A Cyclopaedia of Canadian Biography: Being Chiefly Men of the Time by Rose
1881. He was married again on 29th November to Miss Nealis, daughter of
2557 words | Chapter 48
Simon Nealis, Fredericton, New Brunswick.
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=Stephen, Sir George=, Baronet, Montreal, President of the Canadian
Pacific Railway of Canada, was born at Dufftown, Banff, Scotland, on the
5th of June, 1829, and received his education in the parish school of
his native place. On leaving school at the age of fourteen, he was
apprenticed to the late Alexander Sinclair, draper and dealer in dry
goods in Aberdeen. After serving the usual apprenticeship of four years,
he entered the service of the well-known wholesale and shipping house of
J. F. Pawson & Co., of St. Paul’s Church Yard, London, where his
business education was completed. In 1850 he came to Canada, and entered
the service of his cousin, the late William Stephen, of Montreal, with
whom, in 1853, he formed a partnership under the style of William
Stephen & Co. Mr. Stephen having died in 1862, George purchased his late
friend’s interest in the business, and at once entered largely into the
manufacture of cloth. This venture having proved highly remunerative, he
withdrew from the wholesale trade, and devoted his attention exclusively
to this branch of business. He was elected a director of the Bank of
Montreal, the largest banking institution in Canada; and in 1876, on the
retirement of Mr. King from the presidency, he was chosen
vice-president. On the death of the late David Torrance he was elected
president. Sir George Stephen’s first connection with railway
enterprises, and with which his name will always be connected in the
annals of our country, was his joining a syndicate for the purchase of
the interests of the Dutch holders of the bonds of the St. Paul and
Pacific Railway, which gave them control of this partially constructed
line. Realising the importance of this road as a link in the chain of
railway communication with the North-West _via_ the Pembina branch of
the Canadian Pacific Railway, they carried the work of construction
rapidly forward, and soon found themselves in possession of an
exceedingly profitable line. They were in a position to control not only
the entire traffic of the Canadian North-West, but to render tributary a
large part of Minnesota and Dakota. The large profits made from this
monopoly they devoted to extending the sphere of their operations by
constructing lines in various directions, making St. Paul the focal
point of this system, and re-naming their line the St. Paul and Manitoba
Railway. This led to Sir George’s connection with our great national
line, the Canadian Pacific Railway, and in 1881 he was elected its
president. In 1885, in conjunction with his cousin, Sir Donald A. Smith,
he founded the “Montreal Scholarship,” tenable for three years, and open
to the residents of Montreal and its neighbourhood, in the Royal College
of Music of London; and again in 1887 he joined his cousin in presenting
the munificent sum of $1,000,000 ($500,000 each) to build a new
hospital, to be called the Victoria Hospital, at the present time (1887)
in course of erection. In 1885 the government of Canada presented him
with the Confederation medal, and in 1886 Her Majesty the Queen created
him a baronet, in recognition of his great services in connection with
the Canadian Pacific Railway. Though married, he has no family of his
own to inherit his great wealth and honours. A few years ago his adopted
daughter was united in marriage to the son of Sir Stafford Northcote,
and resides in England. Sir George is one of the most popular,
charitable and kind-hearted men in the dominion.
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=Harper, J. M.=, M.A., Ph.D., F.E.I.S., Quebec, the subject of the
following biographical sketch, was born on the 10th February, 1845, at
Johnstone, in Renfrewshire, Scotland. Dr. Harper is the son of the late
Robert M. Harper, printer, bookseller and publisher, of Johnstone, and
founder of the first weekly newspaper printed in that place. On the
maternal side, he is of Celtic origin. His granduncle, the late Robert
Montgomery, was for many years a prominent manufacturer in Johnstone,
where he was held in high esteem by his fellow citizens. Johnstone forms
part of the Paisley Abbey parish, a district famous for its schools, and
it was at one of the best of those that the subject of our sketch
received the rudiments of his education. From the parish school he went
to the Glasgow E. C. Training College, an institution founded by Stowe,
and one from which America has drawn several prominent educationists. He
entered college as a Queen’s scholar of the first rank, and after
completing the full course of study, retired with the highest
certificates granted by the lords of committee of Council on Education,
and with special certificates from the science and art department,
Kensington. After coming to this country, he became a graduate of
Queen’s University, Kingston, and some years ago he received the degree
of Doctor of Philosophy from the Illinois University, after completing
the three years post graduate course in the section of metaphysical
science. In 1881 he was unanimously elected a fellow of the Educational
Institute of Scotland, an honour seldom conferred upon teachers
labouring outside of Britain, and only upon those of advanced
experience. Before leaving Scotland he had received an appointment to an
academy in New Brunswick, where he laboured successfully for the full
term of his engagement. After several years residence in the Maritime
provinces, he was eventually appointed principal of the Victoria and
High Schools, St. John, N.B., the largest institution of the kind in
that section of Canada. Here, as elsewhere, he laboured to raise the
teaching profession in the estimation of the public, and endeavoured to
foster an _esprit de corps_ among the teachers themselves. He succeeded
in introducing many of the improved methods of imparting instruction by
holding meetings with the teachers, and otherwise followed up his
efforts in this direction by giving instruction in drawing, chemistry,
botany, and kindred subjects. In 1877 the Hon. L. H. Davies, premier of
Prince Edward Island, visited the educational institutions of St. John,
and meeting with the principal of the Victoria School, was not slow in
recognizing his worth as an educationist. After carefully examining the
system under which the St. John schools were being conducted, and no
doubt anxious to introduce such a system in his own province, he invited
Dr. Harper to accept the position of superintendent of Education in
Prince Edward Island. This generous offer, however, was declined, as the
head master of the Victoria School had no desire to leave his adopted
province. But not long after, the Victoria School building was destroyed
in the great fire of St. John, and, on hearing of the calamity, Mr.
Davies followed up his previous offer by asking Dr. Harper to assume the
principalship of the Provincial Normal School in Charlottetown. This the
latter did, but only on the understanding that he would be free to
return to St. John as soon as the Victoria School was rebuilt. While on
the island the value of his work was at once keenly appreciated. In a
letter written by the premier, in which he gives expression to the
general sentiment of the public in regard to educational progress on the
island, he says: “As a matter of fact, Mr. Harper organized the whole
school. What existed under the name of Normal School was merely a name.
He infused life and vitality into it. The bitterness of religious strife
was such when he took charge as to defy all attempts to make the school
in any sense a provincial one. By tact and judicious management, he
succeeded in overcoming all that, and under his rule the school has been
a great success. Intimately connected with him as I was for nearly two
years, I can speak of his ability, tact, and administrative power,
because he was, in addition to being principal of the Normal School,
also superintendent of the city schools. He succeeded in carrying out
the difficult task of grading Protestant and Catholic children in the
schools, so that entire satisfaction was given to the citizens. I
consider the province owes him a debt of gratitude for his successful
labours.” Nor is the testimony of others less explicit. “Mr. Harper,”
says the Rev. Mr. McLennan, “has occupied for some time the position of
principal of the Normal School of this province, and of superintendent
of the city schools, having been invited to occupy these offices by the
government for the purpose of establishing a system of training,
organization and equipment suitable to give effect to a Public School
Act, passed by the legislature in 1877. The high reputation which he
enjoyed as a teacher and writer on school affairs—the influential
situation he was filling at the time as principal of the Victoria
School, St. John, New Brunswick, and the recommendation of prominent
educationists who were acquainted with his career, pointed him out as
eminently fitted for the position offered to him in Prince Edward
Island. The heavy task which he undertook was performed with vigour,
ability, and acknowledged success. The condition of the city schools, in
point of organization and methods of instruction, was soon brought into
conformity with that which characterizes the best public schools in
other provinces. A superior public edifice was constructed at a cost of
$30,000; while in the Normal School the work of instruction and
training, conducted more immediately by himself, gave indications of the
value of that special work, virtually new in this province.” At the end
of a year or more, when Dr. Harper proposed to return to St. John, the
government of Prince Edward Island, being anxious to continue the work
of educational progress so successfully inaugurated, put forth every
effort to induce him to resign his position in New Brunswick, and to
take up his abode permanently in Charlottetown. After some delay they
succeeded, and for three years the subject of our sketch became a
resident of the island, holding during the last year of his residence,
when a change of government, in 1879, brought about the amalgamation of
the Normal School and the Prince of Wales College, the position of
professor in the amalgamated institution, with special supervision of
the department for the training of teachers. Beyond his professional
reputation, however, Dr. Harper has not failed to make his mark as a
gentleman of matured literary tastes. From his earliest years he has
taken a deep interest in literature and literary pursuits. In Nova
Scotia he took an active part in establishing a literary periodical,
devoted at its inception to the cultivation of Canadian literature, and
has continued more or less frequently to contribute to our periodical
literature in prose and verse. Many of his lyrics have been highly
praised, while some of his poems in the Scottish dialect merit a
prominent place in the literature of his native country. He also enjoys
a reputation of some distinction as a writer and compiler of school
text-books, and is the author of several excellent lectures, including
“Plato,” “The New Education,” “Cause and Effect in School Work,” and
others. The Literary and Historical Society of Quebec is indebted to him
for two valuable papers, published in the Transactions, and entitled,
“The Maritime Provinces,” and “The Development of the Greek Drama.” He
is also a contributor to the Transactions of the Royal Society of
Canada. For many years Dr. Harper was rector of the Quebec High School,
and for a season was also professor of mathematics in Morin College. At
present he holds the position of inspector of Superior schools for the
province of Quebec, being, besides, editor of the _Educational Record_,
examiner for teachers’ licenses, and secretary-treasurer of the
Protestant Board of School Commissioners. He is also president of the
teachers’ local association; vice-president of the Provincial
Association of Teachers; vice-president of the Quebec Literary and
Historical Society, and president of the St. Andrew’s Society. In the
rank of progressive educationists, Dr. Harper occupies a prominent
place. Few can show a fuller record of honest work done in the interests
of education in Canada. Indeed, he has always been most ready to lend
his experience, professional training, and literary ability to advance
the interests of a calling which is now being universally recognized as
second in importance to no other. He was married to Agnes, daughter of
William Kirkwood, of Stanley Muir, Paisley, by whom he has had two sons
and five daughters. Mrs. Harper died in 1883.
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=Lyall, Rev. William=, LL.D., Professor of Logic and Psychology in
Dalhousie University, Halifax, is a Scotchman by birth, having been born
in Paisley, on the 11th of June, 1811. He received his primary education
in the Paisley Academy, then studied in the Glasgow College, and
afterwards spent two years in the Edinburgh University. He adopted the
ministerial profession, and was minister for some time of the Free
Church (Presbyterian), Uphall, Linlithgow. He came to Toronto, Ontario,
in 1848, and took a position as tutor in Knox College of that city. Two
years afterwards, in 1850, he removed to Halifax, Nova Scotia, receiving
the appointment of professor of classics and mental philosophy in the
Free Church College there. In 1860, on the union of the Free and United
Presbyterian churches in Nova Scotia, he held the same office in the
united colleges at Truro. In 1863, when the Collegiate Institution was
amalgamated with Dalhousie College, he was appointed to the
professorship of Logic and Psychology in the Dalhousie University,
Halifax, and this position he has continued to fill ever since.
Professor Lyall has contributed several papers on theological and
philosophical subjects to Canadian and foreign reviews. In 1855, he
published a volume on philosophy entitled “Intellect, the Emotions, and
the Moral Nature,” which was very favourably noticed by the reviewers at
the time, and which he has used as a text-book in his prelections ever
since. In 1864 he received the degree of LL.D. from McGill University,
Montreal. He is evangelical in his religious views.
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=Johnston, Chas. Hazen Levinge=, M.D., L.R.C.S., Edinburgh, St. John,
New Brunswick, was born at St. John on the 21st December, 1843. He is
the youngest and only surviving son of the late John Johnston, who was a
graduate of King’s college, Windsor, Nova Scotia, barrister-at-law,
member of parliament for the city of St. John, and for many years police
magistrate for the same place; and grandson of Hugh Johnston, sr., who
settled in New Brunswick, in 1783, became one of the leading merchants
of St. John, and for seventeen years consecutively represented that city
and county in the legislature. This gentleman was married to Margaret
Thurburn, a Scotch lady, and a member of a very old family in
Roxburgshire. Charles H. L. Johnston, the subject of this sketch,
received his education at the Grammar School in St. John, New Brunswick,
King’s College, Aberdeen, and at the University of Edinburgh, Scotland.
After his return to St. John he began the practice of his profession,
and during the Fenian disturbance on the border, acted as assistant
surgeon to the militia forces. During 1876 he occupied the position of
surgeon to the Marine Hospital. Dr. Johnston joined the order of Masons
in 1872, and became worshipful master of Leinster lodge, No. 19, in
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