The Revd. P. Dowd, chief pastor of St. Patrick’s Church, on the 18th of March, 1867, in the 30th year of the reign of her Most Gracious Majesty,Queen Victoria.The Rt. Hon. Charles Stanley Viscount Monck, Baron Monck of Balling Trimmon, Governor-General of British America, Lieutenant-General Sir J. Michel, Bart., K.C.B., Commander of the Forces. Administrator of the Government of Canada, Henry Starns, commissioner of Montreal.DIRECTORS (Ab Initio)Bernard Devlin, Hon. T.D. McGee, Hon. Thos. Ryan, W.H. Hingston, M.D., M.P. Ryan, Edward Murphy, J.W. McGovern, Luke Moore, C.J. Cusack, Neil Shannon, J.W. Hopkins, architect, Howley & Sheriden, builders, E.J. Gilbert, iron founder, etc.“Then praise to the Highest, in the Height and in the Depth be Praised.”
The Revd. P. Dowd, chief pastor of St. Patrick’s Church, on the 18th of March, 1867, in the 30th year of the reign of her Most Gracious Majesty,
Queen Victoria.
The Rt. Hon. Charles Stanley Viscount Monck, Baron Monck of Balling Trimmon, Governor-General of British America, Lieutenant-General Sir J. Michel, Bart., K.C.B., Commander of the Forces. Administrator of the Government of Canada, Henry Starns, commissioner of Montreal.
DIRECTORS (Ab Initio)
Bernard Devlin, Hon. T.D. McGee, Hon. Thos. Ryan, W.H. Hingston, M.D., M.P. Ryan, Edward Murphy, J.W. McGovern, Luke Moore, C.J. Cusack, Neil Shannon, J.W. Hopkins, architect, Howley & Sheriden, builders, E.J. Gilbert, iron founder, etc.
“Then praise to the Highest, in the Height and in the Depth be Praised.”
This fine building met with disaster, its roof fell in shortly afterward and finally it was burned down on October 2, 1872, after which the affairs of St. Patrick’s Hall Association were wound up and left the stockholders with 55% of their shares. In 1863 it was incorporated, its charter in part running as follows:
“WHEREAS, Thomas McKenna, Edw. McKeown, Dennis Downey, Wm. P. McGuire, J.J. Curran, Patrick O’Meara, M. Cuddihy, Daniel Lyons, P. Jordan, John H. Duggan, F.B. McNamee, O.J. Devlin, A. Brogan, Richard McShane, P. Mullin, J.E. Mullin, B. Devlin, Wm. Mansfield, M. Doherty and others have by their petition to the legislature represented that the Society of which they are members, known as the ‘St. Patrick’s Society of Montreal,’ has for many years been organized for benevolent and other purposes, and“WHEREAS, They have prayed by the said petition that for the better attainment of the object of the said Society it may be invested with corporate powers, and by reason of the good effected by the said Society it is expedient to grant the prayer of the said petition;“THEREFORE Her Majesty, by and with the advice and consent of the legislative council and assembly of Canada, enact as follows:”
“WHEREAS, Thomas McKenna, Edw. McKeown, Dennis Downey, Wm. P. McGuire, J.J. Curran, Patrick O’Meara, M. Cuddihy, Daniel Lyons, P. Jordan, John H. Duggan, F.B. McNamee, O.J. Devlin, A. Brogan, Richard McShane, P. Mullin, J.E. Mullin, B. Devlin, Wm. Mansfield, M. Doherty and others have by their petition to the legislature represented that the Society of which they are members, known as the ‘St. Patrick’s Society of Montreal,’ has for many years been organized for benevolent and other purposes, and
“WHEREAS, They have prayed by the said petition that for the better attainment of the object of the said Society it may be invested with corporate powers, and by reason of the good effected by the said Society it is expedient to grant the prayer of the said petition;
“THEREFORE Her Majesty, by and with the advice and consent of the legislative council and assembly of Canada, enact as follows:”
Since this time St. Patrick’s Society has carried on its good work, but it has never had a permanent building of its own. It has continued its interest in Irish charities, caring for orphans and immigrants. It has watched over the fortunes of Irishmen in civic, provincial and federal life and has always promoted Home Rule for Ireland. On April 24, 1893, St. Patrick’s Society telegraphed, through the Hon. Edward Blake, then a member of the English Parliament, congratulations to Mr. William Ewart Gladstone and himself on the second reading of the bill. Of recent years its activities in this line of similar promotion of their national cause have been great. Their annual dinner on St. Patrick’s day has seen the presence of some of the most distinguished Irish orators from Ireland and the American Continent.
The past presidents of the Society have been:
IRISH PROTESTANT BENEVOLENT SOCIETY
The Irish Protestant Benevolent Society of Montreal was formed in 1856, after having separated from the joint St. Patrick’s Society. In that year an act of incorporationwas granted, on March 18th, on the petition of a certain number of petitioners “and others of Irish birth or extraction, residents of Montreal (who) have maintained by voluntary contributions a certain charitable association whereof they are members, for the relief of distressed immigrants and others from Ireland or of Irish descent, under the name of the Irish Protestant Benevolent Society of Montreal.”
The incorporators’ names appended are James L. Mathewson, William A. Merry, W.H. Gault, Hugh Mathewson, George Horne, George Armstrong, William Rodden, Richard Holland, J.J. Arnton, Campbell Bryson, William Clendenning, George S. Scott, Robert Miller, William Middleton, James Parker, Richard Thomas, W.S. Davenport, Howard Ransom, John Shinnick, Thomas Workman, William McWalters, the Rev. John Cordner, the Rev. John Irwin, Dr. Robert L. Macdonell, Dr. John Reddy, Dr. William P. Howard, etc. The Society was instituted to advance the welfare of Irish Protestants in Canada, to afford advice, information and assistance to those immigrating hither, to promote their settlement within the province, to protect their widows and orphans and to afford pecuniary aid to those in need.
A great work has been the maintenance of the Irish Protestant Benevolent Home in Belmont Park. Its activities along Irish patriotic lines have also been similar to those of St. Patrick’s Society.
The presidents of the Society since its formation have been as follows:
THE GERMAN SOCIETY
Of the other societies the German Society is the oldest, being contemporaneous in its birth with the former. A consultation of the lists of citizens at thisearly period will show that the German community then had some very notable names among its members.
The German Society was started in April, 1835, for the purpose of assisting poor German immigrants, without regard to creed, in order to prevent them from being a charge to the community; it has also often assisted Austrian, Swiss, Russian and other immigrants of German descent. It is a purely benevolent association, being supported entirely by voluntary contributions.
Its presidents since 1835 have been:
ST. DAVID’S WELSH SOCIETY
It was about the years 1884-5, that the first society to weld together the various members of the Welsh Colony of Montreal was established, and the moving spirit in this matter, was the late Mr. Jabez Jones, a native of Mold, Flintshire, North Wales, an energetic and enterprising organizer.
The society was called the “Welsh Union of Montreal.” Its first president was the late Mr. John Lewis, surveyor of customs, for the port of Montreal. He continued to fill the office until his death, and, with his distinguished and delightful personality and support, helped materially to make it a success.
The first vice-president, was the late Mr. Thomas Harries, who at the time was the senior commercial traveller in Canada, a man of strong convictions and noble character.
The nature of the Society in its early years was largely religious and most of its gatherings were held on Sundays. Its rooms were in the old Y.M.C.A. Building on Victoria Square. This edifice was considered one of the landmarks both for architectural beauty and position among the great buildings of the city in those days. The Society justified its existence in many ways, and proved a necessary and helpful anchorage, particularly in bringing together the sons and daughters of Wales, more especially at such times as the Patron’s Saint Day, an event of importance, and a day dear to the Welshman’s heart, all over the world, known as “St. David’s Day,” always held on the first day of March; the time of the “Congresses of Bards and Contests of Minstrels,” and the feast day of one of the guardians of the nation’s ideals and inspirer of its genius.
However, the element of decay entered into the vitals of the old Society and it ceased to exist for some time.
About twelve years ago, the present Welsh Society was founded, known as the “St. David’s Welsh Society.” It was incorporated in 1910 on a far broader basis than the old Society. Its aims are, the bringing together of men and womenof Welsh parentage or associated by marriage with Welsh people, to create an interest in the study of Welsh music, literature, folklore, poetry and all subjects of interest to the race and a culture of a true Canadian nationality among the descendants of this ancient and historic people.
The honorary president since its inception, with the exception of one year, is Mr. Lansing Lewis, D.C.L., a son of the president of the old Welsh Union, the exception being the year the late Mr. Samuel Carsley held the office.
The first president was Mr. Richard Roberts, L. Mus., the first vice president, Mr. James Kirkham (Iago Tegai), the latter, in consort with Mr. Evan Jones and Mr. Jos. Jenkins, B.A., being among the most important moving spirits in the organization of the Society.
The following gentlemen filled the position of president:
Mr. Evan Jones, Mr. Jos. Jenkins, B.A., B.C.L., Mr. M.E. Pritchard, Mr. W.G. Bithell, and the present holder of the position is Mr. Wm. Evans, merchant.
The Welsh people are renowned for their intense patriotism and loyalty, and by training and temperament make good citizens, invariably lending their influence and support to every effort to advance the interests of the cities and towns wherein they may chance to reside and it is estimated that there are in Montreal, at the present time, from one to two thousand Welsh people. Some of them are large employers of Canadian labor, and the majority of them are interested in the manifold forces at work of beautifying and making known the varied advantages, present and prospective of this regal and beautiful metropolis of the Dominion of Canada.
THE NEWFOUNDLAND SOCIETY
The youngest National Society formed on lines similar to the foregoing was founded in September, 1911.
Its presidents have been as follows:
The object of the Society was to encourage Newfoundlanders who were migrating to other lands to settle in Canada under the British flag and to welcome them when in the city with information to enable them to succeed here.
A great opportunity offered itself to the members in 1914, when on the occasion of the great Newfoundland sealing disaster in March of that year, it organized a relief fund in the city and realized a sum of $13,000, which was forwarded to the Newfoundland Government.
THE ZIONIST MOVEMENT
The Jewish community, whose earliest settlers and prominent citizens will be noticed elsewhere, has not been regarded as possessing a national society as such, although the Baron de Hirsch Institute, now long founded, has been thecentre of charitable activities for Jewish immigrants. Of late years, however, there has arisen a movement which may have a place here.
Montreal is the head centre of the Zionist Movement in the Dominion, and the executive offices of the Federation of Zionist Societies of Canada are situated in this city. No Jewish body in this country counts as large a membership or is as thoroughly representative of the entire Jewish population of Canada as the Zionist Movement, for it has its branches in every city, town and village from the Atlantic to the Pacific. The first Zionist society was founded in Montreal in January, 1898. Among its founders were Clarence I. de Sola, Rev. A. Ashinsky, H. Bernstein, L. Aronson, Lazarus Cohen, Jacob Cohen, Leon Goldman, J.S. Leo, Rev. Meldola de Sola, Dr. D.A. Hart and Moses Shapiro. From small beginnings this movement, having for its object the re-establishment of the Hebrew nation in Palestine, spread with phenomenal rapidity, and within one year from its foundation so numerous had the branches become that they were formed into a federation under a central federal executive. This was in December, 1899. The enormous strides which the organization has made is shown in its ever-increasing revenue and membership from year to year. Its conventions have become one of the striking events of Jewish communal life in this country. At the eleventh convention, held in Toronto in December, 1910, the Canadian Zionist Federation started the undertaking of establishing a Jewish agricultural colony in Palestine with funds entirely contributed by members of the movement in Canada. This enterprise was carried through so successfully that at the thirteenth convention, held in Montreal in 1913, the president was able to announce that the establishment of the first colony had been completed and the work of establishing a second colony was begun. This convention was also rendered noteworthy by President de Sola’s plea for the restoration of the Jewish Sanhedrin in Palestine, a plea which attracted world-wide notice and received the approval of many of the leading Jews throughout the world. The present executive of the Zionist Federation counts among its officers some of the most capable and active workers in the Jewish community of Canada. To mention them all would entail the giving of a long list, but among the Montrealers, in addition to those already mentioned above, are A. Levin, who is treasurer; M. Markus, Rev. Nathan Gordon, Rev. H. Abramowitz, Joseph Fineberg, L. Heillig, Mrs. Clarence de Sola, Mrs. J.S. Leo, and H. Lang.
The first Jew known to have settled in Montreal was Lazarus David, who came to this city in 1759. He was connected with the army, but on the close of the war settled in Montreal and became an extensive owner of real estate. He was a man of public spirit who took a prominent part in civic affairs in those early days. He was born in Swansea, Wales, in 1734 and his name appears in a list of residents published in Montreal in 1763. He continued to play a prominent part, in what was then but a little town, until his death on the 22d of October, 1776, and the headstone which marks the place of his interment is still to be seen in the cemetery of the Spanish and Portuguese Jews on Mount Royal. Very shortly after the arrival of Lazarus David there also came to Montreal Uriah Judah and other members of the Judah family, Emanuel de Cordova, Hananiel Garcia, Isaac Miranda, Judah Elvada, Uriel Moresco, Abraham Franks, Simon Levy, Levy Solomons and Fernandez da Fonseca. They were joined by another band of settlers, among whom were included Abram Franks, David Salesby Franks, Isaac Miranda, Jacob de Maurera, Andrew Hays, Levy Solomons and Joseph Bindona. De Cordova, Garcia and Miranda held military offices. Nearly all of these men belonged to distinguished families of Jews who had come to America originally from Spain and Portugal and known among the Hebrews as Sephardin and were members of the first Jewish Synagogue.Although the members of this congregation were in those days but small in number, they produced a remarkably large number of men who took a very prominent part in public affairs. At the time that Lazarus David was settling in Montreal there had arrived in Canada Commissary General Aaron Hart, who was on the staff of General Amherst’s invading army and who took an important part in the operations which led to the British Conquest. He was born in London in 1724 and had married a member of the Judah family, and after serving under Amherst he afterwards joined the troops under General Haldimand, stationed at Three Rivers, and when that city fell into the hands of the British he took up his residence there. After the war he was created seigneur of Bécancour for his services, and became the owner of six other seigneuries. Another man of prominence was David Salesby Franks. He and his father, Abraham Franks, first appear as residents of Quebec in 1767 and afterwards they settled in Montreal. David Salesby Franks was president of the Spanish and Portuguese Synagogue previous to 1775. He agitated for the establishment of a House of Assembly and the establishment of representative government in Canada. Business affairs, however, drew him to Philadelphia and New York and when the American Revolutionary War broke out he espoused the cause of the American colonists and became major of a regiment. In May, 1778, he became aide-de-camp to Major Benedict Arnold. When in 1780 the affair of West Point occurred and Arnold fled to escape punishment for his treason to the Revolutionary cause, Major Franks was arrested on suspicion and courtmartialed, but was honourably acquitted and was afterwards placed on the staff of George Washington, under whom he fought during the rest of the war. He played a prominent part in the negotiations for peace between the American colonists and Great Britain and was sent on a mission in this connection to Europe in 1781, and in 1784 he was again sent to Europe by the United States Congress with the triplicate copies for the ratification of the definite treaty of peace. He assisted Benjamin Franklin and Mr. Jay in these negotiations. He was afterwards appointed American consul at Marseilles and he was one of the commissioners of the American Government who negotiated a treaty of peace and commerce with Morocco in 1787. He was one of the marshals who inaugurated George Washington as first President of the United States. There were other members of the Franks family who remained in Montreal and who fought on the side of the British against the American colonists. A sister of David Salesby Franks married the Levy Solomons who is mentioned above and who was at that time president of the Montreal Jewish Congregation “Shearith Israel.” One of their daughters, Rachel Solomon, became the wife of Henry Joseph, who in his day was one of the most prominent Jews in Canada. Henry Joseph was born in England in the latter part of the eighteenth century. He was nephew of Commissary General Aaron Hart and came to Canada when but a youth and entered the army, being attached to the troops that formed the garrison of Fort William Henry at the mouth of the Richelieu River. He afterwards became interested in the Northwest Trading Company and eventually retired from the army to develop trade from Hudson’s Bay to Quebec and Montreal. His headquarters were for a long while at Berthier, but he perceived even in that early day that Montreal was destined to become a place of importance, and he removed his home to this city in his latter days. It is claimed that he was the actual founder of Canada’s merchant marine service, for he was the owner of a line of ships that were the first to be registered as Canadian vessels engaged exclusively in direct traffic between Canada and England. He rejoined the army when the War of 1812-14 broke out between England and the United States and fought for the British crown in many engagements. Associated with him as a Hudson’s Bay trader was Jacob Franks, a member of the family above mentioned, who had married a sister of Mrs. Henry Joseph and who was also noted as a very enterprising northwest and Hudson’s Bay trader. He was the founder of Green Bay, Wisconsin, and Jacob Astor was originally employed by him there. Another very influential member of the early Jewish community in this city was David David, the eldest son of Lazarus David. He was born in Montreal in 1764 and took a prominent part in almost everything which affected the interests of Montreal in his day. Possessed of considerable wealth he employed his means in works of benevolence, and his generous assistance to the early philanthropic societies of Montreal is on record. He was either president or director of a number of institutions. It was due largely to his initiative that the Bank of Montreal was founded in 1817, and he was elected a directoron its first regular board on the 27th of February, 1818, and continued to hold this office until his death in 1824. He was also president of the Spanish and Portuguese Synagogue in Montreal for many years.In addition to members of the David and Joseph families already mentioned, who fought for the British flag in the War of 1812-14, the names of a number of other Hebrew citizens are to be found also participating on the British side in that struggle, and there was also a large number of Canadian Jews who fought on the loyalist side in the rebellion of 1837-38, notably Colonel David, Aaron Philip Hart, Jacob Henry Joseph and several members of the Hays family.The exact legal status of the Jews in Canada was not made very clear at an early date by any definite enactments, and for long they labored under the disability of not having the right of sitting in Parliament. This question was brought to a definite test by the election in 1807 of Mr. Ezekiel Hart, second son of Commissariat General Hart, as member of the Legislative Assembly for Three Rivers. When he entered the House he was required to take the oath in the usual form “on the true faith of a Christian” and upon his declining to do this on account of his Jewish faith the majority of the members objected to his taking his seat and declared the seat vacant. Appealing again to his constituents he was once more elected by a heavy majority, but again the House refused to permit him to take his seat, and after a stormy session a bill was pushed through to its second reading to disqualify Jews from being eligible to sit as members of the House of Assembly. This aroused the indignation of Sir James Craig, who was then governor, and he angrily dissolved the House and prevented the bill from passing. After a long struggle an act was introduced and passed in 1831 by which Jews were accorded the fullest civil rights in Canada and were placed upon an equal footing with all other citizens of the land. Ezekiel Hart was deservedly popular and it is stated that the opposition which was shown to his taking his seat was due more to the political partisanship of his political opponents than to any real feeling of religious intolerance. It is worthy of note that Canada extended full political rights to the Jews more than a quarter of a century earlier than the mother country.Of the later Hebrews may be mentioned Moses J. Hays, who was one of the most active men engaged in municipal affairs in Montreal in the early part of the nineteenth century, and to his energy the city was indebted for many civic improvements. It was he who established the first Montreal waterworks. He also reorganized Montreal’s police force, of which he was the chief commissioner, and he was the builder of the Hays House, the leading hotel of Montreal in its day, situated on what was then known as Dalhousie Square, but which has since been swept away to make room for the Place Viger entrance of the Canadian Pacific Railway.Abraham de Sola, the rabbi attached to the Shearith Israel Congregation, was recognized as in the first rank of Jewish leaders in the cabinet. He was elected in 1848 professor of Semitic literature and oriental languages of the McGill University.During the period of Doctor De Sola’s administration the Spanish and Portuguese Jewish Congregation of the Shearith Israel Synagogue, formed by the first Jew settlers in 1768, counted among its members a number of men who were very prominent in Montreal’s social, intellectual and commercial life. Amongst these was Dr. A.H. David, a grandson of Lazarus David, who, besides being a prominent physician, was dean of the medical faculty of Bishop’s College. Samuel Benjamin, Goodman Benjamin and William Benjamin were three brothers who were all very well known in Montreal between the ’40s and ’60s in the past century. Samuel Benjamin took a very prominent part in civic affairs and was for a long while member of the city council, being the first Israelite to attain that position in Montreal. Four sons of Henry Joseph, Jacob Henry, Abraham, Jesse and Gershom, were all prominent. Probably there was no citizen of Montreal better known in his day and associated with more of our public activities than Jesse Joseph. He was either president or director of over fifteen different companies or institutions.Another member of the Congregation of Shearith Israel was Isidor Ascher, who earned a respectable reputation as a poet. He was the author of “Voices from the Hearth” which Longfellow so highly commended, and of a number of other works, both in verse and in prose. His father, G.I. Ascher, was long a patriarchial and familiar figure in Montreal life in the nineteenth century, for he reached the venerable age of ninety-six years. AlexanderLevy, Jacob Levy, Samuel Israel Rubenstein, Edward Cohen and Lewis A. Hart were well-known officers of the congregation in more recent years. The last mentioned was for some years lecturer on notarial practice at McGill University.Dr. Abraham de Sola died in 1882, and was succeeded by his eldest son, Meldola de Sola.The Jews have always shown an interest in both civic and national politics, and at the present moment there are two Jewish citizens who are members of the city council.
The first Jew known to have settled in Montreal was Lazarus David, who came to this city in 1759. He was connected with the army, but on the close of the war settled in Montreal and became an extensive owner of real estate. He was a man of public spirit who took a prominent part in civic affairs in those early days. He was born in Swansea, Wales, in 1734 and his name appears in a list of residents published in Montreal in 1763. He continued to play a prominent part, in what was then but a little town, until his death on the 22d of October, 1776, and the headstone which marks the place of his interment is still to be seen in the cemetery of the Spanish and Portuguese Jews on Mount Royal. Very shortly after the arrival of Lazarus David there also came to Montreal Uriah Judah and other members of the Judah family, Emanuel de Cordova, Hananiel Garcia, Isaac Miranda, Judah Elvada, Uriel Moresco, Abraham Franks, Simon Levy, Levy Solomons and Fernandez da Fonseca. They were joined by another band of settlers, among whom were included Abram Franks, David Salesby Franks, Isaac Miranda, Jacob de Maurera, Andrew Hays, Levy Solomons and Joseph Bindona. De Cordova, Garcia and Miranda held military offices. Nearly all of these men belonged to distinguished families of Jews who had come to America originally from Spain and Portugal and known among the Hebrews as Sephardin and were members of the first Jewish Synagogue.
Although the members of this congregation were in those days but small in number, they produced a remarkably large number of men who took a very prominent part in public affairs. At the time that Lazarus David was settling in Montreal there had arrived in Canada Commissary General Aaron Hart, who was on the staff of General Amherst’s invading army and who took an important part in the operations which led to the British Conquest. He was born in London in 1724 and had married a member of the Judah family, and after serving under Amherst he afterwards joined the troops under General Haldimand, stationed at Three Rivers, and when that city fell into the hands of the British he took up his residence there. After the war he was created seigneur of Bécancour for his services, and became the owner of six other seigneuries. Another man of prominence was David Salesby Franks. He and his father, Abraham Franks, first appear as residents of Quebec in 1767 and afterwards they settled in Montreal. David Salesby Franks was president of the Spanish and Portuguese Synagogue previous to 1775. He agitated for the establishment of a House of Assembly and the establishment of representative government in Canada. Business affairs, however, drew him to Philadelphia and New York and when the American Revolutionary War broke out he espoused the cause of the American colonists and became major of a regiment. In May, 1778, he became aide-de-camp to Major Benedict Arnold. When in 1780 the affair of West Point occurred and Arnold fled to escape punishment for his treason to the Revolutionary cause, Major Franks was arrested on suspicion and courtmartialed, but was honourably acquitted and was afterwards placed on the staff of George Washington, under whom he fought during the rest of the war. He played a prominent part in the negotiations for peace between the American colonists and Great Britain and was sent on a mission in this connection to Europe in 1781, and in 1784 he was again sent to Europe by the United States Congress with the triplicate copies for the ratification of the definite treaty of peace. He assisted Benjamin Franklin and Mr. Jay in these negotiations. He was afterwards appointed American consul at Marseilles and he was one of the commissioners of the American Government who negotiated a treaty of peace and commerce with Morocco in 1787. He was one of the marshals who inaugurated George Washington as first President of the United States. There were other members of the Franks family who remained in Montreal and who fought on the side of the British against the American colonists. A sister of David Salesby Franks married the Levy Solomons who is mentioned above and who was at that time president of the Montreal Jewish Congregation “Shearith Israel.” One of their daughters, Rachel Solomon, became the wife of Henry Joseph, who in his day was one of the most prominent Jews in Canada. Henry Joseph was born in England in the latter part of the eighteenth century. He was nephew of Commissary General Aaron Hart and came to Canada when but a youth and entered the army, being attached to the troops that formed the garrison of Fort William Henry at the mouth of the Richelieu River. He afterwards became interested in the Northwest Trading Company and eventually retired from the army to develop trade from Hudson’s Bay to Quebec and Montreal. His headquarters were for a long while at Berthier, but he perceived even in that early day that Montreal was destined to become a place of importance, and he removed his home to this city in his latter days. It is claimed that he was the actual founder of Canada’s merchant marine service, for he was the owner of a line of ships that were the first to be registered as Canadian vessels engaged exclusively in direct traffic between Canada and England. He rejoined the army when the War of 1812-14 broke out between England and the United States and fought for the British crown in many engagements. Associated with him as a Hudson’s Bay trader was Jacob Franks, a member of the family above mentioned, who had married a sister of Mrs. Henry Joseph and who was also noted as a very enterprising northwest and Hudson’s Bay trader. He was the founder of Green Bay, Wisconsin, and Jacob Astor was originally employed by him there. Another very influential member of the early Jewish community in this city was David David, the eldest son of Lazarus David. He was born in Montreal in 1764 and took a prominent part in almost everything which affected the interests of Montreal in his day. Possessed of considerable wealth he employed his means in works of benevolence, and his generous assistance to the early philanthropic societies of Montreal is on record. He was either president or director of a number of institutions. It was due largely to his initiative that the Bank of Montreal was founded in 1817, and he was elected a directoron its first regular board on the 27th of February, 1818, and continued to hold this office until his death in 1824. He was also president of the Spanish and Portuguese Synagogue in Montreal for many years.
In addition to members of the David and Joseph families already mentioned, who fought for the British flag in the War of 1812-14, the names of a number of other Hebrew citizens are to be found also participating on the British side in that struggle, and there was also a large number of Canadian Jews who fought on the loyalist side in the rebellion of 1837-38, notably Colonel David, Aaron Philip Hart, Jacob Henry Joseph and several members of the Hays family.
The exact legal status of the Jews in Canada was not made very clear at an early date by any definite enactments, and for long they labored under the disability of not having the right of sitting in Parliament. This question was brought to a definite test by the election in 1807 of Mr. Ezekiel Hart, second son of Commissariat General Hart, as member of the Legislative Assembly for Three Rivers. When he entered the House he was required to take the oath in the usual form “on the true faith of a Christian” and upon his declining to do this on account of his Jewish faith the majority of the members objected to his taking his seat and declared the seat vacant. Appealing again to his constituents he was once more elected by a heavy majority, but again the House refused to permit him to take his seat, and after a stormy session a bill was pushed through to its second reading to disqualify Jews from being eligible to sit as members of the House of Assembly. This aroused the indignation of Sir James Craig, who was then governor, and he angrily dissolved the House and prevented the bill from passing. After a long struggle an act was introduced and passed in 1831 by which Jews were accorded the fullest civil rights in Canada and were placed upon an equal footing with all other citizens of the land. Ezekiel Hart was deservedly popular and it is stated that the opposition which was shown to his taking his seat was due more to the political partisanship of his political opponents than to any real feeling of religious intolerance. It is worthy of note that Canada extended full political rights to the Jews more than a quarter of a century earlier than the mother country.
Of the later Hebrews may be mentioned Moses J. Hays, who was one of the most active men engaged in municipal affairs in Montreal in the early part of the nineteenth century, and to his energy the city was indebted for many civic improvements. It was he who established the first Montreal waterworks. He also reorganized Montreal’s police force, of which he was the chief commissioner, and he was the builder of the Hays House, the leading hotel of Montreal in its day, situated on what was then known as Dalhousie Square, but which has since been swept away to make room for the Place Viger entrance of the Canadian Pacific Railway.
Abraham de Sola, the rabbi attached to the Shearith Israel Congregation, was recognized as in the first rank of Jewish leaders in the cabinet. He was elected in 1848 professor of Semitic literature and oriental languages of the McGill University.
During the period of Doctor De Sola’s administration the Spanish and Portuguese Jewish Congregation of the Shearith Israel Synagogue, formed by the first Jew settlers in 1768, counted among its members a number of men who were very prominent in Montreal’s social, intellectual and commercial life. Amongst these was Dr. A.H. David, a grandson of Lazarus David, who, besides being a prominent physician, was dean of the medical faculty of Bishop’s College. Samuel Benjamin, Goodman Benjamin and William Benjamin were three brothers who were all very well known in Montreal between the ’40s and ’60s in the past century. Samuel Benjamin took a very prominent part in civic affairs and was for a long while member of the city council, being the first Israelite to attain that position in Montreal. Four sons of Henry Joseph, Jacob Henry, Abraham, Jesse and Gershom, were all prominent. Probably there was no citizen of Montreal better known in his day and associated with more of our public activities than Jesse Joseph. He was either president or director of over fifteen different companies or institutions.
Another member of the Congregation of Shearith Israel was Isidor Ascher, who earned a respectable reputation as a poet. He was the author of “Voices from the Hearth” which Longfellow so highly commended, and of a number of other works, both in verse and in prose. His father, G.I. Ascher, was long a patriarchial and familiar figure in Montreal life in the nineteenth century, for he reached the venerable age of ninety-six years. AlexanderLevy, Jacob Levy, Samuel Israel Rubenstein, Edward Cohen and Lewis A. Hart were well-known officers of the congregation in more recent years. The last mentioned was for some years lecturer on notarial practice at McGill University.
Dr. Abraham de Sola died in 1882, and was succeeded by his eldest son, Meldola de Sola.
The Jews have always shown an interest in both civic and national politics, and at the present moment there are two Jewish citizens who are members of the city council.
OTHER NATIONAL ORIGINS OF THE PEOPLE
The foregoing do not exhaust the list of Societies for national and racial conservation. There are others such as the “Société Suisse de Montréal,” “The Scandinavian National Society,” “The Jersey (Channel Island) Society of Canada” and others. Suffice it to say that Montreal is now veritably cosmopolitan as the census of 1911 will demonstrate.
CENSUS OF MONTREAL
Origins of the People by Sub-districts of the City of Montreal for 1911
CENSUS OF MONTREAL
Origins of the People by Sub-districts of the City of Montreal for 1911
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