A Cyclopaedia of Canadian Biography: Being Chiefly Men of the Time by Rose
1844. He is the fourth son of Charles G. Buller, of Campbellford,
5994 words | Chapter 36
Ontario, who was educated for the Church of England ministry, but,
declining holy orders, came to Canada in 1831, and settled near the town
of Cobourg, preferring agricultural life to any other means of earning a
livelihood. His mother, Frances Elizabeth Boucher, is the second
daughter of the late R. P. Boucher, of Campbellford; both his parents
are still living, and have attained an advanced age. We may say that the
Buller family has for centuries occupied a prominent position in the
south of England, and it is a well-known fact that many of its members
have distinguished themselves by their energy and ability in the service
of their country. Dr. Buller received the foundation of a liberal
education under the paternal roof, and subsequently continued his
studies in the High School at Peterborough. Having chosen medicine as a
profession, he entered the Victoria School of Medicine, of Toronto, and
graduated from that institution in 1869. Shortly afterwards he went to
England to perfect himself in his profession, where he soon won the
diploma of membership of the Royal College of Surgeons. While in London
he spent considerable time in the further study of general medicine and
surgery in St. Thomas’s Hospital, and satisfied himself that there was
no such thing possible as the attainment of perfection in all the
branches of a science so far-reaching as that of medicine. He resolved
to devote himself to the study of a specialty, having reason to believe
that the medical profession in Canada would be willing to sustain any
specialist who could bring evidence of having received a sufficiently
thorough training to merit public confidence. Keeping this idea steadily
in view, he spared no pains to become thoroughly proficient in the
specialty he had chosen. At that time the renowned Von Gräfe was still
living, and shedding the lustre of his great fame over the University of
Berlin; Helmholtze, too, the discoverer of the ophthalmoscope, honoured
the chair of physical science in the same place of learning. To receive
instruction from two such men was to drink from the very source of the
fountain of knowledge; and to Berlin Dr. Buller went in 1870; nor was he
disappointed in his anticipations of the benefit to be derived from the
instructions of these illustrious preceptors. About this time the
Franco-German war broke out, and the services of every available medical
man having been called for, Dr. Buller, like many other foreigners,
volunteered his services; and during eight months he acted as
assistant-surgeon in the military hospitals of North Germany. After the
termination of the war he continued his studies in Berlin, and served
for one year as assistant in the Gräfe-Ewers Ophthalmic Hospital of that
city. Early in 1872 he returned to England, and was appointed clinical
assistant to the Royal London Ophthalmic Hospital, from which position
he was promoted to the office of junior, and soon afterwards to that of
senior house surgeon, a situation which he held with credit to himself
and to the entire satisfaction of the governors and staff of that
institution for nearly three years. Having thus acquired, in a few
years, an amount of special knowledge and experience that under less
favourable circumstances could not have been gained in a lifetime, he
was prepared to take advantage of the first opportunity that offered for
establishing himself in the practice of his profession. He then returned
to Canada, and chose the city of Montreal as the field of his future
operations. Early in 1876 he commenced practice there, and, owing to the
cordial goodwill of his professional _confrères_, obtained a lucrative
practice from the very outset. In the month of May of the same year he
was appointed ophthalmic and aural surgeon to the Montreal General
Hospital, and lecturer on diseases of the eye and ear in McGill
University—positions which he still holds; and, judging from the past,
we anticipate for him a long career of honour and great usefulness to
suffering humanity. To his credit it should be said, that Dr. Buller has
been the arbitrator of his own fortune, he having in a great degree bore
his own expenses while securing his education. He is a good example to
our Canadian youth, and shews plainly what a young man can accomplish
though starting with a capital consisting only of determination and
pluck. Dr. Buller, in religious matters, is an adherent of the Episcopal
church, and in politics may be classed among the liberals. He married
Lillie Langlois, daughter of the late Peter Langlois, of Quebec, and has
a family of two children.
* * * * *
=Willmott, James Branston=, M.D.S., D.D.S., Toronto, is a native of the
province of Ontario, having been born in the county of Halton, on 15th
June, 1837. His parents, William and Ann Willmott, were both natives of
England, but came to this country when children. After a few years’
sojourn in Little York, now Toronto, they removed with their parents to
the very verge of settlement in the central part of Halton county, where
they did faithfully and well their part in converting the wilderness
into a fruitful field. Dr. Willmott’s early life was spent on the farm,
and his education was obtained mainly at the common school in the
neighbourhood. In 1854-5 he was a student in Victoria College, Cobourg,
intending to take a university course in arts, but was prevented by
failing health. Having determined to devote himself to the practice of
dentistry, he entered the office of W. C. Adams as a student in 1858. On
completing his pupilage in 1860, he commenced practice in the town of
Milton, near his birthplace. Allying himself with the Liberal party,
from a profound conviction that the principles advocated by it were best
calculated to advance the material and moral interests of the country,
he took an active interest in the affairs of the town, and was soon
called upon to occupy positions of trust. In 1863 he was appointed a
justice of the peace, and for several years had considerable experience
in that capacity. Besides minor offices, he served his fellow-townsmen
for three years in the municipal council, and for two years of that time
was chairman of the finance committee. In 1870 he entered the
Philadelphia Dental College, graduating doctor of dental surgery in
March, 1871. Although a foreigner, he was chosen by his classmates to
deliver the valedictory on commencement day. Desiring a wider field for
practice, he removed in July, 1871, to the city of Toronto, where by
diligence and skill he has built up an extensive and lucrative practice.
In the year 1866, Dr. Willmott was actively engaged in the movement to
place the dental profession of Ontario on a better footing, which
resulted in the incorporation of the profession as the Royal College of
Dental Surgeons by the legislature of the province in its first session,
the act being assented to March 3rd, 1868. From that date the doctor has
been very closely identified with the development of dentistry. In the
year 1870 he was elected by his fellow practitioners a member of the
Board of Examiners constituted under the provisions of the Dental Act,
and on the organization of the board he was chosen secretary. At each
succeeding biennial election he has been re-elected, and has also
continuously filled the position of secretary of the board. In 1875 the
dental practitioners of the province assembled in convention, adopted a
resolution requesting the board of examiners to establish a dental
college in Toronto. Acting upon this resolution the board requested Dr.
Willmott to undertake the organization of the college, associating with
him L. Teskey, M.D., M.R.C.S. The first session of the college opened in
November, 1875, with Dr. Willmot as senior professor occupying the chair
of operative and mechanical dentistry. This position he has continued to
hold to the present time. During the twelve years which have elapsed he
has been largely instrumental, in his capacity of teacher, in developing
the very creditable degree of skill which distinguishes the dental
profession of Ontario. Since his removal to Toronto the pressure of
practice and his duties in the college have prevented him from giving
much attention to public matters. What leisure he has been able to
command has been devoted mainly to church work. Born of Methodist
parents, in early youth he became a member of the Methodist church, and
has filled nearly every office open to a layman. Soon after settling in
Toronto he connected himself with the Metropolitan Church, and has been
deeply interested in its prosperity. He now discharges the duties of
Bible-class teacher, leader, trustee, and treasurer of the Trust Board,
besides being local treasurer of several important connexional funds. He
was a member of the Toronto Methodist Conferences of 1885 and 1886 and
of the General Conference of the Methodist church which met in Toronto
in September, 1886. Dr. Willmott married in September, 1864, Margaret
Taylor Bowes, niece of the late J. G. Bowes, ex-mayor of the city of
Toronto, a lady estimable in every relation of life, and his zealous
helpmate in every good work.
* * * * *
=Patton, Hon. James=, Q.C., LL.D., Collector H.M. Customs, Toronto, was
born at Prescott, Ontario, on the 10th of June, 1824. He is the fourth
son of the late Andrew Patton, of St. Andrews, Fifeshire, Scotland, and
formerly major of her Majesty’s 45th regiment of the line. Mr. Patton’s
eldest brother (for some years rector of Cornwall and Belleville and
archdeacon of the diocese of Ontario) died in Belleville in 1874. The
family having removed from Prescott to Toronto in 1830, James was sent
to Upper Canada College, where he received the rudiments of a sound
education; and in 1840, having resolved to follow the legal profession,
he entered the office of the late Hon. John Hillyard Cameron, who then
carried on business with the late Chancellor Spragge, to study law. In
1843, on the opening of King’s College (now the University of Toronto),
he matriculated in arts, and graduated in law, and in 1858 took the
degree of LL.D. In 1845 he was called to the bar, and took up his abode
in the town of Barrie, Simcoe county, where in a very few years he
acquired an extensive practice. At an early period of his career Mr.
Patton took a deep interest in politics. The agitation consequent upon
the passage of the Rebellion Losses Bill, and the burning of the
Parliament buildings in the city of Montreal, seem to have acted as a
stimulus to his conservative instincts. Therefore, in 1852, he started
the _Barrie Herald_ as the mouth-piece of his party, and conducted it
with great energy for several years. At this time there was only one
other paper published north of Toronto, whereas now there are nearly
forty. In the meanwhile he was also engaged in legal literature,—having
published the “Constable’s Assistant”—and in 1855 aided in the
establishment and publication of the “Upper Canada Law Journal.” In 1859
he was elected a bencher of the Law Society, and having afterwards been
a solicitor-general, is now a life bencher by statute. In 1862 he was
created a Queen’s counsel. In 1853 Mr. Patton took into partnership
Hewitt Bernard, and the year following the late Sidney Cosens, and in
1857 William D. Ardagh, the Barrie firm changing to Patton & Ardagh on
Mr. Bernard being appointed deputy Minister of Justice. In 1860 he
opened a branch office in Toronto, and the year following was joined by
a former pupil, Featherston Osler, now one of the hon. justices of the
Court of Appeal, and subsequently by the late Chief Justice Moss, the
firm being known as Patton, Osler & Moss, and soon obtained a prominent
position. In 1864 Mr. Patton having been invited by Sir John A.
Macdonald to take charge of his large business, left for Kingston, but
returned again to Toronto in 1872, on the removal of the Trust and Loan
Company’s office to that city, Macdonald and Patton being the company’s
solicitors. This partnership continued until 1878, when Mr. Patton
retired from the active practice of his profession, in which he had been
engaged for thirty-three years, and took charge of the English and
Scottish Investment Company of Canada. This important position he held
until 1881, when the Dominion government appointed him Collector of
Customs for Toronto. Since that period he has faithfully performed the
duties of this responsible trust, and has done a great deal to improve
and simplify this branch of the civil service. Although in his younger
days Mr. Patton was an active politician, yet he did not seem to aspire
to parliamentary honours though often asked to become a candidate.
However, when in 1856 the Legislative Council (now the Senate) was made
an elective body and Upper and Lower Canada were mapped out into
forty-eight electoral divisions, with twelve members to be elected every
two years, he presented himself as a candidate, and was one of the six
returned that year for what is now Ontario, for the group of counties
consisting of Grey, Bruce and North Simcoe, known as the Saugeen
Division. As a member of the Legislative Council Mr. Patton was a
staunch Conservative, and he, without consulting the government, moved
(seconded by the late Sir E. P. Taché) in 1858 in that body the
resolution condemning the Brown-Dorion government—the same being taken
up by Sir Hector Langevin, seconded by Hon. John Beverly Robinson, the
next day in the Legislative Assembly—and carried it by sixteen to
eight. In 1862 he became a member of the Cartier-Macdonald ministry,
with a seat in the Executive Council (now the Privy Council) as
solicitor-general for Upper Canada—Sir John A. Macdonald being
attorney-general—but was defeated when seeking re-election, and with
the fall of the government a few weeks later, he retired from public
life. While in parliament the Hon. Mr. Patton carried through among
other measures the Debentures Registration Act, and the act that has
elevated the _status_ of attorneys, by requiring the passage of
examinations in addition to the mere service under articles; also
amendments to the Grand Jury law, but was unsuccessful in his attempt to
introduce the Scotch system of doing away with the required unanimity of
twelve petit jurors—the bill, though passed by large majorities in the
Council in four consecutive sessions, was invariably thrown out by the
Legislative Assembly. The Hon. Mr. Patton assisted at the formation of
the University Association, and was its president for several years,
holding the office until his election as vice-chancellor of the
University of Toronto. This latter office he held from 1860 to 1864,
when he was succeeded by the late Hon. Adam Crooks, Minister of
Education. In 1861-2 he was chairman of the University Commission issued
by the Crown. In 1886 he occupied a seat in the council of the Board of
Trade of Toronto, and did good service as such in helping to prepare the
laws that govern that important and influential body. In 1853 he was
married to Martha Marietta, the eldest daughter of the late Alfred
Hooker, of Prescott.
* * * * *
=Harrison, Hon. Archibald=, Member of the Executive Council of New
Brunswick, Maugerville, New Brunswick, was born at Cambridge, Queens
County, New Brunswick, on the 27th May, 1834. He is a son of the Hon. C.
Harrison, at one time member of the Legislative Council of New
Brunswick, and Mary, daughter of Jeremiah Burpee, of Sheffield, one of
the first English inhabitants of the province. His grandfather, James
Harrison, was a United Empire loyalist. Archibald removed with his
parents from Cambridge to Maugerville, Sunbury county, in 1847, and here
the family has continued to reside ever since. He received his education
at Cambridge and Maugerville, and after leaving school adopted farming
as a profession. In 1868 he was elected a member of the Provincial Board
of Agriculture, and for the two following years occupied the same
position. At the bye-election in 1868, he contested Sunbury for a seat
in the legislature, but failed to secure a majority vote. In 1870 he was
chosen warden of his county, and at the general election held during
this year was elected to represent Sunbury county in the Legislative
Assembly of New Brunswick, and on the 8th April, 1874, he was called to
the Legislative Council; on the 3rd of March, 1883, he was made a member
of the Executive Council, and shortly afterwards was appointed a member
of the Lunatic Asylum Commission. In 1886 he was appointed a member of
the board of works. In 1873 he was made a member of the senate of the
University of New Brunswick, and on the expiry of his term of office, in
1885, he was re-appointed to the same position. Politically, Hon. Mr.
Harrison sides with the Liberals; while religiously he belongs to the
Congregational body of Christians. On the 5th November, 1862, he was
married to Amy, daughter of W. S. Barker, who at one time represented
Sunbury county in the New Brunswick legislature.
* * * * *
=Gilmour, John Taylor=, M.D., M.P.P. for West York, residence West
Toronto Junction, was born in the township of Clarke, county of Durham,
Ontario, on the 3rd March, 1855. His father was a farmer and
manufacturer of lumber, and his mother, was descended from the United
Empire loyalists. He received his education at Port Hope High School,
and after leaving this institution he practised the profession of
teaching for two years. Tiring of this, he resolved to adopt the medical
profession, and entered Trinity Medical College, Toronto, from which
college he graduated in 1878. He then opened an office in Durham county,
and continued his practice here until 1884, when he removed to West
Toronto Junction, county of York, and here he has since resided, and has
met with a fair measure of success. Early in 1886 Dr. Gilmour was chosen
by the Reformers of West York to become their candidate, and when the
general elections came on in December of that year he succeeded, with
the aid of his friends, in redeeming the riding for the Liberals. In
politics he is strongly democratic, and is destined to make his mark in
the political arena. He is an adherent of the Methodist church. He was
married on the 18th March, 1878, to Emma Hawkins, of Canton, Ontario;
but death claimed this estimable lady on the 18th March, 1886.
* * * * *
=Williams, Rev. William=, D.D., Pastor of the Division Street Methodist
Church Cobourg. The Rev. Mr. Williams is the eldest son of William and
Margaret P. Williams, and was born in Stonehouse, Devon, England,
January 23rd, 1836. His mother was a daughter of Robert Pearse, of
Camelford, Cornwall, England. In 1842 the subject of this notice removed
with his parents to Toronto. During the four years of his residence in
that city he attended school, and the latter part of the time he was
engaged in preparing to enter Upper Canada College. Before he had
completed his preparatory studies he removed with his parents to Weston,
and some time later to the township of Holland, where his father settled
upon a farm. Though removed from school at a comparatively early age, he
steadily pursued a carefully prepared course of reading and study, and
in his nineteenth year he entered the ministry of the Methodist New
Connexion church. His record in that community was that of a successful
minister of the gospel. Before the union he was during four years
chairman of a district; was one year president of the Methodist New
Connexion Conference, and was acting president during the greater part
of the following year, filling the place left vacant by the lamented
death of the president, the Rev. Samuel P. Gundy. The Rev. W. Williams
took an active part in promoting the union of the New Connexion and
Wesleyan Methodist churches in this country, being on both committees;
and in 1874 he was sent by his conference, with the late Robert Wilkes,
M.P. of Toronto, as a deputation to the New Connexion Conference of
England to obtain the consent of that body to the contemplated union in
Canada. In this he and his companion were completely successful. Not
only was the requested consent given, but Mr. Wilkes and Mr. Williams
were heartily thanked for the manner in which they had presented the
matter before the conference. In 1875, after this union had been
consummated, and while he was in charge of the church in Simcoe, Rev.
Mr. Williams was sent with W. H. Gibbs, of Oshawa, by the Central Board
of Missions as a deputation to attend the missionary services in the
leading Methodist Churches in New Brunswick, Nova Scotia, and Prince
Edward Island. In 1876, in response to the special request of the
Centenary Church, Hamilton, Rev. Mr. Williams was sent to that charge,
then the largest and most influential in the London conference. He
remained there for the full term of three years. A leading member of
that church speaks of his ministry in that place:—“His discourses
showed him to be a man of culture, of extensive reading, of careful
thought, and of sound judgment. The Centenary Church never, I believe,
had a better expounder of the Word of God, or a more faithful preacher
of the gospel. Conscientious in the discharge of his duty, whatsoever he
seemed to feel should be said he spoke boldly whether it was likely to
please or displease. At the same time he evinced such qualities of
heart, such sympathy, such desire to do his people good, as secured for
him their affection, and made him very influential. As a man, Mr.
Williams was liked by all who knew him. He was pleasant and unassuming,
easy to approach, and was ready to lend a helping hand.” In 1879 Rev.
Mr. Williams became pastor of Norfolk Street Church, Guelph. He remained
there during the full term of three years, was acceptable and useful,
and during his ministry there the membership of the church and
congregation was largely increased; the debt upon the building in which
they worshipped reduced by several thousand dollars; and the financial
condition of the church greatly improved in other respects. He was also
chairman of the Guelph district during the three years of his pastorate
in that city. The following three years were spent by him in Woodstock,
where he ministered to a very large congregation in one of the finest
church edifices in the province. The first year of his pastorate in
Woodstock was marked by his elevation to the presidency of the London
Conference. This position he filled with acceptance and ability. He was
chairman of the Woodstock district during the full term of his ministry
in that rapidly rising town. At the request of the Cobourg (Division
street) Church Rev. Mr. Williams was, in 1885, transferred to the Bay of
Quinté conference, and appointed to Cobourg. There he preaches to a
large and intelligent congregation, comprising, in addition to the
general hearers, the principal, professors and students of Victoria
University. Mr. Williams is also chairman of the Cobourg district. In
May, 1887, the senate of Victoria University conferred upon him the
honorary degree of Doctor of Divinity.
* * * * *
=Glackmeyer, Charles=, City Clerk, Montreal, was born in Montreal on the
22nd June, 1820. He is of German extraction, and belongs to a family
noted for its longevity, his father, Frederick Glackmeyer, having died
in 1875, aged eighty-four years. His mother was Sophie Roy Portelance, a
French-Canadian lady, who died about 1854. His grandfather came to
Canada as bandmaster with one of the British regiments, and settled in
the city of Quebec, where he was a professor of and taught music for
many years, and died at an advanced age. Charles was educated at the
Montreal College, taking a full course, and afterwards studied law with
Peltier and Bourret. In 1843 he was admitted to the bar, and after
practising his profession for three years, entered the service of the
City Corporation as assistant city clerk. This position he held until
1859, when he was elected city clerk, and this office he still holds.
Mr. Glackmeyer is a model official, is rarely absent from his post, and
one in whom the citizens have the fullest confidence, and whom they
delight to honor. He is a member of the Roman Catholic church, and
people who know him best speak most highly of his moral and religious
character and the purity of the life he leads. On the 30th May, 1848, he
was married to M. R. Josephine Duvernay, of Montreal, eldest daughter of
Ludger Duvernay, founder of the _Minerve_ newspaper, and of the St. Jean
Baptiste Society of Montreal. The fruits of this marriage has been ten
children, only three of whom now survive.
* * * * *
=Gilpin, Edwin, jr.=, Deputy Commissioner of Public Works and Mines, and
Chief Inspector of Mines for the Province of Nova Scotia, Halifax, was
born at Halifax, Nova Scotia, on the 28th of October, 1850. His father,
the Rev. Edwin Gilpin, D.D., is the senior canon of St. Luke’s
Cathedral, and archdeacon of Nova Scotia (see sketch of Archdeacon
Gilpin in another part of this volume), and his mother is Amelia McKay,
daughter of the late Hon. Justice Haliburton. Edwin Gilpin received the
rudiments of his education at the Halifax Grammar School, and then
entered King’s College, Windsor, where he graduated A.B., in 1871. He
then took the arts course, with special courses in mining, geology, and
chemistry, and received the degree of A.M., in 1873, and at the same
time won the “Welsford,” “General Williams,” and “Alumni” prizes. After
leaving college he began the practical study of mining-engineering in
Nova Scotia, and especially in the Albion collieries of the General
Mining Association in Pictou county, and extended his observations in
the leading mining districts in Great Britain. On the 1st of March,
1874, he was elected a fellow of the Geological Society of London,
England; and in April, 1873, a member of the Nova Scotia Institute of
Natural History. On the 21st of April, 1879, he was appointed by the
government of Nova Scotia, inspector of mines for the province, which
position he now occupies. In September, 1881, he was appointed a member
and made secretary of the Board of Examiners of Colliery Officials; and
in September, 1885, was elected a member of the American Institute of
Mining Engineers. In October, 1886, he received the appointment of
deputy commissioner of Public Works and Mines for the province. Mr.
Gilpin is one of the original members of the Royal Society of Canada.
For a number of years he has acted in the capacity of consulting
engineer in the Maritime provinces, and has done good service to his
county in this direction. He is the author of a popular work on the
“Mines and Mineral Lands of Nova Scotia,” published in Halifax in 1883;
and has also contributed valuable papers on the “Sub-marine Coal Fields
of Cape Breton;” “Nova Scotia Iron Ores;” “The Manganese of Nova
Scotia;” “The Carboniferous and Gold Fields of Nova Scotia;” “The
Geology of Cape Breton;” and various other papers on the geology and
economic mineralogy of Nova Scotia, which have been published in the
Transactions of the following societies: The North of England Institute
of Mining Engineers; The Geological Society of London; The Nova Scotia
Natural History Institute; The Royal Society of Canada; and The American
Institute of Mining Engineers. He has also written several annual
reports to the government of Nova Scotia, on the progress and
development of the Crown minerals of the province. Mr. Gilpin takes no
particular part in politics; but in religious matters, he is a staunch
adherent of the Church of England. He was married on June 29th, 1875, to
Florence Ellen, daughter of Lewis Johnstone, surgeon, Albion Mines, Nova
Scotia. Mrs. Gilpin’s father is a nephew of the late Equity Judge
Johnstone, and provincial grand master of the Masonic order. Three
children have been born of this union.
* * * * *
=Bégin, Rev. Louis Nazaire=, D.D., Principal of the Laval Normal School,
Quebec, member of the Academy of the Arcades of Rome, and of the Royal
Society of Canada, was born at Levis, on the 10th January, 1840. His
father, Charles Bégin, farmer, died in August last, 1887, in his
ninety-first year; his mother, Luce Paradis, died about eighteen months
ago, in her eighty-second year. After attending the Levis Model School,
then under the direction of M. N. Lacasse, at present a professor at the
Laval Normal School, Rev. Abbé Bégin followed, for one year, the
mathematical course of the Commercial College of St. Michel
(Bellechasse). That course was ably given by Professor F. X. Toussaint.
His parents sent him, in 1857, to the Little Seminary of Quebec, to
follow the classical course of that institution. As he had already
commenced to study Latin with M. Lacasse, he was enabled to terminate
his course in five years, in 1862. He then obtained the degree of
Bachelor of Arts at Laval University, and was the first to carry off the
Prince of Wales prize. He resolved to adopt a religious life, and
entered the Grand Seminary of Quebec, in September, 1862, where he
studied theology, while teaching the class of syntax at the Little
Seminary. The Seminary of Quebec was at that time thinking seriously
about organizing a faculty of theology in connection with Laval
University, and it was the earnest desire of the authorities that all
the professors of that faculty should be educated in Rome itself. In
May, 1863, his Eminence Cardinal Taschereau, then superior of the
Seminary of Quebec, and rector of Laval University, proposed to Abbé
Bégin to go and pass a few years in Rome, in order to study theology,
take his degree, and then return to Quebec as professor of its
university. This proposition was accepted, and on the 4th September of
the same year, Abbé Bégin left Quebec to take his passage at Boston. He
had as travelling companions Abbés Louis Pâquet and Benjamin Pâquet (now
Domestic Prelate to his Holiness Leo XIII.), who were also sent to Rome
to study the sacred science. Abbé Bégin was absent five years and
returned to Quebec only in July, 1868. He followed the course of the
Gregorian University of the Roman College, including dogmatic and moral
theology, sacred scriptures, history of the church, canonic law, sacred
oratory, and the Hebraic language. His professors were the Rev. Fathers
Ballerini, Cardella, Sanguinetti, Patrizi, Angellini, Armellini,
Tarquini and Franzelin; the two last named became, a short time
afterwards, cardinals of the holy Roman Church, and died a short time
ago. He received all the minor and major orders in Rome, and was
ordained a priest in the Major Basilica of St. John de Latran on the
10th of June, 1865, by His Eminence Cardinal Vicar Patrizi. In the
following year (1866), he succeeded in obtaining the degree of Doctor in
Theology at the Gregorian University. The Seminary of Quebec granted the
request of Abbé Bégin, and gave him permission to remain some time
longer in Rome to make a special study of ecclesiastical history and
Oriental languages: the Hebrew, the Chaldean, the Syriac, and the
Arabic. The scholastic year 1866-67 was given to these interesting
occupations. While at Rome he resided at the French Seminary, _via Santa
Chiara_. After the great Roman festival in connection with the centenary
of the death of St. Peter and the canonization of the saints, in 1867,
he went to Innsbruck, in the Austrian Tyrol. During the summer holidays
of the preceding years he had visited Italy, Savoy, Switzerland,
Prussia, Belgium, and chiefly France, but he spent the summer of 1867 in
studying the German language, so rich in scientific works on history and
holy scripture. On the 30th September of the same year he started for
Palestine, in order to get thoroughly acquainted,—as he had long
desired,—with certain biblical and historical facts. He spent more than
five months in this trip through Austria, Hungary, Roumania, Servia,
Bulgaria, the two Turkeys, the islands of Tenedos, Lesbos, Rhodes and
Cyprus, Lebanon and Anti-Lebanon, Phœnicia, Palestine, Egypt, and
Sicily. He then returned to Innsbruck to continue his studies in history
and languages at the Catholic University, under the celebrated
Professors Wenig, Jungmann, Hurter, Kobler, Nilles. He left Tyrol on the
2nd July, 1868, crossed France and England, and arrived at Quebec on the
27th of the same month, by the steamer _Moravian_, of the Allan line. He
brought with him several Egyptian mummies and archæological curiosities
he had acquired for the museum of the Catholic University of Quebec. In
September he commenced to teach a portion of dogmatic theology and
ecclesiastical history, as professor of the Faculty of Theology of Laval
University. He taught from 1868 until 1884, having also, during the last
seven or eight years, charge of the pupils of the University, or of
those of the Little or Grand Seminary; he was also prefect of studies of
the Little Seminary. During four or five winters he gave numerous public
lectures at Laval University on the most controverted and interesting
questions of the history of the Church. A select gathering filled the
hall to hear these lectures given every week from the Christmas vacation
till Easter. The first year (1870) he spoke about the prerogatives of
Papacy, and refuted the objections raised, at the time of the Council of
the Vatican, against the infallibility of the Pope, considered from an
historical standpoint. These lectures were published in a volume of over
400 pages, entitled, “La Primauté et l’Infaillibilité des Souverains
Pontifes.” In 1874 he published a second work entitled “La Sainte
Ecriture et la Règle de Foi.” This work was translated into English:
“The Bible and the Rule of Faith,” in 1875, and printed in London by
Burns & Oates. In the same year (1874) an eulogy of Saint Thomas Aquinas
was published. Abbé Bégin had delivered it at Saint Hyacinthe, in the
church of the Rev. Dominican fathers, on the occasion of the sixth
centennial anniversary of the death of Dr. Angélique. In 1875 he
published another work entitled “Le Culte Catholique.” After passing six
months (October, 1883, to April, 1884) at Pont Rouge, Portneuf county,
to recruit his health, Abbé Bégin accompanied to Rome the Archbishop of
Quebec, who was going to sustain the rights of Laval University and the
division of the diocese of Three Rivers, before the Holy See. The voyage
was prosperous, and lasted over seven months. On his return from Rome,
on the first of Dec., 1884, he found his friend, Abbé Lagacé,
dangerously ill. Death carried away, five days later, this distinguished
priest, who had consecrated the best part of his sacerdotal career to
the education of youth. Abbé Bégin was chosen by the Catholic Committee
of the Council of Public Instruction to occupy the important post of
principal of the Normal School, hitherto filled by Abbé Lagacé, and this
choice was ratified by an order-in-council on the 22nd January, 1885.
Since that time Abbé Bégin has fulfilled the functions of principal of
the Normal School, comprising the department of male and female pupil
teachers. Last year (1886) he published a small “Aide-Mémoire,” or
“Chronologie de l’Histoire du Canada,” designed, as indicated by its
name, to help the memory of pupils and facilitate their preparations to
the examinations on the history of our country.
* * * * *
=Anderson, Capt. Edward Brown=, Sarnia, was born at Oakville, in the
county of Halton, Ontario, on the 24th January, 1838. His father, Edward
Anderson, was born at a farm known as “Stenrie’s Hill,” near the town of
Moffat, in Dumfriesshire, Scotland, and died at Oakville, in December,
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