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

L’Islet, Quebec, removing afterwards to St. Hyacinthe. He is the youngest son of the late Etienne Bernier, farmer, and Julie Lussier, his wife. The subject of this sketch was educated at the St. Hyacinthe Seminary, afterwards studying law under H. St. Germain, notary and registrar for the county of St. Hyacinthe, and was admitted to practise as a notary in June, 1867. He was a member of the volunteer force from 1862 to 1865, and held the rank of captain. He served as a member of the notarial board for the district of St. Hyacinthe, from 1867 to 1870, and for the provincial board from 1873, and president for the same from 1882 to 1885, and is still a member of the board; was secretary-treasurer of the municipal council and school commissioners of the parish of St. Hyacinthe, from 1864 to 1878, and of the municipal council of the county of St. Hyacinthe from 1864, and still holds that position; also official assignee for the county of St. Hyacinthe from 1869 to 1874, and for the district of St. Hyacinthe from 1874 to 1880. He has been a director of the St. Hyacinthe Agricultural Society from 1881, and its president since 1884, and holds that position to-day. He is a director of the Bank of St. Hyacinthe; also of the St. Hyacinthe Manufacturing Company, owners of the water powers, flannel mill, grist mill, and carding mill, at St. Hyacinthe; of the St. Hyacinthe Gas and Electric Light Company; of the St. Hyacinthe Macadamizing Company, and of the United Counties Railway Company. He is the head of the firm of N. Bernier & Co., grain and flour dealers; of the notarial firm of Bernier, Morin & Bordua; is a commissioner for the provinces of Ontario, Quebec, Nova Scotia, and New Brunswick, and a commissioner _per Dedimus potestatem_; is also engaged in farming, and owns the “Bellevue farm,” near the city limits. Mr. Bernier is a staunch Liberal in politics, and has taken an active part in political movements since 1867; was offered, but refused, the candidature for the county of St. Hyacinthe for the House of Commons, in 1878, and for the Quebec house in 1879; but in June, 1882, he accepted the nomination of the party for the House of Commons, and was elected, his opponent being the Hon. L. Tellier, now a judge of the Superior Court. Mr. Bernier ran again in 1887, and was again successful. His interest in agricultural, industrial, and commercial pursuits has been of the most active character. In religion, he is a Roman Catholic. He was married, on the 28th November, 1865, to Alida, a daughter of the late Simeon Marchesseault, one of the chiefs of the rebellion of 1837, and who was afterwards exiled to the Bermudas. Two daughters were born of this marriage, the eldest being married to Dr. L. V. Benoit, physician and apothecary at St. Hyacinthe. * * * * * =d’Orsonnens, Lt.-Col. the Count Louis Gustave d’Odet=, was born at L’Assomption, April 17th, 1842. He is a descendant of a Swiss patrician family of the Canton of Fribourg, who, according to Blanc de Charney, in his history of the patrician families of Fribourg, “came towards the end of the fourteenth century to settle in that city, and continue there its _lustre_.” The General Lexicon of Switzerland, by Leu, published at Zurich, in 1758, mentions the d’Odet d’Orsonnens with honor. Later, in 1789, Jean Jacques Holtzhalb, in his supplement to the Lexicon or Dictionary of Leu, has also continued its history. The first member of this distinguished family who came to this country, was Prothais d’Odet d’Orsonnens, patrician of Fribourg, who came to Canada about the year 1810, with the famous Meuron’s regiment, as captain of the grenadier company. After the disbandment of his regiment, Captain d’Orsonnens went to the Red River with a strong party, and took Fort William for Lord Selkirk, who was the governor of the Hudson Bay Company. The conduct and bravery of Captain d’Orsonnens on this occasion was highly commended by his superiors. He finally settled at St. Roch de l’Achignan, where he built a house in the style of the manors of that time, and which he named “La Chaumière Suisse.” He died suddenly of heart disease on the 16th March, 1834, leaving two sons and two daughters to mourn his loss. The eldest, Thomas Edmond d’Orsonnens, was born at St. Roch de l’Achignan, on 30th October, 1818, and was for many years president of the medical faculty of the Victoria University in Montreal, knight of St. Gregory, etc. His eldest son, Louis Gustave, the subject of this sketch, upon whom the family nobility and titles were recognised with the title of count, by his holiness Pope Pius IX., was educated for the army, and was to have joined the Swiss regiment at Naples, in which his cousin was captain, when the kingdom of Naples was overthrown by the revolution. He joined the 1st battalion of rifles as ensign, on the 17th of November, 1859; in 1860, he exchanged into the 2nd troop of cavalry, being gazetted a cornet; was promoted to the rank of lieutenant on 3rd June, 1861, and commanded the troop for nearly a year. He resigned his command to study law, and was soon called to the bar. He then re-entered the service and joined the 4th battalion of Canadian Chasseurs, and was gazetted lieutenant on the 15th December, 1865. He served on the frontier at Niagara, in 1866, as ensign and adjutant, and was promoted to rank of captain in the 4th Chasseurs on the 8th of March, 1867. His subsequent promotions are brigade-major, 3rd January, 1868, and lieutenant-colonel, 19th February, 1869. In 1871, he held the temporary command of the 6th military district at the divisional camp of Laprairie. Lieutenant-Colonel d’Orsonnens holds certificates from all the schools, as follow: Infantry school, 1st class, 24th August, 1864; gunnery, 1st class, 4th July, 1868; cavalry, 1st class, 27th March,