A Cyclopaedia of Canadian Biography: Being Chiefly Men of the Time by Rose
1702. The bishop’s nephew, James Molony, of Kiltanon, the first
1603 words | Chapter 153
of the family who laid aside the prefix “O,” served first in
King James’ army, but subsequently sided with William.
Mr. Molony’s maternal ancestors, the O’Connors, bear a name even still
more famous in Irish annals, and though his mother was born in London,
the metropolis of England, she was as noted as her husband, our
subject’s father, for love of Ireland, and knowledge of and preference
for the old Irish tongue, alas! now so rapidly dying out. Our subject
was chiefly educated at his birth-place, Kingston. At a suitable age, he
began the study of the classics there under the late John O’Donnell, a
graduate of Trinity College, Dublin, and one of the most accomplished
classical scholars that Canada has ever had, as well as one of the most
successful teachers of his day. Among the pupils who issued from his
school to grace the learned professions may be mentioned Sir John A.
Macdonald, the present premier of the Dominion, the late Hon. John
Sandfield Macdonald, premier of Ontario, and several others of their
most distinguished contemporaries. In 1860 Mr. Molony entered Regiopolis
College, Kingston, which was then under the rectorship of the Rev. John
O’Brien, afterwards the most Reverend Dr. O’Brien, Roman Catholic Bishop
of Kingston, and it is touchingly noteworthy that eighteen years
afterwards, when that prelate was suddenly stricken down by the hand of
death at Quebec, while on his way back from Europe, Mr. Molony was the
one acquaintance in the ancient capital upon whom devolved the sad duty
of making the necessary arrangements there for the funeral of his old
college rector, and the transportation of his remains on to Kingston.
After a full course of philosophy and mathematics, our subject completed
his studies at Regiopolis, and having decided on the law as his future
profession, in December, 1865, he entered into articles of clerkship at
Kingston, with the late Daniel Macarow, barrister, at one time a partner
of the well-known James O’Reilly, Q.C., and afterwards county judge. In
June following, he left Kingston to study for the legal profession in
Lower Canada, and entered for the purpose at the office of M. A. Hearn,
Q.C., ex-_bâtonnier-general_ of the Quebec bar, and senior member of the
legal firm of Hearn, Jordan & Roche, of Quebec city. At the same time he
followed the courses of Laval University, from which he took his degree
of Bachelor of Laws on the 4th July, 1879. On the 19th of the same
month, he was admitted as a practitioner at the Quebec bar, and on the
12th of September following he married Isabella, daughter of the late
John Jordan and Catherine James, of Quebec, by whom he has had issue
four children, three of them surviving and all in their teens. For some
years after his admission to the bar, Mr. Molony held a provincial
government appointment as English Translator to the Queen’s printer’s
department, from which he rapidly won success and distinction by his
talents, punctuality and devotion to the interests of his clients. At
present, his standing at the Quebec bar is among the highest, and few
practitioners enjoy a larger share of the respect of the bench and the
public. He has been a commissioner for the province of Ontario, at
Quebec, since 1874, and for the province of Manitoba, since 1883.
Journalism has also successfully occupied our subject’s attention, and
his contributions to the local press have been much remarked for their
masterly and vigorous dealing with the subjects handled. Having always
taken an active interest in municipal matters, he was twice elected by
acclamation a member of the Quebec City Council for Montcalm Ward in
1884 and 1886, and rendered himself conspicuously useful to his fellow
citizens by his able support of Mayor Langelier’s policy of reform of
the civic administration, including the improvement of the city
water-works checks. During his connection with the council, he also
served on several of its most important committees, was a member of the
civic deputation sent some three years ago to Ottawa to press Quebec’s
claims to the C.P.R. short line to the seaboard on the favorable
consideration of the Federal Government, and, though the youngest member
of the council, has been called upon in the absence of the mayor to
preside at important meetings, on account of his intimate acquaintance
with the rules of debate, and recognized ability in the solution of
points of order or knotty questions of procedure. As secretary of the
relief committee for the benefit of the sufferers, he further did good
service to Quebec and the cause of humanity, after the disastrous
conflagration which swept St. John and Montcalm wards almost out of
existence in the summer of 1881. On the temperance question, Mr. Molony
holds advanced views, and every movement on the subject in Quebec for
the last fourteen or more years, has had his earnest advocacy and
support. He was long the president of the St. Patrick’s Total Abstinence
Society, and at the monster meeting held a few years since in the
skating rink, in the interests of the temperance cause, under the joint
presidency of Archbishop, now Cardinal, Taschereau, the Anglican Lord
Bishop of Quebec, and the local clergy of all denominations, he appeared
on the platform with other leading citizens, as the special
representative of the Irish Catholic body. As might be expected from the
stock from which he has sprung, Mr. Molony has taken a most active and
patriotic interest in Irish national matters since his boyhood. For the
last twenty years he has acted a leading part in all the Irish national
societies and movements at the ancient capital. From 1871 to 1875 he was
treasurer of the St. Patrick’s Society, and in 1876 he was chairman of
the meeting at which the first branch of the Home Rule League in Quebec
was organized. Some years later, he was one of the organizers of the
Irish Land League in Quebec, and in 1878 he was elected
1st-Vice-President of the Catholic League, formed at Montreal. Mr.
Molony was called upon at the last moment to preside at the monster
meeting held on Durham terrace, Quebec, when the French and Irish
Catholic population assembled to protest against the Orange processions
in Montreal, during Mr. Beaudry’s mayoralty. On this last occasion his
remarks and conduct met with general approval, Protestants and Catholics
alike joining in praising his tact and moderation under the most trying
circumstances, and Hon. H. G. Joly, then Prime Minister of the province,
warmly congratulated him on the skill which he had shown in controlling
an excited gathering, while upholding the views which it had come
together to assert on one of the most burning questions of the hour. Mr.
Joly told him personally that he had heard from members of the Local
Legislature, who were present, the highest encomiums of his action,
adding that in his opinion it was an awful responsibility to assume the
management of a crowd of people excited to the highest pitch. Indeed the
crowd on the occasion wanted to proceed straight off to wait on Mr.
Joly, but to give time to their excitement to cool down, Mr. Molony, as
chairman, wisely insisted on their only sending a delegation to
represent their views to the premier, and finally carried his point,
when they peaceably dispersed. A fervent Roman Catholic, and a member of
the St. Patrick’s congregation of Quebec, he was elected a trustee of
their beautiful and historic church in 1876, and thrice afterwards,
making twelve years of office in succession, but, at the last triennial
elections, he refused to serve any longer, deeming it unfair to other
prominent members of the congregation that one set of hands should
continually monopolize the honors. During his trusteeship of St.
Patrick’s, it was his good fortune also to be chosen to present the
address of the Irish Catholics of Quebec, to their distinguished
countryman, His Excellency the Papal Ablegate, the late lamented Bishop
Conroy. Although a Liberal in his political principles, Mr. Molony never
took part in politics, except to record his vote for parliamentary
candidates on personal grounds, until 1883, when he interfered actively
for the first time. Since then he has rendered good service to the
Liberal cause in the district of Quebec, the Irish Catholic vote there,
which had previously gone almost always Conservative, being won over to
it largely by his vigorous advocacy on the hustings and in the press, as
well as by his personal influence, and this result being made evident by
the Liberal triumphs of the last few years in Quebec west, Levis,
Megantic, Dorchester, Montmorency and Portneuf counties. Mr. Molony is a
passed cadet of the Kingston Military School, and holds a commission as
ensign in the Quebec Reserve Militia. His travels have been confined so
far to Canada and the United States. Though educated at an English
college, he has since acquired a thorough knowledge of, and is a ready
and fluent writer and speaker of, the French language. Firmly attached
to his own religious tenets, he has always evinced the highest respect
for the convictions and rights of his fellow citizens of every other
creed. A young man still, he has already attained an enviable position
in the section of the Dominion which he has made his home, and the
future probably holds in store for him a career of still greater
distinction and public and private usefulness.
* * * * *
=Haythorne, Hon. Robert Poore=, Senator, Marshfield, Charlottetown,
Prince Edward Island, was born at Clifton, Bristol, England, in the year
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