Another personage in this court is entitled to a favourable notice—Mr. T. M. Radenhurst. This gentleman lounges in his chair with an easy familiarity when in court—you would imagine that his soul was away into the fair land of romance, or feasting with the great jury consultists in his library, or arranging some circumstances that may have transpired in the domestic or social circle; but when he stands up, and is roused into action, you are both startled and pleased to find that all this seeming abstraction, has no reality—he shows that nothing has escaped his notice—his mind is found to be stored with important facts, all bearing upon the point at issue; in the management of these there is a complete absence of all clap-trap—he does not seek to terrify and bewilder a witness, but the witness finds that he is in the hands of a master, and that his only mode of escape is in giving a plain unvarnished tale. When he addresses the jury, he unfolds the capacity so valuable in an advocate, that he believes that there is such a thing as truth, and that he relies with full confidence for success of his cause upon the truth being told. The moral bearing of his case is then unfolded, and the conviction is triumphantly carried and established in every unprejudiced mind that whatever may be the merits of the suit the advocate is an honest man.
Another personage in this court is entitled to a favourable notice—Mr. T. M. Radenhurst. This gentleman lounges in his chair with an easy familiarity when in court—you would imagine that his soul was away into the fair land of romance, or feasting with the great jury consultists in his library, or arranging some circumstances that may have transpired in the domestic or social circle; but when he stands up, and is roused into action, you are both startled and pleased to find that all this seeming abstraction, has no reality—he shows that nothing has escaped his notice—his mind is found to be stored with important facts, all bearing upon the point at issue; in the management of these there is a complete absence of all clap-trap—he does not seek to terrify and bewilder a witness, but the witness finds that he is in the hands of a master, and that his only mode of escape is in giving a plain unvarnished tale. When he addresses the jury, he unfolds the capacity so valuable in an advocate, that he believes that there is such a thing as truth, and that he relies with full confidence for success of his cause upon the truth being told. The moral bearing of his case is then unfolded, and the conviction is triumphantly carried and established in every unprejudiced mind that whatever may be the merits of the suit the advocate is an honest man.
W. H. Radenhurst, the subject of our sketch, his eldest son, at present residing in Perth, was educated at Upper Canada College. He held the office of treasurer of Lanark for sometime after his father’s death, but afterwards studied law in the offices of the late Mr. Fraser of Perth, and of Sir Matthew Cameron in Toronto, and was called to the bar. He was a member of the town council of Perth, and mayor of the town from 1874 to 1878. He is now revising officer for North Lanark. In politics he is a Liberal-Conservative, and in religion an adherent of the Episcopal church.
St. Georges, Rev. Charles, Parish Priest of St. Athanase, Iberville, P.Q., and Honorary Canon of the Cathedral of St. Hyacinthe, was born on the 13th March, 1834, at Varennes, Verchères county, P.Q. He was educated at the College of St. Hyacinthe, and ordained priest on the 15th August, 1858. The scenes of his early labors were successively Sorel, Granby, Abbotsford and St. Charles. Since 1868 he has been in charge of the Church of St. Athanase, Iberville, where his devotedness, zeal, and piety have gained for him the universal esteem and affection of his flock. His finer qualities, however, are known only to a few—his fellow-priests and the religious under his spiritual direction—by whom he is regarded as a model worthy of copying, and as a tender and loving pastor. Father St. Georges has been distinguished throughout his priestly career for the important part and interest he has taken in the education question. Finding on his arrival at St. Athanase, that the good Sisters of the Congregation de Notre Dame had established a convent there, he spared no sacrifice in aiding and seconding them in their noble efforts. For a long time it was his ardent wish to procure for the boys of his parish a suitable educational establishment; but it was not, however, until 1885 that this grand project was fully realized. In that year he had the happiness of seeing opened a Commercial College under the direction of the Marist Brothers, whose Mother-House is at St. Genis-Laval, France. The success which has already attended the scheme does credit to its promoter and principal supporter. At present it has about two hundred externs and fifty boarders. Father St. Georges’ life has been replete with all those noble virtues and fine qualities so often met with in the priesthood, and we hope he will be long spared to bless humanity.
Burrill, William, Merchant, Yarmouth, Nova Scotia, was born at Drumbo, near Belfast, Ireland, on 30th June, 1802. He was the second son of Henry and Rosanna Burrill, and came to Yarmouth, Nova Scotia, in the year 1834, where he at once engaged in mercantile business which he successfully pursued until 1869, when he retired. During his lifetime he greatly distinguished himself for his zeal in the cause of temperance. He took a leading part in the organization of the first Division of the Sons of Temperance in Yarmouth, and was the second Grand Worthy Patriarch of the order in Nova Scotia. He was elected a member of the National Division of North America in the year 1851. He held the office of warden of the municipality of Yarmouth in 1857, and the following year was appointed a justice of the peace. He was a Liberal in politics, and a Presbyterian in religion. He died at Yarmouth, on the 9th April, 1883, greatly regretted by his fellow citizens, among whom he was held in high esteem. He was married to Catherine Sullivan, of Halifax, N.S., on the 28th of November, 1839.
Charland, Hon. Justice Alfred N., B.C.L., St. John’s, Quebec. This gentleman, who was raised to the bench of the province of Quebec, as one of the judges of the Superior Court, in November, 1887, was born at Iberville, province of Quebec, on the 28th May, 1842. He is a son of late Joseph Charland, merchant, of the same place, one of the oldest settlers of the county of Iberville, province of Quebec, and who was married to Elmire Duquette, of Chateauguay, sister of the renowned Joseph Duquette, a young patriot who was executed in 1838, when only twenty-two years of age, for being one of the “Sons of Liberty,” an order that existed at the time of the Canadian rebellion. This lamented young martyr for the cause of liberty was a supporter and bosom friend of the celebrated Papineau. Judge Charland was educated in St. Hyacinthe College. He studied the profession of law in the office of the late Hon. Charles Laberge and L. G. Macdonald, Q.C. (Laberge & Macdonald), in St. John’s, province of Quebec, and was subsequently a student in the office of Sir A. A. Dorion, now chief justice of the Court of Queen’s Bench. He received his degree of B.C.L. from McGill University, when Judge Torrance, Edward Carter, Q.C., and the Hon. R. Laflamme were his professors. He was admitted to practice in September, 1863, and settled at St. John’s, where he editedLe Franco Canadienfor two years, and commenced an extensive practice with E. S. Paradis, Q.C. In 1878 Mr. Charland was offered the judgeship of the quarter sessions for Montreal, by the Joly government, in the place of Judge Coursol, a position which, though honorable, he declined. The same year he was appointed Queen’s counsel by the Quebec government, and in 1886 had this distinction confirmed upon him by the governor-general in council at Ottawa. He was for several years actively engaged in politics, and fought the battles of the Liberal party till he joined the Conservatives as a protectionist and a partisan of the ruling policy of his friend, the Hon. J. A. Chapleau, then premier of Quebec province. Mr. Charland has particularly distinguished himself as a criminal lawyer, having for several years occupied the position of Crown prosecutor in the district of Iberville, and when not so employed has been entrusted with the defence in all the important cases which came up before the assizes of that judicial division. He obtained great success in several murder cases. He is considered as an authority on criminal matters. He is also acknowledged to be one of the most eloquent and forcible speakers in the province of Quebec, and perhaps the most correct and eloquent of our French orators. As such he has taken an active and prominent part in numerous political contests throughout the province, and greatly contributed to the success of his friends in many electoral strifes. The St. John’sNewsof the 18th November, 1887, thus kindly speaks of him on the occasion of his elevation to the bench: —
News was received in St. John’s last Friday that Mr. A. N. Charland, Q.C., of this place, had been appointed judge of this district, in place of the Hon. Mr. Justice Chagnon, resigned. While general regret was expressed at the resignation of the latter gentleman, the appointment of Mr. Charland as his successor gave the most unqualified satisfaction to our community at large, and even many of those who had recently been most strictly opposed to him on political ground, were among the first to congratulate him on his preferment. We do not hesitate to say that Judge Charland will be an honor to the bench. Years ago he distinguished himself at the bar as a gifted pleader and as a clear, incisive, and brilliant reasoner. Along with a dignified and polished manner, he possesses thatsavoir fairewhich so greatly adds to the charm of an intellectual man, and is so especially becoming to the occupants of high positions.
News was received in St. John’s last Friday that Mr. A. N. Charland, Q.C., of this place, had been appointed judge of this district, in place of the Hon. Mr. Justice Chagnon, resigned. While general regret was expressed at the resignation of the latter gentleman, the appointment of Mr. Charland as his successor gave the most unqualified satisfaction to our community at large, and even many of those who had recently been most strictly opposed to him on political ground, were among the first to congratulate him on his preferment. We do not hesitate to say that Judge Charland will be an honor to the bench. Years ago he distinguished himself at the bar as a gifted pleader and as a clear, incisive, and brilliant reasoner. Along with a dignified and polished manner, he possesses thatsavoir fairewhich so greatly adds to the charm of an intellectual man, and is so especially becoming to the occupants of high positions.
Judge Charland first married, in 1865, Aglaë Ouimet, sister of the Hon. Justice Ouimet. His second marriage was to Mary Lareau, of St. John’s, eldest daughter of L. Lareau, manufacturer, proprietor of the St. John’s foundry, and for a long time a councillor of said town.
Lefebvre, Guillaume, Waterloo, P.Q., was born at Laurenceville, in the province of Quebec, on the 19th of February, 1856. He was educated at the Knowlton academy, afterwards taking a course at Bryant & Stratton’s business college, in Montreal. He was in the lumber trade from 1873 to 1877, with his brother, Joseph H. Lefebvre, and then bought him out. His business as lumber dealer and furniture manufacturer, at Waterloo, Quebec province, has continued to increase, and is now in a most prosperous condition, employing a large number of hands. He was married on the 16th of June, 1885, to Alphonsine Maynard, of St. John’s, Quebec, and they have one child.
McIlwraith, Thomas, Hamilton, Ontario, Coal Merchant, and the leading Ornithologist in Canada, was born in Newton, Ayr, Scotland, on the 25th of December, 1824. He received an ordinary education at the schools there, and early in 1846 went to reside in Edinburgh, where he remained till about the close of 1848. Returning at that time to his native town, he remained there till the latter part of 1853, when he arranged to come to Hamilton, Canada, to superintend the gas works of that city. In October of that year he married Mary, daughter of Bailie Hugh Park, a friend of his school days, and he and his bride landed in Hamilton, on the 9th November, 1853, at a point very near the property he has since purchased, and where he now resides with his family. He remained in the position of manager of the gas works till 1871, when he bought the Commercial Wharf, with the coal and forwarding business then being carried on by John Procton, and has since continued to carry on this business in the same premises. He has been successful in business, and has brought up four sons and three daughters, the youngest of the family, K. C. McIlwraith, who partakes largely of his father’s love of nature, being now attending the University in Toronto. In politics Mr. McIlwraith has always been a Liberal, but he has never taken an active part in political contests. Since attaining manhood he has been a member of the Presbyterian church. He has held many prominent positions in the directorate of banks, insurance companies, etc., and was for many years president of the Mechanics’ Institute, and in 1878 represented the ward in which he resides in the city council. But it is as a naturalist that he is best known in Canada. Possessing from early childhood a strong love of nature in all its forms, the insects, plants, and specially the birds of Scotland were familiar to him at an early age. His first summer in Canada was therefore to him the entrance to a new world. The liberty of roaming at will through the woods without such restraints as exist in older lands; the new and varied forms of plant and bird life which he met were a continual source of delight, and made an impression which time has not been able to efface. His attention was now specially directed to the birds, and there being no published books to serve as guides to the identifying of the species he might find here, he prepared a paper on the subject, with a list of such birds as he had obtained, and read it before the Hamilton Association, which was organized about that time for the study of scientific subjects. The list appeared in theCanadian Journalfor July, 1860, and the paper in the same journal in January, 1861; they attracted the attention of ornithologists in the United States, and in 1865 he prepared, by request, an extended list of birds observed near Hamilton, which list appeared in the proceedings of the Essex Institute for 1866. During the years that succeeded, the study still occupied many of his spare hours, and was the subject of occasional notes to the magazines. In 1883 he attended by invitation a meeting of the leading ornithologists of the United States. This meeting, which was held in the library of the Central Park Museum, New York, was called to consider and revise the classification and nomenclature of American birds, resulted in the organization of the now well-known American Ornithologist Union, of which he had thus the honor of being one of the founders. In this connection he was appointed superintendent of the district of Ontario for the migration committee of the union, and did considerable work in appointing observers throughout Ontario to note the arrival and departure of the migratory birds. There being still a want of a suitable text book for beginners in the study of ornithology, he was urged by many to give the public the benefit of his knowledge on this subject. This he did in a book of 300 pages, in which upwards of 300 species of birds, with their nests, eggs, etc., are minutely and correctly described, the MS. of which he presented to the Hamilton Association. Sir William Dawson has highly spoken of it, and Dr. S. P. May, superintendent of Mechanics’ Institutes and Art Schools for Ontario, says:—“I have carefully examined the ‘Birds of Ontario,’ by Mr. McIlwraith, superintendent of the district of Ontario for the migration committee of the American Ornithologist Union. It contains a most graphic description of Canadian birds, their habits, nests and eggs, and distribution, and will be of valuable assistance to persons interested in the study of natural history. I may mention that, as an ornithologist, I have frequently been associated with Mr. McIlwraith during the past twenty-five years, and I consider him to be one of the most practical and best authorities on Canadian birds on this continent. The book should be in every mechanics’ institute and public library in this country, and I have great pleasure in recommending it for that purpose.” Mr. McIlwraith’s strong love of the subject led him at an early date to preserve and mount his own specimens. His thorough knowledge of the attitudes of the birds when in life enabled him to do this most successfully, and he has now one of the largest, if not the largest, and best prepared private collections in the Dominion. And what is more, he is always pleased to show it to those interested. He has confined his attention chiefly to birds of Britain and America, but has also a few from the far off islands of the sea.
Fiske, Edward, Lumber Merchant, Joliette, Quebec, was born at Abbotsford, Quebec province, on the 5th September, 1841. His parents were Ebenezer Fiske and Eliza Bradford. He was educated in his native place, and received a sound commercial education. Adopting commerce as a profession, he was very successful, and is now possessed of large means. He holds land property in Montreal and St. Jerome, and at the latter place has a hardware store, conducted under the firm name of Treffle, Cote & Co., and in which a paying business is done. He is also owner of two saw mills in which a large quantity of lumber is shipped to the Montreal and other markets in Canada. In Joliette he has erected a handsome block of buildings, known as the “Fiske Block,” and this has turned out a good investment. In short Mr. Fiske may be classed among what some people call the “lucky ones,” but we are rather inclined to the belief that his luck has come from close attention to business, and making the most of favorable circumstances as they presented themselves, rather than from what he could not control. He went to Montreal in 1860, and was employed in a wholesale hardware store until 1865, and from there he went into the cotton business in Georgia and Florida for two years, and then returned to New York state, where he continued business, and remained until 1869, and since then at Joliette. Last year (1887) Mr. Fiske crossed the Atlantic, and visited Glasgow, London, Belgium, Germany, Switzerland, France, etc.; during those travels he was very observant, and picked up a store of useful information. On the 2nd October, 1867, he was married to Emma E. S. Elliott, daughter of John Elliott, wholesale grocer, Montreal.
Barry, Denis, B.C.L., Barrister, of Montreal, takes rank among the most distinguished Irishmen of Canada. Born in the city of Cork in the year 1835, he, early in life, emigrated from Ireland to America with his father, James Barry, who is still living at Rockwood, Ont. The Barry family is one of the oldest in the south of Ireland, and has furnished many brave and able men to the army and navy, the bench and the bar, and the other liberal professions of the United Kingdom. The father of the American navy, Commodore Jack Barry, belonged to that branch of the Barry family from which the subject of this sketch is descended. His mother, Hannah Kelleher, was a daughter of Captain Kelleher, who served with distinction in the service of the Hon. East India Company. Mr. Barry began his education at the common school and continued his studies at Rockwood Academy. Subsequently he went through a classical course at Regiopolis College, Kingston, Ont. Studied theology for some time at the Grand Seminary and at Laval University, and law at McGill University, where he graduated as B.C.L. Entered the volunteer service of Canada as lieutenant in the St. Jean Baptiste Company, Montreal, M. W. Kirwan, captain, in 1877; was promoted to the captaincy of the same company and remained in command thereof till the corps was merged in the 85th battalion, when he retired, went through the Military School, Montreal, and obtained the certificate that entitled him to his rank. Is now joint fire commissioner for the city of Montreal. Has been president of St. Patrick’s Society of Montreal, for four years consecutively. Is past-president of the Young Men’s Reform Club of Montreal. Has taken an active part in political contests, both provincial and federal; also in municipal affairs, having been an unsuccessful candidate for alderman in St. Ann’s Ward, Montreal, in 1882. Mr. Barry is of the same faith as his forefathers—a Roman Catholic—and has never changed his religious views. Mr. Barry had experience of backwoods life as a settler on a free grant farm on the Hastings road in 1856, at that time one of the wildest parts of Upper Canada, but now a beautiful and prosperous region. He also engaged in the lumbering business for some time on the York branch of the Madawaska river, Ontario; subsequently he was engaged in the crown lands office, on the Opeongo road, with Mr. T. P. French, now post-office inspector, Ottawa district. Since his adoption of the profession of the law, Mr. Barry has resided at Montreal, where he has achieved a very high position. He is particularly noted as anisi priuspractitioner, and has conducted a large number of famous cases successfully. As a speaker, Mr. Barry is not surpassed at a bar distinguished for the oratorical abilities of its members, while, in his addresses before popular audiences, he comes up to the best standard of the times. Personally, the writer of this sketch can bear testimony, he is one of the most genial and kind-hearted of men. Ever foremost in all good works, and as the champion of his less fortunate countrymen, Mr. Barry is endeared to all who know him, and beloved in all the relations of home and friendship. He married, in 1869, Kathleen, daughter of the late Michael Morgan, merchant, of Sorel, P.Q., a lady distinguished as much for amiability and goodness as for her charming personality. The union has been blest with a large family.
Pettit, Rev. Charles Biggar, M.A., Rector of Cornwall, was born at Grimsby, Ontario, in 1827. His father, Andrew Pettit, was an honest and successful farmer, a leading churchman and a tory of the old school. His grandfather was a United Empire loyalist, and one of the first settlers in the township of Grimsby. He was educated at King’s College, Toronto, graduated at McGill College, Montreal, and was ordained from the Diocesan Theological Institution, Cobourg, by the first bishop of Toronto. His first mission was that vast field lying between Guelph and the northern shores of Lake Huron—then almost a dense wilderness, now thickly settled and studded with churches. In 1852 he was admitted to priest’s orders, and appointed to Burford, in the county of Brant. In 1855 he was presented to the rectory of Richmond, in the county of Carleton, where he ministered for more than twenty-two years, and where he took an active part in the educational work of the county, and with what success an address presented to him in 1877 by one hundred and four leading men of the city of Ottawa and of the county of Carleton, accompanied by a large purse, only slightly indicates. In 1877 he was presented to the rectory of Cornwall, and also to a canonry in St. George’s Cathedral, Kingston, and shortly after appointed rural dean of Stormont. The most interesting event to the public in his parochial career at Cornwall was the consecration of the Bishop Strachan Memorial Church, which partook of a state ceremony and was attended by his Honor J. B. Robinson, lieutenant-governor, who read themandate; by the Hon. George A. Kirkpatrick, speaker of the House of Commons; by the clergy of the town, by the judges, the sheriff, the mayor and members of the town council, and by a very large number of parishioners. In 1852 he married Helen Clara, only daughter of the late Colonel Thomas Parker, of Belleville, by whom he has three sons and five daughters.
Dunbar, James, Q.C., Quebec, is one of the leading members of the Quebec bar, at which he has been a successful practitioner for upwards of thirty years. As his name indicates, he is of Scottish extraction. His father, the late Ferguson Dunbar, was paymaster of the 74th Highlanders, and married while serving with his regiment in Ireland, where our subject was born in the year 1833. Educated in the Gosport Naval Academy, and other well-known schools of the United Kingdom and at the Quebec High School, Mr. Dunbar turned his attention early in life to journalism, and for a time was editor of the QuebecMorning Chronicle, then the leading daily of the ancient capital. The period was one of great political excitement in Canada. The public mind was agitated by questions of such burning importance as the secularization of the clergy reserves, and the abolition of the seigniorial tenure in Lower Canada. As a journalist at the head of one of the chief newspapers of the day, Mr. Dunbar not only distinguished himself as a terse, critical and vigorous writer, but as such did much to shape the course of events and of legislation. He always, however, evinced a taste for the law, and after occupying the editorial chair of theChroniclewith marked success for about five years he gave up newspaper life to devote himself to the study of Blackstone and Pothier. In his new profession he made rapid headway under the tuition of the late Mr. Secretan, a well-known practitioner at Quebec, and at the age of twenty-two was duly called to the Lower Canada bar, when he formed a partnership with Mr. Secretan, which subsisted until the latter’s death. Thenceforward his success was assured, but it was not won in a day. Gradually the talented and energetic young lawyer worked his way, not only in public estimation, but into the front ranks of the profession, and in 1873, simultaneously with his commission from England as registrar of the Vice-Admiralty Court at Quebec, he received from the Dominion government one of the great objects of professional ambition, the silk gown of a Queen’s counsel, in recognition of his abilities and standing at the bar. These were further acknowledged in 1878 by his appointment as Crown prosecutor for the district of Quebec. In this prominent and responsible position, which he filled with general acceptance down to 1887, he distinguished himself as much by his humanity as by his ability, and his name remains honorably connected with the administration of criminal justice in Quebec, and with all the cases of importance which were tried before the courts of the ancient capital during a period of nine years. Always conspicuous for his sound judgment, thorough knowledge of the law and keen perception of the intricacies of the case, his manner of examining witnesses was especially admirable, his questions being always to the point and put in such a way as to bring out the needed answer even from the most reluctant witness in the box, while his addresses to the jury were always clear, precise and remarkable not only for their logic but for their skill in sifting and summarizing evidence. He is a good speaker, his manner being pleasing but forcible, and his deportment always gentlemanly. As an exponent of maritime law he is admitted to have few equals at the bar of Canada. In 1875 his colleagues of the Quebec bar paid him the compliment of electing him theirbâtonnier, and he has been for some years chairman of the board of examiners of law students. A churchman of broad views, he has been a delegate to the diocesan and provincial synods of the Church of England, in which capacity he has always maintained his own. His masonic record is prominent. He has filled all the principal offices of the craft in the Blue lodge, and is now a past grand principal of the Grand Chapter of Royal Arch Masons of Canada, and past grand master of the Grand Lodge of Quebec. In 1862 he married Emma Amelia, daughter of James Poole, jr., of the Commissariat department, Montreal, and by her has had issue a son (who is now also a Quebec barrister and LL.M. of Laval University), and two daughters. Mr. Dunbar is an indefatigable worker, estimable as a citizen and agreeable and cordial in manner. He has never entered public life, but his politics are understood to be moderate Conservative.
Meek, Edward, Barrister, Toronto, was born in the village of Port Stanley, Ontario, on the 27th December, 1845. His father, James Meek, came to Canada at the early age of three years with his parents, in 1817, from Ballymena, North of Ireland, and they settled in the same year in Talbot district, and took up a large tract of land near Port Stanley, being one of the earliest pioneers of that part of the country. At the time of Edward’s birth his father was conducting a foundry, which he carried on successfully for a number of years; but owing to a disastrous conflagration, which destroyed the whole of the extensive establishment, he returned to his farm again, on which he has remained till the present time. Edward received his early education at the Port Stanley school, and afterwards at the Grammar School, St. Thomas. After leaving school, at the age of seventeen, he was granted a certificate to teach, which occupation he followed for three years. He then accepted a position as bookkeeper in a grain warehouse, at which he continued for a short time only; but thinking a short journey among strangers would improve his prospects, he went to Boston and engaged with the publishing house of a prominent firm there. After a short sojourn he returned to London, Ontario, and there commenced the study of law. In 1873 he removed to Toronto, where he continued his studies and finished his law course in the office of Harrison, Osler and Moss, three gentlemen who afterwards became distinguished judges. He was called to the bar of Ontario in the spring of 1874, and he then formed a partnership with the Hon. John O’Donohoe, which continued for three years, when it was dissolved. He then opened an office of his own until he formed a partnership with William Norris, of Woodstock, which lasted till Mr. Norris returned to Woodstock. In 1877 he commenced to take an active part in the politics of the country, and especially in the promotion of the national policy; in fact he was one of the originators of the work, and travelled over Ontario assisting in the formation of political organizations to enable the government to carry their national policy to a successful issue. He continued from that time to take an active part as one of the leading political writers and speakers on the platform until the winter of 1884, when he and a number of other politicians conceived the idea of forming a coalition government for the province of Ontario, their object being to do away with partyism in the local legislature. Others were brought into the scheme who were impatient of the slow method of bringing about the change by argument, and thought that a sufficient number of the members of the legislature could be secured by offers and promises to at once defeat the Mowat government, when the coalition could be immediately formed during the spring session of 1884. The plans were disapproved of by the originators of the idea, but the hot heads could not be kept under control, and the public know the result of the unfortunate conspiracy case which sprung from it, involving those more actively concerned in the long and tedious investigation and prosecution before a Royal commission and in the criminal courts. The Royal commission brought in a divided report, which the house never acted upon. The verdict of the jury in the criminal court, in the trial of May, 1885, acquitted the accused. Since that time Mr. Meek has devoted himself strictly to the practice of his profession in Toronto, and the promotion and formation of joint stock and other companies. Mr. Meek was joined in marriage on the 30th June, 1873, to Anna Margaret McBride, daughter of Samuel McBride, of London, Ontario, by which union they have issue two sons and one daughter. Mr. Meek and family are members of the Church of England.
Smith, Andrew, F.R.C.V.S. (Eng.), Principal of the Ontario Veterinary College, Toronto, is a native of the “Land o’ Burns,” having been born in Ayrshire, Scotland. He received his early educational training in Dalrymple, his native parish, and going to Edinburgh, entered the Veterinary College of that city, where he passed a brilliant course of study, carrying off the highest honors, and five medals. He graduated in 1861, and after coming to Canada settled in Toronto, where he has since led a busy professional life. He is the founder and principal of the Ontario Veterinary College, Toronto, and consulting veterinary surgeon of the Board of Agriculture of Ontario. For three years Professor Smith occupied the position of president of the Caledonian Society of Toronto; was worshipful master of St. Andrew’s lodge of A. F. & A. M. during the year 1874-5, and is a director of the Industrial Exhibition of Toronto. He is also a member of the executive committee of the Toronto Jockey Club, and master of the Toronto Hunt. In religion Mr. Smith is a Presbyterian.
Guy, Michel Patrice, Notary Public, Montreal, was born at Montreal on the 18th May, 1809. He is a son of Etienne Guy and Catherine Valée. The Guy family is probably the oldest family in the Dominion, being descended from the French Count, Guy de Montfort, a general in King Charles’ army of France, and close relation to the king. The first of the family to leave France was Pierre Guy, who came to Canada at the commencement of the seventeenth century, and married Madame de la Lande in November, 1723. He entered the army as an ensign, under M. de Beauharnois, who had succeeded de Vaudreuil in the government of New France, where he served with great distinction. He advanced rapidly, being made captain in 1748, and greatly distinguished himself at Louisburg. He died April, 1748. Pierre Guy, his eldest son was born at Ville-Marie (Montreal,) 11th December, 1738, and educated at the Jesuits’ College and thePetit Séminaire de Quebec. Having a great aptitude for science, he was sent to France to complete his course; when he returned to Canada, war was then going on with England. He entered the army under General de Montcalm, and took part at Oswego and Fort William Henry in the series of brilliant victories which should always render his name dear to Canadians. He also took part in the battles of Carillon and Montmorency, where he was greatly praised for his martial ardor and bravery. He was also at the battle of the Plains of Abraham, which was fatal to the French. He returned to France after the capitulation of Montreal, where he remained until 1764, when he returned to Canada. After some time he again took up the sword against General Montgomery. He was made lieutenant-colonel of the militia, and a few years afterwards, in 1802, was made colonel. He died in January, 1812. Pierre was buried with military honors by the militia as well as by the 49th regiment, which was then garrisoned in Montreal. Louis Guy was born on the 28th June, 1768, studied law, and obtained from Sir Robert Shore Milnes a commission as notary in 1801. In recognition of past services, Lord Aylmer named him notary to his Majesty (Royal notary) in 1830, a position now abolished. When the second American invasion came, he took arms against the enemy. He was then major of the 5th battalion of militia, and as a recompense for his great military services, Sir James Kempt appointed him colonel of the militia for the county of Montreal. On the 23rd February, 1837, through the representations of Sir James Kempt, William IV. summoned him to the Council. He was most intimate with Lord Aylmer, who often spent days with him at his house, which was surrounded with the largest gardens then in Montreal. He died at Montreal in February, 1840. Hippolyte Guy, son of the Hon. F. Guy and Dame J. Curot, was born in Montreal on the 3rd July, 1800, and was educated for the law. He held a great reputation as a jurisconsult, and was made judge of the Superior Court. Louis Guy, eldest brother of the above, entered the British army as lieutenant in the 81st regiment of the line. This command was given him by the Duke of Wellington, in consideration of his bravery at Chateauguay, where, as captain of theVoltigeurs, he commanded the advance posts. Years before entering the British army he served in France in the body guards of Charles X. During some time he was made deputy adjutant-general of the militia of Lower Canada, in conjunction with the Hon. Juchereau Duchesnay. This charge being abolished, he was recalled to his regiment, then garrisoned at Trinidad, in the West Indies. He was hardly returned when he was attacked with yellow fever, and died on the island of St. Kitts, on 27th March, 1841. He had served with great distinction in Spain and Malta, and at the time of his death held the rank of major. The officers of his regiment erected a large monument to his memory. His eldest sister married Colonel de Salaberry. Michel Patrice Guy was educated at Montreal College, where he received a classical education, and afterwards studied law. He was admitted to the practice of the notarial profession on the 5th May, 1831. He became lieutenant-colonel in the 10th battalion Montreal militia during the troubles of 1837. He was one of the promoters of the Montreal wharves, and one of the founders of the Montreal College. A street, extending over a mile in length, running through the breadth of the city of Montreal was named after him, and is now known as Guy street. Mr. Guy was seriously wounded during the Gavazzi riots in Montreal. He was standing some distance away from the rioters when he was struck by a ball in the leg, and it was a question of life or death with him for a long while afterwards, being confined in his bed for fourteen months. Mr. Guy possesses one of the finest collections of old family parchments and documents, as well as many important letters. In politics he is a Liberal, and in religion a member of the Roman Catholic church. He was married on the 19th of December, 1869, to Dame Julie F. Schiller, sister of the late Charles E. Schiller, clerk of the Crown. His two sons, E. C. P. and G. L. H. Guy, are the only remaining members of the family in Canada.
Thompson, David, Northwest Pioneer Geographer.—The late Mr. Thompson was born in the parish of St. John, Westminster, England, the 30th April, 1770. He was educated at the “Blue Coat School,” London, and was perhaps for a short time a student at Oxford. When about nineteen he must have entered the service of the Hudson’s Bay Company, as in October, 1789, his journal opens at the company’s establishment at Cumberland House. An account of various journeys and surveys in the Northwest Territory of Canada then follows to May 23, 1797, when he left the service of the Hudson’s Bay Company and entered that of the North-West Company. After a number of explorations he started on foot, February 25, 1798, with a dog-team to connect the waters of the Red River and the Mississippi, thence over to Lake Superior. On April 27th he reached Turtle Lake, from which flows “Turtle Brook,” which he states to be the source of the Mississippi, since it is from here that the river takes the most direct course to the sea. Thus to this indefatigable, but hitherto almost unknown, geographer, belongs the honor of discovering the head waters of that great river. The first who is stated to have travelled through the country north of Red Cedar Lake was J. C. Beltrami, an Italian gentleman, who accompanied Major Long’s expedition as far as Pembina. He ascended Bloody (Red Lake) River to Red Lake, and from thence followed Thompson’s route to Turtle Lake, whence he descended the Mississippi to its mouth. This was in the summer of 1823, nine years after Thompson had recorded his discoveries on his map of the North-West Territories of Canada in 1813-14, now in possession of the government of Ontario. On May 10th he reached Fond-du-Lac House, two miles and a half up the river from Lake Superior. From here he surveyed the south shore of Lake Superior, arriving at the Falls of Ste. Marie on May 28th. After several journeys in the interior, we find him at Isle à la Crosse, where he was married June 10, 1799, to Charlotte Small, a young girl who had not yet entered her fifteenth year. After many very interesting explorations he re-surveyed the northern shore of Lake Superior in August, 1812. Before October of the same year he had arrived at Terrebonne, in Lower Canada, where he took up his residence and spent the two following years in preparing a map of Western Canada for the North-West Company, on a scale of about fifteen miles to an inch, from the observations he had made and the places he had visited during the previous twenty years. From 1816 to 1826 he was engaged in surveying and defining the boundary line, on the part of Great Britain, between Canada and the United States. In 1834 he surveyed Lake Francis. In 1837 he made a survey of the canoe route from Lake Huron to the Ottawa river, and a few years later he made a survey of Lake St. Peter. His last years were spent either in Glengarry county, Ontario, or in Longueuil, opposite Montreal, where he died on the 16th of February, 1857, at the age of nearly eighty-seven years. His wife survived him by only about three months. They are both buried in the Mount Royal Cemetery, Montreal. He died in extreme poverty, and it was due to the kindness of some of his old friends that he received a Christian burial. H. H. Bancroft, who has collected very many interesting details about the old travellers and traders in the west, gives the following account of his personal appearance:—“David Thompson was an entirely different order of man from the orthodox fur trader. Tall and fine-looking, of sandy complexion, with large features, deep-set, studious eyes, high forehead and broad shoulders, the intellectual was well set upon the physical. His deeds have never been trumpeted as those of some of the others, but in the westward exploration of the North-West Company no man performed more valuable service or estimated his achievements more modestly.”
Davie, George Taylor, Levis and Quebec, is one of the prominent figures in the shipping trade of the port of Quebec, and few men of his day have done more to promote it, as well as to lessen the perils incidental to the navigation of the St. Lawrence. He was born in the city of Quebec, in the year 1828. His parents were both English—his father being the late Alison Davie, master mariner, of Yarmouth, England, and his mother Miss Taylor, daughter of the late George Taylor, of Shields, who came to Canada in 1811, establishing himself at Quebec, and was for many years a leading ship-builder at that port. In 1827, Mr. Taylor, acting under instructions from the Earl of Dalhousie, then governor-general of Canada, built at his yard in Quebec, a splendid gun-brig or frigate named theKingfisher, for the Imperial naval service. The QuebecGazetteof the 17th May, 1827, reporting the launching of this vessel three days previously, and the ceremonial on the occasion, referred in the most commendatory terms to the beauty of its model, and to Mr. Taylor’s skill and enterprise as a shipwright, mentioning also the presentation to him, by the governor-general, of a magnificent silver cup as a memento of the event. This precioussouvenir, which is of massive silver, and valued at £40 sterling, bears the arms of the Dalhousie family and a suitable inscription, and is surmounted by a cover the handle of which is formed by a beautifully chiselled figure of the unicorn. The whole is encased in a handsome mahogany box, and preserved as a cherished heirloom in the family of Mr. Taylor’s descendants, being now in the possession of his grandson, G. T. Davie, the subject of this sketch. TheKingfisher, which carried eighteen guns, was afterwards sent to England under the command of Captain Rayside, who was, later on, deputy harbor-master at Quebec, and, still later, harbor-master of Montreal. Mr. Davie was educated at Gale’s boarding school, at St. Augustin, some twenty-five miles from Quebec, but was taken early from school to learn the trade of the shipwright. Arrived at the age of manhood, he went into the shipbuilding business on his own account, and successfully built a large number of ocean vessels, as well as river, tug and passenger boats; he came into possession of the patent slip at Levis, opposite Quebec, on the death of his father, who, in 1832, first introduced it, which bears his name, and which has proved of such immense advantage to the shipping trade of the St. Lawrence. This valuable convenience he still runs in connection with his floating docks and the wrecking business, in which he has been engaged with the greatest success for some years. Indeed it is no exaggeration to say that Mr. Davie’s improved appliances for raising and saving wrecks, and his skill and enterprise in that line, have been the means of rescuing millions worth of property from total loss in the river and gulf of St. Lawrence, and fairly constitute him a public benefactor. Among the more important property of this kind which he has snatched from destruction on Anticosti, St. Pierre, Miquelon, and elsewhere, may be mentioned the steamshipsCorean, of the Allan line,Vendolana,Warwick,River,Ettrick,Colina,Douro,Amaryllis,Titanic, andLake Huron. In some instances the salvages of these vessels was a real feat of skill and daring without parallel in the history of the wrecking business on the St. Lawrence, and Mr. Davie can fairly lay claim to the title of the most successful of Canadian wreckers. The first vessel to be docked and repaired in the new graving dock was the s. s.Titania, which Mr. Davie had successfully hauled off Anticosti, where it would have been otherwise doomed to destruction, having been condemned by surveyors and bought from underwriters by him. The execution of the repairs to this vessel, also by Mr. Davie, further proved that work of this magnitude can now be done as well in Canada as on the Clyde. Indeed, Mr. Davie has erected at the Levis graving dock repair shops, as complete in all respects as the best on the other side of the Atlantic, and the shipping trade of the St. Lawrence has been thus provided with an important and long needed facility which must tend to its increase and prosperity. In other respects, also, Mr. Davie is known as a public-spirited citizen. He has served for about ten years in the town council of Levis as the representative of Lauzon ward, and is a large employer of labor on that side of the river. On the 3rd of September, 1860, he married Mary Euphemia Patton, daughter of the late Duncan Patton, of Indian Cove, in his day one of the great lumber merchants of Quebec, and by her has issue a number of children, who are still in their teens. He has travelled considerably in Canada, England, and the United States, but always on business.
Kenny, Thomas Edward, M.P. for the County of Halifax, N.S., was born in Halifax city on the 12th October, 1833. He is the eldest son of the Hon. Sir Edward Kenny, knight, former member of the Queen’s Privy Council for Canada. There were two young Irishmen, Thomas and Edward Kenny, natives of county Kerry, who came to Halifax in 1824, and there, four years later, established the wholesale dry goods house of T. & E. Kenny. Sir Edward Kenny was born in 1800, and married, in 1832, Anne, daughter of Michael Forrestall. He and his wife are still living in green old age. He has been for sixty years a leading representative of the Catholics in Halifax, having been mayor of the city, twice president of the Charitable Irish Society (the great Irish social organization of Halifax), a director of the Union Bank, and also of the Merchants Bank of Halifax, and a commissioner for signing provincial notes. He sat in the Legislative Council for twenty-six years, during eleven of which he was president of that body. Upon the forming of Sir John A. Macdonald’s first government under confederation, in July, 1867, Sir Edward Kenny was sworn in a privy councillor, and appointed receiver-general in the ministry. He held this office until October, 1869, when he was transferred to the presidency of the privy council. He retired from the cabinet in May, 1870, when he was appointed administrator of the government of Nova Scotia. He was created a knight by her Majesty in September, 1872. He never represented a constituency in the House of Commons, but sat in the Senate from 1867 to 1870, when he resigned. During all these years he and his brother Thomas carried on the dry goods business, and on retiring from its management placed it in the hands of T. E. Kenny, under whom it has grown and prospered. Thomas Kenny built himself a handsome residence on the borders of Bedford Basin, not far from the Duke of Kent’s classic lodge. It has recently been sold to a corporation for the use of the ladies of the Convent of the Sacred Heart, Spring Garden road, Halifax. The subject of this sketch was educated at Stonyhurst College, the great educational institution of the Jesuits in England, and also spent some time at St. Servais College, at Liege, in Belgium. Having finished his studies and his travels for that time, Mr. Kenny returned to Halifax, and assumed a position in the dry goods business. Of late years he has been extensively interested in shipbuilding, which he carried on in the counties of Kings, Hants, Colchester, Pictou and Cumberland. He was especially interested in shipbuilding with Alfred Putnam, of Maitland, the popular M.P. of Hants county. In 1866 he had built in England the iron ship Eskasoni, of 1,715 tons. A branch of the firm’s business is carried on in London, England, under the management of F. C. Mahon. In dry goods the firm does an extensive wholesale trade at their massive granite emporium at the corner of Granville and George streets, Halifax, employing a large staff of clerks and other employés, and keeping a number of travellers on the circuit in the maritime provinces. Mr. Kenny, like his father, is a man of great geniality, wit and common-sense. He has been president of the Charitable Irish Society, and is president of the Merchants Bank of Halifax, the bank doing, perhaps, the largest business in the city, excepting the Bank of Nova Scotia. He has been a warm friend of many new industries, having taken a prominent part in starting the N.S. Cotton Manufacturing Co., of which he is a director, as well as a large stockholder in the sugar refinery. When, two years ago, there was a disposition on the part of some of the shareholders to sell out the refinery and wind up the concern, Mr. Kenny took an active part in organizing a new company, and was instrumental in securing to Halifax the advantages of this great industry. Mr. Kenny is a director of the North Sydney Marine Railway Co.; a trustee of the Western Counties Railway Co.; and a member of the Royal Commission on Railways. His brother and business partner, Edward Kenny, was one of those Halifax merchants who were lost in theCity of Boston, the Inman liner, which left Halifax in the early part of 1869, and was never afterwards heard of. Another of the family is a member of the Society of Jesus, who began life as a successful lawyer, but entered the priesthood. The youngest brother, Jeremiah F. Kenny, does business in Halifax as an insurance agent. A sister of theirs is the wife of M. Bowes Daly, ex-M.P. for Halifax county, and another is mother superior of the Convent of the Sacred Heart, Halifax. T. E. Kenny was married in New York, on the 2nd of October, 1856, to Margaret Jones, daughter of the Hon. M. Burke, of New York. He has several children and grandchildren. His eldest son, Captain Kenny, was an officer in the Halifax battalion which served during the Northwest rebellion in 1885. Mr. Kenny resides at a charming residence, called Thornvale, on the banks of the North-West Arm, about three miles from his warehouse in the city, and it is a lovely spot in summer, having abundant facilities for boating and bathing. Here, in the enjoyment of every beauty of wave and sky, surrounded by luxuries of every description, and furnished with everything that conduces to comfort and repose, the busy merchant and politician takes his ease. In therôleof politician Mr. Kenny, through the absorbing nature of his commercial pursuits, has never until lately taken a prominent position, but he has made his influence, though silently, none the less powerfully felt in the sphere of politics for many years. He has repeatedly been offered the nomination as standard-bearer in the House of Commons of the Halifax Conservatives, but, until the nomination was forced upon him, on the eve of the general election of February, 1887, never accepted. As a well-known Catholic in the city, his approbation of measures affecting his co-religionists has always been sought. He and John F. Stairs were the government candidates, and were opposed by such well-known and experienced men as the Hon. A. G. Jones, ex-minister of militia, and H. H. Fuller. The vote stood—Jones, 4,243; Kenny, 4,181, defeating Stairs, 4,099; Fuller, 4,098. Thus Messrs. Jones and Kenny represent Halifax county. Mr. Kenny distinguished himself during the campaign by his unfailing good nature, cheery Irish wit and great good judgment. In the Commons the same useful qualities have secured for him general respect and esteem. Although getting up in years, Mr. Kenny is possessed of a tall form and commanding presence, and enjoys vigorous health. He has probably many years ahead of him, during which honors and emoluments will be heaped upon him. Electors voted for Jones and Kenny because, according to the popular cry, they were the best men, quite independently of their political leanings. Few, if any, counties in the Dominion are better represented in parliament than Halifax, N.S.
Rose, George Maclean, Printer and Publisher, Toronto. A writer in “The Scot in British North America,” says that Mr. Rose has been so long and prominently associated with the development of Canadian literature that his name may well be introduced in this connection. He was born in Wick, Caithness-shire, Scotland, on the 14th of March, 1829, and learned the printing trade in the office of theJohn O’ Groat Journal. A year after he had attained his majority the family settled in Canada. He entered the employ of the late John C. Becket, of Montreal, who was then engaged in the publication of the MontrealWitnessand other journals. After the death of his father, which took place in 1853, the care of the family devolved upon him. The means at his command were but scanty, but in partnership with his elder brother, Henry, he started a small job-printing office, in Montreal, and by strict industry and economy they obtained a fair measure of success. In 1856 they dissolved partnership, George having become convinced that Western Canada offered more scope for his energies than Montreal. In connection with John Muir he established theChronicle, in the village of Merrickville, but he did not remain there any length of time. Among his other engagements about this period, was that of city editor of the LondonPrototype. In 1858 he came to Toronto as manager of the printing office of Samuel Thompson, for whom he published the TorontoAtlas, started in opposition to theColonist, which had taken ground adverse to the government of the day. Mr. Thompson having obtained the contract for government printing, Mr. Rose was assigned to take the management of the office in Quebec, whither he removed in 1859. This arrangement did not long continue. Mr. Thompson found himself unable financially to carry out his contract alone, and a company was organized for the purpose, including Mr. Rose and Robert Hunter, an experienced accountant. Mr. Thompson retired from the business altogether soon afterwards, leaving it to the new firm of Hunter, Rose & Co., who completed the contract and secured its renewal. On the removal of the seat of government to Ottawa in 1865, the firm of course followed. A large and lucrative business was soon built up, and in 1868 a branch was established at Toronto, the firm having secured a ten years contract for the printing of the Provincial government. In 1871 their relations with the Dominion government terminated, and the business was consolidated in Toronto. The firm now entered extensively into the business of publishing Canadian reprints of English copyright books, principally the popular novels of living writers, for which a ready market was found. The firm honestly compensated the authors whose works they reproduced, although this of course placed them at a disadvantage as compared with the piratical publishers of the United States. Another and probably a greater service to the intellectual progress of the country rendered by this enterprising firm, was the publication—at first for others, but latterly at their own risk—of the “Canadian Monthly,” the last and by far the best literary magazine ever issued in this country. This venture unfortunately did not prove pecuniarily successful, and though sustained for many years with a liberality and public spirit highly creditable to the publishers, was at length discontinued. In 1877 the death of Mr. Hunter left Mr. Rose the sole member of the firm, and a year afterwards he took his brother, Daniel, into the concern, the well-known firm name being still retained. Widely as George M. Rose is known to the Canadian people as a successful and enterprising publisher, he has acquired a still more extensive reputation by his unselfish exertions in the cause of temperance and moral reform. A life-long total abstainer and prohibitionist, he has taken an active part in temperance work in connection with various organizations. He has attained the highest offices in the gift of the Sons of Temperance in the Dominion, having been several times chosen to fill the chair of grand worthy patriarch of the order both in Quebec and Ontario, and has also held the second highest position conferrable by that order for the whole continent, having been most worthy associate of the National Division of America. His heart and purse are always open to the appeals for the advancement of the Temperance cause, which he regards as being of vastly more importance than mere party issues. Though a Liberal, politically, he regards all public issues from the standpoint of Temperance reform. Personally Mr. Rose is genial, sociable and unassuming. As his career shows, he has abundant business capacity, and the enthusiasm which forms so strong a feature of his character is well regulated by a fund of practical common sense. For a number of years Mr. Rose has been an active member of the Board of Trade. In 1881 he was elected vice-president of the board, and the following year (1882) was chosen president. On the expiration of his term of office, in 1883, he was elected treasurer, and has been annually re-elected to fill this office ever since. For a number of years he has also been a director of the Ontario Bank. In politics Mr. Rose is a prohibitionist, and in religion a Unitarian. In 1856 he was married to Margaret C. J. L. Manson, daughter of the late William Manson, farmer, Oxford county, and has had a family of ten children—nine of whom survive, six sons and three daughters.
LaRocque, Basile, M.D., St. John’s, province Quebec, was born at Chambly, January 10th, 1813, of the marriage of Joseph Henry LaRocque, a respectable and intelligent farmer of that locality, having for wife a Miss Lafontaine, allied to the same family which has furnished to the country the Hon. Sir Louis H. Lafontaine, whose politicalrôlebelongs to history, and whose career at the bar was sufficiently brilliant to make him chief justice of the Queen’s Bench for the province of Quebec. Dr. LaRocque is the third son of a family of seven brothers, of whom the eldest became the distinguished bishop of the diocese of St. Hyacinthe, P.Q. The doctor completed his classical course at the College of St. Hyacinthe, in 1828. Among the number of his schoolfellows was Louis Antoine Dessaulles, a man of talent, a remarkable writer, author of several works, legislative councillor under the union, and afterwards registrar for the Crown for the district of Montreal at the end of his career in this country. His course terminated, the doctor began his medical studies under Dr. Vimbler at Chambly, and at Marieville under Dr. Davignon, who played a notable part in Canadian politics, but removed from there to the University of Vermont, at Woodstock, then in great repute owing to its scientific professors. He ultimately settled at Burlington, where he was prosperous and successful. On the 1st July, 1837, our subject successfully passed his examinations at Quebec, and was admitted to the practice of medicine. He commenced his medical career at St. John’s, but in a short time left there and settled at Acadie, where his brother was then curate and afterwards became bishop. Here he lived for thirty years, occupying at different periods many prominent positions of trust and confidence, such as justice of the peace, school trustee, judge of summary causes, etc., etc., and being offered on several occasions by the leading men of the parish and of the county of St. John’s, parliamentary candidature. The doctor preferred a calm, quiet life, practising his profession for the love of science and duty, and passing his leisure time in the contemplation of nature and its beauties. After the decease of one of his best friends, Dr. Wright, he was persuaded by many who fully appreciated his talents to settle at St. John’s in 1871, where, notwithstanding his advanced age, he continued the practice of his profession, alike attending poor and rich, through all the inclemency and rigor of a trying climate, and bringing hope and comfort to many weary sufferers by his kind, genial manners. Dr. LaRocque refused on several occasions the honor of being a professor of the School of Medicine at Montreal, his modest tastes leading him rather to charitable acts and the pursuit of an unostentatious, useful life. The doctor married at Acadie, on the 18th January, 1843, Melanie Quesnel, eldest daughter of Dr. Quesnel, brother of the celebrated lawyer, Hon. Auguste F. Quesnel, barrister, etc., and an old member of the Legislative Council under the union. Of this marriage there were sixteen children, of whom seven are living. One died in holy orders, and two daughters as nuns. The eldest surviving son is Dr. Henry LaRocque, practising at Plattsburg, where he holds an enviable position among his Americanconfrères, enjoying a splendid professional reputation; Emile, a doctor at Malone; Alphonse, surgeon dentist at Worcester; and Joseph, a doctor at Biddeford; Marine Hector, apothecary at St. John’s, P.Q.; and William, manager and proprietor of a large commercial house in St. John’s. Dr. Basile LaRocque is one of those men whose capabilities and talents have shown themselves in spite of his humility of character and modest tastes. Those who bear his name have reason to be proud of it.
Black, Thomas R., Amherst, Nova Scotia, M.P.P. for Cumberland county, was born at Amherst, 16th October, 1832. His paternal grandfather was a native of England, having been born there in 1727, and emigrated to Nova Scotia in 1774, where he married the daughter of a U. E. loyalist. Mr. Black, the subject of our sketch, received his education in the Grammar School in Amherst, and after leaving school turned his attention to farming and other business pursuits. He first entered the Legislative Assembly in July, 1884, having been returned by acclamation to fill the vacancy caused by the retirement of C. J. Townsend, who had been elected to represent Cumberland county, in the House of Commons at Ottawa. On the dissolution of the Legislative Assembly in May, 1886, Cumberland was one of the few constituencies in which the question of the repeal of the federal compact was not an essential element in the campaign; the contest was, therefore, run on personal grounds, and at the close of the poll the popularity of Mr. Black was evinced by the large number of votes that had been given him. The votes stood thus: T. R. Black, 2,083; R. L. Black, 2,064; G. W. Forrest, 1,939; C. J. McFarlane, 1,855; and G. B. Wilson, 341. Mr. Black is a justice of the peace. That he is public-spirited, we have only to point to the handsome block of buildings he has lately erected in his native town. The first stone building erected at Amherst was the passenger station of the Intercolonial Railway, built by the Dominion government in 1867; the second the Dominion building, containing the public offices, built by the government in 1886; but the first erected by private enterprise is that now under notice. It has a front of 100 ft., is 60 ft. deep, and has three stories above basement, including Mansard roof, the whole height being 50 ft. The material used throughout is dark red sandstone from the quarry of A. B. Black, two and three quarter miles distant. It is of a darker shade than that in the Dominion building, and from tests at Ottawa and Boston has been pronounced to have, in addition to its admirable appearance, all the requisites for a first-class building stone, as it is easily worked, durable, and fire-resisting. The whole work was done by day’s work under the immediate superintendence of the owner and of his son, William, the latter spending all his time at the building and the quarry; and the judicious manner in which he managed the erection of derricks, hoisting of stone, and general supervision being specially noteworthy in one so young. It is considered that if the work had been let in the ordinary way the building would have cost $30,000 or upwards, but Mr. Black, by taking two years to build it, was able with his resources to construct it for a considerably smaller sum. It is the good fortune of Amherst to have citizens like Mr. Black. The value of building property in town, purchased, built and improved by him within the last few years must be about $45,000. He too takes a deep interest in farming and stock-raising enterprises, and has imported a good number of valuable Hereford stock into his county, which has benefited the community greatly. Mr. Black is a staunch temperance man, and strong advocate of all movements that have for their object the elevation of his fellow men. In politics he is a Liberal, but not an avowed follower of any party. “Measures before Party” is his motto. He was married on the 20th March, 1860, to Eunice, daughter of the late W. W. Bent, who, during his lifetime, was a member of the Provincial parliament.
MacMahon, Hon. Hugh, Toronto, Judge of the Supreme Court of Judicature for Ontario, Common Pleas Division, is of Irish descent, and was born in Guelph, Ont., the 6th March, 1836. The progenitors of the family were originally from Monaghan, in Ireland, and in the troublous times of the last of the reigning Stuarts, a number of MacMahons held important positions in their native country. Colonel Art Oge MacMahon, besides holding a military command, was King James II.’s lord-lieutenant for the county Monaghan; while Hugh MacMahon, great-granduncle of the subject of this present sketch, was lieutenant-colonel of Gordon O’Neil’s Charlemont regiment of foot. This crack corps, upon its reorganization, after the Treaty of Limerick (1691), took service in France with the famous “Irish Brigade.” Reverses of fortune having impoverished the family, Mr. MacMahon’s father came to Canada in 1819, from Cootehill, county Cavan, Ireland, and settled in the Niagara district. He brought with him an excellent library of classical and mathematical works; and, as he possessed high attainments as a classical scholar, he opened school at Grimsby, where many of the youth of the western section of Upper Canada were prepared for the professions. Mr. MacMahon, senior, was one of the earliest appointed provincial land surveyors, and made the preliminary surveys of many of the townships in the lately formed province. His wife, who still survives him, and is now in her 91st year, is Anne MacGovern, a relative of the late Bishop MacGovern, of the county of Cavan. In 1853, Hugh MacMahon, our present subject, then in his seventeenth year, entered the Board of Works department of Canada, of which the Hon. H. H. Killaly was at the time commissioner, and was placed on the staff of Colonel W. B. Gallaway, C.E., as second assistant engineer. In this capacity Mr. MacMahon took part in making surveys and in preparing estimates for the projected Ottawa Ship Canal between Ottawa and Aylmer. He was also engaged in the surveys and plans for the Chats Canal, and was one of the resident engineers during the time these works were under construction. In 1857, when the monetary crisis of that year compelled the government to relinquish the latter undertaking, and when civil engineering was much depressed by the stoppage of public works, Mr. MacMahon left the service of the department, though strongly urged to remain at Ottawa by the chief of the staff. The next year, having become a matriculant of the Law Society, we find him in the law office of Thomas Robertson, Q.C., then practising in Dundas. Pursuing the legal profession, he was called to the bar in 1864, when he entered into partnership with his brother, Thomas B. MacMahon, late judge of the county of Norfolk, then practising in Brantford. Five years afterwards, on the elevation of the late John Wilson to a judgeship of the Court of Queen’s Bench, Hugh MacMahon removed to London, Ontario, where, in a few years, he built up the largest and most lucrative legal business in the west. His universally acknowledged acquirements as a commercial lawyer, sound judgment, and scrupulous honor brought him the confidence of the mercantile community throughout the country, and he became the solicitor and trusted adviser of many large firms. In 1876 he was created Queen’s counsel by the Ontario government, and in 1885 the Dominion ministry paid him a like high honor. Mr. MacMahon’s talents as an advocate won for him a successful career at the bar, and he has been retained as counsel in some of the most important civil and criminal cases before the courts. In 1877 he was retained by the Dominion government as leading counsel in the arbitration between the Federal government and the province of Ontario, in the protracted dispute over the western and northern boundaries of the province; and in the following year he argued the case before Sir Edward Thornton, British minister at Washington, and the Hon. Sir Francis Hincks, arbitrators for the Dominion, and Chief Justice R. A. Harrison, who represented Ontario. Their award, as our readers are aware, settled the western boundary of the province. In 1884, Mr. MacMahon was associated with Christopher Robinson, Q.C., and went to England as one of the counsel for the Dominion, when the boundary question was submitted to the judicial committee of Her Majesty’s Privy Council. The decision of this body, it is a matter of history, virtually confirmed the award of the previous arbitrators. We now come to a notable incident in Mr. MacMahon’s professional career—his retention as counsel for the prisoners in the celebrated Biddulph tragedy case. Thiscause célèbre, it will be remembered, arose out of the revolting murder of five members of the Donnelly family, residing in the township of Biddulph, when no less than fifteen persons were arrested for alleged complicity in the affair, though but five of them were subsequently prosecuted. Mr. MacMahon was retained as counsel on behalf of the prisoners, who, in 1880, were indicted by the grand jury for murder. Subsequently the Crown, deeming the evidence against James Carroll stronger than against the other prisoners, he was first brought to trial. The first jury disagreeing on their verdict, application was made for a change of venue, owing to the intense excitement over the tragedy at London; but this was refused. Carroll was again placed on his trial before a special commission, composed of two judges, and the proceedings extended over a week. The excitement was still intense; the court-room was thronged daily by great crowds of people; while representatives of the leading journals came from the chief cities to report the proceedings. The chief incidents of the early days of the trial were the skilful cross-examination of the Crown witnesses by Mr. MacMahon, which resulted in breaking down much of the case against the prisoner. The interest culminated in Mr. MacMahon’s singularly able speech for the defence, which created intense excitement in the court-room, and was favorably commented on by the legal profession and the press of the country. The TorontoMailthus referred to the speech:—“Mr. MacMahon rose to address the jury at 1.40 p.m., and as he took his stand in front of the jury-box, the silence of death fell upon the immense concourse assembled in the court-room. The address, which lasted for over two hours, was a fine effort. It was not characterized by any remarkable flights of eloquence, nor did the learned counsel try to play upon the feelings of the jurors. It was, however, a clear, concise and able argument, which left a deep impression.” TheGlobe, portraying the scene in the court-house prior to the address of the counsel for the defence, said: “Long before the half-hour’s intermission had been brought to a close the corridors of the courthouse were packed with an excited throng, eagerly pressing forward to gain admission to the court-room, which was already so densely crowded that not another could be admitted. The scene inside the court-room was one long to be remembered. It was not the seats alone that were crowded. The steps leading to the bench, and every vacant chair within the bar was occupied, while more than half of the standing room in the aisles were occupied by ladies.” The same journal in the course of a lengthy report of the speech, observes: “When the judges took their places on the bench, after the adjournment, Mr. MacMahon rose to address the jury on behalf of the prisoners. The most absolute quiet reigned throughout the court-room, and after the learned counsel for the defence had uttered his first few sentences the crowded court-room was so hushed that one might almost have heard the fall of a pin. For two hours the learned and eloquent gentleman enchained not only the attention of their lordships and the jury, but the vast throng in the crowded court-room. The address was not what would be called a flowery one, but it was earnest, eloquent and exhaustive. Not a point that could be made to tell in favor of the prisoner was overlooked, while the most favorable and plausible construction was put upon those points that bore hardest against him. During a part of the address the prisoner sat up in the dock and listened attentively, while his sister seemed to devour every word that fell from the speaker’s lips. . . . The learned counsel for the defence closed his very able and eloquent address with a solemn and pathetic appeal to the jury on behalf of the prisoner. . . . The efforts of the defence had been a series of masterpieces, throughout the long trial; but it was felt that with the eloquent and exhaustiverésuméof the evidence by Mr. MacMahon, these efforts had come to a close, and that nothing remained as an offset to what the Crown had to present.” The prisoner was acquitted, and the scene in the court-room and in the vicinity of the court-house was indescribable. Speaking of the memorable trial, another Toronto journal subsequently remarked: that Mr. MacMahon’s address to the jury “is still remembered as one of the most brilliant efforts of oratory ever heard within the walls of London court-house.” While a resident of London, Mr. MacMahon was mainly instrumental, in connection with Colonel James Shanly, in founding the Irish Benevolent Society in that city, of which both gentlemen, at various times, were president. This successful national society has been conducted irrespective of creed, and has been of the greatest possible good, in allaying religious prejudices and in softening religious rancour among the Irish residents of the Forest City. At the general elections of 1872 Mr. MacMahon unsuccessfully contested the City of London, for a seat in the House of Commons, against the Hon. John Carling; and again in 1878 he was a candidate for the County of Kent, against Rufus Stephenson, the then sitting member, but was defeated. Mr. MacMahon removed to Toronto at the close of the year 1883, where he successfully practised his profession. His wide legal experience, forceful and pleasing manner in addressing juries, and great natural and acquired abilities, made him one of the leadingnisi priuslawyers on the western circuit. On the 30th November, 1887, he was appointed judge of the Supreme Court of Judicature for Ontario, Common Pleas Division. Outside of his profession, Judge MacMahon is a man of very considerable culture and much fondness for art, his judgment as aconnoisseurof paintings being frequently appealed to. His collection of paintings has been much admired, and indicates a highly educated taste. In 1864 Mr. MacMahon married Isabel Janet, eldest daughter of the late Simon Mackenzie, of Belleville, by whom he has two sons.
Ryan, Hon. Patrick George, Caraquet, N.B., M.P.P. for Gloucester county, was born at Bathurst, N.B., 9th May, 1838. He is of Irish descent, his parents having come from the Emerald Isle many years ago. Hon. Mr. Ryan received his early education at the Grammar School in Bathurst. After finishing his studies he went into business as a manufacturer of leather, for the preparing and tanning of which Caraquet possesses exceptional facilities. The town is situated on an inlet of Baie des Chaleurs, forty-eight miles from Bathurst. It is one of the most important fishing stations in the Dominion. The lighthouse on Caraquet Island, at the entrance to the harbor, exhibits a fixed white light fifty-two feet above the level of the sea. Bathurst, Mr. Ryan’s native place, is the shire town of Gloucester county, and is situated on Bathurst Bay, a well-sheltered sheet of water, three and a half miles long and two miles wide, opening into Baie des Chaleurs. Here an extensive trade in the salmon fishery is carried on. The Intercolonial Railway runs near the town. Hon. Mr. Ryan has for many years been a leading man in his constituency, and is one of the county magistrates. He has also held the position of warden of the municipality of Gloucester, and has been chairman of the pilotage commission for the district of Caraquet. He began political life in February, 1876, when he was elected to the House of Assembly. Mr. Ryan exhibited in the house the same forcible business qualities which had caused him to be respected outside. At the general election of 1878 he was again nominated, and was a second time elected. At the general election, held 15th June, 1882, he contested his constituency for the third time with success. His great natural abilities, and his long experience as a parliamentarian, now entitled Mr. Ryan to a share of honors, and, on the 3rd of March, 1883, he was appointed a member of the Executive Council and chief commissioner of the board of works. He was considered to be so sure of his seat in the house that when he went to his constituency no opposition was offered to him, and he was re-elected by acclamation, 26th March, 1883. Hon. Mr. Ryan, as a departmental officer, amply fulfilled the expectations formed of him by the premier and attorney-general, Hon. A. G. Blair. The latest general election was held 26th April, 1886, and the government returned from the country unbroken. Messrs. Young and Ryan, the sitting members, were opposed by such strong candidates as T. J. McManus and T. Blanchard; but the former won easily, the vote standing—Young, 1,212; Hon. P. G. Ryan, 1,177; defeating McManus, 988; Blanchard, 835. Hon. Mr. Ryan is a staunch Liberal, and believes in progressive measures. He married, 26th January, 1862, Margaret, daughter of John Murphy. While yet in the prime of life, possessed of a good private business, and well to the fore in political position, he has probably still many years of usefulness ahead of him. The north shore of New Brunswick, with its extensive forests and fisheries, will come up as a manufacturing centre. Financial reverses have to some extent, during the last few years, hindered the prosperity of the country, but with the increase of railways and the consequent diversion of travel in this direction, will come a new era of commercial and industrial activity. Such men as Hon. P. G. Ryan are the backbone and life of the country.