A Cyclopaedia of Canadian Biography: Being Chiefly Men of the Time by Rose
1833. He is the fourth son of Hon. Joseph Masson, a member of the
6531 words | Chapter 73
Legislative Council of Canada, at the time of his death, and M. G.
Sophie Raymond, of Laprairie. Mrs. Masson died in 1883, at Terrebonne,
where she was buried. The ceremonies of her funeral were very
impressive, the archbishop of Montreal officiating; the musical service,
under the leadership of Professor Guillaume Couture, of Montreal, with a
select choir of forty male voices, was the grandest ever performed in
the country. Besides distributing a considerable fortune to her children
and relatives, she left princely legacies to various charitable
institutions, the Deaf Mute Institution of Montreal receiving for its
share a sum of $20,000. The ancestors of Mr. Masson came to Canada very
early, and settled originally in Saint Eustache. At the present time the
ramifications of the family spread over the whole province of Quebec.
The subject of our sketch was educated at the Jesuits’ College,
Georgetown, Worcester, Mass., and at St. Hyacinthe, Quebec, where he
completed his classical studies. During this period he travelled for two
years through Europe and the Holy Land, in company with that
distinguished scholar, Rev. Mr. Désaulniers, of St. Hyacinthe College.
Their tour lasted twenty four months, and was productive of immense
benefit to young Masson, both in a physical and mental point of view. At
the conclusion of his classical course he entered the law office of the
late Sir George Etienne Cartier, in Montreal, where he resided three
years, and in November, 1859, he was admitted to the bar. He never,
however, practised his profession. Since October, 1862, he has held a
commission in the Canadian volunteer force. On August 21st, 1863, he was
appointed brigade-major 8th military district of Lower Canada, doing
active duty on the frontier during the first Fenian raid, March, 1866;
and also during the second raid in the same year, and was promoted to
the rank of lieutenant-colonel in 1867. Colonel Masson has held various
offices in the municipality of his native town, and was mayor of
Terrebonne in 1874. In 1867 he was first elected to parliament as
representative for the county of Terrebonne, and at every subsequent
election he was re-elected by acclamation. He is perhaps the most
popular man in the province of Quebec among his constituents. He is a
Conservative, and stands very high in the estimation of his chiefs. In
1873 he was offered a seat in the Macdonald cabinet, but declined; the
outspoken views he held on the amnesty for political offences in
Manitoba, and on the settlement of the New Brunswick mixed schools
question, forbade his acceptance of the honour proffered, unless he
should make a sacrifice of principles. He is in favour of a reciprocity
treaty with the United States, provided Canada is able to get equitable
terms; of a moderately protective tariff, and he always advocated the
construction of the Canadian Pacific Railway wholly on Canadian soil. In
1878, when the Mackenzie administration resigned, Mr. Masson, who was
travelling in Europe, was offered a portfolio in the new cabinet, and he
sailed immediately for Canada. On his arrival (19th October), he was
sworn in a member of her Majesty’s Privy Council and minister of militia
and defence. Under his energetic administration numerous improvements
and useful changes were effected in the Canadian militia
organization,—more especially the establishment of drill associations
in educational institutions, the supply of military clothes from
Canadian manufacture, the manufacturing in the country of gunpowder,
cartridges, heavy guns, etc. For reasons of health he was forced to
discontinue the arduous labours he had undertaken, and on the 16th
January, 1880, he resigned his position of minister of militia and
defence, and was appointed president of the Privy Council. Mr. Masson
resigned his seat in the cabinet in 1880, and in 1882 was called to the
Senate. In 1884 he was appointed a member of the Legislative Council of
Quebec, and he held that position until the 7th November, 1884, when he
resigned, to assume the duties of lieutenant-governor of the province of
Quebec. In 1856 Col. Masson married Louise Rachel, eldest daughter of
Lieut.-Col. Alexander Mackenzie, and granddaughter of Hon. Roderique
Mackenzie, once a member of the Legislative Council of Canada, and a
partner in the North-West Fur Company; by this marriage he had issue
five children, three sons and two daughters. Mrs. Masson died, and in
1884 he married his second wife, Cécile Burroughs, eldest daughter of
John H. Burroughs, prothonotary of the Supreme Court of Canada.
* * * * *
=Belleau, Sir Narcisse=, K.C.M.G., Q.C., ex-Lieutenant-Governor of the
Province of Quebec, was born on the 20th October, 1808, in the city of
Quebec, where he was educated, and where he still resides. Shortly after
leaving school he chose law as a profession, and soon built up a
lucrative business. Being a public spirited gentleman, he took an active
part in municipal affairs, and in 1860, when the Prince of Wales visited
Canada, Mr. Belleau was mayor of Quebec, and on this auspicious occasion
he had the honour of knighthood conferred upon him. He entered the
Legislative Council in 1852, soon made his mark there, and in 1857 was
elected speaker of that body. This elevated position he retained until
1862, when he received the appointment of minister of agriculture in the
Cartier-Macdonald administration. In 1865 he was persuaded to undertake
the responsible duties of premier and receiver-general, and held these
important offices until appointed lieutenant-governor of the province of
Quebec in 1867. Sir Narcisse took an active part in all the most
celebrated trials at this time in contested election cases, and his
voice was no insignificant one in all and more than peculiarly delicate
questions which so frequently arose during the time he was speaker of
the upper house before confederation. As a legal adviser in civil cases
he had few compeers at the time of his practising in Quebec that were
recognized as his equal, still less his superior. Though now well
advanced in years he still possesses a large circle of friends inside
and outside of politics, and is a gentleman highly respected in his
native city. His excellency Señor Don Boniface de Blas, minister of
foreign affairs, by order and in the name of his Majesty the King of
Spain, for services rendered on the occasion of the projected invasion
of Cuba by the filibusters, conferred upon him the dignity of commander
and grand officer of the royal order of Isabella la Catolica, in 1872,
and on the 24th May, 1879, he had the still higher honour conferred upon
him of being made a knight commander of the order of St. Michael and St.
George, by her Majesty Queen Victoria, at the hands of the Marquis of
Lorne, late governor-general, in the presence of her Royal Highness the
Princess Louise. Sir Narcisse Belleau, now an old man, can look back on
his past record as barrister, mayor, speaker of the Legislative Council,
minister of agriculture, receiver-general, premier and
lieutenant-governor of his native province, with satisfaction—having
filled these high offices with credit to himself and honour to his
country—and enjoy the remainder of his days as a public benefactor and
a humane sympathetic Christian gentleman should always be able to do. On
the 15th September, 1835, Sir Narcisse was married to Mary, daughter of
the late L. Gauvreau, at one time a member of the Legislative Assembly
of Lower Canada. There is no issue by the marriage.
* * * * *
=Desaulniers, François Sévère Lesieur=, B.C.L., Yamachiche, M.P. for St.
Maurice, Quebec Province. The subject of this sketch is a member of one
of the oldest, most well known and respectable families of the province
of Quebec—the Desaulniers having come from France to Canada some time
during the seventeenth century (1642), and settled in the district of
Three Rivers. He is descended from Charles Lesieur, who was a notary
royal and solicitor general under the French government, and of
Françoise de Lafond, a niece of Pierre Boucher, the illustrious governor
of Three Rivers under the government of M. de Mésy (1663). Mr.
Desaulniers is the son of the late François Lesieur Desaulniers, and of
the late Marguerite Pothier, and was born at Yamachiche on the 19th
September, 1850. He received his education at Nicolet College, an
institution to which both church and state are greatly indebted for
having produced many citizens who distinguish themselves in the various
walks of public life. After successfully passing his examinations, Mr.
Desaulniers was admitted to the bar on the 13th January, 1879, at Three
Rivers, and is now a member of the legal firm of Desilets, Desaulniers &
Duplessis of that city. But his love for journalism was evidently
greater than for the law, for we meet him, while studying law, editing
the _Constitutionnel_ at Three Rivers, a journal founded by one of the
most distinguished French Canadian writers, the late Hon. E. Gérin,
legislative councillor. Later on, from 1875 to 1877, we find him in
Quebec, as assistant editor of _Le Canadien_, whilst he contributed
several editorials and political articles to the _Revue Canadienne_ of
Montreal, to _Le Foyer Domestique_ of Ottawa, as well as to several
other papers. Mr. Desaulniers’ political career began in 1878, when he
was, for the first time, returned to the Quebec parliament, at the
general elections, for his native county, St. Maurice, P.Q. He was
elected by a majority of 245 votes over his opponent, L. A. Lord. At the
general elections of 1881 he was re-elected for the same constituency by
a majority of 110 votes over S. J. Remington. While in the Quebec
parliament he was a moderate Liberal-Conservative, and a strong
supporter of the conciliatory and moderate policy inaugurated by the
Chapleau government. In 1886, at the late provincial elections, Mr.
Desaulniers withdrew from the political arena to accept a charge from
the provincial government. Upon the recommendation of the Hon. M. de la
Bruère, speaker of the Legislative Council, he was, on the 2nd November,
1886, appointed by the Ross government deputy-clerk and clerk of the
private bills of the Legislative Council of Quebec, _vice_ J. A. Jodoin,
resigned. Lately a vain attempt was made to deprive him of this office,
but by a unanimous vote of the Legislative Council his appointment was
confirmed. On the 22nd February, 1887, Mr. Desaulniers was returned to
the Dominion parliament for his old and faithful constituency of St.
Maurice, where he enjoys a well-deserved popularity. He won the contest
this time by a majority of 267 votes over his opponent, L. A. Lord.
While devoting all his energies to the fulfilment of his numerous duties
as representative of the people, Mr. Desaulniers, who takes a deep
interest in agriculture, has been unanimously elected for ten years
consecutively as president of the Agricultural Society of the county of
St. Maurice. He has also been a justice of the peace since 1878. In
politics Mr. Desaulniers is a staunch Conservative. He strongly endorses
the protective policy adopted some years ago, and is a warm supporter of
the Sir John A. Macdonald administration. In July, 1877, he married, at
St. Guillaume d’Upton, Marie Aglaé Maher, daughter of Francis Maher,
merchant, whose ancestors came from Stuttgart, Germany. They have five
children living. Mr. Desaulniers is extremely popular in his own
constituency and in the neighbouring counties, where he has often
addressed large meetings on all the vital issues of the day, and
performed many acts of kindness and liberality—winning, at the same
time, for himself the esteem and respect of all by his social qualities,
his proverbial hospitality, his sterling integrity, and his devotedness
to the public interests.
* * * * *
=McClelan, Hon. Abner Reid=, Senator, Riverside, Hopewell, New
Brunswick, was born where he now resides, in 1831. He is the youngest
son of the late Peter McClelan, who was for a considerable period a
justice of the peace, and of the common pleas, in the county of Albert.
His paternal ancestry were Irish; but his mother (Robinson) was
descended from the Clarkes, of New Hampshire. A. R. McClelan was
educated at the district school, and at the Mount Allison Wesleyan
Academy, of which he was subsequently one of the Board of Governors. In
1854, Mr. McClelan was elected one of the representatives of his native
county in the New Brunswick legislature, and continued to hold the
position till the union, in 1867. He is liberal in politics, and united
with the Hon. Charles Fisher, the Hon. S. L. Tilley, and other Liberals
of that day, in the overthrow of the Conservative administration, and in
the establishment, on a firmer basis, of the rights of all under the
responsible system of government. Mr. McClelan was an ardent supporter
of the treaty of 1854, which secured free reciprocal trade with the
United States. In addition to other reforms, he succeeded in obtaining
amendments to the law of inheritance, including the removal of the
rights of primogeniture, and in providing postal regulations for the
better observance of the Sabbath day. His efforts were always employed
to obtain a fair and equitable distribution of the public
appropriations, and the county which he so long represented derived
considerable advantages thereby. In 1865, he was an unsuccessful
candidate for the speakership of the Assembly. During that year he
helped to lead the opposition against the government formed to oppose
the union, and on the resignation of the ministry, he accepted a seat in
the new administration with the portfolio of public works, which he held
till the union, when he was called to the Senate. He advocated the
construction of the railway from Shediac to St. John, now a part of the
Intercolonial, and subsequently the establishment of branch lines,
including an ample subsidy for the Albert Railway, which was guaranteed
by the Dominion government, upon the special request of the friends and
promoters of the road. Mr. McClelan at the outset urged the government
which he was then supporting to subsidize a short line to Hillsboro’,
which was done, and the road afterwards extended to Hopewell. He
prepared and introduced the original Act of Incorporation, assisted in
securing the aid of the Dominion guarantee, and asked for and obtained a
loan of rails to facilitate a branch line to Hillsboro’. As a member of
the Dominion parliament, Mr. McClelan has continued on the side of
liberalism and free trade, believing and affirming that the policy of
protection is not based on equitable principles, that it is generally
injurious in its tendencies, and especially detrimental to the smaller
provinces by the sea. Though formerly in mercantile business, the Hon.
Mr. McClelan has partially retired therefrom, owing to delicate health.
In the Senate, it may be added, he is a man of much usefulness, for he
gives to public questions a thoughtful and impartial study. To the broad
interests of Canada, the Hon. Mr. McClelan has been always loyal, and
there is nothing hollow about his patriotism. He is married to Anna J.,
eldest daughter of W. J. Reed, of Harvey, New Brunswick.
* * * * *
=Clemo, Ebenezer=, Inventor, was a native of London, England, and came
to Canada in 1858. He was, although young, a person of great genius and
ability. On his arrival in Montreal he was reduced to such necessity,
that he applied to John Lovell, publisher of that city, for employment
as a message boy; but Mr. Lovell knowing his acquirements, engaged him
to write a couple of books. Hence “Simon Seek,” and “The Canadian
Homes,” which appeared in the same year. Not works of the highest
standard of literature certainly, but evincing much talent, and giving a
good insight into Canadian character and life. He was the inventor and
discoverer of making paper pulp out of straw, an industry which has
grown to great proportions since his day; and when engaged in erecting
machinery for the manufacture of such paper at Morristown, New Jersey,
died in 1860, at the early age of thirty.
* * * * *
=Fullerton, James S.=, President of the Osgoode Literary and Legal
Society, Toronto.—Mr. Fullerton is a native Canadian, having been born
on April 3, 1843, in the township of South Dorchester, Elgin county,
Ontario. Early in life he formed a taste for the law, and finally came
to Toronto a student. He studied with N. G. Bigelow, John Leys and
Beverly Jones, and ten years ago he was admitted to the bar. He had the
honor of taking third and fourth year scholarships. He has now practised
his profession for a decade, and is senior partner in the firm of
Fullerton, Cook & Miller. He has had more of the successes of life than
fall to the lot of most men. His practice has steadily increased, and it
is said in legal circles that in three years he has only lost a couple
of cases—and those it was well nigh impossible to win. His reputation
for office work is great, and his unusual capabilities for making a jury
think as he thinks have given him considerable counsel work to do.
* * * * *
=Begg, Alexander=, Dunbow Ranch, North-West Territory, Canada, is a
native of the parish of Watten, Caithness-shire, Scotland, and was born
7th May, 1825. He is a son of Andrew Begg, farmer, and Jane Taylor, of
Houstry, Dunn, Watten. His father was also miller of the mill of Dunn
until about fifty years ago, when it and similar small oatmeal mills
throughout Caithness were discontinued. The work of kiln-drying oats,
formerly done by every farmer at home on his own kiln,—the winnowing of
the shelled grain after it had first passed between the mill stones, and
the sifting of the meal had to be done by hand; but about that time was
transferred to larger mills erected by each proprietor for his tenants.
The modern mill was furnished with a fanning mill to clean the shelled
oats, and sieves which sifted the meal thoroughly. A kiln was also
attached for the use of the tenants, who were bound each to bring his
grain to the mill belonging to the estate on which his farm was situate
and pay toll there. Mr. Begg received his elementary education at a
somewhat celebrated select school, taught by William Campbell, near his
father’s house at Backlass, Dunn. Up to the age of eighteen he assisted
on the farm and attended the Watten parish school. Subsequently he
attended the Normal School at Edinburgh, from which he received a
diploma qualifying him as a teacher. This he utilized by teaching at
Cluny, Aberdeenshire, until 1846, when he emigrated to Canada. Soon
after his arrival at Belleville, where some of his school fellows had
formerly emigrated, he taught school in the townships of West Huntingdon
and Madoc, and afterwards at Oshawa. There he met J. E. McMillan (now
sheriff in Victoria, B.C.), and joined him in publishing _The
Messenger_, the first newspaper published in Bowmanville. After a couple
of years he sold out to Mr. McMillan, and purchased the plant of the
Cobourg _Sun_, removing it to Brighton, Ontario, and published _The
Sentinel_, the first newspaper published there. He afterwards started
_The Advocate_ at Trenton, also the pioneer newspaper of that place.
Shortly afterwards he disposed of his interest in the printing business,
and visited his native land. On his return to Canada he received an
appointment in the customs, serving at the ports of Morrisburg, Port
Dover, Brockville and Cornwall; and in 1869 was promoted to be collector
of customs and inspector of inland revenue for the North-West
Territories, accompanying the lieutenant-governor, Hon. Wm. McDougall
and party, as far as Pembina, when the French half-breeds under Riel
stopped their advance, compelling their return. To conciliate certain
parties, another collector of customs was sent out to Fort Garry after
Riel’s flight to the United States. Mr. Begg was transferred to the
Inland Revenue department, but being dissatisfied at being deprived of
his position without any fault on his part, he left the service of the
Dominion government, and accepted the office of emigration commissioner
in Scotland for the Ontario government. In that work he was remarkably
successful, and during several years continued to send out a superior
class of emigrants. Owing to a change in the emigration policy, only one
agent for Ontario was retained for Great Britain, at Liverpool. Mr. Begg
then turned his attention to the establishment of a temperance colony in
the Parry Sound district. The township of McMurrich was chosen as being
then without any settlers. A grist mill, saw and shingle mills were
erected by him at Beggsboro’ in 1874, to encourage the settlement; and
although by a decision of the Provincial government, that settlers,
other than strictly temperance men, could be admitted to the colony, it
became and still continues a prosperous settlement. Whilst engaged in
opening up roads through the wilderness and fostering the colony, Mr.
Begg became editor and joint proprietor of the Muskoka _Herald_,
published at Bracebridge; and soon afterwards commenced in Toronto the
publication of the _Canada Lumberman_, a paper devoted to the interest
of lumber dealers. This paper was purchased by a Peterboro’ firm, and
has attained a leading position in the lumber trade. Next we find him,
in 1879, at the World’s Exposition in Paris, where he had on view, and
received prizes for, a landau carriage from London, Ontario, and a
sleigh from Orillia, at which latter place his family have resided since
their return from Scotland. He also brought across the Atlantic with him
from the Muskoka lakes, a number of live black bass, the first ever
brought alive across the ocean from the new to the old world. Some of
the bass were deposited at Dunrobin, the seat of the Duke of
Sutherland’s family in Scotland; some in England, and a few more taken
across the English channel to Paris, for which latter he received a
medal from the Paris Société d’Acclimatation. In 1881 Mr. Begg made a
tour to the North-West by way of Chicago, St. Paul and Bismarck, as the
Toronto _Mail_ correspondent; taking the steamer up the Missouri to Fort
Benton, the head of navigation, the Northern Pacific Railway not having
been completed farther than Bismark at that time. The journey onward and
northward from Benton to Fort McLeod was made by team and on horseback,
camping out by the way. His Excellency the Marquis of Lorne reached
McLeod from Battleford and Calgary on his tour across the continent at
the same time Mr. Begg arrived from the south, so he had the opportunity
of meeting the governor-general and party, and of including in his
correspondence the earliest written news of their arrival there, and the
enthusiastic reception given them by the Bloods, Piegans and a party of
Indians (Blackfeet), under Chief Crowfoot. From McLeod, Mr. Begg
proceeded to Morley, where one of his sons (Magnus) was farm instructor
of the Stoney tribe of Indians on the reserve there. Magnus has since
been promoted to be chief agent at the Blackfoot reserve. From Morley,
Mr. Begg rode up Bow River to the foot of the Rockies, where an advance
party of the Canadian Pacific Railway engineers were at work to
ascertain if the railway line could be located by that route. Returning
to Calgary, he proceeded north to Edmonton and St. Albert; then eastward
to Battleford, Prince Albert and Duck Lake, on to Humboldt, Fort
Qu’Appelle, Fort Ellice and Brandon, which latter place the Canadian
Pacific Railway had just reached. At Humboldt he was obliged to sell his
saddle and pack horses and take the stage, as winter had fairly set in,
and travelling alone was no longer safe, especially without stopping
places for the night. Next year, Mr. Begg returned to the North-West by
the same route, taking one of his sons (Robert) with him to establish a
sheep, cattle and horse ranch (Dunbow) at the confluence of High river
with Bow river. This summer (1887) another of his sons (Roderick) joined
him on the ranch, which is now well stocked and flourishing. His sons,
Alexander and Peter, have recently been engaged in the Eastern States in
connection with a printing establishment; another son, Ralph, is
attending the Military School in Toronto, whilst the sixth, Colin, is
studying at the High School in Orillia, where Mrs. Begg and five
daughters yet reside. This autumn Mr. Begg was appointed emigration
commissioner by the government of British Columbia, to arrange with the
Crofter fishermen of Scotland to settle on the western shores of the
island of Vancouver, to develop the valuable deep sea fisheries of the
Pacific. On this important mission he left Canada in October, having
formulated a scheme which will, he considers, solve the difficulty which
has hitherto prevented the Imperial government from advancing funds to
assist the emigration of the Crofters.
* * * * *
=Panneton, Louis Edmond=, Q.C., B.C.L., LL.M., Barrister, Sherbrooke,
province of Quebec, was born at Three Rivers, in that province, on the
6th July, 1848. His parents were André Panneton and Marie Blondin. Mr.
Panneton received his education at the college of Three Rivers, where he
took the classical course. In 1865 he removed to Sherbrooke, and in 1870
was admitted to the bar of Lower Canada. He was elected a school
commissioner in 1877, and in the same year was appointed a member of the
Catholic Board of Examiners for granting diplomas to teachers. In 1878
he was elected president of the Club Cartier (Conservative Association),
and a member of the city council in 1886. The degree of B.C.L. was
conferred upon him in 1882, and that of LL.M. in 1885. He is a professor
of civil law at Bishop’s University. He was chosen president for the
years 1885 and 1886 of the Eastern Townships Typographical Company,
which published _Le Pionnier_. He was made a Queen’s counsel in 1887,
and in the same year was elected president of the bar of the district of
St. Francis. Mr. Panneton travelled through the United States in 1876,
and made an extended tour through Europe in 1878. In religion, he is an
adherent of the Roman Catholic church, and in politics, a Conservative.
He was married on the 6th July, 1886, to Corinne Dorais, of St.
Gregoire, daughter of L. T. Dorais, M.P.P. for the county of Nicolet,
Province of Quebec.
* * * * *
=Blair, Frank I.=, M.D., St. Stephen, New Brunswick, was born on 6th
January, 1855. His father, Dugald Blair, M.D., was a Scotchman by birth,
having been born in Greenock, Scotland, and afterwards settled in New
Brunswick. His mother, Sarah Henrietta Marks, was a native of St.
Stephen, and was a descendant of Captain Nehemiah Marks, a noted
loyalist. Dr. Blair received his early education in Sunbury Grammar
School and the University, Fredericton; and adopting medicine as a
profession, completed his studies at the Bellevue Hospital Medical
College, New York. He then returned to his native province, and began
the practice of his profession in St. Stephen, where he has succeeded in
building up a good business. He takes an interest in Masonry, and is a
Knight Templar. He has travelled a good deal, and found time to visit
Europe, California, and several other Western states of America. In
politics he is a Liberal-Conservative; and in religion an adherent of
the Church of England. On the 1st of December, 1881, he was married to
Alice J. Owen, of St. Stephen.
* * * * *
=Irving, Andrew=, Registrar of the County of Renfrew, Pembroke, Ontario,
was born at Chatham, Miramichi, Northumberland county, New Brunswick, on
the 14th of December, 1820. His father, Andrew Irving, was a second
cousin of the celebrated preacher and divine, Edward Irving, the founder
of the sect known as the “Irvinites,” and was born in the parish of
Middlebec, Dumfriesshire, Scotland. He emigrated to New Brunswick in
1816, and lived a quiet life as a farmer on the banks of the Miramichi
river, about a mile from the town of Chatham, where he died in 1864. His
mother, Margaret Henderson, came to this country some time after her
husband, and died at a ripe old age in 1871. Mr. Irving’s grandfather,
John Henderson, married Clarinda Douglas, the daughter of Sir Archibald
Douglas, of Castle Milk, and had the Cleugh Brae farm presented to him
by Sir Archibald on the day of his marriage. He died at the age of
fifty-eight. Having made his will only eight days before his death, it
was declared illegal, from the circumstance that at that time the law of
Scotland required that a testator must attend both kirk and market, and
live six weeks after making his will, otherwise it would be null and
void. The family contested the validity of this will in the courts, with
the usual results, namely that of financial ruin to them all. Andrew,
the subject of our sketch, was educated at the Grammar School at
Chatham, and afterwards studied medicine for three years with Dr. Key,
then the most successful practitioner in New Brunswick. Finding,
however, that too close application to study was endangering his health,
he abandoned medicine, and resolved to seek his fortune in Western
Canada. With this object in view, in the summer of 1842 he began his
journey westward, and rather than slowly voyage on board a schooner from
Miramichi to Quebec he chose the land route. He rode on horseback from
Miramichi to Dalhousie, a distance of over a hundred miles, then crossed
the Restigouche river at Campbelltown with his provisions on his back,
and walked across the country to the St. Lawrence river at Metis, a
distance of nearly a hundred miles. The road for the greater part of the
route was only a footpath, and the sole guide he and his party had was
the Indian blaze; and it took three hard days’ travel to make the
journey. He then walked the entire distance, two hundred miles, from
Metis to Quebec, in five days. When he arrived at Bytown (now Ottawa
city), he crossed the Ottawa river, and was driven to Aylmer in a
vehicle called a stage, a distance of nine miles, by a man named Moses
Holt, who is still alive, though bordering on his one hundredth year.
The next day he took passage in a bark canoe, working his way as far as
Fitzroy Harbor, a small village on the south banks of the Upper Ottawa.
The following day he embarked on the steamer _George Buchanan,_ which at
her best could not steam more than five miles an hour, and came on with
her as far as Farrel’s Wharf, in the township of Horton. The distance
from this point to Pembroke by the then route was nearly fifty miles,
and our dauntless young Scotch settler accomplished the distance in a
day and a half, arriving at his destination in good health and spirits.
At this time it took a traveller three days from Ottawa to Pembroke, and
now the journey can be made in about as many hours. In January, 1842, he
began his career as a teacher in Pembroke, the settlers having erected
for him a log school-house, in the bush, and agreeing to pay him a
salary of forty pounds ($60) and board for a year, which, we may say,
was not always promptly paid. However, our young teacher was satisfied,
and his indomitable pluck carried him through all difficulties, and he
is now one of the leading men in his county. For about three years Mr.
Irving filled the office of clerk of the township and village of
Pembroke, and was Division Court clerk for over twenty years. In 1861 he
was chosen county treasurer, and held the office until 1875. He was
local superintendent of education for a part of the county before the
law abolishing this office came into force; and was a member of the
Board of Education for a number of years, during three of which he acted
as its chairman. In 1861 he was appointed a justice of the peace; and
for upwards of ten years was license inspector. In 1866 he was appointed
registrar of the county of Renfrew, and this office he still holds, and
devotes all his time to the performance of his duties. Mr. Irving has
always taken a deep interest in municipal affairs, and it was he who
during the years from 1861 to 1865 led in the county town struggle for
Renfrew county, and it has since been conceded by both friends and foes
that it was through his good management that Pembroke came off
victorious. He has been an ardent politician, and was always found
fighting in the Reform ranks. On one occasion, during a hard election
contest, he was approached by an old and valued friend, and offered a
lucrative office if he withdrew his opposition to the government
candidate, but, with true Scotch pride, he replied, “My principles are
my own; they are neither those of John A. Macdonald or George Brown, and
you would think very little of me if I would abandon them for any such
offer.” This answer led to an estrangement between him and his friend,
but after some years his friend admitted he was right, and so the matter
was forgotten. Unfortunately Mr. Irving is not so liberal in his
religious views as he is in his political. He is a very strict
Presbyterian; and the highest of Calvinists, and would resist to the
death any innovation or reform in his church standards. In 1844 he was
married to Jane Reid, the eldest daughter of the late Peter Whyte, the
first settler in Pembroke. She died in 1852, and two of her children
survive her. He again married in 1860, his second choice being Mary,
daughter of the late Doctor William Cannon, of the Royal navy. This lady
is still alive, and has been the mother of five children, four of whom
are living.
* * * * *
=Laliberté, Jean Baptiste=, Fur Merchant, St. Roch, Quebec, was born in
the city of Quebec, in 1843. His father, who was the owner of one of the
largest tanneries located on St. Valier street, in that city, sent him
early to the Quebec Normal School, where he received a sound commercial
education. On leaving school he commenced work with a merchant, and was
afterwards apprenticed for a few years to a furrier to learn the trade.
Here he soon acquired a thorough knowledge of it in all its branches,
and laid the foundations of a successful business career. In May, 1867,
he began, in a small way, on his own account. Being attentive and
obliging and keeping all the latest styles in his stock, customers came
dropping in; and at the end of five years, having worked very hard, he
had accumulated sufficient means to enable him to re-build the store in
which he had begun, and which had now become too small to accommodate
his growing trade. After a lapse of a few more years he began again to
be crowded for room; and he then decided to enlarge his premises. This
time he erected a handsome building on St. Joseph street, St. Roch’s,
containing six floors, 110 x 45 feet, which he now occupies. On the top
of the building is a dome and flag-staff, on which he always hoists the
French flag on the 24th of June of each year, this being the anniversary
of his patron saint, St. Jean-Baptiste. Mr. Laliberté has made it a rule
to purchase his goods in the best markets of the world, and to offer for
sale only articles which may, by their excellence in regard to quality
and workmanship, defy the keenest competition. Not content with visiting
only the fur markets of New York, London, Paris and Leipsic, he, in
1880, and every year since, has visited in person the great fur emporium
of Russia, being the first furrier from the province of Quebec who has
done this. He has now branch offices in the principal cities of Europe,
and his managers at these places advise him weekly as to prices, etc.
Mr. Laliberté employs over three hundred persons, several of whom are
constantly employed trapping and hunting in our own northern forests,
and are paid the highest prices for furs and peltries in season and of
the best grades. He is both an importer and exporter, and when a choice
set of furs is wanted, even for the far west, the St. Roch fur emporium
is generally called upon to supply it, as it is well known that from his
immense stock, said to be the largest in Canada, it can readily be
selected. Mr. Laliberté is erect in stature, manly in bearing, and is
noted for his courteous demeanour to his fellow men. In short, he is a
fair representative of the progressive French Canadian of the present
day.
* * * * *
=Macdonald, Augustine Colin=, Merchant, Montague, Prince Edward Island,
was born on the 30th June, 1837, at Panmure, P.E.I. He is a son of Hugh
Macdonald, who came from Moydart, Inverness-shire, Scotland, to Prince
Edward Island in 1805, and settled at Panmure. The mother of the subject
of our sketch was Catherine, daughter of A. Macdonald, of Rhue Arisaig,
Inverness-shire. Augustine Colin Macdonald received his education at the
Grammar School of Georgetown, and at the Central Academy, Charlottetown,
P.E.I. He has taken part in all matters pertaining to the interests of
the island in which he was born, and has been on several occasions a
commissioner for managing the Exhibition of Local Industry for Prince
Edward Island. He, too, is interested in military matters, and is
captain in one of the local companies. He was first returned to the
Legislative Assembly, as representative for the third electoral district
of Kings county, P.E.I., in 1870. He supported the Railway bill, and on
a dissolution of the house was again elected by his political friends.
In 1873 he once more appealed to his constituents, and, as a supporter
of “confederation” and “better terms,” was elected. When Prince Edward
Island became part of the confederacy, Mr. Macdonald was returned a
member of the Dominion parliament as a supporter of Sir John A.
Macdonald. At the general election, held in 1874, he suffered defeat at
the polls, being beaten by a small majority; but at the general
election, held in 1878, he was again elected to a seat in the House of
Commons at Ottawa. In politics Mr. Macdonald is a Liberal-Conservative,
and during his parliamentary career at Ottawa rendered good service to
the government when they were carrying through the Canadian Pacific
Railway bill and the national policy resolutions. He is an adherent of
the Roman Catholic church. He married at Charlottetown, on the 27th
June, 1865, Mary Elizabeth, sixth daughter of the late Hon. John Small
Macdonald, and has a family of seven children.
* * * * *
=Harris, John Leonard=, Merchant and Manufacturer, Moncton, New
Brunswick, was born in Norton, Kings county, on the 27th September,
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