Chapter M: C. Baillairgé, Quebec (54)

=Moodie, Mrs. Susanna=, was the sixth daughter of the late Thomas Strickland, of Reydon Hall, Suffolk, England, and was born on the 6th of December, 1803. This Strickland family was certainly one of the most remarkable known in England, since the famous “Nest of Nightingales,” five out of the six daughters having made themselves more or less celebrated in the realm of letters. At the age of thirteen, Susanna Moodie lost her father, at whose hands she had received her education. Mr. Strickland was a man of considerable wealth, highly cultured, and much devoted to literature, so he spent much of his means upon his library, and instilled into his family the same love for _belles lettres_ that he felt himself. Many have regretted that the excellent man did not live to see the fruition of his care. Susanna, it is said, began to write when in her sixteenth year, her early productions being poems and tales for children. In 1829-30, she put out a volume entitled, “Enthusiasm, and other Poems.” In the same year, during a visit to London, she met Lieutenant J. W. Dunbar Moodie, the fourth son of the late James Moodie, of Melsetter, Orkney Islands, to whom she was married on the 4th of April, 1831. Lieutenant Moodie belonged to the 21st Fusiliers, and was then on half pay. They left England in the following year for Canada, settling at Cobourg for a few months, thence proceeding to the township of Hamilton, eight miles from Cobourg, where they took a farm, and remained a year, after which they permitted themselves, unwisely, to be persuaded to settle in the backwoods, ten miles north of Peterborough. This region was then a perfect wilderness. There was no church, no school, no refined society, and very little cleared land near where they took up their abode. Here, struggling with all the privations belonging to life in the woods, they lived for eight years, in the meantime spending all their available money in the purchase of wild lands, and in the operation of the farm, an occupation for which the family, gentle bred, and unaccustomed and unsuited to labour, were singularly unfit. When, in 1837, the rebellion broke out, Lieutenant Moodie, who, from his birth and military training was a devoted loyalist, hastened away to Toronto, leaving his wife and four little children, the eldest only in her fifth year, behind him in the bush. The summer following, he remained absent, and much of the crops were lost, because there was no help to harvest it. All this Mrs. Moodie vividly and feelingly describes in her delightful book, “Roughing it in the Bush.” This was the first ambitious literary effort of Mrs. Moodie, and it attracted wide attention. The style was simple, limpid and picturesque: it was full of movement, and contained pen portraits, which were true to the life, of the hardships of the family’s wilderness life; of the character of the neighbours with whom she was thrown in contact, and of her alternating hopes and disappointments. When the book came out, the Canadians who were pictured in it were terribly wroth, and probably it was the sex of the author that saved her from maltreatment. But she never once exceeded the bounds of truth in her delineations, and invariably pictured the good traits as well as the bad ones, of the ordinary Canadian backwoods family. The book was brought out in England in 1850, but the greatest portion of its contents had already been published in the _Literary Garland_, Montreal. Encouraged by the success of this book, Mrs. Moodie afterwards brought out in quick succession, through her London publishers, the Messrs. Bentley, “Life in the Clearings,” “Flora Lindsay,” “Mark Hurdleston,” “The World Before them,” “Matrimonial Speculation,” and other works of a more or less fictitious character. It may be said here that after eight years of travail in the woods, Mrs. Moodie received the glad tidings that her husband had been appointed sheriff of the county of Hastings. In a late edition of “Roughing it in the Bush,” brought out by Hunter, Rose & Co., Publishers, of Toronto, Mrs. Moodie writes a preface recounting the social, industrial, educational and moral progress of Canada, since the time of her landing. After Sheriff Moodie’s death at Belleville, in 1869, Mrs. Moodie made her home in Toronto with her younger son, R. B. Moodie; but on his removal to a new residence out of town, she remained with her daughter, Mrs. J. J. Vickers, and passed peacefully away on the afternoon of April 8th, 1885, surrounded by her children and grandchildren. Her aged sister, Mrs. Traill, was beside her at the last. Mrs. Moodie’s often expressed wish to be laid beside her beloved husband at Belleville, where the happiest part of her years were spent, was carried out, and her remains were followed to their last resting-place, close to the beautiful Bay of Quinté, by a large number of dear friends.

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=McMillan, John=, M.D., Pictou, Nova Scotia, was born in London, Ontario, 18th January, 1834. His parents were William McMillan and Anne McKenzie. He received his early education at the schools of his native place, and afterward attended McGill University, Montreal, where he graduated in May, 1857. He then removed to Nova Scotia, and began the practice of his profession in Wallace, Cumberland county. After remaining there for some time he removed to Sherbrooke, Guysborough county, then to New Glasgow, and finally to Pictou, Pictou county, where for the last thirteen years he practised, and has succeeded in building up a good business. He is quarantine officer for the port of Pictou. He belongs to the Masonic order, and is a past master of Caledonia lodge. He was married on 11th June, 1868, to Annie, youngest daughter of the late Senator Holmes, of Pictou, N.S.

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=Larocque, Rt. Reverend Bishop Joseph=, was born at St. Joseph, Chambly, the 28th August, 1808, of one of the most respectable families in that place, and from his earliest years gave evidence of unusual piety and talent. It was no doubt owing to this fact that in 1821 he, with his cousin Charles, who afterwards succeeded him as bishop, upon the recommendation of Mr. Mignault, was educated at the expense of Mr. de St. Ours, and other true friends of education, at the College of St. Hyacinthe, then in its infancy. Young Joseph Larocque was a model scholar, always first in his studies, and practising those virtues which distinguished him in all the varied phases of his after life. In 1829, after having terminated a very brilliant classical course, he entered the ecclesiastical state, and until 1847 we find him working zealously to conquer all difficulties and gain for the St. Hyacinthe Seminary the great renown which it now enjoys. He received the order of priesthood at the hands of his Lordship J. J. Lartigue, on the 15th of March, 1835, and occupied with distinction successively the posts of professor, director, and superior of the institution to which he owed so much. A priest of the merit of Abbé Larocque could not long remain without attracting the attention of Bishop Bourget, who at this time occupied the episcopal seat at Montreal. The eminent prelate summoned him, and conferred upon him the canonship, thereby procuring a most valuable auxiliary in the administration of his diocese, one who, in his manifold duties and work, exercised his natural talent, profound science, and indefatigable zeal. He was entrusted with the editing of _Religious Miscellany_, published under the auspices of Bishop Bourget. Mgr. Prince, then coadjutor bishop of Montreal, being delegated to take to the Holy Father at Rome the decree of the first council at Quebec, Canon Larocque received orders to accompany him as secretary. During his sojourn in the Holy City he was named Bishop of Cydonia, by his Holiness Pope Pius IX., and coadjutor of Montreal, in place of his Lordship J. C. Prince, promoted to the new bishopric of St. Hyacinthe. On the 28th of the following October he was consecrated in his native parish (Chambly) by Bishop Bourget, assisted by their Lordships Guigues, bishop of Ottawa, and Cooke, bishop of Three Rivers. During the next eight years Bishop Larocque fulfilled his numerous duties in a most exemplary manner, to the detriment of his health. In June, 1860, he was transferred to the bishopric of St. Hyacinthe, but owing to his constant suffering and infirmities, he asked the permission of the Pope to abdicate his charge, which was granted by a Papal decree, dated August 17th, 1865. In July, 1866, Mgr. Larocque was nominated by his Holiness Pope Pius IX., bishop of Germanicopolis. The principal work of the pious prelate during his short term as head of the diocese, was the founding of the Community of the Precious Blood, which in a few years became renowned for piety and virtue. This community owe to the venerable and devoted father the constitution which governs them, and several spiritual works, among others, “Manner of Devotion to the Precious Blood,” and “Meditations for each Month of the Year;” also, “The Liturgical Year,” comprising meditations for Sundays and all the notable feasts of the year. The Lord remembered this faithful and earnest worker in permitting him to see the success which crowned his many efforts, for which the diocese of St. Hyacinthe owes him a debt of gratitude, only to be repaid by continuing in the noble work so ably mapped out for them. Bishop Joseph Larocque died November 18th, 1887.

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=McDonald, Hon. James=, Chief Justice of the Supreme Court of Nova Scotia, was born at East River, Pictou county, N.S., 1st July, 1828. His family were among the first Scotch Highlanders who came to Nova Scotia one hundred years ago. They established at Pictou a thoroughly Scottish community which bears their impress legibly to this day. The chief justice had very few educational or inherited advantages to help him in his early days, but he possessed a splendid physique, unfailing good-temper and kindliness, great shrewdness and common sense, and laudable ambition. He obtained his preliminary education at New Glasgow, the second town in Pictou county, being the seat of valuable collieries, glass-works and other manufactories, and one of the most flourishing and progressive spots in the province. After completing his course, he studied law and was admitted to the bar in 1851. He at once obtained a good practice, and gained a considerable reputation as a platform speaker. He always took a great interest in politics, being a staunch Conservative. He first came to the front as a political candidate in 1859 when he successfully contested Pictou county in the general election of that year. The Conservative party were fast gaining strength and bidding again for the political supremacy which had been denied them for many years. Among the rising men was Dr. Charles Tupper, a bold and fluent orator, and a man of great administrative force and tact. Hon. J. W. Johnson, attorney-general and _facile princeps_ in his party for so many years, was getting old and unfit for a hard campaign. Sir William Young had been made chief justice, and other prominent Liberals were dropping out of the ranks. Railways were building and there was an impetus thereby given to the general hopefulness of the country. There were hot debates in the House of Assembly where such men as A. G. Archibald, Thomas Morrison, and Jonathan McCully strove for the reins of power. Hon. Mr. McDonald again offered, in 1863, when his party achieved a great victory at the polls. He was appointed by Dr. Tupper, provincial secretary and premier, to the position of chief railway commissioner for Nova Scotia, in June, 1863, and held this office until December, 1864. In December, 1864, he was appointed to a seat in the government with the portfolio of financial secretary. The celebrated conferences of Charlottetown and Quebec were held in the summer of 1864. There the preliminaries of confederation were discussed. At the latter conference Nova Scotia was represented by Dr. Tupper, Hon. W. A. Henry, now of the Supreme Court of Canada, Jonathan (afterwards Judge) McCully, and Hon. R. B. Dickey, senator. The next few months were times of fierce political debate in the maritime provinces. Confederation was consummated 1st July, 1867, and was shortly afterwards followed by general elections in the provinces and in the Dominion. The Conservatives were routed at the polls. Dr. Tupper won his election in Cumberland county, defeating Hon. William Annand by the narrow majority of 66. Not a single Conservative member followed him to Ottawa on his first appearance there. Among the defeated was the subject of this sketch, who stood for Pictou. But previous to this time, and during 1865 and 1866, he had been appointed a commissioner, representing his native province, to negotiate towards opening trade relations between the West Indies, Mexico and Brazil and the British American provinces. In prosecution of this mission he did some travelling in the Antilles. In 1867 he was made a Queen’s counsel. During the last years of his residence and practice at the bar in Halifax, the city barristers, on his attaining to the twenty-fifth year of his practice presented him with a silk gown accompanied by an appreciative and friendly address. In thanking the gentlemen of the long robe for their courtesy, he remarked that he was much touched by their kindness, but that the incident carried with it one element of regret in that it reminded him that he was growing old. The chief justice, however, enjoys robust health, and has probably many years before him. During these times he was working up one of the best-known practices in Nova Scotia. He had become associated in Pictou with Samuel G. Rigby (since Judge of the Supreme Court, a man who died two years ago greatly regretted while yet little over forty years of age), and removed to Halifax, establishing the firm of McDonald & Rigby. They generally had in their office six students and copyists, and their practice extended throughout the province. S. G. Rigby is believed to have been the peer of any _nisi prius_ lawyer who ever held a brief in Nova Scotia. James McDonald was skilled in all the arts of a cross-examiner and jury lawyer, whilst as a chambers counsel he was unsurpassed by any. Mr. Rigby generally went the Midland and Eastern circuits, where he never wanted a client. At the general election held in the summer of 1872, Hon. Mr. McDonald again contested Pictou for the House of Commons, and this time successfully. He was a strong supporter of Sir John A. Macdonald. The Pacific Scandal burst out in 1873, and in the debate in the Commons he made one of the strongest defences of the government. He was defeated at the general election of 1874, when the Reform government seized the reins of power, but fought a hard campaign in Pictou. At the general election in 1878 he returned with his party to power, and was made minister of justice. This appointment he held with credit until 20th May, 1881, when the late Sir William Young having resigned, he was appointed chief justice of the Supreme Court of Nova Scotia. He is also judge of the Vice-Admiralty Court. He resides at a pretty villa on the North-West Arm, Halifax, called “Blink Bonnie.” He is a member of the Halifax Club, the town resort of the _elite_ of Nova Scotia. He married in 1856, Jane, daughter of the late William Mortimer, of Pictou, by whom he has a large family of children. One of his sons is in the North-West. Two are practising law in Halifax. Two of his daughters married sons of Sir Charles Tupper, viz., Charles H. Tupper, M.P. for Pictou county, and William J. Tupper, who saw service with the Halifax battalion during the North-West rebellion. The Chief Justice resides chiefly in Halifax but occasionally goes on circuit. His judgments are marked by great liberality and breadth of view. He has befriended many young men in their struggles to get a profession, and is an openhearted, openhanded man. No finer specimen of the Pictou Scotchman could be picked out than “Jim McDonald,” as he was familiarly, though respectfully called, during his long career, at the bar and in politics. Hon. Mr. McDonald is a member of St. Matthew’s Presbyterian Church, Halifax.

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=Merritt, Jedediah Prendergast=, St. Catharines, Ontario. The subject of this biographical sketch is the eldest son of the late Hon. William Hamilton Merritt, the well-known pioneer of the most prominent part of the peninsula of western Canada, and the originator and principal actor in obtaining the completion of the Welland and St. Lawrence canals, now connecting the upper lakes with the Atlantic ocean. Mr. Merritt was born at St. Catharines, county of Lincoln, on the 1st of June, 1820, and the whole of his life has been devoted to the material and æsthetical occupations which make history for the western hemisphere. At an early period he represented his native country as a student at Cambridge, England, and upon his return his further representation consisted in being familiar with English and continental society as it was associated with scholastic and political economy. His father, by the force of daily events, was engaged in promoting public important Canadian interests, whether included in commercial, political, or educational enterprises; and his son, being well qualified by natural and acquired attainments, gave these enterprises the advantage of his presence both at the desk and by his advice in the halls of the legislature. In 1860 he was appointed by a vote of parliament to a position now known as archivist. He collected the ten thousand folio pages of historical matter as put upon record by the lives of pioneers in Canada prior and subsequent to the revolutionary war. Whether, accordingly, information of large or small moment to families of the United Empire class or its government, or to families generally of Canada or the United States be required, it is derivable through the labors of the gentleman whose name is before us. Such a task as this brought into requisition varied talents and an unceasing industry for a number of years, and so suggestive of utility was his report that parliament renewed an engagement with him. The qualities of patriotism and generosity characterised his proceedings, for he not only gave his assistant the appropriation made for the purpose, but without opposition he permitted the adoption of a title which directs a searcher after knowledge formulated under his guidance to go to the Coventry Documents. On the 1st of May, 1845, he was appointed postmaster at St. Catharines, an office which he retained for a period of eighteen years. Mr. Merritt has distinguished himself both in poetry and prose. At an early age, and while at school, a taste for literature and science distinctly spoke out. And subsequently his poetical genius shone out in many effusions relating to his own and other countries, and in such as passed fitting encomiums upon the noble qualities of patriotism and valor. A poem written as a memento of the visit of the Duke of Kent to Canada received a distinguished acknowledgment from the Prince of Wales, his Grace the Duke of Newcastle, and the Earl of St. Germans. Many odes are also well known; among them may be found that “On the Opening of Victoria Bridge” by the Prince of Wales; “Ho, for Manitoba;” “Ontario;” those on the battles of “Lundy’s Lane”—“Crook’s Mills”—“River Rasin;”—that read by the Loyal Canadian Society at its anniversary picnic at Queenston Heights; “The rise and progress of St. Catharines,” in prose, and concluded in verse. Besides others in number to fill a volume, which fail to receive a notice here. The public journals of the day, for many years past, evidence by their columns that Mr. Merritt’s study and influence upon subjects of administrative policy and scientific economy have given to the public as much of instruction as of entertainment. An ingenious historical chart published by Mr. Merritt met with the approval of the British North American Historical Society, and commendation from the Prince of Wales, who sent him an appropriate medal. When decimal currency was introduced into Canada, Mr. Merritt brought before the legislature a system of weights and measures known as the “metric.” With these it is as easy of calculation as that of by tens with money. The government voted in its favor $50,000 to be used if necessary. Mr. Merritt’s life has been an unceasing application of advantages derivable from a patrimony, for the promotion of plans equal to the dignity and character of Canada; and his family promise to wear his mantle. He married on the 17th of August, 1864, the eldest daughter of the late George Prescott, for many years secretary and treasurer of the Welland canal, by whom he has six sons and two daughters.

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=Scott, Lieut.-Col. Thomas=, Collector of Customs, Winnipeg, was born in Lanark county, Ontario, 16th February, 1841. He is of Irish parentage, and has proved in all the departments of activity in which he has been engaged throughout an unusually active life that he has inherited the best qualities of the Celtic race braced with the increased vigor which a fine climate and free institutions give to Canadians. The subject of this sketch was educated at the public and high schools of his native county, and at an early age entered on journalism, and when only twenty he founded a journal to advocate the principles of the Conservative party. This journal was the _Perth Expositor_, which under the energetic management of its founder soon became a power in the county. Two years later he married Miss Kellock, second daughter of Robert Kellock. Born with the instincts of a soldier, young Scott joined the volunteer corps of his town, at the time of the _Trent_ affair, and shortly afterwards became its captain. No better commanding-officer or more enthusiastic militiaman was to be found in the province than he. When the Fenian raid of 1866 set the country in a ferment, Capt. Scott was one of the first to ask on behalf of himself and his company to be assigned for active service. They were ordered to the St. Lawrence frontier, where they were kept on duty for four months. For his services he was raised to the rank of major. He was next called into active service in 1870, when he was placed in command of a company of the Ontario Rifles, part of Col. (now Lord) Wolseley’s expedition to the North-West to suppress the first Riel rebellion. In the toilsome journey Major Scott distinguished himself by his power of inspiring enthusiasm in the men under his command, which won such high encomiums from the brilliant young commander of the expedition. When, just after his return, it became necessary to send another expedition to the North-West to resist the threatened Fenian invasion of Manitoba, Major Scott, raised to the rank of brevet lieutenant-colonel, was chosen to command the force. A considerable part of the journey through what was then an almost untrodden wilderness was made in winter, and the men suffered great hardships, but made their way through to Fort Garry with wonderfully few mishaps. Liking the country, and appreciating the opportunities it offered for men of pluck and energy, Col. Scott sold out his newspaper business and removed to Manitoba. He at once took a prominent part in public affairs. He first essayed in 1874 to be elected to the Legislature of Manitoba against the then premier, Hon. R. A. Davis, but was unsuccessful. Three years later, however, he became mayor of Winnipeg after a keen electoral contest, but administered affairs so satisfactorily to the people, during his year of office, that he was elected by acclamation for a second term. While still occupying the place of mayor, he was nominated for a seat in the Legislative Assembly, and was elected. The general election came on in the following year, and Col. Scott was again successful. In 1880, the seat in the House of Commons for Selkirk becoming vacant by Hon. (now Sir) Donald A. Smith being unseated, Col. Scott resigned his place in the legislature, and ran in the Conservative interest, defeating Sir Donald by 169 majority. In the general election of 1882 he again was the Conservative standard-bearer for Winnipeg, in some respects the most important political division of the province. He was triumphantly returned and served throughout that parliament. He was appointed collector of customs in 1887, which position he still holds. Lieut.-Col. Scott, while always a strong party man, and almost fiercely active in a political contest, has those qualities of generosity and kind-heartedness which make men who are his opponents his friends. He is a man beloved by the people because of his strong sympathy with them, and his manifest desire to do all in his power to defend their interests.

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=Ogden, William Winslow=, B.M., M.D., one of the leading medical practitioners of the city of Toronto, was born in the township of Toronto, county of Peel, 3rd July, 1837. His parents were William J. Ogden, an officer in the militia of York county in those days, and Rebecca Ogden. His father was descended from old English stock, traceable as far back as the time of Charles the Second. One of his ancestors, performed distinguished services for this fickle monarch at a critical period of his career, and received at his hands in return important recognition, and the _coat armor_ now held by his descendants. The doctor’s mother was from Ireland, and has been dead over twenty years, but his father, now in his eighty-sixth year, is still alive, and resides near Port Credit. Dr. Ogden received such primary education as the schools of his native place supplied in those early days, and then went to the Toronto Academy (since extinct), at that time connected with Knox College. He afterwards attended, until he was eighteen years of age, Victoria College, taking the ordinary arts course, and from this until he reached the age of twenty-two, he attended the Toronto School of Medicine, taking at the same time several special subjects in natural science in the University of Toronto. He graduated in honors in medicine from Toronto University in 1860, and at a later date in the same science from Victoria College, Cobourg. He then settled in Toronto, in which city he has ever since successfully practised his profession. In 1869 Dr. Ogden was appointed lecturer on medical jurisprudence and toxicology in Toronto School of Medicine, and lectured on these subjects, and that of diseases of children, from that date until 1887, when, on the creation of the medical faculty of Toronto University, he was appointed professor of forensic medicine, which includes toxicology and medical psychology. He takes a deep interest in all educational matters, and has been a member of the public school board continuously since 1866, a period of twenty-two years. He is always found at his post, is generally a member of all important committees, for two years was chairman of the board, and no one rejoices more than the worthy doctor at the great progress our schools have made since he first began to take an active interest in their management. Being a public spirited gentleman, he is deeply interested in everything that helps to improve the social and material condition of his countrymen. He is a member of the Middlesex lodge, Sons of England Benevolent Society, and its medical examiner in the beneficiary department, is president of the Royal Oak Building and Savings Society, and of the Sons of England Hall Company of Toronto. For many years, till recently, he was an active member of the Toronto Reform Association, and for a long time was its vice-president. Ever since the Brown-Cameron struggle, in 1858, he has taken an active part in all the political contests held in Toronto, and had the distinction of being nominated as the Reform candidate for the Ontario legislature in 1879, but, although he succeeded in greatly reducing the majority generally polled against the Reform candidate, he failed to secure his own election. In religion, Dr. Ogden was brought up in, and has always taken a deep interest in, the Methodist form of worship, and for over thirty years has held the office of leader in the Methodist church. He has been a member of all the general conferences save one, and of the annual conferences up to the present. He supported and voted for the union of the several Methodist bodies, and was well pleased when the union took place. In politics, it is almost needless to say, he is a staunch Reformer, and has during his long and useful life sacrificed largely in time and labor to advance the cause he has so much at heart. On the 27th May, 1862, he was married, to Elizabeth Price, daughter of the late William McKown, and niece of the late George Price, who died in 1880.

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=Burrill, James=, Merchant, Yarmouth, Nova Scotia, is the second son of William Burrill and Catharine Sullivan, and was born on the 22nd February, 1844, at Yarmouth, N.S. He received a common school education, and on the retirement of his father in 1869, succeeded to his business, in company with his two brothers, and they now trade under the style of William Burrill & Co. The firm is largely interested in shipping. Mr. Burrill, the subject of our sketch, is a member of the Board of Trade, and since 1876 he has had a seat on the Board of School Trustees. In 1880 he was elected councillor for Milton, and was re-elected to the same position in 1882, 1884, and 1886. He was chosen warden of the municipality of Yarmouth in 1884, and again elected to the same office in 1886. Mr. Burrill takes an interest in all social reforms and belongs to the order of the Sons of Temperance and to the Temple of Honor. In politics he is a Liberal, and in religion he belongs to the Presbyterian church. Though comparatively young in years, he has devoted a good deal of time for the benefit of his fellow-citizens, among whom he is highly respected as he deserves to be. On the 20th September, 1887, he was married to Jane J., eldest daughter of George H. Lovitt.

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=Murray, Lieut.-Col. John Robert=, Superintendent of Stores and Paymaster of Military district, No. 9, Halifax, was born at Halifax, N.S., February 9th, 1836, and is the eldest son of Thomas Murray of Dartmouth, N.S., (born February 11, 1811), and Caroline Maria Tapper of Blandford, England (born March 5, 1813), who married at Halifax, December 6, 1834. Col. Murray was educated at the National School and the Grammar School (Academy) Halifax, and early entered into mercantile pursuits. He became interested eventually in the hardware business as a partner in the firm of Boggs & Ross, and Thos. Boggs & Co. Colonel Murray served his native town for three years as an alderman for Ward 1, from 1872, and was a justice of the peace for the town. As a young man, he took an active interest in the militia, and this strengthened with each succeeding year. His connection with the militia of Nova Scotia and the Dominion covers a period of over twenty-nine years, and for over a quarter of a century he has held her Majesty’s commissions, viz:—In the 3rd Queen’s, N.S. militia, second lieutenant, February 5, 1863; first lieutenant, June 10, 1863; captain, December 11, 1864; adjutant, July 14, 1865, in the 66th Princess Louise Fusiliers; captain, June 18, 1869; brevet major, September 20, 1872; brevet lieutenant-colonel, December 12, 1874. On February 1, 1884, he was appointed to the district staff, and has since filled the offices of store-keeper and district paymaster, in a most satisfactory manner. In religion he is a Presbyterian, being a member of St. Andrew’s Church. He is a pleasant, agreeable citizen, a good soldier, and a splendid officer. He was married, September 19, 1861, to Eliza Jane, eldest daughter of the late James Reeves of Halifax, and has had issue five children, of whom three survive: James Reeves, who occupies the position of accountant in the Nova Scotia Sugar Refinery, Halifax; Charles Grant, gentleman cadet at the Royal Military College, Kingston, and George William, who is a student at the Halifax Medical College.

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=Lawson, Professor George=, Ph.D., LL.D., F.I.C., F.R.S.C., Halifax, N.S., was born at Newport, parish of Forgan, Fifeshire, Scotland, 12th October, 1827. He is the only son of Alex. Lawson, of a family long resident in the county, and his wife, Margaret McEwen, daughter of Colin McEwen, for many years a civic officer in the town of Dundee. He was educated at a private school, and after several years of private study and law-reading, entered the University of Edinburgh, devoting his attention specially to the natural and physical sciences—chemistry, botany, zoology, anatomy, mineralogy, and geology. His studies at Edinburgh extended over a period of ten years, during which time he was also occupied with scientific and literary work in connection with the university and several of the scientific institutions of that city. He occupied the position of curator of the university herbarium, until it was removed from the university building to the Royal Botanic Garden, and was thus early brought into personal contact and correspondence with the leading botanists of the time. He assisted the professor of botany, Dr. Balfour, in his class-work and field and mountain excursions, and, as demonstrator under the professor’s direction, conducted a select class in histology for advanced students, teaching the practical use of the microscope and the methods of research in regard to the minute structure and development of plants. This class, formed in the Herbarium room at the Royal Botanic Garden, in Edinburgh, in 1853, was one of the first, if not the first organization of the kind in Britain corresponding to what are now known as biological laboratories. This Edinburgh Botanical Laboratory is now greatly extended and well supplied with recent improvements in apparatus and implements of research. On the death of Dr. Fleming, professor of natural science in the New College, Edinburgh, Dr. Lawson, in conjunction with the late Andrew Murray, continued the lectures through the winter session. He prepared, and carried through the press, the catalogue of the library of the Royal Society of Edinburgh, a work which was thus noticed by Sir R. Christison in his presidential address: “The council, in noticing the completion of this important labor, cannot express too highly the sense they entertain of the services of Dr. Lawson, who has applied himself to the task put before him with a zeal, diligence, method, and ability which led the council to congratulate themselves and the society on the choice which was made in appointing him.” He acted as secretary for several other societies, being joint secretary with the late Sir Wyville Thomson, of the Royal Physical Society. Being an adherent of the Church of Scotland, he was an active member of the High Church of Edinburgh. In the year 1858 Dr. Lawson accepted the appointment of professor of chemistry and natural history in Queen’s University, Kingston, Ontario, and relinquished the several offices held in Edinburgh. On leaving that city for Canada, a number of the professors of the university and members of societies, including Professor Balfour, Sir R. Christison, Sir J. Y. Simpson, Sir J. Gibson-Craig, Sir A. Douglas Maclagan, Professor Wilson, Sir A. Fayrer, and others, presented him with a purse of sovereigns and a silver salver bearing the following inscription—“Presented to Dr. George Lawson (along with a purse of sovereigns), on the occasion of his departure from Great Britain, to fill the chair of chemistry and natural history in Queen’s College, Kingston, Canada, by some of his friends, who desire thus to testify their high esteem and regard for him, and their appreciation of the services which he has rendered to science in Edinburgh. 5th August, 1858.” One of the speakers at the farewell meeting (father of the professor of botany in the Dublin College of Science), remarked as a reason for the presentation: “We do not know what the Canadians may think of you, but we want them to know what we think of you here.” At Queen’s College, a new laboratory and class-rooms for medical teaching being in course of construction, Dr. Lawson organized there a system of practical laboratory teaching similar to that then in operation by Drs. Wilson and Macadam at Edinburgh. The college grounds were laid out as a botanic garden, and the Botanical Society of Canada was formed, chiefly through his exertions. Whilst at Kingston, he acted as an examiner at Toronto University. In consequence of the disturbed state of affairs in Queen’s College, in 1863, Dr. Lawson resigned his position there, and accepted the professorship of chemistry and mineralogy in Dalhousie College and University, Halifax, Nova Scotia, then being reorganized, and which he still holds. Soon after his arrival in Nova Scotia, a board of agriculture was established by the provincial government, and he was elected secretary. He continued to discharge the duties of that office from 1864 till 1885, when the board was abolished, and its duties assumed directly by the provincial government. His services were retained under the new arrangement as secretary for agriculture of the province. In 1857 Dr. Lawson took the degree of Ph.D. at the University of Giessen. In 1863 the University of McGill College, Montreal, conferred upon him the honorary degree of LL.D. He is a fellow, and at present president, of the Royal Society of Canada; fellow of the Botanical and Royal Physical Societies of Edinburgh; of the Institute of Chemistry of Great Britain and Ireland; honorary member of the Edinburgh Geological and Scottish Arboricultural Societies; corresponding member of the Royal Horticultural Society of London, and of the Society of Natural Sciences at Cherbourg; also member of the following: British Association for Advancement of Science, American Association for Advancement of Science, Royal Scottish Society of Arts, Nova Scotian Institute of Natural Science, Historical Society, Ottawa Naturalists’ Club, etc.; associate of the Canadian Society of Civil Engineers. Dr. Lawson’s contributions to scientific literature have been published chiefly in the transactions of societies and scientific periodicals, as in “Transactions” respectively of the Botanical Society of Edinburgh, Royal Society of Canada, Nova Scotian Institute of Natural Science, and in the “Edinburgh New Philosophical Journal,” the “London Phytologist,” the “Annals and Magazine of Natural History,” the “Canadian Naturalist,” the “Chemical News,” etc. A separate work on “Water-lilies,” and one on “British Agriculture,” were published in Edinburgh. During his residence there he was a frequent contributor to “Chambers’s Edinburgh Journal,” and other literary periodicals in London and Edinburgh, and he edited and rewrote a portion of one of the editions of “Chambers’s Information for the People.” He married, in Edinburgh, Lucy, daughter of Charles Stapley, of Vale Cottage, Tunbridge Wells, and King’s road, Chelsea, who died on 1st January, 1871, leaving two daughters. At Halifax, in 1876, he married Caroline Matilda, daughter of William Jordan, Rosehall, Halifax, sister of Rev. Louis H. Jordan, M.A., B.D., Montreal, and widow of George Alexander Knox, lost in the steamship _City of Boston_, which sailed from Halifax harbor in January, 1870.

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=Allison, David=, M.A., LL.D., Halifax, N.S., Superintendent of Education for the province of Nova Scotia, was born at Newport, Hants county, N.S., July 3rd, 1836. His father was James W. Allison, and his mother, Margaret Elder, both Nova Scotians, but descendants of North of Ireland parents, who had settled in this province. Dr. Allison’s father and grandfather both occupied seats in the local legislature. His preliminary education was received at the Halifax Academy, and the Wesleyan Academy, Sackville, New Brunswick. After studying four years at the latter institution, he entered the Wesleyan University, Middletown, Conn., U.S.A., and graduated in 1859. He then became classical instructor at Sackville Academy, and changed that position in 1862, to take a similar position in Mount Allison College. In 1869 Rev. Dr. Pickard resigned the presidency of the college, and the directorate unanimously elected Mr. Allison to the office, a tribute to his scholarship and character. He occupied the position of president for nine years, and under him the college work was very successfully and effectively performed. In the year 1877 he was appointed to the office of superintendent of education for the province of Nova Scotia, which position he still holds. Under his administration the whole system of the public schools of the province has grown and developed, till it is in the most satisfactory condition that could be desired or expected. Dr. Allison is a member of the Methodist church, and was a delegate to the congress of Methodism held in London, 1881. He married, June 18, 1862, Elizabeth Powell, of Richibucto, N.B., whose ancestors were loyalists. Dr. Allison received the degree of B.A., 1859; M.A., 1862; LL.D., from Victoria College, Cobourg, Ontario, 1873. In 1876 he was appointed a fellow of the senate of Halifax University. In his position as superintendent of education he has been broad in his views, and possesses a thorough appreciation of the high problem which is being worked out by the educational system of the province under his guardianship and direction.

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=Radenhurst, W. H.=, Barrister, Perth, Ontario, was born at Toronto on 14th September, 1835. He is the eldest son of the late Thomas M. Radenhurst, Q.C., who settled in Perth in 1824. His paternal grandfather, Thomas Radenhurst, came out from England to America in a semi-military capacity at the time of the revolutionary war. He was from Cheshire, and his mother was a sister of Lord Chief Justice Kenyon. When a youth, he was sent up to London to enter the employ of the banking firm of the Lloyds, in which his mother, who was related to them, had some interest, but he preferred to go to America with the troops then leaving for the war. At the close of the war, being stationed in Montreal, he married Ann Campbell, a daughter of a United Empire loyalist, one of the first who settled on the Bay of Quinté. An uncle of hers, Sir John Campbell, was a distinguished soldier in India. He died at Fort St. John, in early life, leaving a young family to the care of his widow, a woman of energy and capacity. She obtained commissions in the army for her two eldest sons, but her third son, Thomas, she had educated at Dr. Strachan’s school at Cornwall, and he afterwards studied law in Toronto. He commenced the practice of his profession in Kingston, from where he removed to Perth, and built up a considerable law practice. He married a daughter of Surveyor-General Ridout of Toronto. He represented the county of Carleton in the Upper Canada Legislature before the union of the provinces, and was afterwards, as the nominee of the Reform or Baldwin-Lafontaine party, an unsuccessful candidate for Lanark county. He was made a Queen’s counsel in 1849, and acted for a considerable time as Crown prosecutor in the Eastern and sometimes in the Midland Circuit. He was offered the judgeship of the Bathurst district, but declined the honor. He acted as treasurer of Lanark county for several years; and he died in 1854, in his fifty-first year, leaving a large family. The following pen and ink sketch, of Thomas M. Radenhurst, written in November, 1847, by a local scribe, signing himself “Paul Pry,” gives us a very correct idea of the deceased Queen’s counsel:—

Another personage in this court is entitled to a favourable
notice—Mr. T. M. Radenhurst. This gentleman lounges in his
chair with an easy familiarity when in court—you would imagine
that his soul was away into the fair land of romance, or
feasting with the great jury consultists in his library, or
arranging some circumstances that may have transpired in the
domestic or social circle; but when he stands up, and is roused
into action, you are both startled and pleased to find that all
this seeming abstraction, has no reality—he shows that nothing
has escaped his notice—his mind is found to be stored with
important facts, all bearing upon the point at issue; in the
management of these there is a complete absence of all
clap-trap—he does not seek to terrify and bewilder a witness,
but the witness finds that he is in the hands of a master, and
that his only mode of escape is in giving a plain unvarnished
tale. When he addresses the jury, he unfolds the capacity so
valuable in an advocate, that he believes that there is such a
thing as truth, and that he relies with full confidence for
success of his cause upon the truth being told. The moral
bearing of his case is then unfolded, and the conviction is
triumphantly carried and established in every unprejudiced mind
that whatever may be the merits of the suit the advocate is an
honest man.

W. H. Radenhurst, the subject of our sketch, his eldest son, at present residing in Perth, was educated at Upper Canada College. He held the office of treasurer of Lanark for sometime after his father’s death, but afterwards studied law in the offices of the late Mr. Fraser of Perth, and of Sir Matthew Cameron in Toronto, and was called to the bar. He was a member of the town council of Perth, and mayor of the town from 1874 to 1878. He is now revising officer for North Lanark. In politics he is a Liberal-Conservative, and in religion an adherent of the Episcopal church.

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=St. Georges, Rev. Charles=, Parish Priest of St. Athanase, Iberville, P.Q., and Honorary Canon of the Cathedral of St. Hyacinthe, was born on the 13th March, 1834, at Varennes, Verchères county, P.Q. He was educated at the College of St. Hyacinthe, and ordained priest on the 15th August, 1858. The scenes of his early labors were successively Sorel, Granby, Abbotsford and St. Charles. Since 1868 he has been in charge of the Church of St. Athanase, Iberville, where his devotedness, zeal, and piety have gained for him the universal esteem and affection of his flock. His finer qualities, however, are known only to a few—his fellow-priests and the religious under his spiritual direction—by whom he is regarded as a model worthy of copying, and as a tender and loving pastor. Father St. Georges has been distinguished throughout his priestly career for the important part and interest he has taken in the education question. Finding on his arrival at St. Athanase, that the good Sisters of the Congregation de Notre Dame had established a convent there, he spared no sacrifice in aiding and seconding them in their noble efforts. For a long time it was his ardent wish to procure for the boys of his parish a suitable educational establishment; but it was not, however, until 1885 that this grand project was fully realized. In that year he had the happiness of seeing opened a Commercial College under the direction of the Marist Brothers, whose Mother-House is at St. Genis-Laval, France. The success which has already attended the scheme does credit to its promoter and principal supporter. At present it has about two hundred externs and fifty boarders. Father St. Georges’ life has been replete with all those noble virtues and fine qualities so often met with in the priesthood, and we hope he will be long spared to bless humanity.

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=Burrill, William=, Merchant, Yarmouth, Nova Scotia, was born at Drumbo, near Belfast, Ireland, on 30th June, 1802. He was the second son of Henry and Rosanna Burrill, and came to Yarmouth, Nova Scotia, in the year 1834, where he at once engaged in mercantile business which he successfully pursued until 1869, when he retired. During his lifetime he greatly distinguished himself for his zeal in the cause of temperance. He took a leading part in the organization of the first Division of the Sons of Temperance in Yarmouth, and was the second Grand Worthy Patriarch of the order in Nova Scotia. He was elected a member of the National Division of North America in the year 1851. He held the office of warden of the municipality of Yarmouth in 1857, and the following year was appointed a justice of the peace. He was a Liberal in politics, and a Presbyterian in religion. He died at Yarmouth, on the 9th April, 1883, greatly regretted by his fellow citizens, among whom he was held in high esteem. He was married to Catherine Sullivan, of Halifax, N.S., on the 28th of November, 1839.

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=Charland, Hon. Justice Alfred N.=, B.C.L., St. John’s, Quebec. This gentleman, who was raised to the bench of the province of Quebec, as one of the judges of the Superior Court, in November, 1887, was born at Iberville, province of Quebec, on the 28th May, 1842. He is a son of late Joseph Charland, merchant, of the same place, one of the oldest settlers of the county of Iberville, province of Quebec, and who was married to Elmire Duquette, of Chateauguay, sister of the renowned Joseph Duquette, a young patriot who was executed in 1838, when only twenty-two years of age, for being one of the “Sons of Liberty,” an order that existed at the time of the Canadian rebellion. This lamented young martyr for the cause of liberty was a supporter and bosom friend of the celebrated Papineau. Judge Charland was educated in St. Hyacinthe College. He studied the profession of law in the office of the late Hon. Charles Laberge and L. G. Macdonald, Q.C. (Laberge & Macdonald), in St. John’s, province of Quebec, and was subsequently a student in the office of Sir A. A. Dorion, now chief justice of the Court of Queen’s Bench. He received his degree of B.C.L. from McGill University, when Judge Torrance, Edward Carter, Q.C., and the Hon. R. Laflamme were his professors. He was admitted to practice in September, 1863, and settled at St. John’s, where he edited _Le Franco Canadien_ for two years, and commenced an extensive practice with E. S. Paradis, Q.C. In 1878 Mr. Charland was offered the judgeship of the quarter sessions for Montreal, by the Joly government, in the place of Judge Coursol, a position which, though honorable, he declined. The same year he was appointed Queen’s counsel by the Quebec government, and in 1886 had this distinction confirmed upon him by the governor-general in council at Ottawa. He was for several years actively engaged in politics, and fought the battles of the Liberal party till he joined the Conservatives as a protectionist and a partisan of the ruling policy of his friend, the Hon. J. A. Chapleau, then premier of Quebec province. Mr. Charland has particularly distinguished himself as a criminal lawyer, having for several years occupied the position of Crown prosecutor in the district of Iberville, and when not so employed has been entrusted with the defence in all the important cases which came up before the assizes of that judicial division. He obtained great success in several murder cases. He is considered as an authority on criminal matters. He is also acknowledged to be one of the most eloquent and forcible speakers in the province of Quebec, and perhaps the most correct and eloquent of our French orators. As such he has taken an active and prominent part in numerous political contests throughout the province, and greatly contributed to the success of his friends in many electoral strifes. The St. John’s _News_ of the 18th November, 1887, thus kindly speaks of him on the occasion of his elevation to the bench:—

News was received in St. John’s last Friday that Mr. A. N.
Charland, Q.C., of this place, had been appointed judge of this
district, in place of the Hon. Mr. Justice Chagnon, resigned.
While general regret was expressed at the resignation of the
latter gentleman, the appointment of Mr. Charland as his
successor gave the most unqualified satisfaction to our
community at large, and even many of those who had recently been
most strictly opposed to him on political ground, were among the
first to congratulate him on his preferment. We do not hesitate
to say that Judge Charland will be an honor to the bench. Years
ago he distinguished himself at the bar as a gifted pleader and
as a clear, incisive, and brilliant reasoner. Along with a
dignified and polished manner, he possesses that _savoir faire_
which so greatly adds to the charm of an intellectual man, and
is so especially becoming to the occupants of high positions.

Judge Charland first married, in 1865, Aglaë Ouimet, sister of the Hon. Justice Ouimet. His second marriage was to Mary Lareau, of St. John’s, eldest daughter of L. Lareau, manufacturer, proprietor of the St. John’s foundry, and for a long time a councillor of said town.

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