A Cyclopaedia of Canadian Biography: Being Chiefly Men of the Time by Rose
1834. His father, John Palmer, grandson of Gideon Palmer, a U. E.
2920 words | Chapter 30
loyalist, who came to New Brunswick from Staten Island, New York, is a
veteran of 1812, and is now (1887) in his ninety-ninth year, and
regularly draws his pension for services during the war. His mother,
Elizabeth Cole, was a daughter of Ebenezer Cole. Caleb received his
education at the Wesleyan Academy, in Sackville, N.B., taking a course
in the higher mathematics and languages, and then for some time adopted
teaching as his profession. From 1859 to 1870 he taught the Superior
School in Sussex, Kings county, and from January, 1870, to September,
1882, he acted in the capacity of station master at Dorchester for the
Intercolonial Railway Company. In July, 1883, he became manager of the
Moncton Publishing Company, and this position he occupied until
February, 1885, since which time he has confined himself to the duties
of justice of the peace, and secretary to the Board of School Trustees
of the town of Moncton. Mr. Palmer is interested in shipping, and is
also a stockholder in the Moncton Cotton Factory. He is a member of the
Royal Arcanum, and in politics is a Liberal. Although brought up in the
Episcopal church, he found it more congenial to his taste to attend the
Methodist church, and is now a member of that denomination. He was
married on the 21st of December, 1865, to Agnes Murray, daughter of John
Murray, of Studholm, Kings county, N.B.
* * * * *
=Ferguson, Hon. Donald=, M.P.P., Provincial Secretary and Commissioner
of Crown Lands of Prince Edward Island, Charlottetown, was born at East
River, Charlottetown, Prince Edward Island, on the 7th of March, 1839.
His father, John Ferguson, and mother, Isabella Stewart, were
descendants of thrifty Scotch farmers, who emigrated from Blair Athol,
in Perthshire, Scotland, in 1807, and settled near Charlottetown, Prince
Edward Island. Donald was reared on the farm and received the rudiments
of education in the Public school of his native parish, and subsequently
pursued his studies in English and mathematics by private tuition. He
became interested in politics when quite a young man, and was a strong
advocate of the confederation of the provinces. He was a contributor to
the press, and in 1867, wrote a series of letters over the signature of
“A Farmer,” which attracted considerable attention, and was replied to
by the Hon. David Laird, one of the leading politicians of the island,
and subsequently lieutenant-governor of the North-West Territories. At a
later date, he engaged, over his own signature, in a discussion with the
Hon. George Beer, on the union question, and became at once known as one
of the champions on the island for a Canadian nationality. He was also a
strong supporter of the interests of the tenantry, an advocate of
railway construction, and was the mover of the resolutions in favour of
the railway which were adopted at the mass meeting of the electors of
Queens county, held at Charlottetown, in the winter of 1871. In 1872,
Mr. Ferguson was appointed a justice of the peace, and he held the
position of collector of inland revenue for Charlottetown for a short
time in 1873. In 1873, the great question of confederation, for which
Mr. Ferguson had for years contended, having been settled, he offered
himself as a candidate for the Legislative Council of Prince Edward
Island, for the second district of Queens county, where the Hon. Edward
Palmer had been returned in 1872, to the Council, as an anti-railway and
an anti-confederate, by a majority of nearly eight hundred votes—and he
succeeded, after a spirited canvass and good fight against great odds in
reducing the anti-railway majority to two hundred and fifty votes. A
vacancy occurring next year in the same constituency, Mr. Ferguson was
again brought out by his friends, and this time succeeded in reducing
the anti-railway majority to seventy. In 1876, the question of
denominational education came prominently before the electors, and Mr.
Ferguson and other leading politicians pronounced in favour of a system
of payment by results, by which the state would recognize and pay for
secular education in schools in towns, in which religious education
might also be imparted at the expense of parents. Religious bitterness
was introduced, the Protestants became alarmed, the people decided
largely according to their creeds, and the “payment by results”
candidates were defeated in all except Roman Catholic constituencies.
Believing that almost any settlement of this vexed question was better
than a prolonged political-religious agitation, he accepted the
situation. In 1874, Mr. Ferguson was appointed secretary of the Board of
Railway Appraisers, which office he held until 1876. In 1878, he was
invited by the leading electors of the Cardigan district, in Kings
county, to offer himself for parliamentary honours; he consented and was
returned by acclamation. In March, 1879, on the meeting of the
legislature, the government, under the leadership of the Hon. L. H.
Davis, was defeated, and the Hon. W. W. Sullivan, who had been entrusted
with the formation of a new administration, offered Mr. Ferguson a seat
in his cabinet, with the portfolio of public works, which office he
accepted. A dissolution of the house having immediately followed, Mr.
Ferguson was returned by acclamation. In 1880, he resigned his position
as head of the Public Works department, and became provincial secretary
and commissioner of Crown Lands, and this position he occupies to-day.
In 1882, Mr. Ferguson was elected to represent Fort Augustus, and again
in 1886, he had the same honour conferred upon him. Hon. Mr. Ferguson is
a member of the Board of Commissioners for the management of the
Government Poor-House; a commissioner for the management of the
Government Stock Farm, and a trustee for the Hospital for the Insane, at
Falconwood. He was a delegate to Ottawa, on the Wharf and Pier question
in 1883, in conjunction with the Hon. Messrs. Sullivan and Prowse, and
also a delegate to England, with Hon. Mr. Sullivan, on the question of
the communication between the island and the mainland. Mr. Ferguson is
an enthusiastic agriculturist, and has a farm in a high state of
cultivation, four miles from Charlottetown. Besides having published
several useful official reports, Mr. Ferguson gave to his
fellow-citizens in 1884, an excellent paper on “Agricultural Education,”
and another in 1885, on “Love of Country.” He has been a lifelong total
abstainer, and became connected with the Good Templars in 1863, and held
the office of grand secretary for two years, 1863-5, and that of grand
worthy chief templar the following two years, 1865-7. He is a
Conservative in politics, and in religion a member of the Baptist
denomination. In 1873, he was married to Elizabeth Jane, daughter of
John Scott, Charlottetown, and has a family consisting of three sons and
two daughters.
* * * * *
=Ross, James Duncan=, M.D., Moncton, New Brunswick, was born at Pictou,
Nova Scotia, in October, 1839, and is a son of the Rev. James Ross,
D.D., principal of Dalhousie College, and grandson of the late Rev.
Duncan Ross, one of the first Presbyterian ministers who came to Nova
Scotia from Scotland. His mother was Isabella Matheson, a daughter of
William Matheson, who through industry and perseverance accumulated a
fortune at farming, lumbering, and trading, sufficient to enable him to
leave the handsome sum of $35,000 to the institutions of the church in
the province, and $35,000 to the British and Foreign Bible Society.
James Duncan Ross received his elementary training in the public schools
in his native town, and then took the arts course in the West River
Seminary. He then spent three years in the office of the late Dr. Muir,
of Truro, N.S., and afterwards studied medicine and surgery in
Philadelphia and Harvard, graduating from Harvard University in 1861,
when he moved to Londonderry, in Nova Scotia, and began the practice of
his profession, and continued here until 1865; then he went over to
Britain and took a course of medicine and surgery in the University and
in the College of Physicians and Surgeons in Edinburgh, and while in
that city he was for a time a student in the office of Sir J. Y.
Simpson. He then went to London, and became for a time a dresser in St.
Bartholomew’s Hospital; and afterwards, returning to Nova Scotia, he
resumed his practice. Dr. Ross occupied the position for some time of
assistant surgeon to the 2nd battalion of the Colchester Militia, and
also surgeon of the Caledonian (Highland) Society of Nova Scotia. He has
been since 1863 a coroner for the county of Westmoreland. He took a deep
interest in the establishment of the Medical School in Halifax, and was
demonstrator of anatomy in it for the first two years of its existence.
The doctor has now practised medicine and surgery continuously for
twenty-five years, the first eleven years of his medical career having
been spent in Nova Scotia, and the remaining fourteen in Moncton, N.B.
His work has been continuous and laborious, and very varied, and he
stands high in the profession, especially for surgery. In him the poor
always find a kind and sympathizing friend, who dispenses medicine to
them gratuitously as well as his best skill. In religion the doctor
holds all the doctrines of the second reformation, and believes the
Presbyterian form of church government scriptural. He has experienced no
change in his views since his youth, except a deeper conviction of the
duty which nations owe to Christ, and a more scriptural constitution for
nations. He married, in 1870, Ruth, daughter of the late R. N. B.
McLellan, merchant, of Londonderry, N.S. The McLellan family are north
of Ireland Scotch, and have been closely connected with the political
and mercantile interests of Nova Scotia and New Brunswick for many
years. Issue, one son, who died in infancy.
* * * * *
=McLeod, Rev. Joseph=, D.D., Fredericton, was born in St. John, New
Brunswick, June 27, 1844. His father, the Rev. Ezekiel McLeod,—born in
Sussex, New Brunswick, Sept. 17, 1815, died in Fredericton, New
Brunswick, March 17th, 1867,—was the leading minister in the Free
Baptist denomination of Canada, and the founder and, till his death, the
editor of _The Religious Intelligencer_. He was an earnest and
influential advocate of the confederation of the British American
provinces; a strong advocate of prohibition; and widely known and highly
regarded both for intellectual qualities and godly character. His mother
was Amelia Emery, born in Boston, Massachusetts, and survived her
husband till June, 1887. Joseph McLeod was educated in the public
schools, and in the Baptist Institution in Fredericton, New Brunswick,
and in July, 1868, was ordained to the ministry. In the same month he
was called to the pastorate of the Free Baptist Church in Fredericton,
which he has held ever since. In 1875 the Rev. Mr. McLeod was chosen
chaplain to the New Brunswick legislature, and still holds the office.
He is a very active worker in the temperance army, and has held the
office of grand worthy chief of the British Templars; president of the
National lodge of the United Temperance Association of Canada, and is
now, and has for several years been president of the New Brunswick
Prohibitory Alliance. He is an ardent advocate of the prohibition of the
liquor traffic, and has for years been a leader in this cause in New
Brunswick, and has had much to do with introducing the Canada Temperance
Act into New Brunswick. In addition to his strong advocacy of temperance
measures, he has been an earnest advocate of the establishment of the
free, unsectarian school system in his native province. In the Free
Baptist denomination he also stands high as a leader in all progressive
movements. He is an advocate of the union of the Baptist denominations
in Canada, and by voice and pen has done much to promote the union
feeling. He is a member and vice-chairman of the joint committee of the
Baptist and Free Baptist bodies which now (1887) have the question of
union under consideration, and are authorized to arrange a basis of
union. He was secretary and a director of the Free Baptist Education
Society for many years, till, in 1883, the Baptist and Free Baptist
Education Societies were united by act of the legislature; since then he
has been a director of the united Education Society. He has also been
corresponding secretary of the Free Baptist Foreign Mission Society of
New Brunswick for fifteen years; was for three years president of the
American Foreign Mission Society, which includes representatives of all
the free communion Baptist bodies in the United States and Canada, and
is now a member of the managing board of the society. Has been moderator
of the New Brunswick Free Baptist Conference twice within ten years.
Since 1867 Dr. McLeod has owned and edited the _Religious_
_Intelligencer_. In May, 1886, Acadia College conferred the well-earned
degree of D.D. on Mr. McLeod. He is active in all matters pertaining to
the welfare of the public, and is frequently called upon to do pulpit
and platform service outside his own charge. He has not found time for a
European tour, but has made two trips to the western states; spent the
winter of 1882-3 in Florida for the benefit of his health; and in the
summer of 1886 made the trip across the continent _via_ the Canada
Pacific Railway, spending several weeks in British Columbia, the
North-West, and in Manitoba. Dr. McLeod’s parents were Free Baptists,
and in this faith he was brought up. He at a very early age became a
communicant in that church, and is now one of the most respected of its
clergy. In December, 1868, he was married to Jane Fulton Squires, and is
blessed with a family of five children.
* * * * *
=Chesley, John Alexander=, Manufacturer, Portland, New Brunswick, was
born in Portland, N.B., in May, 1839. He is the eldest son of William
Ambrose and Mary Ann Chesley, of U. E. loyalist descent. He received his
educational training in the Public school in Portland, and at the
Grammar School in Albert county, N.B. Mr. Chesley began his business
career in Portland, N.B., in 1862, as a manufacturer of ships’ iron
knees, and conducted the business on his own account until 1869, when he
took his brother, W. A. Chesley, into partnership, and thus formed the
firm of “J. A. & W. A. Chesley,” of which he is the head and senior
partner. Since then the firm has had a very successful career, and is
very well and favourably known throughout the Maritime provinces for its
locomotive frames, piston and connecting rods, truck, engine and car
axles, shafting, ships’ iron knees, etc., and all kinds of heavy
forgings. The firm has also a large interest in shipping. In 1876 Mr.
Chesley was elected alderman for No. 1 Ward in Portland city, and
occupied a seat in the city council continuously until April, 1885,—a
period of nine years,—when he was elected mayor of the city. He also
sat as one of the representatives of the city of Portland in the
municipal council of the city and county of St. John from 1880 to 1886,
a period of five years. In 1881 he was appointed a commissioner for
taking the census in the county of St. John; and was a liquor license
commissioner for St. John county in 1883 under the Dominion Liquor
License Act. At the general elections of 1882 and 1886 Mr. Chesley was
an unsuccessful candidate for the representation of the city and county
of St. John in the legislature of New Brunswick, but received such
support that we think he will be justified in running again for
parliamentary honours when the occasion offers. In 1872 he was made a
Mason, and now holds the rank of past master in the Blue lodge, and also
that of past principal in the Royal Arch chapter. He is a member of the
Encampment of St. John Knights Templars, and a member of the Ancient and
Accepted Scottish rite of Masonry; also a member of the Royal Order of
Scotland. He is an active politician, and is a member of the Young Men’s
Liberal Conservative Club of the city and county of St. John, and at the
present time is the vice-president of the Club for the city of Portland.
Mr. Chesley was a supporter of confederation, and worked hard to carry
the measure, and has ever since taken an interest in all public
questions—Dominion, provincial, and municipal—brought before the
people of the city and county of St. John. He also took an active
interest in, and laboured very hard in the election held to decide the
free school system in New Brunswick, and had the satisfaction of seeing
his party win in the contest, and secure for his province a school law
that every lover of his country should be proud of. He is a
Liberal-Conservative in politics, and a strong supporter of the national
policy. He was married, first in December, 1860, to Mary Frances, eldest
daughter of Albert Small, of Portland, Maine; and some time after her
death he was again married in September, 1872, to Annie, eldest daughter
of James S. May, of St. John, N.B.
* * * * *
=MacCallum, Duncan Campbell=, M.D., M.R.C.S., Eng., Fellow of the
Obstetrical Society, London, Foundation Fellow of the British
Gynecological Society, and Professor Emeritus, McGill University,
Montreal, was born in the province of Quebec, on the 12th November,
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