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Chapter M: C. Baillairgé, Quebec (59)

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=Stephen, Alexander=, Halifax, N.S., was born at Musquodoboit, Halifax Co., March 9, 1845, and was the eldest son of Alexander Stephen of Rothess, Aberdeenshire, Scotland, who came to Nova Scotia in 1834, and engaged in business, founding the house of A. Stephen & Son, carried on by his son to-day. His mother was Mary Ann Gould, a daughter of one of the settlers of the Musquodoboit valley. The subject of this sketch was educated at the Free Church Academy and Horton College. He early in life became associated with his father in the firm of A. Stephen & Son, furniture and wooden ware manufacturers, and on the decease of his father (a few years ago), continued the business, which has increased and developed under his management. Prior to the confederation of the provinces he held a captain’s commission in the 9th Halifax militia, and since 1867 holds the commission of a captain in the militia reserve. He was elected an alderman for the city of Halifax in 1882, and was again re-elected in 1885. During that period he has filled many responsible positions such as chairman of the Board of Works of the city; chairman of the Public Gardens Commission; and joint delegate with Mayor J. C. Mackintosh and Hon. Dr. Farrell in the St. John-Halifax delegation to Ottawa, on the Dry Dock and Short Line Railway matters, in 1885. He was one of the executive committee of the Dominion Exhibition of 1881, and was one of the most zealous movers in that successful exposition. He is an active promoter of the Victoria School of Art and Design, established in Halifax, 1887, in honor of her Majesty’s jubilee. Mr. Stephen is a Royal Arch Mason and P.M. of Virgin lodge, No. 3, R.N.S., with which he has been connected for twenty years. He is a Liberal in politics and an uncompromising free trader, though engaged in, and very successfully carrying on one of the best protected trades, viz.: furniture, wooden ware and house furnishings. Has in his employ a large number of men at his factory and warerooms in Halifax. The factory is situate number 162 to 166 Grafton street, and extends through to Albermarle street. The ware rooms are on the corner of Barrington and Prince streets, adjoining the Y. M. C. A. building, and are very extensive. He has lately added the house furnishings branch, carpets, oil cloths, and draperies, to his extensive business which is still carried on under the old style, A. Stephen & Son. He is a Presbyterian. He married August 19, 1873, Sadie Cogswell, daughter of late Rev. John Cogswell, of Halifax, and has a family.

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=Hill, Hon. George Frederick=, St. Stephen, N.B., is a son of the late Hon. George S. Hill, a barrister of extensive connections, who sat for twenty-eight years in the House of Assembly and the Legislative Council of New Brunswick. Hon. Mr. Hill was born at St. Stephen in February, 1832. He received part of his education in that town and also pursued his studies for some time in the neighbouring republic. Having completed his general course of studies, he began to equip himself for the toils of the legal profession, and was admitted an attorney of New Brunswick in 1854. Thinking that there was more money in mercantile pursuits than in the walk of Blackstone, he gave over his original intention of following the varying chances of success at the bar, and engaged in trade. Mr. Hill has never since returned to legal studies, but his early training has been of great service to him as an active man of affairs and politician. There have been great opportunities in general business in the province during the last thirty years, a spirit of enterprise having been as generally diffused in New Brunswick as in any part of British America. Of late, bank failures consequent upon the decline of shipping and the lumber industry, have somewhat retarded the more ambitious movements of speculation, but still the enterprise is there, and will in the long run do its work. Mr. Hill was official assignee for Charlotte county, under the old bankruptcy law, from 1869 until the law was repealed in 1878. He early manifested a great love of politics and, being possessed of extensive business connections, was nominated as a candidate for Charlotte county in 1865 in the Provincial Assembly. Those were the days of intense political excitement over the mooted scheme of confederation of the provinces. Many able politicians succumbed to the varying successes of the two parties over this question. In 1866 Mr. Hill was among the defeated, when the confederation movement was successful. He still continued to take an active interest in politics, however, and at the general election of 1878 was re-elected and held his seat in the house until 25th May, 1882, when he was appointed to his seat in the Legislative Council which he still holds. He is an ardent Liberal, believing that the cause of the people is best advanced by the principles of his party. New Brunswick has been in the main a Liberal province ever since the period, forty years ago, when the family compact was broken up by men like the late Governor Lemuel A. Wilmot, and Liberal doctrines triumphed. There is a larger proportion of Liberal members from New Brunswick at present sitting in the House of Commons at Ottawa than from any of the other maritime provinces excepting Prince Edward Island. Hon. Mr. Hill always held a high position in the counsels of his party, and was appointed president or speaker of the council, 3rd March, 1887. The position of speaker of a legislative body is one which requires for its successful occupation a very great measure of knowledge of parliamentary law, tact and resolution, and he has been eminently successful in presiding over the debates in the council, and administering the rules. He resides at St. Stephen, which is one of the most flourishing towns in New Brunswick. An extensive trade is carried on there with the United States, and it is the centre of the lumber trade. Much money is also made in the fisheries. It has two newspapers and two banks. Its population is about 4000.

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=Thomas, Newell Wood=, Coaticook, Quebec province, was born at Barnston, on the 25th June, 1842. His father was a native of Barnston and carried on farming. He was also a mail contractor, being the first person who carried her Majesty’s mails out of the town of Coaticook. He was for many years a councillor, and afterwards warden of the county of Stanstead. His mother, Orissa A. Norton, was also born in Barnston. Newell W. Thomas, the subject of our sketch, received his educational training in the common school of his native place. On leaving school he went into the establishment of the late John Thornton, as a clerk, and here he gradually rose, step by step, until he finally became a partner in the business. Some years afterwards, on the retirement of Mr. Thornton, he assumed the whole business and carried it successfully on alone for a period of twenty-four years, when he retired from active mercantile life. Mr. Thomas is one of the original founders of the Cascade Narrow Fabric Manufacturing Company, and is now vice-president of the company. This undertaking was begun in 1886, and has proved very satisfactory to its shareholders. In politics he is a Liberal-Conservative, and in religion belongs to the Methodist church. On the 20th of October, 1868, he was married to Katie Barry, and the fruit of the union has been three sons (one of whom is now a banker), and one daughter.

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=Bethune, Robert Henry=, Manager of the Dominion Bank, Toronto, was born at Cobourg, Ontario, on the 5th of May, 1836. His father was the beloved and highly respected Bishop A. N. Bethune, D.D. (the successor of Bishop Strachan in the Toronto Episcopate), who died in 1879. The subject of our sketch was educated at Upper Canada College and at other schools of the province. Early in life he took to banking as a vocation, and for the long period of now thirty-five years he has been closely and honorably connected with banking institutions, and has become one of the most respected and trustworthy, as well as perhaps the best known and most successful, Bank managers of Toronto. For several years he has been the cashier of the Dominion Bank, and, during this period, thanks to his prudent and able management, no institution in the country has had a more satisfactory record, or to-day stands higher in the confidence of the commercial and financial community of Canada. Mr. Bethune’s life, though it has been uneventful, has not been without incident or devoid of importance. Nor has it been lacking in the kind or quality of service which, in the course of a long career of responsibility and duty, a trusty and competent Bank officer renders to the corporate body whom he represents and to the public at large. In the course of this career, Mr. Bethune has seen banks rise and fall, looked on the barometer of finance in sunshine and storm, been confronted with all sorts of commercial vicissitudes, and, like other old Bank managers, been at times threatened with mercantile and financial panic. Yet has he held bravely on his course, with a firm hand on the interests with which he has been charged, and has faithfully and successfully done his duty. Mr. Bethune, for the first twelve years of his business life, was connected with the Bank of Montreal, and served that institution in various towns and cities of the province, from junior clerk in 1853 to manager in 1865. In 1853, for instance, we find him acting as junior clerk in Brockville; in 1854 as teller in Cobourg; in 1859 as assistant accountant in Toronto; in 1861 as accountant at New York; in 1862 as accountant at Hamilton; and finally, in 1864, as manager at St. Catharines. At the close of 1865 he severed his connection with the Bank of Montreal, on being appointed inspector of the Quebec Bank, and in the following year was made manager of the Toronto branch of that institution. Here he remained until 1871, when he received the appointment which he now holds, that of Cashier and Manager of the Dominion Bank. Personally, Mr. Bethune is not only highly respected, but is much beloved; and he enjoys the esteem and confidence of the whole community. He is conservative in his ways, and is what is known as an eminently safe banker, as may be predicted from the stability and success of the institution which he has long guided and controlled. In politics he is a Liberal-Conservative; in religion, a member of the Church of England. In 1862 he married Jane Frances Ewart, eldest daughter of the late J. B. Ewart, of Dundas, by whom he has six children.

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=McLeod, Hon. John David=, M.L.C., Pictou, Nova Scotia, is a native of Pictou county, N.S., being descended from an ancient Highland family. He is about forty-seven years of age. He received his early education in Pictou, and having finished his academic course he entered upon the study of the law. Having completed his four years’ apprenticeship he was admitted to the bar of Nova Scotia on 5th December, 1866. He carried on the practice of his profession with great success in Pictou for upwards of twenty years. Being a man of great social popularity, he has been several times before the people as a candidate for legislative honors, being considered the strongest man the Liberals could put in the field. In the local general election of 1886 he polled 2,514 votes, but failed being elected, Pictou being one of the strongest Conservative constituencies in the province. In the general election for the House of Commons, February, 1887, he again entered the field but was unsuccessful. In local affairs he has met with more success, and has been three times mayor of Pictou. He is a fluent and ready speaker, and is possessed of a fine presence. The local government recognized his services to the party by appointing him, 10th March, 1887, a member of the Legislative Council, and on 15th March he was made a member of the executive, in which, until his retirement, he sat without portfolio, but holding the position of Liberal leader in the council. In the following summer failing health led him to seek a residence in a warmer climate, and with his family he removed from the province and settled in Southern California. Previous to his leaving Pictou his friends honored him with a public banquet, and presented him with a complimentary address.

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=Wilmot, Hon. Robert Duncan=, Fredericton, New Brunswick. Hon. Mr. Wilmot, late Lieutenant-Governor of the province of New Brunswick, was born at Fredericton, N.B., on the 16th October, 1809. His grandfather was the late Major Lemuel Wilmot. His father, the late John M. Wilmot, represented St. John county for many years in the New Brunswick legislature; and his mother, Susan Harriet, was a daughter of the late Samuel Wiggins, a prominent merchant of St. John. When about five years of age the future lieutenant-governor removed with his parents to St. John, where he received his education. On reaching manhood he entered into business with his father, who at that time was a prominent merchant and shipowner. In 1833 he was married to Miss Mowatt, of St. John, and shortly after this event removed to Liverpool, England, where he resided for five years. On his return he began to take an interest in municipal affairs, and for some time he sat as alderman in the city council, and afterwards became mayor of the city. In 1846 he entered the arena of politics, and on presenting himself for parliamentary honors was elected to represent the county of St. John in the New Brunswick legislature, and this constituency he continued to represent, with the exception of one term, until the confederation of the provinces. He was appointed surveyor-general of New Brunswick in 1851, and held the office until 1854. In 1856-7 he was provincial secretary, and became premier of the government formed in 1865. He was also a member of the government of 1866-7. This year he was a delegate to the conference held in London, England, to discuss matters relating to confederation. On the 1st of July, 1867, he was called by royal proclamation to a seat in the Senate of the Dominion of Canada. Upon the formation of Sir John A. Macdonald’s government, in 1878, he was sworn in a member of the Privy Council without portfolio, and shortly afterwards was appointed speaker of the Senate, as successor to the Hon. David Christie. This office he held until the time of the death of Lieutenant-Governor C. B. Chandler, when he resigned the speakership, and on the 11th February, 1880, was appointed lieutenant-governor of his native province. In this position he faithfully served his country until the 11th November, 1885, when he was succeeded by Sir Leonard Tilley. In 1851 the Hon. Mr. Wilmot left the city of St. John to reside in Sunbury county, on a farm known as “Belmont,” owned by his grandfather and father, and on the expiration of his term of office at Fredericton, he again selected Belmont as his home, and here he now resides. In politics, he is a Conservative, and for many years was a leader of this party in New Brunswick. In religion, he is a member of the Church of England. Few men are more respected than the Hon. Mr. Wilmot, and all hope he may be long spared to enjoy the honors he has earned, and of which he is most deserving.

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=Rogers, Lieutenant-Col. Robert Zacheus=, Grafton, Ontario, is a younger brother of Henry C. Rogers, who is referred to at length on page 147. He was born at Grafton, Northumberland county, Ontario, 29th March, 1842. His education was completed at Upper Canada College in 1859, and soon afterwards he was entrusted with the management of the farm and business of his father, whom he succeeded. He was among the first to take advantage of the military training offered by the School of Instruction established by the government at Toronto in 1864, and subsequently took an active part in the volunteer movement of 1866, serving as a lieutenant during the Fenian raids of that year. After nineteen years’ service as a captain in the 40th Northumberland battalion V.M., he assumed the command of the same in compliance with the request of his brother officers, some of whom were senior to him. In politics, he has always taken an active part on behalf of the Conservative party, and for eight years was the chosen leader of the county organization in support of the government of Sir John A. Macdonald. In the spring of 1880 he organized an expedition to colonize and develop the valley of the Souris river, in the Canadian Northwest, which had been partly surveyed the previous season and most favorably reported on. The point selected as the business centre was called Millford, near the mouth of the Souris—at which place he started a saw mill in June of that year, and erected the first frame building west of the old province line, range 13 west of Winnipeg, and south of the present main line of the C. P. Railway. The following year he added the pioneer flour mill of the district to his establishment, and for five years carried on an extensive business, and in many ways took an important part in promoting the advancement of that very promising agricultural district. This enterprise, however, did not prove a financial success, and Mr. Rogers was forced reluctantly to abandon the idea of making that his future home. In September, 1867, he married Isabella, eldest daughter of the late Sheriff Waddell, of Chatham, Ontario, and granddaughter of the late Captain William Waddell, of the 1st Royal Dragoons, a veteran of Waterloo fame.

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=Bourgeois, George A.=, M.D., C.M., Three Rivers, was born at St. Grégoire, county of Nicolet, P.Q., on the 1st of October, 1822. His father was Jacques Bourgeois, a farmer, and his mother Magdeleine Bourke. He took a classical course at the Seminary of Nicolet. He adopted the medical profession, received his license to practise on the 1st of March, 1844, and began his professional career in his native parish, where he practised from that year till 1867, inclusively. He then entered the civil service and was deputy commissioner of crown lands for the province of Quebec from the 2nd of November, 1867, to the 2nd of October, 1869, during which period he resided in the city of Quebec. He was director of the cadastral operations in the district of Three Rivers, from the 1st of August, 1870, to the 1st of September, 1878. He was inspector of the post offices of the Dominion of Canada in the postal division of Three Rivers, from the 26th of July, 1879; and also in the Quebec postal division from the 12th of February, 1886, to the 12th of July, 1887. He has been a resident of Three Rivers since May, 1872. Dr. Bourgeois travelled in Europe during the years 1869 and 1870, and visited England, Ireland, Belgium, Germany, France and Italy. On the 27th of April, 1886, he was created Knight Commander of the religious and military order of the Holy Sepulchre, and also an honorary member of the order of the Chevaliers Sauveteurs des Alpes Maritimes, on the 11th of July of the same year. In May, 1885, he received from the Victoria University the degrees of M.D. and C.M. He was married on the 24th of September, 1844, to Mary Esther Lucinda Whitney, who died on the 14th of September, 1868. He was again married to Mary Malvina Ernestine Rivard Dufresne, on the 22nd of October, 1870. In religion Dr. Bourgeois is a Roman Catholic.

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=Brooks, Hon. Edward T.=, Sherbrooke, Judge of the Superior Court of Quebec, was born at Lennoxville, county of Sherbrooke, on the 6th of July, 1830. His father, Samuel Brooks, was a native of Massachusetts, and a member of the Brooks family with which the Adamses of that state are connected. He was a member of the Canadian assembly for Sherbrooke for many years, the last term being from 1844 until his death in 1849. His mother was Elizabeth Towle. The subject of this sketch was educated at Dartmouth College, from which he graduated in 1850; studied law with Judge J. S. Sanborn, of Sherbrooke, and Andrew Robertson, Q.C., of Montreal; was admitted to the bar of Lower Canada in 1854, created a Queen’s counsel in 1875, and elected _bâtonnier_ of St. Francis bar the same year. He has always had an honorable stand at the bar of his district, and has done a highly remunerative and straightforward business. In ability he stands in the front rank in his part of the province. He was vice-president of the International and Waterloo, and Magog Railways; president of the Sherbrooke Rifle Association; the Fish and Game Protection Society, and the Plowmen’s Association; solicitor for the Eastern Townships Bank, the head-quarters of which are at Sherbrooke, and trustee of Bishop’s College, Lennoxville. He is a man with a great deal of public spirit and very highly prized as a citizen. He was first elected to parliament for his present seat by acclamation in 1872, and was re-elected in the same manner in 1874, and again at the general election in September, 1878. He was the author of the amendment to the law of libel, passed in 1874, and seconded Sir John A. Macdonald’s motion condemning the act of Lieutenant-Governor Letellier, of the province of Quebec. He was a Conservative, and a steadfast and earnest supporter of the policy of that party, believing the best interests of the country are promoted by protecting home industries and encouraging internal improvements. These were his views, as many of his friends know, long before they were embodied in the so-called “national policy,” and were made a distinct party issue. Mr. Brooks was elevated to the bench of St. Francis district on the 1st October, 1882. He was married in 1856, to Sarah Louise, daughter of Eleazer Clarke, revenue inspector and high constable, Sherbrooke, and they have three children.

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=Cooke, Richard S.=, Advocate, Three Rivers, was born at Three Rivers, province of Quebec, on the 23rd of January, 1850. He is the son of the late John Richard Cooke, a saddler by trade, and Marie Emilie Cloutier, and nephew of the late Right Rev. Thomas Cooke, first bishop of the diocese of Three Rivers. Mr. Cooke received his early education at the Christian Brothers’ School, and went through a regular course of classical studies at the St. Joseph College, taking first prizes every year at both institutions, and distinguishing himself among his schoolmates by his talented application. He was admitted to the bar in July, 1874, and has practised his profession without interruption since then, making a specialty of commercial law business. From 1874 to 1879 he practised with the Hon. H. G. Malhiot (then a member of the Quebec government, and now mayor of Three Rivers), under the name and title of Malhiot & Cooke. Mr. Cooke was an alderman of the council of Three Rivers from 1880 to 1885, and was chosen as pro-mayor and president of the finance committee. He has been connected with nearly every amateur association of his native city, and founded the Three Rivers Fish and Game Club, duly incorporated and holding fishing rights on Lake Archange and others in the province of Quebec. He has taken a prominent and very active part in all political and municipal matters, and has always been an independent supporter of the Conservative party, and an earnest advocate of progress in municipal affairs. Mr. Cooke is an eloquent and impressive speaker, and as such is highly appreciated and generally considered to be an undoubted authority on financial matters. He has visited nearly every important place in Canada, the United States and Europe. He belongs to the Roman Catholic church, of which he is a strict member, but thoroughly liberal in his views, and in no way given to bigotry. Mr. Cooke married on the 23rd August, 1877, Louisa Lajoie, only daughter of the late J. B. Lajoie, first mayor of Three Rivers, but unfortunately lost both his wife and newly-born child the following year. His efforts and energy greatly assisted in the building of the Lower Laurentian Railway, extending from the Piles branch of the Canadian Pacific Railway towards Lake St. John, on part of which trains are running through the parishes of St. Tite and St. Thècle. Still in the prime of life, and possessing an unusual amount of energy and talent, Mr. Cooke will no doubt occupy a prominent position in the affairs of his country.

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=MacGillivray, Hon. Angus=, of Antigonish, N.S., was born at Bailey’s Brook, Pictou county, N.S., on the 22nd January, 1842. He is of Scottish extraction, his grandfather, Angus MacGillivray, having emigrated from Arisaig, in Inverness-shire, Scotland. His father and mother were named John and Catharine MacGillivray. When a mere lad, Angus removed, in 1845, with his parents to Antigonish, where he has since resided. He received his education at St. François-Xavier College, Antigonish—where his studies embraced the languages, mathematics, and philosophy—and from this institution he graduated with the degree of M.A. The counties of Antigonish and the eastern portion of the county of Pictou are largely peopled with Scotch Catholics, and a man of Mr. MacGillivray’s abilities would naturally possess a great influence among his coreligionists. The inhabitants of Pictou county are said to be more Scotch than the Scotch, no less an authority than the late Rev. Norman McLeod, the eminent Scottish divine, having pronounced them to be as tenacious of Scotch prejudice and national custom and turn of thought and speech as any section of the people in old Scotland. Gaelic is commonly spoken by all classes; original Gaelic poems are often to be seen in the weekly newspapers of Pictou and Antigonish; and Highland gatherings, those nuclei of national sentiment and national manly contests, are celebrated every year in either of the eastern counties or in Prince Edward Island. “Tigh-Dhe” (House of God) is the inscription cut in the granite over the portal of the great cathedral in Antigonish, which edifice is considered to be the largest and handsomest religious structure in Nova Scotia. After graduating, Mr. MacGillivray entered upon the study of the law in the office of H. (now judge) Macdonald, and finished in the office of Blanchard & Magher, Halifax, was called to the bar on the 22nd of July, 1874, and immediately afterwards formed a partnership with A. McIsaac (now judge of the County Court). A dissolution taking place on the elevation of Mr. McIsaac to the bench, Mr. MacGillivray formed another partnership, and is now head of the law firm of MacGillivray & Chisholm, barristers, etc. Being a most popular man in his professional and social relations, he was returned to the House of Assembly by acclamation at the general election in 1878, and was re-elected in 1882. In February, 1883, he was elected speaker of the house, and discharged the duties of that responsible office with great discrimination and acceptance until the dissolution in May, 1886. Being again nominated by his constituents, he contested the county at the general election on the 15th June, 1886, and was returned at the head of the poll, the vote standing—Angus MacGillivray, 1,378 votes; C. F. McIsaac, 1,273, defeating C. B. Whidden, 900; and R. McDonald, 487. He was appointed a member of the Executive Council in the Hon. Mr. Fielding’s cabinet, on the 28th June, 1886. Yielding to the urgent solicitations of his party, he resigned his seat in the Nova Scotia legislature in January, 1887, in order to run for the House of Commons at Ottawa at the general election, his opponent being the Hon. John S. D. Thompson, minister of justice. Even against so strong a man, the Hon. Mr. MacGillivray polled 1,207 votes, being defeated by only 40 votes. However, being again nominated for a seat in the local house, there was no one bold enough to take the field against him, and he was returned by acclamation on the 1st March, 1887. On the 7th March following he was reappointed a member of the government. Hon. Mr. MacGillivray was one of the commissioners appointed by the government in 1878 to investigate the claims of laborers and others against absconding and insolvent contractors on the Eastern Extension Railway; and in October, 1887, he was one of the delegates to the Inter-Provincial Conference held at Quebec. He is connected with improvements relating to agriculture, and takes part in the better encouragement of that industry. In religion he is a Roman Catholic, and in politics a Liberal. He married, on the 5th February, 1878, Maggie, daughter of the late Alexander McIntosh, of Antigonish. This lady died on the 8th September, 1879. On July 15th, 1884, he married May E., daughter of John Doherty, of New York.

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=Castle, Rev. John Harvard=, D.D., Principal of McMaster Hall, Toronto, was born in Milestown, Philadelphia, Pennsylvania, 1830. He received his early education at the Central High School of Philadelphia. In the year 1847 he entered the University of Lewisburg, Pa., where he graduated with honors in 1851, and from that institution of learning he received the degree of Doctor of Divinity in 1866. He completed his ministerial studies at Rochester Theological Seminary, N.Y., in 1853, and was licensed to preach by the Broad Street Church, Philadelphia, the same year. He was ordained at Pottsville, Pa., where he labored for two years and a half, after which he took charge of the Baptist Church at Newburgh, N.Y. In 1859 he returned to his native city and entered upon the pastorate of the First Baptist Church, West Philadelphia, where he remained for fourteen years, universally beloved by the members of his church and community. Here he gave much time and labor to the missionary cause and educational interest, serving on the boards of the publication and education societies, and the general association. He was also a trustee of the University at Lewisburgh, and of Crozer Theological Seminary. He served as moderator of the Philadelphia Baptist Association, and was also elected president of the ministerial conference. In the spring of 1871 he commenced a tour of Europe. In 1872 he was urgently invited to take charge of the Jarvis Street Baptist Church of Toronto, Ontario, which invitation he accepted after mature consideration, and commenced his pastorate on 1st February, 1873. In this field of labor he remained in close and affectionate relations with his congregation for years, although strongly urged to accept the principalship of the Woodstock College. When its Theological department was removed to Toronto on the completion of McMaster Hall, the leading men of his denomination turned to him as eminently fitted to become the principal. This position he accepted, and has filled, as also the chair of systematic theology and pastoral theology, with that success which was expected of him. A secular journal of Toronto, under date of October 5th, 1877, thus speaks of him: “Into the work of the denomination and all Christian movements he has thrown himself with all his heart and has become a leading spirit therein. His congregation has increased rapidly, and erected a handsome church building at the cost of $100,000, of which the Hon. Senator McMaster contributed $35,000 towards it; this building is now one of the recognized sights of the city. He is a strong temperance advocate, and a consistent enemy of frivolity of all descriptions. His oratorical powers are of a high order, his enunciation being singularly distinct, and his manner graceful and effective. Though an earnest upholder of the doctrines of his denomination, he seldom gives utterance to any remarks which members of other communions cannot listen to without impatience. Never slow to do battle when controversies arise, he proves an adept in polemics, but is ever ready to recognize and admire all that is Christ-like beyond his own ecclesiastical boundaries.” Mr. Castle was joined in wedlock on the 15th of September, 1853, to Mary Antoinette Arnold, of Rochester, N.Y., by whom he has five children, two daughters and three sons.

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=Ball, George=, Lumber Manufacturer, Nicolet, Quebec province, was born at Champlain, Quebec, 11th September, 1838. His parents were Reuben Ball and Flavia Fontaine. Mr. Ball is one of our many self-educated men, as in his early days schools were not as numerous as they are now, and he had to satisfy himself with a few months at a grammar school. In early life he decided to enter into mercantile business, in which he soon evinced marked ability, and his future success fully proved the wisdom of his choice. He is now one of the largest lumber manufacturers in the province of Quebec, his mills at Nicolet having a capacity of over 10,000,000 feet of lumber per annum. He has taken an active part in the municipal affairs of his town, and in 1885 was elected mayor, being re-elected to the same office in 1887, and is held in the highest esteem by his fellow-townsmen and all who know him. In politics Mr. Ball is a Conservative. He was married in 1864 to Eliza Thurbar.

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=Boulton, D’Arcy Edward=, Cobourg, Ontario, Lieutenant-Colonel of The Prince of Wales’ Canadian Dragoons, headquarters at Cobourg, was born at York, Upper Canada, on the 2nd of February, 1814. He is the present surviving son of the late D’Arcy Boulton and Sarah Robinson, of The Grange, Toronto, nephew of Sir John Beverley Robinson, and grandson of the late D’Arcy Boulton, one of the judges of the Queen’s Bench of then Upper Canada, at that time a Crown colony, all of that party known as the Family Compact. Judge Boulton brought his young family to Canada in 1796, and on a voyage to England a few years after, the vessel he was in was captured by a French frigate after an engagement, in which Mr. Boulton received a cutlas wound, and was carried a prisoner of war to France, where he remained on his patrol of honor at Verdun for three years prior to Bonaparte’s march to Moscow. The wound on his arm grew so as to affect the circulation of the blood, so much so that he went to England in 1830, and an operation by Sir Benjamin Brodie removed the part, by cutting out a pound of flesh at the risk of life. He afterwards returned to Toronto cured of this trouble. The subject of this sketch was educated first under the late Bishop Strachan, and in 1829 went to complete his education in England, at Tiverton, Devon, in Blundell’s school. He returned to Canada in 1832, and adopted the profession of the law. He was made a barrister in 1837, and practised in the profession from that date at Cobourg, his place of residence. In 1836 he was elected a member of the board of police, and sat for years in it, and afterwards as a member of the town council; he was also a member of the county council. He was mayor of Cobourg in the year 1853 and three following years, and devoted himself to the promotion of harbor extension and the construction of gravel and plank roads leading from Cobourg into the country, east, west, and north to Rice Lake, and in 1855 carried through the legislature a charter to build the railway to Peterboro’, as a feeder to the Grand Trunk Railway. He was afterwards largely interested as shareholder and director in the Midland Railway, and for a period was president of the company. He was a commissioner of the Cobourg Town Trust, and in 1883 was appointed by the Dominion government one of a Royal commission with George M. Clarke, judge, and Frederick Broughton, manager of the Great Western Railway, to investigate numerous old standing claims by contractors against the Dominion government, amounting to several millions of dollars. This inquiry was very thorough, extending over a period of about two years, till every claim was disposed of. In 1854 he was engaged by Col. Sloo, possessor of a Mexican grant or charter, confirmed by treaty between Mexico and the United States of America, to procure English contractors to build a railway from Vera Cruz on the Gulf of Mexico to the Pacific ocean, known as the Tehuantepec Railway, and to assist at Washington in getting a confirmation of the treaty by Congress. The result of his work was a contract with Messrs. Sykes, of England, to advance $600,000 to Mexico, the price of the charter, and to build the railway, for which service he was handsomely rewarded by the railway company, of which Colonel Sloo was president. The contract afterwards fell through, by the loss of the senior Sykes, with engineers and full staff, who were lost in the steamer _Arctic_, which went down at sea with all hands. In 1854 Mr. Boulton was named by a Conservative convention to contest the West Riding of Northumberland, but was defeated by the corrupt expenditure of very large sums of money. He was a consistent Conservative, and president for several years of the Liberal-Conservative Association from its first organisation. At the beginning of the rebellion in 1837 he joined the order of Loyal Orangemen, and in 1846 entered the Masonic order and the order of Oddfellows, Manchester Unity, about the same period; and is now one of the oldest members of the Masonic and Orange fraternities, is one of the senior members of the bar, and is senior officer of the active militia service on duty. In 1837 he raised a company of infantry and volunteers, and as captain, was enlisted with his men—into the incorporated regiment of the Queen’s Own, under Colonel Kingsmill, and served in Toronto and on the Niagara frontier till the troubles were over. When the active militia was reorganised in 1855, Captain Boulton raised a volunteer cavalry troop, known as The Prince of Wales’ Canadian Dragoons, wearing the scarlet uniform of the English regiment. This troop was increased to a squadron in 1857, when the captain was promoted to lieutenant-colonel in November of that year, and in 1875 the corps was increased to a regiment, with head-quarters at Cobourg, and has always been efficient for duty. From his birth a member of the Church of England, he has served at different periods as churchwarden and delegate to the Synod. In 1826 he rode on horseback with his brother William from Toronto to Peterboro’ to visit the located site of the town, it being founded by his uncle, the Hon. Peter Robinson, commissioner of crown lands, who brought the first Irish emigrants as colonists to Upper Canada. At that time the townships north of Port Hope were receiving their first settlers, and a dozen or so log huts were erected on the banks of the Otanabee river to receive the immigrants prior to going upon their lands. Colonel Boulton in 1838 married Emily Heath, daughter of Lieutenant-Colonel Charles Heath, of the East Indian Company’s service, who died in India when his three children were in childhood. His widow spent many years on the continent, in Italy and Paris, where she educated her children, and in 1836 brought them to Toronto, Canada. The mother died in 1874 at Cobourg. Her son, Charles Wallace Heath, of Toronto, and her two daughters, are still living. Colonel Boulton’s family consists of three sons and four daughters living. The eldest son, Major Boulton, entered the army, receiving a commission in the first organization of the Royal Canadian regiment. He was stationed at Gibraltar and Malta for some years, and returned with his regiment to Canada. He sold out, and joined the active militia; and in 1885, when settled in Manitoba, he raised and commanded the corps known as Boulton’s Scouts, and did good service quelling the Indian rebellion. After entering into the organization and business of railways, Colonel Boulton in 1865 ceased the practice of his profession, and devoted his latter life to agriculture. He organised the first Farmers’ Institute in his riding, over which he was elected to preside. He has been for years a member of the local Agricultural Association, and was one of the originators of that association in 1835 or thereabouts. He was a zealous supporter of the turf and the hunt, and is now a breeder of thoroughbred stock of horses, short-horns, and Shropshire Down sheep, and still pursues an active, busy life. Two sons and four daughters are married, and have families growing up.

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=Baptist, George=, Three Rivers, Quebec. The late Mr. Baptist was born in the town of Coldstream, Berwickshire, Scotland, 7th January, 1808, and came to Canada, after arriving at the years of manhood. Being possessed of great natural talent and a practical machinist as well as a millwright, he was entrusted with the management of the Etchemin saw mills, owned by Sir John Caldwell, then the largest lumber merchant at the time in Canada. After spending some years as manager of those mills, he leased the Point Levi mills from the government, and here he continued till his final removal to the town of Three Rivers, in 1846. On his arrival there he bought the Cache mill situated on the river St. Maurice. Feeling that the amount of business being done at the mill was not nearly as large as the demand required, he went on a prospecting tour, and finding an eligible location for a more extensive business, built what was known as the grey mills, with a capacity of 12,000,000 feet of lumber. Finding that this mill was not large enough for his still growing trade, he built another mill adjoining the first, which enabled him to cut double the quantity produced by the first mill; this mill was however destroyed by a freshet in 1873. He then built a steam saw mill on Baptist Island, with a capacity of 15,000,000 feet of lumber annually. In consequence of the large volume of business transacted in connection with the mills established by Mr. Baptist necessitating the employment of a large staff of men and material, the present location which is still in possession of his sons—a place which was once a barren wilderness—has been transformed by his enterprise and industry into a well populated district of villages and fine cultivated farms. From the time of Mr. Baptist’s first settlement on the St. Maurice his business progressed with remarkable rapidity, and is still another proof of what can be accomplished by perseverance, joined with industry and shrewdness, aided by a thorough practical knowledge of the mechanical part of his business acquired in his native land. He founded a lumber business in the province of Quebec, which still rivals that of any in Canada, and to-day his son, Alexander, is one of the largest dealers and exporters on the continent. Mr. Baptist was married at Point Levi, in the year 1834, to Isabella Cockburn, who was born in the same town as himself. Mrs. Baptist was of great assistance to her husband in his efforts to achieve the success which he so successfully won. In politics he was a Liberal-Conservative. He always took an active part in local contests, and at one time contested the Senatorial division of Shawinigan in opposition to the Hon. Dr. Malhiot. Mr. Baptist was a member of the Presbyterian church. He died on the 11th May, 1875, well beloved by his fellow townsmen for his genial, reliable, and strictly upright character. His family consists of two sons and five daughters. The property left by Mr. Baptist to his heirs amounted to half a million dollars.

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=Klein, Alphonse Basil=, Barrister, Walkerton, Ontario province, was born on the 11th of September, 1851, at the town of Berlin, county Waterloo, Ontario. His father was John Klein, a well-known newspaper writer, and his mother was Ludovika Lang, and were both natives of Baden, Germany, who settled in Canada many years ago. Mr. Klein was educated by his father and in the Berlin Grammar School, and speaks and writes the German language. He commenced to study law in 1868, was admitted to practise as attorney and solicitor in May, 1874, and called to the bar in 1879. He began practice in 1874 in Walkerton, in partnership with W. Barrett, now junior judge of Bruce. The same year he joined the 32nd battalion, Bruce Volunteer Militia, and received the commission of paymaster in the same battalion in June, 1881. During the North-West rebellion, in 1885, his battalion was called out, but after laying at Southampton for a week, it was ordered to return home. Mr. Klein was public school trustee for Walkerton from 1876 to 1883, and was chairman of the board in 1882. He was elected mayor of Walkerton for 1883, and re-elected by acclamation to the same office in 1884. He has been president of the Walkerton Horticultural Society for the last four years. Is a member of Branch 46, C.M.B.A., located at Walkerton. Was president of the South Bruce Liberal-Conservative Association in 1884, 1885, 1886; and secretary-treasurer from 1874 until 1884, of the same association. He received the unanimous nomination of the Liberal-Conservative party to contest South Bruce in the local elections in 1886 against Mr. O’Connor, the Liberal candidate, but failed to secure his election. In politics Mr. Klein is a Liberal-Conservative, and in religion a Roman Catholic. He was married on the 9th September, 1879, to Sophia A. Klein, daughter of the late Richard Morden, one of the first settlers in Brant township, near Walkerton. Her father’s family were U. E. loyalists, and are of Welsh descent, and in former times were Quakers. Her mother was born in England. The fruit of this marriage has been one daughter.

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=Honey, John Sleep=, Montreal, Joint Prothonotary of the Superior Court of Quebec, and Joint Clerk of the Circuit Court of the same province, was born in the borough of Callington, county of Cornwall East, within three miles of the river Tamar, on the borders of Devonshire, England. His father was a master builder, and for many years was extensively engaged as such. He was a man distinguished for his industrious habits and high probity of character. At the age of thirteen John S. Honey entered the office of a distinguished lawyer in his native borough as clerk, and continued in this employment for four years. In the month of July, 1832, the family sailed from Plymouth for Canada, and fortunately arrived in Montreal in the month of September, just as the cholera, which had been so fatal that year, had begun to abate. Mr. Honey was favored when leaving the office of his patron in Callington, and through his influence, with a kind letter of introduction from Sir William Pratts Call, baronet, to Lord Aylmer, then governor of Lower Canada. In December following his arrival, Mr. Honey had the good fortune to find employment in the office of Monk & Morrough, the joint prothonotaries of the then Court of King’s Bench. He was first employed as enquette clerk, and at the end of the engagement, which lasted only about a week, he became clerk in the inferior term of the Court of King’s Bench, whence, after two weeks’ service in this office, he was promoted to the permanent staff of the Court of King’s Bench. In six months after his promotion he was articled for five years as a law student in the office of the prothonotaries, who were both lawyers, and at the end of his term was duly admitted to the bar, but as his services in the department were considered valuable by the prothonotaries, and his salary having been handsomely augmented, he declined to enter upon the practice of his profession. In the course of four years Mr. Honey’s administrative capacity effected many important changes in the office, which continue in operation to the present period. The most valuable of these improvements was the introduction of the Court Book, known as the “Repertoire,” in which he embodied particulars of the cases which had been instituted since 1827. This laborious work was performed after office hours, and extended over a period of twelve months. It was presented to the prothonotaries on the 1st of January, 1837, and was so highly appreciated by the authorities of the court, the bar and even the mercantile community, that a handsome gift in money was handed by the prothonotaries to Mr. Honey. In 1850 the fees of the court in Lower Canada were ordered by law to be funded. About the same period, under another enactment, further decentralization of the administration of justice took place, which, by establishing several courts in new localities, so reduced the fees in all the old districts that the government was obliged to pay from the general revenue a large amount annually to meet deficiencies. In order to remedy this defect in the working of these several courts, Mr. Honey submitted to the government in the year 1860 a re-adjustment of the Montreal tariff of fees for the Superior Court, which was adopted in 1861, and extended uniformly to all the districts. As a result of this change, instead of a deficiency in the district of Montreal of $5,932 in the year 1857, there was an annual surplus, the amount of the year 1874 not being less than $6,825. In the year 1862 Mr. Honey rendered important services to the legal profession by the publication of a “Table of Fees and Disbursements Payable to Attorneys and Officers of the Courts in Suits at Law”; also “Rules of Practice of the Court of Queen’s Bench, and Tariffs of Fees for Registrars, Advocates, and Officers of the Courts, including Schedule of Taxes upon Proceedings in Courts of Civil and Criminal Jurisdiction in Lower Canada.” In the year 1834, on the death of Mr. Morrough, he was appointed deputy prothonotary of the Superior and Circuit Courts, and so continued till the year 1865, when, upon the demise of Mr. Monk, he received the appointment of joint prothonotary, and this office he still continues to fill.

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=Dessaint, Major Alexander=, LL.B., Kamouraska, Quebec province, M.P. for Kamouraska, was born at Kamouraska, on the 16th July, 1847. He received the beginning of a first-class collegiate training in the College at St. Anne’s, whence he graduated to the larger and more advanced institution at Three Rivers, proving himself an apt scholar. His parents determined to fit him for the practice of the law, and he entered upon the reading for that profession at Laval University. He completed his college course in Victoria University. He was called to the bar of his native province when but twenty-one years of age, and began practice in Kamouraska. In 1873 he married Marie Blanche Henriette Paradis. His father, having been a prominent merchant of Kamouraska, Mr. Dessaint, from his entrance upon man’s estate was one of the leading citizens of the place, and his natural abilities enabled him to improve the advantages of his position. Having a taste for military affairs, he connected himself with the 88th battalion, of which, he soon became major, which rank he still retains. He has been over and over again elected mayor of Kamouraska, and is a commissioner of the Superior Court for the county. Being a public-spirited citizen, he naturally took an interest in public affairs. He allied himself with the Liberal party, of which he soon became one of the leading spirits for the district. The county had for a long time been a close one, and the contests were proportionately arduous. In 1882, Mr. Blondeau, a Conservative, was elected and sat out his term; but when the general election of 1887 was called, Mr. Dessaint was nominated as the Liberal standard-bearer. Being successful in the contest, he entered parliament with the _éclat_ of one who had “redeemed” a seat from the opposing party. In his brief parliamentary career, Mr. Dessaint has proved himself one of the most scholarly and thoughtful members of the Liberal opposition. He is an able speaker also, as was shown by his contribution to the debate on unrestricted reciprocity with the United States, which took place during the session of 1888.

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A Cyclopaedia of Canadian Biography: Being Chiefly Men of the TimeChapter M: C. Baillairgé, Quebec (59)

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