A Cyclopaedia of Canadian Biography: Being Chiefly Men of the Time by Rose
1837. His parents, William and Mary Smith, are both alive, and residing
1718 words | Chapter 44
in Canada. Rev. Mr. Smith received his early education at private
schools in his birthplace, and when thirteen years of age entered a
wholesale drapery establishment, where he continued for about seven
years. This business not being entirely in accordance with his taste, he
abandoned it, and entered St. Augustin’s College, Canterbury, to study
for the ministry. In February, 1864, he bade farewell to England, and
set sail on the _Bohemian_ steamship for Canada. When eighteen days out
the _Bohemian_ struck the rocks near Portland, and became a total wreck,
and through this mishap he unfortunately lost his library and outfit.
Shortly after reaching Canada, in 1864, he was ordained deacon by the
Bishop of Ontario, and two years afterwards, priest by the Bishop of
Montreal. For the past ten years he has been rector of St. Paul’s
Church, at Dunnville, and is very much respected by his parishioners. He
was married in 1866 to Lizzie, third daughter of the late Colonel
Edwards, of March, Ontario.
* * * * *
=Mackay, Alexander Howard=, B.A., B.Sc., F.S.Sc. (Lond.), Pictou, Nova
Scotia. Alexander Mackay, the paternal grandfather of the subject of
this sketch, and the progenitor of a numerous family, many of whom are
favourably known in Canada as members of the learned professions, was
born in Sutherlandshire, Scotland, in 1762. He emigrated to Mount
Dalhousie, in the county of Pictou, Nova Scotia, in 1822, took up
several hundred acres of land for farming, and in 1847 died, loved and
revered by a large community who looked up to him as a patriarchal
chief. His second son, John Mackay, was born in Sutherlandshire, in
1810, and emigrated with his father and the rest of the family in 1822.
In 1836 he travelled through a portion of the United States of America,
and Ontario, in Canada, where he took up some land; but finally settled
down on the old homestead. In 1847 he married Barbara Maclean, who was
born at Roger’s Hill, in the county of Pictou, in 1823. Her father, John
Maclean, was born in the west of Scotland, about 1758, and died at
Roger’s Hill in 1848. From this marriage came a family of seven boys and
three girls. The eldest, Alexander Howard Mackay, was born on the 19th
May, 1848. His father was a man of remarkable probity of character, of
very superior intellectual powers, and enthusiastically patriotic. In
addition to the farm, a mechanic’s shop, with a turner’s and
cabinetmaker’s tools and machinery, supplied the ways and means. There
was no luxury, however. Hard manual work, alternated with study, was
used in developing the various and versatile powers of the whole man.
The play of mechanical ingenuity, original constructive effort, and
acute investigation, filled the hours of recreation. This family
discipline was a perfect success. The father, John Mackay, died February
22nd, 1879. The mother is living in good health at the date of writing,
August, 1887. Young Alexander could read and write before he went to the
public school, which was two miles distant. The farm and the school
divided his time; but the leisure hour found him constructing a sextant,
theodolite, or transit instrument, which he never previously saw, and
with which he made remarkably accurate measurements; or making some
apparatus to demonstrate a law in physics or chemistry; or exploring the
natural history of the picturesque glen running through the homestead.
In 1865 the trustees of the school section pressed him to take charge of
their school. Although he had no license, never having thought of
becoming a teacher, he accepted the position. In 1866 he graduated at
the head of his class from the Provincial Normal School at Truro. In
1867 he attended the Pictou Academy, and at the provincial examination
of teachers following, won the first place. In the fall of 1869 he
matriculated in Dalhousie College, and for four years was a leading
prizeman in his classes. He graduated a B.A. in April, 1873, with
special honours in mathematics and physics. He was also the
valedictorian of his class, and was for the last three years of his
undergraduate course an editor of the college paper, _The Dalhousie
Gazette_. He also took classes in the School of Science in the
Provincial Museum, under the provincial geologist, Dr. Honeyman; and in
the Medical College, then affiliated with Dalhousie. After graduation he
was appointed principal of the County Academy at Annapolis Royal, and a
few months later received the unsolicited appointment to the
principalship of the Pictou Academy and public schools of Pictou, which
position he holds at present. He assumed charge of the Pictou Academy,
November 1st, 1873, since which time the staff and attendance of the
institution have been more than doubled. In 1874 he was elected
president of the Education Convention of Nova Scotia, a position to
which he was re-elected. From this time he has taken a very active and
forward part in promoting educational reform through the press and
otherwise. In 1876 he spent a portion of the year in studying the
educational appliances in the leading cities of the eastern United
States. His efforts culminated in 1881, in the erection of the present
Pictou Academy, one of the finest and best equipped academic buildings
in Canada. Its facilities for scientific teaching are greater than are
those of many colleges. In 1880 he graduated a B.Sc. from the University
of Halifax, with first class honours in biology. In addition to his
educational work, he has also found time to engage in original
scientific investigation. His papers or work may be found in the
“Proceedings” of several scientific societies. His popular scientific
writings have been numerous and widely diffused. In 1884 he was elected
a member of committee of the Biological section of the British
Association meeting in Montreal. In 1886 he was elected a fellow of the
Society of Science, Letters and Art, London. And the same year he was
elected president of the Alumni of Dalhousie College and University; and
also, president of the Nova Scotia Summer School of Science. He knows no
rest, for at the same time he is a member of a multitude of local
societies, and in every sense an active citizen. He is a member of the
Kirk Session of St. Andrew’s Presbyterian Church in Pictou; but also
contributes to other denominations. He believes in a catholic union of
all Christian effort, and a scientific expansion of religious
philosophy. In local politics he independently supports educational
reform. In Dominion politics he avows a preference for the policy of the
Liberal-Conservative party. He is a Britisher, first, against the whole
world; and a Canadian all the time, and will fight. He has just started
the “Educational Review” (of which he is Nova Scotian editor), in
company with G. U. Hay, Ph.B., of St. John, New Brunswick, and Principal
Anderson, of the Prince of Wales College, Prince Edward Island. In 1882
he married Maude Augusta Johnstone, only daughter of Dr. George Moir
Johnstone, M.R.C.S., London, and his wife, _née_ Sarah Mortimer Smith,
of Pictou town.
* * * * *
=Archibald, Abram Newcomb=, was born in Stewiacke, Nova Scotia, June
2nd, 1849, and died in Halifax, November 27, 1883. He was the seventh
son of Daniel Archibald, J.P., and Rebecca Newcombe, his wife, both of
whom are still living (December, 1886). Daniel Archibald is a great
grandson of Samuel Archibald, the second of four brothers from
Londonderry, Ireland, who settled in Colchester county, in 1762. This
family has produced many distinguished men, including among others the
late S. G. W. Archibald, Master of the Rolls, and his two sons, Sir
Thomas D. and Sir Edward M. Archibald, Sir Adams G. Archibald and
Senator T. D. Archibald. Mr. Archibald attended the schools of his
native place in his boyhood, and subsequently pursued his classical
studies for a couple of years under the tuition of his brother, the Rev.
E. N. Archibald, M.A. In 1867 he took charge of the public school at
Musquodoboit, Halifax county; in May, 1876, he was appointed principal
of Richmond School, Halifax city; and in November, 1879, principal of
Albro School. He resigned this latter position in July, 1881, on his
appointment to the office of secretary and superintendent, of colportage
for the British American Book and Tract Society, with headquarters in
Halifax. In the discharge of his new duties, Mr. Archibald visited all
the centres of population in the lower provinces and addressed public
meetings. Early in 1883 he proceeded to Britain, on business connected
with the society, and to present its claims to the British public, being
accompanied on this tour by his wife and son. Mr. Archibald was invited
to speak in many of the principal churches in Edinburgh and Glasgow, as
well as before the United Presbyterian Synod and the Free Church
Assembly, which met in Edinburgh in May. He was also present by
invitation and spoke at the annual missionary breakfast of the Religious
Tract Society, held in the Cannon Street Hotel, London. The interest
awakened by Mr. Archibald’s addresses was very gratifying, and resulted
in his obtaining liberal subscriptions to the funds of the society. On
his return to Halifax in the autumn, Mr. Archibald was able to present a
most satisfactory report of his mission, and received the warmest thanks
of the committee. Shortly after resuming his work in Nova Scotia, he was
seized with typhoid fever, and although a very strong man, he finally
succumbed to the attack. Many public bodies, as well as private
individuals on both sides of the Atlantic, gave formal expression to
their deep sense of the loss sustained in his death. Mr. Archibald was a
ready and persuasive speaker and a good writer. Many of his essays and
addresses have been published. He always took a leading part in
educational, temperance, Sabbath-school and all religious work. As
president of the Halifax Sunday-school Union, he occupied the chair at
the great centenary meeting held in Halifax, July 3rd, 1880; and at the
time of his death he was a member of the executive committee of the
Young Men’s Christian Association of Halifax. Mr. Archibald married,
December 14th, 1874, Mary Mellish, third daughter of James L. Mellish,
of Pownal, P.E.I. They had one son, Raymond Clare, born October 8th,
Reading Tips
Use arrow keys to navigate
Press 'N' for next chapter
Press 'P' for previous chapter