Taschereau, His EminenceElzéar-Alexandre, Cardinal and Archbishop of Quebec, was born on the 17th February, 1820, at St. Marie de la Beauce, Quebec province. This illustrious prince of the Roman Catholic church is descended from Thomas Jacques Taschereau, a gentleman who came to Canada in the early part of the seventeenth century from Touraine, in France, and whose descendants have ever since occupied prominent positions in the province of Quebec. Soon after the arrival of the founder of the Canadian branch of the family, he was appointed to the office of marine treasurer, and in 1736 received a grant of a seigniory on the banks of the Chaudière river. The Cardinal’s grandfather was the late Hon. Gabriel Elzear Taschereau, who, during his lifetime, was a member of the Legislative Assembly. His father was Jean Thomas Taschereau, who was a judge of the King’s Bench and died in 1832. His mother, Marie Panet, was a daughter of the Hon. Jean Antoine Panet, who was the speaker of the first Legislative Assembly of Canada. This estimable lady died in 1866. The future Cardinal, when a mere lad, was sent to the Quebec Seminary, where he soon became distinguished as a student. Here he pursued a course of classical studies, and then entered the Grand Seminary, where he began the usual course of theology. In 1836, when he was in his seventeenth year, he visited Rome in company with Abbé Holmes, of the Seminary, and in the following year received the tonsure at the hands of Monsigneur Piatti, archbishop of Trebizonde, in the Basilica of St. John Lateran. Shortly after this he returned to Quebec and again took up his theological studies, which, with other branches of learning, occupied his attention for about six years, when, though he was still under canonical age, he was ordained priest. His ordination took place on the 10th September, 1842, at the Church of St. Marie de la Beauce, his native place, in the presence of Monseigneur Turgeon, then coadjutor, and subsequently successor to Archbishop Signal. Within a short time after his ordination he was appointed to the chair of philosophy in the Seminary, and this important position he held for twelve years. Previous to this, even in 1838, he held the professorship of Latin and Greek, and in 1841 he was professor of rhetoric. A very interesting episode in this illustrious clergyman’s life occurred shortly after this date, which we cannot help recording here, and which deserves to be written in letters of gold. About thirty miles below the port of Quebec, in the St. Lawrence river, and nearly opposite St. Thomas, is a small island known by the name of Grosse Isle, which has been used for a great number of years by the government of Canada as a quarantine station, where all ships carrying emigrants are required to report before sailing further up the river. In 1847 a malignant fever broke out among the emigrants there which ran a rapid course, and the victims died in great numbers. At this time the emigrants coming in were chiefly Irish Roman Catholics who had been driven by poverty and famine to seek a home in Canada; their vitality had been greatly impaired by starvation before leaving home, and they fell easy victims to the ship fever then so prevalent, which in some cases carried them off in a few hours. The greater part of the island was for a time little better than a mass of loathsomeness and pestilence, and the heroism that would enable a man to face such a state of things is much more praiseworthy than the courage required to enable him to walk up to the mouth of a cannon. Father Taschereau felt the call of duty and volunteered his services to assist the Rev. Father Moylan, who was then chaplain at Grosse Isle, to minister to the spiritual necessities of the victims of the fever. His kind offer was thankfully accepted, and he landed on the island where he remained until he himself was stricken down by the scourge and brought literally to death’s door. His conduct at this time endeared him very much to the Irish Roman Catholics in Quebec and their countrymen throughout the west. But, to resume, Father Taschereau was appointed professor of theology in the Seminary in 1851, and three years afterwards, in 1854, he again visited Rome, charged by the second Provincial Council of Quebec to submit its decrees for the sanction of his Holiness the Pope. He spent two years at this time in the Eternal City, during which period he occupied himself chiefly in studying the canon law, and while here (July, 1856) the Roman Seminary conferred upon him the degree of doctor of canon law. On his return to Quebec, he was appointed director of thePetit Seminaire, a position which he filled until 1859, when he was elected director of theGrand Seminaire, and appointed a member of the Council of Public Instruction for Lower Canada. In 1860 he became superior of the Seminary and rector of Laval University. In 1862 he accompanied Archbishop Baillargeon to Rome on business connected with Laval University, and on his return the same year, was appointed vicar-general of the arch-diocese of Quebec. Again in 1864 he paid a visit to Rome on similar business connected with Laval. In 1866, his term of office as superior of theGrand Seminairehaving expired, he was again appointed director, and three years afterwards, on the expiration of another term, he was re-elected superior. In 1870 he paid another visit to Rome, this time as secretary to Monseigneur C. Baillargeon, archbishop of Quebec, who went there to attend the Vatican Council, and on his return the same year he resumed his duties as superior of the Seminary and rector of Laval University. After the death of Archbishop Baillargeon in October, 1870, he administered the affairs of the arch-diocese conjointly with Grand Vicar Cazean. On the 13th Feb., 1871, it was announced that he had been appointed successor to the late archbishop, and on Sunday, the 19th of March, following, he was consecrated to this high office in the presence of a vast concourse of people, many of the clergy of the diocese and of the bishops of Quebec and Ontario,—the Archbishop of Toronto officiating. In 1872 and 1884, business again led him to Rome. And in 1887, on his last visit to the capital of Christendom, he was presented with the Cardinal’s hat. His Eminence is the first Canadian who has thus been so honored by his church, and his Protestant fellow-countrymen are as proud of the honor conferred upon him as his co-religionists, for he is held in high esteem by persons of all classes and creeds in the Dominion for his work’s sake.
Curry, Matthew Allison, M.D., of Halifax, N.S., is a native of Windsor, Hants Co., N.S., where he was born about thirty years ago. The Curry family are of Irish extraction, but have been long settled in this province, where they are principally engaged in farming and manufacturing. It is now nearly forty years since five brothers, William, Mark, Levi, Elisha and Edward started what is known as Curry’s Factory at Curry’s Corner, a point on the junction of the Halifax and Chester roads about a mile from Water street, Windsor. They were all young men and first-rate mechanics. They manufactured sashes, doors and all kinds of work in connection with house-building, carriages, railway cars, and had a machine and carriage shop. William the oldest brother, was at the head of the concern. Mark was a house joiner, Levi managed the blacksmith shop, Elisha was a painter, and Edward looked after the carriage factory. They employed nearly thirty hands, had plenty of work, but were relentlessly pursued by fire. About the year 1855 their works were completely destroyed by a fire which broke out in the night. Again in 1860 fire consumed all their property, among other valuable goods, being a number of railway cars which Edward had contracted to build for the Nova Scotia Railway. About the year 1870 Mark and Elisha started the furniture factory in Windsor, which has always done a very large business, its goods being sold all over the Maritime provinces. It is now managed by A. P. Shand. Previous to this time, however, Mark Curry had, in conjunction with A. P. Shand, carried on an extensive grocery, lumber and flour business in Windsor, under the firm of Curry and Shand. Elisha and Levi Curry died a few years ago. Mark Curry has charge of the government savings bank in Windsor, and Edward Curry is sheriff of Hants county. William Curry, the father of the subject of this sketch, has stuck to the original business at the corner, which still retains nearly its former dimensions. The last fire occurred about five years ago, when the premises were again totally consumed. William Curry, being a man of iron will and unbroken courage and perseverance, went at once to work and rebuilt his factory, which, in conjunction with his second son James, he continues to conduct. Dr. Curry is the eldest son of the above William Curry, his mother being Martha, daughter of the late Matthew Allison, of Windsor, in his lifetime a farmer and shipowner. He received his classical education at the Grammar School at Curry’s Corner, afterwards at the school conducted by the late Thomas Curren, and at the Collegiate School at Windsor, where he carried off the first prize. He entered King’s College, Windsor, in October, 1877, and graduated in June, 1881. During his course he won one of the General Williams prizes and also one of the Stevenson scholarships. After leaving college he studied two years at the Medical College, in Halifa,. N.S., subsequently spent a session at the University of New York, and graduated from the medical department of that institution in 1883. Not content with such experience in his profession as he had already obtained, he decided to cross the Atlantic, and accordingly, spent the year 1884 principally in attending the medical course in Trinity College, Dublin. He made a specialty of midwifery and the study of the treatment of the diseases peculiar to women. After completing his post-graduate studies, he availed himself of the opportunity to make a trip through Scotland and England, previous to returning home. He visited Edinburgh, Liverpool and London, and took note of the famous educational endowments and the professional resorts of those cities. After returning to this province he was in some doubt as to whether to begin practice in one of the country shire towns such as Yarmouth, or to commence in Halifax. He finally decided that, upon the whole, the chances of advancement in the metropolis were the best. The expenses of a beginner in one of the learned professions in a city are greater at first than those of a country practitioner, but in the long run a man of brains and tact will not regret the incidental outlay, in consideration of the many advantages of counsel with brother-workers, and the other opportunities open to competition in the city. Dr. Curry opened an office in Hollis street, Halifax, in the spring of 1885, and has since worked up a very prosperous practice in the south end of the city. Many young men begin among the poorer classes and gradually work into a wealthierclientèlebut Dr. Curry was fortunate enough to secure rich patrons at the start. When the Medical School was established on a new basis two years ago, Dr. Curry was offered a position as lecturer, which offer, however, he declined, having some scruples about accepting an office which might seem to place him in opposition to some of the older members of the profession. In religion he is a Presbyterian, and is connected with St. Andrew’s Church in John street. He is unmarried. Being a man of great sociability and geniality of manners he is a great favorite in any society in which he happens to find himself. These traits are very helpful to a physician whose practice lies among all classes of the community, and who must freely give and take in the rough and tumble of professional work and class competition.
Price, Evan John, Quebec, is the present head of the great lumber manufacturing and exporting house of Price Bros. & Co., of that city, and of the Saguenay, the oldest and probably the best known to the trade, not only throughout the Dominion, but all over the continent of America and in Europe. It was founded nearly three quarters of a century ago, by our subject’s father, the late William Price, of Wolfesfield, Quebec, who died in 1867, and who was frequently styled in his day the “King of the Saguenay,” from the controlling interest he exercised over that section of the province of Quebec, through the employment afforded by his extensive lumber limits and numerous saw mills to its local population. Indeed, the Saguenay country, and it may be added, much of the region on both shores of the St. Lawrence, below Quebec, owe their development in a large measure, if not wholly, to the enterprise of the Price family. Their agents explored the whole country, and upon every stream, where prospects warranted it, a saw mill was erected with the usual result. Hundreds flocked to the place, and soon made comfortable homes for themselves. Villages sprang up, mills were erected, churches built, and localities which but a few years before, were a barren waste, rapidly blossomed into thriving communities. The present prosperous town of Chicoutimi and the outlying settlements around Lake St. John had their origin in this way, and if is not surprising that the name of Price should be venerated by their populations as few other old country names have been venerated by the French Canadian element of Lower Canada. In fact, it is no exaggeration to say that the Price family have made the Saguenay region what it is to-day in point of material progress. To their enterprise, their fostering care and their unstinted generosity, thehabitantsof that region are indebted for the assistance which enabled them to tide over the hardships and difficulties always incidental to the early life of the pioneers of settlements at points remote from the centre of civilized life. Mr. Price was born some forty years ago, at his late father’s beautiful country residence of Wolfesfield, on the outskirts of Quebec, and in the immediate vicinity opposite the spot where Wolfe died victorious, at the battle of the Plains of Abraham. He was educated at a private school in England, and entered his father’s office, while still young, to learn the business to a share of which he was in due course admitted, his elder brothers, Hon. David E. Price, afterwards a senator of the Dominion, and William E. Price, afterwards M.P. and M.P.P., for the united counties of Chicoutimi and Saguenay, both now deceased, being already members of the firm. On the death of the venerable founder of the house in 1867, its extensive business was continued by the brothers, under the old name, which is still retained, notwithstanding the deaths of the elder brothers. The surviving partner, Evan John Price, is now the head of the house, which still holds its prominence in the trade, shipping annually a large amount of lumber of its own manufacture, both from Quebec and the Saguenay to the European market. The Price family is of Welsh descent, and their home, “Scipwick,” was at Elstree, in Hertfordshire, up to the time of his father’s death. Mr. Price’s father was born at Hornsey, near London, England, but his grand parents were both natives of South Wales, the one of Glamorganshire, and the other of Cardiganshire. On the maternal side, Mr. Price has good old Scottish blood in his veins. His mother was a Stewart, his father having married Jane, third daughter of the late Charles G. Stewart, in his lifetime comptroller of the imperial customs at Quebec. In religion Mr. Price is a member of the Church of England, and in politics, a Conservative, like all his family before him. He is unmarried.
Larue, Jules Ernest, Q.C., Quebec, Puisné Judge for the province of Quebec.—Jules Ernest Larue was born at Quebec on the 7th July, 1844. He is the son of the late W. Larue, N.P., and Louise B. Panet, daughter of the late Hon. Louis Panet, senator and M.L.C. Mr. Larue followed a classical course of studies at the Seminary of Quebec, and having taken his degrees at Laval University, was admitted to the bar of Quebec on the 6th February, 1866. He then became a member of the important firm of Larue, Angers and Casgrain, of Quebec. He was for ten years editor of the Quebec “Law Reports.” In recognition of his legal attainments he was made a Q.C. in 1882, and was appointed a puisné judge of the Superior Court for the province of Quebec on the 10th of April, 1886. He married on the 22nd September, 1880, Marie Louise, whose parents were the late François Angers, Q.C., and Marie Louise Panet, a daughter of the late Charles Panet, Q.C.
Elliott, George, Guelph, Ontario, formerly one of the leading merchants of that city, and largely identified with its municipal history, is a native of Rochester, county of Kent, England, having been born there on the 27th May, 1819. His father, George Elliott, a country gentleman, was descendent from an ancient Scottish family, and his mother, Elizabeth Moulden, from an old Kentish family. Mr. Elliott, the subject of our sketch, who received a good education, including mathematics and classics, came to Canada with the family in the autumn of 1832. He was in business in Toronto and Cincinnati, Ohio, for several years, and coming to Guelph in 1850, carried on business as a general merchant until 1865, when he retired, having been very successful in his business operations. His father died in Guelph a few years ago, in his ninety-fifth year, much lamented by many friends. Mr. Elliott served in the town, city and county councils at various times, for over twenty years, and held the positions of town councilman, deputy reeve, reeve, warden and mayor. He has performed a great deal of valuable work in the interests of Guelph and the county of Wellington, and was chairman of the building committee when the town hall and other public buildings were erected. He was chairman of the old Board of Public Instruction, and for six years was a member of the High School Board of Trustees. He took great pleasure in aiding in the elevation of the standard of public instruction, and found many earnest and efficient co-operators in this noble work in the town. When in the council he was almost constantly chairman of the finance committee, having fine business talents, and thoroughly trustworthy. He was arbitrator on behalf of the town, upon the adjustment of the indebtedness between it and the county, when Guelph was raised to the dignity of a city. Is a justice of the peace. When the Guelph General Hospital was organized and opened in 1875, he was made chairman of the board of directors, which position he still holds. Mr. Elliott is a Reformer, and quite an influential member of that party, having been for some time, president of the Reform Association for the South Riding of Wellington. He is also president of the St. George’s Society, Guelph. In religion, he is a member of the Church of England, was warden of St. George’s Church, Guelph, for several years, and is a continuous lay delegate to the Diocese of Niagara, and also to the Provincial Synod which meets at Montreal. He is a prominent member of these bodies, and takes a very active part in the proceedings and discussions. Mr. Elliott is an efficient and able speaker on public matters, and a clear writer on questions of a financial and public interest. He was a member of the building committee, and treasurer, when the St. George’s magnificent house of worship was erected, and continues to be indefatigable in church and other work. The poor find a warm friend in Mr. Elliott, and his equally benevolent wife, and his sister, who resides with him. His residence, “Vinehurst,” on the Paisley street hill, is one of the most sightly and pleasant homes in the young and beautiful city of Guelph.
Ives, Hubert Root, Montreal, was born in the town of Farmington, Hartford county, state of Connecticut, United States, on the 15th September, 1833. His father was at one time a prominent farmer and breeder of full-blooded stock. In the same county also for a number of years he held the responsible position of judge of probate in the town of Farmington, and on resigning the office he removed to New Haven, Connecticut, when he entered into the manufacture of hardware, and became after a short time one of the most successful manufacturers of that busy city. Mr. Ives received his early education at the Hopkins Grammer School, New Haven, Conn., where he received a full classical course, after which, unlike most young men, he took a full and complete commercial training, which fitted him in after life for the large and various experiences that he passed through as a manufacturer. After leaving school, young Ives was sent on a lengthy tour through the United States and Canada, with the object of selecting a suitable place wherein he could build up for himself a name worthy to be looked upon with respect and admiration by those who were to follow after him. In 1856 Mr. Ives also travelled extensively over the continent of Europe, visiting all the capital cities of renown. In 1859 he settled in Montreal, and became the founder of the large business now carried on by the firm of H. R. Ives & Co., one of the largest in Canada. The firm, then known as Ives & Allen, was the first to establish a foundry and hardware manufactory in Canada, in which was manufactured small hardware, and the obstacles to be overcome, in order to find a market in a young country for their productions were very great, but eventually the perseverance which has ever characterized Mr. Ives, soon prevailed, and the new venture proved a great success. In the year 1868 he still further enlarged the firm’s operations by the manufacture of stoves, and this branch is now a leading feature of their business. The quality of the work turned out by the firm speaks as a sample of the firm’s work. We need only point to the fine wrought iron gates and railings which surround the parliament buildings at Ottawa, which for graceful form and beauty of design are not surpassed on this continent. When the firm received the contract from the Grand Trunk Railway for making the locomotive and car castings, and which necessitated the enlargement of their already extensive works, the municipality of Longueuil immediately offered them a bonus of $10,000 and exemption from taxes for ten years, if they would establish a branch of their foundry in the village of Longueuil. They at once availed themselves of this offer, and buildings being promptly erected, the new establishment was soon ready for business. The new foundry is well worthy of a visit. Its capacity is such that $200,000 worth of castings can be made in a year, and a great number of hands are constantly employed in the works. Mr. Ives has been for a long time a member of the Board of Trade of Montreal; and for many years sat in its council. Mr. Ives holds the position of honorary secretary to the Egypt Exploration Fund for the Dominion of Canada. This society conducts systematic and scientific explorations and excavations in Egypt, on sites of Biblical and classical interest, under special powers delegated by the Egyptian government. The officers of this society are persons of the highest scientific and social standing in Britain, and most important discoveries have already been made. In early youth he was an adherent of the Presbyterian church, but is now a member of the Church of England. He was first married in 1858, to a daughter of the Rev. Dr. Chester, of Buffalo. This lady died in 1884. In June, 1887, he was again united in marriage to a daughter of the late Judge Daniell, judge of the united counties of Prescott and Russell.
Macdonald, Duncan, St. John’s, province of Quebec, was born in Kingston, Ont., on the 24th June, 1815. His father, Major William Macdonald, was a native of Inverness, Scotland, a captain in the celebrated “Black Watch,” or 42nd Highlanders, and came to Canada at the critical period in the history of our country when the war of 1812 was just beginning. He was attached to the 104th regiment, commanded by Colonel Drummond, and took a most active part in the campaign which followed. On his arrival at Halifax, he was ordered at once to the front, and with his regiment marched from Halifax to Quebec. This was in the depth of winter, and during the thirty-one days of the march he did not enter a house but slept in snow banks or such sheltered spots as could be found. His first battle in this country was at the Windmill Point, Prescott, and he afterwards participated in the battles of Lundy’s Lane and Sackett’s Harbor. The Macdonalds came of an old military family, the captain’s father having been killed at the battle of Bunker’s Hill, Boston, while fighting with his regiment, which like his son’s, was the “Black Watch.” The subject of this sketch was educated at Montreal and Laprairie, taking a commercial course. He then engaged in the drug business in Montreal for seven years, and afterwards removed to St. John’s, Que., where, in conjunction with his brother Edward, in 1837, he started a general store. They dealt largely in grain, and were soon known as the most extensive shippers of grain in the province. As the years went on they saw the lack of banking facilities in the neighborhood, and in 1858, decided to supply this want and started as private bankers. In 1873, the partnership was dissolved, Edward retiring therefrom; and then Duncan entered into the manufacture of stone chinaware, and the business has steadily increased until it has developed into the now well-known St. John’s Chinaware Factory, which is to-day the largest of the kind in the Dominion. Under the able management of Alexander, the son of Duncan Macdonald, the products of the factory have been brought to great perfection, and have been placed on exhibition and taken gold medals at Philadelphia, Toronto, Antwerp, Belgium, and London, England. A recent large addition to the already extensive works, now enables the firm to give employment to about four hundred people. Mr. Macdonald has visited Europe twice, and has travelled extensively in Canada and the United States. He is a justice of the peace, and mayor of St. John’s, Que. In politics he is a Conservative, and in religion a Roman Catholic. He was married in 1845, to Miss De Lisle, daughter of Benjamin De Lisle, Montreal, and has had issue three children, only one of whom is now living.
Beaubien, Hon. Louis, Montreal, born in the city of Montreal, on 27th July, 1837, is son of Dr. Pierre Beaubien, of the University of Paris. He is descended from Trottier de Beaubien, who came from St. Martin d’Ige, in the province of Perche, in France, and settled in Canada near Three Rivers, in 1650. His father was a professor in the Victoria Medical School, Montreal, and its president for many years, attending surgeon to the Montreal gaol and reformatories; and had been elected to parliament twice, for Montreal in 1841, and for Chambly in 1848. His mother, Dame Justine Casgrain, was a daughter of Pierre Casgrain, seigneur of Rivière Ouelle. She had been married first to Dr. A. Maguire, a surgeon in the British navy. Hon. Louis Beaubien was educated at the St. Sulpice College, Montreal, and after a successful course of studies, devoted himself to agriculture and stock-breeding. He entered political life in 1867, when he was elected for Hochelaga to the Quebec legislature. He succeeded in defeating successively such opponents as Mr. Dorion (now Sir A. A. Dorion, chief justice, Queen’s Bench), Victor Hudon, and others. Mr. Beaubien was elected to the Dominion parliament in 1872, and held both seats until the year 1874, when he resigned his seat in the House of Commons on account of the dual representation being abolished, but retained his seat in the local house. He was elected speaker of the Legislative Assembly of Quebec, 11th November, 1876, which position he held until April, 1878. He was re-elected for the same county in 1878 and again in 1882. But at the last general election in 1886 he declined re-election on account of ill health. Besides his agricultural pursuits, the Hon. Mr. Beaubien was an active promoter of the Northern Colonization Railway, which developed into the Quebec, Montreal, Ottawa and Occidental Railway, now the eastern division of the Canadian Pacific Railway. He was opposed to the sale of the eastern branch of the Quebec, Montreal, Ottawa and Occidental Railway, and on that account, along with the Hon. Dr. Ross, Hon. Mr. de Boucherville, and other well-known Conservatives, withdrew his confidence from the Chapleau government. He has taken a great interest in the improvement of Canadian agriculture. After retiring from politics, he went to France for his health, and to get an operation performed on the eye of his eldest son. Being successful in this he came back to Canada, but was taken again with his former disease which for a time laid him very low. He has, we are glad to say, now recovered completely, and is as active as ever working for the establishment of an elevated railway in Montreal. Hon. Mr. Beaubien is a member of the Provincial Council of Agriculture of the Ayrshire Breeders’ Association, of the Montreal Horticultural Society, etc. He married in 1864, Susanna Lauretta, daughter of Sir Andrew Stuart, chief justice of the Superior Court, Quebec, and for some time administrator of the province.
Wright, Philemon.—The late Mr. Philemon Wright was appropriately called the “Father of the Ottawa.” He was a native of Woburn, State of Massachusetts, United States, where he was born in 1760. Mr. Wright emigrated to this country in the year 1800, and with a steady perseverance, he determined on ascending the river Ottawa in quest of a tract of land suitable for an agriculturist. With this object in view, he steadily penetrated into the country, at a great expense of mental and bodily exertion, for sixty miles beyond any previous settler, where, finding a spot adapted for his purpose, he obtained, after many efforts, and irritating delays, from government, permission to settle upon and survey the township of Hull, in the county of Ottawa, Lower Canada. This being accomplished, he went to work with a will characteristic of the early New England pioneers, and was in a few years rewarded for his toil and hardships by witnessing a thriving settlement growing up around him. In furtherance of his agricultural pursuits, he, at a very heavy cost, imported from Great Britain some of the most approved breeds of cattle, and thereby contributed in the most efficient manner to promote the interests of the settlers in that section of the country. He was also the projector of some of the greatest improvements on the Ottawa. He died at Hull, C.E., on 2nd June, 1839. He left a numerous offspring, to all of whom he was endeared by the tenderest ties of affection and esteem. His epitaph will be recorded in the beautiful and prosperous settlement of Hull, or, as it was sometimes called, Wrightstown, which he commenced and lived to see attain a degree of magnitude, where his name will be long remembered with the highest respect.
Quinton, William A., Fairville, N.B., Farmer and Lumber Dealer, M.P.P. for the county of St. John, New Brunswick, was born on the 4th April, 1847, in the parish of Lancaster, county of St. John, N.B., and is descended from a family who has made its mark in the world. In looking over the history of the early settlers in New Brunswick, we find that among the party who arrived at the mouth of the St. John river, August 28th, 1762, was Hugh Quinton and wife, and that their son James was noted as being the first child of the new settlers born here, having first seen the light in Fort Frederick the evening of their arrival. Hugh Quinton was born in New Hampshire and had been a soldier in the old French war. He enlisted when quite a youth, as did many others, but at that time recruits for military service were enlisted at an early age. In the Revolutionary war, in some, if not all of the colonies, all who were sixteen years old were compelled to do military duty. Hugh Quinton first enlisted from Windham, formerly part of the town of Londonderry, New Hampshire, March 5th, 1757, in a company in which Hercules Mooney was captain and Alexander Todd lieutenant, and was discharged March 5th of the same year. The following spring he again enlisted, April 12th, in a company in which Alexander Todd was captain, and he was discharged October 30th. He again enlisted, the following year, for the third time, on the 11th of March, 1760, and on the 24th of October was discharged sick, and it is said he went to Albany, N.Y. The expeditions in which he was engaged were four operations at Crown Point and Fort William Henry, on the north shore of Lake George. Fort William Henry was captured by the French and Indians in August, 1757, and out of two hundred New Hampshire soldiers, eighty were mercilessly slaughtered by the Indians after they had surrendered. Some of Hugh Quinton’s relatives early settled not far from Albany, in that part of old Whitehall township known as Hampton. Among them were Josiah and John Quinton and their sister Ann, who married a McFarland. In 1806 Josiah removed across the State line to Fairhaven, in Vermont, a short distance from Hampton. Fairbank’s History of Fairhaven names a number of descendants. In an old family bible of the Quinton family it is stated that Hugh Quinton was born at Cheshire, New Hampshire, in 1741; that Elizabeth Cristy was born at Londonderry, N.H., 1741, and that they were married in 1761. In the lower tier of counties of New Hampshire, is one called Cheshire, but the writer has found no mention of the name of Quinton among early settlers, but in the town now called Chester, which was originally called Cheshire, in Rockingham county, was a prominent early settler named James Quenton. The first settlers of Cheshire or Chester, Londonderry, Windham and vicinity were mainly Scotch Presbyterians from the North of Ireland. In the “New Hampshire Provincial Papers,” volume 4, is copied a petition to the governor from sundry inhabitants of Chester, in 1737, which states that “the present inhabitants of Chester, aforesaid, formerly belonged (most of them) to the Kingdom of Scotland and Ireland, where they were educated in the principles of the Kirk of Scotland, for which they have great veneration,” and the petition proceeds to refer to some differences about calling a minister. Among the signers is the name of James Quenton. He is named again in a list of tax-payers, 1741, and again in the minutes of the Presbyterian church, Sept. 14, 1753, as parish clerk. As he is the only Quenton or Quinton named in the full list of tax-payers at that place, it is reasonable to presume that he was the father of Hugh Quinton. The latter had two half-brothers named Jonathan and Joshua. In 1771, a John Quinton is named at Dorchester, N.H. In the revolution, David Quentin enlisted Oct. 1, 1777, at Windham, and he is again named in New Hampshire Provincial Papers, vol. 11, in an order for pay of a soldier’s dues in 1790. After this, the writer has found no mention of the name of Quinton in copies of New Hampshire records. Hugh Quinton the St. John pioneer, had sons, James, John, David and Jesse. In the early days of the settlement of the city, when fears were entertained of Indians, Hugh Quinton, it is said, was appointed captain of a militia company, organized for defence of the settlers. In Hotten’s list of emigrants it is stated that a Henry Quinton, aged 20, left London, Jan. 2, 1634, for Virginia, and Roger Quintin left London, July 24, 1635, for the same place. This was about a century before the name of James Quinton appears in New Hampshire. In the same work is named Henry Quintyne of Barbadoes as a person to whom were consigned “convicted rebels” from Bristol, England, in 1679 and 1685. This may be the same “Henry Quinton of Barbadoes” named in a will of Samuel Spicer of Boston, Dec. 24, 1664, who speaks of him as “my loving father-in-law, Henry Quinton.” This will is quoted in the New England Historical and Genealogical Register, volume 16, page 330. In the New Hampshire records, the name of this family is given by town and parish clerks as Quinton, Quenton, Quanton and Quentin. The latter was probably the spelling when the name was first introduced into England as a surname, and it eventually became Anglicized to Quinton. It appears to belong to that class of surnames brought into England about the time of William I., derived from French towns or places. The town of St. Quentin in Picardy was so called in honor of Quentin, an early Christian martyr. Sir Walter Scott names the leading character in his novel of Quentin Durward for this saint. The first or founder of the Quentin family in England was Sir Herbert St. Quentin, a companion in arms of William the Conqueror, who granted him the manor of Skipsey and other lands in county Notts. Sir Herbert St. Quentin, a grandson, was summoned to parliament in 1294, and had two daughters; first Elizabeth and second Lora, who eventually became sole heir and married Robert de Grey of Rothersfield. The barony of St. Quentin passed through Grey, Fitzhugh and Parr to the Earl of Pembroke, descending from William St. Quentin, eldest surviving son of Edward II., and fourth in descent from the founder of the county. The last baron was Sir William St. Quentin, who died 1795, when the baronetcy became extinct. His nephew, Wm. Thomas Darby, of Sunbury, Middlesex, was his heir, and upon succeeding to the estates, assumed the surname and arms; he was succeeded by his son, Matthew Chitty Downes St. Quentin. There appears to have been several branches of this family beside the above direct line, which show the gradual changing of the name from St. Quentin to Quentin and Quinton. The arms and crest of the different branches are given in both Burke’s and Fairbanks’ Armory of families of Great Britain and Ireland. The arms and crest of the first of the family, Sir Herbert, is thus given; Arms: Or, three chevronels, gu. a chief vair. Crest: Out of a ducal coronet gu. A pearise, ppr., on the top of a fluted column between two horns, or. A representation of the crest of the “Quintons of England” is given in Fairbank’s Armory, and it is thus described: “An arm, in armour, couped, embowered, in hand, a sword, ppr.” Mr. Quinton, the subject of our sketch, is the son of James Quinton, who was a farmer and the leading contractor and builder in St. John, and served two terms in the New Brunswick legislature, and was one of the first confederate members. His mother was named Elizabeth Tilley. Young Quinton received his educational training in the city of St. John; and when only twenty years of age, having begun early in life to take an interest in military affairs, enlisted in the militia, and has since kept up his interest in militia life, being now major in the force. For four years he has been member of the city council; and for five years he was a member of the municipal council. In 1882 he entered political life, and was returned as member for the county of St. John, N.B., and has since represented that county in the New Brunswick legislature. Over eighteen years ago he joined the Masonic order; and is also connected with the Orange order. He has travelled extensively through the United States, and during the late war visited the Southern States. In religion, Mr. Quinton is an adherent of the Episcopal church; and in politics, a Liberal. He was married 6th December, 1877, to Kate, daughter of R. R. Allan, of Carleton, St. John, N.B. Mr. Quinton resides on the old family homestead, and follows the business of farming and dealing in lumber.
Chagnon, Hon. Hubert Wilfred, residing in the town of St. John’s, in the district of Iberville, Judge of the Superior Court of the province of Quebec, now retired, was born in the parish of Verchères, district of Montreal, on the 22nd of March, 1833, from the marriage of Eloi Chagnon, farmer, of said parish, with Justine Brousseau. He followed a classical course of study at the College of Montreal, and was articled as a law student in November, 1852, under Forréol Pelletier, then a practising advocate in Montreal, and since assistant judge of the Superior Court in Montreal. He followed the course of the law faculty, under the professorship of Maximilien Bibaud, at the Jesuits’ College, in Montreal, and was admitted to the bar in November, 1855. He remained in the office of Mr. Pelletier, practising with him, up to July, 1856, when he entered into partnership with A. Papineau, then practising advocate in St. Hyacinthe, and now a judge in the Superior Court in Montreal In December, 1857, he left Mr. Papineau, and took a partnership with L. V. Sicotte, then practising advocate in St. Hyacinthe, and practised with him up to 1863, when Mr. Sicotte was appointed judge of the Superior Court of Quebec. Since then he went into partnership with Mr. Sicotte’s son, and during a certain time with Magloire Lanctot, since a district magistrate for the district of St. Hyacinthe, and finally he was appointed a judge of the Superior Court of Quebec province on 27th September, 1873. He administered justice in the district of Iberville from 27th September, 1873, to November, 1887, when, on account of ill-health, he was obliged to retire, with the ordinary pension. He is, and has always been, an adherent of the Roman Catholic church. He was married, in January, 1858, to Marie Elizabeth Varin, daughter of Jean Baptiste Varin, registrar of the county of Laprairie, in the district of Montreal.
Chapleau, Hon. Joseph Adolphe, Q.C., LL.D., M.P. for Terrebonne, Secretary of State for Canada, was born at Ste. Therese de Blainville, in the county of Terrebonne, province of Quebec, on the 9th November, 1840. His ancestors emigrated from France, and were among the early settlers, of the seigniory of Terrebonne; but the father of Mr. Chapleau was an humble, hard-working mechanic, of whom the son was not ashamed, and who instilled into the latter principles of honor and devotion to duty. From the earliest age the boy displayed a taste for learning, and his mind was so active that means were found to put him to school, where he grounded himself in the elements of grammar. Thence he was sent to the neighbouring village of Terrebonne, where a college had been established by Madame Masson, mother of the ex-lieutenant-governor of the province of Quebec, and where he pursued his studies until transferred to St. Hyacinthe, and put through a course which left its impression on the whole of his subsequent career. On leaving college he wended his way to Montreal, in search of a profession suitable to a youth of his tastes and aptitudes. He chose the law, and, encouraged by his success, devoted himself to criminal practice, acquiring a position therein which set him, within a short time, in the highest rank among his youthful associates. But this was not sufficient for his buoyant nature. He launched into politics at the age of nineteen, mounting the hustings with assurance, and maintaining himself thereon in the midst of the most violent campaigns. He went further, and took up the pen in defence of his political views and principles. With a couple of congenial spirits he founded a newspaper calledLe Colonisateur, and for three years used its columns in an attempt to reach those readers whom his voice could not attain. From these very beginnings Mr. Chapleau made his mark, and the political leaders soon foretold that he would lose no time in taking high rank. His physical appearance was in his favor. Tall, well built, with a shapely head, wavy black hair thrown back over his neck like a plume, a musical, flexible voice, an abundance of animal energy, a fearless spirit that shrank from no difficulty, he readily placed himself at the head of his companions, with their full acquiescence, and as if by natural right. Another advantage which the future statesman enjoyed at the opening of his career was that he found himself the representative of the young men coming after the radicalism of 1848, when the French revolution of that year had its echo on this side, and the cry of annexation rang through the whole of Lower Canada. This period of acute crisis was followed by a long term of bewilderment and unrest, called the decade of transition, when party lines were only faintly drawn, because every one felt that there should be a reunion of all forces in order to insure the future of the common country. From 1860 to the year of Confederation the young men kept on growing in the school of strife and trial, but none grew more perceptibly, and with fuller promise of future strength, than the subject of this sketch. His opportunity came at length, and he was not slow to seize it. In 1867 the British North America Act proclaimed to the world a new nation, and the province of Quebec, without knowing it, and almost in spite of herself, entered into full possession of her autonomy. She was presented with her own lieutenant-governor; her own legislature, consisting of two Chambers and a long scroll of rights and privileges, which practically made the people of French Canada their own masters. The general election took place, and Mr. Chapleau, going straight into his native county, asked to be made its first representative in the Provincial parliament. He was returned by acclamation, and retained the seat till 1882, through the ordeal of at least a half-dozen elections. That first session at Quebec was a memorable one, with such members as Chauveau—a man of high temper and noble spirit—as premier; Joly, the political Bayard, as leader of the opposition; Cartier, Langevin, Irvine, Chapais, Marchand, and others of hardly less note. In such a presence the representative of Terrebonne took his place, at the age of seven and twenty. Within a few hours he arose, and the eyes of a crowded house were fastened upon him, as he proceeded to discharge the honorable function of moving the Address in reply to the Speech from the Throne. His first effort settled his position at once, both as an orator and a public man, and thenceforth the legislative career of Mr. Chapleau was secure. He went along quietly for several years, making himself acquainted with the new order of things under Confederation, when the province took an upward bound, and everything revived—business, agriculture, literature, and the national spirit—imbuing himself with the principle of practical politics, whereby the development of the country’s material resources should be fostered. The time came soon when he was called upon to apply these schemes in a higher sphere, and another forward step was taken. Mr. Chapleau was sworn in of the Executive Council, and appointed Solicitor-General in the beginning of 1873, with the sanction of his whole party and the approval of his political adversaries. And away, in a quiet London street, and on a bed of sickness from which he was never to rise, Sir George Cartier heard of the promotion, and wrote that it was no more than the reward of merit. The great man, who was the friend of young men, and who took pains to train them in public life, was comforted at the last with the thought that one of his favorites had entered on the paths of responsible office. But this new period, from 1873 to 1879, was a stormy one, and not the least exciting incident was the defence, at Winnipeg, by Mr. Chapleau, of Lépine and other Half-breeds, implicated in the North-West troubles of that period. In September, 1874, the Ouimet government went down on the outcry about the Tanneries Land Swap, and Mr. Chapleau, after a vigorous defence of his conduct in a public speech, withdrew into private life. But in January, 1876, he was recalled as provincial secretary, and remained in office till the disruption of the Boucherville cabinet, by Governor Letellier de St. Just, in 1878. Another opportunity was here afforded, of which he took prompt advantage. In a mass meeting, held in Montreal, he was chosen leader of the Conservative party and of the Opposition, and at once set to work to prepare the way for the downfall of the Joly ministry. This he accomplished within a little beyond the year. In October, 1879, Mr. Joly resigned, and his opponent was summoned to form a government, which he at once did, adding to his position as first minister the department of Agriculture and Public Works. The same tact, energy, and general ability which he displayed as leader of the Opposition, where the best qualities of a public man are tested, Mr. Chapleau manifested as head of the government, and lost no time in turning to a business policy. The chief measure of his administration was the sale of the North Shore railway, to relieve the exchequer of the province. The subject gave rise to violent debates, and led to a division in the Conservative party itself, but subsequent events have justified it in a measure, and effectually removed the danger of a powerful corporation being turned into a mere party machine, with nameless resources of corruption. The general elections came on in 1881, and Mr. Chapleau swept the province, carrying fifty-three seats out of sixty-five. This seemed to crown his provincial career, and the project long cherished by his friends of his promotion from Quebec to Ottawa was urged upon him with great force. Strong objections were adduced on the other hand, however, and Mr. Chapleau was warned against taking a false step; but there is reason to believe that the state of his health, shattered by the wearing and worrying labors of the previous two years, turned the scales at the end. In the summer of 1882 Mr. Chapleau resigned his position, as prime minister, and accepted the portfolio of State in the government of Sir John Macdonald. It is only those who are acquainted with the modes, the habits, and the general situation of French Canada who can measure the difference existing between Quebec and Ottawa. Many of Mr. Chapleau’s critics foretold that he would be out of place in his new field; that the showy qualities which had won him so much distinction and power among his own people would go for very little with the cool, practical politicians of the Dominion capital, and that while he was supreme in the provincial arena, he would prove only third or fourth rate in the federal competition. Our readers can judge for themselves how far these predictions were fulfilled. Foes will agree with friends in stating, as a simple matter of justice, that the influence of Mr. Chapleau has not waned since he became a member of the Queen’s Privy Council for Canada. On the contrary, he increased his strength before the whole country by the bold and consistent stand which he took in the Riel affair. None but those who know the French Canadian people, how they are attached to their race, some of them cherishing the odd feeling that they are not treated with becoming justice and respect by the other elements of the population, and none but those who dwelt in the province at this time, and witnessed the morbid excitement, the hopes, the fears, the anxiety which prevailed throughout the whole crisis, can have the faintest notion of the gravity of the situation. Against this universal outburst Mr. Chapleau, with his two Quebec colleagues, had to make a stand, and in the large Montreal district, over which he has recognized control, he was obliged to bear the brunt of the onset alone. All agencies were set to bear against him. At first he was tempted and cajoled. If he put himself at the head of the movement, all parties would join in his wake, and he would be the master and idol of the province. Then intimidation was hinted at. If he ventured to set his foot in Montreal, he would be hooted and mobbed. There were several weeks, after the meeting in the Champ de Mars, when the tide of passion ran high, argument was useless, and but for the good sense and honest purpose of the best classes, a serious rupture might have ensued. From their point of view this indignation was natural, and it was respectable, springing from motives of injured patriotism, and aggravated by the definite promises which the party papers published, even on the eve of the unfortunate man’s execution. There are two sides to every question of this kind, and the readers in Ontario and the other provinces should take the particular circumstances into consideration in judging of the movement which almost rent the province of Quebec asunder. The record is that the Secretary of State remained calm and collected through it all. Knowing his people as he does, he understood all that he was risking, and the bright prospects which his ambition was throwing away; but, on the other hand, he seems to have seen his duty clear from the start, and, like a man, he did it. Without being defiant, he was fearless throughout. And he was outspoken. In a letter addressed to his countrymen, on the 28th November, 1885, he broaches the question face to face, saying that his oath of office was inviolable, even at the risk of losing friendships and emoluments, and that he had the profound conviction of the injustice of what was demanded of him as detrimental to the best understood interests of the province. “I saw,” he adds, “as a logical consequence of this movement, the isolation of French Canadians, causing an antagonism of race, provoking retaliation, combats, and disasters. I felt that there was more courage in breasting the current than in drifting with it, and, without failing in my duty, I let pass the misguided crowd who overwhelmed me with the names of traitor and poltroon.” The letter then goes on to discuss the whole question in all its bearings, and coming from a statesman, on his defence, who was acquainted with even the most secret details of the controversy, it possesses an intrinsic value which future historians will not overlook. Mr. Chapleau closes with these brave words: “My conscience tells me that I have failed, in this instance, neither to my Maker, nor to my Sovereign, nor to my countrymen. . . . I have served my native land, as a parliamentarian, for eighteen years with joy and pride. I shall continue to do it on one sole condition, that of keeping my freedom, with no other care than my honor and my dignity.” In other respects, as minister of the Crown at Ottawa, Mr. Chapleau may be said to have pressed hard the claims of his province in the cabinet and in parliament, and in certain cases he is charged with having done so at the risk of serious dissensions in the ministerial ranks. Here, as elsewhere throughout, the difficulties of the French Canadian province must be taken into account, and many things, very well meant from that point of view, are quite inexplicable when judged according to Saxon standards. Very few, if any, among partizan writers, will refuse Mr. Chapleau the quality of statesmanship, however they may differ on the principles that actuate it, or the results which it is likely to accomplish. But on the question of eloquence there can hardly be two opinions. He is a born orator, with almost all the physical gifts which go to the making of the perfect master of speech. A volume of his speeches has just been published, a perusal of which gives the further assurance of solidity, logical reasoning, rhetorical taste, and generous sentiment. To the persons who have the pleasure of his acquaintance he is the accomplished gentleman, lettered and sociable, full of agreeable information, and willing to oblige. Having married, on the 25th November, 1874, Marie Louise, a daughter of Lieutenant-Colonel King, of Sherbrooke, Mr. Chapleau is thoroughly conversant with the English, and, indeed, uses it in public speeches with judgment and fluency. As he is still a young man, there is reason to hope that he may long be spared to serve his country, and, while naturally leaning a little to his own Quebec, devote his fine gifts to the welfare of the Dominion at large.
Magnan, Adolphe, Notary Public, Joliette, Quebec province, was born at Berthier (en haut). His father, J. B. Magnan, was a brave and honest farmer of that place, and his mother was Marie Louise Raymond. The subject of this sketch was educated at the College of L’Assomption, where he took a classical course of studies. L’Assomption College, it may be mentioned, has given to the church and state many eminent men. Mr. Magnan entered college in 1838, and left it in 1845. In November of the same year he entered as a student in the office of Firmin Perrin, a notary at Berthier, and in 1847 left this place for Montreal, where he engaged in the office of Mr. Denis Emery Papineau, who was then practising in partnership with the late Pierre Lamothe. He was received as a notary in 1850, and shortly afterwards settled in the village of L’Industrie, now the town of Joliette. Mr. Magnan created for himself in a short time an excellent practice as a notary and as a man of business. He was soon appreciated as a laborious, honest and conscientious notary, and commanded public confidence on account of his legal knowledge acquired under so distinguished a patron as D. E. Papineau. He, in company with Dr. Michel S. Boulet, founded in 1851, at Joliette, the St. Jean Baptiste Society, of which he was for several years the president. Mr. Magnan was official assignee for the Joliette district, under the acts of 1869 and 1875, and also occupied the position of justice of the peace for the same district. He was member also of the board of notaries for the province of Quebec, as well as councillor for the town of Joliette, and acting mayor for some time. Mr. Magnan has been agent for the Seigneurial lands of Tarrieu, Joliette and Taillant, in the old seigniory of Lavaltrie, for more than thirty years; and was also agent for the seigniory of Daillebout and Ramsay. He practises as a notary at Joliette, in partnership with Alexis Cabana; and has been notary to the Bank of Hochelaga at Joliette, since 1874, the date the bank was first opened at this place. Mr. Magnan is a Liberal in politics. Since 1854 he has taken an active part in electoral struggles on behalf of that party. He has always refused to become a candidate, preferring to remain quietly at home. Mr. Magnan has been twice married, his first wife having been Aurelie Blanchard. His second wife is Marie Louise Lefleur, who bore him three children. Albina, his daughter, is married to Dr. Louis L. Anger, of Great Falls, New Hampshire, U.S.; Arthur and Rosario, his sons, are both engaged in Montreal in the hardware trade.
Jones, Rev. Septimus, M.A., Rector of the Church of the Redeemer, Toronto, Ont., was born June 4th, 1830, at Portsmouth, county Hants, England. He is the seventh son of Rev. James Jones, a presbyter of the English church, and of Esther Budge, both natives of England. Rev. Mr. Jones received his preparatory education at the city of London School, England; and in 1848, the family having removed to Canada, he matriculated at the University of Bishop’s College, Lennoxville, in the province of Quebec. Having graduated in arts, and finished the theological course in 1853, he filled for a year the position of classical master in the St. John’s High School, P.Q. In 1854 he was ordained deacon by Bishop Fulford of Montreal, and preached the following Sunday in the cathedral, and in St. George’s Church, of which Bishop Bond, of Montreal, was then assistant minister under Venerable Archdeacon Leach. His first charge was the mission of Cape Cove and Percé, in the district of Gaspé, P.Q. In 1854, the only mode of reaching that remote region, some five hundred miles below Quebec, was by means of small schooners, in the fish carrying trade, the passage occupying from three days to three weeks, and the fare, meals included was $5,—and dear even at that price. The field was unpromising. The people of the coast were given over to drunkenness, and a very low tone of morality prevailed. Education, too, was at a very low ebb, and the people were split up into factions. His nearest clerical neighbor was forty miles distant on the one side, and sixty on the other. Mr. Jones gave two hours each morning to the school. The Sunday’s work at Cape Cove was, at 8 a.m. Sunday school; 10 a.m. morning service; 2:30 p.m. Sunday school at Percé, nine miles distant, and had to travel this distance often on foot owing to the state of the roads; 3:30 p.m. afternoon service; and 7 p.m. evening service at Cape Cove. Cottage lectures each week evening from house to house. The diet was almost exclusively salt cod and potatoes; but on Sundays beef or mutton was served. The mail came in once a week in summer and once a fortnight in winter. Such is a fair specimen of a missionary’s life in those days. In 1855 Mr. Jones was admitted to the order of presbyter by Bishop Mountain of Quebec. In the following year, his health having suffered from overwork and the rigor of the climate (the snow lying from November to the middle of May), he was removed to Quebec and appointed incumbent of St. Peter’s Church in that city. In 1859, he went to Philadelphia, Penn., where he was appointed rector of the Church of the Redeemer; but in 1861, there being at the time imminent danger of war between Great Britain and the United States, he returned to Canada. After filling, as a temporary appointment, the position of assistant minister of St. Thomas’ Church, Belleville, Ontario, he was appointed the first rector of Christ Church in that city. In 1870 he was chosen as the first rector of the Church of the Redeemer, Toronto, which since then has enjoyed a large measure of prosperity. The present handsome edifice of stone, next in seating capacity to St. James’ Cathedral, was erected in 1879, opposite the north gate of Queen’s Park, one of the choicest sites in the city of Toronto. Rev. Mr. Jones acted for some years as inspector of schools in Belleville, and subsequently as one of the board of Intermediate Examiners in Ontario. He has also been connected with Wycliffe College, since its inception, as one of the council, and as a teacher, chiefly of the subject of apologetics. He has acted in the capacity of chaplain for the St. George’s societies, in Quebec, Belleville, and Toronto. He takes an active part in the work of the Anglican Synod, and, owing to his administrative ability, he is always a member of its principal standing and special committees; and he took the chief part in the preparation of that most useful handy-book, “The Churchwarden’s Manual,” and was the author of the canon on the superannuation fund, passed at the 1887 session of the Diocesan Synod. In the Ministerial Association of Toronto he is greatly interested, and seldom fails to attend its meetings; and also, when occasion calls, he is found advocating every movement having for its object the spiritual and moral improvement of the people. On the 28th April, 1862, Mr. Jones married Catherine Eliza Bruce Hutton, youngest daughter of the late William Hutton, secretary to the Bureau of Agriculture. The issue of the marriage has been eight children, two of whom died in infancy.
Payan, Paul, St. Hyacinthe, Quebec province, is a member of the firm of Duclos & Payan, Tanners, Manufacturers of buff, split-leather, shoe stock and curriers’ grease. He is the son of Louis Payan and Sophie Susanne Beranger, and was born the 14th day of February, 1840, in the city of Mens, department de l’Isère, France. At the early age of twelve he entered as apprentice in a tailoring establishment. In 1854, when the Crimean war broke out, his father, who had served under Napoleon the 1st, and accompanied the emperor in most of his campaigns, decided to send his two sons to America, feeling unwilling to expose them to the hardship of war, as his eldest son had attained the age of conscription. On the 7th of July they left for Havre, from which seaport they sailed for New York, leaving behind them their father and mother to dispose of their business of smallwares and stationery. After forty-six days’ sailing, theArlingtondropt her anchor in the bay of New York. Then began their anxieties, greatly increased by the fact that they could not understand the language of the country. Abused by overcharges in a hotel, and threatened by bullies, they passed out into the street where they wandered the whole night. It was only at the close of the next day that they bought their tickets for Champlain by boat to Albany; and after many troubles, baggages lost, delays, and disappointment of all kinds, they landed at Rouse’s Point, where sad news awaited them. A sister, the wife of the Rev. Mr. Charbonnel, then living at Roxton, had gone to her rest a few weeks before. His elder brother soon got employment in a carpenter’s shop, and Paul Payan entered as an apprentice in a tin shop; but soon discovering it would take a life-time to make a mere living, he followed the advice of his brother-in-law; gave up tailoring and the tinsmith business, and concluded an engagement with the owner of a small tannery. He soon passed to a larger leather establishment at Roxton Falls, and later on came to St. Pie and St. Hyacinthe. By that time he had learned his trade and made some money. He was married to Louisa Tenny, but having to support his young family, and his father and mother, who arrived in America a year after their son, his capital did not accumulate very fast. He made two unsuccessful attempts at starting a tannery business at Roxton Pond and at St. Hyacinthe. He then went into the bark business, but freight being high, he reduced its bulk by planing it thin; and was the first to send to the State of Massachusetts pressed bark. Competition having soon reduced the profit to a minimum, he gave this up, and went into the grocery business in Granby. After the death of his wife, he left Granby and became an agent for J. Daigneau, in an extensive and remunerative bark business. While in his employ he met with an accident, having broken his leg. After another attempt at bark business with a young friend, he came back to a long cherished idea of starting a tannery. With this object in view, he visited the western part of the United States and Canada; but finding no more advantages there than in the province of Quebec, he returned, and was married to his second wife, Olympe Duclos. In 1873 he formed a partnership with his brother-in-law, Silas Duclos, and began to put up a building of 75 feet long. In 1879 he bought Cotes’ tannery, and in 1882 doubled its capacity, which now employs 120 hands. Notwithstanding severe losses through failures, Mr. Payan grew in wealth and influence. In 1880 he was elected city councillor, which position he held till 1884, when he resigned. It was during his wise administration that the city of St. Hyacinthe underwent many improvements, that a public park was planned, a fire engine house and police station built, a more efficient fire service organized, the granite mill and a large shoe factory started, and a gas company put on a working footing. In 1881 Mr. Payan visited Europe in the interest of his business, seeking a new market for their manufactured goods. He is a worthy offshoot of a most faithful Huguenot family, was born and educated a Protestant, and is still a strong, quiet, unostentatious and consistent professor of the Presbyterian church of Canada.
Wells, Hon. Rupert Mearse, Toronto, Barrister, was born in Prescott county, Ontario, on the 25th November, 1835. He is descended, on the paternal side, from an English family, members of which emigrated to America, and settled in the town of Scituate, in the state of Rhode Island, towards the end of the seventeenth century. His great-grandfather, James Wells, came to Canada during the American revolutionary war. James Pendleton Wells, the father of the subject of our sketch, was born in Montreal, in 1803, and while a young man removed to the county of Prescott, where he resided for upwards of fifty years. He took an active and prominent part in public and political affairs, and for many years, until he was appointed sheriff, was the recognized leader of the Reform party in that county. Few men in that district were more widely known or more generally respected than Sheriff Wells. His wife was Emily Hamilton Cleveland, a native-born Canadian of Scotch-English descent. Hon. Mr. Wells, the subject of our sketch, received his educational training at home and at Brockville, and in 1850 was sent to the University of Toronto. Here he won the Jameson gold medal for history, and was silver medallist in ethics. Graduating B.A. in 1854, he began the study of law with Alexander McDonald, then one of the firm of Blake, Connor, Morrison & McDonald, leading barristers in Toronto, and on the completion of his law course, was called to the bar of Upper Canada, Trinity term, 1857. He then removed to L’Orignal, the county town of the united counties of Prescott and Russell. Mr. Wells remained here for about three years, during which time, in addition to his professional duties, he edited and publishedThe Economistnewspaper. Removing to Toronto, in 1860, he associated himself with the Hon. Edward Blake in the law business—the firm name being Blake, Kerr & Wells. A dissolution of this partnership having taken place in 1870, he formed another with Angus Morrison, Q.C., who for several years was mayor of Toronto, the new firm being known by the name of Morrison, Wells & Gordon. On the death of Mr. Morrison, a few years ago, a change took place in the firm, and now Mr. Wells carries on his law business in partnership with Angus MacMurchy, B.A., under the name of Wells & MacMurchy, barristers, 110 King street west. In 1871 Mr. Wells was appointed to the office of county attorney for York county and Toronto city, but this office he only held for about a year when he resigned, to become the Reform candidate for the South Riding of Bruce, for which constituency he was elected to the Ontario legislature in October, 1872. Shortly after entering the house, on the resignation of the Hon. J. G. Currie, 7th January, 1872, he was elected Speaker, and this high and honorable position he held until the dissolution of the parliament. He was elected to the same office on 23rd November, 1875, and held it until January, 1880. In 1882 he resigned his seat in the Ontario legislature, and was elected to represent East Bruce in the House of Commons. This seat he held until the general election of 1887, when he failed to secure his re-election. The Hon. Mr. Wells is now solicitor for the Canadian Pacific Railway. In politics he is a staunch Reformer.
Stuart, Sir Andrew, Knight, Quebec, is the distinguished Chief Justice of the Superior Court of the province of Quebec, and one of the most eminent of living Canadian jurists. Chief Justice Stuart may be said to have been “to the manner born,” and to have inherited the profound legal abilities, and splendid judicial mind, which make him one of the greatest ornaments of the Lower Canadian bench. “Bon chien tient de race” is a favorite French-Canadian maxim, which seems to have much application to his case. Legal and judicial talent runs, so to say, in his blood. His father, the late Andrew Stuart, Q.C., of Quebec, was her Majesty’s solicitor-general for Lower Canada, just before the union, and one of the most brilliant and remarkable lawyers of his day. Sir James Stuart, baronet, one of the most conspicuous figures in Canadian history, and for many years chief justice of the Court of Queen’s Bench for Lower Canada, was another member of the gifted family, as was also the late Hon. George O’Kill Stuart, for some years one of the representatives of the city of Quebec in parliament, and, at the time of his death, judge of her Majesty’s Vice-Admiralty Court at the port of Quebec. Our distinguished subject’s patronymic indicates his Scottish extraction. He was born at Quebec, on the 16th June, 1812, and was educated at Chambly, P.Q., in the Rev. Mr. Parkin’s school, which was conducted under the auspices of the Lord Bishop of Quebec. After the usual course of legal study in those days, he was called, in 1834, to the Quebec bar, and rapidly rose to distinction among his brethren of the long robe. On his father’s death, he succeeded to the most of his extensive and lucrative practice, and became the trusted adviser of the leading merchants and business men of the ancient capital, his services being retained in nearly all the important cases which came before the Quebec courts during the next twenty years. In 1854, he was raised to the dignity of a Q.C., in recognition of his eminent professional talents, and in the course of the same year he was also appointed a commissioner to consolidate the Statutes of Canada. In 1859, on the appointment of the late Hon. Justice Morin, as a member of the codification commission, he was named an assistant judge of the Superior Court for Lower Canada, and appointed a puisné judge of the same court at Quebec, on the death of Hon. Justice Chabot, in 1860. In 1874, he was offered a seat in the Court of Queen’s Bench for the province of Quebec, but declined it, and in March, 1885, on the retirement of Sir William Collis Meredith, he was elevated to the more important position of chief justice of the Superior Court for the province of Quebec, which he still fills, with honor to himself, satisfaction to the bar, and benefit to the country. In fact, Sir Andrew Stuart is one of the most popular, as he is also one of the most eminent, of the Lower Canadian judiciary. Throughout his career at the bar, his practice was so extensive that he may be said to have had no time to take any part in politics. At all events, he never adventured actively on that stormy sea, and, even to this day, his party proclivities, if he can be stated to have any, remain in doubt, so evenly did he hold, and has always held, the balance. This marked characteristic, together with his exalted office as chief justice, naturally pointed him out as the fit and proper person to represent the Crown on different occasions in the province of Quebec, and during the illness of Lieut.-Governor Masson, he was appointed provincial administrator, in April, 1886, and again in February, 1887, acquitting himself on both occasions of his high and delicate trust with a tact and impartiality which won golden opinions from all political parties in the province. On the 9th May, 1887, Chief Justice Stuart received, in the honor of knighthood, from her Majesty, a mark of his Sovereign’s appreciation of his eminent services, in which the whole country rejoiced, and none more so than the people of Quebec, his native city and home. Although now past the scriptural three score and ten, Sir Andrew is still a hale and vigorous man, with well preserved powers of mind and body, and doubtless has yet many years of public usefulness before him. On the bench, he is a model of dignity in his demeanor and lucidity in his judgments, and especially kind to the younger practitioners before him. In private life, he is essentially the well-bred gentleman, noted for his affability, geniality, and the old-time courtliness of his manners. In 1842, he married Elmire Aubert de Gaspé, a daughter of the late Philip Aubert de Gaspé, seigneur of St. Jean Port Joly, and a member of one of the oldest and most aristocratic French families of Lower Canada, who received large grants of land from the French kings before the conquest. One of Mrs. Stuart’s sisters is the wife of Hon. Charles Alleyn, formerly commissioner of public works in the government of Canada, and at present sheriff of Quebec; and another is the widow of the late Hon. William Power, in his lifetime a judge of the Superior Court of Quebec. By his marriage, Sir Andrew has had issue eight children, four sons and four daughters. One of the former, Henry McNab Stuart, now in British Columbia, is a barrister by profession. His second son, Andrew Charles Stuart, now deceased, was also a barrister, and for many years the popular lieut.-colonel and commanding officer of the 8th battalion of Quebec Royal Rifles. A third son, Gustavus G. Stuart, is a prominent and successful practitioner at the Quebec bar, and one of the legal firm of which Sir A. P. Caron, Dominion minister of militia, is also a member. His eldest daughter, Lauretta Stuart, is the wife of Hon. Louis Beaubien, of Montreal, formerly M.P.P. for Hochelaga, and speaker of the Legislative Assembly of Quebec. Another daughter, Maud Margaret, is the wife of William G. Lemesurier, and now in India with her husband. Sir Andrew Stuart is a member of the Church of England.
Dorion, Hon. Sir Antoine Aimé, Knight, Montreal, Chief Justice of the Province of Quebec, was born at Ste. Anne de la Pérade, district of Three Rivers, on the 17th January, 1818. He is a son of Pierre Antoine Dorion, who was a member of the House of Assembly for Lower Canada for the county of Champlain, prior to the troubles of 1835 and 1837, and Genevieve Bureau, his wife. He is a grandson of P. Bureau, who sat in the Assembly for the county of St. Maurice, and nephew of Hon. Jacques O. Bureau, who is a Senator for DeLorimer division. The subject of this sketch received an excellent education at Nicolet College. After a course of study in law he was called to the bar of Lower Canada, January, 1842; was appointed a Q.C. in 1863, and created a knight in 1877. He has occupied a distinguished position at the bar; was elected several timesbâtonnierof the Montreal bar, and was alsobâtonnier-generalof the bar of the province. He began at an early age to take an interest in politics, and from 1854 to 1861 he sat in the Canadian Assembly for Montreal, and for Hochelaga from 1862 until the union. He represented the same county in the House of Commons until 1872, when he was returned for Napierville, for which he continued to sit until his elevation to the bench. He was leader of theRougeor French Canadian Liberal party of the province of Quebec, from his entrance into political life until his retirement. In August, 1858, the Macdonald-Cartier government was succeeded by the Brown-Dorion administration, when Mr. Dorion became attorney-general. He was sworn in a member of the Privy Council November 7th, 1873, and was minister of justice from that date until appointed chief justice of the province of Quebec. During his career in parliament, he held the offices of commissioner of crown lands in 1858; provincial secretary from May, 1862, to January, 1863, when he resigned on the Intercolonial Railway question; attorney-general for Lower Canada, and co-leader of the government (with Hon. John Sandfield Macdonald as premier), from May, 1863, to March, 1864, when the ministry resigned from office. He acted as administrator of the province of Quebec, in December, 1876, during the illness of Lieut.-Governor Caron. He was married, in 1848, to a daughter of the late Dr. Trestler, of Montreal.