A Cyclopaedia of Canadian Biography: Being Chiefly Men of the Time by Rose
1866. He held the office of master of Poyntz lodge, at Hantsport, from
866 words | Chapter 128
1867 to 1870. In 1873 he became high priest of Hiram Chapter, at
Windsor. He was also district deputy grand master of the Nova Scotia
Grand Lodge in 1883 and 1885.
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=Bingay, Thomas Van Buskirk=, Yarmouth, N.S., was born in 1814, at
Shelburne, Nova Scotia. He comes of an old loyalist family. His mother,
Sarah Van Buskirk, was the daughter of Jacob Van Buskirk, who saw
stirring times during the American revolution. In the first American war
he held the position of major, and during the war of 1812 he was
colonel. Later on he became a judge of the old inferior court of Common
Pleas, of Nova Scotia, in the list of the judges of which court occur
some of the brightest names of Nova Scotians, such as Judge Haliburton
(“Sam Slick”), John G. Marshall, and Peleg Wiswell. Jacob Van Buskirk’s
father was Abraham Van Buskirk, who was colonel in the 4th battalion of
New Jersey Volunteers, and second in command to Brigadier-General Arnold
in his expedition to New London (being specially mentioned in his
despatches for active exertions), and who, at the close of the
revolutionary war, in 1784, settled in Shelburne. Shelburne was then a
city of some ten thousand inhabitants, and Abraham Van Buskirk was its
first mayor. Mr. Bingay is the eldest son of the late John Bingay, of
Shelburne, who for some years represented the county of Shelburne in the
provincial parliament, and who was deputy-sheriff of the county of
Yarmouth, and subsequently, in 1836, first high sheriff of the county,
which office he held until his death, which occurred in 1851. He was
educated at Church Point, in Digby county, with the venerable Abbé
Sigogne, for many years parish priest of the Acadian district of Clare,
in which settlement he exercised great influence, and where his name is
still held in great reverence. The abbé was a great friend of T. C.
Haliburton whilst that author practised law in Annapolis Royal and
represented the county of Annapolis in the House of Assembly. He was not
only a very learned man, but also a typical country clergyman, being
consulted by his flock on all occasions about affairs of every class.
Mr. Bingay subsequently attended school in Halifax. He began to study
law in Liverpool, N.S., but completed his term of apprenticeship in
Halifax, where he was enrolled as attorney in 1835. In those days, a
year elapsed before an aspirant for forensic honours after becoming an
attorney, could be admitted to practice at the bar of this province. In
1835, Mr. Bingay became a barrister and began the active duties of his
profession in Yarmouth. In 1839, he was appointed judge of probate, and
in the next year, master in chancery. He was also a captain of the
Yarmouth militia in 1839. In 1852 he left Yarmouth and made a voyage to
Australia. On his way home he stopped in California, where his son,
Thomas V. B., was born. He returned to Yarmouth in 1857, and has resided
there ever since. Mr. Bingay has lived through the most prosperous times
of Yarmouth. Has seen the rise, good times, and decadence of one of the
most enterprising shipbuilding eras of this province, and has been
professionally connected with most of the leading enterprises of his
town. His first wife was Lois, daughter of the late Joseph Tooker, by
whom he had two sons, who both died in early manhood, and a daughter who
died in infancy. His second wife was Margaret J., daughter of the late
James Budd Moody, who was a brother of the late Elisha W. B. Moody, and
grandson of Col. James Moody, of New Jersey. Col. James Moody, at the
close of the American war, settled in Weymouth, N.S. Of this marriage
there were eight sons and a daughter, of whom two sons and the daughter
died in infancy. Of his sons, the oldest three reside in Yarmouth. These
are James Wentworth Bingay, Q.C., revising barrister, and major of
Yarmouth county militia; George Bingay, barrister and captain of
militia, and Thomas V. B. Bingay, accountant in the Exchange Bank of
Yarmouth. All of these are men in first-rate standing. Mr. Bingay and
his two oldest sons constitute the legal firm of Thomas V. B. Bingay &
Sons. They are the solicitors of the following local corporations,
viz.:—The Bank of Yarmouth; The Western Counties Railway Company (James
Wentworth Bingay, sec’y.-treasurer); The Mutual Relief Society of Nova
Scotia (James Wentworth Bingay, director and trustee); and the Yarmouth
Water Company (George Bingay, sec’y.-treas.). Of the latter company
George Bingay was one of the three original corporators. From his family
antecedents, as well as his professional and social environment, as may
be supposed, Mr. Bingay’s sentiments lean strongly towards Conservatism.
He is the oldest representative of a family, which for a hundred years,
has held a very prominent position in the western counties of Nova
Scotia. His ancestors made great sacrifices for British connection. The
family are Episcopalians in religion.
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=Shields, John=, of Toronto, was born at Crammond Bridge, nine miles
from Edinburgh, Midlothianshire, Scotland, on the 26th day of June,
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