A Cyclopaedia of Canadian Biography: Being Chiefly Men of the Time by Rose
1870. In the year 1881 Mr. Stevenson retired from the force with the
4223 words | Chapter 110
rank of Major. For over fifteen years Mr. Stevenson has taken a very
prominent part in the exhibition affairs of the Dominion. He entered on
the work in 1872, as assistant at the first large provincial exhibition
held at Montreal. Mr. Stevenson worked so efficiently, and made himself
so useful everywhere at this time, that his services were called into
requisition at the next provincial exhibition, held in the following
year on the new grounds at Mile End, Montreal. On this occasion he
showed himself so energetic and capable that he was placed in entire
charge of the industrial department of the exhibition. We next find that
in the preparations made for the representation of Canada at the great
Centennial Exhibition at Philadelphia, in 1876, Mr. Stevenson was
appointed secretary to the advisory board, in succession to Mr. H.
Beaugrand, mayor of Montreal, and when the exhibition opened he was
appointed special commissioner there for the province of Quebec. He had
secured a magnificent display of products and manufactures from
Montreal, Quebec, Sherbrooke, and the province generally. The services
he rendered at the great American Centennial were of a most important
character, not only in the amount of well-directed labor he performed,
but for his good influence in promoting the commerce and interests of
his native country generally. On Mr. Stevenson’s return, his practical
services were acknowledged by the gift of a splendid gold watch and
chain and an address. In the next year a permanent exhibition committee
for the province of Quebec was named, and Mr. Stevenson was unanimously
chosen secretary, and has held the position till the present time. In
that capacity he originated and managed the first of the series of
Dominion exhibitions which have been held in various parts of Canada
ever since, and which have been the means of greatly fostering the
inter-provincial relations of the country. In fact, it was at this
exhibition that the attention of that large portion of the people of the
older provinces who had never troubled themselves much about it, became
earnestly concentrated upon the great North-West, Mr. Stevenson having
obtained a most interesting collection of exhibits from Manitoba and the
adjoining territories. Till now all the principal exhibitions in Canada
had been provincial in character, but a new era was opened by this
event, and the Dominion government, having voted a special grant of
$5000, have maintained the exhibition ever since, it being held in
different cities and different provinces each year. Mr. Stevenson was
the chief organizer and manager of all the exhibitions held in Montreal
since 1872, and in 1883 contributed much to the success of the Dominion
exhibition at St. John, N.B., by the contributions he raised in Quebec
and Ontario, as he did also to the success of the International
Exhibition at Antwerp in 1885, at which Canada was well represented. His
work in connection with the Colonial and Indian exhibition is too well
known to the public of Canada and England to need an extended reference
here. From the moment the idea was started Mr. Stevenson entered heart
and soul into the work, and organized the largest collection of exhibits
ever sent out of his province. He gave many suggestions of value to the
Dominion government, and at the request of Sir Charles Tupper, was
dispatched to London to assist in arranging the details of the Canadian
section, alloting the spaces, etc. That Mr. Stevenson worked well, and
that he rendered the most valuable service in the interests of all parts
of the Dominion, is admitted on all sides, and that he triumphed
successfully over the difficulties of want of space and the inconvenient
arrangement of the building will also be most readily admitted by those
who best understood the nature of the task before him, as well as by
those who had an opportunity of seeing the admirable arrangement of the
Canadian court. He took the initiative in the formation of the
Exhibitors’ Commercial Exchange at the exhibition, established for the
purpose of developing and fostering closer commercial relations between
the various British colonies, and was its provisional chairman. Mr.
Stevenson is secretary of the Council of Arts and Manufactures of the
Province of Quebec, under whose direction is placed the technical and
art education of the province. He is director of technical and art
instruction, and has taken a warm interest in the work of the schools
under the control of the council. He has contributed several valuable
articles on technical education. Mr. Stevenson took a prominent part in
inducing the American Association for the Advancement of Science to hold
its sessions in Montreal in 1882, and was also one of the local
secretaries, in conjunction with Hon. Thomas White, ex-Mayor Rivard and
Mr. S. E. Dawson, on the occasion of the famous meeting of the British
Association for the Advancement of Science, held there in 1884. Mr.
Stevenson’s wide and varied experience in exhibition matters is well
appreciated and recognized by those who know him in America, and he was
consequently elected vice-president of the International Association of
Fairs and Expositions at the annual convention of that body held in St.
Louis, Mo., in 1884. He was also appointed honorary commissioner for
Canada for the Boston Foreign exhibition, held in 1883. That the people
of his own city have confidence in his judgment in exhibition matters is
evidenced by the fact that the Montreal Board of Trade desired to have
his views and his advice before commiting itself to any line of action
in connection with the proposed permanent exhibition, as suggested by
the London Chamber of Commerce, in 1886. It is pleasing to notice that,
notwithstanding the calls on Mr. Stevenson’s energy, he can still find
time to promote the athletic sports of Canada. He was for some years
secretary of the old Dominion Lacrosse and Snow Shoe Club, and has
several good records to his credit; was president of the Independent
Lacrosse Club and of the Wolseley Snow Shoe Club, and in 1880 he was
elected president of the National Lacrosse Association of Canada. Mr.
Stevenson is thoroughly acquainted with the French language, which is of
great advantage in the province of Quebec, and has travelled extensively
through Europe, United States and his own country. He is a member of the
Presbyterian church of Canada. Mr. Stevenson is a member of the “Societé
de Géographie Commerciale,” of Paris, and a corresponding member of the
Industrial Education Association, of New York. He is also a director of
the Great Northern Railway Company. In 1878 Mr. Stevenson was married to
Gertrude, daughter of Col. Caldwell, of Delaware, a relative of the late
Bayard Taylor on her mother’s side, and whose great grandfather was a
general in the Revolutionary war.
* * * * *
=Keirstead, Rev. Elias Miles=, M.A., Professor of English Literature and
Psychology in Acadia College, Wolfville, N.S., is a native of New
Brunswick. He was born at Collina, Kings county, in that province,
February 11th, 1850. His father, Rev. Elias Keirstead, was a Baptist
minister, well known in the maritime provinces, his mother being
Margaret Ganong, of a family also equally well known. The family of
Keirstead is originally of German extraction, but for six generations
our subject’s branch has resided on this continent. John Keirstead, of
New York, is the first of the family of whom we have any record, as far
as the new world is concerned. He had a son, Jacobus, and he was the
father of James, who, with five of his brothers and one sister, came to
New Brunswick as loyalists. Isaiah, our subject’s grandfather, was born
in the United States, and came to Kings county, New Brunswick, when a
child. He (Isaiah) married Lydia Gray, a daughter of Captain William
Gray, who was also a loyalist. Our subject’s mother was the daughter of
James Ganong, also of loyalist stock, he being a son of Thomas, who
founded the family in New Brunswick. Thomas was of Irish descent on his
father’s side, and English on that of his mother. Thomas had two
brothers, officers in the English army, and who were with Wellington at
Waterloo. James’ wife, and grandmother of the subject of this sketch,
was Margaret, a daughter of Captain William Cox, who was also a
loyalist. Prof. Keirstead was educated primarily at the common and
superior schools of his native parish, when he entered the University of
New Brunswick, and subsequently Newton Theological Institution, Newton,
Massachusetts. He graduated at the head of his class in 1873, at the
university, and at the Newton Theological Institution in 1876, and
subsequently obtained the degree of M.A. from Acadia College. At the
university he took all the studies in the prescribed course for B.A.,
and, in addition, took honors for special work in mathematics, English
language and literature, and French language and literature. At the
Theological Institution he followed the regular course of three years
for full graduation. The course embraced among other studies, New
Testament interpretation (Greek), Old Testament interpretation (Hebrew),
systematic and biblical theology, pastoral theology, homiletics, church
polity, church history, and history of doctrines. He also took special
lectures in Hebrew. As might be expected, from the position Professor
Keirstead occupies, he holds strongly the views of the Baptist
denomination. As a controversialist he is one of no light calibre,
having great force of character, and intellectual gifts, both natural
and acquired, of the highest order. He married, June 21st, 1877, Mary
J., second daughter of the late Joel Fenwick, of Millstream, Kings
county, N.B. The Fenwicks are of English descent, Matthew, the father of
Joel, coming from that country and settling in New Brunswick. Matthew
Fenwick’s wife was Miriam, a daughter of William Freeze, who settled in
Amherst, N.S., from England, and afterwards migrated to New Brunswick.
Mrs. Keirstead’s mother was Ann, daughter of Robert McLeod, whom it is
not necessary to state was of Scottish extraction. Professor Keirstead
was ordained a pastor of the Baptist church at Milton, Yarmouth, N.S.,
December 5th, 1876. In 1877 he was installed as pastor of the church of
the same body at Windsor, Nova Scotia, which pulpit he occupied until
called upon to fill his present high position. He is secretary of the
Baptist Convention of the maritime provinces, and has occupied that
relation to the body for nine years. Professor Keirstead is also known
in literature, more particularly, of course, in that connected with the
church to which he is such an ornament. At the present writing his
family consists of two children; one boy and one girl, both of whom are,
of course, still young.
* * * * *
=Fitzpatrick, Charles=, Advocate, Quebec. Although still quite a young
man, the subject of this sketch has already won a foremost position at
the Quebec bar, and his reputation is more than local. There are few
members of his profession whose name is more widely known beyond the
limits of that province. It sprang into general prominence with the Riel
case, and during some anxious months it was constantly before the world
in connection with the trial of the half-breed leader, and the efforts
made to obtain a commutation of his sentence. Mr. Fitzpatrick is of
Irish Catholic parentage and was born at Quebec on the 19th December,
1853; his father’s name being John Fitzpatrick, and his mother’s, Mary
Connolly. His ancestry were always noted for their devotion to the cause
of Ireland, and our subject is, in this respect, an ardent follower in
their patriotic footsteps. His grandfather, James Fitzpatrick, was a
prominent supporter of the great Irish leader, Daniel O’Connell, during
the repeal agitation. Young Charles Fitzpatrick was educated at the
Quebec Seminary and Laval University, of which last he was, in 1876, the
Dufferin medallist in the law faculty. On being admitted to the practice
of the law, he rapidly pushed into note, and acquired a large business.
His ability as a criminal lawyer was so marked that, under the Joly
provincial government in 1879, it singled him out for the crown
prosecutorship for the city and district of Quebec; and in that
responsible capacity he acted for some time to the satisfaction of the
public and the enhancement of his own reputation. Upon the defeat of the
Joly ministry he was replaced by their successors; but, on the return of
the Liberals to power in the province, with the Hon. H. Mercier, in
1887, he was again appointed crown prosecutor for the Quebec district,
and still holds the office. During the interval, between 1880 and 1887,
he figured prominently in most of the important cases before the
provincial courts. He represented the Belgian government in the
celebrated Tournai frauds case at Montreal, and the United States
government in the great Eno extradition case at Quebec, and, in 1885, he
woke to find himself famous all over the Dominion, by his retainer as
one of the leading counsel for the defence in the Riel case. In politics
he is a strong Liberal, and has taken an active part in nearly all the
federal and provincial elections in his section since 1878. He speaks
both languages with equal familiarity and fluency, and is as much at
home in addressing a French as an English audience. He has travelled in
America and Europe. In religion he is a Roman Catholic. He married on
the 20th May, 1879, Corinne, daughter of the late Hon. R. E. Caron, the
second lieutenant-governor of the province of Quebec under
Confederation, and a sister of Sir A. P. Caron, Dominion minister of
militia.
* * * * *
=Williams, Richard Wellington=, Three Rivers, Quebec, Druggist, and one
of the prominent Temperance leaders of that province, was born in
Montreal, July 15th, 1853. He comes of English stock, his father being
Richard Williams, a confectioner, and native of Tavistock, Devonshire,
England, his mother’s maiden name being Gendle, also a native of the
same place. His father died while our subject was very young, and his
mother married, some time afterward, Thomas Roderick Massey, J.P., of
Nicolet county, Quebec, where Mr. Williams received his earlier
education, including the rudiments of French. In 1865, the family moved
into the town of Nicolet, where, after attending a French grammar school
for some time, he entered Nicolet college, where he took a commercial
course for two years, succeeded by a classical one of the same period.
Completing his collegiate studies, on the 8th of July, 1870, he was
apprenticed with a druggist in Three Rivers. In August, 1875, he removed
to Montreal, and matriculated at the Montreal College of Pharmacy,
taking a season’s course, and receiving a certificate as “certified
clerk,” carrying off honors as a medallist. Soon afterwards, Mr.
Williams was engaged as assistant at the laboratory of Dr. J. Baker
Edwards, D.C.L., F.C.S., etc., at the same time pursuing his second
course at the Pharmaceutical college, acting as assistant to Dr.
Edwards, who was professor of practical chemistry, toxicology, and
microscopy, at Bishop’s College; professor of chemistry at the college
of pharmacy, and professor of chemistry, physics, etc., at the McGill
Normal School, besides being public analyst as well. During this period
Mr. Williams made the most of his advantages, graduating as
pharmaceutical chemist in the spring of 1877, being the medallist of his
year. Mr. Williams commenced business in Three Rivers in April, 1878,
where he has succeeded in building up a lucrative business. In early
life Mr. Williams was confirmed in the Episcopal church, his step-father
being a member of that communion, but later on he gave his adherence to
the Presbyterian church in Canada, and is a member of St. Andrew’s
church of Three Rivers. In 1880, he was elected a manager of St.
Andrew’s, and for four years filled the office of Secretary-treasurer,
and now occupies the position of chairman of the board. In politics, Mr.
Williams has always occupied an independent position as between the two
great political parties, but is an out-and-out Prohibitionist, and is
quietly waiting the formation of a national party, having the
prohibition of the liquor traffic as its main platform. Mr. Williams is
a Mason of some prominence in his native province, he being chairman of
the permanent committee of the G.C. of Quebec R.A.M.; is also P.Z. and
P.G. Superintendent of the same body; also Grand Rep. of the G.C. of
Dakota, near Quebec. Mr. Williams also holds the rank of P.M., and a
P.D.D.G.M. of the Grand Lodge of Quebec A. F. and A. M. Our subject is
also a prominent member of the Independent Order of Foresters. In 1871,
Mr. Williams joined the Independent Order of Good Templars. In 1878, he
took the G.L. degree of that order, and in 1881, he was elected Grand
Treasurer of the G.L. of Quebec, which office he continuously held until
1886, when he was unanimously elected Grand Chief Templar of that
province, again being unanimously re-elected to fill that high position
in 1887. In 1886, he was one of the two representatives sent by Grand
Lodge to the R.W.G.L. session, in Richmond, Va., and in 1887, to the
session of that body held in Saratoga, N.Y., both years being drafted
upon important committees. Mr. Williams is a member of the American
Pharmaceutical Association, and also of the Board of Trade of his town.
In 1886, he was elected one of the twelve councillors who compose the
council of the Pharmaceutical Association of the province of Quebec, and
the same year was appointed one of the six examiners in connection with
this association. He still holds the position of examiner, being
re-appointed in 1887. Mr. Williams has travelled somewhat extensively
upon this continent, but has never, to the writer’s knowledge, crossed
the Atlantic. Mr. Williams married, October 9th, 1879, Alice J., eldest
daughter of John Thomas Lambly, son of the late John Robert Lambly,
registrar of the county of Megantic, Quebec, and niece of Rev. O. R.
Lambly and William H. Lambly, the present registrar, etc., of Megantic
county. Mr. Williams has had two children, one son and one daughter.
Personally, Mr. Williams is a genial, pleasant gentleman, and naturally
has hosts of friends, but these traits of character are never allowed to
interfere with the predominant idea of his life, viz., to do all that
lies within his power to curtail, and, if possible prohibit, the liquor
curse of his native country.
* * * * *
=Duncan, John=, formerly of St. John, New Brunswick, was born in Old
Meldrum, Aberdeenshire, Scotland, in the year 1797, and landed in
Miramichi, New Brunswick, in 1821. About the year 1832 he became
connected with Mr. John Owens, of St. John, N.B., where, under the firm
of Owens & Duncan, they conducted, with great success, a ship-building
and ship-owning business, until the death of Mr. Owens, in 1867. The
firm was widely known and respected for the management of their affairs
under the strictest business morality. Mr. Duncan devoted much of his
time as director and president of many private and corporate bodies. He
died 31st January, 1869.
* * * * *
=Girard, Abbé Pierre=, Priest, Master of Arts, and Superior of the
Seminary of St. Charles-Borromée, Sherbrooke, Quebec, was born February
14th, 1849, at St. Marie de Monnoir, at the foot of the woody Mount
Johnson. He was the son of Pierre Girard, husbandman, and of Marie
Peletier. On his father’s side he belongs to a large and influential
family, who have furnished many men of merit to the country, and
exercised a great influence in the United States. From his mother he
inherited many of the Peletier qualities, so well known for their
enterprising spirit, firmness, and indomitable energy. His father passed
the greatest part of youth at Detroit, where he owned a vessel and
coasted between that town and Chicago, then a humble village. A
prolonged storm which he endured on Lake Michigan, and the rigors to
which he was subjected, determined him to abandon this perilous life and
return to his native country, after an absence of seven years. The
childhood of Mr. Girard was passed under the watchful eyes of a loving
mother. Being the eldest of the family, and more separated from the
society of other children, he was reserved, serious and more than
ordinarily timid. He then developed his aptitude for industry, of which
he made such great use later. His favorite amusement was application to
mechanism. In this connection he bears a long scar on his left wrist,
inflicted while experimenting with a miniature saw-mill. This accident
terminated an enterprise which had been closely calculated. He studied
the elements of science in the common school which he attended from the
age of seven years, from which he was a mile distant. His progress was
so rapid that after three years his parents sent him, in 1859, to the
college of Monnoir, where he studied in classics and mechanics. Endowed
with unusual talents and an extraordinary memory, he made these two
courses in seven years. Besides Latin and Greek, Mr. Girard speaks
French, English and Italian. Through his knowledge of literature,
philosophy and mathematics, he was made a professor of these sciences.
He is familiar and occupied with all scientific subjects. The seminary
of St. Charles-Borromée is designated by the city of Sherbrooke as one
of its principal edifices. Mr. Girard draughted the plans and directed
the works of construction, which is an unexceptionable proof of his
architectural competency, whilst the museum is extensive and rich in
mineralogy, conchology, ornithology, zoology, etc., collected under his
supervision, and placing him in the first rank as a naturalist. Scarcely
seventeen years of age, repudiating all the allurements and seductions
of the world, Mr. Girard enrolled himself in the ranks of the Roman
Catholic clergy, and it is from this epoch that his career as an
educator of youth dates. He was ordained priest the 23rd September,
1871, and continued to teach in the college of Monnoir until the 14th of
February, 1874, when he went to Coaticook, where he filled the office of
assistant, besides officiating extensively at Barford and the boundary
line. In 1875, the first bishop of the new diocese of Sherbrooke, his
lordship, Ant. Racine, wishing to establish a seminary at Sherbrooke,
believed he could not do better than entrust this great enterprise to
the erudition, experience, and practical knowledge of the Abbé Girard.
He was not deceived in his estimate of this energetic man, as the
seminary of St. Charles-Borromée to-day ranks as one of the most
flourishing institutions in the province of Quebec, and is patronized by
the sons of the best families in the Dominion; among the number being
the two sons of his honor Lieutenant-Governor Angers. The number of
pupils who each year present themselves for admittance is so great that
the Abbé is forced to refuse them, notwithstanding the work of
enlargement which is being vigorously pushed forward. The secret of this
astonishing success lies in the fact of the practical teaching of the
two languages. To accomplish this it requires eighteen competent
professors of many years experience. With a man of the Abbé Girard’s
acknowledged ability, profound talents, and sterling piety, at the head
of such an establishment, nothing more can be desired to insure its
permanent success. In 1884 and 1885 he made a long voyage across the
sea, in company with His Lordship Gravel, bishop of Nicolet, and the
Rev. J. C. Bernard. He visited London, Paris, Rome, and the Holy Land,
and then with the latter all the countries of Europe, with the exception
of Spain and Portugal, which had to be omitted, being devastated with
that fatal epidemic, cholera. They both have related the most
interesting reminiscences of their tour, which lasted a year. Since his
return Mr. Girard has entered into his work with renewed ardor. Work
seems to have no effect upon his strong constitution; he utilizes his
spare moments in historical researches on the Eastern townships, which
he published in his Annual Memoirs of the Seminary. He printed as well
as composed, in his hours of recreation, this annual, which already
forms two large vols. in 8vo. In spite of all this work, he still found
means of shining in the pulpit, where he preached sermons deserving of
publication. A few years ago he published a “Method of Plain-Chant,”
which has been well appreciated by the public, as shown by the fact of
its being in its fourth edition. Being professor at the little seminary
of St. Mary, he founded, in 1872, a journal, having for its name “_Echo
du College de Monnoir_.” This publication, which lasted more than two
years, contained articles worthy of the aptitude of his directorship. It
would still exist if Mr. Girard had not been called to exercise his
activity in another sphere. Mr. Girard was already episcopal counsellor
of Sherbrooke up to August 9th, 1885, when his lordship, Bishop Gravel,
honored him by nominating him vicar-general of the diocese of Nicolet,
the 1st of November of the same year.
* * * * *
=Allnatt, Rev. Francis John Benwell=, D.D., Professor of Pastoral
Theology in the University of Bishop’s College, Lennoxville, Quebec, was
born at Clapham, a suburb of London, England, on the 15th of January,
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