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

of the old late house of E. Barlow & Sons. * * * * * =Baudouin, Philibert=, St. John’s, province of Quebec, was born at Repentigny, Quebec, April 27th, 1836. He is a son of Pierre Baudouin and Margaret Hétu, his wife. He is a descendant of Jean Baudouin, who was a resident of Montreal in 1663, and whose son, Guillaume, settled at Repentigny, on the estate where M. Baudouin was born, and which has been in the family since its cession by the seigneur in 1698. The family name of Baudouin is derived from the language of old Gaul, and is the origin of the name Baldwin, which was first spelled Baudwin. The subject of this sketch was educated at L’Assomption College, and took a full classical course. He is a notary public for the province of Quebec, and in 1858 resided at Coteau Landing; in 1860, at Iberville; from 1862 to 1873, he was county clerk, clerk of the circuit court, etc., for Iberville county, and town clerk of Iberville; from 1875 to 1877, he was manager of the agency of the Banque de St. Jean, at Farnham; from 1877 to 1886, cashier of the Banque de St. Jean, at St. John’s; and since 1886 he has been manager of the agency of the Banque du Peuple, at St. John’s. He has travelled through the Eastern States, and was one of the many thousands at the Philadelphia exposition of 1876. He is a Roman Catholic in religion. Mr. Baudouin is a total abstainer from liquor, and is in the enjoyment of perfect health, although a hard brain-worker. He was married, August 22nd, 1864, to Caroline Annie Marchand, of the Marchand family, long established in St. John’s, the most prominent of which now are the Hon. F. G. Marchand, M.P.P., speaker of the Quebec legislature, etc., and Henri Marchand, prothonotary, S.C., at St. John’s; and on her mother’s side, a granddaughter of Isaac Phineas, long agent at Maskinonge of Seigneur Pothier’s estate, and one of the English Jews who settled in Canada about a century ago. * * * * * =Lamarche, Felix Oliver=, Mayor of Berthierville, province of Quebec, was born at Montreal, Quebec, on 1st December, 1837. He is the son of Charles Lamarche and Marguerite Tranque, his wife, who is descended from an ancient Norman family, who, on leaving the old land, settled in Montreal. The subject of this sketch received an elementary school education at Berthier-en-haut. In 1839, he left Montreal for that town, and has resided there since. He was for several years actively engaged in the shipping interest, being the owner of several vessels, and for nine years commanded a vessel sailing on the St. Lawrence river. As a sailor, he was on several trips down the gulf to St. John’s, N.F.; Halifax, N.S.; St. John, N.B.; La Baie des Chaleurs, P.E.I., etc. For the past sixteen years he has been in the hay and grain business, and is now one of the largest hay shippers in the province of Quebec, having nine hay barns or sheds, with eleven hay presses, employing fifty men, and shipping some five thousand tons of hay annually to the United States and local markets. He is president of the Compagnie Industrial of Berthierville, and of the bolt manufactory; was a shareholder in the late Stadacona Insurance Company; and also in the Union Steam Navigation Company. In politics, he is a strong Conservative, and a liberal subscriber to its funds. He has been repeatedly solicited to allow himself to be brought forward as a candidate in the Conservative interest, but invariably refused. He was also offered government positions, but would not accept them in view of his business connections, and also because his busy life could not stand the restraint such a position would place upon him. In religion, he is a fervent Roman Catholic. He has been married twice—first to Alphonsine Ducharme, on the 7th November, 1858, by whom he had two children. This lady died on the 22nd August, 1861. Again to Caroline St. Cyr, on the 30th August, 1875, and by whom he has had seven children. Of the nine children, three only are living. * * * * * =Bresse, Hon. Guillaume (William)=, Quebec, is the leading boot and shoe manufacturer of the ancient capital, and a member of the Legislative Council of the province of Quebec. An admirable type of the self-made man, Mr. Bresse has risen from obscurity to a commanding position of industrial eminence and affluence by the sheer force of native talent and enterprise. With no other educational advantages than those afforded by the parish school of St. Athanase, d’Iberville, P.Q., at which the present premier of the province of Quebec, Hon. H. Mercier, also received the rudiments of his education; he has climbed the ladder of fortune until he now stands on the topmost rung of wealth and influence, while still a comparatively young man. But he has not forgotten that he was once a workingman himself. One of the largest employers of labor in the province of Quebec, his workmen and women are more his friends than his employees, and the interest he takes in their comfort and welfare is altogether paternal. Born in Chambly, near Montreal, he is now in the fifty-third year of his age. His parentage was humble, but respectable. His father was a farmer, a typical French-Canadian _habitant_, and his mother was a member of the Rocheleau family, of Chambly. His uncle, Major Bresse, served in the Canadian militia under De Salaberry, at Chateauguay, during the war of 1812, and was the Lower Canadian hero’s most trusted lieutenant. After receiving such education as the school of St. Athanase could impart, our subject went out into the world to earn his own livelihood, and his life down to about 1863 was that of the ordinary workingman, laboring for his day’s wage in Montreal and the manufacturing centres of the New England States. During his sojourn in the latter, he formed a close intimacy with another workingman and fellow countryman, who has also since risen to wealth and fame in his native province—Louis Coté, the great boot and shoe manufacturer of St. Hyacinthe, P.Q., for many years the popular mayor of that city, and now a member of the Dominion Labor Commission. The two young French-Canadians were kindred spirits. Both were of an observant turn of mind and actuated by a laudable ambition to advance themselves. Happily, too, for themselves and their native province, they were both gifted with more than the usual pluck and enterprise of their race. Noting the preference given to their countrymen as factory hands in the United States, on account of their peculiar adaptability to the work, their orderly character, and their contentment with moderate earnings, they quickly came to the conclusion that if the French-Canadians were so profitable to their employers abroad, where the cost of living was high, they would be much more so at home. They accordingly returned to Canada with the determination to start in the business of boot and shoe manufacturing on their own account. The old city of Quebec seemed to offer the most favorable field for their undertaking. One of its staple industries, shipbuilding, was declining, and a large element of the local population were out of employment and ready to embark in any new branch which promised steady work. The tanneries of Quebec, already famous for the abundance and excellence of their leather, also offered the attraction of a cheap, plentiful, and convenient supply of the raw material, and altogether the situation appeared exceedingly propitious to make a bold bid for the Canadian trade. But the two young adventurers were without means or friends to help them, and their beginning was, consequently, on a very small and humble scale. By the merest accident, when they reached Point Levis, opposite Quebec, on their return from the United States in the winter of 1863, they met François Langelier, then a young lawyer returning, after completing his studies in Europe, and now the Hon. François Langelier, mayor of Quebec and member of the House of Commons for the electoral division of Quebec Centre. While being conveyed through the floating ice of the St. Lawrence over to Quebec, an acquaintanceship was formed between the three young men, which has since ripened into a warm and lasting friendship, personal and political. The encounter was a fortunate one for all three. To Messrs. Bresse and Coté it was particularly so, for a few days afterwards a reference to Mr. Langelier enabled them to secure the lease of a building in St. John’s suburbs, on favorable terms, suited to their purpose. It has often been asserted that the Messrs. Woodley were the pioneers of the great boot and shoe industry of Quebec city, but such is not the case. The Woodleys did not start in it until 1866, or three years after the firm of Coté & Bresse, who began manufacturing with machinery in St. George street, in St. John’s suburbs, in the spring of 1863. To these two enterprising French-Canadians rightfully belongs the credit of leading the way in a branch of trade which is now the most important of Quebec, and furnishes a means of support to a larger body of the population even than the lumber trade. From St. George street they removed to Des Fosses street, in Quebec East, when the partnership was dissolved, Mr. Coté going to St. Hyacinthe, and Mr. Bresse remaining in Quebec and removing to St. Paul street. His present factory and palatial residence on Dorchester street, Quebec East, erected in 1871, cover an entire block, and the factory itself is the largest and finest of its kind in the city. It gives constant employment to an average of four hundred hands, male and female, and the quantity of boots and shoes it turns out is enormous, while their excellence has rendered Mr. Bresse’s name famous all over the Dominion. From Newfoundland in the east to Vancouver in the west, his goods find a ready market, and his numerous hands are kept busy all the year round in filling orders. In addition, Mr. Bresse is the patentee of several valuable labor-saving machines of his own invention, and owns a large tannery at Arthabaska, several farms in the district surrounding Quebec, and property in Winnipeg, Montreal, and elsewhere. He also holds a controlling interest in the St. Hyacinthe Water Works Company, of which he is a director. He was a member of the Senecal Syndicate which purchased the North Shore Railway from the provincial government of Quebec, under the premiership of Hon. Mr. Chapleau, the present Dominion secretary of state, and acted as administrator of that road until it passed into the hands of the Canadian Pacific Railway Company. In fact, there are but few local undertakings, financial or industrial, in which he has not been, or is not now, concerned, and he may be truly said to be an eminently successful man. As a citizen, he is deservedly held in the highest respect, and his fellow townsmen some years ago marked their confidence in him by electing him as one of their representatives in the city council for Jacques Cartier ward. He sat in the council for one term, after which he declined re-election on account of the demands of his extensive business upon his time. As an employer of labor, he is probably one of the most popular in Quebec, having a genuine workingman’s sympathy for workingmen, and treating them more as his children than his servants. In politics, Mr. Bresse has always been a warm and consistent Liberal, and the opposition leader in the Dominion parliament, the silver-tongued Laurier, has no stronger admirer or supporter in his constituency of Quebec East. Hon. H. Mercier, the present premier of the province, is also one of his warmest friends, and it was by his government that Mr. Bresse was, in December, 1887, called with general public approval to the Legislative Council as the representative of Les Laurentides division upon the resignation of Hon. J. E. Gingras. On that occasion, the pleasant relations existing between him and his employees was marked by their presentation to him of a congratulatory address. In religion, he is a Roman Catholic, like the great majority of his fellow countrymen. He is unmarried. * * * * * =Moreau, Right Rev. Louis Zephirin=, Bishop of St. Hyacinthe, St. Hyacinthe, Quebec, was born at Becancourt, province of Quebec, the 1st of April, 1824. His father was Louis Moreau, farmer, and his mother, Marie Margaret Champoux. He followed a classical course of study at the seminary of Nicolet, from 1839 to 1844, and taught in the same college for upwards of two years. In September, 1846, he went to the palace of the Bishop of Montreal, where he was ordained a priest in December of the same year. From 1846 to 1852, he remained at the palace in the capacity of chaplain to the cathedral, and assistant secretary of the diocese. On the 2nd of November, 1852, he left Montreal for St. Hyacinthe, as secretary to the first bishop of that place, Monseigneur J. C. Prince. He then occupied the position of parish priest and vicar-general of the diocese. On the 19th of November, 1875, he was appointed by His Holiness Pope Pius the IX. the fourth bishop of St. Hyacinthe, and was consecrated on 16th January, 1876. Since then his lordship has made two trips to Rome in the interest of his diocese, which is comprised of 120,000 Roman Catholics, and 18,000 Protestants, containing seventy-six churches, one hundred and sixty priests, two seminaries, three colleges, two male communities, five communities of women, and five hospitals in charge of nuns. The St. Hyacinthe Cathedral is one of the finest edifices in the Dominion, and it is owing to Bishop Moreau’s indefatigable efforts and energy that the citizens are indebted for its erection, as well as for the establishment of the other above-mentioned institutions of learning and benevolence. * * * * * =Stevens, Hon. Gardner Green=, Waterloo, province of Quebec, was born on 13th December, 1814, at Brompton, Quebec. His father was born at Newfane, Windham county, Vermont, and his grandfather, Lemuel Stevens, at Petersham, Worcester county, Mass. The family moved into Canada soon after the close of the struggle for the independence of the colonies, they being strong adherents of the British crown. His mother came from Brookfield, Vt. His father, Gardner Stevens, was one of the early settlers in Brompton, and was, in his day, an industrious, well-to-do farmer, and a prominent citizen. He met with an accident in 1845, when sixty-three years of age, which terminated fatally. The subject of this sketch received the ordinary education of farmers’ sons in this locality fifty years ago; aided his father in cultivating the soil until of age; then took charge of a farm, mill, and store at Waterville, county of Compton, and was thus employed for ten years, when, in March, 1851, he became agent for the British American Loan Company, taking up his residence at Waterloo, and he has since devoted his attention almost entirely to that agency. Except four years spent at Roxton Falls, he has resided there for thirty years, holding various positions of trust and honor, both at Roxton and Waterloo. While at the former place, he was municipal councillor and mayor of the town. Here he has been justice of the peace for a long period; has been councillor, mayor of the township from 1870 to 1875 inclusive, and warden of the county. While warden he was _ex-officio_ a director of the South-Eastern Railway. He has been a director, and is now president, of the Stanstead, Shefford, and Chambly Railway, of which company he was the first treasurer. He is one of those enterprising men who like to have a hand in any movement calculated to benefit the country—its material interests, or for the improvement of the people. Since February 19th, 1876, he has represented the constituency of Bedford in the Senate of the Dominion, taking the place of Hon. Asa B. Foster, who resigned that year. In 1847, Senator Stevens married Relief Jane, daughter of Sidney Spafford, of Compton, and has issue five children—three sons and two daughters. The family attend the Methodist church. It was during the first term of Senator Stevens’ service in the mayor’s chair that Prince Arthur visited Waterloo, June 13, 1870, and he had the honor of presenting an address to His Royal Highness. The _Chronicler_ of Shefford thus speaks of our subject: “Mr. Stevens is emphatically a self-made man, and like all men of his class, his perceptive faculties, sharpened by cultivation, made him keenly cognizant of whatever affects his own interests, or anything committed to his trust. A man of extensive reading and retentive memory, with ready powers of conversation, he is eminently qualified to amuse or instruct. Accustomed to habits of industry, he appreciates this quality in others, and while he is ever ready to assist the young man who is bravely fighting the battle of life, he has no sympathy for one who shrinks from hardships, or who, with everything in his favor, makes shipwreck of his possessions.” * * * * * =Wood, Rev. Enoch=, D.D.—This reverend gentleman, who died at Davenport, Toronto, on the 31st January, 1888, was among the early missionaries sent out to America from the old country. He was born in Lincolnshire, England, in 1804, and entered the service of the Wesleyan Missionary Society in 1825. After serving for three years in the West Indian missions, he was transferred to the province of New Brunswick, where he labored for nineteen years. At the close of this term of service he was appointed by the British conference superintendent of missions in Canada, when he removed his residence to Toronto. Dr. Wood had pastoral charges in St. John, N.B., in 1829, 1836, 1838, 1841, and 1844, and in Fredericton in 1846, in addition to others in New Brunswick. Of his work in that province, a writer says:—“The older Methodists of New Brunswick still treasure the memory of his long and powerful labors among them with emotions of almost filial gratitude, and recall his gentle, lovable manner and character with ever fresh delight.” In 1874, Dr. Wood came to Toronto as superintendent of missions, and afterwards as missionary secretary, and continued to hold that office while he was president of the Wesleyan Conference for seven years, from 1851 to 1857. He was again president of the conference in