A Cyclopaedia of Canadian Biography: Being Chiefly Men of the Time by Rose
1841. His ancestors came from France, and settled in the county of
999 words | Chapter 138
L’Islet, Quebec, removing afterwards to St. Hyacinthe. He is the
youngest son of the late Etienne Bernier, farmer, and Julie Lussier, his
wife. The subject of this sketch was educated at the St. Hyacinthe
Seminary, afterwards studying law under H. St. Germain, notary and
registrar for the county of St. Hyacinthe, and was admitted to practise
as a notary in June, 1867. He was a member of the volunteer force from
1862 to 1865, and held the rank of captain. He served as a member of the
notarial board for the district of St. Hyacinthe, from 1867 to 1870, and
for the provincial board from 1873, and president for the same from 1882
to 1885, and is still a member of the board; was secretary-treasurer of
the municipal council and school commissioners of the parish of St.
Hyacinthe, from 1864 to 1878, and of the municipal council of the county
of St. Hyacinthe from 1864, and still holds that position; also official
assignee for the county of St. Hyacinthe from 1869 to 1874, and for the
district of St. Hyacinthe from 1874 to 1880. He has been a director of
the St. Hyacinthe Agricultural Society from 1881, and its president
since 1884, and holds that position to-day. He is a director of the Bank
of St. Hyacinthe; also of the St. Hyacinthe Manufacturing Company,
owners of the water powers, flannel mill, grist mill, and carding mill,
at St. Hyacinthe; of the St. Hyacinthe Gas and Electric Light Company;
of the St. Hyacinthe Macadamizing Company, and of the United Counties
Railway Company. He is the head of the firm of N. Bernier & Co., grain
and flour dealers; of the notarial firm of Bernier, Morin & Bordua; is a
commissioner for the provinces of Ontario, Quebec, Nova Scotia, and New
Brunswick, and a commissioner _per Dedimus potestatem_; is also engaged
in farming, and owns the “Bellevue farm,” near the city limits. Mr.
Bernier is a staunch Liberal in politics, and has taken an active part
in political movements since 1867; was offered, but refused, the
candidature for the county of St. Hyacinthe for the House of Commons, in
1878, and for the Quebec house in 1879; but in June, 1882, he accepted
the nomination of the party for the House of Commons, and was elected,
his opponent being the Hon. L. Tellier, now a judge of the Superior
Court. Mr. Bernier ran again in 1887, and was again successful. His
interest in agricultural, industrial, and commercial pursuits has been
of the most active character. In religion, he is a Roman Catholic. He
was married, on the 28th November, 1865, to Alida, a daughter of the
late Simeon Marchesseault, one of the chiefs of the rebellion of 1837,
and who was afterwards exiled to the Bermudas. Two daughters were born
of this marriage, the eldest being married to Dr. L. V. Benoit,
physician and apothecary at St. Hyacinthe.
* * * * *
=d’Orsonnens, Lt.-Col. the Count Louis Gustave d’Odet=, was born at
L’Assomption, April 17th, 1842. He is a descendant of a Swiss patrician
family of the Canton of Fribourg, who, according to Blanc de Charney, in
his history of the patrician families of Fribourg, “came towards the end
of the fourteenth century to settle in that city, and continue there its
_lustre_.” The General Lexicon of Switzerland, by Leu, published at
Zurich, in 1758, mentions the d’Odet d’Orsonnens with honor. Later, in
1789, Jean Jacques Holtzhalb, in his supplement to the Lexicon or
Dictionary of Leu, has also continued its history. The first member of
this distinguished family who came to this country, was Prothais d’Odet
d’Orsonnens, patrician of Fribourg, who came to Canada about the year
1810, with the famous Meuron’s regiment, as captain of the grenadier
company. After the disbandment of his regiment, Captain d’Orsonnens went
to the Red River with a strong party, and took Fort William for Lord
Selkirk, who was the governor of the Hudson Bay Company. The conduct and
bravery of Captain d’Orsonnens on this occasion was highly commended by
his superiors. He finally settled at St. Roch de l’Achignan, where he
built a house in the style of the manors of that time, and which he
named “La Chaumière Suisse.” He died suddenly of heart disease on the
16th March, 1834, leaving two sons and two daughters to mourn his loss.
The eldest, Thomas Edmond d’Orsonnens, was born at St. Roch de
l’Achignan, on 30th October, 1818, and was for many years president of
the medical faculty of the Victoria University in Montreal, knight of
St. Gregory, etc. His eldest son, Louis Gustave, the subject of this
sketch, upon whom the family nobility and titles were recognised with
the title of count, by his holiness Pope Pius IX., was educated for the
army, and was to have joined the Swiss regiment at Naples, in which his
cousin was captain, when the kingdom of Naples was overthrown by the
revolution. He joined the 1st battalion of rifles as ensign, on the 17th
of November, 1859; in 1860, he exchanged into the 2nd troop of cavalry,
being gazetted a cornet; was promoted to the rank of lieutenant on 3rd
June, 1861, and commanded the troop for nearly a year. He resigned his
command to study law, and was soon called to the bar. He then re-entered
the service and joined the 4th battalion of Canadian Chasseurs, and was
gazetted lieutenant on the 15th December, 1865. He served on the
frontier at Niagara, in 1866, as ensign and adjutant, and was promoted
to rank of captain in the 4th Chasseurs on the 8th of March, 1867. His
subsequent promotions are brigade-major, 3rd January, 1868, and
lieutenant-colonel, 19th February, 1869. In 1871, he held the temporary
command of the 6th military district at the divisional camp of
Laprairie. Lieutenant-Colonel d’Orsonnens holds certificates from all
the schools, as follow: Infantry school, 1st class, 24th August, 1864;
gunnery, 1st class, 4th July, 1868; cavalry, 1st class, 27th March,
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