A Cyclopaedia of Canadian Biography: Being Chiefly Men of the Time by Rose
1834. His father, Matthew MacFarlane, was born in the parish of Dramore,
3097 words | Chapter 6
county of Tyrone, Ireland, and was a descendant of a family of that
name, who, with others, sought refuge from the persecution then
prevailing in the Highlands of Scotland. The record of the family dates
back to the beginning of the thirteenth century. The family name of
“MacFarlane” took its origin from a grandson of the Earl of Lennox,
named Bartholomew, the Gaelic of which is “Pharlan,” whose son was named
MacFarlane (or son of Bartholomew). The seat of the Earl of Lennox was
Dumbarton castle, which was held by his descendants the MacFarlanes, at
intervals, and for six centuries they held possession of their original
lands, the principal seat of which was Arrochar, at the head of
Lochlong. The MacFarlane clan fought, and distinguished themselves, in
the battle of Langside, May 13th, 1565, their valour mainly contributing
to decide the fortunes of the day, and the defeat of Mary, Queen of
Scots. For their bravery they received from the Regent their crest and
motto which has ever since been inscribed on their family escutcheon,
“This I’ll defend.” Chief among the descendants of this ancient family
may be mentioned Walter MacFarlane, of MacFarlane, who is justly
celebrated as the indefatigable collector of the ancient records of his
country, and whose historical writings, according to Mr. Skeen, “form
the best monuments to his memory; and as long as the existence of the
ancient records of the country, or a knowledge of its ancient history
remains an object of interest to any Scotchman, the name of MacFarlane
will be handed down as one of its benefactors, which monument will be
found more enduring than the barbaric splendour of his warlike
countrymen, which has long since faded away, thus showing that it is not
the destroyer but the benefactor of his fellow-creatures who is secure
of immortality.” In 1815, when but a lad of twelve years of age, Matthew
MacFarlane, accompanied his father, James MacFarlane, and other members
of the family, to America, and on their arrival settled at Rockland, in
Kingston, Kings county, N.B. Some years afterwards, and when the family
had grown up, Mr. MacFarlane, sr., left his eldest son, Charles, on the
homestead, and removed, with Matthew and his other sons and daughters,
to Studholm, in the same county. About the year 1827, being amongst the
pioneer settlers of that part of the country, Matthew MacFarlane married
Sarah Foster, whose father, Ezekiel Foster, came from New England during
the American war. One of his brothers fought at the battle of Lexington,
and died in defending what he considered his rights, having espoused the
cause of the colonists. Foster MacFarlane, the subject of our sketch,
was the fifth child of this marriage, and first saw the light in a log
cabin, the common abode of the pioneer farmers of those days. His
earliest education was received in the parish school, and was limited to
the rudiments of an ordinary English education. At the age of twenty,
having passed the required examination before the local board then
existing, he received a license to teach in the public school. After
teaching for a time, he entered upon a course of study at the Baptist
Seminary, Fredericton, and afterwards took a special course for a time
at the University of New Brunswick. After leaving the university, he
pursued a course in medicine at Harvard University, Cambridge, United
States, and was privileged to sit at the feet of such men as Professor
Agassiz, Jeffries Wyman, Oliver Wendell Holmes, and E. Brown-Sequard, of
Paris, graduating in 1868. He first practised medicine in his native
parish for two years and a half. During this time he was appointed by
the government a coroner for Kings county. He then removed to Fairville,
St. John, N.B., where he has ever since practised his profession. He has
been a member of the Senate of the University of New Brunswick since the
spring of 1883, and a director of the Union Baptist Education Society
since its incorporation. He was one of the promoters of the Dominion
Safety Fund Life Association, filling for a number of years the position
of director, and is now its medical superintendent. He united about
thirty years ago with the Sons of Temperance, and has since belonged to
other temperance organizations, being now a member of the Independent
Order of Good Templars. He was brought up in connection with the
Methodists, but in the year 1858 his views underwent a change, and he
united with the Baptists, and is at present a member of the Fairville
Baptist church. On July 20, 1868, he was married to Elizabeth A.
Babbitt, daughter of Samuel Perry and Phœbe Babbitt, of St. John, N.B.
He has five children—one son and four daughters.
* * * * *
=Burns, Rev. Robert Ferrier=, D.D., Pastor of the Fort Massey
Presbyterian church, Halifax, Nova Scotia. This popular minister was
born in Paisley, Scotland, on the 23rd of December, 1826. His father was
Robert Burns, D.D., and his mother, Janet Orr, daughter of the first
provost of Paisley. His mother’s sister, Susan, was mother of Sir
Archibald Orr Ewing, baronet, M.P. for Dumbarton. His father had three
brothers in the ministry of the Church of Scotland,—namely, Rev. James
Burns, who for forty years was minister of the parish of Brechin; Rev.
William H. Burns, D.D., Kilsyth; and Rev. George Burns, D.D., first
Presbyterian minister of St. John, New Brunswick, afterwards of
Tweedsmuir and Corstorphine, Scotland,—and two uncles in the service of
their Sovereign—Major-General Islay Ferrier, the last governor of
Dumbarton castle, and Sir William Hamilton, baronet, who commanded the
marines that pulled the guns up to the Plains of Abraham, in 1759, at
the taking of Quebec. Miss Ferrier, author, and friend of Sir Walter
Scott, was a second cousin. Rev. Dr. Burns, sr., was pastor for
thirty-three years of Dr. Witherspoon’s church (Laigh Kirk and St.
George’s), Paisley, and moved to Toronto in 1845, and became the first
pastor of Knox’s Church in that city, and professor in Knox’s College.
He died at Toronto on the 19th of August, 1869; and his widow on the
22nd of August, 1882. Rev. Dr. Robert Ferrier Burns received his early
education at the High school of Paisley, and then entered the University
of Glasgow, where he remained four years, taking honours in Latin,
Greek, logic, and moral philosophy. He studied theology in the New
College (Free Church), Edinburgh, and Knox’s College, Toronto. In April,
1847, he was licensed to preach by the Presbytery of Toronto, and on the
1st of July following he was ordained pastor of Chalmer’s Presbyterian
church, Kingston, Ontario. He was Presbyterian chaplain in the 71st
Highland Light Infantry for a year. He remained in this charge for eight
years, and, during his ministry there, succeeded in having built for his
congregation a handsome church edifice. In July, 1855, he moved to St.
Catharines, and was settled over Knox Presbyterian church of that place.
A fine building was erected by his people for him. Here he ministered
until March, 1867, when he accepted a call from the Scotch Presbyterian
church in Chicago, United States, to become its first pastor, and,
during his residence there of three years, a church was built. In 1866,
the degree of D.D. was conferred upon him by Hamilton College, New York.
In April, 1870, he was translated to Côté Street Presbyterian church
(now Crescent street), Montreal, as successor to Principal MacVicar,
where he did good work. On the 18th of March, 1875, he became pastor of
Fort Massey Presbyterian church in Halifax, as successor to the Rev. J.
K. Smith, M.A., now of Galt, who for two years had been first pastor of
this influential congregation. In 1873, Dr. Burns occupied the position
of moderator of the Synod of Montreal, and in 1883 he was moderator of
the Synod of the Maritime provinces. During his residence in Montreal he
was chairman of the Presbyterian College Board; and, for the past twelve
years, has acted as chairman of the Halifax College Board. In 1880 he
was sent as a delegate to the Raikes’ centenary celebration in London,
and during the same year he represented the Assembly of the Presbyterian
Church of Canada in the Presbyterian Council at Philadelphia. In 1884 he
was a delegate from the same church to the council held in Belfast,
Ireland, where he read one of the papers presented to that body, and was
appointed one of its executive committee. This year (1887) the doctor
has been nominated for the moderatorship of the General Assembly of the
Presbyterian Church, which meets in Winnipeg, Manitoba, in June next.
Rev. Dr. Burns takes a great interest in Sunday-school work, and was one
of the first to advocate the establishment of Sunday-school conventions
in Canada, which have done so much of late years to advance this branch
of Christian work. As a platform speaker he stands high, and has often
spoken on subjects, professional and otherwise, before large audiences.
At present he is lecturer on theological themes in the Presbyterian
College at Halifax. As a book-writer, too, he has done his share. His
life of his father, a volume of nearly five hundred pages, published in
Toronto in 1873, soon went through three editions. His other writings,
“Sketch of Abraham Lincoln,” “The Presbyterian Church,” “Modern
Babylon,” “The Maine Law,” “Christian Liberality,” “Confession and
Absolution,” and a variety of sermons and tracts—have all been
favourably received, and commanded a good sale. He has also contributed
largely to the columns of the newspaper press and our periodicals. Dr.
Burns has travelled a good deal, and has visited Great Britain, Ireland,
France, Germany, and various other places in Europe, and is very
familiar with Canada and the United States. He was married on the 1st of
July, 1852, at Belleville, Ontario, to Elizabeth, second daughter of
Rufus Holden, M.D., a much esteemed physician, and elder of the
Presbyterian church, in Belleville. Dr. Burns has eight children—four
sons and four daughters.
* * * * *
=Bullock, Joseph=, Oil Merchant, St. John, New Brunswick, is a native of
Springfield, Ohio, and was born on September 6th, 1833. His father was
William Bullock, a native of Staffordshire, England, who came to the
United States a few years prior to the birth of Joseph. His mother’s
maiden name was Ann Clark Peacock, she being of the Yorkshire family of
that ilk. His mother’s parents came out to Ohio about the same time as
Mr. Bullock, sr. Mr. Peacock went there to accept the position of
engineer for the state of Ohio. Joseph Bullock’s parents removed to
Hamilton, Ontario, in the spring of 1834, he then being only a few
months old. Two years later they removed to what is now known as
Bullock’s Corners, near Dundas, the place taking its name from his
father. It was here Mr. Bullock spent his boyhood, and got what
education could in those days be procured in the public school of the
vicinity. On leaving school he helped his father in his business, which,
by the way, was that of lumberman. During the time he was so engaged, he
married when in his 25th year, Elizabeth, daughter of Isaac Duffield, a
farmer of the township of Glanford, South Wentworth. Two years after his
marriage, the lumber business declining, he commenced business as
general store-keeper at Bullock’s Corners, which he continued for about
three years. After this he settled upon a farm he owned in West
Flamboro’, and worked it for two years. His father having died in the
meantime, he left West Flamboro’ and took up his residence at the old
homestead. Here he remained about three years, travelling occasionally
for his brothers-in-law, Duffield Bros., of London, oil refiners. In the
year 1869, Confederation being an accomplished fact, Mr. Bullock removed
to St. John, New Brunswick, to engage in the oil business, which has now
assumed such large proportions. His original intention was to handle
Canadian oil exclusively, but as the years rolled on, American products
had also to be handled, and he is now the largest dealer in oils in the
maritime provinces. In politics, Mr. Bullock is thoroughly independent,
voting more on the character of the man than from purely party motives.
It is, however, in the religious world that Mr. Bullock is most
conspicuous. As a boy he was identified more particularly with the
Church of England, but at the age of about twenty years he became a
member of the Methodist church, of which he is a consistent and earnest
member. Prior to the great fire of 1877, Mr. Bullock was a trustee of
the old German Street Methodist Church, the oldest church in the city,
and after its destruction by that fire, was chairman of the building
committee of the present Queen Square Methodist Church, and of which he
still continues a trustee. It was largely to his energy and liberality
that the erection of this church was due. He is also a member of the
quarterly board of his church, and is one of the board of directors of
the British and Foreign Bible Society for the city of St. John. He is a
total abstainer, and has been for the most of his life, and is
pronounced in favour of the prohibition of the liquor traffic. When Gen.
Booth visited St. John, he was the guest of Mr. Bullock. Mr. Bullock has
had a family of three children, one of whom is deceased, and the
remaining ones, two sons, are associated with him in business.
* * * * *
=Binney, Irwine Whitty=, Collector of Customs, Port of Moncton, New
Brunswick, was born on the 10th of July, 1841, at Halifax, Nova Scotia.
He is a son of the late Stephen Binney, who for many years was a leading
merchant in Halifax, and who, when the city was incorporated, was
elected its first mayor. Mr. Binney, sr., acting as mayor, on the
occasion of the birth of the Prince of Wales, visited England, and
presented an address to Her Majesty the Queen, signed by a large number
of the citizens. This gentleman was grandson of the late Hon. Hibbert N.
Binney, who for a period of nearly forty years, filled the office of
collector of customs and excise at Halifax, and was also a member of the
Legislative Council; and great-grandson of the late Hon. Jonathan
Binney, one of the first residents of Halifax, who was a member of the
first Legislative Assembly (1758) of the province. He and Frederick des
Barras met the Indian chiefs at Arichat, New Brunswick, in 1761, and
concluded a lasting peace, and was appointed to the Legislative Council
in 1768; second judge at St. John’s Island (near Prince Edward Island);
and also collector of customs for the island. I. W. Binney, the subject
of this sketch, is brother to William Pryor Binney, Her Britannic
Majesty’s consul at Syra, Greece, and was educated at various schools,
including the Sackville Academy, New Brunswick, receiving a commercial
education. In his younger days he found employment as a clerk in several
commercial houses; and from 1861 to 1864, he was in the old established
and well known lumber firm of Gilmour, Rankin & Co., Miramichi, New
Brunswick. He also carried on a wholesale business at Chatham, New
Brunswick, for a few years, and afterwards engaged in mining operations
in Nova Scotia and Cape Breton, in company with the late Sir A. J. Smith
and others. He was appointed a clerk in Her Majesty’s customs in 1874,
and promoted to the collectorship at the port of Moncton, New Brunswick,
in 1883. He joined the Freemasons in 1862; was made a Royal-Arch-Mason
in 1866, and Knight Templar in 1870. At present he is a past master of
Keith lodge of Moncton, New Brunswick. He is an Episcopalian in his
religious views. Mr. Binney’s father moved to Moncton, New Brunswick,
from Halifax, in 1845, and died there in 1872. Mr. Binney is unmarried,
and his mother and widowed sister reside with him.
* * * * *
=Berthelot, Hon. Joseph Amable=, Judge of the Superior Court of
Montreal. This learned judge was born on the 8th of May, 1815, at St.
Eustache, county of Two Mountains, by the marriage of Joseph Amable
Berthelot, notary, and Dame Marie M. Hervieux. Mr. Berthelot’s father
was from Quebec, where he finished his classical studies in 1796, having
been the classmate of the late Hon. Judge Thomas Taschereau, the father
of his eminence the Cardinal, and also that of the late Hon. Judge
Vanfelson, who died in Montreal. Judge Berthelot began his Latin course
in 1824, and finished it on the 9th of June, 1832, when at the age of
seventeen. The course that year was suddenly terminated, on account of
the cholera, the professors having deemed it prudent to send back the
scholars to their families in the month of June. In the month of October
of the same year he began his legal studies, being indentured with the
late Hon. Sir. L. H. Lafontaine, who had married his cousin in 1830. Sir
George E. Cartier, who was his classmate at college, also commenced
studying law in 1832, in the office of the late Etienne E. Rodier,
advocate, M.P.P. for the county of l’Assomption. After being admitted to
the bar in November, 1836, he became the partner of Mr. Lafontaine, and
continued to practise his profession in such partnership until July,
1853, when Mr. Lafontaine was appointed chief justice of the province of
Lower Canada on the demise of the late Sir James Stuart. A few days
after, Mr. Berthelot entered into partnership with his friend, the late
Sir George E. Cartier, and continued this partnership until he was
appointed assistant judge of the Superior Court, succeeding the late
Hon. C. D. Day, who was appointed codifier in February, 1859. On Justice
Day’s resignation having been accepted by the government, in 1860, Judge
Berthelot was immediately appointed permanent judge of the Superior
Court. On this occasion, in December, 1860, the bar of Montreal held a
meeting in order to express publicly their satisfaction of the
appointment of Judge Berthelot to the bench, and adopted resolutions,
copies of which were transmitted to the judge, and also published in the
newspapers of the day, amongst others in _La Minerve_. These resolutions
read as follow:
At a special meeting of the members of the bar of Lower Canada
section of this district, which was held on Wednesday, the 12th
of December instant, it was unanimously resolved:
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