LOUIS N. DUPUISLOUIS N. DUPUIS
LOUIS N. DUPUIS
Mr. Dupuis holds to the political faith of the conservative party and to the religious faith of the Roman Catholic church. He is a Knight of Columbus of Conseil Lafontaine and belongs to the Chapleau Fish and Game Club and the Canadian Club. Thoroughly progressive in his ideas, he has kept well informed both by reading and travel. As long ago as 1874, Mr. Dupuis visited Fort Garry, now the city of Winnipeg, when the journey required fourteen days from Montreal, and too, when the Red River country was considered the “Far West.” He has since then visited the Pacific coast no less than five times, as well as various sections of the United States. He is equally familiar with England, Ireland, Scotland and Wales, as well as continental Europe, as it was formerly his custom to make semi-annual trips to Europe in connection with his business affairs. He enjoys the outdoor life, especially the sports of the forest. His public service has been well performed. At the end of 1909 he was selected by the citizens committee to form part of the new administration of the city as commissioner and was elected by the city at large in the election held on the 2d of February, 1910.
Rouer Joseph Roy, jurist, linguist and an interested student of literary, scientific and antiquarian subjects, was born in Montreal, January 7, 1821, his parents being the late Joseph Roy, M. P. P., and Amelia (Lusignan) Roy. The former, of French descent, rose to a position of prominence, representing his riding in the provincial legislature. His wife was connected with the distinguished family of Rouer de Villeray.
Rouer Joseph Roy attended Montreal College,from which he was graduated with honors in the presence of Lord Durham. Having determined upon the practice of law as his life profession, he entered the law office of the Hon. Mr. Sullivan in 1838 and after four years of thorough and comprehensive study was called to the bar, in 1842. Almost from the beginning his career was a successful one and after several years devoted to active law practice he was appointed joint city attorney for Montreal in 1862, filling that position continuously until 1876, when he became the sole legal advisor of the city, remaining in that office until he resigned in 1898. He afterward filled the position of consulting city attorney. In 1864 he was elected syndic of the Quebec bar and so continued for four years. In the same year he was made queen’s counsel as well as being elected president of the committee in charge of the bar library, which office he continuously and honorably filled for thirty years. In 1887 he was unanimously chosen batonnier of the Montreal bar and the following year was chosen batonnier general of the province. He held high professional rank and on several occasions appeared before the judicial committee of the privy council in England.
In January, 1857, Mr. Roy was married to Miss Corinne Beaudry, a daughter of the late Hon. J. L. Beaudry, M. L. C., who in 1857 was mayor of Montreal. Mr. Roy not only enjoyed a high reputation as a lawyer but also as a scholar, being widely known as a linguist, speaking fluently Greek, Latin, Italian and French as well as English. For many years he occupied the presidency of the Numismatic and Antiquarian Society. He was one of the last survivors of the Sons of Liberty, an organization which played a most important part at the time of the rebellion of 1837. His religious faith was that of the Roman Catholic church and he filled the office of church warden of the parish of Notre Dame. His life was characterized by a nobility that lifted him above those traits which mar character and when death called him on the 27th of July, 1905, only words of commendation and respect were spoken concerning his life work. He had done things worthy to be written and had written things worthy to be read, and he left to posterity an unblemished name, linked with many deeds that won him prominence and honor.
A man of force, experience and capacity, Charles Mackay Cotton has made for himself an enviable position at the bar of Quebec and is numbered among the most able and successful advocates of Montreal, where he is in active practice as a member of the firm of Cotton & Westover. He was born in Durham township, Missisquoi county, Quebec, February 22, 1878, and is a representative of a well known Canadian family of English extraction, being a son of Sheriff Cotton, a grandson of Dr. Cotton and a great-grandson of Rev. Charles Caleb Cotton, B. A. (Oxford), who came from England in 1799 and was one of the pioneer Anglican clergymen in the eastern townships.
Charles Mackay Cotton acquired his preliminary education at Cowansville Academy, Feller Institute, Grande Ligne, Quebec, and afterward entered McGill University, Montreal, from which he was graduated with the degree of B. A. in 1899, winning the high honor of the gold medal for general proficiency. From the same institution he was afterwards graduated B. C. L. in 1902, taking at this time the Macdonald scholarship. In his student days he gave every evidence of the ability and power upon which his present success is founded for besides the honors above mentioned he was class orator in science, arts and law. His record in McGill University is very creditable and one of which he has every reason to be proud, and its promise has been fully justified by his later accomplishments in the professional field. Mr. Cotton was called to the bar as advocate in 1902 and immediately afterwards went abroad in order to get the advantages of foreign travel and to supplement his excellent legal training by further study. He attended lectures at the law school of the University of Montpelier in 1903, thus completing an exhaustive and comprehensive legal education.
Mr. Cotton opened his first office in Sweetsburg, this province, practising in partnership with J. C. McCorkill, and proving able, farsighted and discriminating in the discharge of his professional duties. From Sweetsburg he came to Montreal, and he is today one of the representative citizens of this community,prominent in his profession and a leading factor in the promotion of those projects and measures which have for their object municipal growth, advancement and progress. The firm of Cotton & Westover is one of the strongest of its kind in the city and connected through a wide and representative patronage with a great deal of important litigation. Mr. Cotton is recognized as an able advocate, possessed of a comprehensive knowledge of the law and a practical ability in its application, and his developed powers and wide experience are bringing him constantly increasing prominence in his chosen field.
Mr. Cotton is a member of the Anglican church and was formerly a captain in the Fifteenth Shefford Field Battery. A strong liberal, he takes an intelligent interest in public affairs, opposing political corruption wherever he finds it and supporting by word and action pure and clean politics. Viewed from any standpoint his has been a useful and successful career, and the future undoubtedly holds for him further honors and continued prosperity.
William Alexander Hastings, for many years vice president and general manager of the Lake of the Woods Milling Company, Ltd., and one of the best known men in his line of business in Canada, was born at Petite Cote, March 6, 1852, a son of George and Margaret (Ogilvie) Hastings. George Hastings came from Boston, Massachusetts, and located at Petite Cote where he was engaged in farming.
William A. Hastings pursued his education in the schools of his native city and began his business career as a clerk in the Exchange Bank. His progress was rapid and he was promoted to manager of the Bedford (Quebec) branch, and later manager of the Exeter branch. Subsequently he was appointed treasurer of the St. Joseph (Missouri) Gas Company, serving until 1882 when he became identified with the milling business in which he achieved such notable success. In that year, with his brother, George V. Hastings, he became associated with the Ogilvie Company at Winnipeg, building and opening the flour mills there with great success. In 1888 he severed his connection with the above firm and became vice president and general manager of the Lake of the Woods Milling Company, filling this prominent and important position until his death, which occurred on May 23, 1903.
Mr. Hastings had thoroughly acquainted himself with the business in its different phases so that he was well qualified to assume the control of one of the largest businesses of its kind in the Dominion, and to his rare judgment and marked executive ability is credited, to no small extent, the high degree of prosperity enjoyed by the company whose affairs he so ably directed.
Robert Meighen, president of the Lake of the Woods Milling Company, said that he had been associated with Mr. Hastings for thirteen years and that any business which passed through his hands passed through the hands of God’s noblest work—an honest man. Others bore equally strong testimony as to his enterprise and his thorough reliability. He never weighed an act in the scaleof public policy but always measured his deeds by the standard of upright principle.
In 1884 Mr. Hastings was united in marriage to Miss Georgina Roy Ure, daughter of the late George P. Ure, and they became the parents of the following children: Margaret Ogilvie, who died in infancy; William Roy, of Montreal; and John Ogilvie, of Montreal.
Mr. Hastings was lacking in none of the qualities which make for upright manhood and progressive citizenship, and his cooperation with any movement or plan largely insured the successful outcome of the same. In 1890 he became a member of the Corn Exchange and in 1893 was elected a member of the committee of management, in which office he continued until 1898, serving for the last three years of that period as treasurer. Throughout his entire life Canada numbered him among her best citizens and the record which he made reflected credit upon the Dominion, constituting a factor in its material development.
One of the best known men in the grain trade in Canada and one whose untimely death cut short a business career that had been highly successful and was full of greater possibilities for the future was Robert Dennison Martin, who was born at Selby, Ontario, October 18, 1854, a son of William and Elizabeth (Thompson) Martin. The father was a farmer and the boyhood of Robert Dennison Martin was spent in the manner of a farmer’s son of that locality and period. His education, acquired at the place of his nativity, was somewhat limited. He remained in the district in which he was born until after attaining his majority. Hearing of the possibilities of the western country, he went to Manitoba and near Deloraine he secured a homestead which he developed and improved. As he managed to gather together a little capital, he turned his attention to merchandising, becoming a member of the hardware firm of Faulkner & Martin at Deloraine, an association which continued for a number of years after his removal to Montreal. It was at Deloraine that he first became connected with the grain business in which he was destined to win notable success. In the buying of grain he became associated with Alfred P. Stuart under the firm name of The R. D. Martin Company, a partnership that continued until the death of Mr. Martin.
After a few years residence in Winnipeg Mr. Martin came to Montreal in 1899, and with the exception of a year spent in Napanee and a year in Kingston, Montreal was his place of residence throughout the remainder of his life. The business of The R. D. Martin Company enjoyed a steady and prosperous growth and to its development Mr. Martin devoted his entire attention and rare ability. Since his demise the business has been continued under the name of the British Empire Grain Company, Limited. Mr. Martin suffered from ill health for several years prior to his demise which occurred at his beautiful new home at No. 1 Murray Avenue, Westmount, which was completed only a few weeks prior to his demise, which occurred on the 28th of June, 1905.
ROBERT D. MARTINROBERT D. MARTIN
ROBERT D. MARTIN
It was on the 18th of May, 1894, at Winnipeg, that Mr. Martin was united in marriage to Miss Helen Moncrieff Morton, who was born in Perth, Scotland, a daughter of Duncan and Jessie (Watson) Morton. The father died when Mrs. Martin was but two years of age and her mother survived until a few years ago. Mrs. Martin came to Canada in 1892 and resided in Winnipeg previous to her marriage, a brother having preceded her to that place. She is one of five children born to her parents, four of whom survive, as follows: Jessie, the wife of George Banks of Perth, Scotland; Duncan, residing in Winnipeg; Helen M., who is Mrs. R. D. Martin; and Madeline, the wife of Andrew C. Craig of Winnipeg. To Mr. and Mrs. Martin were born five children: Charles Stuart, a student in McGill University; and Helen Elizabeth, Edith Laura, Jessie Watson and Robert Henry, all at home.
Mr. Martin was quiet and domestic in his tastes and habits. He held membership in only one club, the Canada Club, and did not enter actively into its affairs. He was very fond of his family and found his chief delight in the home circle, being a loving and kind husband and father. As a business man he was alert and energetic, ready for any emergency and he seemed to pass by no opportunity that pointed to honorable success. Contemporaries and colleagues had the highest respect for him and more than that, he gained the warm friendship and esteem of a large majority of his acquaintances. Although a later arrival in Montreal than many of his business associates, he gained prominence among them and attained an enviable position in the business world. He was a member of the Board of Trade and his opinions carried weight among its representatives and in other connections which had to do with the city’s welfare. He was truly Canadian in spirit and interests and his devotion to the public good was one of his notable traits of character.
J. Louis A. Guimond, a notary public practicing in Montreal and interested in business enterprises which connect him with activity in the real-estate field, was born in the town of Beauharnois, in the province of Quebec on the 14th of February, 1877. His father was Cyrille Guimond, a merchant and manufacturer, who married Justine Dubreuil of Pointe-aux-Trembles. In the pursuit of his education he attended the Seminary of St. Hyacinthe and was graduated in letters with the class of 1896, while his scientific course was pursued in College St. Laurent, from which he graduated in 1898. He has since been an active representative of the notarial profession in which connection he has secured a large clientage that makes his practice a profitable one. His life has been one of intense and intelligently directed activity and aside from his professional duties he is acting as a director and is a shareholder in a real-estate company. He is likewise secretary-treasurer of two municipalities and thus takes a helpful interest in public affairs as well as in the conduct of private business interests.
On the 24th of May, 1909, at Iberville, P. Q., Mr. Guimond was married to Miss Marie Louise Gayette, a daughter of Calixte Gayette. Their children are Paul and Ives Guimond. The religious faith of the family is that of the Catholicchurch and in politics Mr. Guimond is a liberal-nationalist. He is energetic, accomplished and successful and by the consensus of public opinion he is ranked with the representative men of Montreal. He comes of an old and respected line of ancestors who settled in the province of Quebec in the seventeenth century. Since that day they have not only been active and progressive in business, but loyal in citizenship. Mr. Guimond’s lines of life have been cast in harmony with the record of an honored ancestry and his forbears have been no more loyal to city, province and country than he.
A man who has founded success in the legal profession upon ability, comprehensive knowledge, long experience and untiring industry, is Robert H. Barron, since 1895 in active and successful practice as a notary in Montreal. He has made continued and rapid progress in his chosen field of labor, each year bringing him to a point in advance of the previous one, and today the firm of Barron & Cushing, of which he is the senior member, is one of the most reliable of its kind in the city.
Mr. Barron was graduated B. A. from McGill University in 1892 and acquired his professional training in the same institution, completing the law course in 1895. In October of that year he began practice in Montreal, being taken into partnership by Mr. Charles Cushing and Mr. Robert A. Dunton; this association continued until 1900, and Mr. Barron then continued in partnership under the firm name of Cushing & Barron until the death of Mr. Cushing in September, 1910. Mr. Barron then practiced alone for about one year, when he associated himself with Dougall Cushing, his present partner and a son of his former partner. Barron & Cushing control a large and constantly growing business, and the firm is known to be strong and reliable. Mr. Barron is held in high honor in professional circles of Montreal, and his prominence stands upon the substantial foundation of ability and merit.
The legal fraternity of Montreal finds an able representative in Arthur Delisle, who not only has achieved favorable reputation in a private capacity but has ably represented the district of Portneuf in the provincial parliament. Capable, earnest and conscientious, he has been connected with important litigation before the local courts and his clientele is representative. He comes of an old and distinguished family whose ancestors came from France in the year 1669, on the 15th of October of which year arrived in Quebec Louis de l’Isle, of Dompierre, of the bishopric Rouen, accompanied by his young wife, Louise des Granges, of St. Brice of Paris, settlement being made at Pointe-aux-Trembles, of Quebec.
Arthur Delisle was born at Portneuf and is the son of Jean and Anathalie (Frenette) Delisle. In the acquirement of his education he attended LavalNormal School Seminary of Quebec and Laval University of that city, taking his degree of Master in Law (cum laude) on the 23d of December, 1882. After locating for practice in Montreal important business came to him and as the years have passed he has become known as one of the most able men in his profession in the city. He has every faculty of which a lawyer may be proud, unusual familiarity with human nature and untiring industry making him one of the most forceful members of the bar. He was appointed queen’s counsel in 1898.
On April 22, 1890, at Quebec, Mr. Delisle was united in marriage to Blanche Hudon, a daughter of Théophile Hudon, a prominent merchant of Quebec. They have two children, Marguerite and Gaston. While attending the Laval Normal School Mr. Delisle received the usual course of military training under the supervision of the high officers at the citadel of Quebec, receiving such instruction there in the years 1876 and 1877. This experience has been of great benefit to him as it infused into the young man the lasting benefits of military exactness and punctuality. From 1891 until 1896 he represented the district of Portneuf in the house of commons, retiring in the latter year in order to give his seat to Sir Henry Joly de Lotbinière. Public-spirited and progressive, Mr. Delisle takes an active interest in the progress his city is making as one of the great metropolitan centers of North America and is ever willing and ready to support worthy enterprises projected for general improvement and growth.
In the death of Dr. David Greene, Montreal was forced to record the loss of a most capable member of the medical profession. He added to broad scientific knowledge and thorough training a deep human sympathy combined with an almost intuitive understanding of his fellowmen. Moreover he recognized to the fullest extent the weight of responsibility and obligations resting upon him, and his fidelity to duty became one of his strongest characteristics. A native of Ballyshannon, in the north of Ireland, he died on the 21st of March, 1891, at Montreal, Quebec. He prepared for college atthe Royal School of Portora, Enniskillen, and was graduated from Trinity College at Dublin. He became a licentiate of the Royal College of Surgeons of Ireland and from 1858 until 1864 practiced in the north of Ireland. It was in his native town of Ballyshannon that Dr. Greene wedded Miss Ellen Green, who with a son and several daughters survive him. But one of the children was born on the Emerald isle and with this daughter Dr. and Mrs. Greene came to the new world in 1866, making their way to Montreal, Canada. For a time Dr. Greene was actively engaged in practice in this city and then removed to Granby, where he practiced for many years, but afterward returned to Montreal. His intellectual powers were marked and his scholastic and literary attainments were of a high order. It was a liberal education in itself to know him well and profit by his wonderful store of knowledge, which he unconsciously imparted to his close friends in conversation that was brilliant and fascinating. His associates recognized that his comradeship meant expansion and elevation. Being endowed with a warm heart and splendid mental gifts, he left the impress of his individuality upon those with whom he was brought intoclose and intimate relations. While he took high rank in his profession, his attainments were varied and brought him fame in other connections. He was a devout member of the English church, and his influence was always on the side of right, progress, truth and reform.
The surviving children of Dr. and Mrs. Greene are: Alice, Maud, Gertrude, Vida, Geraldine, and Whately Stokes. The last named pursued his education in the schools of Montreal and in March, 1898, made his initial step in connection with the banking business as an employe in the old Ontario Bank, with which he was connected for eight years. Through the past seven years he has been with the Royal Bank of Canada, and is now manager of the Laurier Avenue branch at the corner of Park Avenue and Laurier Avenue West. Mr. Greene married Miss Gertrude Anne Sheppard, only daughter of the late Charles Stanley Sheppard, and they have one daughter, Lorna Gertrude. Mr. Greene has made for himself a creditable place in financial circles as did his father in the field of professional service, and the name has long been an honored one in Montreal.
In financial circles in Montreal we have to mention Mr. Georges Gonthier as one of the most familiar figures. A member of the well known firm of St. Cyr, Gonthier & Frigon and a public accountant of some standing and repute, he has nevertheless found time to promote many measures of great commercial and public utility, and to prepare the way for the foundation of one of our most important institutions (L’Ecole des Hautes Etudes Commerciales).
Mr. Gonthier was born in Montreal in November, 1869. After a period of arduous study and preparation he entered upon his business activities in 1890, and since that time has advanced steadily in his profession winning the good-will and esteem of everyone, so that we now see him occupying such positions of trust and public confidence as that of treasurer and director of the Chamber of Commerce and president of the Institute of Accountants and Auditors of the Province of Quebec. In fact, it was Mr. Gonthier himself who was chiefly instrumental in bringing about the establishment of the last mentioned institute, and he played no small part in its subsequent organization, for which his wide business experience and knowledge coupled with what we might term an unrivalled commercial sagacity, especially fitted him.
He was moreover one of the founders with the late Mr. Poindron of theCanada-French Trade Development Committee, since merged into the Comité France-Amérique under the presidency in Canada of the Hon. Raoul Dandurand.
Nor are Mr. Gonthier’s activities limited to the field of practical achievement. He has entered the lists as a public lecturer on financial and accounting subjects where he has won for himself considerable renown. In particular his essay on “Bonds as an Investment” has been highly praised and was even published in the financial journals at Paris. It is not surprising therefore that he has considerable influence in Belgium and in France.
GEORGES GONTHIERGEORGES GONTHIER
GEORGES GONTHIER
It would be superfluous to add anything further to demonstrate the sterling qualities and well deserved reputation of Mr. Gonthier. It may, however, be interesting to accountants and auditors in general to know that it was mainly through his efforts that the law was passed to render compulsory the keeping of proper accounts to all who engage in business.
Huntly Ward Davis, member of the firm of Hogle & Davis, architects, was born in Montreal, October 22, 1875, a son of M. and Lucy (Ward) Davis, the latter a daughter of Hon. J. K. Ward, M. L. C. Huntly Ward Davis attended Eliock school at Montreal and the Massachusetts Institute of Technology, from which he was graduated as Bachelor of Science in June, 1898. He prepared for and has always followed the profession of architect, working in early manhood under A. T. Taylor, who became senior partner of the firm of Taylor, Hogle & Davis, but has since withdrawn, leaving the firm Hogle & Davis. Mr. Davis is a conservative, and his membership relations are with St. James Club and with the Church of St. James the Apostle. On the 26th of October, 1910, in Montreal, he was married to Evelyn St. Claire Stanley Bagg, daughter of the late Robert Stanley and Clara (Smithers) Bagg, and they have a daughter, Evelyn Clare Ward Davis.
This is an age of specialization. It is the unusual rather than the usual thing for any man to attempt to gain proficiency in the various departments of the law; on the contrary he usually concentrates his efforts upon a single branch of jurisprudence, with the result that he reaches a position which otherwise he could not hope to gain. Following this general course, François X. Roy has devoted his attention to commercial law, in which connection he has a large and distinctively representative clientage. He has been a lifelong resident of the province of Quebec, his birth having occurred on the 13th of August, 1863. His educational training was received at the College of Nicolet and in Laval University. He also spent a year in special study at Sherbrooke in 1886, was for a year under the direction of the law faculty at Bishop’s College, and then passed the usual examinations that secured his admission to the bar.
Choosing Montreal as the seat of his labors, Mr. Roy here began practice in association with the late Hon. C. A. Geoffrion, and later was with D. R. Murphy, K. C. He had become so well established in practice as a successful commercial lawyer that in 1909 he was created king’s counsel. He has become a recognized authority in the department of law in which he has chosen to specialize, and as such is called to all parts of the province, his opinions being largely received as authority upon points of commercial law. He is now attorney for the Williams Manufacturing Company, Henon-LeBlanc, Ltd., and severalother commercial firms of Montreal. He readily grasps the relation of cause and effect, and in the preparation of his cases his analytical power is strongly manifest. In presenting a cause before the courts he is logical, and his deductions follow in orderly sequence.
Mr. Roy is a liberal in politics and in all his political interests is actuated by a spirit of progressiveness as affecting both provincial and Dominion affairs. He has ever stood for improvement, reform and advancement, and for many years has held the office of treasurer of the Reform Club. Aside from this he is a member of Le Club Canadien, L’Alliance Nationale, L’Alliance Française,La Société St. Jean Baptiste and other societies. He stands as a high type of the French element in the citizenship of Montreal, combining with the admirable and strongly marked characteristics of a French ancestry the progressive spirit of the modern age, a spirit which falters not in the accomplishment of a task until success is achieved.
Napoléon Urgel Lacasse, attorney at law practicing in Montreal as a member of the well known firm of Bastien, Bergeron, Cousineau, Lacasse & Jasmin, was born at St. Vincent de Paul, in the county of Laval, P. Q., July 11, 1877. In the early records of the French families it is found that there are several variations to the family name which appears also as Casse, Cassé and Du Tertre. Angelique Lacasse was born in 1715 and died at Beaumont, August 22, 1738. Antoine Lacasse, who was born in 1706, married Marguerite Sionnaux and died November 27, 1778. The parents of Napoléon Urgel Lacasse were Zéphirin and Rose Delima (Fortier) Lacasse. Under the parental roof he spent his boyhood days while studying in St. Mary’s College and Laval University of Montreal, winning his Bachelor of Arts degree on the 15th of June, 1898, and that of Bachelor of Laws on the 21st of June, 1901. Following his graduation he entered immediately upon the active practice of his profession and was alone therein until the 1st of July, 1912, when he entered into his present partnership relations. He is recognized as one of the strong and able members of the bar among the younger practitioners, and his experience and study are continually promoting his knowledge and ability. Aside from his profession he is financially interested in several joint stock companies and has extensive real-estate investments.
Mr. Lacasse has been married twice, on the 28th of September, 1903, to Eugénie Barbeau and on the 31st of March, 1913, to Miss Yvonne Barbeau, daughter of the late Godfroy Barbeau, a merchant of Ste. Geneviève county, P. Q. The four children of Mr. Lacasse are: Jean François Bernard, Jacques Vincent Ferrier, Joséphine Hélène Marcelle and Suzanne Andrée Victoire. The religious faith of the family is that of the Catholic church. The military experience of Mr. Lacasse covers more than three years’ service as commanding officer of St. Mary’s College Cadets from 1896 until 1898 inclusively. He was one of the winners in the cadets contest in 1893 for the Duke of Connaught prize, also in 1894 and 1895.
In politics he is a conservative and has made public battles for his principles in elections in the counties of Terrebonne, Jacques Cartier, Laval and Yamaska. However, the practice of law he considers his real life work, regarding it as abundantly worthy of his best efforts, and in his chosen profession he has made continuous and gratifying progress.
Dr. Frank Buller wasone of the most celebrated ophthalmologists of the new world, occupying, as practitioner and educator, a position in which he had few peers. His scientific research and his broad reading gave him a knowledge far superior to that of many able members of the profession, and in the wise utilization of his time and talents he made valuable contributions to the world’s work.
Dr. Buller was born at Campbellford, Ontario, May 4, 1844, a son of Charles G. and Frances Elizabeth (Boucher) Buller, of Hillside, Campbellford. After attending the high school at Peterboro, from which he graduated in due time, he took up the study of medicine in Victoria College at Cobourg, completing his course with the class of 1869. He then went to Germany, where he spent two years in the study of the eye, ear, nose and throat, acquainting himself with the advanced methods of eminent men in the profession. While at the University of Berlin he received close personal instruction from Von Helmholtz and Von Graefe, and, during the Franco-German war, served as assistant surgeon in a number of military hospitals of northern Germany. In 1872 Dr. Buller went to London and studied for some years in “Moorfields”—the Royal London Ophthalmic Hospital. He was for two years chief house surgeon of this hospital, and he introduced to London the “direct”method of ophthalmoscopy. In England he became a member of the Royal College of Surgeons. Dr. Buller began practice in Montreal in 1876 and rapidly advanced to a foremost position in his profession. For seventeen years he was the opthalmic and aural surgeon in the Montreal General Hospital and resigned to take the same position in the Royal Victoria Hospital.He was the first ophthalmologist to be appointed to the General Hospital—and so remarkably recent is the development of opthalmology in the new world that, prior to that time, every physician and surgeon treated his eye cases in his own clinic. For many years Dr. Buller was professor of ophthalmology and otology in McGill University, being appointed professor when the chair was founded in 1883. He was equally able in his large private practice and enjoyed an ever widening reputation. Dr. Buller received the English degree of M. R. C. S.
Dr. Buller was a powerfully built man, restless and very energetic. His students used to say of him, “Buller is a great teacher, but he wears us out.” He was forever engaged in arduous mental work but also took keen interest in matters outside of his profession. He was frank, straightforward and kind—a strong generous nature.
Dr. Buller married Elizabeth Belton Langlois, of Quebec, who died November 20, 1895. By this marriage there were two children, Marguerite and Cecil.In 1898 he married Miss Jean Brien, of New York, and they had three children, Francis, Audrey and James, the latter dying in 1909.
Dr. Buller was a member of the Church of England. He died October 11, 1905. He was followed to the grave by the entire medical profession of Montreal and numerous physicians from a distance. Also many of the city’s poor were present at the obsequies—a fact which, had he been able to know it, would have touched that great heart which had so keenly felt their sorrows.
A colleague of Dr. Buller writes as follows: “In very delicate cases, where he feared to trust patients in the hands of untrained attendants, and they were too poor to hire professional nurses, he has been known to stay with the patients all night, after an operation, and attend to the dressing himself, lest the eye, so tender and in such a precarious condition, might suffer needless pain or be injured through a slight mistake.”
“Dr. Buller will be especially remembered because of three inventions: (1) the Buller eye-shield (composed of a watch-crystal and strips of sticking-plaster and oftenest employed to protect an unaffected eye when its fellow is afflicted with gonorrheal infection). (2) Temporary tying of the cacalieuli for the prevention of wound infection in operations on the eye-ball. (3) The Buller trial frame. Yet his inventions and investigations were very numerous and, for the most part, successful in every way. Thus, concerning his investigation into ‘Methyl Alcohol Blindness,’ conducted jointly with Dr. Casey A. Wood, De Schweintz declares the work to be ‘by far the most important contribution to the subject and one to which too high praise cannot be given.’” Scientists, members of the profession and all mankind delighted to honor him because of what he had accomplished. High above any desire for pecuniary reward was his deep interest in humanity and an earnest purpose to make his life a serviceable one to his fellowmen.
Foremost among those men whose life’s record seems an inseparable part of Canada’s industrial and commercial growth during the period of their activities, is that of William Watson Ogilvie, whose identification with the milling business covered a period of nearly a half century. The position of Mr. Ogilvie in this important industry was unquestionably at the head. He did more to develop it than any other man before or since his time, and the great success he achieved was fully merited.
William W. Ogilvie was born at Cote St. Michel, Montreal, February 14, 1835, of Scotch ancestry, and belonged to the Banffshire family of that name. He received his education in Montreal schools, and in entering on a business career chose that which was his by inheritance, the milling business.
His grandfather, Alexander, erected in 1801, a mill at Jacques Cartier, near Quebec, where was ground the first flour under British rule that was ever exported to Europe. This old mill was really the foundation of the immense business that was built up by W. W. Ogilvie. In 1860 he entered into partnership with his brothers, Alexander and John, grain merchants and proprietorsof a mill at Lachine Rapids. The growth of the business was soon responsible for the building of the Glenora Flour Mills on the Lachine canal. The business continued to grow, and the Ogilvies erected mills at Goderich and Seaforth, Ontario and Winnipeg, Manitoba; and later, the Royal Mills at Montreal. The three brothers operated together until 1874, when the elder brother retired, and on the death of his brother, John, in 1888 the entire business management devolved upon William W. Ogilvie, whose well developed powers were entirely adequate to the demands made upon him in the further control and management of this extensive enterprise, of which he became the head. In addition to the properties mentioned, Mr. W. W. Ogilvie afterward purchased the City Mills, Montreal, and at the time of his death had accepted plans for a very large mill at Fort William. Some years previous to his demise to facilitate the administration of his western business, the Ogilvie Milling Company of Winnipeg was formed in which Mr. Ogilvie was the dominant factor. The Ogilvie Flour Mills Company, of the present, was organized in 1903 and is practically the successor of the Ogilvie Milling Company and various other interests in this line, belonging to Mr. Ogilvie’s estate.
WILLIAM W. OGILVIEWILLIAM W. OGILVIE
WILLIAM W. OGILVIE
Mr. Ogilvie and his brother John were the pioneer wheat buyers in Manitoba. He had traveled through Canada’s present wheat fields years before they were cultivated and many times afterwards. From the first small shipment of five hundred bushels from Manitoba in 1876, the shipments, in Mr. Ogilvie’s lifetime, to his own mills increased until they reached the enormous total of eight million bushels of No. 1 hard wheat, all purchased by his own expert buyers from the farmers, at his seventy elevators, extending all over the wheat section of Ontario and the northwest.
In the manufacture of flour Mr. Ogilvie spent a lifetime and spared neither time, labor or expense in bringing his product to the very acme of perfection. By steady industry and indomitable energy and most of all the superior quality of his products, upheld at all cost, the business grew until it not only became the largest of its kind in the Dominion, but the most extensive flour business in the world controlled by one man.
Mr. Ogilvie was the first to introduce into Canada the patent process of grinding by rollers. In 1868, he visited Hungary where this system originated, for the purpose of investigating it. He saw at once its value and adopted it. He invented improved machinery used in the milling business, and was always ready to adopt the improvements of others that were practical.
It was said that he had better knowledge of wheat and wheat lands than any man in Canada. His business furnished a market for wheat growers and proved a stimulating influence in the agricultural development of the great wheat-raising section of middle and western Canada. His labors were directly responsible for much of the growth, progress and prosperity of Manitoba and the provinces farther west, and his worth as a business man and citizen was acknowledged by all.
Mr. Ogilvie’s identification with commercial interests was large and diversified. He was a director of the Bank of Montreal; the Montreal Transportation Company; the North British and Mercantile Insurance Company; the Old Dominion Board of Trade; and the Sailors Institute. He was president of the Corn Exchange Association; St. Andrew’s Society; and the Montreal HorticulturalSociety; governor of the Montreal General and the Royal Victoria Hospitals; president of the Manufacturers’ Association, and served as a member of the Harbor Board.
In regard to agricultural and horticultural interests he manifested an interest and enthusiasm that were contagious, his efforts constituting an example that many others followed. He served both on the council and board of arbitration of the Montreal Board of Trade and was president of that body in 1893-4. In matters of citizenship he was extremely public-spirited and what he accomplished represented the fit utilization of his innate talents and powers. His political belief is indicated in the fact that in 1896 he was president of the Liberal Conservative Club of Montreal. He was a forceful speaker in both French and English and frequently, in his earlier days, addressed public meetings during political campaigns.
As a young man he served as lieutenant and subsequently as a captain in the Montreal Cavalry under his brother, being thanked in brigade orders by Colonel Pakenham in 1866.
He was one of the prominent members of St. Andrew’s church. Mr. Ogilvie always gave with a free hand toward various public institutions, and there was no movement of importance to which he did not contribute. His benefactions were liberal, varied and by no means local. He gave thirteen thousand dollars, towards making up a deficit for completion of the Jubilee wing of the Winnipeg General Hospital. He was one of the first to subscribe to the patriotic fund for the families of those who went with the Canadian contingent to the Transvaal war. Mr. Ogilvie was a man of great business capacity and to a most remarkable extent maintained a personal knowledge of his diversified interests.
His death on January 12, 1900, was very sudden. He had been at his office attending to business as usual, after which he attended a directors’ meeting of the Bank of Montreal. On his way home he was taken ill and passed away soon after reaching there.
Many of the leading mercantile houses and public offices flew their flags at half mast through respect for him. The Montreal Gazette at time of his death, said on January 13, 1900, editorially:
“It is long since any event caused such a painful shock in Montreal as did the death yesterday of W. W. Ogilvie. Strong in body, clear in mind, actively interested in the details of great concerns, he was one of the last whose taking away would be thought of. His loss will be felt the more because of its suddenness and it is a great loss, to the city’s commercial life. Mr. Ogilvie’s business intelligence and energy long ago raised him to a place not among Canada’s alone, but among the world’s great merchants.
“It was a just pride that he felt in directing the greatest milling interest in the world under one man’s control; and the pride was more than personal. He early saw what the northwest meant to Canada, both commercially and nationally, and it was a pleasure to him to feel that as his business spread it was making known the resources of the country, in all of whose affairs he took the deepest interest.
“The success that he gained in his own business caused his counsel to be sought in the direction of other great enterprises. He was a director in thecountry’s greatest financial corporation, and in other institutions in which he had investments. On the Corn Exchange and on the Board of Trade, his was an influential voice, and it was always raised in behalf of that which was best and broadest.
“He knew how to give generously to a good cause. He earned the respect of all who were brought into contact with him and especially that of the hundreds of men who served him in the enterprise of which his was the directing brain.
“It was a big place that he won through his heart as well as by his head and it will be long ere there will be found another capable of filling it.”
Mr. Ogilvie was survived by his widow and four children, three sons and a daughter, Albert Edward, William Watson (died 1906), Gavin Lang and Alice Helen. Mrs. Ogilvie previous to her marriage in 1871, was Helen, a daughter of Joseph Johnston of Paisley, Scotland.
R. A. Baldwin Hart, prominent as a representative of one of the old families of Montreal, manager-executor of the Theodore Hart estate, and a public-spirited citizen, was born in Montreal, December 5, 1852, a son of Theodore Hart. For a long period the family had been represented in this city, the name figuring prominently in connection with its history. His education was acquired in the schools of Montreal and his life was spent in his native city.
In 1900 in Montreal Mr. Hart was united in marriage to Miss Mary Isabella Owen, who survives him, the death of Mr. Hart having occurred on the 11th of September, 1903, when he was yet in the prime of life. He was very fond of outdoor sports. He was a wide reader and kept abreast with the events of the day and the progress of the times. Charitable and kindly in spirit, he listened attentively and sympathetically to a tale of sorrow or distress and no worthy object failed to receive substantial assistance from him. Civic affairs were a matter of interest to him and he supported movements which he deemed of benefit to Montreal. His was indeed a well rounded character in which the varied important interests of life received due consideration and he stood as a high type of Canadian manhood and citizenship.
Alan Judah Hart, founder of the Hart Manufacturing Company, of Montreal, is a descendant of one of the oldest English speaking families of Canada, the ancestry being traced back to one who came from New York with General Amherst in 1759. For many generations the family was represented at Three Rivers, Canada. Lewis A. Hart, father of Alan J. Hart, has for forty years or more been a notary in Montreal. He was born at Three Rivers and was educated in Montreal, supplementing his preliminary studies by advanced courseswhich won him the degrees of Master of Arts and Bachelor of Civil Law. He married Fanny Elizabeth Benjamin and they became the parents of four sons and four daughters: Claude Benjamin, a commission merchant; Arthur Daniel, a manufacturer’s agent; Philip Beyfus, a commercial traveler; Alan Judah; Ethel Muriel; Mabel Ruth; Gladys Judith; and Dorothy Marguerite.
Alan Judah Hart was born in Montreal, October 4, 1879. He was educated in Montreal and for some years was employed by E. A. Small & Company, manufacturers of men’s clothing, and later was with A. H. Sims & Company, manufacturers of ladies’ clothing, acting as superintendent of the house for three years. In 1902 he established the Hart Manufacturing Company for the purpose of manufacturing ladies’ tailor-made suits and cloaks and in the conduct of this business he has been very successful. Mr. Hart is a director of H. Vineberg & Company, Limited, manufacturers of the Progress Brand clothing and has become widely and favorably known in commercial circles.
Mr. Hart married Miss Eva Vineberg, a daughter of Harris Vineberg, and they have a family of five children: Edward Henry, Gordon David, Lawrence Ezra, Alma Ruth and Vera Esther.
Mr. Hart is a life governor of the Montreal General Hospital and a director of Mount Sinai Sanitarium at Ste. Agathe. He was likewise a member of the executive board of the Canadian Manufacturers Association, serving in that capacity in 1912 and 1913, and he is a member of the Montreal Board of Trade and of the Royal Arcanum. His interests and activities are varied and important, winning him recognition of his worth in both commercial circles and in public life.
Hon. Louis Joseph Forget, whose name is written large on the pages of financial and industrial history of Montreal during the past forty years, left the impress of his great constructive force and energy upon mammoth projects which are figured as some of the Dominion’s leading enterprises. He was born March 11, 1853, at Terrebonne, P. Q., a district that has produced many eminent statesmen, writers, merchants and financiers. He was one of the nine sons of Mr. and Mrs. Joseph Forget and was descended from a family that came to Canada from Normandy in 1600. Among those nine sons there were two priests, one of whom declined episcopal robes, a notary, two lawyers, two contractors, one farmer and he who was destined to become a power in the financial world, Louis Joseph Forget. His education was acquired at Masson College and his entrance into business circles was in connection with a dry-goods establishment. He had almost reached the determination of trying his fortune in the United States when he chanced upon a newspaper that contained an advertisement of office help being needed by Thomas Caverhill. Mr. Forget applied for the position the next morning and was accepted. From the beginning of his work with Mr. Caverhill the young man displayed unusual aptness as well as great eagerness to learn. He was not an ordinary boy. He took great interest in his work and often asked questions about other features of the business that did notcome within his particular line of duties, but a knowledge thereof added to his capability and rendered him fit for promotion and opportunity offered later. It is only natural that a young man of this character should attract the attention of his employer. Mr. Caverhill took great interest in him and was instrumental in causing Mr. Forget to enter the brokerage business. The financial exploit during Jay Gould’s celebrated Black Friday in Wall Street reflected no little credit upon Mr. Forget, displaying in notable manner his insight and ability, and soon afterward he was nominated for membership in the Montreal Stock Exchange by his former employer. It is interesting in this connection to note that he was the first French-Canadian to be admitted to membership in that body and that before he had reached his majority he purchased his seat therein at a cost of nine hundred dollars. He began business as a stock broker in Montreal in 1873, from which time until his death, thirty-eight years later, his prominence and success in the investment security business were not over-shadowed by that of his contemporaries. He founded the financial house of L. J. Forget & Company, one of the foremost in its line in Montreal and remained its head during his life time. The Paris branch of L. J. Forget & Company at 7 Rue Auber, was the first to be established in continental Europe by a Canadian financial house and readily secured a clientele that materially broadened the operations of the firm.