INDEX. (continued 18)

Labelle, Rev. François Xavier Antoine, the “Apostle of Colonization,” Parish Priest, St. Jerome, county of Terrebonne, Province of Quebec, was born in the village of Ste. Rose, Laval county, on the 14th November, 1834, his father being Antoine Labelle, a master shoemaker, who was married to Angélique Mayer. In 1844 he was sent to the Seminary of Ste. Thérèse, and in that institution completed a full course of classical studies. He was chiefly remarkable at college for his sound judgment and his happy and retentive memory. The consideration he enjoyed among his fellow-students caused him to be chosen president of the Grammar Society, and vice-president of the Literary Society of the college. His favorite studies were history and philosophy, and his favorite authors DeMaistre, Balmès, DeBonald, and Nicholas, chiefly the latter, whom he possessed almost by heart, and thereby gained the surname of “Nicholas,” given him by his companions. He chose the ecclesiastical state, and received the first of the minor orders in 1852, at the Seminary of Ste. Thérèse, where during three years he was a teacher, performing at the same time the humble duties of recreation room master and attendant of the convocation room. In 1855 he went to the Grand Seminary of Montreal, where he devoted himself exclusively to the study of theology. He was only twenty-two years old when he was ordained priest, in 1856, in his native village, by Mgr. Pinsonneault, eight days after the consecration of that prelate. By virtue of an edict of the Holy See the privilege of ordaining a certain number of priests before they had attained the required age, was granted to the bishop of Montreal, and Father Labelle was one of the first on whom the honor was conferred. He was appointed vicar to Father Vinet, since promoted to the dignity of prelate to the Holy See, then parish priest of the beautiful and wealthy parish of Sault-au-Récollet. The young vicar rendered great services to his curé in the difficulties the latter had to encounter in connection with the building of the Convent of the Sacred Heart. Father Labelle resided two years and a half in the parish of Sault-au-Récollet, and the parishioners expressed the livliest regret when he was sent to help the parish priest of St. Jacques-le-Mineur, Rev. Father Morin, who required rest; in this parish he resided nine months. In 1859 he was appointed parish priest of St. Antoine Abbé, a mixed parish on the border. Here he had many difficulties to smooth over as first resident curé of this parish, which had been divided in two for civil purposes by the division of the counties of Huntingdon and Chateauguay. In the midst of the greatest obstacles he had to create everything; he succeeded, however, in having the parish civilly erected and organized as a scholastic and municipal corporation, in spite of the electoral influences which prevented him from attaining his aim immediately. Religious embarrassments also existed, but thanks to the energy and tact displayed by Father Labelle, these were overcome. The impetus given to St. Antoine Abbé during the four years’ residence of the curé in that parish, placed it in the way of progress, and it is at the present day one of the most prosperous in the province of Quebec. A few years ago the humble chapel, which had been erected in the first days of the village, was demolished, and in its place stands one of the finest church edifices in the county. It was here that Rev. Father Labelle experienced a deep sorrow in the death of his father, who had followed the fortunes of his only son. In 1863 he was sent to Lacolle by his bishop, Mgr. Bourget, who had had occasion to appreciate his energy and charity. Grave difficulties had arisen, owing to the choice of a site for a new church, which had been selected outside of the village as the centre of the parish, causing division, fed by a few Protestants, who went even so far as to offer help to build the church in the village. When Father Labelle arrived to take the place of Father Bourbonnais, the situation was almost desperate; but the inhabitants of St. Antoine predicted to those of Lacolle that nothing would resist the efforts of their new pastor. And, in fact, despite the intelligence and wealth in league against him, despite the efforts of the Protestants who owned the greater portion of the territory, he succeeded through perseverance and diplomatic acuteness to make Lacolle what it is to-day, one of the finest villages in the country. When he left the parish, both Protestants and Catholics recognized his ability and admitted the justice of his previous claims. It was during his sojourn in Lacolle that the Fenian invasion of 1866 took place. The spot offered an easy access to the enemy, being at the entrance of the plain leading to St. John’s. The patriotism roused by the curé, however, in the hearts of his parishioners caused the enemies of the country to choose another point to enter Canada. “If the Fenians come here,” the pastor said, “I will place myself at your head to repel them.” In 1868 he was transferred to the curacy of St. Jerome. After having passed his first years of priesthood in the midst of struggles, it was a welcome change to the good man to settle in a quiet and well organized parish. He fell on his knees on the threshold of his presbytery to return thanks to God for his mercy. He discovered in his parishioners the spirit of union, so efficacious in the performance of noble works. The site of the village, the progress already made, the intelligence and ambition of its inhabitants, everything tended to forebode an era of happiness such as he had never before experienced. He knew the North only from geographical descriptions and hearsay; but the position of St. Jerome at the foot of the Laurentian mountains, in that broad and fertile valley of the Ottawa river, opened up to his view the perspective of a vast field for the exercise of his patriotism. He wanted to convince himself de visu of the resources of the country, and with that end in view, he organized an expedition to explore the valley to its most extreme limits, and he returned with the conviction that this vast plain should be the cradle of a numerous and vigorous population, whose industry and needs would develop an important trade. The best means to attain that end, he thought, was to build a railroad, which, reaching the Gatineau, would in after years be an immense feeder to Montreal, whilst helping to colonize that part of the province; for he had found, during his voyage, a fertile soil and a wealth of timber and minerals hardly surpassed in any other part of the Dominion. He was also thinking of the great number of willing and vigorous workers who, after receiving so many favors in their native land, left it to go and enrich the foreigner, while their own country’s resources were undeveloped for the want of their sturdy sinews. “Any subject,” he would say, “who willingly leaves the benevolent shadow of the British flag, proves a loss to the country and an evil to the subject.” Before undertaking to build a railroad, however, colonization roads must be built, the country must be opened; so he turned his attention to the roads at once. Public men know what it costs to obtain favors from a government which, in spite of its patriotism and good-will, is often-times hampered in the distribution of its favors. The influences of the southern part of the province, which set up the plea that they had not obtained enough at the hands of the government, tempered the generous impulses of the ministers. To this Father Labelle offered a strong argument: “The south has received a great deal, the north almost nothing; when the south receives, the north derives no benefit; whilst, when the north is prosperous, the overflow of its wealth benefits the south.” He begged and supplicated, but was repulsed. Nothing daunted, he kept asking. “I wish you would send your curé to his parishioners,” a minister said one day to the member for Terrebonne. “You can do that yourself,” said the latter; “if he annoys you, give him what he asks, otherwise you will never get rid of him.” After months of waiting and innumerable requests, the ministry acquiesced to the just demands of the north, and granted subsidies according to the means at the disposal of the government. Let us say right here that the zeal of Father Labelle was vigorously seconded by the Hon. Mr. Chapleau, who has always done all he could in the interest of his constituents, and also by the Hon. Mr. Masson, the late lieutenant-governor of the Province of Quebec, and the then representative of the county in the House of Commons. The zealous priest was also sustained by the successive administrations of the province, and by the sympathy and energy of the citizens of St. Jerome, among whom may be mentioned Messrs. Laviolette, M. J. B. Lefebvre-Villemure, Prévost, de Montigny, William Scott, J. A. Hervieux, and many others. The whole parish is in accord with its curé, for, in French Canada, when works of public utility are in view, political divisions are laid aside. The priests of the adjoining parishes also accorded a loyal and energetic support to Father Labelle. The principal work of this indefatigable man is certainly the railroad commenced under his auspices, known at first under the name of “Chemin à lisses de bois,” but laid to-day with steel rails. His matchless energy was displayed in its construction; and in the pursuit of this object he undertook struggles, voyages, writing, etc., the recital of which would be the recital of the stormy beginnings of two great railways which at the present day are the pride of the country. Father Labelle has always looked upon the “Colonization Railroad of the North” as part of the Canadian Pacific, and also took a great interest in the latter, which he considered as the artery destined to carry the wealth of the West, as well as the treasures of Japan and China, to our seaports through Canadian territory, favoring and feeding industry and commerce all along its immense length. He admired the plan of Sir George E. Cartier, and regretted the failure of Sir Hugh Allan, through the intrigues of his opponents, in his attempt to float the loan necessary to its construction. He foresaw, in the construction of the Pacific Railway, a powerful means of immigration, and calculated that in ten years, the indirect contributions paid by the new settlers into the Federal treasury, and the increase in value of the North-West lands, would pay the largest portion of the debt contracted for the undertaking. It is needless to add that his predictions were correct, as it has been amply proved since. His appreciation of the advantages and disadvantages offered by the diverse routes proposed, reveal the foresight of a true statesman. He worked also in the interest of the North Shore road, and helped it by his writings, visits and timely interference at critical periods. But his favorite road has always been the Colonization road. He is called its father, and he cannot possibly disclaim his offspring. He said one time, on the occasion of a visit paid him by the members of the Montreal press, that such children were the only ones the members of his calling were allowed to beget. At the same time he thanked the newspapers for the tender care they had exercised in nursing and clothing his child. If doubts existed on any one’s mind as to the important share of glory accruing to Father Labelle on account of this work, the following extracts which were communicated to us by an indiscreet friend of the curé of St. Jerome, would be sufficient to dissipate them. Sir Hugh Allan wrote him on the 25th July, 1883: —

My dear Father Labelle,—You have been happy to hear, I am sure, that the contract for the construction of the Colonization railroad has at last been signed. This result is in a great measure due to your industry and increasing efforts, and if there is a man who ought to reap any glory from the completion of this work, that man is yourself.

The Hon. Mr. Abbott wrote from London, under date May 5, 1873: —

It is to be regretted that your holy office should prevent you from occupying in the enterprise the position to which your efforts and influence entitle you. I know, however, that the satisfaction of having accomplished a good work on behalf of your countrymen will reward you sufficiently, from your own standpoint, for the important help you have given us from the beginning.

To-day the road is completed, and whoever is entitled to merit should receive it. Everyone knows that in consequence of unforeseen difficulties the future of the road was threatened even after the work had been undertaken. Father Labelle had arranged to get one million dollars voted by the city of Montreal, and he induced the ministry of the province to take the road under its control and to complete it. It is also said that the idea of getting the “Grand Trunk of the North” built by the government originated with him. The part he had taken in these events was recognized in a measure by the commissioners who named one of the first engines placed on the line, “Rev. A. Labelle.” On the fiftieth anniversary of Father Labelle’s birthday, at a dinner given at St. Jerome, on the 29th November, 1884, were gathered together ministers, journalists, members of parliament, aldermen and representative men from all parts of the province, and all with common accord applauded the work he had done. And we may say here that the tact he displayed in the circumstance justified what had been said of him on a previous occasion by a citizen distinguished among his English and Protestant brethren: “Father Labelle,” he said, “should be prime minister of Canada instead of curé of St. Jerome.” The following is an extract of a speech delivered on that eventful occasion: —

Father Labelle to-day can look back on thirty years of feverish and unceasing activity; thirty years of courageous and plodding energy; his career has been stormy rather than peaceful, and has already borne more abundant fruit than many ordinary existences. His physical health is good, but requires a rest which the will instinctively refuses on account of this fever of labor and activity which unceasingly devours and consumes. The mind is ever vigorous and keenly perceptive, while the intellect and judgment have ripened under the influence of work and time, and to-day the results are most abundant and precious. The nature of our good curé is so full of vigor and exuberance that in his fiftieth year he spreads movement, activity and life everywhere around him; his character is so essentially expansive that his ideas, his projects, his hopes, so clearly elucidated, pervade those who come in contact with him. He carries so much conviction that one must needs yield to him. Is it astonishing that he should have wielded, in all spheres, an influence often dominating and decisive? The grandeur of conception, the vigor displayed in the execution of the most difficult enterprises, his proverbial disinterestedness, his sound judgment constantly seconded by deep and varied studies, an astonishing memory, a character bending itself to the most dissimilar circumstances, unassailable honesty of purpose, an openness of heart which has always proved to him the best of policies, are certainly, among others, enough qualities to make him, perhaps, the most popular and most enlightened man of our country. His influence has been felt everywhere. His counsels have ever been wise and cautious. His practical mind was never embarrassed by the most difficult problems of theology or social and political economy. His courage has ever been undaunted, either before obstacles or adversaries, and his honesty has never flinched or given way to the wiles of a corrupt world. The holy robes he wears have never been soiled, and at the present time they are as immaculate as on the day the young Levite donned them to devote himself to the service of the Divine Master. As the drop of water, slowly and patiently wending its way through the obstacles which men and accidents may throw on its passage; as the impetuous torrent upsetting all obstacles in its mad race, Father Labelle has succeeded in all his enterprises; but then these enterprises were great, they were national, they were undertaken in the interest of religion and for the welfare of the country, and only those who were traitors to their religion and their country were opposed to their execution. Is it to be wondered at, under such conditions, that he was enabled to occupy the most difficult positions and master fortresses, until his advent thought impregnable? He was never known, however, to soil his hands with the booty of the vanquished, to take a share of the spoils of the victor, or impose hard and unjust conditions under the assumption that might is right. He never exalted his victories over the weakness of those he disarmed. He always looked forward to the triumph of truth and justice and the greatness of our country; not to the humiliation of men and the abasement of character. Richelieu once said: ‘I never undertake anything without mature reflection; but my resolution once taken, I go straight to the end I have in view; I break all obstacles and I cover the whole with my purple robe.’ In his case the prince of the church gave way to the statesman. In the latter respect, it was not Richelieu who was the model of Father Labelle. But let us change the scene; we will transport ourselves to a more genial climate, far from the tainted atmosphere of the court of Louis XIII., far from the bloody fields of battle, of murder and assassination, where Richelieu had to play his rôle of statesman, and we will find, from the Canadian standpoint, a great similarity of character and works between the great French minister and the humble Canadian priest who, in the course of a few years, will change the face of a considerable portion of this province. The former contributed in large measure to the foundation of the colony; the latter, when his colonization scheme will be realized in all the grandeur of its conception, will have doubled the value, the wealth, the power of our province; both will have had the same energy and the same courage; on a different theatre, they will have obtained wonderful success. Let me add that the life of Father Labelle is an illustrious example to those who aim at being true patriots: to serve God and country. He is one of the most accomplished types of that hardy Franco-Canadian race which is called upon to accomplish grand and noble deeds, provided its descendants remember the history of its origin, its struggles and its triumphs; and rise to the height of the mission assigned them by Providence. To attain that end they must set aside the cruel broils of politics, the rancour of partyism we witness to-day, and they must work together for the common good of our common country, and, following the example of the beloved pastor, take as a motto: ‘Energy, faith in God, and hope in the future.’ The true Franco-Canadian race, the French-Catholic race, has become incarnate in the large heart of Father Labelle, and even to-day a monument might be raised to him bearing the inscription dedicated to the heroes of all times and all climes: ‘To Father Labelle, a tribute of love from a grateful country.’

Father Labelle’s winning affability is proverbial, and in the midst of his enormous labors he always finds a moment to speak on any subject that might be of interest to his listeners. Ever ready to help the humblest of his parishioners, his generosity often oversteps the limit of his means, for he has not the leisure to figure up his fortune. The following incident is an example of his charity, which we publish at the risk of raising his ire: During a very severe winter the price of cordwood had risen in the city of Montreal to the fabulous figure of $20 a cord, owing to a “combine” of men who would have been insulted had anyone dared to assert that they were not honest. Father Labelle called on his parishioners, in the name of charity, to help the poor of Montreal in their sore need of fuel, and the result was that an immense procession of sleds loaded with cordwood, the good curé leading, was seen wending its way from St. Jerome to Montreal (a distance of thirty-three miles), and there distributed to the most needy and deserving poor of the city. This generous action was repeated the following winter. Besides his railroad undertakings, Father Labelle has been the means of a college being built in St. Jerome; a three-story brick building, having a frontage of eighty feet, with a lateral chapel, where the youth of the surrounding district receive a commercial, agricultural, and religious education under the direction of the Rev. Fathers of the Holy Cross. As soon as the railroad was completed to St. Jerome, Father Labelle undertook to supply the necessary traffic. He is convinced that the Laurentian range contains considerable mineral wealth, and geological reports prove his assertions. With the view of working and developing these mines, he immediately applied at every door to raise the necessary capital. His parishioners subscribed a few thousand dollars; but the resources are so slender, and the expenses so heavy to start on a solid basis, that he must receive more substantial help. It may be said, by the way, that minerals being one of the greatest sources of wealth of a country, there is no reason why the government should not give grants to the energetic men who undertake to search for those treasures in a practical manner. His many and varied occupations do not interfere with the exemplary regularity of the exercise of his holy ministry. His sermons are always remarkable for their characteristic clearness and practical common sense. Thoroughly orthodox, he never deviates from the strict doctrines of his church, which he believes accords with progress; as a result, in his parish, church and state go hand-in-hand, to the satisfaction of all parties. Far from feeling any pride in his successes, he makes them subservient to the glory of God, the primary cause and author of all greatness. The theological lore of Father Labelle is very profound, and he has had many occasions to elucidate very intricate questions. His lordship, Bishop Duhamel, honored him with his confidence, and delegated to him a part of his power for the purpose of erecting canonical parishes in the southern part of his diocese. Right Rev. Mgr. Conroy, delegated by the Holy See to adjust certain differences which had arisen in Canada in connection with the establishment of the branch of Laval University, at Montreal, wrote the following letter to Father Labelle, on the 19th March, 1877: “I reckon on your great and well-deserved influence. I shall always be glad to see you, and I shall do my best to meet your wishes as far as I possibly can do so.” After the decision of the Holy See in favor of Laval, Father Labelle was one of the most energetic workers, and did no small amount of work in connection with the establishment of the branch university in Montreal. The late Bishop Bourget was ably seconded by Father Labelle in the erection, for civil purposes, of the new parishes of Montreal. After the Guibord case had been settled, a bill was passed to prevent the recurrence of such difficulties and to meet the views of her Majesty, Queen Victoria, as intimated by her to Lord Dufferin; Father Labelle was entrusted with the drawing up of the bill. He was also instrumental, and did more than his share of the work, both here and at Rome, to obtain the division of the ecclesiastical provinces of Montreal and Ottawa. Since 1883, he has been sent to France by the Federal government for the purpose of making our country better known in Europe and promoting more extended commercial relations. At the present time (1887), he is engaged on the extension of the Montreal and Western Railway to Lake Temiscamingue, and there are already seventy miles under contract. He is also interested in a new cattle ranch at Wood Mountain, near Regina, N.W.T., etc. We cannot conclude this imperfect sketch without mentioning the charming bonhomie which in Father Labelle’s case, takes the place of the most refined courteousness. When his wine cellar is empty, his smoking-room is abundantly supplied, and in either case he receives the most illustrious men of the country with the greatest ease. Let us add that his venerable mother, who presides over the internal administration of his household, contributes, by her politeness and kind attentions, to make the presbytery of St. Jerome the most popular resort of the surrounding parishes. The priests of the neighborhood and the notable men of the province frequently visit the worthy pastor when in need of information, or in quest of rest and relaxation from their onerous duties.

Hale, Frederick Harding, Lumber Merchant, Woodstock, M.P. for Carleton, New Brunswick, was born at Northampton, in the county of Carleton, N.B., on the 8th December, 1844. His father, Martin Hale, was born in Ireland, and came to Canada, when a child, with his parents. His mother was Hulda Dickinson, daughter of Harding Dickinson, a U. E. loyalist. Mr. Hale received his education in the schools in Carleton county; and afterwards turned his attention to mercantile pursuits, and for the last twenty-five years has been heavily engaged in the manufacture and sale of all kinds of lumber at Northampton and Woodstock. A few years ago he entered the political arena, and at the general election held in the spring of 1887 was elected to represent the county of Carleton in the Dominion parliament at Ottawa. Mr. Hale is a director of the St. John Valley Railway. He takes an interest in Masonry, and is a member of the Woodstock lodge; and also a member of the Woodstock Royal Arch Chapter. In politics he is a Liberal; and in religion an adherent of the Free Baptist church. Mr. Hale has been twice married. On the 20th June, 1869, to Rhoda, daughter of the late George McGee; she died on the 16th June, 1870. And on the 17th June, 1873, to Emma E., daughter of Moses Boyer.

Nelles, Samuel Sobieski, D.D., LL.D., who died at Cobourg, on the 17th October, 1887, on his sixty-fourth birthday, was born of worthy Methodist parents at Mount Pleasant, near Brantford, Ontario, on 17th October, 1823. He attended the Lewiston Academy, New York, during 1839 and 1840, under the tutorship of the poet, J. G. Saxe, whose peculiarly pungent wit the doctor often rivalled in after life. The year following he entered the Genesee Wesleyan Seminary, where he was converted and where he connected himself with the Methodist church. Two years later he became one of the two first matriculating students at Victoria University, Cobourg, the institution that was afterwards to achieve prosperity under his guidance, then presided over by Rev. Egerton Ryerson, D.D. During the two subsequent years spent at Victoria College he obtained a local preacher’s license, and distinguished himself, the venerable Dr. Carroll says, for “intellect and eloquence.” Seeking his degree at an older institution, he graduated at the Wesleyan University, Middleton, Conn., in 1846, and spent the next year as head master of the Newburgh Academy, whence he was recommended to the ministry by the Napanee Quarterly Official Board. In 1847 he was received on trial at Port Hope, and preached during 1848 and 1849 at Toronto East, in the old Adelaide street church, which has since been replaced by the Metropolitan, when he was received into full connection, ordained and sent to London as colleague of Rev. John Carroll, D.D., for the first quarter of 1850. It was then that the church wanted a man to take the presidency of their connexional university at Cobourg, an institution that had been founded in 1837 as an academy, had been created a university in 1841, and was then fighting a hard battle for a precarious existence. Samuel S. Nelles, M.A., was the man unanimously chosen, and taken, sorely against his will, from the London charge early in 1850 and installed as successor to the Rev. Alex. McNabb, D.D., in the president’s chair of Victoria University. From this time forward the career of Dr. Nelles is very closely identified with that of the college to which he fully devoted his best energies, his keen intellect, his marvellous power of management and his ripe culture. Finding the institution financially feeble, he travelled the country with persistent energy, appealing, and seldom in vain, to Methodists to support their college, and its rapid growth and success in keeping abreast with the times are largely due to his untiring labors. Together with the late Rev. Dr. Punshon, he undertook to raise an endowment of $100,000 for the college, and the best comment upon their faithful efforts is that they succeeded in swelling that amount to $150,000. Some ten years ago this indefatigable worker persuaded the people of Cobourg to erect a magnificent science building, known as Faraday Hall. In 1861 he received the honorary degree of D.D. from Queen’s University, which was followed in 1872 by the degree of LL.D. He was elected General Conference representative to the conference of the Methodist Episcopal church, United States, in 1864; and associate representative to the Eastern British American Conference in 1868; to the English Wesleyan Conference with Rev. Dr. Dewart in 1873, and to the British Conference, held in Newcastle, in 1883. The deceased was professor of moral and mental philosophy, as well as president at Victoria College, since his first connection with that institution; and in the University Act, passed at the time of Methodist union, he was created chancellor of the university. The doctor was one of the original framers of the University Federation scheme, and gave it vigorous advocacy by platform and press, but as the face of the scheme was changed, largely because of the defection of other colleges, he withdrew his support. He was married early in life to the eldest daughter of Rev. Dr. Wood, of Davenport, who survives him. Four children have blessed the union, all of whom are living. The only son is now practising law with Cameron & Co., at Tilbury Centre; the eldest daughter is the widow of the late Kenneth Dingwall, an eminent barrister of Hamilton, while the two youngest are still unmarried.

Drolet, Jacques Francois Gaspard, Quebec, Auditor of the Province of Quebec, was born at Quebec on the 23rd January, 1828. His parents were Gaspard Drolet, advocate; and Marie Antoinette LeBlond, daughter of Jacques LeBlond, advocate. He received a full and complete course of classics at the Quebec Seminary. He entered the public service in 1862 in the department of Public Works of Canada; and was appointed auditor of the province of Quebec in 1867, under section 20 of the Treasury Department Act, 31 Vict., cap. 9, province of Quebec; 46 Vict., cap. 4, section 3, 1883, which enacts “that the provincial auditor shall hold office during good behavior, but be removable by the lieutenant-governor upon an address of the Legislative Council and the Legislative Assembly.” He was president of the Institut Canadien in 1859-60. In 1869, he, along with J. W. Dunscomb, collector of her Majesty’s Customs at the port of Quebec, and François Vézina, cashier of La Banque Nationale, were appointed a Board of Commissioners to enquire into and report upon the civil service of the province. In 1875 he was on a commission with J. G. Bossé, Q.C., and James Dunbar, Q.C., to enquire into the settlement of the Quebec Fire Loan; and in 1883 he was appointed a commissioner along with L. Tellier and Lieut.-Colonel A. A. Stevenson, on an enquiry on the public service. He has taken an active interest in the Volunteer movement; and during the Trent difficulty held the rank of captain in the 7th battalion of Chasseurs. Mr. Drolet is a member of the Roman Catholic church, and holds the position of church warden. He was married at Montreal, in August, 1850, to Marie Louise Eugénie, daughter of the Hon. Jean Casimir Bruneau, judge of the Superior Court, and niece of the Hon. F. P. Bruneau, one of the Legislative councillors appointed by Lord Sydenham in 1841, and of Dr. Bruneau, for a number of years professor and lecturer of McGill College, Montreal. The living issue of this marriage is three sons and three daughters. The eldest son is Joseph Eugène, advocate; Jean Casimir, Roman Catholic priest; third son, Joseph Charles Gaspard, captain in the 9th battalion Quebec Rifles. Captain Joseph C. G. Drolet went through the North-West campaign with his regiment, and is now adjutant of the Royal School of Mounted Infantry at Winnipeg, Manitoba.

Whitney, Henry A., Moncton, New Brunswick, Mechanical Superintendent of the Intercolonial Railway, was born at St. Stephen, New Brunswick, on the 11th February, 1834. His parents were Beriah Whitney and Lucy Hall, and both were descended from very early settlers in America. The first of the Whitney family emigrated from Wales, England, about the year 1640, and settled in the state of Connecticut. Of the mother’s progenitors, the Howland branch came over with the Pilgrim Fathers in 1620; and the Hall branch emigrated from Hull, England, about 1650, and made their home on Long Island. Henry A. Whitney received a common school education at St. Stephen, New Brunswick, and at Calais, Maine. As early as 1852 he began his connection with railways, and with the exception of a short interval in the years 1853-4, has been in the railway service ever since. During these thirty years he has occupied various positions on government railways, such as foreman, engine driver, shop hand, locomotive foreman, and is now mechanical superintendent of the Intercolonial Railway. He has been obliged to change his residence several times since he began his useful career, having removed from St. Stephen to Moncton in 1857; to St. John in 1858; to Shediac in 1861; and lastly to Moncton in 1872, where he has since resided. In politics Mr. Whitney takes little interest; but in religion he may be classed among the Universalists, having held, from youth up, that our Heavenly Father will finally bring all his erring children home to his house of many mansions. He was married on the 13th of December, 1861, to Margaret J. Lindsay, of St. John, New Brunswick. This lady died on the 22nd May, 1872. On the 5th of May, 1874, he was married to his second wife, Henrietta Elliott, of Moncton, New Brunswick.

Fitch, Edson, Manufacturer, Quebec, Grand First Principal of Royal Arch Masonry in the province of Quebec, is a native of Glen’s Falls, New York state, having been born there in 1838. He is a direct descendant of Governor Thomas Fitch, who was governor of the colony of Connecticut, in 1756, under the reign of George II. The family is one of the oldest in the United States. They were originally from Eltham, county of Kent, England, and came to America, landing in Boston, Mass., in 1634. The homestead of the governor, in Norwalk, Conn., is still in possession of the family, being owned by the subject of this sketch and his sister. Mr. Fitch received his educational training in his native parish. In 1861 he entered the American army as a lieutenant, and was at once sent to the front on active service. During the winter of 1862-3 he received a commission as captain, and was present with General McClellan during the peninsular campaign, and took part in all the principal engagements until the first day’s fight in the battle of the Wilderness, 5th May, 1864, when he was severely wounded, having been shot through the body. This confined him to the rear for about three months, at the end of which time he returned to his post, where he remained till the close of 1864, when, his time having expired, he was mustered out of the service. He was on staff duty most of the time, having been in twenty-seven engagements, fighting under Generals McClellan, Burnside, Hooker, Meade and Grant. When he returned from the service he held the position of acting assistant inspector-general and chief of staff of the first brigade of the second division of the Second Army Corps. On that occasion he received the following flattering letter: —

Head-Quarters 1st Brigade

2nd Div. 2nd Army Corps,

Army of the Potomac, near Petersburg, Va.

Nov. 3, 1864.

Capt. Edson Fitch,

Brig. In. 2nd Brig. 2nd Div., 2nd A.C.,

Captain,—Having learned that you are about to retire from the military service of the United States government, I avail myself of what may be the only opportunity I shall have of communicating to you an expression of the high regard I entertain for you as a brave, competent, efficient and gentlemanly officer, and of the regret that you are to be even temporarily lost to the service which you have honored on so many occasions by your gallant conduct. As chief of staff of the brigade which I had the honor to command at the late battle at Hatcher’s Run, you in no small degree contributed to that success which won for our brave troops the encomiums of the generals commanding. To the consciousness of having faithfully discharged your whole duty, which you will carry with you to private life, I desire to add the assurance that you also have the confidence and kindest regards of your old comrades in arms, who still hope, at no very distant period, to welcome you again to the tented field.

I am, Captain, very truly yours,

Jas. M. Willet,

Col. 8th N. Y. H. Art’y,

Comdg. 1st Brigade.

In 1867, Captain Fitch came to Canada with the intention of organizing the business he is now engaged in, that of manufacturing match splints, and settled at Montmorency, Quebec, but was burnt out there. He then removed to Etchemin, county of Levis, where he established his business, and has had a most successful career. Twice he has seen his factory destroyed by fire, but his indomitable pluck and perseverance have carried him through. The business of manufacturing match splints is one the magnitude of which few outsiders can realize. The factory owned by Mr. Fitch is the largest of its kind in the world, making nearly ninety millions of matches in a single day To reach this almost inconceivable result, five hundred hands are employed, and no less than twenty millions of feet of timber are cut up in the course of a single year. Early in life Mr. Fitch connected himself with Masonry, having, in 1861, been initiated in Senate lodge, No. 456, G.R. of N.Y., held at Glen’s Falls. In 1868, desiring further knowledge in Masonry, he applied for the Royal Arch degrees to Stadacona Chapter, No. 2, G.R.Q., and was exalted in that chapter on 22nd October, 1868. In 1873, he affiliated with Tuscan lodge, No. 28, G.R.Q., held at Levis, and occupied the worshipful master’s chair in that lodge in 1876 and 1877. In 1877 he was elected grand senior warden of the Grand Lodge of Quebec, and in 1880 was appointed D.D.G. Master for Quebec and Three Rivers district, and held that office two years and a half. In 1882 he was unanimously elected deputy grand master of the Grand Lodge. In 1884, the Grand Chapter of Royal Arch Masons chose him as their grand third principal; in 1885 and again in 1886 as grand second principal, and at the last meeting of the Grand Chapter, held in the city of Montreal, in January, 1887, he was placed, by the voice of the companions assembled, in the exalted position of grand first principal. He was one of the charter members of William de la More, the Martyr Preceptory of Knights Templars at Quebec, with which body he is still connected. He has been chairman of the Committee of Benevolence and Charity of the Grand Lodge since 1882. He is representative in Quebec of the Grand Lodge of California and Grand Chapter of Indiana. And he has always taken an active part in all matters pertaining to the craft in his district and province, and is an ardent supporter of the principle of Grand Lodge sovereignty. In politics Mr. Fitch is a Liberal; and in religion is an adherent of the Baptist church. He was married to Mary A., second daughter of the late James Bowen, of Quebec.

Badgley, Rev. Prof. E. I., M.A., B.D., LL.D., Victoria University, Cobourg.—Professor Badgley, of United Empire loyalist descent, was born in Prince Edward county, which county was also the birth place of his father and mother. At the time of the American revolution his great-grandfather owned a large landed property in the state of New Jersey, but having espoused the royalists’ cause, his property was confiscated. Preferring citizenship under the British Crown rather than in the Republic, he determined to find a home in the then wilderness of Canada. Pursued as an enemy and a fugitive, he suffered many hair-breadth escapes. For several days he lay concealed in his hayloft, where more than once the enemy searched for him, repeatedly walking over him as he lay buried beneath the hay. From this place of concealment he escaped to find refuge for three days in a potato pit. After many adventures scarcely less perilous, he finally was enabled to reach Canada, whither his family in due time followed him. They settled about six miles from Belleville, in what is now the township of Thurlow. Dr. Canniff, in his work on the “Settlement of Upper Canada,” mentions him and his sons as among the first settlers north of the village of Cannifton. His wife’s name was Lawrence, whom he married in England, and through that connection repeated efforts have been made to secure for the heirs a supposed fortune lying to their credit, so far, however, without any success. One of the sons, Professor Badgley’s grandfather, finally settled in Prince Edward county, from which place he went to Kingston to do service for his country, in 1812. By an exchange of property the family removed to Thurlow, where his mother, whose maiden name was Howard, still lives. With an ardent desire for a better training than the public school could furnish, Professor Badgley left the farm when seventeen years of age, and entered as a student at Belleville Seminary, afterwards Albert University. He graduated with the second-class in 1868, and immediately entered upon the work of the ministry, in connection with the late Methodist Episcopal church. After three years of successful labor, he returned to Albert College as an adjunct professor in metaphysics and mathematics. Three years later, on the election of Dr. Carman, president of the university, to the episcopacy, Professor Badgley was appointed to the chair of mental and moral philosophy, which he satisfactorily filled for a period of ten years. While in the ministry, and during the period he served as adjunct professor, he pursued a definite line of reading, and regularly graduated in both theology and law. As a result of Methodist union, Albert University was consolidated with Victoria, in 1884, since which date he has held the chair of mental philosophy and logic in the latter university. For several years Professor Badgley was a regular contributor to the editorial columns of the Canada Christian Advocate, and has frequently written for the “Canadian Methodist Magazine.” He was a delegate to the Ecumenical Methodist Conference, in London, in 1881, where he read an important paper on ministerial education. At different times and places he has delivered several addresses on metaphysical and philosophical subjects, the publication of which has been frequently requested. In May, 1887, he delivered the tenth annual lecture before the Theological Union of Victoria University, on “Faith, vs. Knowledge.” In 1870 he was married to Emma Bell, daughter of John S. Bell, Napanee, whose father was an officer in the British army, and on whose confiscated property a part of the city of Albany now stands. They have three children, two sons and a daughter.

McConnell, John, M.D., M.C.P.S.O., Toronto, Lieutenant 12th Battalion York Rangers, was born in the township of Scarboro’, on the 4th March, 1846. His father, John McConnell, served under Mr. Howard, of High Park, in the defence of Little York (Toronto), during the time of the William Lyon McKenzie rebellion. He was an adherent of the Methodist church, and acted in the capacity of local preacher for about forty years; he was also a justice of the peace, and a man greatly respected in his day. His mother, Elizabeth McGaw, was a daughter of the late Andrew McGaw, of Port Hope. Both families first settled in Scarboro’ about 1836. Dr. McConnell’s father, after a residence of about ten years there, bought the farm, lot twenty-three, second concession, of Markham, and removed there in 1849. The subject of our sketch was the fourth son of the above union, born in the old homestead in Scarboro’, and accompanied his parents to their new home. He received his primary education in the public schools of Markham, where he remained until 1859. Then he began to entertain ideas of supporting himself, and hired out to a farmer at $10 a month, for the summer season. This engagement completed, he returned home, and his father sent him to the Grammar School, Richmond Hill, then under the charge of the late Rev. John Boyd, B.A. Soon after he entered this school, Mr. Boyd resigned, and was succeeded by L. H. Evans, B.A., of Trinity College, under whose able tuition young McConnell remained for three years. Early in 1863 he underwent an examination, and succeeded in gaining a second-class A. certificate, which gave him great satisfaction. He then applied for a situation as teacher in a number of school sections, but owing to his youth, he did not succeed until December of that year, when he obtained a school in York township, with a salary of £67 10s. per annum, when he began his real battle with the world. During the following year he undertook the somewhat difficult task of preparing himself for a matriculation examination in the Toronto University, and also to prepare for a first-class certificate as a teacher. He succeeded in both, and moreover, secured an advance of £10 to his salary for the next year, which was of great use to him. During 1864 he commenced the study of medicine. In 1866 he left York township and removed to Scarboro’, where he secured a school at £90 a year. From here he was in the habit of driving thirteen miles four days a week to prosecute his medical studies in Toronto, and the following spring he matriculated in medicine. He continued teaching until October, when he relinquished his school and became a student in the Toronto School of Medicine. In the spring of 1867 he passed his primary examination at the University of Toronto, and was admitted as an undergraduate in the Toronto Hospital, and also placed in charge of the Burnside Lying-in Hospital, Sheppard street. Notwithstanding these somewhat onerous duties, he attached himself to the military school in connection with the 13th Hussars, a British regiment of cavalry then stationed at the New Fort, Toronto, under the command of the late Colonel Jennings, one of the heroes of the Light Brigade, and from whom he received many evidences of respect and kindness. He was attached as an officer of the Oak Ridge troop of cavalry, to which he had belonged from 1860, when, on the occasion of the visit of the Prince of Wales, it was stationed in Toronto, and was with this troop, under arms, at Richmond Hill (headquarters) during the Fenian troubles, in 1866. Before leaving the Military School, in the autumn of 1868, he received from Colonel Jennings a first-class certificate, which he is proud still to possess. He then returned to his lectures in the university—still retaining his position in the hospital—and worked hard both in and out of school, so that when the examination came on in the spring, he passed a most critical examination, and succeeded in securing the degree of M.B. He received his diploma on the 11th June, 1869, and commenced to practise his profession at Thornhill, township of Vaughan, York county, where he practised for fifteen years, when he removed to Brockton, in 1882, then a suburb of, and now part of, the city of Toronto. Shortly after taking up his residence in Brockton, he was elected reeve of the village by acclamation; and in 1884, when it was annexed to Toronto as St. Mark’s ward, the doctor represented it in the city council. He is coroner for the county of York, and has held the position of president of the West York Reform Association, and also of the Reform Association of Vaughan. In June, 1886, Dr. McConnell was gazetted second lieutenant of the 12th Battalion York Rangers, and in June, 1887, was attached to “C.” Royal School of Infantry, New Fort Barracks, Toronto, under the command of Lieutenant-Colonel Otter, and was awarded a second-class certificate, and received his commission as first lieutenant of the York Rangers. As a professional man, he is endowed with a kindly disposition, and is never slow to help any poor person-visiting his office for medical advice or medicine. Dr. McConnell has been for four years attendant physician to the Protestant Orphans’ Home, of Toronto, where two hundred orphan children are supported by the charitable people of the city and neighborhood, and his watchful care has not only been gratuitous, but productive of the most gratifying results. Besides practising his profession, he has interested himself in real estate, and is now one of the largest property owners in the ward of St. Mark. His career points a moral which our young men would do well to study, showing as it does that perseverance and attention to duty is a greater requisite to success in life than to be born to affluence. He was married previous to his beginning his practice, to Miss Powell, of York township, and during their residence at Thornhill, eight children were born to them, five daughters and three sons, and of these, three daughters and one son survive.

Roberts, Charles George Douglas, M.A., Professor of Modern Literature, King’s College, Windsor, Nova Scotia, was born at Douglas, near Fredericton, New Brunswick, on the 10th of January, 1860. His father, the Rev. G. Goodridge Roberts, M.A., rector of Fredericton, was the eldest son of the late George Roberts, Ph.D., a gentleman of English descent, formerly headmaster of Fredericton Collegiate School, and professor of classics in the University of New Brunswick. Our poet comes of a line of ancestors more or less conspicuous as scholars, upon both maternal and paternal sides. His mother, Emma Wetmore Bliss Roberts, daughter of the late Judge Bliss, also of Fredericton, comes of an old loyalist family, of which Emerson’s mother was a member. Mr. Roberts, the subject of this sketch, was educated at Fredericton Collegiate School, where he took the Douglas medal for classics. In 1877, while at the University of New Brunswick, he took a classical scholarship, with honors in Greek and Latin; in 1878, the alumni gold medal for an essay in Latin; and in 1879 graduating with honors in metaphysics and ethics. In this year he was appointed head-master of Chatham, New Brunswick, Grammar School. In 1880 his first volume of verse, entitled “Orion and other Poems,” was published by J. B. Lippincott & Co., Philadelphia; and in 1881 he took his degree of M.A., and according to the ordinary acceptation of the term, “finished his education,” though a man’s education may never truly be said to be finished while he is an inhabitant of this mortal sphere, and retains his faculties. Yet the foregoing statements prove that Mr. Roberts had acquired much knowledge at a very early age, and at a very early age was inspired by the soul of song. No one can doubt this who has read the following extract, which we take from his lines entitled “To the Spirit of Song”:

Surely I have seen the majesty and wonder,

Beauty, might, and splendor, of the soul of song;

Surely I have felt the spell that lifts asunder

Soul from body, when lips faint and thought is strong.

These lines are to be found on the first page of his volume, entitled “Orion, and other Poems,” and unquestionably show genius in the boy under twenty years of age, for it would have been impossible for any one not possessed of the soul of song to have conceived them. Had the first, third, fourth, eleventh, and thirteenth lines been equal to those we have quoted, the concluding line —

Lowly I wait the song upon my lips conferred

—would have made the picture of the dark-eyed, dark-haired aspirant for immortality, kneeling before the white-robed angel, a simply perfect creation. The poem “Orion” is an outcome of his early love for classical literature, and when we consider that it was written by a boy standing on the threshold of life, it is wonderful; and shows distinctly what he may attain in coming years, when at the zenith of his power. This poem contains many lines of unsurpassed beauty. We quote the following couplet, which is taken from that part of the poem which describes Orion lying upon the seashore in his utter wretchedness, when the drug administered by the king is beginning to affect him. The scene is described as, at the setting of the sun —

The deep-eyed Night drew down to comfort him,

And lifted her great lids, and mourned for him.

And again, later in the night, a slave comes with the king bearing a cup containing the juice with which he puts out Orion’s eyes, and a servitor bearing a torch, before whose light —

All the darkness shuddered and fled back.

And how beautiful are the lines sung by the weeping sea-nymphs —

We all are made heavy of heart, we weep with thee, sore with thy sorrow;

The sea to its utmost part, the night from the dusk to the morrow.

And again, when he regains his sight —

All the morning’s majesty

And mystery of loveliness lay bare

Before him; all the limitless blue sea

Brightening with laughter many a league around.

Wind wrinkled, etc.

But it may be that the genius of Mr. Roberts is nowhere so apparent as in a short poem of his that we have seen somewhere, entitled, “Off Pelorus,” the first stanza of which is an exquisite piece of word-painting, combined with the very soul of song. We quote from memory —

Crimson swims the sun-set over far Pelorus,

Burning crimson tops its frowning crest of pine;

Purple sleeps the shore, and floats the wave before us,

Eachwhere from the oar-stroke eddying warm like wine.

It is impossible to separate true poetry from its sister, painting, and here the two walk hand in hand. The rich coloring of the painter, the subtle thought and music of the poet, and all developed strongly, so as to come within the immediate grasp of ordinary intelligence. We have not seen Mr. Roberts’ prose writing, but we are informed that he has written much that is masterly in thought and style; can do good battle in a political discussion, and has peculiar and abundant gifts in the field of criticism. In 1882 he was appointed head-master of York Street School, Fredericton. In 1883 he accepted the position of editor of The Week, a Toronto weekly, from which he, finding his tastes did not harmonize with the director’s, retired in four months, when he returned to New Brunswick, and was there engaged with several literary undertakings, till his call, in 1885, to the University of King’s College, Windsor, Nova Scotia, as professor of English and French literature and political economy. In 1887 he published his most important work, “In Divers Tones” (Montreal: Dawson Bros.; Boston: D. Lothrop & Co.), which has been very favorably received. Professor Roberts is a contributor to most of the notable publications printed in the English language; among these may be mentioned “Longman’s,” “The Century,” “Wide Awake,” and “Outing.” Mr. Roberts is a member of the Church of England, and was married December 29th, 1880, to Mary Isabel Fenety, daughter of George E. Fenety, Queen’s printer, of Fredericton, New Brunswick. By this marriage he has three children.

Chicoyne, Jerome Adolphe, Advocate, Sherbrooke, was born on the 22nd August, 1844, at St. Pie, county of Bagot, province of Quebec. His paternal ancestors came over from France at the time Mr. de Maisonneuve was recruiting settlers for the colony of Ville-Marie. His name was Pierre Chicoyne, and his place in France was and is still called Channay, in the old Province of Anjou. He became proprietor of the fief Bellevue, in the parish of Verchères, which fief still belongs to his descendants. Members of the family continue to reside in the same place and vicinity in France, and intercourse is regularly kept up between them from both sides of the ocean. A new settlement, started in the township of Woburn, at the head of Lake Megantic, in the county of Beauce (where the subject of our sketch felled the first tree on the 8th December, 1880), is named Channay, as a reminiscence of the place wherefrom his ancestor came. Mr. Chicoyne was educated at the Seminary of St. Hyacinthe, and followed the usual course—eight years. He was admitted to the bar of Lower Canada on the 17th September, 1868, at Montreal; and after practising at St. Hyacinthe until 1872, was compelled to quit it in consequence of ill-health. He then became attached to the department of agriculture of the province of Quebec, as colonization agent, and has ever since been connected with the colonization movement in the Eastern Townships. In 1875 he left St. Hyacinthe with his family, and settled at La Patrie, one of the new settlements organized by him in his capacity of government agent. In 1880, he started a colonization scheme (under the patronage of both the Provincial and Federal governments) in France, which resulted in the influx of considerable French capital and immigrants to these townships. Some of the results may now be seen in the great progress achieved by the village of Megantic, in the county of Compton, and in the above mentioned settlement of Channay. In January, 1886, he took the direction of Le Pionnier, the oldest French paper in the Eastern Townships, which paper has largely contributed to, and still helps, the settlement of that comparatively new section of the country. He took part for the first time in politics during the elections of 1867, in the Conservative interest, and is still, and has ever been a most devoted and faithful worker in the Conservative ranks. Mr. Chicoyne has made four trips to Europe, and has visited England, France, Belgium, Switzerland and Italy, and while in these countries studied the political economy and social questions of the age. In religion he is a member of the Roman Catholic church. On the 7th January, 1868, he was married at St. Hyacinthe, to Dame Caroline Perreault.

Elliott, Edward, Barrister, Perth, Ontario, was born in the township of Elmsley, county of Lanark, Ontario, on the 29th June, 1884. He is of Irish descent, his father, John Elliot, and mother, Rebecca Taylor, both having been born in Ireland. The family came to Canada in 1818, and shortly afterwards settled in Lanark. The subject of this sketch received his education at the Grammar School of Perth. In 1863 he began the study of the law with the late William Oscar Buell, barrister, in Perth. Mr. Elliott was admitted as a solicitor in Michaelmas term 1868, and called to the bar in Hilary term 1869. Though devoted to his profession, he has yet found time to serve his fellow-citizens in various capacities. For ten years he has been a member of the town council, during two of which he served as mayor, namely, in 1879 and 1880. He has been for some time a member of the Board of Education of Perth. In politics, he has taken an active interest, and was a candidate for parliamentary honors, on the Conservative side, in South Lanark, in 1879, but was defeated by only fifty-three of a majority. Again he contested the same riding, in 1883, but again suffered defeat; this time, however, by only twenty-nine of majority. He has resided in Perth since he commenced the study of the law, and is the senior member of the firm of Elliott & Rogers, solicitors, etc., doing a good law business. In 1882 Mr. Elliott was called to the bar of Manitoba. In 1880 he joined the True Britons’ lodge, No. 14, A. F. and A. M., and has taken an interest in the order ever since. He has travelled through the United States, and the greater part of Canada. In politics, he is a Liberal-Conservative; and in religion, is a member of the Church of England. He has held the office of warden, and is also a lay delegate to the Diocesan Synod. He was married on the 5th July, 1870, to Harriet, youngest daughter of the late John Rudd, merchant, Perth, and has a family of four girls.

La Rue, Thomas George, Quebec, Notary Public and Collector of Inland Revenue for the Dominion of Canada, in the division of Quebec, is descended from one of the most ancient French families in New France, represented by Jean de La Rue, who settled at Quebec in 1636, and married Jaqueline Pin, in 1663, one of the first pupils of the Ursuline nuns of Quebec. Thomas George La Rue was born at St. Jean, Orleans Island, on the 21st December, 1834, and is the second son of Nazaire La Rue, who was a lieutenant-colonel in the militia, and a notary public. His mother was Adelaide Roy. He was educated at the Laval University, and was admitted to practice his profession on the 4th February, 1856. Mr. La Rue is noted for the lively interest he, in common with the late Dr. Hubert La Rue, and his brother, a professor at the Laval University, has taken in agricultural pursuits in the province of Quebec. In 1867 he published, in the Evénement newspaper, several essays, under the title of “Causeries Agricoles,” bearing on the experiments he had made on his farm on the Island of Orleans, and these were, in 1872, collected and issued in book shape by the Journal d’Agriculture de St. Hyacinthe, and distributed all over the province. He was a member of the Notarial Board for the province of Quebec, from 1862 to 1879, and was elected vice-president of it in 1876. In 1869, jointly with the Hon. Louis Archambault and Emery Papineau, his colleagues, he prepared the constitution which governs the Board of Notaries for the province of Quebec. For twenty-five years he was an active worker in the ranks of the Liberal party, and in 1862 acquired by purchase, assisted by the Hon. Ulric J. Tessier, now a judge in the Court of Appeal; Francis Evanturel, ex-minister of agriculture; the late G. Joly, seignior of Lotbinière, father of the present Hon. H. G. Joly; and J. G. Barthe, barrister, the journal known as Le Canadien. And this newspaper originated in its columns such a fierce opposition to the government of the day—the Cartier-McDonald—on the Militia Bill, that it compelled it to resign and give way for the formation of the McDonald-Sicotte administration. Mr. La Rue was mainly instrumental in securing for the Liberal party the parliamentary division of Quebec East, which, ever since the warmly-contested election of the Hon. Senator Pantaléon Peltier, in 1871, has remained until this day, a fortress to the party. In 1872 he came forward on the Liberal ticket, in the county of Montmorency, but was beaten at the polls by the late Jean Langlois, Q.C. In 1874 the McKenzie administration entrusted him, as a notary, with the settlement of the claims arising from seignorial dues in the province of Quebec. In 1878, Mr. La Rue finally withdrew from politics, and accepted the important appointment of collector of inland revenue for the division of Quebec, the duties of which he has continued to fill ever since. In 1857, he was married to Helen Marie Louise, eldest daughter of the late Pierre Guénette, a merchant in Quebec city.

Baynes, William Craig, B.A., was born in Quebec in 1809. He was educated in England for the service of the East India Company, but on the death of his father gave up the appointment, and later entered Trinity College, Cambridge, where he took the degree of B.A. in 1836. In 1839 he was summoned to receive his M.A., but had scruples of conscience as to taking the oath of conformity, and the higher honor was refused. Mr. Baynes came of a military family. His father saw service in Africa, where he assisted in the capture of the Cape in 1795, and in India, and was adjutant-general of the army in Canada and colonel of the Glengarry Fencibles in the war of 1812. Three of his sons also entered the army. Mr. Baynes married in 1841, and in 1843 returned to Canada, and settled in the neighborhood of Kingsey, where his father had purchased land. Here he carried on farming for twelve years, giving it up in 1856, when he received the secretaryship of the Royal Institution for the Advancement of Learning (McGill College, Montreal), which post he held continuously until his death, which took place on Sunday, 9th October, 1887. He leaves four sons. He was for many years the leading member of the Plymouth Brethren in Montreal, and generally conducted their services.

Strachan, John, LL.D., D.D., Bishop of Toronto.—The late Bishop Strachan was born at Aberdeen, Scotland, on the 12th of April, 1778, and received his early education at the Grammar School of that city, and finished his term at King’s College in 1796, when he got his Master’s degree. His father was a poor man, straitened in circumstances; yet, with the characteristic ambition of a Scotchman, he had determined that his son should be well equipped for future conflict with the world. He was only nineteen years of age when he was declared the successful candidate for the parochial schoolmastership of Kettle. There were nearly one hundred and fifty pupils in this school, among them Sir David Wilkie, the artist, and Commodore Robert Barclay, doomed to misfortune on Lake Erie, from no fault of his own. He remained at Kettle three years, when an invitation to Canada came to change the current of his life. It was towards the close of the eighteenth century that some liberal friends of education anxiously contemplating the establishment of a high school and university, bethought themselves of applying to Scotland for a teacher to whom they could confide the training of their sons, and, amongst those, the most directly interested was the Hon. Richard Cartwright, grandfather of the present Sir Richard Cartwright, a man of enterprise and far-sighted views. Mr. Strachan having been engaged for the purpose, towards the end of 1799 he sailed from Greenock, by way of New York, and arrived in Kingston on the last day of the year. His first experience of Upper Canada took the form of disappointment. Governor Simcoe, with that statesmanlike prescience that characterised him, had from the first made the establishment of a university his first and chief desideratum. But unfortunately the first governor had been removed before his patriotic scheme was carried into effect, and just when Mr. Strachan arrived at Kingston there seemed to be no prospect that either the university or grammar school system would be attempted for the present. Mr. Cartwright recognised the trying position of the young teacher, and generously set himself to work on his behalf. He had four sons himself, and his friends could add to the number of pupils, and so provide the young Scot with an honorable and fairly remunerative living until the plans of the government were matured. Mr. Strachan was a Presbyterian, but his father was an Episcopal non-juror—a champion of the lost cause of the Stuarts, and his earliest recollections of church services were those he attended with his father at Aberdeen, presided over by Bishop Skinner. Subsequently he habitually accompanied his widowed mother to the Relief Church, of which she was a member. He was only a Presbyterian by accident. When he arrived at Kingston, and was thrown in contact with the Rev. Dr. Stuart, who, although an Anglican, was the son of a Presbyterian, he was naturally attracted to the church of his father, so that when Mr. Cartwright and Dr. Stuart advised him to study divinity, the change was easily made, and the result was that the future bishop received deacon’s orders in 1803. The bishop of Niagara, who was afterwards one of his pupils at Toronto, has given a graphic description of Mr. Strachan’s methods, and of his remarkable success as a teacher. His great care was to interest the boys in their studies, and to draw out their latent capabilities by attractive means. To him education meant what its etymology implies, not cramming, but development. Perhaps no instructor could boast of a larger number of pupils who obtained eminence in after life. Chief Justice Robinson, and his brother, the Hon. W. B. Robinson, Chief Justices Macaulay and McLean, Judge Jonas Jones, Dean Bethune, of Montreal, and his brother, Bishop Strachan’s successor in the See of Toronto, the Hon. H. J. and G. S. Boulton, Col. Vankoughnet, father of the chancellor, Donald Æneas Macdonell, and others, sat at the feet of the ex-dominie of Kettle. Dr. Strachan removed to York, at the insistance of General Brock, and, in 1812, became rector of York. For the first time he now entered the political sphere, by taking the initiative in forming a loyal and patriotic society. The times were out of joint; war was imminent, and with characteristic vigor the new rector came to the fore. There was a strong heart beating beneath the ecclesiastical vestments, and he had an opportunity soon of showing his mettle. When the long expected shock of war came on, there never was a busier or more useful man than Dr. Strachan. It has been remarked that when York was taken, he was “priest, soldier, and diplomatist,” all in one. At the capture of York, he was incessantly active. After the explosion by which General Pike was killed at the old fort, the Americans threatened vengeance upon the defenceless town which had been evacuated by General Sheaffe and his forces. The rector, however, was equal to the occasion; and, as a contemporary writer puts it, “by his great firmness of character, saved the town of York in 1813 from sharing the same fate as the town of Niagara met with some months afterwards.” The sturdy clergyman at once visited General Dearborn, and threatened that if he carried out his threat of sacking the town, Buffalo, Lewiston, Sackett’s Harbor, and Oswego, should be destroyed as soon as troops arrived from England. His earnestness and determination moved the American, and he spared the little Yorkers from any systematic burning and plunder. But all the danger was not over; marauding parties wandered about the town seeking for plunder, and not unfrequently were confronted by the sturdy little rector. On one occasion two American soldiers visited the house of Colonel Givens, who was an officer in the retreating army. The inmates were absolutely helpless, and the marauders made off with the family plate. Dr. Strachan at once went after them, and demanded back the stolen property. Under the circumstances this was a singularly courageous thing to do, and apparently a hopeless one. But the rector was a man of unwavering resolution, and managed at last, without any other weapon than that which nature had placed in his mouth, to secure the return of the goods to their rightful owner. The pluck and bravery displayed by him throughout that trying time showed sufficiently the real “grit” of the man, and the boldness and strength of will shewn then, characterized his life. In resolution and determined perseverance, he was every inch a Scot. In 1818 began Dr. Strachan’s public life in the ordinary sense of the term; for he was then nominated an executive councillor and took his seat in the Legislative Council. He remained a member of the government until 1836, and of the Upper House up to the union of the provinces in 1841. About the time of Dr. Strachan’s appointment as councillor, began the politico-ecclesiastical conflict which was only brought to a close within the memory of the existing generation. By the Imperial Act of 1774, which conceded to the Gallican clergy the right to collect tithes, provision was made for the support of “a Protestant clergy;” and in 1791, one-seventh of the lands was set apart for that purpose in Upper Canada under the name of Clergy Reserves. In 1819, the Presbyterians of Niagara petitioned the lieutenant-governor, Sir Peregrine Maitland, for a grant of £100 for the support of a Scottish Church minister, and boldly hinted that the grant should come from the funds arising from the Clergy Reserves. This memorial was forwarded in due course to Earl Bathurst, the colonial secretary, who replied that the reserves were intended for the established churches of England and Scotland, and not for “denominations” referred to by the governor. This despatch at once aroused Dr. Strachan, who in 1823 forwarded a memorial protesting against the attempt to distribute funds intended for the Anglican church. His somewhat narrow creed, political no less than ecclesiastical, to be rightly understood, must be viewed from his own standpoint, and it may be readily condoned when one contemplates his vigor and patriotic impulse. The law officers of the Crown decided that the Clergy Reserves were not intended exclusively for the Anglican church. As there were two established churches, each equipped with “a Protestant clergy,” they were of opinion that the Church of Scotland had an equal right with the sister communion to a share in the land endowment. They went still further and vindicated the claims of other Protestant denominations. No sooner was this conceded by parliament than the entire ground was cut from beneath the feet of those who advocated a monopoly in state support for religion. Before the Union of 1841, no less than sixteen measures which had passed the Legislative Assembly for the secularization of the Reserves were rejected by the Legislative Council. It was only after a bitter struggle, lasting over more than thirty years, it was finally set at rest by the Act of 1854. During the whole period Dr. Strachan was faithful to his principles, and could brook no compromise. In 1836 he resigned his place as executive councillor, and in 1839 became the first bishop of Toronto. The following year he ceased to be a member of the Legislative Council, and abstained thenceforth from taking any part in public affairs, save in that department which may be termed church politics. The other subject of intense interest with him was the Provincial University. Twenty-eight years elapsed before any attempt was made to carry out the project of Lieutenant-Governor Simcoe. In 1827 a Royal charter was granted in favor of King’s College. It was to be essentially an Anglican university. In the four faculties, all the professors were to be “members of the Established United Church of England and Ireland,” and were required “to severally sign and subscribe the Thirty-nine articles.” The only liberal provision in it was an exemption from any religious test on the part of students and graduates in faculties other than that of divinity. King’s College was not opened until 1843, and in 1850 all that made it valuable in the bishop’s eyes were eliminated. All that was distinctly Anglican disappeared. The faculty of divinity was abolished and, as far as education was concerned, “all semblance of connection between church and state,” proclaimed afterwards in the preamble to the Clergy Reserve Act, was done away. The venerable bishop was equal to the emergency, and started on a mission to Britain to raise funds, and in little more than six months he returned with the first fruits,—some sixteen thousand pounds sterling. In the spring of 1857 the corner stone of Trinity College was laid, and in the beginning of the following year the building was so far completed as to be fit for occupation. The Royal charter was secured in 1853. Thus, by the inextinguishable ardor and energy of one zealous prelate was the purpose of his life at last secured. In other directions, the memorable prelate certainly effected work of unquestionable value. So soon as the severance between church and state had been formally proclaimed, his administrative and legislative tact was employed in placing the Anglican church upon a sound governmental basis. To him the laity of that communion owe it that they are represented in the synods of the church as substantially as with the Presbyterians. The bishop’s later years were spent in efforts to extend the usefulness of the church to which he was so ardently attached, and during the evening of his long and eventful life he was universally respected by men of all creeds and political parties. He had lived in the province and been a conspicuous actor in its affairs from the days of Governor Simcoe to the opening year of confederation, and died on the 2nd of November, 1867, in the eighty-ninth year of his age, manful, energetic and courageous to the last. The last tribute of respect was paid to Bishop Strachan by the attendance at his funeral of the two universities, with whose early fortunes his name was indissolubly associated. The national societies, the clergy of all churches, Protestant and Catholic, all the civic dignitaries and institutions, were fully represented on the occasion, and it was not without significance that the troops, regular and other, lined the streets, and that the strains of martial music were heard at the burial of one who was first a churchman of the military type, and next a patriotic citizen.

Wallbridge, Hon. Lewis, Chief Justice of Manitoba, born in Belleville, Ontario, 27th November, 1816, and died at Winnipeg, on the 20th October, 1887, was a grandson of Elijah Wallbridge, a United Empire loyalist, who settled in Canada shortly after the American war of independence. His father was a lumber merchant of Belleville. The family emigrated from Dorsetshire, England, on account of having taken part in the Duke of Monmouth’s rebellion against King James. Mr. Wallbridge received his education under the late Dr. Benjamin Workman in Montreal, and at Upper Canada College, Toronto. He studied law in Robert Baldwin’s office, Toronto; was called to the bar in 1839, and created a Queen’s counsel in 1856. In 1858 he was elected to the parliament of Canada, subsequently becoming solicitor-general, and a member of the Macdonald-Dorion government. In 1863, whilst holding the office of solicitor-general, he was elected speaker of the House of Commons, which position he occupied for a little more than four years, and presided over the debate on confederation at Quebec. After retiring from political life he practised law in Belleville, and on the death, in 1882, of Hon. E. B. Wood, chief justice of Manitoba, was appointed to succeed him. Hon. Mr. Wallbridge was one of the last survivors of a long line of prominent Canadian politicians whose records as such are, for the most part, now known only in history. It is almost fifty years since he first began the practice of his profession, and almost the lifetime of a generation since he first entered parliament. He was a moderate Reformer in politics. He was of a kindly genial disposition, and had many personal friends. He was buried at Belleville, Ontario.

Brodie, Robert, Merchant, Quebec, was born in Montreal on the 11th May, 1835. His parents, Charles Brodie and Elizabeth Kerr, emigrated from Innerleithen, Peeblesshire, Scotland, in 1831, and settled in Montreal. Robert, the subject of our sketch, received a common school education in his native city, and in 1850, when but a lad of fifteen years of age, entered the dry goods establishment of Henry Morgan & Co., the then leading retail store in Montreal, and continued in this business until 1855, when he removed to Quebec city. Here he entered the employment of his brother, Charles Brodie, who was at that time carrying on an extensive flour and provision business. In 1859 Charles Brodie died, when Robert, with his brother William, succeeded to the business, and continued to carry it on on a more extensive scale, under the firm name of W. & R. Brodie. In 1868, Thomas Brodie, another brother, was admitted a partner, the firm name remaining unchanged. The operations of the firm then further extended, and the three brothers are now doing the largest business in their line in the ancient capital. Besides an extensive local trade, they send to the Provinces of New Brunswick and Nova Scotia annually large quantities of flour and provisions. Outside of business hours, Mr. Brodie has taken an active part in whatever movement happened to be on foot calculated to improve the social condition of the people among whom he resided. He has been a total abstainer all his life, and was one of the first to join the Rechabites, when this temperance order was first introduced into Canada. When it was superseded by the order of the Sons of Temperance at a later date, he joined the new order, and for many years was one of its most active members. He is one of those who firmly believe in the doctrine that the liquor traffic must be ultimately suppressed by law. Apart from social reform, he has also been connected with most of the local enterprises originated in Quebec city during the past fifteen or twenty years, either as an assistant or promoter. He is a shareholder in the Quebec Steamship Company; the Quebec and Levis Ferry Company; the Quebec Fire Insurance Company; the Quebec Bank, etc. He, with others, originated the Quebec Worsted Company and is one of its directors. Mr. Brodie has been a member of the Protestant Board of School Commissioners for a number of years. This board is composed of six members—three being appointed by the city council and three by the local government, and he is the appointee of the city council. He has not had time to extend his travels beyond Canada, but he has visited nearly every point of interest in the Dominion. In religion, he is a Presbyterian. For a number of years he has been an elder in Chalmer’s Church, and was a commissioner from the presbytery of Quebec to the general assembly held in Winnipeg, Manitoba, in June, 1887. He has always been a Liberal in politics, and gives a generous support to the Liberal party. In 1865 he was married to Jane, daughter of David Blair, of Lotbinière, Province of Quebec, who emigrated from Scotland in 1831.

Rourke, James, Manufacturer, St. Martin’s, New Brunswick, was born at Musquash, St. John county, N.B., on the 27th of June, 1838. His father was William Henry Rourke, a descendant of O’Rourke, one of the kings of Ireland. His mother, Phœbe Ann Cronk, born in Digby, Nova Scotia, came of a Lancaster, England, family. Mr. Rourke received his education in the schools of his native parish. He removed from Musquash in 1858, to Hopewell, Albert county, N.B., and in 1863 left Albert county and took up his permanent abode at St. Martin’s, where he now resides. Early in life he devoted himself to business pursuits, and is now extensively engaged in the manufacture and shipping of lumber at St. Martin’s. He is connected with the St. Martin’s Manufacturing Company; the Upham Railway Company; the North-Eastern Railway Company, and the Bell Telephone Company. He takes an interest in military affairs, and is captain of the St. Martin’s Rifles Company of Volunteers. He is a past master of the Masonic brotherhood, and is also a member of the order of Oddfellows. In politics he is a Liberal-Conservative, and is vice-president of St. Martin’s Liberal-Conservative Club. At the last general election he was nominated for a seat in the New Brunswick legislature for St. John city and county, but failed to carry his election, although he received a large vote. He was a member of the municipal council of St. John city and county from 1876 to 1886, but on his being appointed a valuator he resigned. However, he was again elected in 1887 to a seat in the council, as representative of his parish. He is an adherent of the Episcopal church. On the 16th March, 1871, he was married to Charlotte Wishart, daughter of Captain B. Wishart, a native of Scotland.

Ure, Rev. Robert, D.D., Minister of the Presbyterian Church, Goderich, Ontario, though a long resident of Canada,—having come to the country in 1842—is a Scotchman by birth. He was born in the parish of Shotts, Lanarkshire, on the 23rd January, 1823. His father, John Ure, was an iron founder in Dumbarton, Scotland, and, like many other enterprising men of his day, helped to develop the iron industries of his native country, and are now held in grateful remembrance by the toiling thousands in the south-west of Scotland. His mother was Barbara Dalziel. The Ure family, from which the subject of our sketch is descended, came originally from France, being Huguenots, and settled in Scotland. Robert received his primary education in his native parish, and when only nineteen years of age emigrated to Canada, and settled in Hamilton, Ontario. Having resolved to devote himself to the ministry, he for a time studied privately with the late Rev. Alexander Gale, M.A., Presbyterian minister, and then, in 1845, entered Knox College, Toronto, and completed his theological course in 1850. The same year he received a call to the Presbyterian Church in Streetsville, where he remained for twelve years. In 1862 he removed to Goderich, and here he has since labored with great acceptance, and is greatly beloved by his flock. Dr. Ure’s scholastic attainments are of a high order, and in recognition of this, Queen’s College, Kingston, conferred upon him the degree of Doctor of Divinity in May, 1876. For two years he lectured in Knox College, Toronto, on apologetics, still attending to his pastoral duties, but in consequence of ill-health he had to give up this lectureship. During the years 1879-80 he gave lectures on homiletics in Queen’s College, Kingston, and when the Knox College Alumni Association was formed, the doctor was chosen its first president. Dr. Ure took a conspicuous part in bringing about the union of the Presbyterian churches in Canada; first with the United Presbyterian Church, and secondly with that connected with the Kirk of Scotland. During the negotiations for the former union he was convenor of one committee, and the late Rev. Dr. William Taylor, of Montreal, of the other. When the scheme had been consummated, Dr. Taylor, being the senior, was honored by being chosen first moderator of the General Assembly of the united churches, and Dr. Ure had a similar honor conferred upon him by being its second moderator after the union. In the subject of education the doctor takes the deepest interest, and for a long period he served as grammar school trustee. He has a large parish, with two country stations attached, and has the advantage of an assistant. He is an eloquent preacher, and his sermons are noted for their earnestness and originality. He has been twice married. He was married to his first wife, Margaret Gale, sister of the late Rev. Alexander Gale, M.A., first Presbyterian minister of Hamilton. This estimable lady died in December, 1869. His present wife is Mary Fraser, widow of the late Sheriff Macdonald, of Goderich.

Taché, Eugene Etienne, Quebec, Assistant Commissioner of Crown Lands for the Province of Quebec, Provincial Land Surveyor for Upper and Lower Canada, and Architect, was born at St. Thomas, Montmagny county, on the 24th of October, 1836. His father was the Hon. Sir Etienne Paschal Taché, one of the fathers of confederation, and his mother, Sophie Morency. Mr. Taché, the subject of our sketch, was educated at the Seminary of Quebec, and at the Upper Canada College, Toronto. In 1862 he held a captain’s commission in the Chasseurs Canadiens in Quebec, and after his temporary removal to Ottawa, held for a time the position of lieutenant in the Civil Service Rifle Corps. He is also a captain in the sedentary militia of Quebec. In 1869 he received the appointment of assistant commissioner of Crown Lands for the province of Quebec, and this position he occupies now. As a surveyor, he has had considerable experience. For eighteen months, while studying this branch of his profession under Walter Shanley, C.E., he was engaged on the survey of the Ottawa Ship Canal. As an architect, too, he has done a good deal, having acted in this capacity in the erection of the Quebec parliamentary buildings, and the Quebec drill hall. He was also the designer of the handsome façades on the new court house, in Quebec. In the midst of his various duties he has devoted some time to travel, and in 1867 visited Britain, France, and Italy. He is the author of “Maps of the Province of Quebec,” of which he issued two editions, the first in 1870, and the second in 1880. In religion, Mr. Taché is a Roman Catholic. He has been twice married; first, in July, 1859, to O. Eleonore Bender, who died without issue; second, to Clara J. Duchesnay, daughter of the late Hon. Antoine Juchereau Duchesnay, senator. Five children have been born of this union.

Adams, Aaron A., Coaticook, province of Quebec.—Mr. Adams, who was born at Henniker, New Hampshire, United States, on the 2nd September, 1806, and died at Coaticook, on the 13th of August, 1887, at the ripe age of eighty-one years, came to Canada when only sixteen years of age, and made his home in the Eastern Townships. He went into trade in 1832, at Georgeville, then an important place, and removed to Barnston in 1837, where he continued to trade with the late M. W. Copp, and others until 1853. Then he took up his abode in Coaticook, then a straggling village of about a dozen houses. He traded here for some years in company with John Thornton, and was subsequently largely interested in mining operations, at the time it was very active in the townships. Of late years Mr. Adams’ private business was principally confined to farming. For the past fifty years scarcely any public enterprise, affecting the interests of this part of the townships, has been carried through without Mr. Adams’ active and cordial support. He was for many years a leader in municipal matters, and in perfecting Coaticook’s present municipal organization. He was a member of the first district council, and under the new order a member of Barnston Council, of which he was mayor for several years, and at different times warden of the county. He was a member of the first council of Coaticook and mayor, which office he held for several years of this first council, elected twenty-three years ago, only one member, A. K. Fox, now survives. Mr. Adams was an active promoter of the St. Lawrence and Atlantic Railway, now operated by the Grand Trunk and connecting Montreal and Portland. He was also actively engaged in the Massawippi Valley road, now operated by the Passumpsic Company. The establishment of the Eastern Townships’ Bank was actively promoted by him. He was one of the first directors, and from 1880 to 1885 was vice-president of the institution. He was also for many years a director of the S. and S. Mutual Insurance Company. All local enterprises received active and substantial support from him. He was, from its foundation, a director of the flourishing industry, the Coaticook Knitting Company, of which he was vice-president at the time of his death. In religion, Mr. Adams was a Methodist, and most zealous and consistent in his belief and practice; he joined this church at an early age, and for many years was a class leader and Sunday school teacher in its service. Few men led a more active and useful life, and his death was greatly regretted by his numerous friends. He left a widow, two daughters, and two sons, namely: Mrs. Pomroy, of Compton; Mrs. Baker, of Haverhill, Mass.; A. F. Adams, of Coaticook; and George E. Adams, of Boston, United States.

Cimon, Hon. Marie Honorius Ernest, Fraserville, Rivière du Loup (en bas), a Puisne Judge of the Superior Court for the province of Quebec, was born at Murray Bay, province of Quebec, on the 30th March, 1848. He is a son of Cléophe Cimon, notary public of Murray Bay, who represented Charlevoix county in the Canadian Assembly from 1858 to 1861. His mother, Marie Caroline Langlois, was a sister of the late Jean Langlois, Q.C., a distinguished member of the bar of Quebec, who represented, for several years, the county of Montmorency in the House of Commons. Cléophe Cimon, the father of our sketch, was born at Murray Bay, January 30th, 1822, from the marriage of Hubert Cimon, by Angèle Simard dit Lombrette. Hubert Cimon, his grandfather, was born at l’Isle-Verte, province of Quebec, April 22nd, 1789, from the marriage of Jean Baptiste Cimon, by Marie Angélique Salomée Miville dit Dechéne, and died in Bay St. Paul, county of Charlevoix, August 27th, 1854. Jean Baptiste Cimon, his great-grandfather, was born July 20th, 1751, at Rivière Ouelle, province of Quebec, from the marriage of Jean François Cimon, by Marie Dorothée Gagnon. This Jean François Cimon (whose name was then written Simon) was his first ancestor who came alone from France to settle in Canada, about the year 1744, leaving his father, Joseph Simon, with Jeanne Lefeuvre, his mother, in the parish of St. Pée, Evêché de Coutance, province de Rouen, en Normandie, France, where they were living. Judge Cimon was educated at Ste. Anne de Lapocatière’s College, Seminary of Quebec, and Laval University, where he became a licentiate of law (LL.L.) in June, 1871. He was called to the bar of Lower Canada on the 12th July, 1871, and took up his residence in Chicoutimi (Saguenay), where he practised from July 16th, 1871, to July, 1882. He acted as Crown prosecutor in Chicoutimi from 1873 to 1882, and from 1871 to 1882 his services were retained in all the important cases brought before the courts of that district. He sat in the House of Commons for the united counties of Chicoutimi and Saguenay from 1874 to 1882 as a Conservative member. For eleven years he was an active promoter of all the public enterprises in the Saguenay and Lake St. John country; and to his efforts and energy are due the telegraphic line to Chicoutimi, the Marine Hospital, the deepening of the river Saguenay. Members of the then House of Commons well remember how strongly he advocated the Federal subsidy, granted in the session of 1882 to the Quebec and Lake St. John Railway, and the other important public works obtained by his influence for the Chicoutimi and Saguenay counties. He was mayor of the town of Chicoutimi from 1881 to 1882, and also president of the St. Jean Baptiste Society of Chicoutimi. He was appointed a Queen’s counsel in January, 1882, and elevated to the Bench on the 20th July, 1882, with residence at Perce, Gaspé county; but soon afterwards, in June, 1883, was transferred to Joliette, province of Quebec. He received the commission of revising officer for the county of Joliette in October, 1885, and resigned this situation in May, 1886. He resided in Joliette for three years; but since April, 1886, he has administered justice in the district of Kamouraska. The Hon. Mr. Cimon was the recipient of congratulatory addresses, when appointed a judge, from the citizens of Chicoutimi, the bar of Perce, and from the bar of Joliette and l’Assomption on his arrival. He also received a farewell and complimentary address on leaving Joliette, soon followed by a welcome address from the bar of Kamouraska. In religion, he is a Roman Catholic, as his ancestors were. He married, January 27, 1880, Marie Delphine, only daughter of the late Pierre Antoine Doucet, judge of the Sessions of the Peace, Quebec, by Marie Thérèse Delphine, eldest daughter of the late Hon. Judge Bruneau, of the Superior Court, her godfather, and niece and goddaughter of Olivette Doucet, the wife of the well-known historian, Robert Christie, of Quebec, who for over thirty years represented the county of Gaspé in the old Canadian Assembly.