EUGENE-REAL ANGERSEUGENE-REAL ANGERS
EUGENE-REAL ANGERS
On the 15th of September, 1909, Mr. Angers was married to Germaine Tousignant and they have one son, Pierre.
Rev. Thomas F. Heffernan is now in the sixth year of his able service as pastor of St. Thomas Aquinas’ church in Montreal, a parish which he has built up through his energy, zeal and well directed enterprise into one of the most popular and well managed in the city. He was born December 22, 1869,on Colborne Street, in St. Anne’s parish, Montreal, a son of the late Thomas and Ellen (Murray) Heffernan. In his infancy the parents moved to the east end of the city, where the father purchased several properties, some of these on Craig, Lagauchetiere and Dorion Streets.
As a child Father Heffernan attended St. Bridget’s school, taught by the Christian Brothers, and when he was twelve years of age he entered St. Mary’s College. After one year and a half he enrolled in St. Lawrence College, conducted by the Fathers of the Holy Cross. Here success attended his efforts and in due time he became professor. He afterward took a four years’ course in the Grand Seminary and was ordained to the Roman Catholic priesthood December 22, 1894, when he was twenty-five years of age. His first appointment was with the Rev. William O’Meara, pastor of St. Gabriel’s, with whom he remained for three years. At the end of that time, at the request of His Grace Archbishop Bruchesi he was appointed in September, 1898, professor extreme at Montreal College and did excellent work in this field for two years. Resigning at the end of that time, he was appointed assistant to Rev. J. E. Donnelly, pastor of St. Anthony’s, and he retained this connection for eight years, severing it in order to accept the appointment to the newly-founded parish of St. Thomas Aquinas. This was established for the English-speaking people of the west end who were living within the district bounded on the east by Atwater Avenue, on the west by the middle of Cote St. Paul Road, on the south by the canal and on the north by the Canadian Pacific Railroad track. There were about three hundred families; about one hundred residing between Atwater and Rose de Lima Streets, who belonged to St. Anthony’s parish; and two hundred attached to St. Henry’s. For a number of years previous there had been dissatisfaction among the St. Henry’s portion inasmuch as it was difficult for the Rev. Canon Decary to meet their needs satisfactorily. Accordingly a new parish was formed and placed in charge of Father Heffernan, who has since made St. Thomas Aquinas one of the most important Catholic congregations in the diocese. He has accomplished during the period of his incumbency a great deal of remarkable work. He had no money and he required fifteen thousand dollars to pay for the ground. He secured thirty thousand dollars from the Travelers Insurance Company and fifteen thousand dollars from Molson’s Bank and erected a thirty-five thousand dollar building now used as a church. The structure is two stories in height and so constructed that an additional two stories may be added if necessary. Father Heffernan also erected an attractive residence and has now a property valued at one hundred and fifty thousand dollars and a debt of only thirty thousand dollars. During the year of 1914 he is to build a new church of Florentine style of architecture, on Convent Street. When asked to explain how this work was accomplished Father Heffernan said: “God has visited his people and this people received him. My people work from conviction, illumined by the light of faith. I have no sick, no infirm, no needy. Health, wealth and blessings are ours. But you must leave here. Never, until they sing my Mass of Requiem. I attribute the whole success to the prayers of the children and to the good work of my Reverend assistant, Father Polan.”
Father Heffernan gives all of his time and attention to the affairs of his parish, working zealously and conscientiously in the promotion of the spiritualand material interests of his congregation. He has indeed accomplished a wonderful work at St. Thomas Aquinas and has the love of his people in large measure as well as the high regard and warm confidence of people of all denominations.
Thomas Busby, an old time Montreal merchant and in his day well known in connection with the retail hardware trade, was born in Montreal, a grandson of Thomas Busby, who was the founder of the family in Canada.
This first Thomas Busby came from Ireland and had charge of landscape gardening for the Baroness of Longueuil. He became a man of considerable property for those days. His daughter married Dr. Digby of Brantford, Ontario, and their daughter became the wife of Dr. Henwood of Brantford. Thomas Busby had a son Thomas, who married Mary Lacasse, and they were the parents of Thomas Busby of this review.
Thomas Busby, the third, was educated in the schools of Montreal and when a young man began to learn the hardware business in this city. He later lived for a few years in what was then called Upper Canada but in 1857 returned to Montreal and established himself in the hardware business, which he successfully conducted until his death, which occurred April 20, 1862.
Mr. Busby was married in Montreal in June, 1853, to Miss E. C. Greene, a daughter of Thomas J. Greene, who came to this city in early life from Saratoga, New York. He was a furrier and was for years at the head of the firm of Thomas Greene & Son, while later the sons continued the business under the style of Greene & Sons. Mr. and Mrs. Busby became the parents of four children, but the only one now living is Fred Busby, a resident of Denver, Colorado. Mrs. Busby still makes her home in Montreal, where she has now resided for more than six decades, witnessing therefore much of the development and modern progress of the city, and she is one of the highly esteemed of Montreal’s older residents.
Through individual effort and ability Georges Mayrand has attained to a position of prominence as a representative of the notarial profession in Montreal, being now senior partner in the firm of Mayrand, Loranger, Ecrement & Melancon. A native of Port Neuf county, he was born at Grondines, on the 21st of August, 1876, and was educated under Jesuit instruction, attending St. Mary’s College of Montreal and afterward Laval University, in which he pursued the study of law, winning his B. L. degree on the completion of his law course in 1900. Having determined to concentrate his energies upon practice as a notary public, he opened an office in Montreal in September following his graduation and has created and developed an important business at No. 99 St. James Street. He has been joinedby others as his clientage has grown until he is now head of the firm of Mayrand, Loranger, Ecrement & Melancon. He has also taken an active and helpful part in promoting the growth and progress of the city and is associated with several land companies, including the Greater Montreal Land Company, the Summerlea Realty Company and the Sault au Recollet Island Company. He has become thoroughly conversant with property values, readily recognizes a possible rise or diminution in realty prices and accordingly makes his investments so that he has secured good returns from his property holdings.
Mr. Mayrand’s public service has also included prompt and faithful discharge of the duties of alderman, he being elected to that position from the Delorimier ward and his efficiency was rewarded by reelection in April, 1914. He has likewise filled the office of school commissioner and coming prominently before the public in these positions has made an excellent record, creditable to himself and satisfactory to his supporters. In politics he is a liberal and in addition to the local offices he has filled he is representing Dorion county in the provincial legislature. He is now vice president and secretary of the Club Delorimier, is a member of the National Amateur Athletic Association and takes an exceedingly active interest in outdoor sports. He is a typical man of the times, alert and energetic in action, progressive in purpose and thoroughly alive to the opportunities which are presented for business advancement and public improvement.
The Roman Catholic church numbers among its most distinguished representatives in Canada Rev. Gerald Francis Joseph McShane, pastor of St. Patrick’s church in Montreal and one of the best known lecturers and preachers in this province. He has been identified with religious activity in this city since 1900 and has since that time accomplished a great deal of constructive work here, his lectures, his eloquent preaching, his organizing and administrative activities constituting forces in the later development in Montreal of the doctrines in which he believes.
He was born in this city, December 5, 1872, and is a son of Michael and Margaret (Loftus) McShane, of Irish origin. In the acquirement of an education he attended Belmont school, the Archbishop’s Academy and Montreal College and later the Grand Seminary in that city, supplementing this by a four years’ course of study in Paris and Rome, receiving in the latter city degrees in philosophy and divinity. In 1896 he joined the Sulpician Order of this city and the same year left to complete his studies at St. Sulpice in Paris. In 1897 he was ordained priest, and three years later, in 1900, returned to Canada as curate of St. Patrick’s church, Montreal. For three years he did able work in that capacity and was then transferred to Notre Dame church in this city, where his sermons delivered in both French and English attracted much attention, they first bringing him into prominence as an orator. He has since that time become one of the most eloquent and widely known speakers in the city and is in great demand for lectures, sermons or orations of any kind. Since December, 1907,he has been pastor of St. Patrick’s church in Montreal and his address at his inaugural was regarded as more than an ordinary piece of tact and eloquence. Since that time he has carried forward a great deal of earnest and consecrated work in the management of his parish, which, being an important one, requires at its head a man of wide attainments, broad knowledge and discriminating business ability—qualities which Father McShane possesses in an unusual degree. He has been one of the greatest individual forces in the development of Catholic institutions in Montreal, having founded the Columbian Club, a social organization for Catholic students of McGill University. He is also a director and trustee of St. Patrick’s Orphanage. His congregation is one of the largest and most important in Montreal and its prestige is continually increasing as Father McShane’s ability as a pastor, a business man, an organizer and an orator becomes more widely recognized.
One of the city’s most brilliant, sincere and earnest Christian gentlemen, he occupies an enviable place in the regard of his parishioners and, indeed, of all who know him. The late Judge Curran, speaking of him, called him “a man of scholarly attainments, of fine tastes, of patriotic impulses and of considerable gifts as a speaker,” and this opinion is almost uniformly held throughout Montreal, where Father McShane has always made his home.
Thibaudeau Rinfret, a prominent and successful advocate of Montreal, brought to the outset of his career certain rare gifts, a strong individuality, laudable ambition and the indefatigable energy without which success and honors are seldom won by representatives of the bar. His advancement has been continuous and his energies have been largely concentrated upon his professional duties.
He was born in Montreal June 22, 1879, a son of F. O. R. and Alvina R. (Pominville) Rinfret, the former an advocate of Montreal, while the latter was a daughter of the late F. P. Pominville, Q. C., and a law partner of the late Sir G. E. Cartier, baronet. Having attended St. Mary’s (Jesuit) College, from which he was graduated on completion of the arts course with the B. A. degree in 1897, Mr. Rinfret afterward entered McGill University and won his B. C. L. degree in 1900. He was created king’s counsel in 1912, a fact indicative of the success which he has achieved in his law practice. He entered upon the active work of the profession in 1901 and successfully followed law practice at St. Jerome in partnership with Hon. Jean Prevost until 1910. Upon the appointment of Charles Archer, K. C., to the bench he joined the firm headed by J. L. Perron, K. C. The firm is now Perron, Taschereau, Rinfret, Genest, Billette & Plimsoll, and Mr. Rinfret has been connected with it since 1910. He carefully prepares his cases and is seldom at fault in the application of a legal principle, while his analytical ability enables him to readily understand the relation of cause and effect. Since 1902 he has been attorney for County Terrebonne for the inland revenue department, and he contested Terrebonne in the liberal interests at the federal general election of 1908 against the Hon. W. B. Nantel, now minister of inland revenue. Though hisparty was in the minority, he failed to secure the seat by only seventy-nine votes. Mr. Rinfret has rendered valuable service to the liberal party of whose principles he is a strong supporter.
THIBAUDEAU RINFRETTHIBAUDEAU RINFRET
THIBAUDEAU RINFRET
The zeal with which he has devoted his energies to his profession, the careful regard evinced for the interests of his clients and an unrelaxing attention to all the details of his cases, have won him an enviable and well merited reputation. His acquaintance is wide, and he has a host of friends whose high regard he has gained through his professional ability, his deference to the opinions of others, his genial manner and unfailing courtesy.
Mr. Rinfret was married to Miss Georgine Rolland, a daughter of J. B. Rolland, of Montreal, where they make their home. Mr. Rinfret holds membership in the Catholic church.
The great industrial undertakings which have led to the substantial development and upbuilding of Canada have found a prominent representative in Clarence I. de Sola, today regarded as one of the foremost men engaged in public works and in shipbuilding in Canada. Moreover, he is prominent in the consular service and is a recognized leader in various movements for the improvement of the economic condition of the Hebrew people, some of his work in that direction being of world-wide significance. Montreal numbers him among her worthy and honored native sons, his birth having occurred here on the 15th of August, 1858. He is a member of an ancient and illustrious Jewish family that long resided in Spain, where it produced many distinguished men. He is the third son of the late Rev. Abraham de Sola, LL. D., who was one of the most eminent and scholarly exponents of orthodox Judaism in America and an author of international repute.
Liberal educational opportunities were accorded the subject of this sketch, and his life has been one of steadily expanding and increasing usefulness. Step by step he has advanced in business connections, and in 1887 he was made managing director of the Comptoir Belgo-Canadien, a syndicate of the leading Belgian manufacturers of steel and other structural material and builders of bridges, railroads and canal locks. The syndicate includes the famous Cockerill Works, of Seraing, employing eighteen thousand hands. His duties and responsibilities in this direction are most important. He secured and executed contracts in the building of the Soulanges and Trent canals, in re-laying large portions of the track of the Inter-Colonial Railway and the Prince Edward Island Railway, and in the construction of many of our largest public bridges. He was associated with the engineers Lafontaine and Lemoine in the construction of the Brock Street tunnel. It was largely due to his efforts that hydraulic lift locks were first used in American or Canadian canals.
It was in recognition of the ability he had shown in developing commercial relations between Belgium and Canada that Mr. de Sola was appointed, in 1904, vice consul for Belgium at Montreal, and his work in helping to negotiate the arrangement between the Belgian and Canadian governments, whereby the benefitsof the intermediate Canadian customs tariff was secured for Belgian manufacturers, was rewarded by his advancement, in 1911 to the full rank of consul.
Extensive as have been Mr. de Sola’s efforts in connection with Belgian trade, he has also employed his energies in other fields, for he is the managing director of the Canadian office of Swan, Hunter and Wigham Richardson, Ltd., the great shipbuilders of Wallsend-on-Tyne, and he has undertaken and executed many contracts for the building of a large number of ships for traffic on the Canadian Great Lakes, the River St. Lawrence and the Atlantic oceans, amounting in all to quite a large fleet. The Canadian government has also had several ships built for its service by contracts awarded to Mr. de Sola, including some very fine vessels for hydrographic survey work, that have made their way through the ice-bound waters of Hudson’s Bay in dangerous seasons. The first ship ever seen in American waters, or that ever crossed the Atlantic ocean propelled by oil combustion engines, was built by Swan Hunter and Wigham Richardson for Mr. de Sola as consignee. It was the ship Toiler, and it was run by Mr. de Sola on the St. Lawrence and lake route until sold by him to James Playfair. An improvement on the Toiler, the ship Calgary, was built during the following year and these were the first Diesel oil combustion engined vessels to run in Canadian waters.
Clarence de Sola is a director of the Reid-Donald Steamship Company, of which he is the Canadian manager, and he is also a director of the Farrar Transportation Company.
Mr. de Sola has become widely known as a leading factor in the world-embracing Zionist Movement, for the settlement in Palestine of the persecuted Jews emigrating from Russia and other eastern European countries and for the restoration of the Holy Land as the national home of the Hebrew race. He was for a long period on the Actions Committee, which is the supreme governing council of the Zionist Movement, and for many years has been president of the Federation of Zionist Societies of Canada. This federation is a huge organization having branch societies in about sixty different cities and towns throughout the Dominion, and is the most representative Jewish body in Canada. It was through his initiative and foresight that the Zionists of Canada, at their eleventh convention, established a special fund for purchasing land in Palestine on which to settle Jewish colonists and two Jewish colonies in the Holy Land owe their existence entirely to this measure. The Canadian Century has aptly styled him “the head and shoulders of the Zionist Movement in Canada.” He has also figured prominently in the Zionist International Congresses.
Mr. de Sola is a recognized authority on Jewish history, more especially the early records of the Jews of this country, to which he has given years of research. A number of his articles on this subject have appeared in print. He is an honorary corresponding member of the American-Jewish Historical Society and member of the Anglo-Jewish Historical Society. When Funk & Wagnalls published the Jewish Encyclopedia Mr. de Sola was selected to be one of the writers of the articles on Jewish history and his contributions are to be found in most of the twelve volumes. One of his most salient characteristics is his loyalty to any cause which he espouses. Men have learned to know that what he promises he will do, that what he undertakes he will execute, and to all his work he brings the correct principles of business; accomplishing with dispatch, with accuracy and decisionthat which he sets out to do. He does not confine his efforts to institutions for the benefit of those of his own race. In fact his work has always been broad and nonsectarian in character and any call for humanity’s sake has met with ready response from him. He is a governor of the Montreal General Hospital and an officer of numerous philanthropic societies. He is the presiding warden (Parnas) of the Corporation of Spanish and Portuguese Jews of Montreal, the handsome design of whose synagogue building is due to the architectural taste of Mr. de Sola, a taste which also made itself felt in the striking beauty and individuality of his own home.
In 1901 Mr. de Sola was married to Miss Belle Maud Goldsmith, daughter of Leopold Goldsmith, a prominent citizen of Cleveland, Ohio. She completed a collegiate course with the Bachelor of Arts degree, and is an active officer of various organizations, including among nonsectarian ones the Victorian Order of Nurses, the Royal Edward Institute, the Needlework Guild and many others. Among Jewish societies she is founder of the Daughters of Zion in Canada and of the Women’s League for Cultural Work in Palestine. She also was one of those who organized the Friendly League of Jewish Women, of which she was the first president. She has written several absorbingly interesting literary articles, among them being “The Higher Education of Women,” “The Origin of the French Salon,” and “The Jew—Imaginary and Real.”
Mr. and Mrs. Clarence de Sola’s home, on Pine Avenue, is one of the most beautiful in Montreal. It is a splendid example of Saracenic architecture, such as is seen in southern Spain. In both its general outlines and in its rich ornamental details it is an exquisite specimen of the highest form of Andalusian art. It is a home that is additionally attractive by reason of a gracious and cordial hospitality.
There is probably no other line of business that is equal as a factor in a city’s growth and development to the real-estate business when conducted by men who are reliable and who aim to develop only properties of merit and value. Included among such men in Montreal is Edouard Gohier, senior member of Edouard Gohier & Company. Mr. Gohier has been connected with a number of the largest high-class suburban property deals that have taken place around Montreal in recent years. His long experience in that line of business, as well as his straightforward business methods, has secured for him a high position in real-estate and financial circles.
Mr. Gohier comes from one of the oldest families in the province of Quebec and was born April 29, 1861, at St. Martin, Laval county, his parents being Benjamin and Celina (Crevier) Gohier. Mr. Gohier’s early life was spent on a farm, but when about twenty-two years old he entered business circles in connection with the dry-goods trade at St. Laurent and was thus engaged about seven years. He then turned his attention to the real-estate business in that town and Cartierville, later opening an office in Montreal. For sixteen years he served as mayor of St. Laurent and has always taken a deep interest in public affairs in that town.Among the larger deals negotiated by Edouard Gohier & Company of late years have been La Cie des Boulevards de l’Ile de Montreal and the sale to the Canadian Northern Land Company of the land for the Model City, a suburb of Montreal, transactions that have been profitable to the principals and valuable acquisitions to the city. Mr. Gohier is managing director of the Northmount Land Company as well as one of the original promoters of the company. His connection with public interests has been of value in various lines and always marked by the same careful consideration given his own business affairs. He is a director of Notre Dame Hospital and of Le Devoir, while in March, 1914, he was appointed by the federal government as a member of the Georgian Bay Canal Commission. In political matters he is a supporter of the conservative party, while his religious faith is that of the Roman Catholic church.
Mr. Gohier married at St. Laurent Phomela Gosselin, a daughter of Narcise Gosselin, and to them have been born thirteen children, eight of whom are living. Horace, a graduate of St. Lawrence College, later attended Notre Dame University of South Bend, Indiana. Aside from his connection with the firm of Edouard Gohier & Company he is a member of the firm of Gohier & Bigras, who handle city properties, Laval on the Lake and the properties of the Montreal Extension Land Company. He is likewise a director of the Montreal Turnpike Trust. Politically he is a conservative and is an alderman of the town of St. Laurent. His wife bore the maiden name of Rosa Jasmin. The other children of Edouard and Phomela (Gosselin) Gohier are as follows: Joseph, a farmer of St. Laurent, who married Alice Valois; Ernest, a graduate of McGill University, who married Berthe Mont Briant of Montreal and who is a civil engineer and a partner of F. C. Laberge of Montreal; Edouard, a graduate of St. Lawrence College, who has taken post-graduate work in Notre Dame University at South Bend, Indiana, and is now a lumber merchant of St. Laurent; Amanda, who married J. Bruno Nantel; Yvonne; Lorette; and Leo.
Mr. Gohier has always resided in St. Laurent, while his summer home is in Cartierville. Among his individual holdings of real estate in St. Laurent is a valuable stock farm of five hundred acres. He is a successful business man whose career has been marked by honorable methods and whose progressive ideas in educational and civic matters have long since caused him to be numbered among the valued and respected citizens of his town.
Joseph Emery-Coderre, a well known notary of Montreal, was born April 14, 1880, at Ste. Anne de Stukely, in Shefford county, Quebec, and is descended from an old family of St. Antoine on the Richelieu river. He is a grandnephew of Dr. J. Emery-Coderre, who was a professor at Victoria and Laval Universities in Montreal.
J. Emery-Coderre, father of him whose name introduces this review, removed to Indian Orchard, Massachusetts, 1882 and to Woonsocket, Rhode Island, in 1886 and there the son was educated in the parochial school, while from 1892 until 1897 he attended the Brothers of Mary school at Waterloo, Quebec, andfrom September, 1897, to January, 1898, the Seminary of St. Hyacinthe. In April, 1898, he returned to Woonsocket, Rhode Island, and for two years was employed in the Globe Cotton Mills, old Braid Shop, and by the American Wringer Company. In 1900 he left the mills to continue his education at the Séminaire of St. Marie de Monnoir at Marieville, Quebec, remaining there for six years. In 1906 he won his Bachelor of Arts degree from Laval University and during the ensuing two years he clerked in the office of Boisseau & Bazinet, notaries at St. Hyacinthe, Quebec. During the succeeding two years he studied at Laval University and clerked in the office of Biron & Savignac, notaries. Thus alternating business activity with the acquirement of an education, he at length reached a position that enabled him to pass the examination before the board of notaries on the 10th of July, 1910. Immediately afterward he became a member of the firm of Biron & Savignac, notaries, with offices at 99 St. James Street, Montreal, the said firm having now another member and being known as Biron, Savignac, Coderre & Poirier.
JOSEPH EMERY-CODERREJOSEPH EMERY-CODERRE
JOSEPH EMERY-CODERRE
J. Emery-Coderre is secretary and treasurer of the corporation of Montreal East and is a member of the Montreal East Land Company. At the same time the firm with which he is connected is accorded an extensive clientage, and thus his professional and business interests are important. He has made wise use of time, talents and opportunities, and his ability has advanced him to an enviable position.
On the 12th of October, 1910, J. Emery-Coderre was married at St. Hyacinthe to Bertha Tetrault, a daughter of François Xavier Tetrault, and they have become parents of two children, François Xavier and Maurice. J. Emery-Coderre is a member of the Club Champetre Canadien. A young man, he has won popularity in both professional and social circles, and he now has a wide and favorable acquaintance in Montreal.
“One of the most powerful men in financial circles in Canada; he can make and unmake and has seldom been beaten in a financial battle.” Thus wrote the Canadian Courier concerning one of the foremost French-Canadian citizens of Montreal—Colonel Joseph David Rodolphe Forget, better known as Sir Rodolphe Forget, banker, broker and legislator. He was born at Terrebonne, Province of Quebec, December 10, 1861, and while spending his youthful days in the home of his parents, David and Angele (Limoges) Forget, he attended Masson College. In early manhood he established a home of his own through his marriage in October, 1885, to Mlle. Alexandra Tourville. Subsequent to her death he was married, in April, 1894, to Miss Blanche, youngest daughter of the late A. R. McDonold, a stock broker of Quebec. Lady Forget is prominent in charitable and benevolent circles, being a director of the Montreal Day Nursery and the Notre Dame Hospital, while in 1909 she was elected vice president of the Women’s Canadian Club.
Sir Rodolphe Forget’s active connection with financial affairs began in 1890, when he joined the Montreal Stock Exchange, of which he was chosen chairmanin 1908, continuing in that position until 1911, when he resigned. He was for a time connected with the business of L. J. Forget & Company, the senior partner being the late Hon. L. J. Forget. In 1909 a branch house was established in Paris and as banker and broker Sir Rodolphe Forget has attained prominence equal to that which has come to him in connection with public affairs. Many of the extensive and important corporation interests of Canada have been quickened and stimulated through his cooperation, while his sound judgment has constituted a controlling force in their management. He is president of the Quebec and Saguenay Railway, the Quebec Railway Light, Heat & Power Company; vice president of the Montreal Light, Heat & Power Company; and director of the Toronto Railway Company, the Quebec Gas Company, the Sterling Coal Company, Limited, the Canadian General Electric Company, and the St. Lawrence Flour Mills Company. He was formerly president of the Richelieu & Ontario Navigation Company, the Eastern Canada Steel & Iron Works, Limited, the Royal Electric Company, and the Mount Royal Assurance Company; and vice president of the Canadian Securities Corporation and La Société d’Administration Générale; and director of the Duluth Street Railway Company, the Montreal-London Securities Corporation, the Black Lake Consolidated Asbestos Company, the Union Brewery Company, the Murray-Bay Lumber & Pulp Company, the City Central Real Estate Company, the Montreal Smelting & Reduction Company, the Prudential Trust Company, the Wayagamack Pulp & Paper Company, the Crown Life Insurance Company, the Canada Marconi Wireless Telegraph Company, the Payne Consolidated Mining Company, La Banque Provinciale and Le Journal. In 1911 he founded La Banque Internationale du Canada. He was rated as a millionaire by the Montreal Star in 1907, which in itself is a testimonial of his power as a financier. In 1911 he headed the navigation merger. He has also been connected with the Canada Car Foundry Company, the Industrial Development Company, the Butte Central Copper Company, and the Montmorency Cotton Mills Company. All these indicate something of the wonderful scope of his business interests and activity and yet by no means give a complete record of his interest and his efforts, which have been equally strong forces in the control, development and upbuilding of organizations having to do with the public welfare. In 1911 he made a gift of two hundred and fifty thousand dollars to the Notre Dame Hospital, of which he is a director. He is also president of the Province of Quebec Rifle Association, and he was appointed honorary lieutenant colonel of the Sixty-fifth Carabiniers, “Mount Royal” of Montreal in 1907, and was promoted to honorary colonel in March, 1914. He is a director of the Canadian National Bureau of Breeding and is a life governor of the Antiquarian and Numismatic Society. He was vice president of Credit Foncier Franco-Canadien. He has been a member of the executive committee of the Canadian Handicrafts Guild of Montreal, holding the office in 1908.
In politics an independent-conservative, Sir Rodolphe Forget has sat for Charlevoix in the house of commons since 1904. In 1911 he was elected for Charlevoix and Montmorency—said to be the first occasion in the history of the Dominion in which a member in opposition was elected for two constituencies. He was offered a portfolio when Premier Borden formed his cabinet, but declined. He believes in a direct contribution from Canada for the imperial navyand opposed the Taft-Fielding reciprocity pact. His religious faith is that of the Roman Catholic church. In club circles he is well known as a member of the Mount Royal, the St. James, Club Lafontaine, Club Canadien, Club St. Denis, Canada, Montreal, Montreal Jockey, Montreal Hunt, Canadian, Forest and Stream, Montreal Curling, Montreal Military Institute, Royal Montreal Golf, Royal St. Lawrence Yacht Clubs, of Montreal, and the Garrison Club of Quebec, in many of which he has held official positions. He has been termed “the young Napoleon of St. François Xavier Street.” He has manifested Napoleonic powers in other connections and his strength, power and resource have given him the position of honor and distinction which he now occupies. His residence is at No. 71 Ontario Avenue, and his summer home is “Gil Mont,” St. Irenee les Bains, Quebec.
One of the best known citizens of Montreal whose reputation in business is international is Fitz-James E. Browne, president of the famous and highly successful firm known as “The House of Browne, Limited,” real-estate experts, auctioneers, architects and fire insurance agents. He was born in Montreal on the 22d of September, 1871, a son of the late John James and Agnes Dunlop (Hay) Browne, and comes of Irish and Scotch ancestry. He acquired his early education at the McTavish school and afterward attended Lincoln College at Sorel, province of Quebec.
After leaving school Mr. Browne became associated in the architectural profession with his father and soon after the death of the latter, in 1893, Fitz-James E. Browne engaged in the real-estate business, continuing the firm name of John James Browne until 1894, when the present title of “The House of Browne, Limited” was assumed, and no real-estate firm in the Dominion is as widely known.Mr. Browne’s advertising measures are both progressive and aggressive as well as unique. He has been a pioneer in methods that others attempt to imitate. As a real-estate auctioneer it is doubtful if he has an equal. He has officiated at the biggest sales on record in Canada and holds the proud honor of having sold the highest priced property per foot in Montreal. He possesses a comprehensive and accurate knowledge of values as well as a thorough and practical understanding of all the intricacies of the real-estate business in the city, and his upright business methods have won him the esteem and confidence of all. His knowledge of architecture from both the scientific and practical standpoint is broad, and as a real-estate expert he stands in the front rank. He is frequently called upon to address meetings of real-estate dealers and deliver lectures upon real-estate selling in both Canada and the United States.
Mr. Browne was married in August, 1896, to Miss Sarsie Geraldine Nagle of Montreal. Her tragic death, resulting from injuries sustained in being struck by a tram car, occurred on November 15, 1913. She is survived by two sons: John James Ethelbert and Henry Shewbridge Bashford.
Like the majority of progressive business men of the day, Mr. Browne keeps well informed on leading questions and issues, but does not seek nor desire thehonors and emoluments of office, preferring to concentrate his attention upon his business affairs. In his younger days he devoted much time to amateur sport, in which he still retains deep interest. As a member of the Montreal Amateur Athletic Association he was foremost in opposition to the introduction of professionalism into the organization. He was a prime factor in the organization of the St. Patrick’s Amateur Athletic Association and has since been its leading spirit. Mr. Browne is a very public-spirited man and any movement for the advancement of the city, province or Dominion finds in him a most hearty supporter.
Prominent in real-estate circles of Montreal is Paul Brisset des Nos, whose activities in that field have had an important bearing upon the growth of the city. He has successfully handled important deals and has been connected with some of the largest transactions consummated in real estate. At present he is manager of the L’Alliance Immobilière, Incorporated, which he established in 1912 and which is capitalized at one hundred thousand dollars. He is among the successful Parisians who have selected Montreal as their field of labor, and yet he often visits the land of his birth. Having had all the advantages of an excellent education, he understands mankind and judges conditions correctly, and these features are largely the corner stone of his success. He was born in Paris, November 17, 1873, and comes of a distinguished family, his father being André Brisset des Nos, for many years manager for La Foncière, Paris, and his mother Clémentine Hébert de la Rousselière.
Paul Brisset des Nos enjoyed the advantages of a classical course, attending the College of the Jesuits in his native city, located at the rue de Madrid, and also the school of the same order at the rue Bleury at Montreal. He made his first step into the business world as partner of his father, who was engaged in the wholesale wine and liquor business at 23 Gosford Street, Montreal, the business being conducted under the name of André Brisset & Fils. He was connected with this firm for six years but in 1906 he opened a real-estate office. For about seven years he was located at Pointe-aux-Trembles but subsequently gave much of his time to two tracts of land which he had acquired in the district of the Rivière des Prairies, which he subdivided into eighteen hundred lots, all of which have been disposed of today. Among other enterprises he was concerned in the building of four butter factories near Montreal. In 1912 he established and incorporated the L’Alliance Immobilière, with a capital of one hundred thousand dollars, and has since been manager thereof. He is a number of the Montreal Real Estate Exchange.
On the 11th of February, 1901, at Montreal, Mr. Brisset des Nos was united in marriage to Miss Yvonne Lareau, a daughter of the late Edmond Lareau, deputy of Rouville. Mr. and Mrs. Brisset des Nos have the following children: Paul, ten years of age; Aliette, aged eight; Yves six; and Madeleine, three.
It is conceded on all sides that realty activities largely contribute to the growth of a community and in that way Mr. Brisset des Nos has participated inthe development and commercial expansion of Montreal. He is public-spirited and takes a deep interest in any forward movement promoted in the cause of the general welfare. Although he has been connected with real-estate transactions for a comparatively short time, he has made his influence felt in that field to such an extent that his opinions and advice are often sought by investors. L’Alliance Immobilière, founded upon a solid basis, may well look toward a prosperous future under the able management of Mr. Brisset des Nos, whose wide experience and sound judgment are among the most important assets of the corporation.
PAUL BRISSET DES NOSPAUL BRISSET DES NOS
PAUL BRISSET DES NOS
Hon. Sir Lomer Gouin, a distinguished representative of the Montreal bar and a statesman whose grasp of affairs has made him largely master of situations affecting government interests, was born at Grondines, P. Q., March 19, 1861, a son of Dr. J. N. and Victorie Seraphine (Fugere) Gouin. The family has long been established in this province. Sir Lomer Gouin in the attainment of his education attended successfully Sorel College, Levis College and the Laval University. He won his LL. B. degree in 1884 and in 1902 the honorary degree of LL. D. was conferred upon him while McGill also created him an LL. D. in 1911. He pursued his law studies under the direction of the late Sir John Abbot and the late Hon. R. Laflamme, two of the most eminent members of the bar of Montreal. Passing the required examinations, Sir Lomer Gouin was admitted to practice as an advocate in 1884, and his advancement in his profession has brought him to a position of leadership at the provincial bar. He was at one time a law partner of Judge Pagnuelo and afterward of the late Hon. H. Mercier. His knowledge of the law is comprehensive and exact and in the application of its principles he has proven himself one of the ablest representatives of the bar in Montreal. He was elected batonnier-general of the provincial bar in 1910, was appointed an officer of de l’Institut Public of France in 1902 and also of the Legion of Honor in 1907. Aside from his profession, he is known in financial circles as a director of the Royal Trust Company, of the Montreal City and District Savings Bank and of the Mount Royal Assurance Company. The Venerable Archdeacon Kerr characterized him as “a straightforward business man,” and in all his career he has never deviated from high standards of manhood and citizenship.
In 1908 he was knighted by King George at the Quebec Tercentenary celebration. His public service has been of an important character and is of wide scope, and in 1898 he was appointed a member of the council of public instruction, P. Q., and in 1910 was elected president of the North American Fish and Game Protective Association. He has likewise been president of the Canadian Camp. In 1900 he was chosen an alderman of Montreal and exercises his official prerogatives in support of various measures for the general good. Mr. Gouin is a liberal in politics and for some years has been active in the party. He unsuccessfully contested Richelieu for the House of Commons at the general election in 1891, and he sat for Montreal, St. James division, in the local house in 1897-1908.Since then he has sat for Port Neuf. He is regarded as an administrator of breadth of view, great knowledge and ability and unimpeachable probity. From 1900 until 1904 Sir Lomer Gouin was commissioner of public works under the Parent administration, and since March 23, 1905, has been premier and attorney-general for the province of Quebec. An eminent statesmen has characterized him as “the greatest prime minister the province has ever known.” His comprehensive knowledge of the law and his ready grasp of affairs, combined with his unfaltering loyalty to the best interests of government, classes him with the most prominent Canadian statesmen. In 1906 he was chairman of the Ottawa Inter-Provincial Conference and was a delegate thereto in 1910. He has edited a special edition of the Quebec Municipal Code, and he seems familiar with all the various phases of the important municipal, provincial and national problems which are now engaging public attention.
Sir Lomer Gouin was married in May, 1888, to Miss Eliza Mercier, a daughter of the late Hon. Honore Mercier, prime minister of Quebec. Lady Gouin passed away in September, 1904, and in September, 1911, he wedded Alice, daughter of the late Auguste Amos of Montreal. Sir Lomer Gouin was present by invitation at the coronation of King George and Queen Mary in Westminster Abbey in June, 1911. He is well known in club circles as a member of the Garrison Club of Quebec; the Club St. Denis, the Montreal Reform Club, and the Mount Royal Club of Montreal. His religious affiliation is with the Roman Catholic church.
The enterprise which has brought the western world to a par with the old world in all that touches business activity and progress finds exemplification in the life record of Isaac Gouverneur Ogden, now vice president of the Canadian Pacific Railway Company. It would be a partial view, however, if one were to consider his life record only from the standpoint of business advancement, as his labors have been directed with equal efficiency along lines which touch the general interests of society or have their root in a broad humanitarian spirit.
Born across the border, Mr. Ogden is a native of New York, the date of his birth being October 10, 1844. His parents were Isaac Gouverneur and Elizabeth Katherine (Williamson) Ogden, representatives of old and distinguished families of the Empire state. His education was acquired in local public schools, while his early business training came to him in a mercantile house in his native state where he secured employment in 1860. He early recognized the eternal principle that industry wins, and industry became the beacon light of his life. He turned from merchandising to banking, entering the house of Fisk & Hatch with which he remained until March, 1871, when he made his initial step in railway service as paymaster and accountant for the Chicago & Pacific Railway Company. The duties of the dual position were promptly and capably discharged until 1876, when he was made auditor, serving in that capacity for five years under a receiver.
In 1881 he became auditor for the western division of the Canadian Pacific Railway Company, was advanced to the position of auditor for the Canadian Pacific in 1883 and so remained until 1887. For fourteen years thereafter he was comptroller for the Canadian Pacific and since December, 1901 has been vice president of the most important railway that crosses the Dominion. Long experience has made him familiar with various phases of railway operation and management, and thus he came well equipped to his present position, ready for administrative direction and executive control.
In early manhood Mr. Ogden wedded Miss Julia M. Baker and they reside at No. 457 Mackay Street. Home and business interests, however, by no means comprise the extent of his activities which reach out into the fields of religious and philanthropic work and also prominently into club life. He is an Anglican, is president of the Montreal College of Homeopathic Physicians and Surgeons; and is a life governor of the Montreal Homeopathic Hospital. In 1901 he was elected president of the Association of American Railway Accounting Officers and in 1905 was a delegate to the International Railway Congress. He brings to bear upon public questions the same keen discrimination and sound judgment that have characterized his activities in railway circles. His social nature finds expression in his membership in the St. James, Mount Royal, Forest and Stream, Royal St. Lawrence Yacht and Montreal Hunt Clubs of Montreal; the Lotus and Transportation Clubs of New York, and the Manitoba Club of Winnipeg.
It cannot be denied that members of the bar have been more prominent actors in public affairs than any other class of the community. This is but the natural result of causes which are manifest and require no explanation. The ability and training which qualify one to practice law also qualify him in many respects for duties which lie outside the strict path of his profession and which touch the general interests of society. Holding marked precedence among the members of the bar and recognized also as an influential factor in political circles, Charles Hazlitt Cahan is a well known and honored resident of Montreal. He comes of a family of Irish origin and was born at Hebron, Yarmouth, Nova Scotia, October 31, 1861, his parents being the late Charles and Theresa Cahan, of Yarmouth. He supplemented his early educational training by study at Yarmouth Seminary and in Dalhousie University, winning his Bachelor of Arts degree in 1886 and Bachelor of Laws degree in 1890. He began practice as a barrister of Nova Scotia in 1893 and was created king’s counsellor there in 1907. In the same year he entered upon the practice of law in the province of Quebec and was made king’s counsellor in this province in 1909. While a resident of Halifax he was a member of the law firm of Harris, Henry & Cahan but since 1909 has been in practice in Montreal. He has always specialized in corporation law, in which department he has had wide and varied experience in North and South America and in Europe.
There was an interval between the completion of his course and his active connection with the bar in which he devoted his time and energies to journalisticinterests, being connected with the Halifax Evening Mail and Herald, resigning, however, to devote his attention to law and politics in 1894, and he has made for himself a prominent name and position in the latter as well as in the former connection. He contested Shelburne, Nova Scotia, in the conservative interest and following the election sat in the Nova Scotia legislature from 1890 until 1894, during which period he was the recognized leader of the opposition. In 1896 he unsuccessfully contested Shelburne and Queen’s for the house of commons, and also Cumberland at the general election in 1900. He declined a nomination for the St. Lawrence division of Montreal at the general election of 1911, and he also refused political honors when he decided not to accept the portfolio offered him in the Dominion cabinet in 1896. Public activity has ever been with him a matter of public duty, as he has ever placed the general good before partisanship or self-aggrandizement. He was for several years honorary secretary of the Halifax branch of the Imperial Federation League and honorary secretary of the Liberal-Conservative Association in Nova Scotia. With all the duties that have been imposed upon him in his political and professional connections, he has found time and opportunity to cooperate in the management of various successful business corporations and interests. He is now the president of the Western Canada Power Company and of the Corporation Agencies, Ltd., and a director of several other important financial and industrial companies. He has closely studied vital public problems, and he took a decided stand against the Taft-Fielding reciprocity compact, against which he delivered various addresses during the political campaign of 1911. He has been termed a courageous, ready and powerful speaker. He presents his arguments with clearness and force, and their logic is convincing.
On March 1, 1887, Mr. Cahan was united in marriage to Mrs. Mary J. Hetherington of Halifax, Nova Scotia, and they now reside at No. 740 University Street, Montreal, with a summer residence at “Belmont,” Halifax, Nova Scotia. Mr. Cahan’s club relationship is with the Mount Royal and Montreal Clubs, Montreal; the Halifax Club, Halifax; and the Jockey Club of Mexico. He filled the presidency of the Dalhousie University Alumni Association in 1893-4. One of the elements of his success is found in his ability to entirely concentrate his thought and efforts upon the question or work in hand and then turn with equal enthusiasm and capability to his next duty or undertaking. The trend of his mind is analytical, logical and inductive, and as a corporation lawyer he stands among the foremost representatives of the profession in Montreal.
Leandre Bélanger, for forty years or more one of the most prominent notaries of the province of Quebec, was born March 29, 1848, at St. François de Sales, Laval county. His father, Leandre Bélanger, was a carriage maker by trade and married Marie Nadon. His grandfather, François Bélanger, was a farmer of Laval county.
In his native village Leandre Bélanger, Jr., spent his boyhood and was educated at Terrebonne College. For five years he studied law in the office ofMelasippe Prevost in Terrebonne and on the 11th of June, 1871, was commissioned a licensed notary in Quebec. For a year thereafter he engaged in practice at St. François de Sales, but, seeking a more extensive field, he located in Montreal on the 1st of May, 1872, and in this city soon built up a large and lucrative practice. Until 1909 he was alone in practice, but in that year formed a partnership with his son Adrien under the name of Bélanger & Bélanger, with offices at No. 30 St. James Street. For twenty-five years Mr. Bélanger has been a member of the board of notaries of the province of Quebec and for three years served as president of that board. For eight years he was president of the Montreal Association of Notaries and his contemporaries in the profession accord him a high position in their ranks. He has been a member of the Antiquarian and Numismatic Society for many years, and he is also a member of the Chambre de Commerce.