A Cyclopaedia of Canadian Biography: Being Chiefly Men of the Time by Rose
1875. He was also surgeon of police from 1863 to 1875. Besides these
1214 words | Chapter 161
appointments and the calls of his large city practice, he has frequently
been sent for to attend severe cases of disease in other parts of New
Brunswick and also Nova Scotia. Dr. Berryman first came before the
public in the role of a candidate at the general election held on the
26th of April, in 1886. He and his colleague, John V. Ellis, were
elected to represent the city of St. John in the House of Assembly, the
vote standing, Ellis, 1673; Berryman 1611; defeating E. McLeod, 1500;
and R. F. Quigley, 1220. Dr. Berryman is a Liberal and will, no doubt,
before long give a good account of himself on the floor of parliament.
His large practical experience of men and manners gives him a great
advantage in politics. In 1850 he was made a Mason in Hibernia Lodge,
St. John. He married, on the 16th March, 1864, Mary A., daughter of G.
S. Brodie, of London, England.
* * * * *
=Jaffray, Robert=, Toronto, is a Scotchman by birth, having been born at
Bannockburn, Scotland, in 1832. He is the second son of William Jaffray
and Margaret Heugh. His father carried on farming near the celebrated
battlefield where King Robert Bruce defeated the English army of
invasion led by King Edward, and gave Scotland her freedom. Here Robert
passed his early days, and when only twelve years of age, his father
dying, he was thrown on his own resources. After attending school at
Stirling, until he was about fifteen years of age, he entered the
service, as an apprentice, of J. R. Dymock, grocer and wine merchant,
Edinburgh, Scotland, where he remained for five years. At the expiration
of this time, he sailed for Canada, and arrived in Toronto in the fall
of 1852. Here he joined his brother-in-law, John B. Smith, grocer and
wine merchant, and was appointed as his manager. The establishment was
situated on the site now occupied by Jaffray & Ryan, corner of Yonge and
Louisa streets, then the most northern shop on Yonge street. Three years
later Mr. Jaffray became a partner in his brother-in-law’s business, and
the new firm traded under the name of Smith and Jaffray. In 1858 a
disastrous fire swept away Mr. Smith’s lumber yard and sash and door
factory on Niagara street, by which a great loss was sustained, and
shortly after this event, Mr. Smith retired from the firm, leaving Mr.
Jaffray to carry on the business alone. Being possessed of great energy
and perseverance, he soon succeeded in building up a lucrative trade,
and such was his success that in 1883 he was able to retire with a
competency, handing the business over to his brother, George Jaffray,
and James Ryan, who now carry it on. During Mr. Jaffray’s residence in
Toronto he has been, outside his own business connected with many
successful enterprises. He was appointed by the Hon. Alexander
Mackenzie, one of the directors of the Northern Railway Company, in
which capacity he served three years looking after the country’s
interests, the government of Canada having advanced a large sum of money
to that corporation at various times. From information furnished by Mr.
Jaffray, a royal commission was appointed by the government to look into
the affairs of the “Northern,” which resulted in a satisfactory
settlement of the then existing claims. He was afterwards chosen a
director of the Midland Railway Company, of which board he is at present
an efficient member. In 1874 he took an active part in organizing the
Toronto House Building Society (now the Land Security Company), of which
he is vice-president. He is president of the Toronto Real Estate
Investment Company; and is also a director of the Toronto Trust Company,
director of the _Globe_ Printing Company, director of the Sovereign
Insurance Company, director of the North America Life Insurance Company,
director of the Peterborough Real Estate Investment Company, director of
the Central Canada Land Investment Company, director of the Ontario and
Sault Ste. Marie Railway Company, director of the Imperial Bank, and
director of the Homewood Retreat or Private Asylum for Inebriates and
Insane at Guelph. He is a member of the Caledonian and St. Andrew’s
societies. In politics, Mr. Jaffray has identified himself with the
Reform party, and although often solicited to accept nominations for
civic and parliamentary honors, he has invariably declined. Immediately
after the exciting political campaign of 1879, one of the most daring
attempts was made to kidnap several of the leading men of the Reform
party, ostensibly with the object of, extorting from them a large
ransom. Among those marked for this object were the late Hon. George
Brown, Hon. Oliver Mowat, and the subject of this sketch. Through a
chain of circumstances, Mr. Jaffray was drawn into the snare, and taken
from his residence at a late hour at night under pretence of arrest, he
giving himself up to his captors on their producing a document
purporting to be signed by Judge Wilson, acting for the minister of
justice at Ottawa, directing him to be immediately brought to the
judge’s residence for examination relative to certain charges of a grave
character. Mr. Jaffray went with his captors, having no suspicion of
foul play; but instead of being taken to Judge Wilson’s home, he was
driven to a lonely spot on the east side of the Don and Danforth road,
where, it afterwards appeared, his captors intended to imprison him in a
cave they had previously prepared for his reception. The place was
afterwards discovered by two detectives while they were searching in the
neighborhood. It was dug out of the hill on a farm owned by Mr. Playter,
and was capable of accommodating several persons. Mr. Jaffray, on
alighting from the carriage, in the neighborhood of the cave, and
finding himself the victim of a dastardly plot against his personal
liberty, struggled with his captors and managed to get out of their
clutches. He then succeeded in awakening the inmates of a house in the
neighborhood, when his abductors made their escape. The officers of the
law at once made great efforts to discover the perpetrators of the
outrage, and suspicion having fallen on two brothers—Thomas and Ross
Dale, they were arrested and tried for the crime. Thomas was found
guilty, and sentenced by Judge Burton to two years in the county jail,
Ross Dale being discharged. Thus ended one of the boldest plots to
deprive several leading citizens of their liberty ever known in the
province of Ontario. In 1860, he married Sarah, youngest daughter of
John Bugg, by whom he has two sons and two daughters.
* * * * *
=Jamieson, Philip=, Clothier and Outfitter, Toronto, is a native of
Scotland, having been born in Edinburgh, on the 31st July, 1850. His
father, Hugh Jamieson, carried on the tailoring business in “Auld
Reekie,” and his mother, Elizabeth Marshall, was born near Musselburgh.
Young Jamieson received his education in Bell’s School in his native
city, and after receiving a fair commercial education, was apprenticed
to a jeweller. Here he served seven years, and at the end of his term
was considered a first-class workman. After working a short time at his
trade in Edinburgh he left for Canada, and reached Toronto in March,
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