A Cyclopaedia of Canadian Biography: Being Chiefly Men of the Time by Rose
1873. He brought with him a stock of ready-made clothing, and shortly
4437 words | Chapter 162
afterwards opened a store on Queen street west. Business succeeding, he
opened a branch store, further west on the same street. At this time he
had a partner named Spain, and they traded under the name of Spain and
Jamieson. This partnership continued about two years, when Mr. Jamieson
elected to carry on the business alone, and from this time may be dated
the success of his business, now grown to large dimensions. He shortly
afterwards secured the large premises he now occupies on the corner of
Yonge and Queen streets, and further extended his operations by opening
branch establishments on Queen street west, and in the city of Hamilton.
And Mr. Jamieson has now the largest retail clothing and outfitting
establishment in the Dominion of Canada. He employs eight salesmen in
his retail shop, five cutters, and over one hundred and fifty operative
tailors. In politics, Mr. Jamieson, like the majority of the intelligent
Scotch in Canada, is a hard-working and enthusiastic Reformer, and does
not hesitate when the occasion calls for it to spend both time and money
for party purposes. In religion he is an adherent of the Presbyterian
church. On the 11th of March, 1873, he was married to Dorcas Wilson
Menzies, daughter of William Menzies, of Edinburgh, and has a family of
six children, four girls and two boys.
* * * * *
=Schiller, Charles Edward=, Montreal.—The late Mr. Schiller was a
descendant of an old family which originally came from Hamburg, and was
related to the great poet of that name. His grandfather, Augustus
Schiller, was the first of the family to arrive in Canada, having come
in the capacity of surgeon to one of the Hessian regiments in 1778. His
father, Benjamin Schiller, served with great distinction and valor in
the _Voltigeurs Canadien_ at the battle of Chateauguay, under Colonel de
Salaberry, and was promoted from lieutenant to captain on the field of
battle for bravery in carrying his captain when wounded to the ambulance
under a heavy fire. Charles Edward Schiller was born on the 17th
September, 1819, at Rivière du Loup (_en haut_), and was educated at
Benjamin Workman’s Academy, Montreal. He entered the court house in
1835, where he soon became chief clerk, and in 1847 was appointed deputy
clerk of the crown and peace. He assisted at the famous trial of
Jalbert, who was accused of the murder of Lieutenant Weir at St. Denis,
during the rebellion of 1837. He also took a prominent part as officer
of the court in the trial of the St. Alban’s raiders, in 1864, as well
as in the trial of the Fenians after the invasion of 1866. Mr. Schiller
was appointed joint clerk of the peace with Mr. Carter. On Mr. Carter’s
leaving the office, Mr. Schiller was appointed clerk of the crown, and
acted as such for a number of years. At the advent of the Joly
government, at Quebec, in 1880, Mr. Brehaut, the then acting police
magistrate, was appointed jointly with Mr. Schiller, as clerk of the
crown. On the sudden death of Mr. Brehaut in 1882, the present clerk of
the crown, L. W. Sicotte, was named Mr. Schiller’s partner. Mr. Schiller
was, without doubt, the person who possessed the largest criminal
experience in the Dominion, having had cognizance of the most important
trials that took place since 1853. He was an excessively hard worker,
and the only holidays he took during his term of office of fifty years,
was one month when he went to New Orleans. Holidays and Sundays, from
morning to night, he continued his labors. His time was so much taken up
during the week in giving information and advice to gentlemen of the
bar, that the routine work naturally fell behind, but when the new week
began, the work of the past one was always completed. The employés in
the offices of the clerk of the crown always found a true and kind
friend in him, and when the supplies were refused by the Legislative
Council in 1880 to the Joly government, Mr. Schiller paid the salaries
of the clerks of the police court and of his own office out of his
private means. The late Judge Ramsay, as well as Justice Johnson and
Justice Aylwin, were warm personal friends of the deceased, and placed
unbounded confidence in his experience. Judge Ramsay frequently
consulted Mr. Schiller in criminal matters, and every crown officer who
prosecuted for the crown, always found him willing to supply them with
any information. In his entire public career, Mr. Schiller won the
confidence and esteem of all with whom he dealt, and counted as his
friends many of the most influential public men of the day. Always a
staunch Conservative, he was a special protégé of the late Sir George
Cartier, who had great confidence in him, and of the Hon. Mr. Chapleau.
Mr. Schiller at one time took an active part in the local militia, and
held the rank of captain. He nearly lost his life in the Gavazzi riots
in 1853, having been in the midst of the firing by the troops. He leaves
one sister, married to M. P. Guy, Montreal’s oldest notary. He died 25th
April, 1887, after fifty-two years of consistent attendance to his
active duties.
* * * * *
=Ouellette, Rev. J. R.=, President of St. Hyacinthe College, Quebec
province, was born at Sandwich, Ontario, on the 26th of December, 1830.
He received his education in the college he now so ably presides over.
Father Ouellette was ordained a priest at Paris, on the 20th of
December, 1856, and in 1857 was appointed assistant at St. Mary’s
Church, Toronto, under the Rev. John Walsh, now bishop of London,
Ontario. Shortly after his settlement in St. Mary’s, he was transferred
to St. Michael’s Cathedral, in the same city, as assistant, and later on
was appointed rector. Two years afterwards, in 1859, he resigned his
position in St. Michael’s Cathedral, and joined the teaching staff of
St. Hyacinthe College. In 1882, on the retirement of the Rev. Joseph
Sabin Raymond, who had been president of the college for a great number
of years, he was chosen to fill the vacancy, and has since successfully
conducted this popular institute of learning. He is one of the titular
canons of the cathedral chapter of St. Hyacinthe.
* * * * *
=Grant, Henry Hugh=, Collector of Inland Revenue, Halifax, Nova Scotia,
was born at Newport, Hants county, N.S., on the 15th April, 1839. His
parents were John Nutting Grant and Margaret McCallum. Captain John
Grant, grandfather of John N., first came to America with his regiment,
the 42nd Highlanders, or “Black Watch.” He married in New York, and
having retired from the army, he settled in Brooklyn, N.Y. He afterwards
served, under Sir William Johnston, in some provincial corps raised in
New York for operations against the Indians, and saw some hard service
in Western New York, as well as in Ohio, where he distinguished himself
in a number of engagements with the famous chief, Pontiac. His wife’s
family favoring the rebels at the breaking out of the American
revolution, induced him to leave for the West Indies, where, however,
his loyalty and sense of duty did not allow him to remain. He soon
returned and finding his regiment in New York ready to receive him, he
joined again as captain, and with it fought at the battle of Long
Island, when Washington was defeated, in 1776. At the conclusion of the
war he removed to Nova Scotia, his property in Brooklyn having been
confiscated. On his arrival there the Crown granted him a tract of land
in Kempt, Hants county, and the part of this property on which he
resided he named “Loyal Hill,” and here he remained until his death.
Margaret McCallum was the granddaughter of Jean Baptiste Moreau, who
came out to Halifax as chaplain and secretary to Lord Cornwallis. He was
the first Episcopal clergyman to land in Halifax, and his son,
Cornwallis Moreau, was the first male child born there after its
settlement. Mr. Moreau was a relative of Napoleon’s celebrated general
of that name. He was a convert from the Roman Catholic faith, having
been educated for and taken priests’ orders in that church in France,
Mr. Grant, the subject of our sketch, received his academic education in
the Collegiate School at Wolfville, N.S. He afterwards spent some years
as clerk in mercantile establishments, first in Windsor, N.S., and
afterwards in New York. He returned from New York in 1871, and engaged
in shipbuilding and mining enterprises, at the old homestead, Loyal
Hill. In October, 1879, he was appointed to the civil service as
exciseman, and served in the Toronto division until September, 1880,
when, after passing a first-class examination, he was removed to
Halifax, and promoted to the collectorship in October, 1882. He served
several years in the 7th regiment of militia in the county of Hants, and
holds a captain’s commission dated October 10th, 1867. Mr. Grant was
appointed United States consular agent at Kempt in April, 1873, but
resigned the office, on his removal from there, in 1877. He was made a
master Mason, in Walsford Lodge, No. 924, Windsor, N.S., in 1866, and
has ever since taken a deep interest in the order. He is a Conservative
in politics, and in religion leans towards the Episcopal church. Mr.
Grant was married at Newport, Hants county, on January 25th, 1872, to
Georgie, daughter of George Allison. The fruit of this union has been
five children, only two of whom are living, viz., Marion Allison, aged
13, and Frank Parker, aged 8.
* * * * *
=Webster, Walter Chester=, Hardware Merchant, Coaticook, Quebec
province, was born in Hatley, P.Q., on the 27th November, 1841. His
father, Oscar F. Webster, was a farmer. His mother, Eliza Watson, was a
native of Antrim, Ireland. Mr. Webster received a sound commercial
education at Hatley Academy. Before settling down to business he devoted
some time to travel, and spent about three years in California. On his
return to Canada, he turned his attention to farming, which he
successfully prosecuted for eight years, and then adopted a mercantile
life. In 1876 he opened a hardware and crockery store in Coaticook, and
through close attention to business he has succeeded to his entire
satisfaction. In 1873 Mr. Webster was appointed a justice of the peace
by the Joly government, and for a number of years he has been a member
of the municipal council of Coaticook, and also that of the township of
Barnston. He was one of the original promoters of the Coaticook Knitting
Company; and holds a considerable amount of this company’s stock. He is
also a director of the Stanstead and Compton Agricultural Society. Mr.
Webster takes a deep interest in the Independent Order of Oddfellows,
and is an active member of this benevolent organization. Recently he was
offered the position of mayor of the town by his fellow citizens, but
owing to the pressure of business he was forced to decline the proffered
honor. But, nevertheless, though refusing to take office, it is not to
be presumed he lacks public spirit. There is no man in the community
that does more to promote the prosperity of the place of his adoption
than he does. He is always to be found amongst its workers, and is often
consulted by both political parties when anything is on the _tapis_ for
the promotion of the interests of either town or county. In politics,
Mr. Webster is a Liberal, and in religion, a member of the Episcopal
church. He was married, on the 20th September, 1865, to Adella A.
Kennedy, second daughter of Washington Kennedy, of Hatley, and to them
have been born six girls and one boy, a very promising youth of eighteen
years, and named after his grandfather.
* * * * *
=Papineau, Hon. Louis Joseph=, was born in Montreal, 7th October, 1786.
He was the son of Joseph Papineau, a well-known notary of his day, and
one of the principal promoters of the constitution of 1791, and a member
of the first parliament after the conquest. Louis Joseph was educated
chiefly at the seminary of Quebec, and having studied law was admitted
to the bar of Lower Canada in 1811. So brilliant were his prospects and
his talents even before this that in 1809, and while still a student, he
was elected to the Legislative Assembly for the county of Kent, now
Chambly, and in 1815 was appointed speaker of the house. This office Mr.
Papineau held, with only two years’ intermission during his mission to
England as delegate of the Assembly in 1822-’23, for the long period of
twenty years, or until the year 1837, the year of the unfortunate
troubles, when he threw himself heartily into what he considered the
right and lawful course of action to gain that which the present
generation enjoys, through his and his _confrères’_ endeavors
then,—Responsible Government—and all the liberties of the British
Constitution which had so long been denied in practice. In 1820, when
Lord Dalhousie became governor, he appointed Mr. Papineau to a seat in
the Executive Council, but this post was soon declined by him, when he
found it a vain honor without the influence the council should have had
on the determination of the governor. In 1822, the union of Upper and
Lower Canada having been upon the _tapis_, and the subject being
distasteful to many, Louis Papineau and John Neilson went to England,
and were successful in getting the union postponed for the next two
years. In 1827, unfortunate difficulties arose between the governor and
Mr. Papineau, and to such a height did they reach that the former
refused to acknowledge Mr. Papineau as speaker, though duly elected to
that high office by a large majority of the Assembly. The Assembly
triumphed, and Lord Dalhousie resigned his office as governor, after
having dissolved the Assembly. He was succeeded by Sir James Kempt, who,
after the next election, duly accepted Mr. Papineau as the speaker again
appointed, and giving him, perhaps, one of the greatest triumphs ever
achieved by any person in the political arena of any country. Political
troubles grew worse as years rolled on, and in 1836 they culminated in
the events of that and the next two years, which for the time threw
Canada into a state of turmoil and anxiety, now happily all passed away,
leaving only the fruits so bravely and indomitably sought for,
constitutional government and unbiased representation. The so-called
leaders of the disturbance having had rewards for apprehension placed on
their heads, Mr. Papineau, as one, fled to the United States, where he
resided from 1837 to 1839. He then removed to Paris, France, where he
lived till 1847, when the issue of the amnesty proclamation enabled him
to return to his native land. He again entered parliament, and was
continued there until 1854, when he retired into private life, and for
the next seventeen years enjoyed the calm of a green and sturdy old age,
the love of books and horticulture, and the personal esteem of those who
best knew his character. His death took place on Saturday, the 23rd
September, 1871, at his residence at MonteBello, at the patriarchal age
of eighty-five. His son, Louis Joseph Amédée Papineau, is the present
joint-prothonotary of Montreal.
* * * * *
=Greenwood, Stansfield=, Manager of the Coaticook Cotton Company,
Coaticook, Quebec province, was born in Lancashire, England, on the 28th
of June, 1853. His father, Edward Greenwood, was a manager of a large
cotton mill in Lancashire, His mother was Mary Chadwick, a descendant of
the celebrated Sir Joshua Chadwick, of Lancashire. Mr. Greenwood, the
subject of our sketch, was educated at Longholme Normal School,
receiving an elementary education. After leaving school he entered the
cotton mill in which his father was manager, and there learned all the
details of the business. At the age of twenty-two, he came to Canada,
and took charge of one of the departments of the Valleyfield Cotton
Mills, which position he filled for six years. After that period he
entered into a partnership with Wallace Bros., and started the Chambly
Cotton Company at Chambly Canton, P.Q. This partnership lasted a year,
when it was turned into a limited liability company. After another term
of two years he retired from that company and took entire charge of the
works of the Coaticook Cotton Company. Their mill, under the skilful
management of Mr. Greenwood, has paid a good dividend, and still
continues to do so. Mr. Greenwood is a Liberal of the Gladstone style,
and in religion a Methodist. He was married on the 12th August, 1874, to
Mary Ann Bury, daughter of John Bury, of Oswaldtwistle, Lancashire, and
the fruit of the union has been three sons and a daughter.
* * * * *
=Smith, Rev. James Cowie=, M.A., B.D., Pastor of St. Andrew’s Church,
Guelph, province of Ontario, was born in Aberdeenshire, Scotland, on the
17th January, 1834. His father, James Smith, followed the calling of a
farmer. His mother was named Jane Cowie. The future divine received his
elementary education at Smith’s Classical Academy, at Fordyce, Scotland,
and on coming to Canada entered Queen’s University, Kingston, where he
graduated, taking the degrees of B.A. in 1862, M.A. in 1864 (holding the
first place in the university examinations), and B.D. in 1880. He was
licensed to preach the gospel by the presbytery of Kingston, and was
inducted into the pastorate of Cumberland and Buckingham Presbyterian
congregations, July 11th, 1864. During this pastorate, he discharged the
duties of local superintendent of schools, in the township of
Cumberland, and acted as chairman of the Grammar School board. He was
translated, in 1868, to St. Andrew’s Church, Belleville, where he
remained some years, acting as inspector of schools in the town, in
addition to his ministerial duties. About this time, having met the
requirements for county school inspector, he was officially declared
eligible for such a position by the chief superintendent of education of
Ontario. Having been called to the vacant pastorate of St. Paul’s
Church, Hamilton, Rev. Mr. Smith was translated thither about 1872, when
he was again called to succeed the Rev. Dr. Hogg, deceased, in his
pastorate charge, St. Andrew’s Church, Guelph. At different times Rev.
Mr. Smith has served, in the capacity of stated clerk, successively in
the presbyteries of Ottawa and Kingston; and while pastor in St. Paul’s
Church, Hamilton, was appointed moderator of the Synod of Hamilton and
London. For several years he has also been chosen to, and still holds at
present, the responsible position of member of university council,
Queen’s University, Kingston. He was at one time called to St. Andrew’s
Church, Peterborough, and twice to St. Andrew’s Church, St. John, New
Brunswick, both of which invitations he declined. Rev. Mr. Smith is very
popular among his congregation, and takes a deep interest in all matters
calculated to improve the social and spiritual condition of the people
among whom his lot has been cast. He is in full harmony with the
doctrines of his church, and can always be depended on to defend its
standards. He was married, June 21st, 1866, to Emily Georgina, third
daughter of the late Captain Archibald Petrie, R.N., of Cumberland,
Ontario.
* * * * *
=Carling, Hon. John=, London, Ontario, Minister of Agriculture of the
Dominion, M.P. for the City of London, Ontario, is the youngest son of
Thomas Carling, a native of Yorkshire, England, who came to Canada in
1818, and settled in the county of Middlesex the following year. The
future minister of state was born in the township of London, on the 23rd
of January, 1828, and received his education in the public school of his
native city. While quite young he became a member of the brewing firm of
Carling & Co., London, and was an active member of it for a number of
years. He took part in nearly all public matters, and was for several
years a director of the Great Western Railway Company; the London, Huron
& Bruce Railway Company; the London & Port Stanley Railway Company, and
was also chairman of the Board of Water Commissioners of the city of
London. In 1857 Mr. Carling aspired to parliamentary honors, on the
Conservative side, and was returned by a considerable majority over the
Liberal candidate, Elijah Leonard, and continued to represent London in
the Legislative Assembly of Canada continuously down to the time of
confederation. In 1862 Mr. Carling made his first appearance as a
cabinet minister, having been appointed receiver-general that year. At
the general election, after the consummation of confederation, Mr.
Carling was elected to the House of Commons, and was likewise returned
as a member of the Legislative Assembly of Ontario. In the Ontario
Assembly he was appointed minister of agriculture and public works,
under the Sandfield-Macdonald administration, and this portfolio he
retained till 1871, when fortune went against the administration, and it
was forced to resign. In 1878 Hon. Mr. Carling was again returned to
parliament, and took his seat in the House of Commons, at Ottawa, but he
did not hold a portfolio in the new cabinet. However, in 1882, he was
made postmaster-general, and this office he held until the 25th
September, 1885, when he became minister of agriculture, and he has held
this office ever since. At the general election of 1887 he was
re-elected to the House of Commons, after a lively contest with Charles
S. S. Hyman, a local Liberal, his majority over his opponent being
thirty-nine votes. Hon. Mr. Carling is not a demonstrative member, but
the same clear-headedness and calm judgment that had served him so well
in his important successful business affairs has stood him in good stead
as a parliamentary representative. He has proved himself a capable
minister of the crown, and although he seldom makes a speech in the
House of Commons, yet when he does he always speaks to the point. In
politics Hon. Mr. Carling is a Liberal-Conservative, and in religion he
belongs to the Methodist church. He is married to Hannah, eldest
daughter of the late Henry Dalton of London, Ontario.
* * * * *
=Smith, Arthur Lapthorn=, B.A., M.D., Montreal, member of the Royal
College of Surgeons of England, fellow of the Obstetrical Society of
London, lecturer on diseases of women in the medical faculty of Bishop’s
College, Montreal, consulting physician to the Montreal Dispensary, is
the second son of William Smith, deputy minister of marine, Ottawa, and
was born on the 6th June, 1855, at St. John, New Brunswick, where his
father was at that time comptroller of customs. His mother was Jane
Busby, a granddaughter of the late Colonel Bayard, of Nova Scotia, at
one time on the staff of the Duke of Kent. He received his early
education at private schools, and from tutors in St. John and Chatham,
New Brunswick, and in Melrose and Galashiels, in Scotland. He then
entered the classical course at the University of Ottawa, where, after
four years’ study, he graduated as B.A. in 1872. He then began his
medical studies at Laval University, Quebec. At the end of his second
year he took the degree of B.M., and at the end of his fourth year he
obtained the degree of M.D., and the Sewell prize in 1876. He then
proceeded to London, and studied during two winter sessions at Guy’s and
the London hospitals, after which he passed the examinations of the
Royal College of Surgeons. He spent two summers in Paris and Vienna.
During six months of his stay in London, he held the position of
resident clinical assistant at the East London Children’s Hospital. On
his return to Canada, in 1878, he began practice in Montreal, where he
has ever since remained. Shortly after his arrival he was appointed
assistant demonstrator of anatomy in Bishop’s College Medical School,
and attending physician to the Montreal Dispensary. He was also elected
a member of the Medico-Chirurgical Society, in whose proceedings he has
always taken an active part. He was for some time treasurer of this
society. He soon became demonstrator of anatomy, and two years later he
was appointed professor of botany, and held this position for two years,
when he was given the chair of medical jurisprudence. In 1887 he was
appointed lecturer on the diseases of women in the same university. He
has always taken great interest in temperance matters, and was twice
elected president of the Band of Hope, and for three years he was
president of the Young Men’s Association of St. Andrew’s Church, of
which he is now the youngest elder. He has long been a Mason, and has
held the position of secretary of Royal Albert Lodge for several years.
He has also reached the eighteenth degree in the ancient and accepted
Scottish rite. He has been surgeon of the 6th Regiment of Cavalry for
the past eight years, and has regularly camped out with his regiment
when it was necessary to do so. Although he has a large practice as a
specialist for diseases of women, he still finds time to contribute
numerous articles to the medical journals, to deliver an occasional
lecture on popular science before the Young Men’s Association, as well
as to take an active interest in everything that concerns the welfare of
his adopted city. As an instance of his energy, we may mention that,
having heard of a new application of electricity to the treatment of
hitherto incurable diseases of women, he immediately started for Paris,
and remained with the inventor, Dr. Apostoli, until he had become
thoroughly acquainted with all its details, and he subsequently
published a translation of Dr. Apostoli’s latest work on this subject.
Dr. Smith’s amiable manner and sympathetic nature has won for him the
affection and esteem of his pupils and patients, especially among the
poor. In politics, he is an ardent supporter of the policy of the
Conservative party, which he considers will be the means of ultimately
building up, in the north-west part of this continent, a great and
wealthy nation. In 1884 he was married to Jessie Victoria, third
daughter of Alexander Buntin, of Montreal, by whom he has had a son and
a daughter.
* * * * *
=Boak, Hon. Robert=, Halifax, N.S., President of the Legislative Council
of Nova Scotia, was born in Leith, Scotland, on the 19th of September,
Reading Tips
Use arrow keys to navigate
Press 'N' for next chapter
Press 'P' for previous chapter