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

Kingston, who was afterwards M.P. for the county of Frontenac. He was admitted as an attorney in Easter term in 1854, after which he entered the law office of George A. Phillpotts, of Toronto, afterwards Junior Judge of the county of York, where he remained until called to the bar, in Hilary, term 1855. In March of that year, he commenced the practice of his profession at Owen Sound, in the county of Grey, where he continued until appointed judge of the County Court of that county in January, 1865. Owen Sound was at that time a portion of the township of Sydenham, but in 1856 it was incorporated as a town, having a population of about 2,000. It was the county town of the county of Grey, which, with the adjoining county of Bruce, was then comparatively a new settlement, the population of Grey, according to the census of 1852, being something over 13,000 and that of Bruce being between 2,000 and 3,000. The peninsula north of Owen Sound, between Georgian Bay and Lake Huron, was then a wilderness and not yet surrendered by the Indians. The roads through the counties were in a very bad condition, and until the opening of the Northern Railway to Collingwood in the winter of 1854-5, everything had to be brought to Owen Sound by vessel from Coldwater, or teamed up from Guelph. A few years after this, the county of Grey expended $200,000 in building about 180 miles of gravel roads through the country, on which no toll gate was ever placed, and the county of Bruce a few years after followed the example thus set of building a number of leading gravel roads through the county without placing toll gates on them. The population of the county of Grey at the last census, in 1881, was over 75,000, and that of Bruce over 65,000. A number of railways are now running through the counties, the Canadian Pacific Railway having a lake terminus at Owen Sound, which has a population of about 6,000, a dry dock capable of receiving very large steamers (the first built in Canada above the Welland Canal), an excellent system of waterworks, is lighted by electric lights, and to and from its harbour a large fleet of steamers (including the Canadian Pacific Railway’s steel steamships), and sailing vessels run to all the various ports on the upper lakes. Besides the position of county judge to which Mr. Macpherson was appointed in 1865, he holds the position of local judge of the High Court of Justice, to which he was appointed in March, 1882; of surrogate judge of the Maritime Court of Ontario, to which he was appointed in February, 1879, and of revising officer of the North Riding of Grey, to which he was appointed in October, 1885. Judge Macpherson has long taken a great interest in Freemasonry, into which he was initiated in June, 1857, in the city of Toronto, and in the fall of that year, assisted by other brethren, he opened a lodge in Owen Sound under a dispensation from Sir Allan Napier MacNab, grand master of the Ancient Grand Lodge of Canada, and of which lodge he was the first worshipful master. He is the only survivor of the original members of that lodge. The Ancient Grand Lodge was in July of the following year merged in the Grand Lodge of Canada. He has been a regular attendant at the meetings of the Grand Lodge, and in 1863 was elected grand senior warden. He has been, with the exception of two years, continuously a member of the Board of General Purposes since its formation in 1861, has frequently been and is at present vice-president of that board, and is also chairman of the sub-committee on jurisprudence. He is also the representative of the Grand Orient of Uruguay, and of the Grand Lodge of Maryland, near the Grand Lodge of Canada. He has also taken an active part in Capitular Masonry. He was exalted in February, 1858, and in 1866, assisted in the formation of a chapter in Collingwood, of which, in 1867, he became first principal. In 1873, he assisted in the formation of a chapter in Owen Sound, of which, at the commencement he was first principal. In Grand Chapter, after filling the chairs of 3rd and 2nd principal, he was, in 1883, elected grand first principal, which office he held two years. He is also representative of the Grand Chapter of California, near the Grand Chapter of Canada. He has also been instrumental in the formation or carrying on of many local and other societies. Judge Macpherson was the first secretary and afterwards president of the Mechanics’ Institute. He has been president of the North Riding of Grey Agricultural Society, and has been several times and is now president of the Horticultural Society, and has been vice-president of the Fruit Growers’ Association of Ontario. He was the first captain and several years president of the Cricket Club, was several years president and is now patron of the Curling Club, and has been president of the Ontario branch of the Royal Caledonian Curling Club. He also, in 1874, assisted in the formation of a joint stock company to build a curling and skating rink, of which he was the first president. This was the first company formed for this purpose under the Ontario Act. He has also been president of the First Canada Rifle Club, of the Gun Club, and of the Fish and Game Protection Society, and is now chairman of the managing committee of the Owen Sound Club. In this age of locomotion his travels can hardly be considered important, yet he has travelled through Canada from Manitoba to Newfoundland, and through all the great lakes. He has been through most of the states east of the Mississippi from Minnesota to Florida; and has visited a number of cities of the United States from St. Paul and Minneapolis to New Orleans, and from the Atlantic coast to the Mississippi. He was at the Paris Exhibition of 1867, the Centennial Exhibition held at Philadelphia in 1876, the Colonial Exhibition at London, and the International Exhibition at Liverpool in 1886. He has visited the Bahama Islands, and last winter travelled by sea from New York to New Orleans, up the Mississippi to Memphis, and across home by rail, paying visits to the different cities on the way, and also visiting the mammoth cave of Kentucky, his journey being nearly 5,000 miles. He has also visited most of the important cities and other points of interest in England and Scotland, including the islands of Skye, Staffa, Iona, Man, Wight, etc. During last summer, he also visited Egypt, including the Suez Canal, the Nile, Cairo, the Pyramids, the battle field of Tel-el-Kebir, etc., going by way of the Mediterranean and calling at Gibraltar and Malta, travelling in all nearly 15,000 miles. He is a member of the Church of England. In May, 1875, he married Eliza McGill McLean, second daughter of Allan N. McLean, formerly of Toronto, now of London, England, and grand-daughter of the late John McLean, formerly sheriff at Kingston, who was a brother of the late Hon. Chief Justice McLean, of Toronto; Mrs. Macpherson died in April, 1880, leaving two children, only one of whom still survives. * * * * * =Campbell, Rev. Kenneth A.=, Orillia, Ontario, was born in the township of Thorah, Ontario county, on the 30th of November, 1837. His father, Kenneth Campbell, was born in the county of Glengarry, Ontario, and was one of the earliest settlers in the township of Thorah, and rendered most valuable assistance to the Scottish immigrants, who afterwards settled in that and neighbouring townships. Mr. Campbell was captain of militia. Rev. Mr. Campbell received the rudimentary part of his education in a public school of his native section, and afterwards made a full course, preparatory to ordination, in St. Michael’s College, Toronto, and was ordained to the priesthood by Archbishop Lynch, in St. Joseph’s Church, Beaverton, on the 21st of September, 1854. He was appointed assistant to the Very Rev. G. R. Northgroves, in the parish of Barrie, and in April, 1856, he was appointed parish priest of Mara and Orillia. In this charge he laboured with zeal for eight years. He built a neat substantial brick church in the village of Brechin; attended to the wants of the settlers of his faith in the district of Muskoka, and discharged efficiently the duties of local superintendent of schools in the townships of Mara and Rama. In June, 1872, he built the Church of the Angels Guardian, in Orillia, a solid structure of fine architectural design, and an ornament to the town. The interest of the congregation of Orillia requiring a resident priest, the village was erected into a separate parish, and Father Campbell was appointed to the charge in