A Cyclopaedia of Canadian Biography: Being Chiefly Men of the Time by Rose
1841. He is son of Robert Hopper, whose father came from Hamilton,
7913 words | Chapter 71
Yorkshire, England, among the earliest settlers in New Brunswick. He
married Sarah Peck, a descendant of Joseph Peck, of Hingham, Norfolk
county, England, who, with his brother, Rev. Robert Peck, in 1636, fled
from persecution with other Puritans to New England, and settled in
Hingham, Massachusetts, where, in addition to being a representative of
the general court, he held other important offices. John Elisha Hopper
completed his academic studies in the Baptist Seminary, Fredericton,
N.B., and matriculated in Acadia College, Wolfville, N.S., taking its
course of study, save that of the junior year, which he spent at Madison
University, New York, and graduating A.B. in June, 1862. His theological
studies were pursued in part under the direction of the Rev. Dr. Cramp,
of Acadia College, and in part at Regent’s Park College, London,
England, with Rev. Dr. Angus and Rev. Dr. Ben. Davis, the celebrated
Hebraist. Here we may say Dr. Hopper comes of Baptist parentage, and was
baptized by the Rev. W. A. Coleman, at Harvey, Albert county, N.B., in
December, 1858, and preached his first sermon, 29th April, 1860, in
Greenfield, N.S. In 1865, after completing his theological studies, he
for a short time preached at Shediac, Petitcodiac, and Sussex Vale. At
the latter place the first regular services in connection with the
Baptist denomination were held by him, and resulted in the establishment
of one of the strongest churches in the place. In the same year he
accepted an invitation to become associate principal with Rev. Dr.
Spurden, of the Baptist Seminary, Fredericton, and the following year he
succeeded him as principal. In September, 1868, Dr. Hopper was ordained
a minister at Fredericton. In 1869 he resigned the principalship of the
Baptist Seminary, and on the invitation of the Baptists of St. Stephen,
began there the work of organizing a Baptist church. A handsome church
edifice and parsonage were erected, and a good congregation and
Sabbath-school gathered; and then in 1872 he accepted the pastorate of
the First Baptist Church, Burlington, Iowa, and remained there six
years, receiving into the fellowship of the church in that time over two
hundred persons. In April, 1878, Dr. Hopper having purchased a half
interest in the _Christian Visitor_ newspaper, published in St. John,
N.B., returned to Canada, Rev. Dr. George Armstrong becoming associated
with him. In 1879 he bought the other half of the paper, and enlarged
the printing, publishing and book business, editing and publishing the
_Christian Visitor_, _Canadian Record_, _Youth’s Visitor_, _Gem_, and
International Sunday school lessons. This business he carried on until
1885, when he sold it out, and assumed the pastoral charge of the
Brussels Street Baptist Church. His relationship with this church began
in 1880, and is still continued. He, however, still edits and publishes
the _Canadian Record_ and Sunday school papers. In 1870 Rev. Mr. Hopper
received the degree of M.A. from Acadia College; and in 1882 that of
D.D., from Morgan Park Theological Seminary, Chicago. In August, 1867,
he married Emma, daughter of Deacon John Smith, of St. John.
* * * * *
=Irvine, Matthew Bell=, C.B., C.M.G., Commissary-General, Quebec, was
born on the 7th January, 1832, in Quebec city. He is descended from an
ancestry that have left their mark on Canada. Adam Irvine, son of Adam
and grandson of Peter Irvine (spelt Irving in the Orcadian records of
1730), of Garson, in the Orkney islands, North of Scotland, came to
Canada soon after the conquest, and was accidentally killed at Quebec,
on the 7th May, 1776. His son, James Irvine, born in England in 1766,
was a member of the mercantile firm of Irvine, McNaught & Co., of
Quebec, and for a number of years was a member of both the Executive and
Legislative councils of Lower Canada. In 1822 this gentleman was
commissioned president of the Court of Appeal of the Executive Council
in the absence of the chief justices of Montreal and Quebec; and in 1824
was nominated by letters-patent under the Great Seal, arbitrator for
Lower Canada to adjust the duties between Upper and Lower Canada. He
served in the militia of the province from 1803 until 1822, when he
retired with the rank of lieutenant-colonel. James Irvine married on the
13th July, 1801, Anne, eldest daughter of John George Pyke, of Halifax,
Nova Scotia, and had issue two sons, John George and James. The latter
died young; and the Hon. James Irvine died at Quebec on the 27th
September, 1829. John George Irvine, the father of the subject of our
sketch, was born at Quebec on the 31st December, 1802, and passed his
early life in the firm of Irvine, McNaught & Co. In 1837, on the
outbreak of the rebellion, he was appointed a captain in the Royal
Quebec Volunteers. In 1838 he was gazetted a lieutenant-colonel and
deputy-quartermaster-general of militia; and on the 5th November of the
same year was commissioned major of the Queen’s Volunteers, a regiment
raised for active service. He was appointed extra Provincial A.D.C. to
the governor-general of Canada on the 14th November, 1851; Provincial
A.D.C. on the 1st November, 1852; and principal A.D.C. on the 2nd
October, 1868. On the occasion of the visit of the Prince of Wales in
1860, Colonel Irvine was nominated acting adjutant-general to attend on
his Royal Highness during his official tour in Canada. He married, on
the 4th February, 1826, Anne, third daughter of the Hon. Matthew Bell,
of Three Rivers, and had issue four sons and four daughters. He died at
Quebec on the 1st November, 1871, in the sixty-ninth year of his age. Of
this family three sons and two daughters still survive; namely, Hon.
George Irvine, judge of the Vice-Admiralty Court, Quebec; Acheson
Gosford Irvine, lieutenant-colonel and late chief Commissioner of the
North-West Mounted Police; Matthew Bell Irvine, commissary-general,
Quebec; Eliza Inglis Irvine, and Frances Isabella Irvine.
Commissary-General Irvine was educated at the High School of Quebec. On
the 30th March, 1848, when a mere lad, he joined her Majesty’s
Commissariat department of the army, and in this branch of the service
he remained until the 1st of April, 1881, when he retired with the
honorary rank of commissary-general. During this period he served in
Europe, Asia, Africa, North and South America, and Australia. He was
present in Turkey and the Crimea during the latter part of the Eastern
campaign, in 1855-56. He was created a companion of the Most
Distinguished Order of St. Michael and St. George, for services as
senior control officer on the Red River expedition of 1870, under
Colonel (now Lord) Wolseley; and was also created a companion of the
Most Honorable Order of the Bath in 1874, for services as senior control
officer during the Ashantee campaign under Major-General Sir Garnet
Joseph (now Lord) Wolseley, K.C.M.G., C.B. In religion he is an adherent
of the Church of England. He was married at Bayswater, London, England,
on the 2nd June, 1875, to Charlotte Feodore Louisa Augusta, only child
of the Rev. N. Guerout, of Berthier, _en haut_, Quebec, and widow of
George A. L. Wood, of Quebec.
* * * * *
=Wilson, Daniel=, LL.D., F.R.S., President of the University of Toronto,
was born in the city of Edinburgh, Scotland, in 1816. His father,
Archibald Wilson had a large family. One of his sons, Dr. George Wilson,
well known as an eminent chemist, was for some time professor of
technology in the University of Edinburgh, and died in 1859. Dr. Daniel
Wilson, the subject of our sketch, after passing through the High
School, entered the University of his native city; and when he had
reached his twenty-first year, went to London, England, to push his
fortune. After a residence there of several years, during which he
relied for support chiefly on the reward of his literary labors, he
again turned north, and continued to wield his pen in Edinburgh, where
he soon became distinguished for his ardent love for archæological
studies. In his twenty-seventh year he came to Canada, at the insistance
of the historian Hallam, who, with Lord Elgin, the then governor-general
of Canada, warmly recommended the appointment of the young _littérateur_
and zealous secretary of the Scottish Society of Antiquaries to the
chair of history and English literature in University College, Toronto.
The removal to Canada was a grave step in itself. But it was more than
this when it broke in, as it did, upon serious studies pursued with
great ardor, severed the dearest ties, social and professional, and
withdrew from a promising field of labor one who was not only fast
making his way to the front, but whose genuine abilities and true
scientific devotion, had he remained in it, would doubtless have gained
him rich pecuniary rewards, with many accompanying honors. However, to
Canada he came, and one of the interesting as well as valuable
_souvenirs_ of his parting with his Scottish friends and scientific
associates is a costly service of silver in the learned doctor’s
possession, the inscription on which bears the testimony of his
associates in the Society of Antiquaries of Scotland, “To Dr. Wilson’s
intelligent and faithful labors as secretary, and to their admiration of
his great learning and genius so successfully devoted to the
investigation of the archæology of Scotland.” Devoted student as he was
of archæology, and much as he had done in Scotland to enrich the subject
by laborious local research, Dr. Wilson, in coming to Canada, found a
wide field for its pursuit on the American continent; and much has he
assiduously gathered in the interval to add to the stores of information
and reasonable conjecture in this interesting branch of science. The
fruit of this is abundantly found in important treatises on the subject
which have come from his pen, as well as in the many occasional papers
contributed to the scientific journals and transactions of learned
societies in both hemispheres. The number and bulk of the latter would
fill many portly volumes, and are in themselves a monument of
intellectual labor. In the brief space at our disposal we can give but a
bald enumeration of the more important works which have come from Dr.
Wilson’s pen. The first of these was “Memorials of Edinburgh in the
Olden Time,” a work in two volumes, published in 1847, with
illustrations from the author’s facile pencil. This interesting work,
with his “Reminiscences of Old Edinburgh,” published in 1878, reveal Dr.
Wilson’s tastes as an antiquary and his varied accomplishments in
undertaking the work of tracing the history, antiquities and local
traditions of the Scottish metropolis. A contemporary critic affirms of
the first of these books, that “these volumes will do the author honor
in his native city so long as the ancient capital of Scotland stands.”
In 1851 appeared a kindred but more ambitious work in the wider field of
Scottish antiquities, entitled “The Archæology and Prehistoric Annals of
Scotland.” This scholarly and elaborate production drew from the
historian Hallam the criticism that it was the most scientific treatment
of the archæological evidences of primitive history which had ever been
written. The reviewers were also equally laudatory, a high authority
saying that the work was “full of original views, bearing everywhere the
stamp of independent investigation and of an independent judgment,” and
calculated “to form an epoch in the study of the earlier antiquities of
Scotland and of Britain at large.” Another competent authority speaks of
this work as “one of extraordinary merit, particularly in the lucidity
of its scientific combinations and inductions, the charm of its style,
and the perfect fidelity of its many pictorial illustrations.” A second
edition being called for, the author in 1863 republished the work, with
large additions and a careful revision, under the shorter title of
“Prehistoric Annals of Scotland.” The term “Prehistoric” in its earlier
use, in 1851, it may be worth noting, was, we believe, a coinage of the
author’s; he, at least, was the first to bring the word into vogue. In
1863 also appeared what may be considered the author’s _magnum opus_, a
work embodying the results of researches in archæology and ethnology in
both hemispheres, and of which two subsequent editions, considerably
re-written, have appeared. Of this production, which bears the title of
“Prehistoric Man: Researches into the Origin of Civilisation in the Old
and the New Worlds,” the Edinburgh _Witness_ at the time under the
editorship of the geologist, Hugh Miller, remarks that “the topic is not
only vast in range, complex in material, and difficult from its nature,
but brings the man who ventures to discuss it into contact with
momentous and perplexing questions touching the origin of civilisation,
the unity of the human race, and the time during which man has been a
denizen of this planet. Dr. Wilson proves himself at all points equal to
his task.” This emphatic verdict has been endorsed in other eminent
quarters, and high commendation passed upon the book, not only for its
scientific value, but for the attractiveness of its literary style. To
these works have to be added three volumes, which, though notable in
themselves, by no means represent the bulk of Dr. Wilson’s purely
literary labors. They are respectively entitled “Chatterton: a
Biographical Study” (1869); “Caliban, the Missing Link” (1873); and
“Spring Wild Flowers,” a volume of graceful verse. In the Chatterton
biography, the author has lovingly gathered all that is worthy of record
in the career of the ill-fated Bristol dreamer; and the volume is the
best tribute known to us to the young poet’s genius. “Caliban” is an
interesting Shakespearian study, combining great imaginative power with
a strong critical faculty, and giving the reader much curious
information, with not a little fanciful disquisition, on the Evolution
theory. The little volume dedicated to the Muses, of which two editions
have appeared, emphasises the twin sisterhood of Science and Poetry, and
enshrines some thoughtful lines on religious and moral subjects, with
several happy examples of lighter verse. In addition to these published
works, a whole library of contributions from the author’s pen is
scattered through the “Proceedings” of the Society of Antiquaries of
Scotland, the London Anthropological Institute, the Edinburgh
Philosophical Institution, the British and American Associations for the
Advancement of Science; the “Journal” of the Canadian Institute (for
some years edited by Dr. Wilson); and the “Transactions” of the Royal
Society of Canada. Of this latter society, to the vice-presidency of the
literature section of which Dr. Wilson was nominated by its founder, the
Marquis of Lorne: the doctor has been the chief working supporter, and
to it has contributed many valuable papers, both in literature and
science. To the present (ninth), as well as to the earlier (eighth),
edition of the “Encyclopædia Britannica,” Dr. Wilson has also been an
extensive contributor. In the current edition, the articles on “Canada,”
“Confederation,” and “Toronto” are from his pen, as are the biographical
articles on “Ferguson” and “Chatterton”; while the article on
“Edinburgh,” it is understood, was written by him, and, oddly enough,
was sent to Scotland from Toronto. Besides this mass of literary work, a
number of contributions from the same source, on literary and historical
subjects, with a good many reviews, art critiques, and academical
addresses, have from time to time appeared in the pages of the “Canadian
Monthly,” the “Canada Educational Monthly,” _The Week_, and other native
journals. These, with other important philanthropic and Christian labors
in Toronto, covering the period of half a lifetime, bear witness to Dr.
Wilson’s untiring industry, and the force and range of his mental
powers, as well as mark the nobleness of his personal character. A
sketch, however brief, of the life and work of Dr. Wilson would be
singularly incomplete which contained no reference to his labors as an
educationist, and to his onerous duties in University College, both as
professor and since 1881, when he succeeded Dr. McCaul, as its executive
head. In some respects, and perhaps with truth, it may be said that Dr.
Wilson would have done more justice to himself if he had made a choice
in his life’s work between literature and science rather than, as he has
done, given the prose side of his mind to archæological studies, and
reserved its poetical side for literature. But the financial
circumstances of the institution with which he has been so long
connected, made this from the first impossible, and compelled him,
laboriously and ardently, to toil on in dual and somewhat incongruous
fields of work. With the result, however, no one can reasonably quarrel,
for in both fields it must be said he has acquitted himself well and won
merited fame. He who would trace Dr. Wilson’s life in the sphere of his
academic labors must do so with real enthusiasm, with loving sympathy,
and with hearty admiration for the scholar and the man. His lifelong
interest in Toronto University, the many sacrifices he has made for it,
his devotion to the subjects he has so ably taught in the college, and
his inspiring and elevating influence upon the students who have
successively come under his care, are matters that require little
dwelling upon by any local pen. Nor is there need to say a word to any
graduate, of the college at any rate, of the learned doctor’s ever ready
courtesy, of his kindness of heart, of his simplicity of character, or
of his high moral worth. Testimony to these and other lovable qualities
in the president of University College is, we are sure, as abundant as
testimony is emphatic to the learning and genius of their gifted
possessor. If the state, strangely enough, has done little to mark Dr.
Wilson’s services, both to science and education, throughout a long and
unwearying life, he has at least this consolation, that, among those who
have had the honor of personally knowing him, appreciation of their
number and worth lies deep in every breast. The passing years have dealt
kindly with the subject of this brief sketch; the figure, always spare,
is still erect, and the step has lost little in the march of time of its
early elasticity. The eyes look at you with the old-time keen, rapid
glance; and there is the same kindly note in the voice, which rises and
falls with that familiar, soft, measured cadence, which belongs
distinctively to those who hail from the Scottish metropolis. For
thirty-five years President Wilson has been connected with the
University and College of Toronto, and has given to that institution the
abundant fruitage of a rich, matured, and industrious life. During that
long period, though he has daily gone in and out among almost all
classes of the people of Toronto, and in many ways has contributed to
the intellectual life and to the enriching of the scientific thought of
Canada, and, indeed, of the continent, there are not many, we fear,
outside of academic circles who recognise the genius, the learning, and
the pre-eminent abilities of Dr. Wilson, or who appreciate him as a man
at his true worth. In a general way the few in Toronto may know him as a
learned scientist, and perhaps as an accomplished _littérateur_; but to
the mass of his fellow-citizens he is little more than a prominent
educationist, and the head of the national university. If this statement
seems unfair, let us ask, how many know of his great reputation and high
recognised status in the first scientific circles of the Old World, or
who think of him in the light of his deserts—as one of the foremost men
of the age in his own special departments of archæological and
ethnological science? Canada as yet has not been fertile in great men;
but here doubtless is one, if we are to take the measure of his worth
not only from his books, though these undoubtedly are an author’s best
and truest memorial, but from the estimation in which he is held in high
scientific circles abroad, and the unsought honors conferred upon him by
many of the learned societies of Europe. Only eminent services to
science could have secured him the recognition of crowned heads and the
issue of royal diplomas setting forth these services, with enrolment
among the distinguished honorary members of the great scientific
societies and learned institutions of the mother land, and of France,
Italy, and Denmark. Dr. Wilson has now reached the evening of his days,
and as the lengthening shadows fall athwart him and his labors, the
writer of this, with many who love him, may well wish that a life so
singularly pure and worthy may be prolonged and continued for many years
yet at the service of his adopted country. But when the line of the
allotted span has been crossed, wishes we know must be vain; and the
granite shaft in yonder cemetery, with its touchingly beautiful tribute
“to the wife of his youth,” who “was the bright sunshine of a long and
happy life,” is a monition which neither he nor any wise friend can
disregard, however distant all may wish the day when the Master’s
summons shall come to one who has been eminently faithful, and the
sombre curtain shall drop for ever upon his work.
* * * * *
=Miller, John Stewart=, Centreville, Ontario, Treasurer of the Township
of Camden, M.P.P. for Addington, was born on the 17th September, 1844,
in the township of Camden, county of Addington. He is the only son of
Thomas Miller and Christina Madden. The family came originally from
Ireland and settled in New England. During the revolutionary war they
left that country and moved to Three Rivers, and subsequently, in 1790,
took up their abode in the Bay of Quinté. He received his primary
education in the schools of his native place, and then entered the
Commercial College at Belleville, where he graduated in 1871. He then
began farming on the homestead, lot No. 30, seventh concession of
Camden, and here he continued his agricultural pursuits until 1886. In
1883 Mr. Miller began with a partner, business as a general merchant in
the village of Centreville, and is still engaged in mercantile pursuits.
He has taken a deep interest in military affairs, and in 1879 held the
rank of lieutenant in the 48th battalion, and on the disbandment of this
corps became attached to the 47th battalion. In 1875 he was appointed
clerk of Camden township, and on resigning this office in 1886, received
the appointment of treasurer of the same township, and this office he
still holds. He joined the Orange Association in 1864, and served as
county master in 1878-9. He became a member of Prince of Wales lodge,
No. 146, of the Free and Accepted Masons in 1869; assisted in organizing
Victoria lodge, No. 229, and was its master in 1870-71; and in 1883 he
helped to organize Lorne lodge, No. 404, and was elected its first
master, holding the office for three years. Mr. Miller has always taken
an active interest in politics, and in 1880 was elected
secretary-treasurer of the Liberal-Conservative Association of
Addington. He presented himself in 1886 for parliamentary honors, and in
December of the same year was elected to represent his native county in
the Ontario legislature by a handsome majority over his opponent. In
politics, as will be seen above, Mr. Miller is a Liberal-Conservative.
His mother joined the Methodist church in 1828—who, by the way, is
still alive, and a member of the same church—and the son is connected
with the same religious body. He has been twice married; first, in 1871,
to Carrie, second daughter of James Hawley. She died on the 24th
February, 1874. He married, the second time, in 1877, Anne, eldest
daughter of the late Robert Robertson, of Kingston.
* * * * *
=Choquette, Philippe Auguste=, LL.B., Advocate, Montmagny, Quebec
province, M.P. for the county of Montmagny, was born on the 6th January,
1854, at Belœil, county of Verchères. His ancestors came from Amiens,
Picardie, France, in 1643, and settled in Varennes, in the county where
the subject of our sketch was born. His parents were Joseph Choquette,
farmer, and Marie Thaïs Audet. He received his education at St.
Hyacinthe College, and at Laval University, Quebec, and graduated B.C.L.
from the latter institution in 1880, having previously taken the silver
medal given by the governor-general, Lord Lorne. While he was
prosecuting his studies at Laval, he acted as private secretary to the
Hon. Honoré Mercier, then solicitor-general in the Joly administration,
and now premier of Quebec province. He held, for about three years and a
half, the position of book-keeper in a wholesale boot and shoe
establishment in St. Hyacinthe before he began to study law. He then
returned to Quebec in 1877, and entered the office of the Hon. François
Langelier, M.P., and mayor of Quebec, to study law. After being admitted
to the bar of Lower Canada in 1880, he removed to Montmagny, where he
successfully practised his profession. Since 1877 he has been a
contributor to _L’Union_, of St. Hyacinthe, and _L’Electeur_, of Quebec;
and was publisher of _La Sentinelle_, a weekly paper at Montmagny,
during the years 1883 and 1884. In 1878 he began to take an active part
in politics; and in 1882 he ran for a seat in the House of Commons at
Ottawa against A. C. P. R. Landry, the Conservative candidate, but was
defeated by a majority of 120 votes. At the general election held in
1887 he again presented himself in opposition to Mr. Landry, and this
time carried his election by a majority of 193 votes. Mr. Choquette has
travelled through the principal parts of the United States. He has been
secretary of the Reform Club of the county of Montmagny since 1881. In
politics he is a strong Liberal, a free trader, in favor of commercial
union, and would not object to annexation to the United States. He is an
adherent of the Roman Catholic church, but objects to the clergy
interfering and mixing in political contests. On the 29th August, 1883,
he was married to Marie, daughter of A. Bender, prothonotary of the
Superior Court, and granddaughter of the late Sir E. P. Taché baronet,
A.D.C. to her Majesty the Queen, and one of the promoters of
confederation.
* * * * *
=Méthot, Right Rev. Michel Edouard=, A.M., D.D., Quebec, Domestic
Prelate of his Holiness, also Professor of Literature at Laval
University, and of Moral Theology at the Grand Seminary of Quebec,
member of the Archiepiscopal Curia of Quebec, was born on the 28th July,
1826, in the parish of Ste. Croix, county of Lotbinière, province of
Quebec. His parents were Joseph Méthot, farmer, and Marie Xavier
Desrochers. In 1839 he entered the Little Seminary of Quebec, where he
followed the literary and scientific course of that institution. In
1847, having completed a classical course of instruction, he entered the
Grand Seminary of Quebec, and went through a course of theology, being
admitted to the holy orders in 1849. It may truly be said that Monsignor
Méthot has devoted his entire life to the education of the youth of his
country, teaching at first in the Little Seminary of Quebec, and then
successively at the Grand Seminary and at Laval University, where he
gave a public course of literature. He was also prefect of studies for
ten years at the Little Seminary, twice director of the Grand Seminary,
librarian of Laval University, and lastly, superior of the Seminary and
rector of the University for seven years. He was the first vice-rector
of the branch of Laval University in Montreal, which positions he
resigned at the end of the academic year 1886-7 owing to ill-health. He
visited Europe twice, the first time in 1860, when he went to England,
France, and Italy. Our readers need not be surprised if we tell them
that Monsignor Méthot visited the principal institutions of learning,
colleges, museums, the most celebrated libraries, and monuments of arts
of those countries, his taste and eagerness for learning leading him to
choose those attractions in preference to all others. In 1866, having
obtained leave of absence to recuperate from the exhausting labor of
teaching, he crossed the Atlantic a second time and passed a whole year
in Belgium. Rest, however, consisted in further studies. On his arrival
in Belgium he went to the Catholic University of Louvain and applied
himself to the study of theology, scriptures, and ecclesiastical history
in that celebrated institution of learning. He has contributed to the
newspaper and periodical press of the Province of Quebec several
articles, biographical sketches and literary essays, which will help the
historian of the future to write accurately the history of our Dominion.
Mgr. Méthot was elevated to the dignity of domestic prelate by his
Holiness Pope Leo XIII. in 1887.
* * * * *
=Cloran, Henry Joseph=, B.C.L., Barrister, Montreal, was born in that
city on the 8th May, 1855. His father and mother are both Irish. The
former, Joseph Cloran, is a native of county Galway, and the latter, Ann
Kennedy, is from county Limerick. Having received his primary education
in the Christian Brothers’ School at home, and passed a year in the
public schools of New York, he entered the Montreal College in 1868,
where he made a complete and successful course of classical studies. On
graduating from college in 1875, he left for Europe, where during three
years he prosecuted a course of scientific, philosophical and
theological studies in the celebrated college of St. Sulpice, in Paris.
During his sojourn in Europe he visited Italy, Switzerland, France,
England and Ireland, and returned to Canada strongly equipped for the
combats of the future with an extensive stock of knowledge, and a
precious _ensemble_ of information on the Irish question and general
European politics. On his return home, Mr. Cloran filled for a year a
professorship of English literature in his _alma mater_, the Montreal
College. He then took a course of law in the Universities of Laval and
McGill, and graduated from the latter with the degree of B.C.L. He
studied in the offices of the eminent legal firm of the late Edward
Carter, Q.C.; Hon. R. Church, now judge of the Court of Queen’s Bench;
and of Hon. J. A. Chapleau, ex-premier of Quebec, and now Secretary of
State. At the close of his law studies, the editorship of the Montreal
_Post_ and of the _True Witness_ became vacant in 1882 by the
resignation of J. C. Fleming. This responsible and important position
was offered to Mr. Cloran, who accepted, and then commenced a
journalistic career which has been crowned with marked success. We have
no need to dwell upon the cleverness, judgment and ability displayed by
Mr. Cloran in the functions of editor, nor upon the success he achieved.
The _Post_ is the only Irish daily paper in America, and he made it the
organ of Irish Canadian opinion, esteemed by friends and feared by foes.
The articles from Mr. Cloran’s pen have been widely reproduced and
commented on by the leading papers in Canada and the United States, and
even in the European press. In 1886 when the board of directors wished
to give the support of the _Post_ to certain Tory candidates in the
general provincial elections of that year, the young editor declined to
obey their mandate, and rather than write a single line inconsistent
with his convictions, he threw up the editorship of the paper. Mr.
Cloran is a man of principle, and has on all occasions the courage of
his convictions. There is no hypocrisy in his nature; he is at all times
manly and straightforward. Animated by no prejudice, he bends and yields
to none. His public opinions are also his private ones—a trait which is
not always to be discovered in the character of public men. He is an
ardent lover of fair play, and finds his pleasure in championing the
cause of the weak and the wronged. An Irish Canadian, and an
uncompromising Home Ruler, like all patriotic Irishmen, he ranks among
the number of those broad and liberal minds who do not shut themselves
up in the narrow circle of an exclusive programme. The cause of the half
breeds of the North-West—which is, after all, the same in many respects
as that of the Irish people—naturally found in Mr. Cloran a willing and
earnest advocate. His attitude on the North-West and Riel questions was
inspired by the purest and most patriotic of motives. Living in the
midst of French Canadians, whose friend he is, and a patriot from a
Canadian as well as an Irish standpoint, Mr. Cloran rightly believed he
was consistent with himself in joining with them in the province of
Quebec to defend provincial rights and autonomy. He finds, with much
reason, that Home Rule, if it is good for Ireland, is equally good for
Canada; and he has in consequence labored with all liberal minds for the
cause of provincial autonomy, which is, in Canada, the condition
necessary to ensure union and harmony among the different races, and
consequently the condition essential to the future grandeur and
prosperity of our country. Mr. Cloran’s public and political career
began on the 16th November, 1885, when he was unanimously chosen at a
meeting of citizens, jointly with George H. Duhamel, now the
solicitor-general of the province, to fill the position of secretary to
the national movement that was inaugurated to secure the defeat and
overthrow of Sir John A. Macdonald’s government, for the
mal-administration of the North-West Territories, and the execution of
the leader of the half breeds. He took a prominent part in the historic
mass meeting of fifty thousand people assembled, from all parts of the
province, on the Champ de Mars, Montreal, where he distinguished himself
at one bound as an orator capable of speaking in both the French and
English languages. He went through the famous winter campaign of 1886,
and during the late provincial elections he fought a brilliant and
victorious battle in company with Messrs. Laurier, Mercier, Bellerose,
Duhamel and Bergeron, which resulted in the final overthrow of the old
Conservative government, and the general break-up of the Tory and “Bleu”
party which had controlled the destinies of Quebec almost
uninterruptedly since confederation. No one contributed more to the
establishment of the National administration of Hon. Honoré Mercier in
Quebec than Mr. Cloran. There was not a National candidate who made a
vain appeal to him for assistance. Always in the breach, and always at
the disposal of his friends, Mr. Cloran covered almost the entire
province; he addressed mass meetings in over forty counties, and
everywhere he appeared he won the esteem and the confidence of the
people who heard him. In the short space of one year he became one of
the most popular orators, and one of the political lights of the
province. Mr. Cloran placed himself at the service of the Liberal party
to fight out the election campaign in Ontario, and put down the “No
Popery” brigade in favor of the Mowat administration, which carried the
standard of honest government and of civil and religious liberty. He
took an active part in the struggle in the counties of Glengarry,
Stormont and Prescott, where the three Liberal candidates were elected
by large majorities. In showing no hesitation to go to Ontario to assist
the Liberal government of Mr. Mowat, Mr. Cloran and his Quebec friends
contributed much towards giving its true signification to the National
movement. They clearly proved thereby that in the minds of none of them
there never was harbored the slightest thought of a war of races, as was
pretended by the Tory press and speakers; that far from attempting to
divide and separate the different races, they were, on the contrary,
ready and willing to strengthen more firmly than ever the bonds that
unite us from one end to the other of the Dominion, irrespective of race
and creed. In the general elections of 1887 for the House of Commons at
Ottawa, Mr. Cloran was selected by the Liberal party as their standard
bearer for Montreal Centre, one of the largest and most important
constituencies in the Dominion. Although defeated, he almost doubled the
Liberal vote given in the election of 1882, and succeeded in reducing
the previous majority of his opponent, J. J. Curran, Q.C., M.P., by some
five hundred votes. Before becoming one of our most noted public men,
Mr. Cloran had occasion, at different times, to give proof of his energy
and ability in occupying honorary positions in a number of literary,
athletic and national and other organisations to which he was called by
the confidence and esteem of his fellow citizens. It was thus that he
was elected president of the Catholic Young Men’s Society, of Montreal,
in 1880 and 1881. He was chosen secretary of the Parnell Reception
Committee, which was the grandest accorded the great Irish leader in his
memorable visit to America seven years ago. He has filled the office of
president of the Press Association of the province of Quebec. An amateur
of Canadian sports, he is the president of the renowned Shamrock
Lacrosse Club. A Home Ruler, he is president of the Montreal branch of
the Irish National League. He was a delegate to the Irish National
Convention at Chicago in 1886, where he distinguished himself by two
eloquent speeches. He was chairman of the organisation that gave Michael
Davitt, the father of the League, a reception which has never been
surpassed for brilliancy and enthusiasm. He is first vice-president of
the St. Patrick’s Society; and is a director of the Montreal Diocesan
Colonization Society, under the presidency of his Grace Mgr. Fabre. At
the convention of the Young Liberals of the Dominion, held last July, he
was elected as the Irish representative from Quebec province on the
executive committee. Mr. Cloran was also a delegate to the Central
Trades and Labor Council, in the foundation of which he took an active
part. Since his _début_ in public life he has not ceased to interest
himself in the welfare of the working classes. His pen and voice were
always at their service. He was also the chief organiser of the immense
popular demonstrations and receptions accorded to William O’Brien, M.P.,
editor of _United Ireland_, on the memorable occasion of the latter’s
visit to Montreal. Having abandoned journalism, he prepared himself for
the bar, and on the 7th July, 1887, after a severe and brilliant
examination, he was admitted with honors to the practice of the law.
Although still young in years Mr. Cloran has acquired much valuable
experience, and, as has been seen, has played an honorable and
influential _rôle_ in society, and has rendered distinguished service to
his country. Mr. Cloran married, in 1882, Agnes, the third daughter of
Michael Donovan, a leading Irish citizen and business man of Montreal,
and for years president of the St. Patrick’s Society, and of the Irish
National League.
* * * * *
=Edwards, William Cameron=, Manufacturer of Lumber, Rockland, Ontario,
M.P. for the county of Russell, was born in the township of Clarence,
Russell county, in 1844. His father, William Edwards, was a native of
Portsmouth, England, and came to Canada about 1820, and settled in
Clarence township. Here, for a long period, he took a leading part in
all movements intended for the advancement of the district in which he
resided, and was for over twenty years reeve of the township. The mother
of the subject of our sketch, Ann Cameron, was a native of Fort William,
Scotland. William was educated in the Ottawa Grammar School, and when he
had reached the age of nineteen was employed by Cameron & Edwards,
lumbermen, of Thurso, and here he remained for a number of years. In
1868 he joined in a partnership with James Wood, and they, having built
a small steam sawmill at Rockland, on the Ottawa river, commenced the
lumber business under the firm name of W. C. Edwards & Co. The business
having proved successful, in 1871 Cameron & Edwards gave up their
establishment at Thurso, and threw in their lot with W. C. Edwards &
Co., at Rockland. A large mill was then erected, and their business
steadily increased. In 1875 a fire visited the locality, and
unfortunately destroyed the whole premises of the firm, including mills,
docks, buildings, plant, and indeed everything pertaining to the
establishment, and besides a large stock of sawn lumber. And to add to
this misfortune, the amount of their insurance did not cover one-third
of the loss. Nothing daunted, the firm went to work, the same year, to
rebuild, and in the spring of 1876 they were at work again. Since this
time their business has largely increased, and the firm now give
employment to a great number of hands. Previous to the opening of the
mills at Rockland there were only two or three houses in the place; but
to-day the village has a population of about fifteen hundred; is
incorporated; and has a post office, telegraph office, stores, school
house, churches, a good public hall, a division court, etc. Mr. Edwards
has always been the sole manager of the firm’s business, and, as may be
seen, has very successfully conducted its affairs. In 1866 he succeeded
in forming the Thurso infantry company, and for three years, up to his
leaving the village, was captain of this company. He has been for many
years a justice of the peace, and has also been reeve of the village of
Rockland. During the past four years he has been president of the County
of Russell Agricultural Society, and has done considerable towards
promoting the improvement of stock and the general advancement of
agriculture in the county. He is a Liberal in politics, and in 1882 he
unsuccessfully contested Russell for a seat in the House of Commons
against Moss Kent Dickinson. Again at the last general election he
entered the field, and was elected by a majority of 156 votes over C. H.
McIntosh, who opposed him. Mr. Edwards is an adherent of the Baptist
church. In 1885 he was married to Catherine M., eldest daughter of
William Wilson, of Cumberland, Ontario, who for many years has been the
leading business man of his township, and over twenty years its reeve,
and a justice of the peace.
* * * * *
=Jones, Sir David=, Brockville.—The late Sir David Jones, who was born
in 1794, died on the 23rd August, 1838, at Brockville, Ontario, where he
and his family long resided. Few men were more respected, and none could
be held in higher estimation by his countrymen. He was an uncompromising
supporter of British interests. On visiting England in 1835, as agent of
the Brockville Loan and Trust Company, he received the honor of
knighthood from His Majesty William IV., at Windsor Castle, being the
first native of Ontario who had the honor of receiving so distinguished
a mark of royal favor. Sir David died after an illness of only five
days, and his early demise cast a gloom over his native place.
* * * * *
=Kemble, William=, Quebec.—This talented journalist was a native of
Surrey, England, and a member of a distinguished mercantile family in
London, one of whom, at the time of Mr. Kemble’s death, was a member of
the Imperial parliament, for the county above mentioned. He was born in
1781, and died at Quebec, on the 25th February, 1845. While editing the
Quebec _Mercury_, from 1823 to 1842, he greatly distinguished himself as
a writer, and the spirit and raciness that characterized his writings
will long be remembered by his _confrères_ of the press. His talents
were of a high order. He was also a generous contributor to many
periodicals, including the then celebrated “Simmond’s Colonial
Magazine,” of London, England.
* * * * *
=McMicken, Hon. Gilbert=, Winnipeg, Manitoba, Agent of the Commercial
Union Assurance Company of London, England, is a native of England,
having been born in London in 1813, but was from earliest infancy
brought up in Glenluce, Wigtonshire, Scotland, of which country, his
father was a native. He left Scotland in 1832, and landed at the port of
Quebec on the 1st July of the same year. He proceeded to Montreal, and
remained there about three weeks, and then went to Toronto (then Little
York). From Toronto he removed, in September, to Chippewa, and engaged
in the forwarding business. In July, 1838, he was appointed collector of
customs, at Queenston, and subsequently held the same office at
Suspension Bridge, near Niagara Falls. In 1851 was warden of the united
counties of Lincoln and Welland; and was the first mayor of Clifton, and
served for several subsequent terms in the same office. In 1857 Mr.
McMicken entered the political field, and was elected to represent the
county of Welland in the parliament of Canada, which he did for four
years. In 1860 he moved to the county of Essex; and in 1864 was
appointed stipendiary magistrate with jurisdiction over the whole
Western Canada frontier, and in this capacity he successfully quieted
frontier excitement, especially in the cities of Detroit and Buffalo,
and afterwards received the special thanks of Lord Monck, the then
governor-general of Canada, for his services on this occasion. He
managed the extradition of Burley, for piracy on lake Erie; and also
adjudicated upon and extradited the parties in the two celebrated
express robbery cases of Reno and Anderson and of Morton and Thomson. He
discovered and arranged the settlement of the disputed line of
international boundary at the St. Clair flats canal. In 1865 Mr.
McMicken was specially charged to watch over the Fenian movement in the
United States in that year, and continued to do so until their last
efforts at invasion failed in 1870. During these exciting times, and on
the occasion of the murder of T. D’Arcy McGee, on Sparks street, Ottawa,
he had committed to his care the government and parliament buildings in
that city, and the persons of the members of the government and of
parliament then at the capital; and protected, by convoy, the persons of
Black, Richot and Scott, delegates from Manitoba, from the United States
to Ottawa, during the first troubles in the North-West. In 1869 he was
appointed to accompany his Royal Highness Prince Arthur, and his suite,
with Governor-General Young, Lady Young, and Colonel Elphinstone, in
their tour through Ontario, thence to Montreal, and then on to Ottawa,
and for the valuable services rendered the party he received the special
thanks of Prince Arthur, accompanied by a valuable _souvenir_. In 1871
he was made agent of the Dominion lands in Manitoba, and assistant
receiver-general, Dominion auditor, manager of the Dominion savings
banks, and immigration agent. In the same year he was instrumental in
preventing a rising of the Metis when the Fenians offered to come over
from the United States to help them. From 1874 to 1877 he was the acting
inspector of the Manitoba Penitentiary, and in the latter year he
retired from the government service on a pension, having served the
Dominion faithfully and well. In 1879 he was elected to represent
Cartier in the Manitoba legislature, was chosen speaker of that body,
and retired from political life on the dissolution of the parliament in
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