A Cyclopaedia of Canadian Biography: Being Chiefly Men of the Time by Rose

1873. After Confederation this office was merged in that of postmaster

at Charlottetown, although still directing the Provincial mail service, in which many improvements were effected and the efficiency of the service greatly increased. In 1881 he was also appointed post-office inspector for the colony, and held these offices until his appointment as Lieutenant-Governor, on 1st August, 1884. He was a delegate to the International Convention held at Portland, U.S., in 1868, and has been a governor of the Prince of Wales College, a trustee for the Provincial Hospital for the Insane, a member of the Board of Education, a member of the Board of Works, and a member of the City School Board. In 1875 he was appointed by the government, arbitrator to settle difference between them and the contractors who built the Prince Edward Island Railway. He was also public trustee under the Land Purchase Act of 1875, and when the value had been awarded to the proprietors by the Court of Commissioners, but they had refused to divest themselves of their titles, he executed conveyances of upwards of four hundred thousand acres of their property to the government as provided in the Land Purchase Act. While in the legislature he assisted in passing many of the most important acts on the provincial statute book, and was one of the earliest advocates of the construction of the Prince Edward Island Railway as a provincial work, although it involved an expenditure of three millions of dollars, by a province whose ordinary revenue was then only three hundred thousand dollars, and whose population was but one hundred thousand, but it was successfully accomplished, and the cost borne by the province now enjoying its benefits. Lieut.-Governor Macdonald has for many years taken an active part in the promotion of temperance; is a member of the Dominion Temperance Alliance, and no wines or spirituous liquors are used or offered at government house. Mr. Macdonald, like his forefathers from time immemorial, professes the Roman Catholic faith. He is a member of the St. Vincent de Paul Society for the relief of the poor, and has been chief of the Prince Edward Island Caledonian Club for several years past. He is also president of the Arbor Society. He married, in 1863, Elizabeth, daughter of Thomas Owen, formerly postmaster-general, with issue four sons, the eldest, Æneas Adolphe, is his private secretary and a law student in the office of Peters & Peters; the second son, Percy, has gone into a mercantile establishment to learn the business, and the two younger sons are still at college. * * * * * =Smart, William Lynn=, Barrister, Hamilton, Ontario, was born at St. Albans, Middlesex, England, on 16th September, 1824. He is the eldest son of the late John Newton Smart, of Trewhitt House, Rothbury, Northumberland, who married, in 1823, Mary Ann, co-heiress of the Rev. Thomas Gregory, vicar of Henlow, Bedfordshire, England. He succeeded his father to the Trewhitt and Netherton properties, in 1875. Mr. Smart graduated at King’s College, London. He left college in 1842, and was articled to Smart & Buller, attorneys-at-law and solicitors in Chancery, and was admitted as attorney in 1847, and was then taken in as a partner of the firm of Smart, Buller & Smart. He remained in this firm until 1853, when he came, to Canada on a visit to the late Colonel Light, of Woodstock. He subsequently accepted the appointment of secretary of the Woodstock and Lake Erie Railway Company. This company afterwards amalgamated with the Amherstburg and St. Thomas Railway Company, under the name Canada Southern Railroad. Mr. Smart remained as its secretary until the year 1862. Having been admitted as an attorney-at-law by the Law Society of Upper Canada, in 1864 he left the Canada Southern and entered into partnership with Hector Cameron, Q.C., the new firm taking the name of Cameron & Smart. During the time of the partnership, 1866, he was called to the bar of Upper Canada. In 1868 the partnership was dissolved, and he commenced business in Toronto on his own account. In 1873, he removed to Hamilton, where he received the appointment of deputy judge, under the late Judge Logie and also the late Judge Ambrose. The duties of this office he discharged with ability and care, giving much satisfaction, an address having been presented to him, signed by the bar of Wentworth county, until the appointment of the present Judge Sinclair. In 1876 he retired from his judicial position, and began business again as barrister, opening an office in the Court House, Hamilton. Judge Smart has devoted himself more or less to civic politics, and was during 1870 and 1871 a councillor for Yorkville, now part of Toronto. He belongs to the order of Freemasons, and has held the office of secretary of the Ionic lodge, No. 25, Toronto. He is likewise a member of the Orange order. He is an Episcopalian; and in politics a Liberal-Conservative. He was a candidate for South Oxford in 1882, but did not succeed. He married, in 1863, Catherine McGill Crooks, daughter of the late John Crooks, of Niagara. By this lady, who died in 1871, he has three children. He is a man of broad views, and though not a prohibitionist, is a sturdy advocate of temperance. * * * * * =Van Horne, William C.=, Vice-President and General Manager Canadian Pacific Railway, Montreal.—Of the links that bind the old world to the new, there is one which, whatever may betide in a future, near or far, is not likely to give way. That link is the bond of race, and in itself that bond is manifold. In Mexico, Central and South America, a group of successive states perpetuates the memories of Spain’s dominion in the continent that she helped Columbus to discover. Brazil is allied by blood and crown to the enterprise of Portugal. North of the Gulf of Mexico, the empire has, in the course of events, become the heritage of men of Anglo-Saxon breed, whether the flag be the union-jack or the stars and stripes, the men who raised it aloft were mainly from the British Isles. Not all, however. Both in the United States and Canada there are elements in the population—important elements—which it would be stupidity to ignore. The foundations of the dominion were laid by the valiant and pious sons of La Belle France, and notwithstanding the change of rulership, the country is still, and must long continue to be, to a large extent, administered by their descendants. In the United States, among the first to sow the seeds of civilization in the wilderness, were the hardy children of the land of dykes and fogs. Hudson, though English born, was by adoption and service a Hollander, and the commercial metropolis of the western hemisphere was founded by Dutch pioneers. It is no wonder that in the great American republic should have arisen the most sympathetic and popular historian of the growth and independence of the United Netherlands. For if in that land of constant warfare with the ocean—the well-known patronymic—which to Platt Deutsch ears is as “Mac” to the Highlander, and “O” to the Munsterman, has been borne by patriots like Van den Berg, Van der Does, Van Tromp, and Van Hove, not less distinguished a place, in proportion to their numbers, have the founders of Manhattan and their descendants won for themselves in their new home. It is also worthy of remembrance that, though the English, displaced the Dutch by the law of the stronger, the Dutch won back their lost estates, and that in fact they only submitted to the English crown, when that crown pressed the brow of a compatriot of their own—William, Prince of Orange. Of the persons of known Dutch origin who have since those days of struggle risen to proud preeminence in the United States, the list is a long and honorable one. There is no rank of life, indeed, in which they have not been and may still be found, and as a rule, wherever the syllable “Van” is prefixed to a name, it denotes the ancient fatherland of its possessor. It may be almost taken for granted that he is above the average in those qualities that win success and esteem. That this assertion is not made at random, will be evident to any one who consults the “Biographical Directory of the Railway Officials of America,” where the number of office bearers bearing names beginning with “Van” is remarkable. In this list one name is conspicuous as that of a gentleman who holds the supreme position among the railway men of Canada—that of William C. Van Horne, vice-president and general manager of the Canadian Pacific Railway. The name is one, moreover, of high renown in both continents, and has been borne by soldiers, sailors, divines, and scholars, as well as by men who made their mark in the ranks of commerce and industry. It was, it will be remembered, a Garratt Van Horne, a valorous and gigantic Dutchman, who led that resolute band of New Netherlanders who refused to bend their necks to the English invader. One of the race did, indeed, afterwards suffer discomfiture, being taken by surprise, and the students of our history will recall the repulse of Major Thomas B. Van Horne, near Detroit, in 1812. But a namesake of that gallant officer has amply avenged him in the spirit of returning good for evil. The rivalries of peace are more noble than those of war, and the benefit that the subject of this memoir has conferred on the Dominion and its people rebounds to the honor of the benefactor, as no conquest of his military namesake, even had he advanced unchecked, could ever have done. Mr. W. C. Van Horne is in career a type, not only as we have tried to show, of the stamp of character with which Holland—trained there, too, by long and fruitful conflict with nature—has endowed the new world, but also of a class of men who have made North America what it is to day. What the railway movement has done for civilization in the western, even more than in the eastern, hemisphere, we need not pause to inquire. Enough to suggest the inquiring; the answer lies all around us in the network of lines which has brought the most remote and out-of-the-way corners of the continent into communication with the great centres of business, skilled labor, and varied culture. In effecting these splendid results, Mr. Van Horne has had a share which, though a few dates may indicate its general features, might be made the theme of an instructive volume. Though he springs, as we have seen, from the old patron stock of the Manhattan colony, he is a westerner by birth, having first seen the light in Will county, Illinois, in February, 1843. He is therefore in the very prime of life. His railway experience began some thirty-two years ago, when he entered the service of the Illinois Central, as telegraph operator, at Chicago. He afterwards served for six years more, in various capacities, on the Joliet division of the Michigan Central. From 1864 to 1872, he was connected with the Chicago and Alton Railway, filling successively the positions of train-despatcher, superintendent of telegraphs, and assistant superintendent of the railway; and in 1872, he became general superintendent of the St. Louis, Kansas City, and Northern Railway. From October, 1874, till October, 1878, he was general manager of the Southern Minnesota line, being president of the company from December, 1877, till December, 1879. From October, 1878, till December, 1879, he was general superintendent of the Chicago and Alton Railway. In January, 1880, he became general superintendent of the Chicago, Milwaukee, and St. Paul’s Railway, a position which he held for two years. In January, 1882, he became connected with the Canadian Pacific Railway, as general manager, and in 1884, he assumed the high and responsible position, which he still holds, as vice-president of that great company. This brief outline indicates a career of faithful service and gradual promotion. From that time forward Mr. Van Horne’s name has become a household one in Canada. His perseverance, pluck, and skill in connection with that railway soon placed him in the fore rank as one of the great railway managers of the present century, and the work he performed, and the skill manifested in the construction of that great national work, will ever link his name with the history of Canada. The work was completed within six years of the period allowed by contract, the last spike was driven by the Hon. (now Sir) Donald A. Smith, at Eagle Pass, 340 miles from Port Moodie, on the 7th of November, 1885, and the through train from Montreal passed on to the Pacific terminus. The operation of the line since that date has transcended the expectations even of the most sanguine. * * * * * =Bryson, Hon. George=, sen., Fort Coulonge, ex-Member of the Legislative Council of the Province of Quebec, was born in Paisley, Scotland, on the 16th December, 1813. His parents were James Bryson and Jane Cochrane, and both were born in Scotland. They came to Canada in 1821, and settled in the township of Ramsay, Lanark county, Ontario. Hon. Mr. Bryson received his education in the public schools of Ramsay. For about fifty years he has been in the lumber business, and has seen the development of this national industry from nearly its commencement. He was mayor of the township of Mansfield, county of Pontiac, province of Quebec, for a number of years, and for several terms served as warden of the county. In the fall of 1857 he entered political life, and was returned to represent Pontiac in the parliament of Canada; but parliament having been dissolved a short time thereafter, he never took his seat in the house. At the general election, which took place in 1858, he again presented himself for election, but was defeated. In 1867, however, he was called to the Legislative Council of the province of Quebec, and occupied a seat in this branch of the legislature until the 17th of August, 1887, when he resigned in favor of his son, George. Hon. Mr. Bryson takes an interest in Masonry, and is a member of the Dalhousie lodge, city of Ottawa. He is an adherent of the Presbyterian church, and for a number of years has filled the office of elder in the same. In politics he is a moderate Reformer. He is one of the directors of the Bank of Ottawa. On the 4th March, 1845, he was married to Robina Cobb, who was born in Glasgow, Scotland, on the 20th September, 1815, and the fruit of this marriage has been seven children, four of whom are still living. * * * * * =Richey, Rev. Matthew=, D.D., an eminent minister of the Wesleyan Methodist connection, was born at Ramelton, in the north of Ireland, in 1803 or 1804, and came to America early in life. In 1820 he gave himself to the work of the ministry among the Methodists, and labored in New Brunswick. In 1821 his name appeared upon the minutes of conference as that of a probationer, and his first circuit was Newport, N.S. He was ordained and married in 1825, and was then sent to Parrsboro’, N.S., and subsequently he was appointed to Charlottetown, Prince Edward Island. In 1830, on account of the impaired state of Mrs. Richey’s health, he removed to Charleston, S.C., where the winter was spent. His popularity there was so great that, owing to the crowded state of the church in which he officiated, it was no uncommon thing for persons to go in the afternoon to the church in which he was to preach at night, and to remain supperless, for the evening service. He returned to Nova Scotia in 1831 and spent three years in Halifax. In 1835 he was appointed to Montreal, and here, as in his former spheres of labor, he speedily won, and permanently held, the love and admiration of the people to whom he ministered. In 1836, the “Upper Canada Academy,” since changed to Victoria College, was to be opened, and Mr. Richey was proffered the position of principal. He consequently removed to Cobourg, where he remained until 1839; the academy, under his charge, acquiring a high and influential character in the public estimation. While at Cobourg he received from the Middleton (Conn.), Wesleyan University, the degree of M.A., and it was here that he wrote “A Memoir of the late Rev. William Black,” including an account of the rise and progress of Methodism in Nova Scotia, etc. From Cobourg he was transferred to Toronto, remaining there from 1839 to 1843, at which time circumstances led to the severance of the connection between the British and Canadian sections of Methodism, which had existed from 1834. In 1840 Mr. Richey accompanied the Rev. Joseph Stinson, president of the Conference, to England, on a visit rendered necessary by the new order of affairs; and in 1841 he was again delegated to attend the British Conference, accompanied by the Rev. E. Evans. The results of those visits were eminently satisfactory to Wesleyans in connection with the British Conference. From 1843 to 1845, Mr. Richey was stationed at Kingston, then the seat of government. In 1842 he was appointed chairman of the Canada West District and general superintendent of Missions. In 1845 he was placed in Montreal as minister of great St. James street church, and chairman of the Canada East District. During this incumbency he received the honorary degree of D.D. from the Middleton Wesleyan University. To the official responsibilities of the Montreal district were added the superintendency of Missions in the Hudson’s Bay territory. In 1846 Dr. Richey was a Canadian delegate to the London Evangelical Alliance, and the following year he again crossed the Atlantic to attend the British Conference. A better understanding between the sections of British and Canadian Methodists was being arrived at, and as the result, articles of union were agreed upon in 1847. In 1848 he again removed to Toronto, attended the General Conference of the M. E. Church at Pittsburg, and was appointed president of the Canada Conference. In the autumn of 1849 he was thrown from his carriage, and never entirely recovered from the effects of the fall. Early in 1850 he removed to Windsor, N.S., and enjoyed the repose of a country life until the following year, when, after a visit to England and France, he again took up his residence at Halifax, was appointed chairman of the Nova Scotia West District, and so continued until 1855, when the Conference of Eastern British America, comprising Nova Scotia, New Brunswick, Prince Edward Island, the Bermudas, and Newfoundland, was formed, with the Rev. Dr. Beechman as president, and Dr. Richey as codelegate. That year he visited Newfoundland on official duty, and at a later period spent a short time in Bermuda. In 1856 he was appointed president, and held that office until 1860, when, as the result of an aggravation of his malady, it became necessary for him to occupy a supernumerary relation. He again visited England, and on his return in 1861, he was appointed to St. John, N.B. From 1864 to 1867 was spent in Charlottetown, as chairman of the Prince Edward Island District, and in the last named year he was again president of the Conference of E. B. America. In 1868 he attended the General Conference of the M. E. Church in Chicago, and in July of the same year he again visited the British Conference. But his condition now rendered it necessary for him to retire from active labor, and he spent the remaining years of his life under the guardianship and affectionate solicitude of family and friends. On the 17th October, 1883, he was seized by paralysis and lingered until the following Tuesday, Oct. 24th. Thus passed away one of the foremost divines in the great Methodist denomination, to whose ripe scholarship, rare theological attainments, and commanding eloquence, as well as to his abundant and useful labors, frequent reference is found in Methodistic records. * * * * * =Desjardins, Lieutenant-Colonel Louis George=, M.P.P. for Montmorency, Levis, Quebec, was born at St. Jean Port Joli, County of L’Islet, on 12th May, 1849. He is the son of the late François Desjardins. He received his education at Levis college, where the training was of the very best kind to fit a young man for the active duties of life. He became a journalist, and in that profession has held a number of positions of influence in relation to the newspaper press. He was for several years editor-in-chief of _Le Canadien_ (Quebec), one of the most influential of French-Canadian papers. On the 3rd February, 1873, he married Aurélie, daughter of the late C. Lachance, of Levis. His interest in militia affairs was always keen. He has his title of lieutenant-colonel as commanding officer of the 17th battalion volunteer militia. Lieutenant-Colonel Desjardins first entered active political life in 1881, when he was elected to represent his present constituency in the House of Assembly of the province. He gave a strong and able support to the Chapleau ministry, which was then in power, and subsequently to the different administrations following, until the defeat of the Conservatives at the last general election. In that election Lieutenant-Colonel Desjardins was again returned. As a journalist and public speaker, Mr. Desjardins is possessed of remarkable power. His knowledge of political affairs is both wide and accurate, and his writing, especially, shows that conscious power which comes of full knowledge of the subject with which he deals. * * * * * =Hamilton, Hon. Charles Edward=, Q.C., Attorney-General of Manitoba, was born at Upnor Castle, near Chatham, England, on the 25th of March, 1844. His parents came to Canada with their family when the subject of this sketch was but four years old; his father, the late Captain Hamilton, being commandant at Isle-aux-noix, Quebec. They settled afterwards in St. Catharines, where he was educated. After receiving a sound education, he entered upon the study of the law, being articled in the office of Hon. J. G. Currie, then speaker of the Legislative Assembly. He was so successful in his study of the law that when only twenty-one he was called to the bar, when he entered actively upon the practice of his profession. Mr. Hamilton was an ardent member of the volunteer force, and even in his early twenties held a commission as captain in the 44th Welland battalion. During the Fenian troubles of 1871, when it was believed that the marauders from the American side of the river would repeat their incursion of five years before, the 44th Battalion was among those called out, and Captain Hamilton, on that occasion, was given charge of two companies. Mr. Hamilton went to Winnipeg in February, 1881, and was called to the bar of that province in May of the same year. He took part in founding the firm of Aikins, Culver & Hamilton, which quickly took a foremost place in the ranks of the legal profession in Winnipeg. In 1885, Mr. Hamilton was elected mayor of the city, and in the same year was nominated as the ministerial candidate to contest Winnipeg South for the local legislature, his opponent being Mr. W. F. Luxton, one of the leaders of the ex-opposition. The contest was an exceedingly keen one, and one that attracted wide attention. Mr. Hamilton was successful. He became a member of the executive council, holding the portfolio of attorney-general in the same year. In the last general election Mr. Hamilton was returned for Shoal Lake. Mr. Norquay’s government resigned on the 23rd of December, 1887, and Dr. Harrison was called upon to form a government. Mr. Hamilton was sworn in on the 26th of December, 1887, as attorney-general of the new government. He was one of the two representatives of the Manitoba government at the later provincial conference, hon. John Norquay, then premier, being the head of the deputation. In everything pertaining to the industrial development of the city and the province, Mr. Hamilton has taken a deep interest. He is a director of the Commercial Bank of Manitoba, and a director also of the Manitoba Mortgage and Investment Company. In 1884 Mr. Hamilton married Miss Alma Ashworth, daughter of Mr. John Ashworth, cashier of the Post Office department, Ottawa. His church relations are with the Presbyterian denomination. In his profession, Mr. Hamilton has been most successful, the call to the high position of attorney-general being a deserved tribute to his legal attainments. His career as a public man has been such as to win for him not only the enthusiastic regard of his supporters, but also the esteem and respect of his opponents, and, though in an arena so small as the political field of Manitoba, personal issues are too apt to be forced to the front, those who oppose him are compelled, by the purity of his record, to do so on public grounds. * * * * * =Campbell, Hon. William=, Farmer and Millowner, Park Corner, Prince Edward Island, was born at Park Corner on 12th January, 1836. He is the eighth son of the late James Campbell, of Park Corner, New London, P.E.I. His mother, Elizabeth Montgomery, of Princetown, was a sister of the Hon. Senator Montgomery. Hon. Mr. Campbell is descended from the Breadalbane Campbells on the paternal side, and from the Camerons of Lochiel on the maternal side. His grandfather came to Prince Edward Island in 1773, from Breadalbane, in Perthshire, Scotland, with Governor Paterson, a military officer. Mr. Campbell received his education in his native parish. He has taken a very active interest in military affairs, and has held the commissions of captain, major, and is now lieutenant-colonel of Queen’s county militia. On entering political life, he was elected to the House of Assembly for Queen’s First Division in 1873, on the resignation of the sitting member; and three years later, he was re-elected as a supporter of free schools. In 1879, he was sworn in a member of the Executive Council, and became a member of the Sullivan cabinet, without a portfolio. In March following, he was appointed minister of public works, and on appealing to his constituents was elected by acclamation. He was also commissioner of the government stock farm. Again, at the general election held in 1882, he was returned, and continued a member of the government, as minister of public works, until 1st February, 1887, when he resigned this office to run as a candidate for the House of Commons at Ottawa for Queen’s county, but failed to secure his election. While in parliament he took an active part in the discussion of the leading questions of the times—notably the land question, free schools, reduction of the provincial expenditure, etc. Hon. Mr. Campbell, in religion, belongs to the Presbyterian church, and to the Conservative party in politics. He was married first, in 1864, to Elizabeth McLeod, of New London, and second, in February, 1873, to Elizabeth L. Sutherland, daughter of the late John S. Sutherland, of Caithness-shire, Scotland. * * * * * =Bowser, Rev. Alexander Thomas=, B.D., Pastor of First Unitarian Church, Toronto, was born in Sackville, New Brunswick, February 20, 1848. His parents, Robert and Jane (Kirk) Bowser were respectively of English and Scotch descent. Alexander was the sixth child of a family of twelve (six boys and six girls). In 1864 he left home to enter a store in the town of Moncton, as clerk; but wishing for the greater advantages of life in a large city, he soon afterwards went to Boston, Massachusetts, where, in connection with business, he was able to pursue the course of study at the Latin High School; and in 1873 was matriculated as Freshman at Harvard College, receiving the degree of Bachelor of Arts in regular course, in 1877; and three years later (1880), on graduating from the Divinity School, he received the degree of Bachelor of Divinity. Mr. Bowser’s first year in the ministry was devoted to mission work in St. Louis, Missouri. Here, on 2nd May, 1881, he was ordained to the Christian ministry in the Church of the Messiah (Unitarian), the venerable Chancellor of Washington University, Rev. W. G. Eliot, D.D., giving the charge to the young preacher and offering the prayer of ordination, and the Rev. John Snyder, pastor of the Church of the Messiah, giving him the right hand of fellowship. Mr. Bowser now spent two years in Evansville, Indiana, as the representative of the American Unitarian Association; but his influence soon extended beyond his denominational work into public affairs, many of his Sunday evening lectures being printed in full in the daily papers. The general character of these lectures may be inferred from a few of the subjects treated, such as “The need of Conscience in Public Affairs,” “Coffee Houses versus Liquor Saloons,” “Why the Chinese should not be excluded from the United States.” Having presented the Evansville Public Library with a number of Unitarian publications, the trustees were so well pleased with the books that they requested him to prepare a list of such works as he would wish them to purchase for the library, and the result was that nearly 300 volumes of the latest religious and scientific thought were placed upon their shelves. In January, 1884, Mr. Bowser was called to the pastorate of the Third Congregational (Unitarian) Church of Hingham, Massachusetts, one of the oldest and most influential Societies in New England, numbering among its members General Lincoln, who was secretary of war under Washington; John Albion Andrew, who was Governor of Massachusetts during the civil war, and ex-Governor John D. Long, who is now (1888) member of Congress for that district. This important position Mr. Bowser held for three years, winning the respect and love not only of his own parish, but of the community at large; but on receiving an invitation from the First Unitarian Congregation of Toronto, he felt that it was a call from heaven to carry the beautiful and soul-inspiring truths of Unitarian Christianity to his own people of Canada, where these principles are not so well known as in Massachusetts. Accordingly, he resigned, and on the last Sunday in January, 1887, took charge of the church in Toronto. Mr. Bowser was brought up in the Methodist church, and first became interested in Unitarianism while pursuing his studies preparatory to entering Harvard College. He was at the time an earnest worker in one of the Methodist churches in Boston, when suddenly a charge of Unitarian heresy was brought against him, though he had no idea himself, at the time, that he was in sympathy with their peculiar views of religion. This, however, awakened his interest, and he began to inquire about the principles of this body, and was told by one of their ministers to read the New Testament and see for himself what Jesus and the Apostles taught, and he would find the Unitarian doctrine. This he did with earnest care for several years, and having failed to find a single passage in which it is distinctly stated that Jesus was God, or the Second Person in the Trinity, but on the other hand, finding the essential principles of Unitarianism stated in the most explicit language everywhere throughout the Bible, he became a Unitarian, and claims that he is one simply and only because it is the religion of Jesus Christ and the early Christians. Mr. Bowser regards his residence in St. Louis as one of the most important periods of his life, as it was there that he first met Miss Adelaide Prescott Reed, to whom he was united in marriage in April,