A Cyclopaedia of Canadian Biography: Being Chiefly Men of the Time by Rose
1879. He was elected leader of the government by the unanimous vote of
4810 words | Chapter 93
his party in both branches of the legislature, and was appointed
attorney and advocate general, and president of the Executive Council on
the formation of the administration, which positions he has held
continuously ever since. The House of Assembly was dissolved and a
general election held on the 9th of April, 1879, when the government
were sustained by a majority of twenty-six to four, being the largest
support ever accorded to any administration in the island. Among other
acts, Hon. Mr. Sullivan was chiefly instrumental in securing branch
lines of railway to Souris and Tignish in 1872; assisted in carrying
through the Island legislature terms of confederation in 1873; assisted
in passing The Land Purchase Act, 1875, and other acts on the same
subject in 1876; introduced and carried through the legislature An Act
for Abolishing Imprisonment for Debt, in 1879, and The Jury Act, 1880,
which provides for the trial of all civil cases by seven instead of
twelve jurors, as well as many other measures of law reform, and acts
for the general benefit of the province. The Hon. Mr. Sullivan has been,
on several occasions, a delegate to Ottawa, on public business; and, in
1886, was a delegate to London, to lay before the Imperial government
the case of Prince Edward Island, concerning the non-fulfilment of the
terms of confederation, with regard to continuous steam communication
between that province and the mainland of Canada. He declined a
nomination for the House of Commons at the general elections in
February, 1887. Hon. Mr. Sullivan has been premier for a longer period
than any of his predecessors. As a leader he matures his measures
thoroughly before submitting them to the house, hence his success in
that position; his industry is unwearied; he clings with the utmost
tenacity to the cause which he advocates, and never trusts the discharge
of any parliamentary duty devolving upon himself to another. He is a
thorough master of the English language, and speaks with exactness and
precision. He is also extremely cautious, and takes good care not to get
his party (the Conservatives) into deep water. Having a strong and
determined will, once convinced that he is right, he pushes forward,
with unflinching perseverance, and success almost invariably crowns his
efforts. He was married at Charlottetown, on the 13th of August, 1872,
to Alice Maude Mary, third daughter of John Fenton Newbery, B.A., of
Oxford, and formerly of London, England, and Siena, Italy, and they have
six children. The family are members of the Roman Catholic church. Their
residence, “Brighton Villa,” adjoining Charlottetown, is a beautiful
place.
* * * * *
=Boire, Louis Henri Napoleon=, Manager of the Three Rivers Branch of the
Banque d’Hochelaga, was born on the 17th of February, 1850, in the
parish of St. Philippe, county of Laprairie, province of Quebec, of
well-to-do parents. After attending for five or six years the country
school of the place of his birth, he entered, at the age of twelve, the
Montreal College, where he remained three years, after which he became a
scholar in the Jacques Cartier Normal School in Montreal, where he
followed the whole course of studies with a decided and marked success.
Later on, in May, 1869, he was admitted to the study of medicine, but
gave it up to enter on a business career; and for this purpose he became
a student in the Montreal Business College, and after a few months he
graduated from this institution. The following years, of which a few
months were passed in Manitoba, he was employed as accountant or
bookkeeper in Montreal mercantile houses, when, in September, 1874, he
was appointed accountant in the Joliette branch of the Banque
d’Hochelaga, and six months later, in March, 1875, he was made manager
of the same branch. Here he remained until February, 1885, and was then
appointed manager of the Three Rivers branch of the same bank, and in
that town he has resided since. He was married in January, 1876, to M.
Lea Cornellier, of Joliette, P.Q., daughter of the late E. Cornellier, a
retired merchant.
* * * * *
=Wade, Edward Harper=, Quebec, was born in 1846, in what was formerly
known as “the good old town of Liverpool.” His father, Samuel Mosley
Wade, and his grandfather, Samuel Wade, were long engaged as brokers in
the cotton trade of that port, and his mother was a daughter of the late
Richard Harper, of Low Hill, Liverpool. He received his commercial
training in the office of Sharples, Jones & Co., who then carried on a
large wholesale importing business in Quebec timber in connection with
their Canadian house. His father having been lost at sea in the _Royal
Charter_, when returning from a visit to Australia, he was apprenticed
to the firm named, by his uncle and guardian, the late Thomas Wilson, a
well-known Liverpool shipbuilder. Indentures were drawn up in the good
old-fashioned style, binding the apprentice to five years’ service in
consideration of being taught the trade and business of a timber
merchant. This engagement was faithfully carried out on both sides, and
every opportunity given for the acquisition of such knowledge of all
timber mysteries as the Canada Dock Quay, or the town office of the
firm, afforded; and the lesson of straightforward and truthful dealing
and liberal fulfilment of all business obligations and promises was duly
inculcated. After the expiration of the term named he remained three
years with the firm, and was then transferred to the Quebec office of C.
& J. Sharples & Co. The Quebec firm became John Sharples, Sons & Co.,
and the Liverpool house Henry Sharples, Son & Co., and all the senior
partners had passed away before he left the employ at the end of 1877,
having for several previous years travelled on contracting business in
all parts of the United Kingdom, but especially in Ireland and North
Wales, districts then largely importing Quebec goods. At that time this
portion of the business seldom fell into such young hands, but the high
standing and careful shipments of the firm served the young salesman
well, and enabled him to continue and extend the connection of the house
in the districts specially left to his care. Many little ports that are
now entirely or almost altogether supplied from larger centres at that
time imported several Quebec timber cargoes each year, and districts
which now consume little besides pitch pine, spruce deals and Baltic
goods were good customers for Canadian white pine, then commonly called
yellow pine. At the end of 1877 he entered into business arrangements
with the old and well-known Quebec firm of Roberts, Smith & Co. The
parting between Messrs. Sharples and himself was characterized by the
greatest good feeling on both sides, and the long connection left behind
it a warm friendship that has never been disturbed in the slightest
degree, even during the keen competition of the most trying selling
seasons. His respect and esteem for all members of the family have
always been strongly expressed, and their kindly feeling towards him has
remained unchanged. For three years he continued as salesman with
Roberts, Smith & Co., with a percentage on the profits of the business;
and on Mr. Joseph Roberts retiring in 1880, he was taken into
partnership by Mr. R. H. Smith, and the firm was continued under the
style of Smith, Wade & Co. Taught by the sound judgment and thorough
practical knowledge of timber and its classification and by the long
experience of all points connected with Quebec contracting possessed by
Mr. Roberts, and instructed in sound principles of finance, banking, and
details of management by Mr. Smith, whose qualifications in this respect
are so well known, the subject of our sketch obtained a thorough insight
into the working of a Quebec shipping business as it should be carried
on. Under such training it is not strange that he has established a
character for reliability, that with him a promise is as faithfully
carried out as a contract, and the spirit as well as the letter of the
agreement always kept. For many years Mr. Roberts and Mr. Smith had
entire charge of the Canadian supply to the English dockyards under
admiralty contracts through Messrs. Chapman, of London. This was a most
important business, including the annual supply of many large masts and
spars of considerable value, such as are now only obtained from the
Pacific coast. Mr. R. H. Smith retired at the end of last year, and Mr.
H. T. Walcot, for nine years past a member of the firm of John Burstall
& Co., has joined Mr. Wade in carrying on the business, under the same
style, with the same staff, and upon the same lines. Shortly after his
arrival in Canada, and during a political riot, Mr. Wade had a narrow
escape with his life in rescuing from an infuriated mob an unfortunate
man who, but for his interference, would probably have been killed.
Except in such extreme cases he is an advocate of non-intervention, and
of letting people manage their own affairs in their own way. The
Canadian system of home rule is, in his opinion, the perfection of
government. Although a firm believer in free trade, he readily admits
that sometimes there are more important questions than any connected
with the tariff, and believes it is essential to keep in power the best
men in the country. Apart from his energy, enterprise, and thorough
knowledge of that portion of the trade of which he is a worthy
representative, much of Mr. Wade’s success is doubtless due to the
genial and courteous manner which characterizes his intercourse with all
sorts and conditions of men, and which has been the means of securing
him hosts of friends and well-wishers. Mr. Wade was married in 1874 to
Margaret, eldest daughter of John Simons, of Quebec, by whom he has five
children.
* * * * *
=Blanchet, Hon. Jean=, Q.C., Quebec, M.P.P. for the County of Beauce,
was born in February, 1843, in St. François, county of Beauce, and is a
descendant of one of the oldest settlers in La Nouvelle France. He is
the son of C. Blanchet, N.P., of St. François de la Beauce, and a nephew
of the Right Rev. Mgrs. Blanchet, bishops of Oregon and Vancouver
respectively, whom we may truly call the pioneer apostles of
evangelisation in British Columbia. This country is under a heavy debt
of gratitude to the reverend prelates for the detailed descriptions and
quaint narratives of their early travels in that far-off part of the
Dominion, and the historian of the future will find an inexhaustible
supply of materials in their memoirs. The subject of our sketch was
educated at the College of Nicolet, and at the termination of his
classical course of studies entered Laval University to follow the law
course of that institution, attending the office of Bossé and Bossé at
the same time. On the 3rd of October, 1863, he was admitted to the bar
of Lower Canada, and in 1876 was appointed a Queen’s counsel by the
government of the province of Quebec, and re-appointed as such by the
Dominion Government, on the 11th October, 1880, it having been decided
by the courts of law that the appointment of Queen’s counsels was _ultra
vires_ of the provincial legislatures, and rested solely with the
federal authorities. He is a member of the council of the bar, Quebec
section. On his first presenting himself for parliamentary honours in
his native county, at the general election of 1872, he was unsuccessful.
In November, 1881, he, however, was elected by acclamation, and was
sworn in as a member of the executive council on the 31st July, 1882,
taking the portfolio of provincial secretary in the Mousseau
administration. In 1884, he was again appointed to the same office,
under the Ross administration, and accepted the same portfolio in
January, 1887, under the Hon. L. O. Taillon, who resigned in the same
month. He has been elected at the general election of 1886 by 187
majority. Hon. Mr. Blanchet is an honorary member of several societies.
Among others, may be mentioned L’Athénée Louisianais, the Historical
Society of Montreal, and the Geographical Society of Bordeaux, France;
he is also president of the Asbestos Mining and Manufacturing Company of
Canada, and the Artisans’ Permanent Building Society. In politics Hon.
Mr. Blanchet is a Liberal-Conservative, and resides in Quebec, enjoying
an extensive _clientèle_ in Quebec, Beauce, and Montmagny. He is a
member of the law firm of Blanchet, Drouin and Dionne. He married on the
5th of August, 1878, Jeanie, daughter of General S. Seymour, of Albany,
late state engineer of the state of New York, by whom he has issue two
children, one son and one daughter.
* * * * *
=Phillips, Rev. Caleb Thaddeus=, Minister of the Free Baptist Church,
Woodstock, New Brunswick, was born at Wakefield, county of Carleton,
N.B., on the 7th June, 1841. His father was Cornelius Ackerman Phillips,
whose grandfather was one of the U. E. Loyalists; and his mother Frances
Stevens, daughter of John Stevens and Mary Ackermann, and grand-daughter
of Colonel Lawrence, a noted officer in the British army during the
revolutionary war. Rev. Mr. Phillips received his education in his
native parish and at Acadia College, Wolfville. He afterwards entered
the ministry, and was for fourteen years in charge of the Sussex
pastorate, in Kings county. Upon his resignation he was presented with a
gold watch and an address from the citizens, and in 1884 took charge of
the Free Baptist Church in Woodstock, N.B., of which he is the present
pastor. He takes a deep interest in the temperance reform, and is a hard
worker for the advancement of the Master’s kingdom on earth. He belongs
to the fraternity of Freemasons, and is a member of Woodstock lodge. On
the 8th October, 1870, he was married to Georgia, daughter of the Rev.
Cyriac Cyrell Doucette, and has a family of four children.
* * * * *
=Jetté, Hon. Louis A.=, LL.D., Montreal, Judge of the Superior Court,
was born at L’Assomption, province of Quebec, on the 15th January, 1836.
His father was Amable Jetté, merchant, whose ancestors came to Canada
from near Tours, in France, in the sixteenth or seventeenth century. His
mother, Caroline Gauffreau, was also of French descent. Her grandfather
was a planter in St. Domingo when that island was under French rule, but
left during some political troubles, and came to Canada. Judge Jetté,
the subject of our sketch, received his literary education at
L’Assomption College, and afterwards studied law (first) with Pelletier
& Belanger, barristers, and afterwards with David & Ramsay, barristers.
He was called to the bar in February, 1857. He practised his profession
in Montreal from that date until he was appointed to the bench, on 2nd
September, 1878. While at the bar Hon. Mr. Jetté greatly distinguished
himself; and in the celebrated Guibord case he won an almost world-wide
reputation for legal ability. In an extended review of the case, the
_Belgique Judiciaire_, of Belgium, Europe, thus spoke of him, quoting
largely from his pleading: “This speech, like all the pleadings of Mr.
Jetté, has a tone remarkable for sincerity and loyalty. Mr. Jetté
appears to us, moreover, to be an advocate of great merit, who must hold
the front rank at every bar where he has a great cause to plead. * * *
Voltaire, hearing the speech of Mr. Jetté, at Montreal, would find
himself more comfortable than at the Court of Appeals at Paris, or in
the Legislative Assembly at Versailles.” At one period of his life Judge
Jetté was greatly interested in politics, and was a pronounced Liberal.
At the general election in 1872 he contested Montreal East, and
succeeded in beating the late Sir George E. Cartier, baronet, the then
great statesman and leading Conservative in the province of Quebec,
having polled the unprecedented majority of twelve hundred votes. This
great triumph produced at the time great enthusiasm among the judge’s
_confrères_. At the general election held in 1874, he was re-elected by
acclamation; served through the session of the House of Commons at
Ottawa in 1878, and in the spring of that year was offered a seat in the
cabinet of the Hon. Alexander Mackenzie, who then held the reins of
government. But he declined the proffered honor, having decided to
retire from political life. In the summer of 1878 he visited Europe, and
while in Paris he received, by telegram, the information that he had
been appointed to a seat on the bench of the Superior Court of his
native province, and requesting his immediate return. Since his
elevation to the bench he has fully realized the most sanguine
expectations of his friends, and no judge in the province is more
respected than he. Amongst the important cases he has been called to
decide, since his appointment to the bench, we may mention: 1st. the
liberation from the lunatic asylum of Mrs. Lynam, a poor unfortunate
woman who had been kept there for nearly two years, a case which, three
or four years ago, attracted the attention of everyone in the Dominion,
and led to an investigation by the provincial government in the
management of those institutions; 2nd. the Laramée and Evans case, where
he stated, in a most exhaustive judgment, the law of the province on the
subject of marriage, a judgment which was deemed so important that, on
motion of Hon. E. Blake, a copy of it was laid on the table of the House
of Commons; 3rd. the case of Dobie and the Board of Temporalities of the
Presbyterian church; 4th. the case of Lambe vs. the Insurance Companies,
for the recovery of the tax imposed on those companies by the provincial
government of Quebec, where he maintained the constitutionality of the
provincial law, being confirmed in that view by her Majesty’s Privy
Council. Judge Jetté is a corresponding member of _La Société de
Legislation Comparée de Paris_; and is also a corresponding editor of
the _Revue de Droit International_ of Ghent, Belgium. He received the
honorary degree of LL.D. from Laval University, Quebec, in 1878, and is
professor of law in the Montreal branch of the same celebrated
institution of learning. In 1862 he married Berthe Laflamme, daughter of
the late Toussaint Laflamme, merchant, Montreal, and sister of Hon. R.
Laflamme, minister of justice in the Mackenzie government.
* * * * *
=McLellan, Hon. David=, Lumber Merchant, Indiantown, M.P.P. for St. John
city and county, New Brunswick, was born in Portland, N.B., on the 20th
of January, 1839. His father, David McLellan, was by trade a
shipbuilder, emigrated from Kelton, Dumfriesshire, Scotland, and settled
in the Maritime provinces many years ago. His mother, Mary Knight, was a
descendant of a Quaker family in Pennsylvania, United States. Mr.
McLellan received his education chiefly in a commercial and mathematical
school in St. John, taught by William Mills, and acquired a good mental
outfit with which to begin life. After leaving school he commenced
business as a surveyor and dealer in lumber, and is now the senior
member of the firm of McLellan & Holly, doing a large trade in lumber in
the rough, handling over 60,000,000 superficial feet of logs annually.
He entered political life in 1878, and at the general election of that
year was elected to represent the city and county of St. John, in the
New Brunswick legislature. He again, at the general election held in
1882, presented himself for re-election, and was returned by his old
constituency. On the 28th July, 1883, he was sworn in a member of the
Executive Council, and was appointed provincial secretary in the Blair
administration, in place of the late Hon. Wm. Elder. His acceptance of
office necessitated another appeal to the electors, and he was again
elected. At the general election held in 1886 he was once more chosen by
a large majority. Hon. Mr. McLellan is president of the Board of
Agriculture for the province of New Brunswick. He is a Freemason, and
also belongs to the fraternity of Oddfellows. In politics he is a
pronounced Reformer; and in religion, an adherent of the Baptist church.
In December, 1864, he was married to Fanny B. Richards, daughter of
Henry Richards, of St. John, N.B., and has had a family of four
children—two sons and two daughters, one of the boys died in infancy.
* * * * *
=Taschereau, Hon. Henri Elzéar=, Judge of the Supreme Court, Ottawa, was
born at the Seignorial Manor house, Ste. Marie de la Beauce, county of
Beauce, province of Quebec, on the 7th of October, 1836. He is the
eldest son of the late Pierre Elzéar Taschereau, and a near relative to
Cardinal Taschereau. His father was, prior to the union of the
provinces, for many years a member of the Legislative Assembly of Lower
Canada, and after the union he was also a representative in the
parliament of the united provinces. He had married Catherine Hénédine, a
daughter of the late Hon. Amable Dionne, who was also at one time a
member of the Legislative Council. The founder of the family, Thomas
Jacques Taschereau, settled in the province of Quebec several years
before the conquest. Many members of the Taschereau family have achieved
high distinction in Canada, no less than seven of its members having
occupied seats on the judicial bench. The subject of our sketch was sent
to the Quebec Seminary, and after completing his classical studies,
studied law in the office of his cousin, the Hon. Jean Thomas
Taschereau, one of the most eminent lawyers of the province of Quebec,
who was appointed a puisné judge of the Supreme Court of the Dominion on
its formation in 1875, and was superannuated some years ago. In October,
1857, Mr. Taschereau was called to the bar of Lower Canada, and formed a
partnership with his cousin, the eminent jurist above mentioned, and
they practised their profession at Quebec. He soon gained a high
reputation as a lawyer, and subsequently entered into partnership with
William Duval and Jean Blanchet, who afterwards became speaker of the
Legislative Assembly of Quebec, and of the House of Commons at Ottawa.
In 1861, he was elected to the Legislative Assembly for the county of
Beauce, and continued to represent that constituency until
confederation, when, at the general election of 1867, he was
unsuccessful as a candidate for the House of Commons. During that year
he was made a Queen’s counsel, and the following year he was appointed
clerk of the peace for the district of Quebec, a position which he held
only three days, resigning at the end of that time on account of a
misunderstanding with the government. He then devoted himself to
professional pursuits, and on the 12th of January, 1871, he was
appointed a puisné judge of the Superior Court of the province of
Quebec, and held that position until the 7th of October, 1878, when he
was elevated to his present position of a judge of the Supreme Court of
the Dominion. As a law writer, Judge Taschereau is an authority, he
having written several important works, among which we may mention “The
Criminal Law Consolidation and Amendment Acts of 1869, 32-33 Vict., for
the Dominion of Canada, as amended and in force on the 1st November,
1874, in the provinces of Ontario, Quebec, Nova Scotia, New Brunswick,
Manitoba, and on the 1st of June, 1875, in British Columbia, with Notes,
Commentaries, Precedents of Indictments,” etc., etc., in two volumes,
the first of which was published in Montreal in 1874, and contains 796
pages. The second volume, containing 556 pages, was published in Toronto
in 1875. Both volumes display much erudition, and have been highly
commended by competent legal authorities, among others by C. S. Greaves,
an English Queen’s counsel, and one of the most eminent contemporary
writers on English jurisprudence. “Le Code de Procédure Civile du
Bas-Canada, avec annotations” was published in 1876, and also received
high commendation from legal critics. The Hon. Judge Taschereau married,
on the 27th of May, 1857, Marie Antoinette de Lotbinière Harwood, a
daughter of the Hon. R. U. de Lotbinière Harwood, a member of the
Legislative Council of Quebec, and seigneur of Vaudreuil, near Montreal.
Mrs. Taschereau is a sister of Lieut.-Col. de Lotbinière Harwood. They
have a family of five children, two sons and three daughters. Hon. Judge
Taschereau has his residence in Ottawa, and is joint proprietor of the
seigniory of Ste. Marie de la Beauce, conceded to his great-grandfather
in the year 1726.
* * * * *
=Williams, Right Rev. James W.=, D.D., Bishop of Quebec, was born in the
town of Overton, Hampshire, England, on the 15th September, 1825, and
was brought up in that neighbourhood. He is the son of the Rev. David
Williams, for many years rector of Baughurst, Hampshire. He was educated
by his father at home, at the Grammar School, Crewkerne, Somerset, and
at Pembroke College, Oxford. In 1851 he graduated as B.A., taking
honours in classics, and in due course obtained his degree of M.A. and
D.D. The Lord Bishop of Oxford admitted him to deacon’s orders, and in
1856 he was ordained priest by the Lord Bishop of Bath and Wells. He
held curacies for a short time in Buckinghamshire and Somersetshire. His
classical attainments were of more than average excellence. For two
years he was assistant master in Leamington College. In 1857, whilst
curate of Huish-Champflower, he was chosen to organize a school in
connection with Bishop’s College, Lennoxville, Quebec. He held the
office of rector of the College Grammar School, together with that of
professor of belles-lettres in the university, until his elevation to
the episcopacy. Upon the death of the late Right Rev. George Jehosaphat
Mountain, Bishop of Quebec, in 1863, Rev. Mr. Williams was chosen by the
synod to succeed him, and on the 11th of June, of the same year, he was
consecrated at Quebec by the Most Reverend the Metropolitan, assisted by
the bishops of Toronto, Ontario, Huron and Vermont. His first episcopal
act was to advance three deacons to the priesthood. The See of Quebec,
over which the bishop’s jurisdiction extends, was constituted in 1863,
and formerly comprised the whole of Upper and Lower Canada. Owing to
various causes, and mainly to the increase in the population and growth
of the Church of England its extent has been curtailed from time to time
until it was confined to that part of the province of Quebec extending
from Three Rivers to the Straits of Belle Isle and New Brunswick, on the
shores of the St. Lawrence, and all east of a line drawn from Three
Rivers to Lake Memphremagog. Bishop Williams is a plain preacher, and
never exhibits any affectation; he is a man of scholarly tastes. He
makes no pretence to showy or transcendent gifts of pulpit oratory, but
is known as an energetic and industrious ecclesiastic, watching with
zealous care over the spiritual welfare of his flock and clergy. Several
of his lectures and sermons have been published and were highly
commended by the Canadian and American religious newspapers. Among them
may be more especially mentioned his charge delivered to the clergy of
the diocese of Quebec at the visitation held in Bishop’s College,
Lennoxville, in 1864; and a lecture on Self-Education, published at
Quebec in 1865.
* * * * *
=Moody, James Cochrane=, M.D., Windsor, Nova Scotia, was born at
Liverpool, N.S., on the 1st of September, 1844. His father, the Rev.
John T. T. Moody, D.D., was born at Halifax, on the 25th of March, 1804,
and at the date of his son’s birth was rector of Liverpool, but
subsequently removed with his family to Yarmouth, N.S., to which parish
he was appointed rector in 1846. His mother was Sarah Bond, eldest
daughter of the late Henry Greggs Farish, M.D., of Yarmouth, N.S., and
was born on the 9th of July, 1807. They were married in 1830, and both
lived to the advanced age of 80 years. Dr. Moody commenced the study of
medicine under the preceptorship of his great uncle, the late Joseph B.
Bond, M.D., of Yarmouth, in 1862. He is a graduate of the University of
New York, having taken his degree of M.D. at that institution in the
spring of 1866. On his return home during the Fenian alarm of the same
year, he was appointed an assistant surgeon to the Yarmouth militia.
Commencing the practice of his profession at Richibucto, Kent county,
New Brunswick, in the autumn of 1866, he soon succeeded in building up a
good practice. Was appointed a coroner for Kent county, November 1st,
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