(1.)Rev. Chancellor Nelles.—“He is an accurate scholar, a good disciplinarian, and a most successful teacher, and, indeed, has few if any equals in the general management of High school work.”(2.)Rev. Dr. Burwash.—“It is not too much to say that in the teaching profession he has few equals in this province. Both as an editor of classical literature and as a writer on the science of teaching, he has proved himself a master in his work; while in the instruction of a class and in the organization and government of a large school he stands in the foremost rank of teachers. As a Christian gentleman, his life and personal character are a model for young men; while his quiet, dignified independence and energy commend universal respect.”(3.)Dr. Haanel.—“His advice and counsel as a member of our senate has always been highly appreciated as sound, and calculated to advance real scholarship. Energetic and zealous in every good cause, Mr. McHenry has long been an important factor in educational and social circles here.”(4.)Dr. Burns, Hamilton.—“One of the most successful educators of our country. His scholarship is broad and reliable. Although a comparatively young man, he has secured a status among educators that he may well be proud of. His record is an exceedingly honourable one, both for talent, success, and personal character. Socially, he would be an acquisition to any circle.”
(1.)Rev. Chancellor Nelles.—“He is an accurate scholar, a good disciplinarian, and a most successful teacher, and, indeed, has few if any equals in the general management of High school work.”
(2.)Rev. Dr. Burwash.—“It is not too much to say that in the teaching profession he has few equals in this province. Both as an editor of classical literature and as a writer on the science of teaching, he has proved himself a master in his work; while in the instruction of a class and in the organization and government of a large school he stands in the foremost rank of teachers. As a Christian gentleman, his life and personal character are a model for young men; while his quiet, dignified independence and energy commend universal respect.”
(3.)Dr. Haanel.—“His advice and counsel as a member of our senate has always been highly appreciated as sound, and calculated to advance real scholarship. Energetic and zealous in every good cause, Mr. McHenry has long been an important factor in educational and social circles here.”
(4.)Dr. Burns, Hamilton.—“One of the most successful educators of our country. His scholarship is broad and reliable. Although a comparatively young man, he has secured a status among educators that he may well be proud of. His record is an exceedingly honourable one, both for talent, success, and personal character. Socially, he would be an acquisition to any circle.”
Mr. McHenry’s is one of those cases where a boy or young man has had the advantages arising from being early thrown upon his own resources. What he has accomplished or attained is evidently the result of personal energy and self-reliance.
Allard, Joseph Victor, Berthierville, Quebec, was born at St. Cuthbert, county of Berthier, 1st February, 1860. His father, Prosper Allard, was a most successful agriculturist, who cultivated his farm until 1884, when he sold his rural belongings and removed to Berthierville. His wife (the honored and beloved mother of the subject of our sketch), Genevievre Aurez Laferriere, died in 1881, when he married a second time—12th September, 1887,—the lady of his choice this time being a most estimable lady, the widow of Captain Romuald Fauteux, who himself had been a merchant at Berthier. Young Allard was educated at L’Assomption College, receiving an excellent classical training. From there he entered Laval University, Quebec, and in the years 1878-9 passed his examination successfully and took the degree of bachelor of arts. In 1881 he entered on the study of law at Sherbrooke and was called to the Quebec bar in 1884. Mr. Allard is one of the rising young men and a lawyer of repute in the town of Berthierville. In religion he is a devout Roman Catholic; in politics he is a consistent Liberal-Conservative, and there is but little doubt that in the future he will be found advocating the cause of his party in the local legislature or on the floor of the Dominion parliament. He is the legal representative of the Legal and Commercial Exchange of Canada for the county of Berthier. On 21st January, 1885, Mr. Allard was married to Blanche Doval, daughter of Alexandre Damase Doval and Amilié Lengendre. Mr. Doval in his life-time was a well-known advocate, as well as inspector of schools for the counties of L’Assomption, Berthier and Joliette. Mrs. Allard is niece of our celebrated French-Canadian writer, Napoleon Lengendre, F.R.S.C.
Dessaulles, George Casimir, St. Hyacinthe, Quebec, President of the Bank of St. Hyacinthe and of the St. Hyacinthe Manufacturing Company, and an enterprising citizen, was born in St. Hyacinthe, on the 29th of September, 1827. His father was Jean Dessaulles, seigneur of St. Hyacinthe, one of the founders of the place, a member of the Lower Canada parliament for years, and at the time of his death, in 1835, a member of the Legislative Council of the province of Quebec. The father of Jean Dessaulles was from Switzerland, coming to Lower Canada in the latter part of the last century. The mother of our subject was Rosalie Papineau, sister of the Hon. Louis J. Papineau. She died in 1867. Mr. Dessaulles was educated at the College of St. Hyacinthe, taking a complete classical course, and studied law, but never engaged in its practice. His time has been largely employed in looking after his seignorial estate and other property, and attending to the various municipal and other offices which he has held, or still holds. He was councilman for twelve years, mayor of the city for ten years, making twenty-two consecutive years’ service in the municipality, and then declined the chief magistracy against the wishes of the people; was a school commissioner at one period; a justice of the peace, and the second president of the bank of St. Hyacinthe, taking that position in 1878. The manufacturing company, of which he is president, is a large institution, and doing a variety of business—carding wool, manufacturing flannels and cloths, flour for custom market, etc. It is such enterprises as this that have helped to build up the city of St. Hyacinthe; and in efforts made in that direction no man has done more than the subject of this sketch, whose energies and business tact and talent are thoroughly devoted to the interests of his native city. He is connected with the Catholic church, and was at one time president of the St. Jean Baptiste Society. His moral character is unblemished. Mr. Dessaulles was first married, in 1857, to Emma Mondelet, third daughter of the Hon. Dominic Mondelet, of Three Rivers, she dying in 1864, leaving one son and two daughters; and the second time, in 1869, to Frances Louise Leman, daughter of Dr. Dennis S. Leman, an English physician, and by her has two daughters and two sons.
La Roque, Gedeon, M.D., Quebec. Sergeant-at-Arms of the Legislative Assembly of the Province of Quebec, is not only a conspicuous contemporary figure in that province, but a gentleman who has taken an active part in its politics, and contributed in no slight degree to the development of its resources and material prosperity. He was born at Chambly, in the province of Quebec, on the 22nd December, 1831. He springs from a stock as remarkable for its fruitfulness and attachment to the soil, as for the eminent positions to which some of its members have attained. Originally from France, in the early days of the colony, and mostly farmers, his ancestors were among the pioneers of settlement and civilization in Chambly county, P.Q., locating along the banks of the little river “Montreal,” about a mile from Chambly basin, tilling the soil, raising large families, and laying the foundations of what is to-day one of the most populous and thriving agricultural communities in Lower Canada. The family of Dr. La Roque’s paternal grandfather, composed of eleven brothers and three sisters, nearly all occupied adjoining farms in the parish of Chambly. His uncle, the late Monseigneur Joseph La Roque, formerly Roman Catholic coadjutor bishop of Montreal, and afterwards bishop of the diocese of St. Hyacinthe, who died in November, 1887, was the last survivor of a family also composed of fourteen members. Another deceased bishop of St. Hyacinthe, Monseigneur Charles La Roque, previously for many years parish priest of St. John’s, P.Q., was also a near relative of the subject of this sketch. Both these prelates were in their day men of high standing, great learning and marked ability, and their names are still venerated as among the most illustrious in the Lower Canadian hierarchy. Dr. La Roque began his classical education at Chambly College, so ably presided over at the time by its zealous founder, Rev. P. Mignault, parish priest of Chambly. Subsequently young La Roque was entered at the St. Hyacinthe College, where he continued and completed his studies under the immediate eye of his uncle, Rev. Joseph La Roque, the superior of the institution, and afterwards bishop of St. Hyacinthe. On leaving college he decided to study medicine, and was accordingly indentured for the purpose to another of his uncles, Dr. Luc Eusebe La Roque, of St. Jerome, Terrebonne, P.Q., now the parish of Father Labelle, the great apostle of colonization in the province of Quebec. It was while pursuing his medical studies that young La Roque first became interested in the cause of colonization, to the advancement of which he has so patriotically devoted so much of his subsequent career. His uncle, Dr. L. E. La Roque, who had then but lately returned from the gold fields of California, and who was one of the few survivors who had crossed (both ways) the deadly swamps of the Isthmus of Panama, had become largely interested in the settlement of the wild lands in the upper part of the River du Nord, in the county of Terrebonne, and in the fall of 1851 young Gedeon La Roque was despatched by him, in charge of a squad of men, to open up a settlement atLac à la Truite, some forty miles from St. Jerome. The youthful pioneer and his companions only succeeded in reaching their destination, after enduring the greatest hardships and suffering. It took them two days to accomplish the last twelve miles of their fearful journey through the wilderness, but the result must be regarded as a fitting reward of the heroism displayed on the occasion. To-day the beautiful and populous parish of St. Agathe des Monts, in the county of Terrebonne, surrounds the spot where young La Roque and his men felled the first trees, and erected the first log hut on the western shore ofLac à la Truite. To the late Hon. A. N. Morin, then provincial secretary for Lower Canada, under the newly formed cabinet of Hincks-Morin, and Dr. Luc Eusebe La Roque, undoubtedly belonged the honor of being the instigators of the first great movement of colonization in that section of the country, but the credit of actually opening up the first settlement in the township of Abercrombie (Terrebonne) must be awarded to Gedeon La Roque, who, after this incident, resumed and completed his medical studies at the School of Medicine and Surgery at Montreal, finally passing as a licentiate in medicine on the 9th October, 1855, before the College of Physicians and Surgeons of Lower Canada, of which the late Dr. Fremont was then president, Drs. Landry and Pelletier, secretaries, and Dr. Jones,actorum custos. After his admission, Dr. Gedeon La Roque settled down to practise his profession at Longueuil, opposite Montreal, where he met with early and gratifying success. By 1863 he had so grown in the confidence and esteem of his fellow citizens, that in that year he was elected mayor of Longueuil, after a hard contest with Mr. F. X. Valade, N.P., and was subsequently re-elected three times to the same office without opposition. He also filled the responsible position of warden of the county Chambly during four years. At the time of confederation, in 1867, Dr. La Roque was pressed by his many friends to accept the candidature of the county for the Quebec Legislative Assembly, in the interests of the Conservative party, but, though he declined the honor for himself, he worked and secured the election, for the party, of Mr. J. B. Jodoin, against Mr. F. David, who was not only supported by the Liberal party, but by his brother-in-law, Mr. L. Betournay, a man of great influence in the county, and a member of the same legal firm as the late Sir George E. Cartier (Cartier, Pominville & Betournay). At the general elections of 1871, Dr. La Roque, being again solicited by his friends to stand for the county for the Local House, decided to come forward, and was put in nomination against Mr. P. B. Benoit, M.P. This was before the abolition of dual representation. Dr. La Roque was supported both by Conservatives and Liberals, and elected by a large majority, his opponent resigning after the close of the first day’s polling. His parliamentary career was marked by much independence of thought and action, especially during the Chauveau and Ouimet Administrations, when he spoke and voted against the Government on the questions of the lease of Beauport asylum, dual representation, and some matters concerning teachers and education. After the so-called Tanneries’ scandal, and the resignation of the Ouimet ministry, the member for Chambly, believing that a vigorous railway policy was essential to the opening up and development of the province, gave an unhesitating support to the railway programme of their successors the De Boucherville cabinet, and was invited by the premier, Mr. De Boucherville, to move the address in reply to the speech from the throne, on which occasion he was very ably sustained by the member for Huntingdon, Dr. Cameron, as seconder of the resolution. As a friend of colonization, Dr. Larocque was an ardent advocate of railway building, and as such the proposals of the De Boucherville government in the house regarding the construction of the Northern Colonization (so called at the time) and the North Shore Railroads, not only met with his warm approval and active support, but during 1874 and 1875 he even gave his services as agent to the contractors of the Northern Colonization road, Messrs. McDonald & Abbott, in order to purchase the right of way from River des Prairies to Aylmer. On the 15th June, 1875, a vacancy having occurred in the position of Sergeant-at-Arms of the Legislative Assembly, he was appointed to fill it, and this important and responsible appointment he still continues to hold with general acceptance, enjoying not only the confidence and regard of succeeding ministers and parliaments, but the respect of the public as well, for his tact and firmness in the discharge of the regular duties of his office, as for the energy, ability and taste with which he has at different times supervised and carried out works that had to be executed at short notice, including the fitting up and decorating of both Houses of the Legislature on such occasions of mark as the receptions of the Marquis of Lorne and H.R.H. the Princess Louise, in 1878, of the lieutenant-governors of the province, of the speakers of the Legislative Assembly, and last, but not least, of Madame Mercier, wife of the premier of the province, on the occasion of the Interprovincial Conference, in October, 1887, and in honor of the delegates to that important congress, of which Dr. La Roque was also named accountant. Another distinctive feature of his life-work, and one which does infinite honor to his intelligence and patriotism, is the ardor which he has ever shown in endeavouring to ameliorate the system of agriculture pursued in his native province. In and out of the legislature, no man has done more to advance that important cause in Lower Canada, both by preaching and personal example. His published treatises on agriculture and horticulture have become handbooks among his fellow countrymen, and his valuable little work on “The Culture of Tobacco,” has contributed largely to the promotion and improvement of that industry in the province of Quebec. He also owns a large farm at Beaumont, below the city of Quebec, which is actually under the management of his son, and is deservedly regarded as a model establishment of its kind. Dr. La Roque was married three times—firstly, on the 30th June, 1856, to Miss Marie Felicity Thibault, a sister of the late Rev. Messrs. George and Amable Thibault, parish priests respectively of Longueuil and Chambly, in the diocese of Montreal; secondly, in May, 1870, to Miss Rosalie Brauneis, of Montreal; and lastly, in January, 1874, to Miss Marie Asilda Davignon, daughter of Simon Davignon, N.P., of Belœil, P.Q. By these three marriages he has had eighteen children, of whom ten are still living.
Robillard, Alexander, M.P.P., Russel, was born in the township of Gloucester, county of Russel, in 1843. He comes of the best French-Canadian stock, his father having been a man of extensive business as a contractor in Ottawa. His father died at the ripe old age of 87 years, his mother being still alive and in the enjoyment of good health at an equally advanced age. Young Robillard had the benefit of a sound commercial education at St. Joseph’s College, Ottawa, and this education he has used to such advantage that he is now one of the heaviest operators in contracting work and quarrying. He was the contractor for the construction of the Model School, one of the most substantial buildings in the city, which was put up by the Ontario Government. His career in business has been one of steady advance, his record having been throughout such as none could find fault with. Being of adventurous disposition, Mr. Robillard has travelled extensively and in places which, when he saw them, were new and strange. He made extensive tours in the West, especially on the Pacific coast from Panama to British Columbia. He has crossed the Isthmus of Panama twice and has been through a great portion of South America. He has also visited Europe several times, making it a point to see all the out-of-the-way places his time would permit him to visit, and has crossed the Pacific to the Orient twice. These travels have been undertaken at various times and the effect of them is plainly to be seen in his toleration of opinions differing from his own and his great knowledge of foreign lands. Mr. Robillard was married at the age of twenty-two, to Miss Sophia Lafleur, who died in May, 1885. The children of the union are seven in number, of whom six are boys. Political affairs have always had great attraction for Mr. Robillard, and he has taken an active part in all the municipal and political contests of his district since he was entitled to vote. His record as a municipal councillor is a long and honorable one, he having been elected Deputy Reeve of Gloucester for five years and afterwards Reeve for three years. In 1886 he was elected to represent his native county in the Legislative Assembly of Ontario. In that capacity he has served only one session, but he enters upon his career with the confident belief on the part of his constituents that he will certainly make his mark. He is a Liberal in politics.
Rexford, Rev. Elson Irving, B.A., Secretary of the Department of Public Instruction, Quebec, was born at South Bolton, Brome County, P.Q., on the 17th June, 1850. He is the eldest son of Orrin Rexford, (who married Eliza Dimond), and a grandson of one of seven brothers who came from the shores of Lake Champlain about 1790, and settled in the County of Stanstead, on the shores of Lake Memphremagog. The Rexford family on this continent are descendants of Arthur Rexford, who was master of a trading vessel between England and the West Indies and the New England colonies, and who died in New Haven, Conn., in 1727. The Rev. Elson I. Rexford attended the elementary and superior schools of his native county until he was sixteen years of age, when he entered the McGill Normal School, Montreal, where he obtained a Model School diploma at the end of a two years’ course of training, taking first place and the Prince of Wales’ medal. He held the positions of assistant master in the model training school of the McGill Normal School and head master of one of the city schools under the Protestant Board of School Commissioners, Montreal, for three years. During this time he took an active part in the local association of Teachers, of which he held the position of Secretary for some time. He entered upon the Arts course of McGill University, Montreal, in September, 1871. He graduated with honors in mental and moral philosophy in 1876, having dropped out for one year when he entered upon the study of theology; this study he continued during the last two years of his arts course. He was ordained by the Right Reverend Ashton Oxendon in 1876, and immediately entered upon the charge of St. Luke’s Church, Montreal. This charge he was obliged to resign after a few months, in consequence of ill-health, by which he was deprived of the use of one leg for about two years. On account of this he returned to the work of teaching, first as head-master of his former school in Montreal, and afterwards as assistant head master of the Montreal High School. During this time he was President of the Local Association of Montreal Teachers, and Secretary of the Provincial Association of Protestant Teachers, Quebec. In 1882, he was called from the High School to fill the position of English Secretary of the Department of Public Instruction, Quebec, rendered vacant by the retirement of Dr. Miles, which position he still holds. He was elected several times Representative Fellow on the Corporation of McGill University, and on his removal to Quebec, he was appointed Governor’s Fellow of the University. In September, 1882, he married Louisa Norris, of Montreal.
Derbishire, Stewart.—If variety in the career of a man tend to render his life—other things being equal—more interesting than those of his fellows, who maintain an even tenor on their way, following the profession through life in which they have been brought up and educated, then will our readers find this element of interest not wanting in the life of the subject of the following sketch. Beginning life as a soldier, the late Mr. Derbishire soon turned to the study of the law, and though he found himself on the high road to distinction in this profession, he relinquished it for the more exciting pursuit of journalism, which led him to Spain during the Constitutional war, where he drew his sword on behalf of Queen Isabella. When however, the decisive action, which ended in the defeat of Gomez, placed the crown upon her head, he embarked in the very opposite mission of endeavouring to bring peace to a distracted country, in the train of Lord Durham. Unlike his master, however, he did not leave this country on the apparent failure of that nobleman’s truly humane and generous efforts on behalf of the people; but being drawn into the political life of the country, after executing some very delicate missions of a diplomatic character, he was elected the first member for Bytown, now Ottawa; which constituency he continued to serve in parliament for several years, until, after the passing of the Independence of Parliament Act, he gave up his seat, having become Queen’s Printer for united Canada in 1841. So slight are the causes to which we are sometimes led to attribute the direction given to our current of life, that Mr. Derbishire was often heard to say, that it was owing to his belief that the rebellion was by no means finally quelled, but that there would be another spurt before long, and wishing—to use his own words—“to see the fun,” that Canada finally became his home—a home to which he accorded a loyal affection and admiration, and whose fluctuating course, after he had retired from the political arena, he watched with anxiety and interest to the end of his life. Stewart Derbishire, born in London, in the year 1800, was the third son of Philip Derbishire, M.D., and Ann Masterton, daughter of Allan Masterton, of Edinburgh, an intimate friend and companion of Burns, whose verses he was fond of setting to music. Miss Masterton, who was gifted with great personal charms, and of more than average mental ability, was the subject of those lines by Burns, entitled “Beware o’ Bonnie Ann.” At the age of sixteen, Mr. Derbishire commenced life as an ensign in the Eighty-second regiment, but very soon afterwards, the peace having caused the reduction of the army to one half its strength, he became a student of law of the Honorable Society of Gray’s Inn, about the year 1824. He was engaged in several cases of much public interest, in the conduct of which he distinguished himself, and amongst which was that of the Dorsetshire labourers, prosecuted for machine-breaking in 1832. The case created great interest throughout England, and was reported at unusual length in theTimesof that period. From an early age Mr. Derbishire was of very strongly pronounced Liberal views in politics, and being drawn into the vortex of political journalism, aided very effectually the movement which ended in the passing of the Reform Bill. Having gained the warm regard of Sir de Lacy Evans, commander of the British Legion, which championed the cause of Queen Isabella in 1837, and having become much interested in the struggle going on in Spain, Mr. Derbishire proceeded to the troubled scene as special correspondent of theMorning Chronicle. Not satisfied, however, with using his pen only in the cause, and desiring to be more actively engaged in the struggle, he volunteered at the assault of Irun, and for his personal bravery received a medal, as well as a very flattering letter from Sir de Lacy. He also earned the high approbation of Narvaez, under whom he served in the campaigns of Castile, Valladolid and Sagovia, for which services he was made a Knight of the Christian and Military Order of San Fernando, and received several medals for his gallantry. The honor of saving the life of Narvaez in a mutiny, has been attributed to him, and he is also said to have been the first to point out to the Melbourne ministry—then active champions of the Quadruple Alliance—the inefficiency of Espartero, and to foretell the rise of Narvaez. In 1838, the subject of our sketch came out to Canada as attaché to the Earl of Durham. He held this nobleman in high esteem, as well for his personal qualities as for his generous and large-hearted statesmanship, and like him, he considered a lenient policy the only one to be pursued towards the recently insurgent population, amongst whom he acted as an emissary of mercy, visiting in the Montreal district the localities, which, like Saint Benoit and Saint Eustache had been desolated by the flames of civil war, carrying consolation and assistance to the victims of the strife. He continued after the troubles had ceased, to have a warm corner in his heart for the rebels, some of whom became his personal friends, and towards whom—more especially Dr. Wolfred Nelson and Dr. Rolph—he entertained, not only feelings of affectionate regard, but of high respect and admiration, as towards men who had taken up a course detrimental to their own interests, in the hope of gaining for the country that which, in a short time, all but an insignificant minority agreed the country must have. For some of the less fortunate among their brethren, who remained in exile, he used his influence with the Canadian government. Later in the day, when many of the former rebels were serving their country in honourable positions, and it was no singular thing to be in friendship with them, one of Lord Metcalfe’s aides was heard to say, “How are your friends the rebels, Derbishire?” “Oh,” was the reply, “I can’t get to see them now, you keep them at government house; when Viger was in jail we could get to him, now we can’t.” Viger was then president of the council. In the course of Mr. Derbishire’s diplomatic duties, he brought up from New York the news from Britain that, as he expressed it, “would make his lordship kick and throw up his commission,” as indeed it did, and shortly after the Earl’s departure, the rebellion again breaking out, as all along he had predicted it would, he was asked, as one who knew the country and the people, to undertake the dangerous service of carrying despatches to New Brunswick and Halifax, demanding immediate re-inforcements of troops; this he did, travelling in mid-winter from Quebec to Halifax by sleigh and on horse-back, and resting neither night nor day till his mission was fulfilled. Finding everything tranquil on his return to Lower Canada, he endeavoured to regain his native land, but owing to the badness of the roads, arrived in New York too late for the packet, by which he intended sailing. There were at that time matters of great interest in agitation at Washington, and Mr. Fox—then British minister there—engaged his services to draw up several papers upon the international relations between Great Britain, the United States and the Canadas, which were sent home to the Foreign office with high commendations, and Mr. Derbishire was just on the eve of embarking with strong recommendations to Lord Palmerston, when a letter reached him, stating, that Mr. Poulett Thompson, afterwards Lord Sydenham, wished him to join his government, whereupon he once more turned his footsteps in the direction of the country which appeared fated to become his home. Before leaving the United States, however, Mr. Fox commissioned him to travel leisurely through Maine, on his way from New Brunswick to Canada, and endeavor to find out the feelings of the people of that state upon the vexed question of their northern boundary; he did so, and found the Mainites in a highly irritated, and what he considered to be, wholly unreasonable frame of mind on that subject, and he drew up a somewhat lengthy paper on the knowledge gained through his enquiries, which Mr. Fox spoke of as containing some extremely valuable information, and the gist of which would form a useful addition to the history extant upon the subject. In 1841, Mr. Derbishire was elected member of Parliament for Bytown, having been personally recommended by Lord Sydenham, as “a friend of my own, qualified by his ability to do honor to any constituency.” Sir Charles Bagot’s administration, Mr. Derbishire considered in the highest degree successful, and full of promise to the young country, whose factions were beginning to coalesce and work in harmony under the straightforward, wise and honorable policy of that governor. If, however, he was so fortunate as to have his political sentiments at one with those of each governor-general who had ruled in the country since his arrival in it—during whose administrations had been developed and brought into action that principle of responsible government which was to release the youthful limbs of the country from the bands that had hitherto confined them, allowing them to gain strength within the bounds of legitimate freedom—responsible government, “without which, British rule in this part of the empire must have become a monument of cruelty, injustice and folly”—it was far otherwise when Sir Charles Bagot’s unfortunate successor came upon the scene—the former happy unity of sentiment ceased. Admiring, as he did, Lord Metcalfe’s benevolentheart, it could only be with a sorrowful foreboding that he watched the reversion, by this nobleman’s want ofhead, of all that the three former governors had striven to establish. Lord Metcalfe was only “fighting again a battle which had been already fought and lost; but fighting it with diminished forces, and positions considerably less favorable, reviving a contest lost by Sir F. B. Head.” Believing, that until prepared with other ministers, granting a reasonable time for the construction of a cabinet, it is out of all rule of representative, responsible, or any government short of a despotism, to dismiss, or what is the same thing, promote the resignation of an existing ministry, his vote condemned the claim advanced by the governor-general, to make appointments without the knowledge of the cabinet, although a threat of dismissal from the office of Queen’s printer—which had been bestowed upon him in 1841—was held over his head. It was a question to him whether the country should progress in that development, which seems to be the lot of all new countries where free play is given to the instinct of the Anglo-Saxon race for self-government, or whether the irritation caused by the frustration of this instinct, should break out again into civil war, bringing anarchy and annexation in its train. Being a man of honor, of course all personal considerations were dwarfed beside the gigantic proportions assumed by this question, in view of the future welfare of the country. Not long after this critical period, Mr. Derbishire gave up his seat in parliament, on the passing of the Independence of Parliament Act, but after retiring from active politics, as was to be expected of a man, the bias of whose mind was toward political life, his interest in the destinies of his adopted country did not grow dim with years. He watched her course with keen sight, and continued to champion what he considered her best interests in the press, both of the colony and of the mother country. In 1849, when financial ruin stared the country in the face, and Britain, by her oft-repeated neglect, seemed callous to her fate, he, with many others, sorrowfully believed that annexation was inevitable, and with much bitterness of spirit, expressed himself to a friend in England, who had for many years been a public servant in this country: “In view of annexation, I feel, as I suppose a man feels who knows that one of these coming days he is to be led out to the scaffold to be strangled in presence of numerous spectators who come to enjoy the sport, and so feel a good many, I fancy.” His feelings towards Canada had been one of peculiar loyalty—in the first years of his residence in it he wished people to believe that he had taken root and identified himself with its interests, and with a lavish hand, spent the large income he received, that they might know that it was not riches he sought in making Canada his home. United to his talents in public life, Mr. Derbishire possessed those qualifications which make a man the admired favorite of society. A wide range of sympathies, rare scholarship and artistic taste, joined to a warmth and geniality of disposition, which caused him to help with heart and hand and purse all those who appealed to his sympathy, made the domain in which he ruled by affection, a wide and varied one. One, a friend from the time he first came to the country, says of him, “Coming within the vast pale of those whom he admitted to sympathy, from the highest to the lowest, to whom he extended the generous helping hand, and knowing him better, I believe, than those with whom he was intimate, or the public, I was deeply impressed with the depth of his philosophy and his accomplished literary power and taste.”
Adam, Lucien Alexandre Samuel, Sheriff of the District of St. Hyacinthe, in the Province of Quebec, was born at Coteau du Lac, county of Soulanges, district of Montreal, the 10th day of November, 1847. His parents were Louis Adam, notary, and Henriette Bourgeois, third daughter of the late Captain François Louis Bourgeois, who came to Canada with the title of captain, in a company of the regiment of the Meurous. He was a native of Neufchatel, in Switzerland. Before the recall of his regiment, Captain Bourgeois remained in this country, which he made his retreat, and died in 1860, at the home of his son-in-law, Louis Adam, at Coteau du Lac, aged ninety-one years. Madame Bourgeois was a daughter of the late Dr. Stubenger, surgeon, etc., who died in this country several years ago. In 1837, Louis Adam was among the number of patriots who assisted and took part with his father, Augustin Adam, at St. Charles. He was then only fourteen years of age. Lucien Samuel Adam took his classical course at the Grand Seminary of St. Hyacinthe, which he left the 15th June, 1866, after having been admitted as a law student. He studied his profession with the late Louis Taché, then notary and sheriff of St. Hyacinthe, and acted as deputy sheriff during six years. In April, 1870, at the time of the Fenian invasion, Mr. Adam was attached to the staff of the St. Hyacinthe regiment, then under the command of Lieut.-Colonel Romuald St. Jacques. The regiment was called out on duty and set out for the frontier to suppress the insurrection, with others from Montreal, where the subject of our sketch was appointed paymaster. In May, 1871, he was admitted as a member of the legal profession, by the Assembly of Notaries at Laval University, Quebec, and on the 14th of July he commenced the practice of his profession at St. Hyacinthe, which he continued until May, 1881, when he was made sheriff by the Chapleau government, in place of the late Louis Taché, deceased, the 1st April of the same year. Mr. Adam took part in several election contests, provincial as well as federal, and was always a staunch supporter of Conservative interests. On the 15th of May, 1872, he was married at St. Hyacinthe, to Miss Marie Zoé Boivin, second daughter of the late Leonard Boivin, merchant and importer, of St. Hyacinthe, and in later years collector of inland revenue for the said place, whose wife was Madame Marie Zoé Lagorce and who died in August, 1872. Mr. Adam has three brothers, the Rev. F. L. T. Adam, of Hochelaga, Montreal; A. A. Adam, advocate of Ottawa, and the Rev. Father Adam, Jesuit, of Montreal. In religion, it is needless to say, Mr. Adam is an earnest and devout Roman Catholic. He was appointed sheriff at the early age of thirty-three, and to-day is but forty years of age. Possessing all the necessary requirements—talent, industry and integrity—of success, Mr. Adam has undoubtedly a brilliant career before him.
McConnel, William George, Berthierville, Quebec, was born in the city of Quebec, on the 12th of July, 1838. His father, John McConnel, and his mother, Margaret, were both born in the north of Ireland, in the good old county Derry, but both parents died while the subject of this sketch was still a mere youth. Thrown thus on his own resources, William George found his way to the New World, and received a good commercial education at the Protestant Orphan Asylum, Quebec. At the age of thirteen he was bound to a clergyman of the Church of England, for the sum of $100, to learn farming. He soon found, however, that his talent lay in another direction, and in a short time he was sent to Mr. J. S. Dixon, merchant, of Berthier, and here he obtained that thorough knowledge of mercantile affairs which has been so useful to him in later years. He remained with Mr. Dixon for thirteen years, when his entire savings, some $1,300, were swept away by the failure of his master. Mr. Dixon, however, resumed business, and, nothing daunted, Mr. McConnel entered into partnership with his former master, and they continued in business together for three years. On October 1st, 1868, Mr. McConnel entered into business on his own account as a general produce merchant, but making flour his chief business, and he still continues to make a specialty of this indispensable article. In 1881 he entered into partnership with Mr. Robillard, M.P.P., in the wholesale grain business, but this partnership was dissolved in the fall of 1886. Mr. McConnel is a member of the Montreal Corn Exchange, which he joined in 1879. He is a staunch Liberal in politics, and has always thrown his influence heartily into every contest, so as to make that party successful in the county of Berthier. He has been an alderman of the town since 1881; and the esteem in which he is held by his fellow-townsmen is shown in the fact that his election is always by acclamation. In 1888 he was appointed a justice of the peace for the county of Richelieu. He is a faithful adherent of the Church of England. In 1881 he was elected people’s churchwarden, and since that time the church has been independent of outside support. He is also one of the trustees of the Berthier Protestant Academy. He was married on December 1st, 1872, to a French lady, Miss Amelia Mailloux, daughter of Antoine and Marie Louise Mailloux, of Berthier, by whom he has a family of nine children, of whom seven only are living. All of them speak the French and English languages fluently. Mr. McConnel is a good conversationalist, with an intimate knowledge of men and places acquired in the course of constant travel in the United States and Canada.
Maynard, Rev. Thomas, M.A., D.D., Rector of Christ Church, Windsor, and Canon of St. Luke’s Cathedral, Halifax, Nova Scotia, was born in Halifax, N.S., on the 8th of November, 1814. His father, Thomas Maynard, a post-captain in the British navy, was a native of Devonshire, England, who, after seeing a great deal of service, settled in Halifax, and became high sheriff of the county of Halifax; he was a man of great integrity, and died at the advanced age of 87 years. His mother was Lucy Creighton, of Halifax. Her father, J. Creighton, belonged to Somersetshire, England, and was among the first English settlers in Nova Scotia. Mr. Creighton owned the Cathedral Hill, and sold it to the Duke of Kent, and received, in part payment, a house called Grenadier Fort, where Trinity church now stands. There was a small wooden fort at the gate of this property, built to keep off the Indians. Rev. Dr. Maynard received his educational training at the Collegiate School, and at King’s College, Windsor, N.S., where he graduated in arts in 1832. He studied law, and was afterwards admitted a barrister; but, changing his mind, he determined to devote himself to the work of the Master, and accordingly, in 1841, was ordained deacon by the Right Rev. John Inglis, bishop of Nova Scotia, and priest by the same bishop a year later. He was curate, for a year, of Dartmouth, and after, about the same length of time, of St. George’s Church at Halifax. Afterwards he occupied the position of rector of Rawdon, and subsequently of Digby, for five years each; then of Sackville, near Halifax, four years; and was appointed rector of Windsor in 1859, where he has since administered his holy office. Canon Maynard has often held the position of examiner in divinity in King’s College, and has on several occasions been a delegate to the Provincial Synod, held in Montreal, as well as to the Diocesan Synod. King’s College has conferred upon him the degrees of M.A. and D.D. In his ministration, Dr. Maynard is free from display, but constantly shows a yearning love for the best welfare of his hearers. He has a rare faculty of attracting the young, and he is held in very high respect by his people. He is withal possessed of a genial disposition, and has a keen sense of humor. His preaching corresponds with his life, and is highly calculated to impress and deepen the spiritual life of those under his care. He has done good work in the Lord’s vineyard. He was married on the 8th March, 1843, to Sarah Wilkins, daughter of the Hon. Lewis Morris Wilkins, at one time speaker of the House of Assembly, Nova Scotia, and subsequently judge of the Supreme Court of Nova Scotia. Miss Wilkins was a woman of very superior intellect and literary attainment, and was a great favorite wherever she was known. She was a great aid to her husband in all his efforts to do good in the church. She died on the 30th September, 1884, aged 70 years. The family of Wilkins was one of the most important in this county. Dr. Isaac Wilkins represented the county of West Chester, in the State of New York, before the American Revolutionary war; he sided with the British, and gave up wealth and power to live under the British flag. He came to Nova Scotia, and settled at Shelbourne; he represented that county in the provincial legislature. Some years after the peace he returned to the United States; having formerly studied for the Christian ministry, he was ordained by Bishop Leabury, and was rector of the parish of West Chester, where he died at an advanced age. His son, Lewis Morris Wilkins, and his grandson of the same name, both became judges of the Supreme Court of Nova Scotia. His grandson, Martin Isaac Wilkins, was a distinguished lawyer and prothonotary of the Superior Court. Judge Wilkins had three daughters, Sarah Wilkins, the wife of Canon Maynard, being the youngest. The fruit of the union has been a family of eight children.
Stevenson, Major Samuel Cottingham, (B.A.), was born in Montreal, on the 7th August, 1848. He attended the high school in that city and afterwards graduated at McGill University, taking the degree of Bachelor of Arts. His father was Mr. James Stevenson, a native of Campbellton, Argyleshire, Scotland, and his mother was Elizabeth Cottingham, a descendant of the Cottinghams, of County Caven, Ireland. When a youth Mr. Stevenson entered the ranks of the Victoria Rifles, Montreal, and not long afterwards he saw active service in the Fenian raid of 1866. He afterwards held a commission in the 1st, or Prince of Wales’ Rifles, and was present in the engagement at Eccles’ Hill, on the Vermont border, in 1870. In the year 1881 Mr. Stevenson retired from the force with the rank of Major. For over fifteen years Mr. Stevenson has taken a very prominent part in the exhibition affairs of the Dominion. He entered on the work in 1872, as assistant at the first large provincial exhibition held at Montreal. Mr. Stevenson worked so efficiently, and made himself so useful everywhere at this time, that his services were called into requisition at the next provincial exhibition, held in the following year on the new grounds at Mile End, Montreal. On this occasion he showed himself so energetic and capable that he was placed in entire charge of the industrial department of the exhibition. We next find that in the preparations made for the representation of Canada at the great Centennial Exhibition at Philadelphia, in 1876, Mr. Stevenson was appointed secretary to the advisory board, in succession to Mr. H. Beaugrand, mayor of Montreal, and when the exhibition opened he was appointed special commissioner there for the province of Quebec. He had secured a magnificent display of products and manufactures from Montreal, Quebec, Sherbrooke, and the province generally. The services he rendered at the great American Centennial were of a most important character, not only in the amount of well-directed labor he performed, but for his good influence in promoting the commerce and interests of his native country generally. On Mr. Stevenson’s return, his practical services were acknowledged by the gift of a splendid gold watch and chain and an address. In the next year a permanent exhibition committee for the province of Quebec was named, and Mr. Stevenson was unanimously chosen secretary, and has held the position till the present time. In that capacity he originated and managed the first of the series of Dominion exhibitions which have been held in various parts of Canada ever since, and which have been the means of greatly fostering the inter-provincial relations of the country. In fact, it was at this exhibition that the attention of that large portion of the people of the older provinces who had never troubled themselves much about it, became earnestly concentrated upon the great North-West, Mr. Stevenson having obtained a most interesting collection of exhibits from Manitoba and the adjoining territories. Till now all the principal exhibitions in Canada had been provincial in character, but a new era was opened by this event, and the Dominion government, having voted a special grant of $5000, have maintained the exhibition ever since, it being held in different cities and different provinces each year. Mr. Stevenson was the chief organizer and manager of all the exhibitions held in Montreal since 1872, and in 1883 contributed much to the success of the Dominion exhibition at St. John, N.B., by the contributions he raised in Quebec and Ontario, as he did also to the success of the International Exhibition at Antwerp in 1885, at which Canada was well represented. His work in connection with the Colonial and Indian exhibition is too well known to the public of Canada and England to need an extended reference here. From the moment the idea was started Mr. Stevenson entered heart and soul into the work, and organized the largest collection of exhibits ever sent out of his province. He gave many suggestions of value to the Dominion government, and at the request of Sir Charles Tupper, was dispatched to London to assist in arranging the details of the Canadian section, alloting the spaces, etc. That Mr. Stevenson worked well, and that he rendered the most valuable service in the interests of all parts of the Dominion, is admitted on all sides, and that he triumphed successfully over the difficulties of want of space and the inconvenient arrangement of the building will also be most readily admitted by those who best understood the nature of the task before him, as well as by those who had an opportunity of seeing the admirable arrangement of the Canadian court. He took the initiative in the formation of the Exhibitors’ Commercial Exchange at the exhibition, established for the purpose of developing and fostering closer commercial relations between the various British colonies, and was its provisional chairman. Mr. Stevenson is secretary of the Council of Arts and Manufactures of the Province of Quebec, under whose direction is placed the technical and art education of the province. He is director of technical and art instruction, and has taken a warm interest in the work of the schools under the control of the council. He has contributed several valuable articles on technical education. Mr. Stevenson took a prominent part in inducing the American Association for the Advancement of Science to hold its sessions in Montreal in 1882, and was also one of the local secretaries, in conjunction with Hon. Thomas White, ex-Mayor Rivard and Mr. S. E. Dawson, on the occasion of the famous meeting of the British Association for the Advancement of Science, held there in 1884. Mr. Stevenson’s wide and varied experience in exhibition matters is well appreciated and recognized by those who know him in America, and he was consequently elected vice-president of the International Association of Fairs and Expositions at the annual convention of that body held in St. Louis, Mo., in 1884. He was also appointed honorary commissioner for Canada for the Boston Foreign exhibition, held in 1883. That the people of his own city have confidence in his judgment in exhibition matters is evidenced by the fact that the Montreal Board of Trade desired to have his views and his advice before commiting itself to any line of action in connection with the proposed permanent exhibition, as suggested by the London Chamber of Commerce, in 1886. It is pleasing to notice that, notwithstanding the calls on Mr. Stevenson’s energy, he can still find time to promote the athletic sports of Canada. He was for some years secretary of the old Dominion Lacrosse and Snow Shoe Club, and has several good records to his credit; was president of the Independent Lacrosse Club and of the Wolseley Snow Shoe Club, and in 1880 he was elected president of the National Lacrosse Association of Canada. Mr. Stevenson is thoroughly acquainted with the French language, which is of great advantage in the province of Quebec, and has travelled extensively through Europe, United States and his own country. He is a member of the Presbyterian church of Canada. Mr. Stevenson is a member of the “Societé de Géographie Commerciale,” of Paris, and a corresponding member of the Industrial Education Association, of New York. He is also a director of the Great Northern Railway Company. In 1878 Mr. Stevenson was married to Gertrude, daughter of Col. Caldwell, of Delaware, a relative of the late Bayard Taylor on her mother’s side, and whose great grandfather was a general in the Revolutionary war.
Keirstead, Rev. Elias Miles, M.A., Professor of English Literature and Psychology in Acadia College, Wolfville, N.S., is a native of New Brunswick. He was born at Collina, Kings county, in that province, February 11th, 1850. His father, Rev. Elias Keirstead, was a Baptist minister, well known in the maritime provinces, his mother being Margaret Ganong, of a family also equally well known. The family of Keirstead is originally of German extraction, but for six generations our subject’s branch has resided on this continent. John Keirstead, of New York, is the first of the family of whom we have any record, as far as the new world is concerned. He had a son, Jacobus, and he was the father of James, who, with five of his brothers and one sister, came to New Brunswick as loyalists. Isaiah, our subject’s grandfather, was born in the United States, and came to Kings county, New Brunswick, when a child. He (Isaiah) married Lydia Gray, a daughter of Captain William Gray, who was also a loyalist. Our subject’s mother was the daughter of James Ganong, also of loyalist stock, he being a son of Thomas, who founded the family in New Brunswick. Thomas was of Irish descent on his father’s side, and English on that of his mother. Thomas had two brothers, officers in the English army, and who were with Wellington at Waterloo. James’ wife, and grandmother of the subject of this sketch, was Margaret, a daughter of Captain William Cox, who was also a loyalist. Prof. Keirstead was educated primarily at the common and superior schools of his native parish, when he entered the University of New Brunswick, and subsequently Newton Theological Institution, Newton, Massachusetts. He graduated at the head of his class in 1873, at the university, and at the Newton Theological Institution in 1876, and subsequently obtained the degree of M.A. from Acadia College. At the university he took all the studies in the prescribed course for B.A., and, in addition, took honors for special work in mathematics, English language and literature, and French language and literature. At the Theological Institution he followed the regular course of three years for full graduation. The course embraced among other studies, New Testament interpretation (Greek), Old Testament interpretation (Hebrew), systematic and biblical theology, pastoral theology, homiletics, church polity, church history, and history of doctrines. He also took special lectures in Hebrew. As might be expected, from the position Professor Keirstead occupies, he holds strongly the views of the Baptist denomination. As a controversialist he is one of no light calibre, having great force of character, and intellectual gifts, both natural and acquired, of the highest order. He married, June 21st, 1877, Mary J., second daughter of the late Joel Fenwick, of Millstream, Kings county, N.B. The Fenwicks are of English descent, Matthew, the father of Joel, coming from that country and settling in New Brunswick. Matthew Fenwick’s wife was Miriam, a daughter of William Freeze, who settled in Amherst, N.S., from England, and afterwards migrated to New Brunswick. Mrs. Keirstead’s mother was Ann, daughter of Robert McLeod, whom it is not necessary to state was of Scottish extraction. Professor Keirstead was ordained a pastor of the Baptist church at Milton, Yarmouth, N.S., December 5th, 1876. In 1877 he was installed as pastor of the church of the same body at Windsor, Nova Scotia, which pulpit he occupied until called upon to fill his present high position. He is secretary of the Baptist Convention of the maritime provinces, and has occupied that relation to the body for nine years. Professor Keirstead is also known in literature, more particularly, of course, in that connected with the church to which he is such an ornament. At the present writing his family consists of two children; one boy and one girl, both of whom are, of course, still young.
Fitzpatrick, Charles, Advocate, Quebec. Although still quite a young man, the subject of this sketch has already won a foremost position at the Quebec bar, and his reputation is more than local. There are few members of his profession whose name is more widely known beyond the limits of that province. It sprang into general prominence with the Riel case, and during some anxious months it was constantly before the world in connection with the trial of the half-breed leader, and the efforts made to obtain a commutation of his sentence. Mr. Fitzpatrick is of Irish Catholic parentage and was born at Quebec on the 19th December, 1853; his father’s name being John Fitzpatrick, and his mother’s, Mary Connolly. His ancestry were always noted for their devotion to the cause of Ireland, and our subject is, in this respect, an ardent follower in their patriotic footsteps. His grandfather, James Fitzpatrick, was a prominent supporter of the great Irish leader, Daniel O’Connell, during the repeal agitation. Young Charles Fitzpatrick was educated at the Quebec Seminary and Laval University, of which last he was, in 1876, the Dufferin medallist in the law faculty. On being admitted to the practice of the law, he rapidly pushed into note, and acquired a large business. His ability as a criminal lawyer was so marked that, under the Joly provincial government in 1879, it singled him out for the crown prosecutorship for the city and district of Quebec; and in that responsible capacity he acted for some time to the satisfaction of the public and the enhancement of his own reputation. Upon the defeat of the Joly ministry he was replaced by their successors; but, on the return of the Liberals to power in the province, with the Hon. H. Mercier, in 1887, he was again appointed crown prosecutor for the Quebec district, and still holds the office. During the interval, between 1880 and 1887, he figured prominently in most of the important cases before the provincial courts. He represented the Belgian government in the celebrated Tournai frauds case at Montreal, and the United States government in the great Eno extradition case at Quebec, and, in 1885, he woke to find himself famous all over the Dominion, by his retainer as one of the leading counsel for the defence in the Riel case. In politics he is a strong Liberal, and has taken an active part in nearly all the federal and provincial elections in his section since 1878. He speaks both languages with equal familiarity and fluency, and is as much at home in addressing a French as an English audience. He has travelled in America and Europe. In religion he is a Roman Catholic. He married on the 20th May, 1879, Corinne, daughter of the late Hon. R. E. Caron, the second lieutenant-governor of the province of Quebec under Confederation, and a sister of Sir A. P. Caron, Dominion minister of militia.
Williams, Richard Wellington, Three Rivers, Quebec, Druggist, and one of the prominent Temperance leaders of that province, was born in Montreal, July 15th, 1853. He comes of English stock, his father being Richard Williams, a confectioner, and native of Tavistock, Devonshire, England, his mother’s maiden name being Gendle, also a native of the same place. His father died while our subject was very young, and his mother married, some time afterward, Thomas Roderick Massey, J.P., of Nicolet county, Quebec, where Mr. Williams received his earlier education, including the rudiments of French. In 1865, the family moved into the town of Nicolet, where, after attending a French grammar school for some time, he entered Nicolet college, where he took a commercial course for two years, succeeded by a classical one of the same period. Completing his collegiate studies, on the 8th of July, 1870, he was apprenticed with a druggist in Three Rivers. In August, 1875, he removed to Montreal, and matriculated at the Montreal College of Pharmacy, taking a season’s course, and receiving a certificate as “certified clerk,” carrying off honors as a medallist. Soon afterwards, Mr. Williams was engaged as assistant at the laboratory of Dr. J. Baker Edwards, D.C.L., F.C.S., etc., at the same time pursuing his second course at the Pharmaceutical college, acting as assistant to Dr. Edwards, who was professor of practical chemistry, toxicology, and microscopy, at Bishop’s College; professor of chemistry at the college of pharmacy, and professor of chemistry, physics, etc., at the McGill Normal School, besides being public analyst as well. During this period Mr. Williams made the most of his advantages, graduating as pharmaceutical chemist in the spring of 1877, being the medallist of his year. Mr. Williams commenced business in Three Rivers in April, 1878, where he has succeeded in building up a lucrative business. In early life Mr. Williams was confirmed in the Episcopal church, his step-father being a member of that communion, but later on he gave his adherence to the Presbyterian church in Canada, and is a member of St. Andrew’s church of Three Rivers. In 1880, he was elected a manager of St. Andrew’s, and for four years filled the office of Secretary-treasurer, and now occupies the position of chairman of the board. In politics, Mr. Williams has always occupied an independent position as between the two great political parties, but is an out-and-out Prohibitionist, and is quietly waiting the formation of a national party, having the prohibition of the liquor traffic as its main platform. Mr. Williams is a Mason of some prominence in his native province, he being chairman of the permanent committee of the G.C. of Quebec R.A.M.; is also P.Z. and P.G. Superintendent of the same body; also Grand Rep. of the G.C. of Dakota, near Quebec. Mr. Williams also holds the rank of P.M., and a P.D.D.G.M. of the Grand Lodge of Quebec A. F. and A. M. Our subject is also a prominent member of the Independent Order of Foresters. In 1871, Mr. Williams joined the Independent Order of Good Templars. In 1878, he took the G.L. degree of that order, and in 1881, he was elected Grand Treasurer of the G.L. of Quebec, which office he continuously held until 1886, when he was unanimously elected Grand Chief Templar of that province, again being unanimously re-elected to fill that high position in 1887. In 1886, he was one of the two representatives sent by Grand Lodge to the R.W.G.L. session, in Richmond, Va., and in 1887, to the session of that body held in Saratoga, N.Y., both years being drafted upon important committees. Mr. Williams is a member of the American Pharmaceutical Association, and also of the Board of Trade of his town. In 1886, he was elected one of the twelve councillors who compose the council of the Pharmaceutical Association of the province of Quebec, and the same year was appointed one of the six examiners in connection with this association. He still holds the position of examiner, being re-appointed in 1887. Mr. Williams has travelled somewhat extensively upon this continent, but has never, to the writer’s knowledge, crossed the Atlantic. Mr. Williams married, October 9th, 1879, Alice J., eldest daughter of John Thomas Lambly, son of the late John Robert Lambly, registrar of the county of Megantic, Quebec, and niece of Rev. O. R. Lambly and William H. Lambly, the present registrar, etc., of Megantic county. Mr. Williams has had two children, one son and one daughter. Personally, Mr. Williams is a genial, pleasant gentleman, and naturally has hosts of friends, but these traits of character are never allowed to interfere with the predominant idea of his life, viz., to do all that lies within his power to curtail, and, if possible prohibit, the liquor curse of his native country.
Duncan, John, formerly of St. John, New Brunswick, was born in Old Meldrum, Aberdeenshire, Scotland, in the year 1797, and landed in Miramichi, New Brunswick, in 1821. About the year 1832 he became connected with Mr. John Owens, of St. John, N.B., where, under the firm of Owens & Duncan, they conducted, with great success, a ship-building and ship-owning business, until the death of Mr. Owens, in 1867. The firm was widely known and respected for the management of their affairs under the strictest business morality. Mr. Duncan devoted much of his time as director and president of many private and corporate bodies. He died 31st January, 1869.
Girard, Abbé Pierre, Priest, Master of Arts, and Superior of the Seminary of St. Charles-Borromée, Sherbrooke, Quebec, was born February 14th, 1849, at St. Marie de Monnoir, at the foot of the woody Mount Johnson. He was the son of Pierre Girard, husbandman, and of Marie Peletier. On his father’s side he belongs to a large and influential family, who have furnished many men of merit to the country, and exercised a great influence in the United States. From his mother he inherited many of the Peletier qualities, so well known for their enterprising spirit, firmness, and indomitable energy. His father passed the greatest part of youth at Detroit, where he owned a vessel and coasted between that town and Chicago, then a humble village. A prolonged storm which he endured on Lake Michigan, and the rigors to which he was subjected, determined him to abandon this perilous life and return to his native country, after an absence of seven years. The childhood of Mr. Girard was passed under the watchful eyes of a loving mother. Being the eldest of the family, and more separated from the society of other children, he was reserved, serious and more than ordinarily timid. He then developed his aptitude for industry, of which he made such great use later. His favorite amusement was application to mechanism. In this connection he bears a long scar on his left wrist, inflicted while experimenting with a miniature saw-mill. This accident terminated an enterprise which had been closely calculated. He studied the elements of science in the common school which he attended from the age of seven years, from which he was a mile distant. His progress was so rapid that after three years his parents sent him, in 1859, to the college of Monnoir, where he studied in classics and mechanics. Endowed with unusual talents and an extraordinary memory, he made these two courses in seven years. Besides Latin and Greek, Mr. Girard speaks French, English and Italian. Through his knowledge of literature, philosophy and mathematics, he was made a professor of these sciences. He is familiar and occupied with all scientific subjects. The seminary of St. Charles-Borromée is designated by the city of Sherbrooke as one of its principal edifices. Mr. Girard draughted the plans and directed the works of construction, which is an unexceptionable proof of his architectural competency, whilst the museum is extensive and rich in mineralogy, conchology, ornithology, zoology, etc., collected under his supervision, and placing him in the first rank as a naturalist. Scarcely seventeen years of age, repudiating all the allurements and seductions of the world, Mr. Girard enrolled himself in the ranks of the Roman Catholic clergy, and it is from this epoch that his career as an educator of youth dates. He was ordained priest the 23rd September, 1871, and continued to teach in the college of Monnoir until the 14th of February, 1874, when he went to Coaticook, where he filled the office of assistant, besides officiating extensively at Barford and the boundary line. In 1875, the first bishop of the new diocese of Sherbrooke, his lordship, Ant. Racine, wishing to establish a seminary at Sherbrooke, believed he could not do better than entrust this great enterprise to the erudition, experience, and practical knowledge of the Abbé Girard. He was not deceived in his estimate of this energetic man, as the seminary of St. Charles-Borromée to-day ranks as one of the most flourishing institutions in the province of Quebec, and is patronized by the sons of the best families in the Dominion; among the number being the two sons of his honor Lieutenant-Governor Angers. The number of pupils who each year present themselves for admittance is so great that the Abbé is forced to refuse them, notwithstanding the work of enlargement which is being vigorously pushed forward. The secret of this astonishing success lies in the fact of the practical teaching of the two languages. To accomplish this it requires eighteen competent professors of many years experience. With a man of the Abbé Girard’s acknowledged ability, profound talents, and sterling piety, at the head of such an establishment, nothing more can be desired to insure its permanent success. In 1884 and 1885 he made a long voyage across the sea, in company with His Lordship Gravel, bishop of Nicolet, and the Rev. J. C. Bernard. He visited London, Paris, Rome, and the Holy Land, and then with the latter all the countries of Europe, with the exception of Spain and Portugal, which had to be omitted, being devastated with that fatal epidemic, cholera. They both have related the most interesting reminiscences of their tour, which lasted a year. Since his return Mr. Girard has entered into his work with renewed ardor. Work seems to have no effect upon his strong constitution; he utilizes his spare moments in historical researches on the Eastern townships, which he published in his Annual Memoirs of the Seminary. He printed as well as composed, in his hours of recreation, this annual, which already forms two large vols. in 8vo. In spite of all this work, he still found means of shining in the pulpit, where he preached sermons deserving of publication. A few years ago he published a “Method of Plain-Chant,” which has been well appreciated by the public, as shown by the fact of its being in its fourth edition. Being professor at the little seminary of St. Mary, he founded, in 1872, a journal, having for its name “Echo du College de Monnoir.” This publication, which lasted more than two years, contained articles worthy of the aptitude of his directorship. It would still exist if Mr. Girard had not been called to exercise his activity in another sphere. Mr. Girard was already episcopal counsellor of Sherbrooke up to August 9th, 1885, when his lordship, Bishop Gravel, honored him by nominating him vicar-general of the diocese of Nicolet, the 1st of November of the same year.
Allnatt, Rev. Francis John Benwell, D.D., Professor of Pastoral Theology in the University of Bishop’s College, Lennoxville, Quebec, was born at Clapham, a suburb of London, England, on the 15th of January, 1841. He is a member of a family for many generations resident at Wallingford, Berkshire; and his father, the Rev. F. J. Allnatt, M.R.C.S., is at present the vicar of Grinsdale, Carlisle, England. The subject of this sketch was educated at St. Augustine’s College, Canterbury, and, coming out to Canada in 1864, was immediately on his arrival, ordained deacon by the Anglican bishop of Quebec, and appointed to the mission of Drummondville, on the St. Francis river. This he retained for twenty-one years, with the exception of a period of two years (1872-4), during which he volunteered for service as missionary on the coast of Labrador. He was ordained priest in 1865, and took the degree of Bachelor of Divinity in 1878, and that of Doctor in 1886, at Bishop’s College, Lennoxville. In 1879 he was appointed as colleague to share with Dr. Weir, of Morrin College, the inspection of academies and model schools for the province of Quebec, an office which he held, in addition to his parochial charge, until 1885, when he resigned both on being appointed rector of St. Matthew’s church, in the city of Quebec. Early in the present year (1887) it was definitely decided to establish at the University of Bishop’s College, Lennoxville, a new chair, that of Pastoral Theology, with the object of inaugurating a more complete method of training and discipline for those graduates and other students who were engaged in immediate preparation for holy orders. The most important feature of this new departure was the residence of these students with the professor, for the purpose of closer intercourse with him and more frequent opportunities for devotion and instruction. Dr. Allnatt was appointed as the first occupant of the chair, and entered upon his new duties in September, 1887. He had previously, for some ten years, held the office of examiner in Divinity to the university. In 1874, Dr. Allnatt married the widow of Ignace Gill, M.P.P. This lady is a daughter of the late William Robin, a native of London, but of Swiss descent, and educated at Geneva. He entered the British service under the auspices of the Count de Meuron, and was a lieutenant in a regiment named after that nobleman, and when about eighteen years of age the regiment was sent to Canada, about 1812. It was disbanded a few years afterwards, and officers and men received grants of land in the neighborhood of Drummondville. Besides minor literary efforts, Dr. Allnatt has published a book entitled, “The Witness of St. Matthew,” an inquiry into the sequence of inspired thought pervading the First Gospel, and into its result of unity, symmetry and completeness, as a perfect portrait of the Perfect Man. This book, which is published by Kegan Paul, London, England, has met with much favorable notice at the hands of both the British and American press. The LondonGuardian, in the course of a very flattering review, designates it as “a careful, thorough and systematic analysis, with suitable remarks, of the contents of the first Gospel, with a view to elicit and illustrate the special features of St. Matthew’s presentment of Christ’s Person and work,—a task which the author has accomplished with much discernment and lucidity.”
Emmerson, Rev. Robert Henry, New Brunswick.—The late Rev. Robert Henry Emmerson, a clergyman of the Baptist denomination in New Brunswick, had his birth in Northumberland county, N.B., October 11th, 1826. His father was John Emmerson, who at an early age came from England with his parents to Charlottetown, P.E.I., and his mother, Maria Tozer, of Miramichi, N.B. Both were members of the Baptist church in the latter place. In his boyhood Mr. Emmerson manifested a very marked taste for reading and study, with an acute perception and tenacious memory. The exercise of his mind on the subject of religion may be dated back to his earliest recollections. “From a child” he, like Timothy, “knew the Scriptures,” hence the readiness and fluency which always characterised him when quoting from the sacred volume. He first received the ordinary education obtainable at the common schools, thence attended the Baptist seminary—a high school or academy, in Fredericton, N.B.—after which he sought the greater facilities for education to be found at Acadia College, Wolfville, N.S., in order to be the better qualified for the work to which he felt himself called, namely, that of the ministry. In 1848 the Baptist church at Maugerville, one of the oldest settlements in New Brunswick, invited Mr. Emmerson to preach to them. He continued there two years. When at college his natural abilities were observed, and while pursuing his studies he frequently preached at Windsor, N.S., and elsewhere, by request. During this period he wrote a number of articles for the press, which attracted public attention. On the 29th of July, 1852, he was regularly set apart to the work of the ministry, and accepted the pastoral charge of the church at Maugerville, Sunbury county, N.B. At this time he was nearly twenty-six years of age. On the 10th of August, 1852, he married Augusta A. Read, eldest daughter of Joseph Read, senior member of the firm of Joseph Read & Co., of Minudie, N.S., and Boston, Mass. From July, 1852, to August, 1856, he retained the pastoral charge of the church in Maugerville. The records of that church show how ably and prosperously he filled that important office. During this period he read much, circulated a large amount of religious and intellectual reading, wrote for the public press, travelled extensively in the United States, kept up private and professional studies, and performed the arduous duties of the pastor, enjoying frequent revivals which involved a great amount of labor. In the spring of 1855 Mr. Emmerson made an extensive tour in the United States. While there he attended the general meeting of the American Bible Union, held at Chicago in May of that year. His letters to theChristian Visitor(the organ of the Baptists in New Brunswick), descriptive of the places he visited, gave evidence of great powers of observation, and an ability to take up the incidents and scenes of his travels and make them of interest to others. He vastly enjoyed his intercourse there with Dr. Cone, Dr. Wyckoff, and others then eminent in the Baptist denomination in the United States. Possessing a magnetism of manner, he made many warm friends there, and was strongly urged by them to make the United States his home. They believed that his remarkable ability as an extempore speaker rendered him peculiarly fitted for the pastorate of one of their city churches, where extempore preaching was then in demand. On his return home he received a call from a church in Cleveland, Ohio, but his strong attachment to home and the provinces prevented his acceptance. Subsequent overtures from churches in New York and Boston were refused for like reasons. In November of the same year Mr. Emmerson visited the Southern States. While there he was solicited to take charge of a church in Richmond, Va., but declined. In the columns of theChristian Visitorof that day are to be found many contributions from his pen. On the failure of Mrs. Emmerson’s health, he was compelled to leave Maugerville; and having received a call from the First Baptist Church of Moncton, N.B., he accepted it, and removed there on the 1st of September, 1856. Here was the scene of his last and most prominent labors. Moncton had then suddenly arisen to a place of importance among New Brunswick towns, on account of the railway operations, which had then just commenced, and of the shipbuilding industry, which then flourished there. The result was a large influx of people, which gave a wider scope and greater prominence to Mr. Emmerson’s labors. The church soon rose under his ministry, and their house of worship was found to be altogether too small. A large and expensive building was accordingly commenced, and was finished after his death. He only lived about a year after moving to Moncton, during which time very many were added to the church. What promised to be a useful and brilliant career was too soon ended. He died on the 11th of September, 1857, at the early age of thirty years and eleven months. His death was sudden, being caused by typhoid fever. In the mysterious providence of God he was, in the prime of manhood, in the full vigor of his ministry, and in the midst of a wide field of usefulness, called to his eternal rest. Mr. Emmerson will long be remembered as an eloquent speaker, an original thinker, and an earnest and exemplary worker in the cause of his Master. It was much regretted by his friends that his sermons were not prepared for publication, which would have been done had he lived longer. Mr. Emmerson left a widow and three children—two sons and a daughter—all of whom are now living. The sons, H. R. Emmerson and F. W. Emmerson, are barristers of the Supreme Court of New Brunswick in active practice; and the daughter is Emma Emmerson Atkinson, wife of H. Atkinson, of Moncton, N.B., barrister-at-law. Mrs. Atkinson is a prominent member and worker of the Woman’s Christian Temperance Union of New Brunswick.