Mountcastle, Clara H.(“Caris Sima”), Clinton, Ontario, is the third surviving daughter, and seventh child of the late Sydney Harman Mountcastle, and Frances Laura, his wife, and was born in Clinton, Ontario, on the 26th of November, 1837. She is descended on her father’s side from James, eldest son of Lord Claude Hamilton, who was created Baron of Mountcastle and Kilpatrick on the 10th July, 1606; and on her mother’s side from an eminent civil engineer, who died in the year 1811, aged 92, and was buried at Preston, East Lothian, Scotland, where the following lines are inscribed on his tombstone:—“To the memory of Andrew Meikle, who steadily pursued the example of his ancestors, and by inventing and bringing to perfection a machine for separating corn from straw, constructed on the principle of velocity, rendered to the agriculturists of Britain and other nations a more beneficial service than any hitherto recorded in the annals of ancient or modern science.” Her maternal grandfather, James Meikle, held a prominent position in his Majesty’s Ordnance Department, with headquarters in the Tower of London, and was frequently consulted by the Duke of Wellington upon the defences of the country during the Peninsular campaign. And we can well imagine, from the massive intellect displayed in a portrait of this gentleman now in possession of Miss Mountcastle, that the “Iron Duke” had no mean adviser. Mr. Mountcastle, father of the subject of our sketch, was born in London, England, on the 12th of January, 1803, and came to Canada in 1832, bringing with him his wife, who still survives, and two children, who died shortly after his arrival. Having a small capital he purchased land on the Huron Road, county of Huron, Ontario, and erected two dwellings, at different periods, on the same. The latest of these is the childhood’s home of “Caris Sima,” a small picture of which, executed in oil, now hangs on the wall of her studio in Clinton, and represents a low hewn log dwelling, with gables to the road, as described in her poem, “Lost,” and literally embowered in trees and flowers. We clip the following from an obituary notice that appeared in a local paper at the time of her father’s death. Alluding to him, the writer says, “He made a good clearing on his land, and erected a comfortable dwelling, which in later years, as his young family grew up, became a seat of refined and cordial hospitality, the remembrance of which will be long retained by the many friends who were privileged to enjoy it.” Miss Mountcastle received the chief portion of her education at home, under the direct supervision of her parents. When a child she was dreamy and reflective, rarely rousing from a state of abstraction unless to defend anyone whom she thought injured or oppressed, or to comfort her pets when in pain or trouble. Her sympathy with the dumb creatures of the universe was intense. If she discovered a caterpillar on her clothes, she would try to think where it came from, and would walk a long distance to restore it to its “afflicted family.” Oftentimes would she carry tiny toads in her little pinafore, and would take them in her hands to warm them, saying “They were so cold, poor things.” And when a trap was set to catch mice, she would listen for the click, then silently release the little prisoner. In winter her chief pleasure seemed to be found in gazing at the glowing embers in the wide, open fireplace, and she seldom joined in the romps of the other children. She did not care for study in these days. At twelve years of age she knew little more than her letters, and was dubbed “the dunce of the family.” This roused in her a desire to excel, and from that time she acquired the rudiments of knowledge with remarkable rapidity. Long ere this she showed a decided talent for drawing, which was carefully fostered by her father and mother, both of whom possessed considerable artistic taste—her mother being a good amateur artist, and her father an excellent judge of a picture. Yet they were not qualified to bring forth the latent powers of their child, else her name had been known long before 1870, when she exhibited at the Provincial Exhibition at Toronto, carrying off five prizes for paintings in water colors. From this time she made art her profession, being utterly unconscious of a still greater talent yet to be developed, and which her devotion to art as a means of livelihood seems for a time to have entirely obscured. Though her father knew her ability, and tried to induce her to write, yet her natural diffidence prevented her, and it was not until 1879 that, through the urgent entreaties of her sister Ellen, she turned her attention to literature. Miss Mountcastle is, in every sense, what is termed “a late ripe.” Not only was she backward in her studies as a child, but she remained a child for an unprecedentedly long period of time. At the age of twenty she was an unformed girl, and continued growing in stature for some years afterwards. As an artist, we would say that her sketches are masterly, and embrace almost every conceivable subject, but she has not yet attained that high finish which only study under the best masters can give. It is in the field of letters where she excels. The power, the pathos, and passion of her writings bespeak for her a high place in the literature of this and the future ages. Her first work, “The Mission of Love,” published by Hunter, Rose and Co., Toronto, is well described by J. E. Collins, in “The Life and Times of Sir John A. Macdonald,” as “a garden in which there are several unseemly weeds growing side by side with a number of delightful flowers.” These weeds were an error in judgment. Many poets have erred in the same way, and afterwards tried to suppress their early work, but the flowers are imperishable. As in art, so also in literature, Miss Mountcastle’s genius is peculiarly versatile. No poet living or dead ever wrote in such varied style. Hear the music in “The Voice of the Waters.” Mark the light debonair tone in “See that he be virtuously brought up,” and yet how full of feeling and reverence; while the airy grace of her lyrics (valentines), combined with rare delicacy of feeling, is inimitable, and shows the writer entertains higher views of love than are likely ever to be realized in this mundane sphere. And what exquisite delicacy of thought is apparent in “Reflections on a Faded Rose,” “At the Falling of the Leaf,” “Day Dreaming,” “Art Thou Thinking of Me?” etc. While what depth of pathos is felt in the wailing of “Hope Deferred.” But it is in her unpublished work, some of which we have seen, that her genius becomes more apparent. Unsurpassed by modern poet is the verse wherein she reproaches the sea for causing the death of Sappho, the celebrated Greek poetess:
Oh, sea, had’st thou no power to save,Could’st thou not raise that glorious face;Nor let thy suffocating breath,That heaven-born life of song erase;Nor calm that wild heart unto death.
Oh, sea, had’st thou no power to save,Could’st thou not raise that glorious face;Nor let thy suffocating breath,That heaven-born life of song erase;Nor calm that wild heart unto death.
Oh, sea, had’st thou no power to save,Could’st thou not raise that glorious face;Nor let thy suffocating breath,That heaven-born life of song erase;Nor calm that wild heart unto death.
Oh, sea, had’st thou no power to save,Could’st thou not raise that glorious face;Nor let thy suffocating breath,That heaven-born life of song erase;Nor calm that wild heart unto death.
Oh, sea, had’st thou no power to save,
Could’st thou not raise that glorious face;
Nor let thy suffocating breath,
That heaven-born life of song erase;
Nor calm that wild heart unto death.
And grand enough for Milton are the concluding lines:
Oh, cold, cold wave, that pressed her cheek,I hear thy murmuring undertone.For ages wilt thou sob and moan,In vain repentance o’er thy deed:The howling winds shall lash thy breast,And zephyrs mourn around thy shore,And murmur all thy rocks along;And thou, who stilled the voice of song,Thy deep great heart shall know no rest—Shall know no peace for evermore.
Oh, cold, cold wave, that pressed her cheek,I hear thy murmuring undertone.For ages wilt thou sob and moan,In vain repentance o’er thy deed:The howling winds shall lash thy breast,And zephyrs mourn around thy shore,And murmur all thy rocks along;And thou, who stilled the voice of song,Thy deep great heart shall know no rest—Shall know no peace for evermore.
Oh, cold, cold wave, that pressed her cheek,I hear thy murmuring undertone.For ages wilt thou sob and moan,In vain repentance o’er thy deed:The howling winds shall lash thy breast,And zephyrs mourn around thy shore,And murmur all thy rocks along;And thou, who stilled the voice of song,Thy deep great heart shall know no rest—Shall know no peace for evermore.
Oh, cold, cold wave, that pressed her cheek,I hear thy murmuring undertone.For ages wilt thou sob and moan,In vain repentance o’er thy deed:The howling winds shall lash thy breast,And zephyrs mourn around thy shore,And murmur all thy rocks along;And thou, who stilled the voice of song,Thy deep great heart shall know no rest—Shall know no peace for evermore.
Oh, cold, cold wave, that pressed her cheek,
I hear thy murmuring undertone.
For ages wilt thou sob and moan,
In vain repentance o’er thy deed:
The howling winds shall lash thy breast,
And zephyrs mourn around thy shore,
And murmur all thy rocks along;
And thou, who stilled the voice of song,
Thy deep great heart shall know no rest—
Shall know no peace for evermore.
Of Miss Mountcastle’s prose writing, we would say, that her novelette, “A Mystery,” lately published by Hunter, Rose & Co., Toronto, shows, as a first work, great ability. It is written in a pleasing, vivacious style. We take the following extract from a local paper, which does it no more than justice: “The plot is good, the moral inculcated equally so. The characters are well sustained. There is much wit and dry humor in their development, and the sketches of character and scenes show a close observation of nature; and without being in any way sensational, the interest in the story is well sustained to the end.” We would here remark, that the beautiful lines that appear in this volume, under the title of “Only a Little While,” emanate from the pen of the author’s sister, Ellen, who has written several short poems of much merit. Miss Mountcastle has written three essays on questions of the day, showing great power and originality of thought, and is now engaged on a tale of Canadian life, entitled, “Crow’s Hollow,” which we hope soon to see in print. To sum up the whole, we feel assured that, though now comparatively unknown, “Caris Sima” will ere long be recognized as one of the greatest poets of her time, and likewise rank as one of the most brilliant writers of fiction, on account of the vivid life, and intense human feeling, that is evinced in all her writings, whether in prose or verse. “Carissima,” that well-known Italian term of endearment, from which she derives hernom de plume, was an appellation conferred upon her in early girlhood by her father’s friend, the late Henry William Cole, M.D., a physician of great ability, to whom she was much attached, and is well adapted to the sweet, tender, womanly style of her writings, which show that, though in childhood she dwelt in a wilderness, she was reared in the lap of refinement. As a girl, “Caris Sima” was peculiarly simple and unsophisticated, and these traits of character still cling to her, as she, even now, gives little attention to the conventionalities of life. In stature, she is tall and commanding. Her features, which are irregular, are marked, when in repose, by an expression that might be termed sad, severe or stern; but when she speaks or smiles, her whole face illuminates like the sun breaking through a cloud, and she keeps on illuminating with expressions as versatile as her genius. In conclusion, we may say Miss Mountcastle is one of a family of twelve children, seven of whom died in infancy and early childhood. Of her sisters, Ellen, the eldest surviving, is, as we have already mentioned, a clever writer of fugitive verse. Eliza, the second daughter, is an amateur artist, and we may likewise say an amateur physician, as she studied medicine for six years under the late Dr. Cole, and practises among her own family with great success. The youngest, Alice, is married, and has one child, a bright boy, who seems likely to follow in the footsteps of his mother’s race. While her only surviving brother, Edmund Mountcastle, is a practical engineer of rare abilities, and, as we have seen, a descendant of the Andrew Meikle before mentioned, who was the first inventor of the threshing machine now in use.
Williams, Rev. John Æthuruld, D.D., Toronto, a General Superintendent of the Methodist church.—Dr. Williams is one of the most notable figures in the history of Canadian Methodism. For over forty years he has been intimately identified with its progress, and has deservedly, and with universal acceptance, attained the highest position in the gift of that church. Dr. Williams is a man who would anywhere command attention. He bears his seventy years with wonderful vigor. His fresh complexion, keen bright eyes, and remarkable alertness and energy, both of body and mind, seem to belong to a much younger man. He comes of sturdy Welsh stock, as his name—John Æthuruld Williams—indicates. He was born at Caermarthen, in South Wales, December 19th, 1817. He early lost his father, and was deprived of his only remaining parent at the age of twelve. He was thrown into the world of London, and there learned to develop that independence and energy of character by which he is marked. He received a good education at the Academy of Hoxton, near London. He came to Canada in his seventeenth year, and found a home in the town of Prescott, where the early years of his Canadian life were spent. He united with the Wesleyan Methodist church two years later, and for some time was engaged in secular business. His talents and religious zeal led to his entering the Methodist ministry in the year 1846, and to his ordination in 1850. He soon reached a leading position in the ministry, and in 1859 was elected chairman of the Owen Sound district. Such was the fitness which he evinced for that office that he has generally been elected chairman of the districts in which his pastoral charge has been situated. He has occupied several of the leading pulpits of the Methodist church: in Toronto, London, Port Hope, Brockville, Milton, Simcoe, St. Thomas, Goderich, St. Catharines, etc. When the London conference was organized in 1874, he was appointed its first president, in which office he was continued for a second term. He was a delegate to the general conference of the Methodist Episcopal church of the United States in 1876. In 1878 he received from Victoria University, in recognition of his wide reading, his general culture, and his distinguished ability, the degree of D.D. At the general conference of 1882 he was elected vice-president of that body; and at the united general conference of 1883, at which arrangements for the unification of Canadian Methodism were completed, he was unanimously elected president. The duties of this delicate and difficult position, at an important crisis in the history of the church, he discharged with such ability and impartiality as to command the admiration of the entire body. At the Centennial Conference of American Methodism, which met in Baltimore, in 1884, Rev. Dr. Williams and the Rev. Dr. Gardiner were the Canadian delegates. On that occasion Dr. Williams read an able paper, which commanded much attention, on the rise and progress of Canadian Methodism. On the lamented death of Rev. Dr. Rice, in 1885, it was the Rev. Dr. Williams whom the executive committee of the general conference selected as his successor in the office of general superintendent till the ensuing general conference. So ably did he discharge the important duties of that office that the general conference of 1886, by an almost unanimous vote, re-elected him to that position. In association with his colleague, the Rev. Dr. Carman, he has travelled with indefatigable energy throughout the length and breadth of the Dominion in promotion of the varied interests of the church of which he is a general superintendent.
Ker, Rev. Robert, Rector of Trinity Church, Mitchell, Ontario.—The subject of this brief biographical notice was born in the North of Ireland, some time about the year 1842 or ’43, and is the eldest son of the late Robert Ker, of Newbliss, county Monaghan. Having received an excellent common school education, and being very zealous in Sunday-school and other Christian work in his native place, it was intended that he should enter the ministry of the Church of England; but circumstances for the moment turned his thoughts in another direction. So early as 1857, Mr. Ker organized a Young Men’s Christian Association in his native town, and although quite unaware of the ultimate development of the movement, or of the parties even then working in it, the rules he drew up for the management of the association would be found to be not much dissimilar from the leading features of Young Men’s Christian Association work at the present. At a very early period Mr. Ker evinced a marked taste for newspaper writing, and took an active part in the controversy respecting the more general adoption of the National School system of education by the Protestants of Ireland. He vigorously denounced the system as an unworthy attempt to displace the Bible in the public schools, and succeeded in arousing a good deal of local hostility to the movement. About 1862 Mr. Ker entered the Normal Training College in Dublin, where his abilities as a thoughtful educationist attracted considerable attention, and he was awarded one of the four scholarships at the disposal of the committee, and on graduating from the institution he was one of three placed in the coveted rank of first class. Mr. Ker was promptly appointed to Lord Powerscourt’s chief school, which he taught with distinguished success for several years, and was awarded four honorary certificates from the Incorporated Society for the success of his pupils. Mr. Ker finally resigned the position, and at the invitation of the late Major Knox, proprietor of theIrish Times, Dublin, he became the special correspondent for that journal in Belfast. Those were exciting days on the Irish press, and very often the collecting of news involved a good many personal risks, and the subject of this sketch had his full share of them. Few of the leading public men of those days were unknown to Mr. Ker, and many are the incidents which he relates of the events of that stormy period, culminating, as it did, in the disestablishment of the Irish Church. It was Mr. Ker who reported the famous speech made by the Rev. John Flanagan respecting the kicking of the Queen’s crown into the Boyne, and which aroused the wrath of the LondonTimes, and set the country in a blaze. Mr. Ker has occupied, at one time or another a position on every leading Irish paper. Late in 1872 he came to Canada, and was immediately engaged on the TorontoLeader, then an influential factor in Canadian politics. He remained on the staff of theLeaderfor some time, and while there edited thePatriot, well known for its sterling defence of Protestant principles. In 1874, circumstances appeared favorable for carrying out the never wholly-abandoned idea of entering the ministry of the church, and after due matriculation Mr. Ker entered Trinity College, Toronto, under Provost Whitaker, and subsequently took charge of St. John’s High School, province of Quebec, as principal, and it was while occupying that position that he was, in 1877, ordained to the diaconate by the Right Rev. Dr. Oxenden, Metropolitan, who forthwith appointed him to the mission of Chelsea, Templeton and Portland. This was a very trying district, entailing long drives over bad roads, but Mr. Ker soon became a prime favorite, and was greatly missed upon leaving. During his incumbency he had the debt paid off the Chelsea church and a new one consecrated at Portland. The following year he was advanced to the priesthood, and appointed to succeed the late Rev. Dr. Clarke, as incumbent of St. Stephen’s Church, Buckingham, province of Quebec. From there he was transferred to St. Paul’s Church, Mansonville, and while there he was called, in 1880, to the rectorship of Trinity Church, Quebec city. Rev. Mr. Ker labored in the ancient capital for nearly seven years. Trinity congregation was by no means wealthy, but he succeeded in gathering around him an earnest body of workers, to whom he became greatly attached, and the congregation returned the feeling very heartily. He purchased the church building from the Sewell family at $8,300, and paid off $4,300 of the amount within the year, leaving the balance as a mortgage upon the building. During the seven years of the Rev. Mr. Ker’s pastorate in Trinity Church, it was a great centre of attraction for the young, and when he decided upon accepting a charge in Ontario, the feeling of regret was wide-spread and profound. For about four years of his residence in Quebec, Rev. Mr. Ker, in addition to his other duties, filled the position of vice-rector in the Boys’ High School. He was also appointed by the Lieutenant-governor-in-Council a member of the Board of Protestant Examiners, and that body subsequently elected him their secretary. Rev. Mr. Ker was also for a time inspector of the schools for the Colonial Church Society in the district of Quebec, and vice-president of the Quebec Teachers’ Association; so that, altogether he has rendered good service to the country of his adoption. As to his theological views, he wishes to be described simply as “a churchman,” irrespective of party distinctions, which he looks upon as injurious and uncalled for. In 1863 he was initiated into the Masonic order; and since then has held a leading position in its ranks, having been elected worshipful master of Albion lodge, and subsequently, in 1885, he was elected to the position of grand chaplain of the Grand Lodge of Quebec, and re-elected again in 1886. The Rev. Mr. Ker has been a constant contributor to leading periodicals, and is an editorial writer of recognized ability; in fact, in every sense he has been one of our hard workers. As a preacher he is held in high esteem, for, while avoiding sensationalism on the one hand and the dry conventionalities of ordinary preaching on the other, he addresses himself in plain and forcible language to the wants of his hearers, and denounces in vigorous terms the prevailing hollowness of religious professors. He participated to some extent in the controversies carried on by churchmen a few years ago, but this he very sincerely regrets, believing as he does that unquestioning loyalty to the Church and Christian forbearance to the brethren are clear and imperative duties. On the 23rd August, 1874, he was married at New Brighton, S. I., to Lizzie, youngest daughter of the late Thomas Wilkin. Their family consists of three sons and two daughters. The Rev. Mr. Ker is at present rector of Trinity church, Mitchell, in the diocese of Huron; and his brother, the Rev. John Ker, is rector of All Saints Church, Dunham, province of Quebec, in the diocese of Montreal, and is esteemed by Bishop Bond as one of the most active and most successful missionaries.
Pelton, Sandford Harrington, Q.C., Barrister, Yarmouth, Nova Scotia, was born in New York, on the 28th September, 1845. His father was Milo Sandford Pelton, who was of English descent, and his mother, Louisa Maria Harrington, was a Nova Scotian. Sandford received his early educational training at the public school of Antigonish, Nova Scotia, and studied classics, mathematics, and the higher branches under the Rev. R. F. Brine, Episcopal minister at Arichat, Cape Breton. He studied law with the late Charles F. Harrington Q.C., of Arichat, who for some time represented Richmond county in the Nova Scotia legislature, and also with the Hon. Daniel Macdonald, formerly M.P.P. for Antigonish county, and attorney-general for Nova Scotia. On the 22nd October, 1867, he was admitted to the bar of Nova Scotia as a barrister and attorney, and commenced business in Yarmouth, on the 20th November, 1867, and here he has resided since, and has built up an extensive practice. He was appointed by the Nova Scotia government, on May 27th, 1876, a Queen’s counsel. Mr. Pelton is an active Mason, and occupies a prominent position in the order; is a past district deputy grand master, and a past junior grand warden of the Grand Lodge of Nova Scotia. In temperance work, too, he has taken a hand, and is a member of several societies. In politics, he is a Liberal, and worked actively for his party during the last elections. He is an adherent of the Presbyterian church. On the 16th November, 1869, he was married to Mary Georgina Darby, youngest daughter of the late Captain Jos. W. E. Darby (who was for some years employed by the Nova Scotia government in the fishery protection service as commander of the cutterDaring, and died on board that vessel in 1851; he made quite a name for himself by his skill and ability in the discharge of his duties), and granddaughter of the late Superintendent Darby, of Sable Island.
Shakespeare, Noah, General Agent, Victoria, British Columbia, M.P., for Victoria, was born at Brierley Hill, Staffordshire, England, on the 26th of January, 1839. His parents were Noah and Hannah Shakespeare. The father was a distant relation of William Shakespeare, the bard of Avon. Mr. Shakespeare received his education in the public schools of his native place. He left school at an early age, and being of an independent turn of mind, and anxious to get on in the world, he worked as hard and as long hours, as any lad in England. Having heard of British Columbia as a field in which a young man might get on, he determined to try his fortune in that far-off land, and accordingly left England, and landed in Victoria, on the 10th of January, 1863, and has since that time been a resident of the province. Arriving like many another poor lad in Canada, without scarcely a penny in his pocket, he availed himself of the first job that offered, namely, that of a place in the Vancouver collieries. Here he faithfully performed the duties assigned to him for some years, until he saw an opportunity of bettering his condition. He then moved to Victoria city, and began to climb the path which has since led to distinction. His first public position was that of councillor, and being a workingman himself, his efforts during the four years he was in the council, were always directed in favour of the workingman. In 1882, he was elected mayor of the city, by a large majority of the ratepayers, and never, it may be said, had Victoria a better chief magistrate, and its affairs better managed than under his administration. This same year he was elected president of the Mechanics’ Institute; and at the general election of 1882, he was sent to Ottawa, to represent Victoria in the House of Commons; and again re-elected to the same position at the general election in the spring of 1887. In 1885, Mr. Shakespeare was elected to the presidency of the British Columbia Agricultural Association; and in 1886, he was also made president of the British Columbia Mutual Fire Insurance Company, of which he was the principal organizer in Victoria. He is a friend of all movements adopted for the good of his race. He was president of the Anti-Chinese Association of Victoria, in 1879; was elected grand worthy chief of the Grand Lodge of Good Templars of Washington Territory and British Columbia, in 1877; again elected to the same position in 1878; and in 1886, he filled the honourable office of president of the Young Men’s Christian Association of Victoria. In 1884 he introduced and succeeded in getting carried a resolution in favor of restricting Chinese immigration into the Dominion of Canada. He is a justice of peace for the Province of British Columbia. In politics, he is a Liberal-Conservative; and in religion, an adherent of the Methodist church. On December 26th, 1869, he was married to Eliza Jane Pearson.
Fielding, Hon. William Stevens, Premier of Nova Scotia, and M.P.P. for the city and county of Halifax, was born at Halifax, on the 24th of November, 1848, and is of English descent. He was educated in his native city, and has devoted the greater part of his life to journalism. At the age of sixteen he entered the office of theMorning Chronicle, in Halifax, the leading Liberal paper in Nova Scotia, as a clerk, and gradually worked through the reportorial and editorial departments to the position of managing editor, which office he resigned in 1884, when called upon to fill a high position in the government of his native province. During these twenty years, he did not confine his writing exclusively to his own province, but contributed to various journals abroad. For fourteen years he was connected with the TorontoGlobe, as Nova Scotia correspondent. In 1882, at a convention of the Liberal party held at Halifax, after the resignation of the Thompson government, the positions of premier and provincial secretary were offered to Mr. Fielding, but he declined the honor. He, however, entered the administration of the Hon. W. T. Pipes, on the 22nd of December, of the same year, without a portfolio, having previously declined the offer of a seat in it. In May, 1884, he resigned. On the retirement of the Hon. W. T. Pipes, on the 15th of July following, he was called upon to reorganize the cabinet, which he succeeded in doing, and became premier and provincial secretary, on the 28th of July, 1884, and this position he still holds. He was first returned to the House of Assembly at the general election held in 1882, re-elected on his accepting office, 20th of August, 1884, and again at the last general election in 1886. The Hon. Mr. Fielding is a Liberal in politics, and favors the withdrawal of the Maritime provinces from the Canadian confederation, and the formation of a Maritime union. As will be seen, he has for the past five years played an important part in the politics of his country, and being yet a comparatively young man, there is yet a brilliant future before him. In religion, he is attached to the Baptist church. On the 7th of September, 1876, he was married to Hester, daughter of Thomas A. Rankine, of St. John, New Brunswick.
Hetherington, George A., M.D., L.M. (Dublin), St. John, New Brunswick, was born at Johnston, New Brunswick, on the 17th March, 1851. His father, James Grierson Hetherington, was of English descent, his father (the grandfather of the subject of our sketch) having been born in England, and came out to St. John, N.B., about seventy years ago, and established a merchant tailoring business there, which was one of the first in that then very young and small city. Mary Jane Clark, his mother, was a native of New Brunswick, and of U. E. loyalist descent. George A. Hetherington received the rudiments of his education at the place of his birth; then he went to the Normal School at St. John, N.B., where he took a teacher’s certificate in 1860, and taught school for a short time. Subsequently, for two years, he attended the Baptist Seminary at Fredericton, N.B., and then spent a year in the medical department of the University of Michigan, United States. He then received an appointment in the Washtenaw Almshouse Hospital and Insane Asylum, as resident physician, and this office he held for a year, during which period he took a partial course, after the first year’s full course, in the same university. He then went to Cincinnati, where he further prosecuted his studies in medicine and surgery in the General Hospital and in the Cincinnati College, and graduated M.D., in 1875. Returning to his native country he successfully practised his profession for nearly five years, and then went to Great Britain. Here he spent a short period in the Edinburgh Royal Infirmary, and then went to Dublin, where he took the full qualification of Rotunda Hospital for Women (Lic.Mid.); also a special course certificate for diseases of women and children. After this Dr. Hetherington received an appointment in the same hospital as assistant clinical instructor and clerk, having charge of an extensive maternity department. At the close of his engagement he returned to St. John, N.B., in 1882, and began a general practice, and is now one of the leading practitioners of that city. He is a licentiate of the Council of Physicians and Surgeons of New Brunswick; and a member of the British Medical Association. In 1871 he attended the Military School at Fredericton, N.B., and was the recipient of a second-class certificate. In 1877 he was appointed coroner for the county of Queens, and, after removing to St. John, surgeon to the St. John Firemen’s Mutual Relief Association in 1885. The doctor is also a past chancellor of the Knights of Pythias; supreme vice-chief ranger of the Independent Order of Foresters, and past high physician of the same order, and a member of the brotherhood of Freemasons. He has travelled considerably, having visited all the important points in the Maritime provinces, Quebec, Ontario, the Eastern States, New York, Michigan, Ohio, Kentucky, and Great Britain and Ireland. In politics he is a Liberal; and in religion a Baptist. He was married on 5th September, 1876, to Sybil McIntyre, of Sussex, New Brunswick.
Wallace, Joseph James, Truro, Nova Scotia, Superintendent of the Halifax and St. John District of the Intercolonial Railway, was born in Albert county, New Brunswick, on the 20th of April, 1847. His parents were David and Mary Wallace. Mr. Wallace received his education in the High School, Hillsboro’, New Brunswick. He entered the service of the European and North-American Railway Company, on the 25th of May, 1865, and continued in its service until November, 1872, during which period he filled the various positions of telegraph operator at Salisbury, New Brunswick; clerk and telegraph operator in the superintendent’s office, at St. John, New Brunswick; station master, telegraph operator, and postmaster, at Salisbury, New Brunswick; assistant accountant in the superintendent’s office, at St. John, New Brunswick; and in November, 1872, and on the absorption of the above railway by the Intercolonial Railway Company, he was made auditor of the latter company. This office he held until May, 1883, when he was appointed to the more important position of superintendent of the Halifax and St. John district, which office he holds to-day. Mr. Wallace has shewn by his integrity, industry, and perseverance, what a young man can do when he once determines to rise in his profession. In 1870, he joined the Masonic brotherhood, and is now a past master of his parent lodge. In May 26th, 1868, he was married to Ruth M. Hopper, and the fruit of this union has been five children, three of whom survive.
Loranger, Hon. Louis Onesime, one of the judges of the Superior Court of the province of Quebec, with place of residence in Montreal, was born at Ste. Anne d’Yamachiche, on the 10th April, 1837. He is the son of Joseph Loranger and Marie Louise Dugal, and a brother to the late Hon. Justice T. J. J. Loranger, commandeur of the Order of Pius IX., who died in 1885; to the late Rev. C. A. Loranger, and to J. M. Loranger, Queen’s counsel, now practising at the bar of Montreal. Justice Loranger was educated at the College of Montreal, where he went through a brilliant course of classical studies, and was admitted to the bar of the province of Quebec on the 3rd of May, 1858. He at once entered into partnership with his two brothers, the late Hon. T. J. J. Loranger, who was then a member of the Macdonald-Cartier administration, and J. M. Loranger, Q.C. He continued in active practice of the law until the 5th of August, 1882, when he was appointed to the puisné judgeship of the Superior Court of Quebec, the position he now holds. In February, 1868, Judge Loranger was elected an alderman of the city of Montreal, and twice re-elected by acclamation. In 1874, the citizens of Montreal, wishing to recognize the important services he had rendered the city, elected him vice-president of the St. Jean Baptiste Society, and president of the committee entrusted with the organization of the celebration of theFête Nationaleof that year. The sister societies had been invited to co-operate, and the invitation met with a hearty response from all parts of the American union and the Dominion of Canada, delegates being sent from every society on the continent, and in some cases societies themselves coming to Montreal with their full membership. The idea of the St. Jean Baptiste Society, as founded by the late Ludger Duvernay, in 1834, had been to form a tie of cohesion among the diverse groups of French Canadians who were divided among themselves, and bring them all under one banner, with “Our Religion and Our Language” as motto. Mr. Duvernay, the first journalist of note among the French, was the first to understand that if the systematic course of petty persecution which obtained in his days were not stopped, the French Canadian element would soon be lost in the flood of British emigration then setting in towards this fair country. The Briton, with his keen commercial insight and his eminent qualities as a colonist, had discovered that the land which Voltaire had described as “a few acres of snow-covered ground” had a future before it, and he at once resolved to make the country what it is to-day. The St. Jean Baptiste Society struggled on for several years with a slight membership and scanty financial resources until 1860, when a determined effort was made to place it on an efficient footing. Then with the help of such men as Cartier, Langevin, L. O. David, the Lorangers, and scores of others who were carried forward by the enthusiasm and patriotic fire of their leaders, it took gigantic strides, and to-day it numbers over one hundred thousand members. In 1874, Mr. L. O. Loranger, as a member of the executive committee of the society, rendered great services. In July, 1875, Judge Loranger presented himself for the first time to the electorate of the county of Laval, and was sent to the Legislative Assembly as a supporter of the de Boucherville administration. An unswerving adherent of the Conservative party, he was soon recognized as one of its leaders, and considered one of the strongest debaters in the Assembly. He took a leading part in the discussion on the Letelliercoup d’état. He was re-elected three times consecutively by acclamation in his county. After the defeat of the Joly administration he was offered the portfolio of attorney-general, which he accepted (November, 1879), and retained until his elevation to the bench in 1882. The codification of the Provincial statutes and the judicial reforms now being completed (1887), were commenced when he was attorney-general under the Chapleau-Loranger administration. Judge Loranger is a hard worker, having in the midst of his parliamentary duties attended to the needs of an extensiveclientèle, and he was considered one of the most noted lawyers of the Montreal bar. He is a fluent and graceful speaker; he is also distinguished for his practical mind, sound judgment, and impressive, though cautious, disposition. He married, on the 3rd October, 1867, Marie Rosalie, daughter of the late Hon. M. Laframboise, founder ofLe National, who afterwards was appointed one of the judges of the Superior Court for the province of Quebec, and Rosalie Dessaulles, a niece of the late Hon. Louis Joseph Papineau. Mrs. Loranger died in 1883, leaving seven children, three sons and four daughters.
Alexander, Rev. Finlow, M.R.C.S., (England), and L.S.A., sub-Dean of Christ Church Cathedral, Fredericton, New Brunswick, was born on the 17th April, 1834, at Walkhampton, near Tavistock, Devonshire, England. He is a son of the late Rev. Daniel Alexander, M.A., vicar of Bickleigh, near Plymouth, England. The Rev. F. Alexander received his educational training at Mount Pleasant House Academy, Milbay Road, Plymouth, and subsequently at Marlborough College, in Wiltshire. After leaving school, in 1850, he entered on the study of medicine at the Middlesex Hospital, London; and in 1855 received the diploma of the Royal College of Surgeons, adding in 1857 that also of the Society of Apothecaries, Blackfriars Bridge, London. After visiting the East, in the employ, as a surgeon, of the Peninsular and Oriental Company, Mr. Alexander, in 1860, came to Canada, and engaged for three years in the practice of his profession, at Gore’s Landing, Ontario. In 1863 he married Anna Cecille, daughter of Thomas S. Gore, of Gore Mount, county Antrim, Ireland; and determining on taking holy orders, removed to Cobourg, Ontario, where he pursued the studies necessary to that end, under the direction of the Venerable Archdeacon Bethune, afterwards Bishop of Toronto. In February, 1866, Mr. Alexander was admitted to the diaconate by the Right Rev. Bishop Strachan; and in May, 1867 was ordained to the priesthood. He was appointed in the first place to the curacy of Port Hope, Ontario, in 1866; and in the following year was transferred, on the death of the rector, the Rev. Jonathan Shortt, D.D., to the curacy of Guelph, Ontario. This appointment he held until the resignation of the rector, the Venerable Archdeacon Palmer, in 1875. In the autumn of that year the offer was made to him by the bishop of the diocese of Fredericton, New Brunswick, now Metropolitan of Canada, of the position of sub-dean in his cathedral; this office he accepted and still (1887) retains.
Ross, Hon. David Alexander, Q.C., Barrister, “Westfield,” St. Foye Road, Quebec city, member of the Legislative Council of the province of Quebec, was born at Quebec, on the 12th March, 1819. His father was the late John Ross, who for many years filled the position of joint prothonotary of the King’s Bench, at Quebec. His mother, Margaret Ross, was a native of Prince Edward Island. His paternal grandfather, John Ross, who was born in Tain, Ross-shire, Scotland, with a number of other Highlanders, formed themselves into a volunteer company to fight during the French war only, and having been attached to the 78th Highland regiment, were among the brave men who in the pitchy darkness of the early morn of the 13th September, 1759, climbed, with the immortal Wolfe, the cliffs near Cape Diamond, Quebec, and won for Great Britain, on the Plains of Abraham, one of the finest possessions of the British Crown. Mr. Ross was severely wounded in the engagement; and after the conquest he became a citizen of Quebec, and commanded a company of militia in 1776, when Montgomery and Arnold attempted to retake Quebec, and did good service for the Crown. The Hon. Mr. Ross received a classical education in the school taught by the late Dr. Daniel Wilkie, and at the Seminary of Quebec, and then followed a course of civil and Roman law at the University of Laval. He is conversant with both languages. He adopted law as a profession; was called to the bar of Lower Canada in 1848, and appointed a Queen’s counsel in 1873. Being fully imbued with the spirit of his ancestors, he entered the Military College, and obtained a first-class certificate for company and battalion drill; and during the first Fenian invasion raised a company of fifty men, fully equipped, and ready to march to the frontier when called upon. He is now a lieutenant-colonel in the militia. He entered political life in 1878, and was returned to the Quebec legislature, at the general election of that year, for the county of Quebec, and sat for that constituency until the general election of 1881, when he withdrew from politics for a time. On the 8th March, 1878, he was sworn in a member of the Executive Council, and became attorney-general in the Joly administration, and held office until the 30th of October, 1879, when he resigned with his colleagues. In 1887 he was called to the Legislative Council of his native province, and was appointed a member of the Hon. Mr. Mercier’s cabinet, without a portfolio. The Hon. Mr. Ross is a director of the Lake St. John Railway. For several years he was president of the St. Andrew’s Society; of the Quebec Literary and Historical Society; of the Quebec Auxiliary Bible Society; and has been twice electedbâtonnier(president) of the Quebec bar. He has made himself very familiar with the Dominion of Canada, and has found time from his numerous duties to visit the United States of America, England, Scotland, France, Italy, Spain, Gibraltar, Sicily and Egypt, and upwards of fifty cities and towns. In politics Mr. Ross is a Liberal; and in religion an adherent of the Presbyterian church. He was married in March, 1872, to Harriet Ann Valentine, widow of the late James Gibb, in his lifetime one of the leading merchants of Quebec.
Ingram, Andrew B., St. Thomas, M.P.P. for West Elgin, was born on 23rd April, 1851, at Strabane, county of Wentworth, Ontario, and is the second son of Thomas and Mary Ann Ingram, of that place. His paternal grandfather, Andrew Ingram, was a native of the county Tyrone, Ireland, and served his country for nineteen years under Lord Wellington, participating in the Peninsular campaign, as well as Quatre Bras and Waterloo. The subject of our sketch received a common school education at Morristown, Ontario, and his early youth was passed in agricultural pursuits. Becoming dissatisfied with a rural life, he bade adieu to the farm and proceeded to London, where his uncle, who was a resident of that city, prevailed upon him to learn a trade. Having selected that of a collarmaker, he served the usual apprenticeship, and in 1870 was duly accredited a journeyman. For some years he labored at the occupation of his choice. In August, 1879, he connected himself with the Canada Southern Railway, commencing at the foot of the ladder as brakeman, and by strict attention to the duties of that position, soon won the confidence of the officials, and was promoted to a conductorship. A place was then offered to him on the Wisconsin Central in a similar capacity, which he accepted, but owing to unforeseen circumstances, he resigned and returned to St. Thomas, when he entered the employ of the Grand Trunk Company, and faithfully performed the duties assigned him for about three years, when he was elected standard-bearer by the Conservatives of West Elgin, on the 15th July, 1886. When it came to the knowledge of his employers that he had been selected to contest West Elgin, they notified him to decline the honor or leave the service. After consulting his friends, he decided on the latter course, and entered into active politics. When the general elections were held on the 28th December, 1886, he was declared elected to represent West Elgin in the Ontario legislature, and has since served in the capacity of representative. Mr. Ingram took an active part in the formation of the St. Thomas Feather Bone Company, in which he is a stockholder, and which promises to become one of the leading enterprises in the city of his adoption. He joined Forest City lodge, I.O.O.F., London, on the 21st August, 1871, and remained an active worker in the same until the 5th November, 1877, when he took his withdrawal card. In 1881 he joined the Brakemen’s Benevolent Association of Canada and the United States, served as president one term, and was elected grand vice-president at a convention held in Brockville in March, 1882. On the 25th June, 1885, he joined Local Assembly Knights of Labor, St. Thomas; and in July of the same year attached himself to Headlight Assembly, No. 4,069. He served as master workman of the same for two terms; and was elected a member of District Assembly, No. 138, in which he holds the position of statistician. He was a delegate to the General Assembly convened at Richmond, Va., U.S., on 8th October, 1886. He originated the St. Thomas Trades and Labor Council in January, 1886, and was elected its first vice-president for the first term, president for the second term, and now fills the position of honorary president. He is also a member of the Independent Order of Foresters. Mr. Ingram has taken an active part in provincial, federal and municipal politics since confederation, in the counties of Wellington, Perth, Huron, Essex, and Elgin, and been a hard worker in various Conservative associations. He held a position of trust under the Clarke administration in Manitoba, and was one of the sheriff’spossewho arrested Andrew Nault and others for complicity in the murder of Thomas Scott. Although returned to parliament as a Liberal-Conservative, Mr. Ingram has ever in view and will support any measure brought forward that will advance the true interests of the toiling masses, who in him have an able and conscientious advocate, and who from actual experience is conversant with the disadvantages under which they labor. In religious matters he is an adherent of the Episcopal church. And to sum him up in a few words, is an able, honest man, who commands the respect of the community which he so ably represents. In 1882 he married Elizabeth, eldest daughter of Allen McIntyre, of Aberfoyle, whose great grandfather was the Earl of Home, a Scottish nobleman.
McGee, Hon. Thomas D’Arcy, B.C.L., M.R.I.A., was born on the 13th of April, 1825, at Carlingford, Ireland. His father, James McGee, was in the coast-guard service, and his mother was Dorcas Catharine Morgan, a daughter of a Dublin bookseller, who had been imprisoned and financially ruined by his participation in the conspiracy of 1798. Both on his father’s and his mother’s side he was descended from families remarkable for their devotion to the cause of Ireland. When he was eight years of age his family removed to Wexford, and shortly afterwards he suffered a heavy blow in the death of his mother. Of his father he was wont to speak as an honest, upright, religious man; but his mother he loved to describe as a woman of extraordinary elevation of mind, an enthusiastic lover of her country, its music, its legends, and its wealth of ancient lore. Herself a good musician and a fine singer, it was to the songs of her ancient race she rocked her children’s cradle, and from her dear voice her favorite son, the subject of our sketch, drank in his music. His passionate and inextinguishable love for the land of his birth, her story and her song, may be traced to the same source. He attended a day school in Wexford, obtaining there the only formal education he ever received. But the boyish years of the future statesman and historian were not passed in mean or frivolous pursuits. His love for poetry and for old-world lore grew with his growth, and by the age of seventeen he had read all that had come within his reach relating to the history of his own and other lands. He was a little over seventeen, and seeing little prospect of advancement at home, he, with one of his sisters, emigrated to America. After a short visit to his aunt in Providence, Rhode Island, he arrived in Boston, just at the time the “repeal movement” was in full strength amongst the Irish population of that city, warmly aided by some of the prominent public men of America of that day. He arrived in Boston in June, 1842, and on the 4th July he addressed the people. The eloquence of the boy-orator enchained the multitudes who heard him then, as the more finished speeches of his later years were wont “the applause of list’ning senates to command.” A day or two later he was offered and accepted a situation on theBoston Pilot, and became chief editor two years later. It was a critical period in the history of the Irish race in America; they were proscribed and persecuted on American soil, disgraceful riots occurring in Philadelphia, which resulted in the sacking and burning of two Catholic churches. With all the might of his eloquence, young McGee advocated the cause of his countrymen and coreligionists against the hostile party, the “Native Americans,” as they were called. This outburst of fanaticism soon subsided, but the popularity which the young Irish editor gained during the struggle continued to grow and flourish until O’Connell himself referred to his splendid editorials as the “inspired writings of a young exiled Irish boy in America.” He was invited by the proprietor of the DublinFreeman’s Journal, the leading Irish paper, to become its editor. So at the age of twenty he took his place in the front rank of the Irish press. But theFreemanwas too moderate in its tone, so he accepted an offer from his friend, Charles Gavin Duffy, to assist him in editingThe Nation, in conjunction with Thomas Davis, John Mitchell, and Thomas Devin Reilly. In such handsThe Nationbecame the organ of the “Young Ireland” party. The immediate result was the secession of the war party from the ranks of the National or Old Ireland party led by O’Connell. But the end came, and a sad end it was. The great “Liberator” died, while on foreign travel, a broken-hearted man. Famine had stricken the land, and the “Young Irelanders” were ripe for rebellion. McGee was one of those deputed to rouse the people to action, and after the delivery of a speech at Roundwood he was arrested, but soon after obtained his release. Nothing daunted by his first mishap, he agreed to go to Scotland, for the purpose of enlisting the sympathy of the Irish in the manufacturing towns, and obtaining their co-operation in the contemplated insurrection. He was in Scotland when the news reached him that the “rising” had been attempted in Ireland, and had signally failed—that some of the leaders had been arrested, and a reward offered for the apprehension of himself, and others who had effected their escape. He had been married less than a year before, and a fair young wife anxiously awaited his return. He succeeded in crossing in safety to Ireland, and in the far north was sheltered by Dr. Maginn, the bishop of Derry. Here he was visited by his wife, as he would not leave Ireland without seeing and bidding her farewell. He left Ireland in the disguise of a priest, and landed in Philadelphia on the 10th October, 1848, and on the 26th day of the same month appeared the first number of his New YorkNation. Feeling sore at the utter failure of his party in Ireland, Mr. McGee threw the blame of the failure on the priesthood, which brought him in conflict with Bishop Hughes, who defended the Irish clergy, and as a consequence the New YorkNationnever recovered the effect of this controversy. In 1850 he removed to Boston, and commenced the publication of theAmerican Celt. During the first two years of theCelt’sexistence, it was characterized by nearly the same revolutionary ardor, but there came a time when the great strong mind of its editor began to soar above the clouds of passion and prejudice into the region of eternal truth. He began to see that the best way of raising his countrymen was not by impracticable utopian schemes of revolution, but by teaching them the best of their possibilities, to cultivate among them the acts of peace, and to raise themselves, by the ways of peaceful industry and enlightenment to the level of their more prosperous sister island. Some years after Mr. McGee transferred his publication office to Buffalo. Besides his editorial duties, he delivered lectures throughout the cities of the United States and Canada to crowded audiences. At a convention of leading Irishmen, convened in Buffalo by Mr. McGee, for the purpose of considering the subject of colonization on the broad prairies for his countrymen, instead of herding together in “tenement houses,” he was strongly urged by Canadian delegates to take up his abode in Montreal. After some negotiation on the subject, he sold out his interest in theAmerican Celt, and removed with his family to Montreal, where he at once commenced the publication of a journal calledThe New Era. Before the end of his first year in Montreal he was elected as one of three members for Montreal, although his election had been warmly contested. It was not long before he began to make his mark in the legislative halls of his new country, and before the close of his first session, the Irish member for Montreal was recognized as one of the most popular men in Canada. Yet, at times, his early connection with the revolutionary party was made the subject of biting sarcasm. On one of these occasions, when being twitted with having been a “rebel” in former years, he replied: “It is true, I was a rebel in Ireland in 1848. I rebelled against the mis-government of my country by Russell and his school. I rebelled because I saw my countrymen starving before my eyes, while my country had her trade and commerce stolen from her. I rebelled against the Church establishment in Ireland; and there is not a liberal man in the community who would not have done as I did, if he were placed in my position, and followed the dictates of humanity.” About the year 1865 he was presented by his friends in Montreal and other cities with a handsome residence in one of the best localities in that city, as a mark of their esteem. In 1862 he accepted the office of president of the Executive Council, and also filled the office of provincial secretary. It was during this active time that he completed his “History of Ireland,” in two 12mo volumes. In 1865 Mr. McGee visited his native land, and while staying with his father in Wexford delivered a speech in that city on the condition of the Irish in America, which gave offence to his countrymen in the United States, as he took pains to show that a larger proportion of them became more demoralised and degraded in that country than in Canada. In 1867 he was sent to Paris by the Canadian Government as one of the commissioners from Canada to the great Exposition held in Paris. From there he went to Rome as one of a deputation from the Irish inhabitants of Montreal, on a question concerning the affairs of St. Patrick’s congregation in that city. In London he met, by previous appointment, some of his colleagues in the Canadian Cabinet, who had gone to England to lay before the imperial government the plan of the proposed union of the British provinces. In the important deliberation which followed he took a leading part. He was then minister of agriculture and emigration, which office he continued to hold up to the time when, in the summer of 1867, the confederation was at last effected. But with all his great and well deserved popularity, and the high position he had attained amongst the statesmen of the Dominion, he had made for himself bitter enemies by his open and consistent opposition to the Fenian movement, in which he saw no prospect of permanent good for Ireland. But it was in regard to Canada and their avowed intention of invading that country that he most severely denounced them. He rightly considered that it was a grievous wrong to invade a peaceful country like Canada, only nominally dependent on Great Britain, and where so many thousands of Irishmen were living happily and contentedly under just and equitable laws of the people’s own making. At the general election of 1867 he secured his seat, but only after a severe struggle, the Fenian element of his countrymen doing all in their power to secure his defeat. The victory, however, cost him dear, for the evil passions of the basest and most degraded of his countrymen had been excited against him, and he was thenceforth a doomed man. On the very night preceding his cruel murder he delivered one of the noblest speeches ever heard within the walls of a Canadian parliament on the subject of cementing the lately formed union of the provinces by bonds of mutual kindness and good-will. He had reached the door of his temporary home, when a lurking assassin stole from his place of concealment, and coming close behind, shot him through the head, causing instantaneous death. This was on the morning of April 7th, 1868. His body was removed to Montreal, where a public funeral was held, the streets along the procession being lined by regiments of the British army. St. Patrick’s Church, in which his obsequies were solemnised, was crowded with Protestants and other leading citizens to mourn over the great loss the country sustained by his death. McGee had outgrown long before his death the antipathy that many had to him on his arrival in Montreal. With the Montreal Caledonian Society especially he was a great favorite, and his orations at their concerts were the special feature of the evening. At their annual celebration of “Hallowe’en,” when it is customary to read prize poems on that old Scotch festival, of forty-six poems sent in competition on the Hallowe’en following his death,thirty-sevencontained some touching allusion to that sad event. From one of the poems to which prizes were awarded, we quote the following stanzas: —