Killam, Amasa Emerson, Moncton, Manager of the St. Martin’s and Upham Railway, M.P.P. for Westmoreland county, New Brunswick, was born on the 25th of August, 1834. His parents were born in New Brunswick, his father on the 26th of March, 1811, and his mother on the 10th of May, 1812. His paternal grandfather was an officer in the British army, and served during the American war of independence, and on the declaration of peace came to New Brunswick and settled at Sackville. His grandparents, on the mother’s side, were U. E. loyalists, and also became settlers in the Maritime provinces. Mr. Killam received his education at the common schools of his native place. He held the position of postmaster for a number of years, and is now manager of the St. Martin’s and Upham Railway, and in 1884 purchased the Elgin, Petitcodiac and Havelock railway, from Petitcodiac to Elgin, and in 1885 built the extension of the road to Havelock, and became managing director, and in 1886 took an interest in building the Central Railway, from Norton to Fredericton, and is managing director of the company: also managing director of the Buctouche and Moncton railway. He first entered the House of Assembly after the general election held in 1878, as representative of Westmoreland county. At the following general election he failed to be returned; but in September, 1883, on the resignation of P. A. Landry, who was elected to the House of Commons at Ottawa, Mr. Killam was chosen to fill the vacancy. At the general election held in 1886 he again came before his constituents, and was once more chosen their representative in the local house. In politics he is a Liberal-Conservative. On the 25th July, 1857, he was married, at Sackville, to Millicent Wheaton, and the fruit of the union has been seventeen children.
Young, Sir William, LL.D., ex-Chief Justice of Nova Scotia, Halifax.—The late Sir William Young, who was a Scotchman by birth, was born at Falkirk, in 1799, and died at Halifax, on the 8th of May, 1887. He was a son of John Young, of Falkirk, Stirlingshire, Scotland, who, many years ago, emigrated to Nova Scotia, making Halifax his home. His son William received his education at the University of Glasgow, where he took honors. He then took up law as a profession, was admitted to the bar of Nova Scotia in 1826, and appointed Queen’s counsel in 1843. In commencing his career as a lawyer, he had some advantages over most young men, in his family connections, which were quite numerous. But he, wisely, did not too largely depend on this for success; he was well-read, clear-headed, energetic, and bound to get on through his own inherent powers and perseverance. When he had established his reputation at the bar, and became comparatively independent in circumstances, he entered the Legislative Assembly of Nova Scotia, having been returned in 1833 to represent the island of Cape Breton when it formed an electoral district. Subsequently, when the island was divided, he represented Inverness, extending over a period of twenty-two years—from 1837 to 1859. In the latter year he successfully contested the county of Cumberland against Dr. (now Sir Charles) Tupper. Sir William being at that time leader of the Liberals, or opposition, and Dr. Tupper that of the Conservatives, or government party. Cumberland returned both these gentlemen to the Legislature, there being three members, Sir William, however, taking the lead. Shortly after getting into parliament Sir William showed his boldness of spirit and manly independence by entering his protest against the unjust coal mining monopoly then in existence, which had been granted by the Crown to the creditors of the late Duke of York, a monopoly which he and his brother George were largely instrumental in having removed at a later date. In 1838, during the closing scenes of the Canadian rebellion of that time, he was appointed as a delegate, with others, to meet Lord Durham, and discuss the numerous grievances of which the French population complained. The grievances of his own province he exposed in a letter of vigorous remonstrance, which Lord Durham afterwards annexed to his celebrated report. His associates on this memorable occasion were Mather B. Almon, J. W. Johnson and Jas. B. Uniacke, and sad to say the last of these delegates in the person of Sir William Young has now passed away. They met Lord Durham in Quebec, and in the several interviews with his lordship and his suite, and representatives from the several other provinces, they laid the foundations of the confederacy which in July, 1867, was perfected. In 1839 Sir William Young and Herbert Huntington were sent to Britain to impress upon the home government the removal of grievances existing in Nova Scotia, such a delegation having been found necessary, Lord Durham having thrown up his office, and returned to England in disgust. These delegates showed a considerable amount of tact and diplomatic skill, and their mission advanced the interests of the people in many ways. Their report, which shortly after their return was published, covered a wide field, and exhibited an active correspondence with the several departments of the Imperial government, from which valuable concessions were obtained. During the long period Sir William served in parliament he was a prominent figure in that body, acting either as chairman or leading member on almost every important committee. He became a member of the Executive Council in 1842. In 1843 he was elected speaker of the Legislative Assembly, and occupied this office for eleven consecutive years. In 1854 he became leader of the government as well as attorney-general; and leader of the opposition in 1857, a change of government having taken place. In 1859 he was chosen president of the Executive Council. For all this period, even when in the speaker’s chair, the impress of his strong mind was visible in almost every important measure, as the journals of the house amply testify, from the time he first attacked the coal mine monopoly of the creditors of the Duke of York, to the time of his retirement from the arena of politics. In 1851 he was associated with Messrs. Ritchie and McCully, both of whom afterwards were, like himself, made judges, in revising the statutes of Nova Scotia; and on the floor of the house he was the recognized spokesman of the agriculturists of the province, “a legacy,” which he often jokingly remarked, “had possibly descended to him from his father, the famous ‘Agricola,’” a then popular writer on agriculture both as a science and as an art. In 1860 he retired from political life, and was appointed chief justice of Nova Scotia, and this office he resigned in 1881 on account of age. When appointed to the chief justiceship he brought to the discharge of his high duties a clear intellect, a sound understanding of law, and a well-trained judicial mind, and during the time he sat on the bench he attended to its duties faithfully. His quick apprehension of points of both law and practice, his searching insight into all matters of a difficult or abstract character, made him distinguished as a judge and respected by the bar. In 1876 Sir William started on a six months’ tour in Europe, and, just before he left, the bar of Nova Scotia, and the mayor and corporation of Halifax presented him with addresses, which bore feeling testimony to his eminent services in the legislative halls, on the bench, and as a citizen in all the various spheres of life. To these addresses he made an off-hand and very happy response, showing the cordiality of his disposition and warmth of heart, as well as his readiness and ability as a speaker. In 1868 he received the honor of knighthood from her Majesty Queen Victoria; and in 1881 the degree of LL.D. was conferred on him by Dalhousie College. Sir William Young was married, in 1830, to Anne, daughter of the late Hon. Michael Tobin, M.L.C. She died at Halifax on the 12th January, 1883, at the age of seventy-nine years. Few ladies in Halifax were more generally known or more sincerely respected than Lady Young. She was a lifelong contributor to all public charities of the city, and in her more active years was prominently connected with every benevolent undertaking. Sir William Young was possessed of considerable means at the time of his death, and by his will he left his possessions to various educational, charitable, and other institutes in the city in which he had lived and been so benevolent and public spirited a citizen for the greater part of a century.
Cannon, Lawrence Ambrose, Quebec, Advocate, and Clerk of the Corporation of Quebec city, was born at Quebec on the 20th March, 1814. His father, John Cannon, architect, was of Irish parentage, and his mother, Angèle Griault dite Larivière, was of French descent. Mr. Cannon, senr., was a member of the Legislative Assembly of Lower Canada from 1824 to 1830, and represented the county of Hampshire, then comprising the present counties of Portneuf and Champlain. He was an Independent in politics, and though not unfriendly to the powers that then ruled, was much attached to the principles of the French Canadian party in the Assembly. He was a strenuous supporter of the Autonomists, who, at the time of the first proposed union of Lower and Upper Canada, exerted themselves so strongly that they succeeded in defeating the measure. Mr. Cannon was also above all an Irishman, and although living in Canada, he deeply sympathized with every movement calculated to advance the prosperity of the land of his birth. He, too, helped his fellow-countrymen in the land of his adoption, and contributed largely by his exertions and means to have erected in Quebec St. Patrick’s Church, which stands to-day as a monument to the religious ardor and generosity of the Irish race in the ancient capital. He was twice married; first to Angèle Griault dite Larivière; and the second time, in 1826, to widow Rosslewin,néeArchange Baby. Lawrence Ambrose Cannon, the subject of our sketch, was educated first in private English schools, and afterwards in the Quebec Seminary, where he prosecuted and terminated his classical course of studies in 1833. He entered as a law student the office of Hon. C. R. Ogden, then attorney-general of Lower Canada; and in 1836, that of Stuart and Black. When he had completed his legal studies in 1838, he was called to the bar, and continued to practise his profession until May, 1864. On the resignation of F. X. Garneau, the Canadian historian, the city clerk of Quebec, through ill-health, Mr. Cannon was elected to fill this important position, and he has done it faithfully ever since. Some time after his appointment, the charter of the city was materially amended, thus considerably increasing his duties. Among other important changes, he was charged with the preparing of the lists of the parliamentary electors, and also of the persons qualified to be called upon to act as grand and petit jurors. And by the Act 33 Vict., chap. 46, the sole management of the municipal elections was conferred upon him. He married in 1845, Mary Jane Cary, daughter of the late Thomas Cary, then proprietor and publisher of the QuebecMercury, and of Marie Anne Dorion. He has three surviving children; one son, Lawrence John Cannon, a practising barrister in Arthabaskaville, and two daughters.
Torrance, David, Montreal.—Mr. Torrance, during his lifetime one of Montreal’s most successful and distinguished merchants, was of Scotch parentage. He was born in New York in 1805, and died in Montreal Jan. 29th, 1876. When yet a boy he came to Kingston, Upper Canada (now Ontario), with his father, James Torrance, who was then extensively engaged in business in that town. In 1821 he removed to Montreal, and became a clerk with his uncle, the late John Torrance, who kept a place of business at the corner of St. Paul and St. Nicholas streets. By his close attention to his duties, and aptitude to the work, he rapidly rose in his employer’s estimation, which ended in his being taken into partnership in 1833. During his clerkship the late Rev. Dr. Wilkes, and the late Hon. John Young were engaged in the same establishment. With the view of extending the business of the concern, in 1835 Mr. Torrance entered into partnership with Mr. Young, of Quebec, under the firm name of Torrance & Young; and on the retirement of the late John Torrance, the senior member, the firm’s name was changed to that of D. Torrance & Co., which continued to the date of his demise, his partners being for many years Thomas Cramp, and his son John Torrance. In 1826 the old firm purchased a tug and passenger boat, theHercules, from John Handyside & Co., and placed it under the command of Captain Brush, who afterwards became the proprietor of the Eagle Foundry, Montreal. This was the first step towards the establishment of an opposition line to the Molsons’ steamboats, then plying on the St. Lawrence, and its stock was eventually merged in that of the Richelieu Steamboat Company (now the Richelieu and Ontario Navigation Company). Mr. Torrance was early alive to the great future in store for Montreal, and was the first to launch out into direct trade with the East Indies and China, and for over thirty years the name of his firm has been well known in the great eastern centres of commerce. As a business man he was remarkable for great force of character and determination. This, combined with unflinching industry and regular habits, made the immense business of the firm move ahead with precision. An old friend of his once said of him, “He was a model man in regard to his business and social habits, and in the days of his prosperity was as regular in his attendance at the counting house as when he first started in business. His ambition was great, but tempered with prudence, and though he engaged in commercial ventures in other cities than Montreal, yet was uniformly successful.” Besides his promotion of commerce and navigation, he likewise proved himself a stay to our banking system, and after holding office for a long time as one of the directors of the Bank of Montreal, he was in 1873 elected president, which responsible position he held at the time of his death. His firm was also one of the originators of the Dominion Steamship Company. While largely engaged in ocean commerce, his capital and resources were also devoted to the carrying on of our inland forwarding trade. He was a diligent merchant, and did not meddle much in public affairs, though he was a consistent Liberal in politics throughout. To all benevolent and charitable schemes he was a frequent and liberal giver. He was always ready to aid the distressed and bring joy to those in want, and the main feature in this regard was the unostentatious way in which he helped those in need. He was a member of the St. James Street Methodist Church, and at the time of his death was one of its trustees. He was, in fact, the thorough type of a merchant prince, a representative of a class which, unfortunately, is far too small in these latter days. He was married to his cousin, the eldest daughter of the late John Torrance. He was in feeble health for some years previous to his death, and had only a few months before to forego active business, and when death at last came he passed away quietly, surrounded by his sorrowing family.
Skinner, Hon. Charles N., Q.C., St. John, ex-Judge of Probate for the county of St. John, New Brunswick, was born in St. John on the 12th March, 1833. His father, Samuel Skinner, was a contractor and builder, and was a native of Nova Scotia. His mother, Phœbe Sherwood, was a daughter of Robert Golding, whose grandfather, Captain Golding, commanded a company of loyal dragoons during the American revolutionary war. Both the Skinner and Golding families were loyalists and emigrated from the New England states—Mr. Skinner, the grandfather of the subject of our sketch, a short time before the outbreak of the revolution, and Mr. Golding after the war—and settled in the Maritime provinces. Charles N. Skinner received his education in the common and grammar schools of St. John. He studied law under Charles W. Stockton, of that city; was admitted to practice in 1858, and called to the bar in 1860. Since then he has successfully practised his profession in his native city. He is a well-read lawyer, a fluent, clear, and logical speaker, and seldom fails to present his case in the best possible light before a jury. His mind, too, is of a judicial cast; he is candid, honest, and impartial, and is admirably fitted by nature for the position he holds. When only about twenty-eight years of age he entered the field of politics, and was elected to represent St. John in the Legislative Assembly of New Brunswick in 1861. After being in the house three years, the party with whom he was allied was defeated on the question of confederation. In 1866 he again appealed to his constituents, and was elected. During August of next year he was appointed solicitor-general in the A. R. Wetmore administration, and this office he held until March, 1868, when he retired from political life, having been made a judge of probate. He was also created a Queen’s counsel that year by the Provincial government, and by the Dominion government in 1873. He was elected to the Dominion parliament to represent the city and county of St. John at the general election in 1887, having previously resigned the office of Judge of Probate. He still practises at the bar of St. John, and stands high among hisconfrères. For some years he was a member of St. John city council, and took an active interest in all matters brought forward for the benefit of the citizens. He is a member of the brotherhood of Oddfellows. He belongs to the Baptist denomination, and is considered a man of unblemished character and liberal impulses. On the 12th January, 1865, he was married to Eliza Jane, daughter of Daniel J. McLaughlan (then president of the Commercial Bank of N.B.), of St. John, and the fruit of this union has been a family of eight children.
Fenwick, George Edgeworth, M.D., C.M., Montreal, was born in the city of Quebec, on the 8th October, 1825. His father, Joseph Fenwick, in early life entered the East India Company’s service, and subsequently, in command of his own ship, traded between London and the port of Montreal. He was from Morpeth, Northumberland, England. His mother, Margaret Elizabeth Greig, was a native of Quebec, of Scotch descent. His grandfather belonged to the landed gentry of Northumberland. Dr. Fenwick received his education under the Rev. Mr. Ramsay, a clergyman of the Church of England; and in June, 1841, began the study of medicine and surgery in the Marine and Emigrant Hospital in his native city. His brother, Dr. A. G. Fenwick, was at that time house-surgeon to that institution, and he acted under him as house apothecary. He remained in this position until November, 1842, when he entered the medical department of McGill College, in Montreal. He successfully passed his examination in May, 1846, but not being of age did not receive his diploma until January, 1847, when a special convention of the University was called for the purpose of conferring upon him the degree of doctor in medicine and master in surgery. In May following, Dr. Fenwick was appointed house-surgeon and apothecary to the Montreal General Hospital, which office he filled until December, 1848, when he commenced general practice in Montreal. In 1849 he aided, in conjunction with Dr. Howard, the late Dr. G. D. Gibb (afterwards Sir G. D. Gibb, baronet, M.D., of London, England), and the late Drs. Pelletier, Boyer and Jones, in establishing the Montreal Dispensary, and was one of the attending staff of that institution until November, 1864, when, on the death of Dr. Thomas Walter Jones, he received the appointment of attending surgeon of the Montreal General Hospital. In 1867 he was appointed professor of clinical surgery in McGill University, and held this position until 1876, when, on the resignation of the late Dr. George W. Campbell, he was appointed professor of surgery, which chair he has filled to this time. As a teacher Dr. Fenwick has had long experience in the teaching of surgery. For many years professor of clinical surgery, his lectures were all delivered in the General Hospital, and every student who had the privilege of visiting the wards during his term of service, knows well the keen interest he took in everything concerning the cases in hand. Careful and painstaking himself, he firmly exacted from his assistants, house officers and dressers, a like degree of attention and carefulness in little things. After his promotion to the chair of surgery his lectures were of a more didactic nature, but to them he brought the same spirit of earnest devotion to the cause of science, the same grasp of subject leading to the formation of opinions strongly held, the same care for the important minutiæ, and the same genial and impressive manner which characterized his early teachings in the wards. In 1864 Dr. Fenwick, with his colleague, Dr. F. W. Campbell, established theCanada Medical Journal, which he continued to edit until 1879, when he relinquished the editorial chair. As a medical writer he is probably as well known as any in Canada. His articles upon surgical subjects are all terse and logical, and carry the impress of a vigorous and thoughtful mind. His most important papers are those upon lithotomy, of which operation he has probably had a larger experience than any other living surgeon in the Dominion. On excision of bronchocele, his bold operations have commanded the most wide-spread attention, and on excision of the knee-joint and other major operations he has been remarkably successful. He holds the degree of M.D., C.M. from his first university, and has never sought medical honors from any institution abroad; nevertheless, he has been considered worthy of them. He has been elected honorary member of the New Brunswick Medical Society; of the Medical Society of Nova Scotia, and of the Gynæcological Society of Boston. For many years Dr. Fenwick represented the profession of Montreal as one of the governors of the College of Physicians and Surgeons of Quebec province. He has served as president of the Medico-Chirurgical Society of Montreal; and was, at the meeting of the Canada Medical Association, held at Ottawa in 1880, elected vice president of that body for Quebec province, and in 1882 was elected president of the association. Dr. Fenwick is an adherent of the Episcopal church; and in politics a Conservative. In 1852 he was married to Eliza Charlotte, daughter of the late Colonel de Hertel, of St. Andrews, Argenteuil. The fruit of this union has been seven children, only three of whom survive.
Adams, Rev. Thomas, M.A., Cambridge, D.C.L., Lennoxville, was born at Paramatta, New South Wales, on September 14, 1847. His father, the Rev. Thomas Adams, was a member of a family in Cornwall, England, of which the eldest brother is J. C. Adams, F.R.S., the celebrated discoverer of the planet Neptune, who, on the retirement of Sir G. B. Airy, declined the position of Astronomer Royal of Great Britain, and is still director of the Cambridge University. Another brother (W. G. Adams, F.R.S.), is a leading authority on electricity and natural philosophy, and occupies the professorial chair in King’s College, London, once held by Wheatstone, and afterwards by Clerk Maxwell. The father of Principal Adams became a missionary in the Friendly Islands (South Pacific), and it was in Australia, on the way to that mission, that Dr. Adams was born. Thomas Adams, sen., is chiefly noted for having been the translator of a great portion of the Bible into Tonguese, and for having been the first who issued a complete edition of the Sacred Book in that language. His mother was Maria French, of Taunton, Somerset. She accompanied his father into the mission field, and gave her life to the work. She died in Vavau in February, 1860. Professor Adams was educated first at Taunton, Somerset, at a large proprietary school, under T. Sibly, B.A.; next at University College, London, under the late Professor de Morgan, in mathematics, and Professor J. R. Seeley, in classics. In November, 1867, he joined the geological survey of England, under Sir A. C. Ramsay, but resigned in April, 1869, owing to a severe sprain. In October, 1869, he entered St. John’s College, Cambridge, and in January, 1873, graduated as 19th wrangler in a first class of thirty-seven. After acting temporarily as professor of mathematics in the Royal Agricultural College, Cirencester, he was appointed mathematical and science master in the Royal Grammar School, Lancaster, and in August, 1874, he became senior mathematical master in the Royal School of St. Peter’s, York. He was ordained deacon in 1874, and priest in 1876, by the present archbishop of York. In 1881, on the occasion of the jubilee meeting of the British Association in York, in conjunction with Dr. T. Anderson, he became local secretary. In December, 1882, he was elected, out of fifty-seven competitors, as the first head master of the High School for boys, Gateshead-on-Tyne, and left there a school of one hundred and fifty boys to accept the position he now holds of principal of the University of Bishop’s College, and rector of the College School, Lennoxville, province of Quebec. He has held this position since August, 1885, and succeeded Dr. Lobley in both offices. In July, 1878, he was married to Annie Stanley, youngest daughter of the late T. Barnes, of London, England.
Turnbull, Lieut.-Colonel James Ferdinand, Commandant of the Royal School of Cavalry, Quebec city, was born in London, England, on the 19th July, 1835, and baptized at Westerham, in Kent, in the same font that had done duty to the ever immortal General Wolfe. He is the eldest son of the late James Turnbull, by his second marriage with Caroline Oldaker, and came to Canada when only one year old with his parents, who settled in Quebec. In 1841 he was sent to St. Andrew’s Church school, under a worthy good master, William Bain, leaving next year to join the school of that excellent teacher and missionary, the Rev. Mr. Handsell, and from there went to the High School on its formation in 1845, where he received his education until May, 1850, when he left school for good and entered the office as junior clerk of the mercantile firm of P. Langlois & Co., on St. Andrew’s wharf. In 1855, upon the formation of the volunteer militia corps, he joined as a private, together with a number of other young men of Quebec, the troop of cavalry that was enrolled that autumn, and his love for horses and riding had an opportunity to display itself. In 1860, at a general meeting of the citizens of Quebec, called at the Merchants’ Exchange, by his Worship the Mayor, Hector Langevin, to form a committee for the reception of H.R.H. the Prince of Wales, Mr. Turnbull was unanimously called upon to act as honorary secretary to the said committee, and performed his arduous duties to the entire satisfaction of the whole community, receiving a very complimentary vote of thanks. In 1861 he received a commission as cornet in No. 2 troop Quebec Volunteer Cavalry, and upon the disbanding of this troop in 1862, was promoted to be lieutenant in No. 3 troop, which subsequently replaced No. 2, and the subject of this sketch was gazetted captain on May 20th, 1864, and visited the American cavalry and their remount depôts during their civil war. In 1865 he proceeded to the Cavalry Depot, Canterbury, for a course of instruction, at the suggestion of Colonel MacDougall, adjutant-general, who saw the necessity of establishing a school of cavalry in Canada; and upon the news of a probable Fenian raid, returned by way of New York in March, 1866, acting both there and on the frontier as intelligence officer to the adjutant-general then in Montreal; subsequently coming on to Quebec and assuming charge of the Quebec cavalry. In 1867 Captain Turnbull went to France, at the suggestion of Sir George Cartier, to study the French cavalry drill, and through the British ambassador in Paris, Lord Lyons, received the necessary permission to visit the regiment at St. Germain, “Les Dragons de l’Imperatrice.” In 1869 he received the brevet rank of major. In 1872 he went with official letters from the Governor-General to England for cavalry instruction, and was attached to the 7th Hussars at Aldershot, returning again in time for the annual drill in camp at Levis the next summer. In 1874 he received the brevet rank of lieutenant-colonel. In 1875 he again proceeded to England for cavalry instruction, and was put on the cavalry staff at Aldershot during the autumn manœuvres, subsequently proceeding to Italy for the winter, and while in Rome had the privilege of a private presentation to His Holiness Pius IX., by Monsignor Stonor. Colonel Turnbull returned to Canada for the drill season of 1876, but shortly afterwards started again for an extended European tour, and while in Paris in the month of April, 1878, received an offer from the War Office, in the probable event of war with Russia, to raise a regiment of cavalry in Canada for service in the East, and spent some weeks in communication with the War office authorities and H.R.H. the Duke of Cambridge, to whom he was presented by Sir Patrick MacDougall, as the best Canadian officer that he knew of to undertake the task,—rendered, however, unnecessary by the celebrated conference at Berlin, when “peace with honour” was concluded. In 1879 Sir Patrick MacDougall cabled from Halifax that Lieut.-Colonel Turnbull was ready to raise a regiment of cavalry for service in South Africa if permission were granted him by the Canadian authorities, the Whitehall “Review” of the 27th March, 1879, remarking upon the offer as follows:—“The Government has found it necessary to decline the offer made by Lieut.-Col. Turnbull to raise a regiment in Canada for service at the Cape, but it has signified its appreciation of the very laudable spirit in which the offer has been made. Colonel Turnbull was lately residing temporarily in England, and made the acquaintance of many officers of our army. He is spoken of as an officer of considerable military ability, and this is not the first occasion on which he has given convincing proof of his loyalty and anxiety to serve the interests of the British Crown.” In 1883 the dominion government having in view the establishment of a cavalry school of instruction, Colonel Turnbull, together with three other commandants of infantry schools, was sent to Aldershot, where he was attached for three months to the 15th Hussars, and on the 21st December, 1883, his official appointment as commandant of the cavalry school corps appeared in the “Gazette.” On the breaking out of the Riel rebellion he was ordered with his corps to the North-West and stationed by General Middleton in the Touchwood Hills, where so much depended upon the several reserves of Indians in that district being prevented from going on the war-path and joining the rebels at Batoche. The tact and firmness displayed in dealing with these bands, had a satisfactory result; and in common with the rest of the expedition, he received the war medal. Besides his military proclivities he has long been an active promoter of sport and general club life, having been a member of the committee of the Turf Club, Hunt Club, Curling Club, Racket Court, Tandem Club, Yacht Club, Rowing Club, Rifle Association, of which he was president; Stadacona Club, and Garrison Club, Quebec. He is also a member of more than one military club in London, and the Royal Canadian Yacht Club, Toronto. Colonel Turnbull was married in June, 1867, to Elizabeth, third daughter of James MacKenzie, of Point Levis. His residence is “Clermont,” St. Louis road, Quebec.
Pacaud, Ernest, Advocate and Journalist, Quebec, was born at Three Rivers, province of Quebec, on the 25th August, 1850. He is a son of the late P. N. Pacaud, in his lifetime notary at Arthabaska. Mr. Pacaud was educated at Nicolet’s College, from September, 1860, to September, 1867, and was admitted to the bar 8th July, 1872. He practised at the Arthabaska bar from 1872 to 14th June, 1878, when he was appointed by the Provincial government, Hon. Mr. Joly at the time being premier, the prothonotary of the Superior Court, clerk of the Crown, and clerk of the Circuit Court at Three Rivers. He was, however, dismissed for political reasons in March, 1880, by the Tory government, headed by the Hon. Mr. Chapleau. He established theJournal d’ Arthabaskain September, 1877, in the interest of the Liberal party, and published it till June, 1878, when he received the appointment of prothonotary at Three Rivers. He took the editorship ofLa Concorde, published at Three Rivers, April, 1880, but on the 15th December, 1880, left theConcorde, when called by the leaders of the Liberal party to take the editorship ofL’Electeur, a daily morning paper published in the city of Quebec, and the chief Liberal organ in the province. He is now the proprietor and chief editor ofL’Electeur. He ran as a representative for the local house in Drummond and Arthabaska in January, 1874, after Hon. Mr. Laurier’s resignation in the Legislative Assembly, to run for the House of Commons at Ottawa. He also was a candidate for the House of Commons in Bellechasse, at the general elections of 1882, but was defeated by Colonel Amyot, then the Tory candidate. He is Catholic in religion, and a Liberal in politics. Mr. Pacaud accompanied, in 1881, the Hon. Messrs. Blake, Laurier, and Huntingdon in their political tour in Nova Scotia, as correspondent for the French Liberal press of the province of Quebec. He was married on the 23rd August, 1876, to Marie Louise Camille Turcotte, daughter of the late Hon. J. E. Turcotte, who was a speaker of the House of Commons and member of the government under the union of the two Canadas, and sister of the Hon. A. Turcotte, Speaker of the House of Assembly of Quebec from 1878 to 1881, and now commissioner of crown lands in the Mercier government.
Doucet, Laman R., Bathurst, Sheriff of the County of Gloucester, New Brunswick, was born at Bathurst on the 25th of August, 1847. His parents were Romain D. Doucet and Marie DeGrâce. His father was of Acadian descent; and his grandfather one of the first French settlers after the expulsion of the Acadians from old Acadia in 1755. His mother was of Spanish descent, her grandfather having come from Spain to America about the year 1781, when only about seventeen years of age, with his uncle, Admiral DeGrâce, who was in command of a French fleet, and who figured conspicuously on the side of freedom at the siege of Yorktown, when the last successful effort was made for American independence in 1781. Sheriff Doucet was educated in the schools of his native parish, and succeeded in securing a good French and English education. He is a man of great energy of character, and through his own almost unaided exertions he now stands high among his fellow countrymen. In April, 1881, he was appointed sheriff of his native county, being the second gentleman of French origin who has attained to this position in the province of New Brunswick. Since his appointment he has acted as returning officer in all the local and federal elections in Gloucester county. In religion he is an adherent of the Roman Catholic church. He was married on the 19th July, 1876, to Margaret Dion, of Bathurst.
Genest, Laurent Ubalde Archibalde, Counsellor-at-Law, Three Rivers, Province of Quebec, was born on the 4th March, 1828, at Gentilly, in the same province. His ancestors came from France, where several villages bearing their name remain to this day as old landmarks of several branches of this ancient family. One of them, Louis Genest, captain of militia, and a thriving agriculturist, settled at St. Jean, Isle d’Orleans, near Quebec, where, on the 19th January, 1777, he married Elizabeth Amireau,aliasMireau, from l’Acadie, in Nova Scotia. From Louis Genest and Elizabeth Amireau, or Mireau, was born on 18th April, 1779, Laurent Genest, father of the subject of this sketch. L. Genest, the elder, received his education at Quebec, where, on the 24th March, 1808, he was, by Royal commission, appointed a notary public for Lower Canada. Shortly afterwards he left Quebec, and settled in the parish of Gentilly, in the county of Nicolet, where he acted as agent for the seigniory of Gentilly, and on behalf of several large landowners in the neighboring townships of Maddington, Blandford, Bulstrode, Stanfold and Somerset. On 29th October, 1810, he married, at Gentilly, Marie Anne Panneton, daughter of Jean-Baptiste Panneton, a captain of militia, and a prosperous agriculturist. On 1st September, 1812, he was appointed adjutant of militia in full pay, and raised a battalion, from the Bécancour division, for the American war with Great Britain. He marched off with that battalion for the seat of war; but the battle of Chateauguay (26th October, 1813) having been won, his battalion was recalled home. On the 17th February, 1815; 8th March, 1816; 13th September, 1830; 11th October, 1834, and 2nd March, 1835, he was appointed, by as many Royal commissions, a returning officer for the election of members for the counties of Buckingham and Nicolet. On 13th February, 1822, under the Earl of Dalhousie, he was appointed again captain and adjutant of militia for the Bécancour division. On 27th January, 1831, under Lord Aylmer, he was appointed again captain for the second battalion in the militia of the county of Nicolet. On 13th April, 1839, he was appointed clerk of the Court of Requests at Gentilly, a county court for the county of Nicolet which sat quarterly, doing considerable business. On 7th June, 1842, he was appointed a justice of the peace for the district of Three Rivers. On 22nd April, 1844, he was appointed clerk of the Circuit Court of Gentilly, a circuit embracing the whole county of Nicolet. On 6th October, 1845, he was appointed a commissioner to administer official oaths in Lower Canada. He was offered on several occasions, by the electors of the county of Nicolet, the nomination as their representative in the House of Assembly, but always declined. He was a man of sterling worth, much loved and respected on account of his irreproachable integrity and his sociable character. His friends were many and most distinguished, especially in the city of Quebec, whence he came. He died much regretted at Gentilly, on the 25th of September, 1846, in the sixty-seventh year of his age. His son, L. U. A. Genest, the subject of this sketch, was born at Gentilly on the 4th March, 1828. He is a brother of the late Charles B. Genest, advocate, and an M.P.P. for Three Rivers in the House of Assembly of Quebec. He was educated at Nicolet College, under the rectorship of the Right Rev. J. B. A. Ferland, the learned and distinguished Canadian historian (1840-1846). At the death of his father, in 1846, he succeeded him as agent for the seigniory of Gentilly, which office he held until June, 1851. This position induced him to make a special study of the seignorial tenure and feudal system, which he admired very much, as having been, as he considered, an excellent mode to settle, with a select and prosperous population, French Lower Canada, though afterwards he was compelled to acknowledge that circumstances were changed, and that many abuses had taken hold of this fine tenure of lands, which later justified its abolition. Indeed, his opinion is that too much gratitude cannot be bestowed on the memories of two very justly regretted Canadian statesmen, the Hon. L. T. Drummond and Sir George Etienne Cartier (with whom he had the advantage of being intimately acquainted) for the abolition and redemption of that tenure, which had lived its full time. He holds that the present lord and tenant system of Ireland, which, when established, like the Canadian seignorial tenure, must have been beneficial to all parties concerned, should also now be abolished by redemption, just after the same mode which was followed for the abolition of the feudal tenure of Lower Canada; and he affirms that the British statesman who would accomplish this at the present time, whatever be his name, would be the greatest benefactor of the British empire in our days, whilst he would render the utmost service to every lord and tenant of Ireland, who would only be the happier for the change, with remarkable gain to all, and an incalculable saving of ill-feeling, trouble and millions of money to the mother country. On 20th May, 1850, Mr. Genest was commissioned an ensign of the 2nd battalion in the militia of Nicolet. In June, 1851 he left Gentilly for Montreal, where he began his regular legal studies, under Joseph Peltier, advocate, one of the Canadian braves of 1837, and his then partner, Joseph Papin, one of the chieftains of the Liberal party of that period. On 3rd May, 1853, he was admitted as an advocate and barrister at the bar of Montreal, where he began to practice with Toussaint Peltier and the Hon. Joseph Bourret. On 18th November, 1853, he was commissioned lieutenant in the 9th battalion of the militia of Montreal. In 1855 he was called to take part in the labors of the Seigniorial Commissioners at Montreal, a task which his previous studies and taste well fitted him to fulfil. He was also appointed to and filled the office of clerk of the Seigniorial Court of Review, which sat at Montreal and Quebec. On 8th March, 1856, he was appointed clerk of the peace for Three Rivers, where he removed from Montreal, whilst continuing for some time after to take part in the labors of the Seigniorial Commission at Montreal and Quebec. On 18th September, 1857, he was appointed a commissioner to administer official oaths in Lower Canada. On 1st August, 1876, he was appointed a member of the commission for the civil erection of parishes and the building of churches in the diocese of Three Rivers, of which commission he is the president. He is a member of the Institut National, and of the Historical Society of Montreal, and of the Literary Society of Three Rivers. He is also a member of the society for the re-wooding of the province of Quebec. As a member of the Historical Society of Montreal, he has contributed largely, with the regretted Sir L. H. LaFontaine, baronet, with whom he was on very friendly terms, to numerous and important researches concerning the ancient families who first settled Canada. He ranks among the first as a criminal lawyer in Lower Canada, and his advice is also highly prized in civil matters. His word is as good as gold, and he is held in very high esteem, and enjoys the confidence of his fellow citizens, on account of his unimpeachable integrity and frankness. Though neutral in politics, he is, by inheritance and education, a strong Conservative; nevertheless a friend of all, without regard to party or creed. He is an enthusiastic admirer of the British constitution, and will cling to the very last to his allegiance. In religion he is a Roman Catholic, holding that religion is indispensable in the governing and ruling of nations to secure their peace, prosperity and happiness, and to insure the stability of kingdoms, empires and republics, thereby justifying the family motto—“Nascor, vivere, vincere et mori, pro Deo, reginâ, patriâ et civibus”; “Je nais, pour vivre, vaincre et mourir, pour mon Dieu, ma reine, mon pays, mes concitoyens.” On 21st January, 1856, he married, at Montreal, Emma MacCallum, daughter of John MacCallum, of that city (formerly a Quebec merchant), by Flavie Raymond, of Laprairie, a grand-daughter of James MacCallum, a Quebec merchant, seignior of the seigniories of St. James and Thwaite, in the district of Montreal, and also at one time a member for the city of Quebec in the House of Assembly of Lower Canada. Mrs. Genest is a first cousin, on her mother’s side, of the late Hon. Edouard Masson, M.L.C., and of his Excellency the Hon. L. F. R. Masson, member of the Queen’s Privy Council for Canada, late lieutenant-governor of the province of Quebec. Mr. Genest resides at 64 Royal street, Three Rivers, P.Q.
Lugrin, Charles S., who was born at Fredericton, New Brunswick, in 1818, and died in the same city on the 27th April, 1877, was educated at the Collegiate School of his native place. He was a son of George K. Lugrin, for many years Queen’s printer for New Brunswick, and grandson of Peter Lugrin, who served as master of hospital stores in the Royal army during the American revolutionary war. The Lugrins are of Swiss origin. Captain Peter Moses Lugrin lived at Romainmotier, Switzerland, in the early part of the eighteenth century, and held important public positions. He married Lady Beniné Marguerite Rochat, by whom he had issue, Simeon, great grandfather of Charles S. Lugrin. Charles S. followed his father’s business of printing, and after the latter’s death took charge of the Queen’s printer’s establishment, under John Simpson, the new incumbent of the office, with whom he was in partnership for some time. After Mr. Simpson’s death, he began the publication of theColonial Farmer, which he conducted successfully for a number of years. In 1868 he was appointed secretary of the Board of Agriculture, and held the office until the abolition of the board in 1875, when he accepted the office of secretary of the school trustees for Fredericton, which he held until his death in 1877. He was paymaster in the militia when a young man. In his lifetime he was an active member of the Methodist church; a leading temperance advocate, and for a term occupied the position of grand worthy patriarch of the Grand Division of the Sons of Temperance of New Brunswick. As a writer he was sharp and incisive, and in politics a Liberal. He was married to Martha L., daughter of John and Mary Stevens. The latter was a granddaughter of Colonel Richard Lawrence, of Staten Island, N.Y., who served on the loyalist side during the American revolution.
Chisholm, Peter J., President and Manager of the Nova Scotia Lecture and Concert Bureau, Truro, Nova Scotia, was born at West River, Pictou county, N.S., on the 1st August, 1848, and is the youngest of a family of seven sons. Both parents were Scotch, and came to Nova Scotia in 1810. Being poor working people, they were only able to give their son a common school education; and at the early age of thirteen he was apprenticed to a general merchant. Here he remained until he was sixteen, and then started business on his own account. He visited Halifax and made his own purchases, and after a few years’ successful operations, he began to import his merchandise direct from foreign markets, and has continued to do so ever since. In 1866, he joined the Orange association by becoming a member of Derry lodge, No. 25, Truro, and is still a member of the same lodge. He occupied the position of worshipful master three years, and at the present time is grand master of the Grand Orange lodge of Nova Scotia. In 1873 he joined the Independent Order of Good Templars, and was elected chief templar the same year. In 1878 he was sent as a delegate to the Grand Lodge of Nova Scotia, and was nominated for grand chief templar, but declined. In 1880 he was elected one of the delegates to the Right Worthy Grand Lodge which met in New York city in 1880; also to Washington in 1884; Toronto in 1885; Richmond in 1886; and to Saratoga in 1887; and at Washington session was elected right worthy grand marshal. In 1880, he was elected grand chief templar of his own Grand Lodge. He held the office for four successive years; but on being elected the fifth time, he resigned, and was unanimously elected grand secretary. This office he held for two years, declining re-election at the last session of the Grand Lodge, on account of business engagements. When he assumed the office of grand chief templar in 1880, the Grand Lodge for Nova Scotia had less than 2,000 members, with a debt of over $400; but when he retired from the office the membership was over 6,000, and a surplus of cash on hand. During the four years he held the office of grand chief templar, he travelled extensively through the province of Nova Scotia as a lecturer and organizer, and was very successful. In 1886 he received an appointment as deputy right worthy grand templar from his very intimate friend, the late Hon. John B. Finch, R.W.G.T., and two weeks afterward he received a commission to proceed at once to Newfoundland and look after the interests of Good Templary there. His trip was a grand success, and on the eve of leaving the island he was tendered a grand reception and was presented with a very flattering address, signed by the leading Good Templars of Newfoundland. For three years he held the position of chairman of lecture work, and it was through his influence that the following celebrated lecturers visited Nova Scotia, New Brunswick, and Prince Edward Island, namely, Hon. John B. Finch, Colonel J. J. Hickman, Lou. J. Beauchamp, Hon. John Sobieskie, Professor Crozier, and others. In one year he reported over 300 lectures delivered and 60 lodges organized; the greatest number of lodges ever organized in one year in Nova Scotia. At the present time he holds no office in the Grand Lodge, but he is ever in demand as a lecturer and organizer. At the present time he is president and manager of the Nova Scotia lecture and concert bureau. He is a member of the Independent Order of Foresters. In politics, Mr. Chisholm has always been a strong Liberal; and in religion, a Presbyterian. Mr. Chisholm has been in business for twenty years in the town of Truro, and no one living in that beautiful town takes such great delight as he does in pointing out its beauty and advocating its advancement. During the last ten years great inducements have been offered him to leave his beautiful town, but to all such offers up to the present time he has given a refusal. In 1872 he married Bessie A. Cock, of Brookside, Colchester county. Her great-grandfather, Rev. Daniel Cock, was the first settled Presbyterian minister in the province of Nova Scotia. This is the oldest Presbyterian church in the Dominion. The Rev. William McCulloch, D.D., who retired from the ministry about a year ago, was pastor of the above congregation forty-eight years. Rev. John Robbins, late of Glencoe, Ontario, is now pastor of this church. Mr. Chisholm has been blessed with a family of two boys. Mrs. Chisholm is a very active church member; a worker in the Women’s Christian Temperance Union, and other moral reforms.
Guillet, Major George, Merchant, Cobourg, Ontario, M.P. for West Northumberland, Ontario, was born in Cobourg, on the 19th July, 1840. His father, John Guillet, was born in St. Helier, Island of Jersey, and after coming to America resided several years in St. John’s, Newfoundland, where he acted as agent for a Jersey firm engaged in the fisheries. His mother, Charlotte Payne, was the second daughter of John Payne, and was born in Frome, Somersetshire, England. Mr. Guillet received his elementary education at the public schools, and at a private school of John Wilson, M.A., LL.D., and then entered Victoria College, Cobourg. He enlisted at the time of theTrentdifficulty in the Cobourg Rifle Company, was promoted to the ensigncy of that company, and afterwards received a lieutenant’s commission in No. 2 company, 40th battalion, becoming its captain in October, 1873. He is now quartermaster of the 40th, with the rank of major. He sat in the municipal council of Cobourg seven years, and was also for four years mayor and commissioner of the town trust. His municipal career was marked by the liberal encouragement given to the manufacturing interests of the town; the obtaining of the passage of an act in the Ontario legislature providing a property qualification for commissioners of the town trust, and declaring the position shall be held without emolument, save by the chairman and treasurer of the board. Several important street improvements in the town also owe their origin to him. In addition, he was active in promoting the educational interests of Cobourg, particularly in getting erected the Faraday Science Hall, in connection with Victoria University, and the Collegiate Institute. He contested the West Riding of Northumberland in the provincial election of 1879, but was defeated by 21 votes. On the resignation of the Hon. James Cockburn, in 1881, Mr. Guillet was nominated for the vacant seat, and was elected by a majority of 79 votes over the Reform candidate, George Waters, M.D. He was re-elected at the general election of 1882, but his election having been voided by the Supreme Court, he was again nominated for re-election, and was returned, defeating for the second time his opponent of 1882, William Kerr. At the general election of 1887, he again defeated the Reform candidate, J. H. Dumble, police magistrate of Cobourg, and now represents West Northumberland in the House of Commons at Ottawa. He is a firm supporter of British connection, and all lines of national policy consistent therewith. He is, however, in favour of reciprocal trade in natural products with the United States, and the abolition of the canal tolls on Canadian trade. While he is opposed to frequent changes in the British North America Act, he favours the idea of transferring the power of prohibiting the sale of intoxicating liquors to the provinces. In the session of 1882, he introduced the bill granting to seamen a first lien and the right of recovery of wages inrem, and by a summary process, which resulted in the amendment of the Merchants’ Shipping Act of 1873 to that effect; and he received the thanks of the Seamen’s Union for obtaining these concessions. He is opposed to commercial union, on the ground of impracticability, save at the sacrifice of distinctively Canadian interests and institutions, and at the cost of humiliation and dishonour to the Canadian name. He is a member of the Masonic fraternity, also of the Oddfellows, and the Ancient Order of United Workmen. In politics Mr. Guillet is a Liberal-Conservative, and in religion an adherent of the Methodist church. He has lived continuously in Cobourg since the day of his birth, and has been engaged in the wholesale and retail grocery and crockery business for over twenty-five years. This business was first established by John Guillet, and is now one of the oldest of its kind in Cobourg. Mr. Guillet has been a successful merchant; his career not having been interrupted by either suspension, assignment, or compromise. In addition to his regular line of business, he has invested considerable of his means in lake shipping.
McKinnon, Hon. John, Farmer and Trader, Whycocomagh, M.P.P. for Inverness, Nova Scotia, was born at Whycocomagh, Cape Breton, Nova Scotia, on the 14th July, 1833. The family belongs to the McKinnons, of Skye, Scotland, and the subject of our sketch is the second son of Lauchlan McKinnon, who emigrated to Cape Breton from North Uist in 1828. His mother was Anna McLean. Mr. McKinnon received his education at the Free Church College, in Halifax. Apart from his business operations, he has devoted a good deal of his time to public concerns. He taught for several years, as Grammar school teacher in Halifax and Victoria counties. He was gazetted captain in No. 5 Inverness Infantry of militia, previous to confederation. In 1874 he was elected to represent the county of Inverness in the House of Assembly of Nova Scotia. In May, 1875, he was sworn in as member of the Executive Council, and held office without a portfolio in the Hill administration until its resignation, in October, 1878. He was an unsuccessful candidate at the general elections, held in 1878 and 1882; but at the general election in 1886 he was again returned to the Legislature by his old constituency. Mr. McKinnon was a strong supporter of confederation, and assisted in promoting the building of the railway extension from New Glasgow to the Strait of Canso. He takes a deep interest in the temperance movement, and has held several offices in the orders of the Sons of Temperance and Good Templars. He actively supports the Scott Act. In politics, he is a Liberal; and in religion, an adherent of the Presbyterian church. He was married on the 19th December, 1878, to Harriet, daughter of the late D. McQueen, of Sydney, Cape Breton.
Owens, William, Stonefield, Lachute, M.P.P. for Argenteuil, was born at Stonefield, province of Quebec, in 1840. His father, Owen Owens, was a native of Denbigh, Wales, and his mother, Charlotte Lindley, of Brantford, England. Mr. Owens received his education in the schools of his native parish; and afterwards adopted commerce as his profession. In 1861 he joined his brother in partnership, under the firm name of T. & W. Owens, and they have since carried on an extensive business as merchants and forwarders, until 1887, when Mr. Owens retired from business. Mr. Owens was an officer in the active militia from 1863 to 1883, and retired with the rank of captain. For many years he held the position of postmaster of Chatham, and also filled several terms as councillor, and latterly as mayor, of the township of Chatham. In 1881 he entered political life, and at the general election of that year was returned to the Legislative Assembly of Quebec province, as representative of his native county. At the general election held in 1886 he was again elected for Argenteuil, this time by acclamation. In politics Mr. Owens is a Conservative; and in religion is an adherent of the Church of England. He is a widower.
Taschereau, Hon. Henry T., B.L., B.C.L., Montreal, Judge of the Superior Court of the province of Quebec, was born in the city of Quebec, on the 6th October, 1841. He is the son of the Hon. Jean Thomas Taschereau, late one of the judges of the Supreme Court of the Dominion, who, after being on the bench for nineteen years, was forced to resign his position in consequence of ill-health, in October, 1878. His grandfather, Hon. Jean Thomas Taschereau, was in his lifetime one of the puisne judges of the Court of Queen’s Bench of Lower Canada, and his grandmother, Marie Panet, was a daughter of the Hon. Jean Panet, first speaker of the House of Assembly for Quebec province, which he held for twenty consecutive years. Judge Taschereau, the subject of our sketch, is the fifth member of the Taschereau family who have sat on the bench of the province of Quebec, or of the dominion of Canada, and is a nephew of his Eminence the Cardinal Archbishop of Quebec. The family is one of the oldest and most distinguished in that province, its founder in Canada having been Thomas Jacques, of Touraine, France, son of Christopher Taschereau, King’s counsellor, director of the mint, and treasurer of the city of Tours. This gentleman came to Canada about the beginning of the last century, was appointed treasurer of the marine, and in 1736 obtained the cession of a seigniory on the banks of the Chaudière river, Quebec province. Judge Taschereau was educated at the Quebec Seminary, and at Laval University, and received from Laval the degree of B.L., in 1861, and B.C.L. in 1862. He took up law as a profession, and practised in Quebec, with marked success, until he was elevated to the bench, in 1878. He was at one time a member of the city council of Quebec, and represented the city on the North Shore Railway Board. In 1862 he edited the newspaper,Les Debats, and in 1863 was one of the editors ofLa Tribune, of Quebec. He entered active political life in 1863, and ran as candidate for the county of Dorchester in the Legislative Assembly of Canada, but failed to secure his election. In 1872 he was more successful, and was returned as member for Montmagny county to the House of Commons. In 1874 he again presented himself for election, and was returned by acclamation. In politics, he was a Liberal. Being possessed of good talents and fine culture, with a good judicial mind, he has already done credit to his family of eminent parents. He was first married to a daughter of E. L. Pacaud, advocate of Arthabaska, on the 22nd June, 1864, and has a family of nine children. After the death of his first wife (Nov., 1883), he married in April, 1885, Mrs. Marie Masson, widow, of Montreal, sister-in-law of ex-Lieut.-Governor Masson. No children by last marriage.
McLachlan, Alexander, Erin, Ontario, was born at the Brig o’ Johnston, Scotland, in the year 1820. He is the son of a mechanic, and has had few of the advantages to be derived from a liberal education, yet from boyhood he was a great reader, and thus became acquainted with the works of the principal British authors. In early life he was apprenticed to a tailor, and worked at his trade for many years. In this way he fostered his inborn love of song, as few occupations are more conducive to the growth of poetic sentiment than a mechanical movement of the fingers, which leaves thought free to soar to heights that idleness could never hope to attain. In early life he became connected with the Chartist movement, but afterwards changed his views. In 1840 he emigrated to Canada, and, for a short time, made his home in the wild-wood; but since appearing before the public as an author and lecturer, he has resided at Erin, Wellington county, Ontario. The height of Mr. McLachlan’s ambition is to be to Canada what Burns was to Scotland: the poet of the people; and in this, we think, he has succeeded thus far. We cannot say that a greater than he may not appear in the future; but we have not yet seen any volume of Canadian verse equal to his in the simplicity that goes to the heart of the poor and lowly. In this respect he meets a want of the community, and occupies a position of honor that a poet of higher culture might vainly aspire to fill. It does not fall to the lot of every man to receive an education that will enable him to appreciate the classic beauties of a “Mulvaney” or a “Roberts,” or the chaste imagery of a “Maclean”; nor has nature gifted everyone with the “wild wealth of imagination” (we quote Collins) that would lead him to revel in the love-songs, of a “Caris Sima”; but what Canadian farmer, with a soul large enough to survive the transit to another sphere, would not feel the pathos of the lines that he writes on the death of his ox. This poem, though faulty in construction, brings the trials and sufferings of the early settler so graphically before the reader that it is impossible for us to overlook it. We quote the following lines: