settled in New Brunswick. He was brought up on his father’s farm at St. Marys, and commenced his education at the local school, finishing his course of study at the Fredericton Grammar School. He has been engaged in farming and mercantile pursuits all his life, commencing his commercial career as clerk in a store at Fredericton, in 1852, where he remained until 1856. In 1857 he removed to Toronto, Ontario, being employed by Paterson & Sons, hardware merchants of that city. Relinquishing this position in 1858, he returned to New Brunswick, and commenced farming at Maugerville, Sunbury county, in partnership with his brother, the late George A. Sterling (who was elected a member of the Provincial legislature for the county of Sunbury, at the general election of 1882, but who died in October, 1883.) From 1864 to 1867 he represented the parish of Maugerville in the municipal council of the county of Sunbury, but during the latter year he removed to Fredericton, where he opened a general store, which was carried on for fifteen years, and in the year 1883 this was merged into a wholesale flour business, in which trade he is now successfully employed. He was married on the 12th of August, 1869, to Sarah Haws, daughter of John Haws, ship-builder, of Portland, St. John, N.B., and there have been six children issue of this marriage. Living in the cathedral city of his province he is a staunch member of the Episcopal church. He has been an energetic worker in the educational, parochial and municipal affairs, having been appointed a member of the Board of School Trustees for the city of Fredericton, in 1875, and also high sheriff for the county of York, in 1883, both of which offices he now holds. For a number of years he was connected with the temperance movement, and was an active member of the Order of the Sons of Temperance, and held the office of grand worthy patriarch for the province of New Brunswick, in 1876.

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=Torey, Edgar J.=, formerly Principal of the Hants County Academy at Windsor, N.S., is a native of Guysborough, N.S., where he was born about twenty-seven years ago. He attended the grammar school in his native town and studied with such diligence that at a very early age he passed the examination held under the Council of Public Instruction for grade B, or first-class male teacher’s diploma. He began to teach at the age of fifteen, and has since, with intervals of study, pursued that employment. He has taught in Amherst town, Hantsport, Hants Co., and in various other important schools in the province. Feeling the need of a thorough classical education, Mr. Torey availed himself of the advantages offered to gentlemen in the teaching profession by Dalhousie College, Halifax, N.S. He, like many other teachers, taught during the summer months and attended lectures in Dalhousie during the winter term, lasting from November to April. Pursuing this course for some years with success he took his degree of B.A. in 1882. He then took charge of the Victoria County Academy for one year, at the end of which period he resigned the principalship to accept a similar position in Guysborough, and won the encomiums of all with whom he came into contact, for careful and thorough teaching. In October, in the year 1884, the position of Principal in the Hants County Academy at Windsor, worth $850 a year, falling vacant, Mr. Torey applied for the situation and was selected from among a number of other applicants. The public schools were established in Windsor in the autumn of 1866, and now number eight departments. The position of Principal has been held by such educationists as S. S. Fisk; James Forrest, M.A.; J. L. Brown; Dr. Emdon Fritz; John F. Godfrey, B.A., and H. Elliott. The schools are thoroughly graded from the primary department and kindergarten up to the academy, which draws a special government allowance. A three years’ course is followed in the academy, embracing the classics and French, physics and the higher mathematics, and chemistry. The Principal, in addition to his labors in these branches and in preparing students for the matriculation examinations at the various provincial colleges, has a great deal of work to do in preparing and discussing questions for examination in the grading of all the schools. He also has a general supervision of the schools. The school is periodically visited by the county inspector, C. W. Roscoe, an experienced teacher, and also by Dr. David Allison, superintendent of education. Mr. Torey conducted the school with much success, and has fitted several students for college. After holding the position of Principal for three years he decided to adopt the profession of medicine as a permanent employment. His pupils heard of his approaching resignation with regret, and presented him with a valuable and handsome gold-headed cane, accompanied with an address. He resigned his position in October, 1887, and repaired to the University of New York, in the medical department of which he is preparing himself for his life work in the healing profession. He has the advantage of studying in one of the best equipped medical colleges in America, and one from which have graduated some of our best provincial medicos. He is pursuing his studies with great success and is very popular among his fellow-students.

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=Blackadar, Hugh William=, Postmaster of the City of Halifax, Nova Scotia, was born at Halifax, March 4th, 1843. He is son of Hugh William Blackadar, proprietor and publisher of the _Acadian Recorder_, and Sophia Coleman. Educated under George Munro (now millionaire publisher of New York), then rector of the Free Church Academy, Halifax. He early in life took an active part in the conduct of the _Acadian Recorder_, and on the death of his father, June 13th, 1863, assumed the management of that journal, which he enlarged from a weekly to a tri-weekly, and subsequently to a daily. In 1864 Mr. Blackadar joined the volunteers, and subsequently held the rank of lieutenant in the third brigade Halifax artillery. He is a member of the Halifax Yacht Club. He was elected an alderman for Ward 4 in 1867, and was re-elected in 1870, serving altogether six years. Represented the city of Halifax as co-delegate with Mayor Stephen Tobin at the railroad convention held at Portland, Me., in 1868, and was one of the secretaries of the convention. In 1869 he was made magistrate for the city and county of Halifax; was a member of the Halifax Board of School Commissioners for five years from the reconstruction of that body in 1868; was appointed Queen’s printer of the province in 1869, and held that position under the Vail-Annand and Hill administrations till 1875. He was appointed postmaster of the city of Halifax Nov. 5th, 1874, by the Dominion government, which office he now holds. In religion he belongs to the Baptist denomination. He married, May 29th, 1866, Rachel Saxton, of Halifax.

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=Plumb, Hon. Josiah Burr=, Speaker of the Senate of Canada. The country lost, by the sudden death of Senator Plumb, at Niagara, on the 12th of March, 1888, a gentleman possessed of excellent qualities as a man and as a politician. He was born on the 25th March, 1816, at East Haven, Connecticut, United States, where his father, an Episcopal clergyman, had charge of a parish. In 1845 he came to Canada, married a daughter of the late Samuel Street, and took up his residence at Niagara. For many years he lived in retirement, ample means rendering it unnecessary that he should take part in business, and it was not until 1874 that he turned his attention actively to politics. At that time Sir John Macdonald was passing through he darkest period of his political career, and it was more out of a chivalrous regard for the fallen leader than from any desire to achieve honors for himself that Mr. Plumb threw himself into the fight. In parliament and on the platform he was a most effective worker. He never for a moment spared himself, nor did he despair of success, though the outlook for his party and his leader up to the very day of the election in 1878 was never very bright. After that victory it was thought the indefatigable member for Niagara would receive for his services some recognition; but at that time this was not to be. Mr. Plumb continued to serve as a follower, and even consented in 1882 to the extinction, under the Redistribution Act, of the borough for which he sat. Having thus been legislated out of Niagara, he ran at the general election in the same year for North Wellington in the Conservative interest; but owing in part to the late hour at which he accepted the candidature, and in part to the personal popularity of his opponent, he suffered defeat. In the following year he was called to the Senate. As a senator he certainly made his mark. He brought to his task in that body a ripe parliamentary experience, a well-stored mind, and great fluency of speech. So highly appreciated was he by the ministerialists in the Senate and by the government that on the occasion of the withdrawal of Sir Alexander Campbell from the government, and pending the selection of a successor, he was asked to take charge of government measures in that chamber. The duty imposed upon him, it is hardly necessary to say, was performed most acceptably. Mr. Plumb’s elevation to the speakership of the Senate took place immediately after the general election of 1887. His wide information, dignified bearing, and fine social qualities made him a model president of the Upper House. Yet he has departed, as he might well have wished to do, full of years and honors. [For a more extended record of Mr. Plumb’s career, see the first series of this work.]

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=Peterson, Peter Alexander=, Civil Engineer, Montreal, member of the Institution of Civil Engineers, member of the American Society Civil Engineers, and member of the Council Canadian Society Civil Engineers, was born on 8th November, 1839, at Niagara Falls, province of Ontario. He is the eldest son of William Lounsberry Peterson and Susan Macmicking. Both his parents were descended from United Empire loyalist families who came to Canada on the conclusion of the American war, having sacrificed their property in the cause of the mother country, and were granted large tracts of land in Upper Canada. His maternal grandfather, the late Major John Macmicking, descended from the old Scotch family of Macmicking, of Miltonise and Killanbrougham, in the county of Wigton, was an ultra loyalist of the old Tory school. He fought in all the battles of 1812 on the Niagara frontier, and was wounded at Lundy’s Lane and Chippewa, and carried two bullets in his body till his death in 1863. He was out again in 1837, on the Tory side, raising a troop of cavalry which he commanded. Mr. Peterson was educated partly at a common school in Stamford, and partly by private tuition, preparatory to entering the Toronto University in the engineering course. He was articled, in 1859, to Mr. Thomas C. Keefer, C.M.G., member of the Institution of Civil Engineers, and remained with him as a student and assistant till May, 1867, during which time he was engaged upon the Hamilton & Port Dover Railway, the Hamilton waterworks, a survey for the Georgian Bay Canal through the county of Ontario, and upon the construction of several large dams upon the Grand River at Paris and Brantford, besides having charge of the Toronto office, doing a general consulting engineering practice. In the spring of 1867 he accepted a position on the Great Western Railway of Canada, and in the autumn of the same year was offered the position of resident engineer on the New York, Oswego and Midland Railway, with charge from Oswego to Oneida, where he remained till March, 1868, when he was offered a position on the Intercolonial Railway surveys. He was appointed resident on construction of this railway for contract number 15 at Bathurst, where he remained till September, 1872, when he resigned to accept the position of chief engineer of the Toronto waterworks, to carry out the scheme recommended by Messrs. T. C. Keefer and E. S. Chesborough, the consulting engineers for these works. In September, 1875, before the water-works were completed, Mr. Peterson was offered by the DeBoucherville government, who had undertaken the construction of the railways from Quebec to Montreal and from Montreal to Ottawa, the position of chief engineer of these lines, which offer he accepted, arranging with the Toronto water-works commissioners to retain charge of the works till their completion, and with the government to hold the two positions conjointly. Mr. Peterson removed to Montreal in October, 1875, but retained charge of the water-works in Toronto till the end of 1877, when the works were completed, $2,000,000 having been expended upon them. Mr. Peterson had to encounter more than the usual amount of criticism during the early days of his official service in Toronto, but after the election of January, 1874, when his principal opponents were defeated, the hostile criticism ceased, and the general opinion prevailed that he had carried out the duties entrusted to him in a faithful, efficient and satisfactory manner. His career in the service of the Quebec government, terminated in September, 1881, when he resigned to accept the position of chief engineer of the St. Lawrence bridge, which was about to be built by the Canadian Pacific Railway Company. During the debate in the Legislative Assembly of Quebec on the bill to authorize the construction of the Chaudière Bridge, the premier, the Hon. Mr. Chapleau, in moving the second reading of the measure, asked the house to let it go through without opposition, on account of the extreme urgency of at once letting the contract. The government had had great difficulty in making a choice between the three lowest bidders. Each of the contractors had offered advantages, and their offers had been most carefully weighed from every point of view, and from an engineering point as well, and Clarke, Reeves & Co.’s had been found the most advantageous. In this opinion he was confirmed by Mr. Peterson, chief engineer, to whose character, carefulness and skill he was bound to testify most fully; and that his opinion of Mr. Peterson’s engineering reputation was further confirmed by the fact that his original estimates for the cost of the whole bridge had been in every case reduced instead of, as is usual in such cases, largely exceeded. Hon. Mr. Joly consented most willingly to the second reading of the bill, and complimented the premier on his frankness. He alluded to the current rumor of favoritism in awarding the contract to Clarke, Reeves & Co., but he declined to entertain the idea that the government was actuated by any improper motives in awarding the contract to this firm, although their tender was not the lowest. He then instanced the excellent character and rapid construction of their work, and the special advantages they were ready to afford; and said he had every confidence in Mr. Peterson, and endorsed all the Hon. Mr. Chapleau had said respecting him. Hon. Mr. Chapleau then thanked Hon. Mr. Joly, and promised that the tenders would be submitted at once to the house. In considering the letting of the contract he had, most fortunately, had a professional adviser, upon whom he could rely—Mr. Peterson being, in fact, the strictest and most rigid of engineers. During his engagement with the Quebec government, he served under the DeBoucherville, the Joly and the Chapleau administrations, and gained the good will and confidence of them all, no party ever venturing to criticise his conduct, which, however, was furiously assailed by the contractor and his allies. On sending in his resignation to the government he was asked to withdraw it. The line between Montreal and Quebec was to be completed in October, 1877, and handed over to the government, but the contractor refused to give it up and continued to run it for his own benefit, keeping all the earnings. Two attempts were made to take possession of it, but failed. In the summer of 1878, Mr. Peterson offered to take possession of it for the government, which offer being accepted, a full power of attorney was given him to act for the Quebec government in the matter. The late Edward Carter, Q.C., was engaged with him for a considerable time in perfecting the case, and in August, Mr. Peterson, with the Hon. P. J. O. Chauveau, sheriff of Montreal, took possession of the Montreal district against a large force of men who were placed in charge of the Hochelaga and Mile End stations by the contractor, and alone retained possession against heavy odds and in spite of an injunction obtained by the contractor, which was served upon him the day before the seizure, and again while at Mile End holding a train against the will of the passengers on board of it, and the employees of the late contractor. He held the stations from noon till 10 p.m., when troops were obtained from the Dominion government to keep what had been gained. The government was so satisfied with the manner in which Mr. Peterson obtained and held possession of the railway, that he was appointed general manager. The contractor attempted through the courts, as well as by force on several other occasions, to regain possession of the line, but was defeated at every point. For taking possession of the railway in defiance of the injunction, Mr. Peterson was tried for contempt of court and found guilty, but was only required to give bail not to do so again. Between this time and his resignation, Mr. Peterson built the Chaudière bridge over the Ottawa river, just above the Chaudière rapids. He also strongly advocated the eastern entrance of the Quebec, Montreal, Ottawa & Ontario Railway into the Quebec gate barracks, as against the proposed site at the Papineau road, which had been commenced under the DeBoucherville government; and having shewed the Joly government how cheaply it could be built, got it adopted by that government, and carried it out under the Chapleau government. On entering the services of the Canadian Pacific Railway, in connection with the construction of the St. Lawrence bridge, he made surveys of various sites, and among them that recommended by the late Col. Roberts, president of the American Society of Civil Engineers, near the Lachine Rapids at Heron Island, but finally reported in favor of the Caughnawaga line, which was adopted in the winter of 1882; but nothing was done till the autumn of 1885, when contracts were let. This work was successfully carried out under Mr. Peterson’s direction during the summer of 1886, and in addition he built the St. Anne’s and Vaudreuil bridges over the Ottawa river, on the Ontario and Quebec section of the Canadian Pacific Railway. The Sault Ste. Marie Bridge was built during the summer of 1887, under Mr. Peterson’s direction, for the Sault Ste. Marie Bridge Company, which is composed of the C. P. R, the Duluth, South Shore and Atlantic R’y, and the Minneapolis, Sault Ste. Marie and Atlantic Railways. Mr. Peterson is now engineer of the Canadian Pacific Railway, in charge of the lines east of Port Arthur.

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=Costigan, Hon. John=, Ottawa, Minister of Inland Revenue for the Dominion of Canada, M.P. for Victoria, New Brunswick, was born at St. Nicholas, in the province of Quebec, on February 1st, 1835, and received a sound education at the College of St. Anne’s. When his education was completed, he moved to New Brunswick, and thereafter for many years was connected with various pursuits, being at one time registrar of deeds for Victoria county, and a judge of the Inferior Court of Common Pleas for New Brunswick. At a very early age Mr. Costigan gave evidence of the solid intellectual qualities which were to become so conspicuous in after years. Above all, those who watched him closely perceived an unvarying persistency in any course which he marked out for himself. Towards 1861 several of the leading inhabitants of Victoria county decided that they would ask Mr. Costigan to offer himself as a candidate for the legislature, and he consenting to do so, was elected, and sat in the New Brunswick Legislative Assembly until 1866, when on again appealing to his constituents he failed to secure his re-election. He was during that period regarded as one of the ablest men in the house, both sides paying great deference to his opinions. At the general election after confederation he was returned to the House of Commons, and has held his seat uninterruptedly for Victoria county ever since. On May 23rd, 1882, he was sworn in a member of the Privy Council, and made minister of inland revenue, and still occupies that position. On the 20th May, 1872, Mr. Costigan moved an address in the House of Commons, praying his Excellency the Governor-General to disallow the New Brunswick School Act, on the ground “that said law is unjust and causes much uneasiness among the Roman Catholic population.” Some time before the introduction of Mr. Costigan’s resolutions, persons had gone up and down through New Brunswick declaring that the province must have a system of free, non-sectarian public schools, and children of every denomination must attend these schools, and that one and all, according to his real or personal property, would be taxed to maintain the educational system. So far this was good. The province had for many years previously made liberal grants for education, but the schools were under denominational control; there was no thorough system of inspection; no uniform course of instruction, and subjects were taught on the old fashioned parrot plan, an old teacher standing behind the educational bulwark, driving education home with a birch rod. Therefore it was a wise and progressive movement that some one set on foot to reduce this chaos of catechism and birch, and arithmetic and letters, into one harmonious, efficient and enlightened system. The new idea carried the province by storm, and then there was appointed a chief superintendent of education. To this gentleman was assigned the task of drawing up an educational chart, outlining courses of instruction, and prescribing texts. He had just the qualifications needed to carry out the will of the narrow politicians with respect to education and the Roman Catholics, and so rancorously was he disposed towards Catholicism that, it is averred, when writing a letter, he carried his hatred so far as to avoid crossing his t’s. He imagined that all priests and lay brothers were bad men, and all nuns wicked women, not fit in character or garb to teach in the public schools, therefore he drew up a regulation making it unlawful for any teacher employed in the public schools to wear any badge, garb or emblem distinctive of any denominational sect or order. This, of course, excluded nuns, lay brothers, and people of a like ecclesiastical fashion, and the liberal and high-minded proviso was characterized as “the government’s infamous millinery regulation.” Holy Church had no cause for panic when the idea of free, non-sectarian schools was at first broached, although it fidgetted and fretted itself almost out of its vestments; now it had a genuine grievance. It was when this narrow regulation had been put upon the statute-book that Mr. Costigan, a Roman Catholic, raised his voice in the House of Commons and besought parliament to interpose its hand in justice to the minority in his province. He was ably seconded by the Hon. Timothy Warren Anglin, who pleaded until he became pathetic for justice to his co-religionists. Mr. Anglin’s newspaper, the _Freeman_, week after week, was laden with complainings against the injustice of the New Brunswick legislature. It declared it was the duty of Sir John A. Macdonald’s government to interfere its authority and maintain right. Then Sir John fell under his Pacific scandal load, and the Reformers returned to power, bringing with them Mr. Anglin, whom they put in the speaker’s chair. During the first session of the new parliament, Mr. Costigan again arose and moved his resolution, which ended in these words: “That the government should advise his Excellency to disallow the Act passed by the New Brunswick legislature.” In this case Mr. Speaker Anglin’s support ended with putting the resolution. The whole country knew how he had the Roman Catholic interests at heart, but it was inexpedient now to press the matter—inexpedient of course to embarrass his government, though this was the very course that his great store of wisdom had suggested when Sir John was in office. So Mr. Costigan had to fight the battle alone. To dispose of the matter, the governor-general did not disallow the New Brunswick School Act, and it would have been a constitutional crime had he done so. Nor did Mr. Costigan desire the repeal of such portions of the law as were just; he merely sought to remove the intolerance and bigotry that disgraced the Act in the “millinery regulations.” Although the Act was not repealed, Mr. Costigan’s exertions were not without fruit, for Dr. Rand’s anti-Catholic provision was expunged, and the doctor himself, as political decency in New Brunswick increased, began to totter in his chair. At last Mr. Blair asked him to resign, and he is now back in the province, where we hope a career of usefulness shall always be open to him. Mr. Costigan’s other great act in parliament was the submission, in 1882, of “The Costigan Irish resolution,” praying that Her Majesty might grant Home Rule government to Ireland on the self-government colonial plan, likewise praying for the relief of “suspects,” and asking other ameliorations. In so far as these resolutions addressed themselves to the question of Home Rule for Ireland, history shall always applaud their author, for he was only asking for a country, dear to him by ties of race, a political condition, the success of which he has tested. But it was a pity, a sad pity, that he, and parliament behind him, should have so far forgotten themselves as to advise another country as to what she should do to offenders against her own laws. Mr. Costigan’s career has been a very able one. He is a clear-headed, firm-handed administrator, and has his department thoroughly under control. His admirers a few years ago presented him with a splendid residence in Ottawa. Mr. Costigan in politics is a Conservative, and in religion a Roman Catholic. He married, in 1855, Harriet, daughter of John Ryan, of Grand Falls, New Brunswick.

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=Barnard, Edmund=, Advocate, Montreal, Quebec, was born at Three Rivers, on 23rd January, 1831. He is a son of Edward Barnard, for many years prothonotary of Three Rivers, whose family was originally from Yorkshire, England, settled at an early day in the history of the colonies, at Deerfield, Mass., and immigrated thence into Canada. Mr. Barnard received his education in the Colleges of St. Hyacinthe, Nicolet and Montreal, and took his degrees of B.A. and M.A. at St. John’s College, Fordham, N.Y. He studied law in the office of Judge Polette, in Three Rivers; also with Sir John Rose and the present Mr. Justice Monk, of the Court of Appeals, and was admitted to the bar on the 23rd of October, 1853. Mr. Barnard is known as one of the most studious, painstaking and successful lawyers in Montreal. He has made a specialty of certain branches, such as real estate, French law, municipal law, and law of banks and corporations, he having a very extensive _clientèle_ in those several departments. He often visits England to attend to Canadian cases before the judicial committee of the Privy Council. A fellow member of the Montreal bar gives Mr. Barnard credit for having a very keen perception of the old French law—second to that of no other lawyer in the province—for being a very indefatigable worker in preparing his wises, and for being a fluent and strong advocate, equally good in the French and English languages. In 1858 Mr. Barnard was married to Ellen King, daughter of the Hon. C. L. Austin, recorder of the city of Albany, N.Y., and they have had issue of ten children.

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