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

Legislative Council of Canada, at the time of his death, and M. G. Sophie Raymond, of Laprairie. Mrs. Masson died in 1883, at Terrebonne, where she was buried. The ceremonies of her funeral were very impressive, the archbishop of Montreal officiating; the musical service, under the leadership of Professor Guillaume Couture, of Montreal, with a select choir of forty male voices, was the grandest ever performed in the country. Besides distributing a considerable fortune to her children and relatives, she left princely legacies to various charitable institutions, the Deaf Mute Institution of Montreal receiving for its share a sum of $20,000. The ancestors of Mr. Masson came to Canada very early, and settled originally in Saint Eustache. At the present time the ramifications of the family spread over the whole province of Quebec. The subject of our sketch was educated at the Jesuits’ College, Georgetown, Worcester, Mass., and at St. Hyacinthe, Quebec, where he completed his classical studies. During this period he travelled for two years through Europe and the Holy Land, in company with that distinguished scholar, Rev. Mr. Désaulniers, of St. Hyacinthe College. Their tour lasted twenty four months, and was productive of immense benefit to young Masson, both in a physical and mental point of view. At the conclusion of his classical course he entered the law office of the late Sir George Etienne Cartier, in Montreal, where he resided three years, and in November, 1859, he was admitted to the bar. He never, however, practised his profession. Since October, 1862, he has held a commission in the Canadian volunteer force. On August 21st, 1863, he was appointed brigade-major 8th military district of Lower Canada, doing active duty on the frontier during the first Fenian raid, March, 1866; and also during the second raid in the same year, and was promoted to the rank of lieutenant-colonel in 1867. Colonel Masson has held various offices in the municipality of his native town, and was mayor of Terrebonne in 1874. In 1867 he was first elected to parliament as representative for the county of Terrebonne, and at every subsequent election he was re-elected by acclamation. He is perhaps the most popular man in the province of Quebec among his constituents. He is a Conservative, and stands very high in the estimation of his chiefs. In 1873 he was offered a seat in the Macdonald cabinet, but declined; the outspoken views he held on the amnesty for political offences in Manitoba, and on the settlement of the New Brunswick mixed schools question, forbade his acceptance of the honour proffered, unless he should make a sacrifice of principles. He is in favour of a reciprocity treaty with the United States, provided Canada is able to get equitable terms; of a moderately protective tariff, and he always advocated the construction of the Canadian Pacific Railway wholly on Canadian soil. In 1878, when the Mackenzie administration resigned, Mr. Masson, who was travelling in Europe, was offered a portfolio in the new cabinet, and he sailed immediately for Canada. On his arrival (19th October), he was sworn in a member of her Majesty’s Privy Council and minister of militia and defence. Under his energetic administration numerous improvements and useful changes were effected in the Canadian militia organization,—more especially the establishment of drill associations in educational institutions, the supply of military clothes from Canadian manufacture, the manufacturing in the country of gunpowder, cartridges, heavy guns, etc. For reasons of health he was forced to discontinue the arduous labours he had undertaken, and on the 16th January, 1880, he resigned his position of minister of militia and defence, and was appointed president of the Privy Council. Mr. Masson resigned his seat in the cabinet in 1880, and in 1882 was called to the Senate. In 1884 he was appointed a member of the Legislative Council of Quebec, and he held that position until the 7th November, 1884, when he resigned, to assume the duties of lieutenant-governor of the province of Quebec. In 1856 Col. Masson married Louise Rachel, eldest daughter of Lieut.-Col. Alexander Mackenzie, and granddaughter of Hon. Roderique Mackenzie, once a member of the Legislative Council of Canada, and a partner in the North-West Fur Company; by this marriage he had issue five children, three sons and two daughters. Mrs. Masson died, and in 1884 he married his second wife, Cécile Burroughs, eldest daughter of John H. Burroughs, prothonotary of the Supreme Court of Canada. * * * * * =Belleau, Sir Narcisse=, K.C.M.G., Q.C., ex-Lieutenant-Governor of the Province of Quebec, was born on the 20th October, 1808, in the city of Quebec, where he was educated, and where he still resides. Shortly after leaving school he chose law as a profession, and soon built up a lucrative business. Being a public spirited gentleman, he took an active part in municipal affairs, and in 1860, when the Prince of Wales visited Canada, Mr. Belleau was mayor of Quebec, and on this auspicious occasion he had the honour of knighthood conferred upon him. He entered the Legislative Council in 1852, soon made his mark there, and in 1857 was elected speaker of that body. This elevated position he retained until 1862, when he received the appointment of minister of agriculture in the Cartier-Macdonald administration. In 1865 he was persuaded to undertake the responsible duties of premier and receiver-general, and held these important offices until appointed lieutenant-governor of the province of Quebec in 1867. Sir Narcisse took an active part in all the most celebrated trials at this time in contested election cases, and his voice was no insignificant one in all and more than peculiarly delicate questions which so frequently arose during the time he was speaker of the upper house before confederation. As a legal adviser in civil cases he had few compeers at the time of his practising in Quebec that were recognized as his equal, still less his superior. Though now well advanced in years he still possesses a large circle of friends inside and outside of politics, and is a gentleman highly respected in his native city. His excellency Señor Don Boniface de Blas, minister of foreign affairs, by order and in the name of his Majesty the King of Spain, for services rendered on the occasion of the projected invasion of Cuba by the filibusters, conferred upon him the dignity of commander and grand officer of the royal order of Isabella la Catolica, in 1872, and on the 24th May, 1879, he had the still higher honour conferred upon him of being made a knight commander of the order of St. Michael and St. George, by her Majesty Queen Victoria, at the hands of the Marquis of Lorne, late governor-general, in the presence of her Royal Highness the Princess Louise. Sir Narcisse Belleau, now an old man, can look back on his past record as barrister, mayor, speaker of the Legislative Council, minister of agriculture, receiver-general, premier and lieutenant-governor of his native province, with satisfaction—having filled these high offices with credit to himself and honour to his country—and enjoy the remainder of his days as a public benefactor and a humane sympathetic Christian gentleman should always be able to do. On the 15th September, 1835, Sir Narcisse was married to Mary, daughter of the late L. Gauvreau, at one time a member of the Legislative Assembly of Lower Canada. There is no issue by the marriage. * * * * * =Desaulniers, François Sévère Lesieur=, B.C.L., Yamachiche, M.P. for St. Maurice, Quebec Province. The subject of this sketch is a member of one of the oldest, most well known and respectable families of the province of Quebec—the Desaulniers having come from France to Canada some time during the seventeenth century (1642), and settled in the district of Three Rivers. He is descended from Charles Lesieur, who was a notary royal and solicitor general under the French government, and of Françoise de Lafond, a niece of Pierre Boucher, the illustrious governor of Three Rivers under the government of M. de Mésy (1663). Mr. Desaulniers is the son of the late François Lesieur Desaulniers, and of the late Marguerite Pothier, and was born at Yamachiche on the 19th September, 1850. He received his education at Nicolet College, an institution to which both church and state are greatly indebted for having produced many citizens who distinguish themselves in the various walks of public life. After successfully passing his examinations, Mr. Desaulniers was admitted to the bar on the 13th January, 1879, at Three Rivers, and is now a member of the legal firm of Desilets, Desaulniers & Duplessis of that city. But his love for journalism was evidently greater than for the law, for we meet him, while studying law, editing the _Constitutionnel_ at Three Rivers, a journal founded by one of the most distinguished French Canadian writers, the late Hon. E. Gérin, legislative councillor. Later on, from 1875 to 1877, we find him in Quebec, as assistant editor of _Le Canadien_, whilst he contributed several editorials and political articles to the _Revue Canadienne_ of Montreal, to _Le Foyer Domestique_ of Ottawa, as well as to several other papers. Mr. Desaulniers’ political career began in 1878, when he was, for the first time, returned to the Quebec parliament, at the general elections, for his native county, St. Maurice, P.Q. He was elected by a majority of 245 votes over his opponent, L. A. Lord. At the general elections of 1881 he was re-elected for the same constituency by a majority of 110 votes over S. J. Remington. While in the Quebec parliament he was a moderate Liberal-Conservative, and a strong supporter of the conciliatory and moderate policy inaugurated by the Chapleau government. In 1886, at the late provincial elections, Mr. Desaulniers withdrew from the political arena to accept a charge from the provincial government. Upon the recommendation of the Hon. M. de la Bruère, speaker of the Legislative Council, he was, on the 2nd November, 1886, appointed by the Ross government deputy-clerk and clerk of the private bills of the Legislative Council of Quebec, _vice_ J. A. Jodoin, resigned. Lately a vain attempt was made to deprive him of this office, but by a unanimous vote of the Legislative Council his appointment was confirmed. On the 22nd February, 1887, Mr. Desaulniers was returned to the Dominion parliament for his old and faithful constituency of St. Maurice, where he enjoys a well-deserved popularity. He won the contest this time by a majority of 267 votes over his opponent, L. A. Lord. While devoting all his energies to the fulfilment of his numerous duties as representative of the people, Mr. Desaulniers, who takes a deep interest in agriculture, has been unanimously elected for ten years consecutively as president of the Agricultural Society of the county of St. Maurice. He has also been a justice of the peace since 1878. In politics Mr. Desaulniers is a staunch Conservative. He strongly endorses the protective policy adopted some years ago, and is a warm supporter of the Sir John A. Macdonald administration. In July, 1877, he married, at St. Guillaume d’Upton, Marie Aglaé Maher, daughter of Francis Maher, merchant, whose ancestors came from Stuttgart, Germany. They have five children living. Mr. Desaulniers is extremely popular in his own constituency and in the neighbouring counties, where he has often addressed large meetings on all the vital issues of the day, and performed many acts of kindness and liberality—winning, at the same time, for himself the esteem and respect of all by his social qualities, his proverbial hospitality, his sterling integrity, and his devotedness to the public interests. * * * * * =McClelan, Hon. Abner Reid=, Senator, Riverside, Hopewell, New Brunswick, was born where he now resides, in 1831. He is the youngest son of the late Peter McClelan, who was for a considerable period a justice of the peace, and of the common pleas, in the county of Albert. His paternal ancestry were Irish; but his mother (Robinson) was descended from the Clarkes, of New Hampshire. A. R. McClelan was educated at the district school, and at the Mount Allison Wesleyan Academy, of which he was subsequently one of the Board of Governors. In 1854, Mr. McClelan was elected one of the representatives of his native county in the New Brunswick legislature, and continued to hold the position till the union, in 1867. He is liberal in politics, and united with the Hon. Charles Fisher, the Hon. S. L. Tilley, and other Liberals of that day, in the overthrow of the Conservative administration, and in the establishment, on a firmer basis, of the rights of all under the responsible system of government. Mr. McClelan was an ardent supporter of the treaty of 1854, which secured free reciprocal trade with the United States. In addition to other reforms, he succeeded in obtaining amendments to the law of inheritance, including the removal of the rights of primogeniture, and in providing postal regulations for the better observance of the Sabbath day. His efforts were always employed to obtain a fair and equitable distribution of the public appropriations, and the county which he so long represented derived considerable advantages thereby. In 1865, he was an unsuccessful candidate for the speakership of the Assembly. During that year he helped to lead the opposition against the government formed to oppose the union, and on the resignation of the ministry, he accepted a seat in the new administration with the portfolio of public works, which he held till the union, when he was called to the Senate. He advocated the construction of the railway from Shediac to St. John, now a part of the Intercolonial, and subsequently the establishment of branch lines, including an ample subsidy for the Albert Railway, which was guaranteed by the Dominion government, upon the special request of the friends and promoters of the road. Mr. McClelan at the outset urged the government which he was then supporting to subsidize a short line to Hillsboro’, which was done, and the road afterwards extended to Hopewell. He prepared and introduced the original Act of Incorporation, assisted in securing the aid of the Dominion guarantee, and asked for and obtained a loan of rails to facilitate a branch line to Hillsboro’. As a member of the Dominion parliament, Mr. McClelan has continued on the side of liberalism and free trade, believing and affirming that the policy of protection is not based on equitable principles, that it is generally injurious in its tendencies, and especially detrimental to the smaller provinces by the sea. Though formerly in mercantile business, the Hon. Mr. McClelan has partially retired therefrom, owing to delicate health. In the Senate, it may be added, he is a man of much usefulness, for he gives to public questions a thoughtful and impartial study. To the broad interests of Canada, the Hon. Mr. McClelan has been always loyal, and there is nothing hollow about his patriotism. He is married to Anna J., eldest daughter of W. J. Reed, of Harvey, New Brunswick. * * * * * =Clemo, Ebenezer=, Inventor, was a native of London, England, and came to Canada in 1858. He was, although young, a person of great genius and ability. On his arrival in Montreal he was reduced to such necessity, that he applied to John Lovell, publisher of that city, for employment as a message boy; but Mr. Lovell knowing his acquirements, engaged him to write a couple of books. Hence “Simon Seek,” and “The Canadian Homes,” which appeared in the same year. Not works of the highest standard of literature certainly, but evincing much talent, and giving a good insight into Canadian character and life. He was the inventor and discoverer of making paper pulp out of straw, an industry which has grown to great proportions since his day; and when engaged in erecting machinery for the manufacture of such paper at Morristown, New Jersey, died in 1860, at the early age of thirty. * * * * * =Fullerton, James S.=, President of the Osgoode Literary and Legal Society, Toronto.—Mr. Fullerton is a native Canadian, having been born on April 3, 1843, in the township of South Dorchester, Elgin county, Ontario. Early in life he formed a taste for the law, and finally came to Toronto a student. He studied with N. G. Bigelow, John Leys and Beverly Jones, and ten years ago he was admitted to the bar. He had the honor of taking third and fourth year scholarships. He has now practised his profession for a decade, and is senior partner in the firm of Fullerton, Cook & Miller. He has had more of the successes of life than fall to the lot of most men. His practice has steadily increased, and it is said in legal circles that in three years he has only lost a couple of cases—and those it was well nigh impossible to win. His reputation for office work is great, and his unusual capabilities for making a jury think as he thinks have given him considerable counsel work to do. * * * * * =Begg, Alexander=, Dunbow Ranch, North-West Territory, Canada, is a native of the parish of Watten, Caithness-shire, Scotland, and was born 7th May, 1825. He is a son of Andrew Begg, farmer, and Jane Taylor, of Houstry, Dunn, Watten. His father was also miller of the mill of Dunn until about fifty years ago, when it and similar small oatmeal mills throughout Caithness were discontinued. The work of kiln-drying oats, formerly done by every farmer at home on his own kiln,—the winnowing of the shelled grain after it had first passed between the mill stones, and the sifting of the meal had to be done by hand; but about that time was transferred to larger mills erected by each proprietor for his tenants. The modern mill was furnished with a fanning mill to clean the shelled oats, and sieves which sifted the meal thoroughly. A kiln was also attached for the use of the tenants, who were bound each to bring his grain to the mill belonging to the estate on which his farm was situate and pay toll there. Mr. Begg received his elementary education at a somewhat celebrated select school, taught by William Campbell, near his father’s house at Backlass, Dunn. Up to the age of eighteen he assisted on the farm and attended the Watten parish school. Subsequently he attended the Normal School at Edinburgh, from which he received a diploma qualifying him as a teacher. This he utilized by teaching at Cluny, Aberdeenshire, until 1846, when he emigrated to Canada. Soon after his arrival at Belleville, where some of his school fellows had formerly emigrated, he taught school in the townships of West Huntingdon and Madoc, and afterwards at Oshawa. There he met J. E. McMillan (now sheriff in Victoria, B.C.), and joined him in publishing _The Messenger_, the first newspaper published in Bowmanville. After a couple of years he sold out to Mr. McMillan, and purchased the plant of the Cobourg _Sun_, removing it to Brighton, Ontario, and published _The Sentinel_, the first newspaper published there. He afterwards started _The Advocate_ at Trenton, also the pioneer newspaper of that place. Shortly afterwards he disposed of his interest in the printing business, and visited his native land. On his return to Canada he received an appointment in the customs, serving at the ports of Morrisburg, Port Dover, Brockville and Cornwall; and in 1869 was promoted to be collector of customs and inspector of inland revenue for the North-West Territories, accompanying the lieutenant-governor, Hon. Wm. McDougall and party, as far as Pembina, when the French half-breeds under Riel stopped their advance, compelling their return. To conciliate certain parties, another collector of customs was sent out to Fort Garry after Riel’s flight to the United States. Mr. Begg was transferred to the Inland Revenue department, but being dissatisfied at being deprived of his position without any fault on his part, he left the service of the Dominion government, and accepted the office of emigration commissioner in Scotland for the Ontario government. In that work he was remarkably successful, and during several years continued to send out a superior class of emigrants. Owing to a change in the emigration policy, only one agent for Ontario was retained for Great Britain, at Liverpool. Mr. Begg then turned his attention to the establishment of a temperance colony in the Parry Sound district. The township of McMurrich was chosen as being then without any settlers. A grist mill, saw and shingle mills were erected by him at Beggsboro’ in 1874, to encourage the settlement; and although by a decision of the Provincial government, that settlers, other than strictly temperance men, could be admitted to the colony, it became and still continues a prosperous settlement. Whilst engaged in opening up roads through the wilderness and fostering the colony, Mr. Begg became editor and joint proprietor of the Muskoka _Herald_, published at Bracebridge; and soon afterwards commenced in Toronto the publication of the _Canada Lumberman_, a paper devoted to the interest of lumber dealers. This paper was purchased by a Peterboro’ firm, and has attained a leading position in the lumber trade. Next we find him, in 1879, at the World’s Exposition in Paris, where he had on view, and received prizes for, a landau carriage from London, Ontario, and a sleigh from Orillia, at which latter place his family have resided since their return from Scotland. He also brought across the Atlantic with him from the Muskoka lakes, a number of live black bass, the first ever brought alive across the ocean from the new to the old world. Some of the bass were deposited at Dunrobin, the seat of the Duke of Sutherland’s family in Scotland; some in England, and a few more taken across the English channel to Paris, for which latter he received a medal from the Paris Société d’Acclimatation. In 1881 Mr. Begg made a tour to the North-West by way of Chicago, St. Paul and Bismarck, as the Toronto _Mail_ correspondent; taking the steamer up the Missouri to Fort Benton, the head of navigation, the Northern Pacific Railway not having been completed farther than Bismark at that time. The journey onward and northward from Benton to Fort McLeod was made by team and on horseback, camping out by the way. His Excellency the Marquis of Lorne reached McLeod from Battleford and Calgary on his tour across the continent at the same time Mr. Begg arrived from the south, so he had the opportunity of meeting the governor-general and party, and of including in his correspondence the earliest written news of their arrival there, and the enthusiastic reception given them by the Bloods, Piegans and a party of Indians (Blackfeet), under Chief Crowfoot. From McLeod, Mr. Begg proceeded to Morley, where one of his sons (Magnus) was farm instructor of the Stoney tribe of Indians on the reserve there. Magnus has since been promoted to be chief agent at the Blackfoot reserve. From Morley, Mr. Begg rode up Bow River to the foot of the Rockies, where an advance party of the Canadian Pacific Railway engineers were at work to ascertain if the railway line could be located by that route. Returning to Calgary, he proceeded north to Edmonton and St. Albert; then eastward to Battleford, Prince Albert and Duck Lake, on to Humboldt, Fort Qu’Appelle, Fort Ellice and Brandon, which latter place the Canadian Pacific Railway had just reached. At Humboldt he was obliged to sell his saddle and pack horses and take the stage, as winter had fairly set in, and travelling alone was no longer safe, especially without stopping places for the night. Next year, Mr. Begg returned to the North-West by the same route, taking one of his sons (Robert) with him to establish a sheep, cattle and horse ranch (Dunbow) at the confluence of High river with Bow river. This summer (1887) another of his sons (Roderick) joined him on the ranch, which is now well stocked and flourishing. His sons, Alexander and Peter, have recently been engaged in the Eastern States in connection with a printing establishment; another son, Ralph, is attending the Military School in Toronto, whilst the sixth, Colin, is studying at the High School in Orillia, where Mrs. Begg and five daughters yet reside. This autumn Mr. Begg was appointed emigration commissioner by the government of British Columbia, to arrange with the Crofter fishermen of Scotland to settle on the western shores of the island of Vancouver, to develop the valuable deep sea fisheries of the Pacific. On this important mission he left Canada in October, having formulated a scheme which will, he considers, solve the difficulty which has hitherto prevented the Imperial government from advancing funds to assist the emigration of the Crofters. * * * * * =Panneton, Louis Edmond=, Q.C., B.C.L., LL.M., Barrister, Sherbrooke, province of Quebec, was born at Three Rivers, in that province, on the 6th July, 1848. His parents were André Panneton and Marie Blondin. Mr. Panneton received his education at the college of Three Rivers, where he took the classical course. In 1865 he removed to Sherbrooke, and in 1870 was admitted to the bar of Lower Canada. He was elected a school commissioner in 1877, and in the same year was appointed a member of the Catholic Board of Examiners for granting diplomas to teachers. In 1878 he was elected president of the Club Cartier (Conservative Association), and a member of the city council in 1886. The degree of B.C.L. was conferred upon him in 1882, and that of LL.M. in 1885. He is a professor of civil law at Bishop’s University. He was chosen president for the years 1885 and 1886 of the Eastern Townships Typographical Company, which published _Le Pionnier_. He was made a Queen’s counsel in 1887, and in the same year was elected president of the bar of the district of St. Francis. Mr. Panneton travelled through the United States in 1876, and made an extended tour through Europe in 1878. In religion, he is an adherent of the Roman Catholic church, and in politics, a Conservative. He was married on the 6th July, 1886, to Corinne Dorais, of St. Gregoire, daughter of L. T. Dorais, M.P.P. for the county of Nicolet, Province of Quebec. * * * * * =Blair, Frank I.=, M.D., St. Stephen, New Brunswick, was born on 6th January, 1855. His father, Dugald Blair, M.D., was a Scotchman by birth, having been born in Greenock, Scotland, and afterwards settled in New Brunswick. His mother, Sarah Henrietta Marks, was a native of St. Stephen, and was a descendant of Captain Nehemiah Marks, a noted loyalist. Dr. Blair received his early education in Sunbury Grammar School and the University, Fredericton; and adopting medicine as a profession, completed his studies at the Bellevue Hospital Medical College, New York. He then returned to his native province, and began the practice of his profession in St. Stephen, where he has succeeded in building up a good business. He takes an interest in Masonry, and is a Knight Templar. He has travelled a good deal, and found time to visit Europe, California, and several other Western states of America. In politics he is a Liberal-Conservative; and in religion an adherent of the Church of England. On the 1st of December, 1881, he was married to Alice J. Owen, of St. Stephen. * * * * * =Irving, Andrew=, Registrar of the County of Renfrew, Pembroke, Ontario, was born at Chatham, Miramichi, Northumberland county, New Brunswick, on the 14th of December, 1820. His father, Andrew Irving, was a second cousin of the celebrated preacher and divine, Edward Irving, the founder of the sect known as the “Irvinites,” and was born in the parish of Middlebec, Dumfriesshire, Scotland. He emigrated to New Brunswick in 1816, and lived a quiet life as a farmer on the banks of the Miramichi river, about a mile from the town of Chatham, where he died in 1864. His mother, Margaret Henderson, came to this country some time after her husband, and died at a ripe old age in 1871. Mr. Irving’s grandfather, John Henderson, married Clarinda Douglas, the daughter of Sir Archibald Douglas, of Castle Milk, and had the Cleugh Brae farm presented to him by Sir Archibald on the day of his marriage. He died at the age of fifty-eight. Having made his will only eight days before his death, it was declared illegal, from the circumstance that at that time the law of Scotland required that a testator must attend both kirk and market, and live six weeks after making his will, otherwise it would be null and void. The family contested the validity of this will in the courts, with the usual results, namely that of financial ruin to them all. Andrew, the subject of our sketch, was educated at the Grammar School at Chatham, and afterwards studied medicine for three years with Dr. Key, then the most successful practitioner in New Brunswick. Finding, however, that too close application to study was endangering his health, he abandoned medicine, and resolved to seek his fortune in Western Canada. With this object in view, in the summer of 1842 he began his journey westward, and rather than slowly voyage on board a schooner from Miramichi to Quebec he chose the land route. He rode on horseback from Miramichi to Dalhousie, a distance of over a hundred miles, then crossed the Restigouche river at Campbelltown with his provisions on his back, and walked across the country to the St. Lawrence river at Metis, a distance of nearly a hundred miles. The road for the greater part of the route was only a footpath, and the sole guide he and his party had was the Indian blaze; and it took three hard days’ travel to make the journey. He then walked the entire distance, two hundred miles, from Metis to Quebec, in five days. When he arrived at Bytown (now Ottawa city), he crossed the Ottawa river, and was driven to Aylmer in a vehicle called a stage, a distance of nine miles, by a man named Moses Holt, who is still alive, though bordering on his one hundredth year. The next day he took passage in a bark canoe, working his way as far as Fitzroy Harbor, a small village on the south banks of the Upper Ottawa. The following day he embarked on the steamer _George Buchanan,_ which at her best could not steam more than five miles an hour, and came on with her as far as Farrel’s Wharf, in the township of Horton. The distance from this point to Pembroke by the then route was nearly fifty miles, and our dauntless young Scotch settler accomplished the distance in a day and a half, arriving at his destination in good health and spirits. At this time it took a traveller three days from Ottawa to Pembroke, and now the journey can be made in about as many hours. In January, 1842, he began his career as a teacher in Pembroke, the settlers having erected for him a log school-house, in the bush, and agreeing to pay him a salary of forty pounds ($60) and board for a year, which, we may say, was not always promptly paid. However, our young teacher was satisfied, and his indomitable pluck carried him through all difficulties, and he is now one of the leading men in his county. For about three years Mr. Irving filled the office of clerk of the township and village of Pembroke, and was Division Court clerk for over twenty years. In 1861 he was chosen county treasurer, and held the office until 1875. He was local superintendent of education for a part of the county before the law abolishing this office came into force; and was a member of the Board of Education for a number of years, during three of which he acted as its chairman. In 1861 he was appointed a justice of the peace; and for upwards of ten years was license inspector. In 1866 he was appointed registrar of the county of Renfrew, and this office he still holds, and devotes all his time to the performance of his duties. Mr. Irving has always taken a deep interest in municipal affairs, and it was he who during the years from 1861 to 1865 led in the county town struggle for Renfrew county, and it has since been conceded by both friends and foes that it was through his good management that Pembroke came off victorious. He has been an ardent politician, and was always found fighting in the Reform ranks. On one occasion, during a hard election contest, he was approached by an old and valued friend, and offered a lucrative office if he withdrew his opposition to the government candidate, but, with true Scotch pride, he replied, “My principles are my own; they are neither those of John A. Macdonald or George Brown, and you would think very little of me if I would abandon them for any such offer.” This answer led to an estrangement between him and his friend, but after some years his friend admitted he was right, and so the matter was forgotten. Unfortunately Mr. Irving is not so liberal in his religious views as he is in his political. He is a very strict Presbyterian; and the highest of Calvinists, and would resist to the death any innovation or reform in his church standards. In 1844 he was married to Jane Reid, the eldest daughter of the late Peter Whyte, the first settler in Pembroke. She died in 1852, and two of her children survive her. He again married in 1860, his second choice being Mary, daughter of the late Doctor William Cannon, of the Royal navy. This lady is still alive, and has been the mother of five children, four of whom are living. * * * * * =Laliberté, Jean Baptiste=, Fur Merchant, St. Roch, Quebec, was born in the city of Quebec, in 1843. His father, who was the owner of one of the largest tanneries located on St. Valier street, in that city, sent him early to the Quebec Normal School, where he received a sound commercial education. On leaving school he commenced work with a merchant, and was afterwards apprenticed for a few years to a furrier to learn the trade. Here he soon acquired a thorough knowledge of it in all its branches, and laid the foundations of a successful business career. In May, 1867, he began, in a small way, on his own account. Being attentive and obliging and keeping all the latest styles in his stock, customers came dropping in; and at the end of five years, having worked very hard, he had accumulated sufficient means to enable him to re-build the store in which he had begun, and which had now become too small to accommodate his growing trade. After a lapse of a few more years he began again to be crowded for room; and he then decided to enlarge his premises. This time he erected a handsome building on St. Joseph street, St. Roch’s, containing six floors, 110 x 45 feet, which he now occupies. On the top of the building is a dome and flag-staff, on which he always hoists the French flag on the 24th of June of each year, this being the anniversary of his patron saint, St. Jean-Baptiste. Mr. Laliberté has made it a rule to purchase his goods in the best markets of the world, and to offer for sale only articles which may, by their excellence in regard to quality and workmanship, defy the keenest competition. Not content with visiting only the fur markets of New York, London, Paris and Leipsic, he, in 1880, and every year since, has visited in person the great fur emporium of Russia, being the first furrier from the province of Quebec who has done this. He has now branch offices in the principal cities of Europe, and his managers at these places advise him weekly as to prices, etc. Mr. Laliberté employs over three hundred persons, several of whom are constantly employed trapping and hunting in our own northern forests, and are paid the highest prices for furs and peltries in season and of the best grades. He is both an importer and exporter, and when a choice set of furs is wanted, even for the far west, the St. Roch fur emporium is generally called upon to supply it, as it is well known that from his immense stock, said to be the largest in Canada, it can readily be selected. Mr. Laliberté is erect in stature, manly in bearing, and is noted for his courteous demeanour to his fellow men. In short, he is a fair representative of the progressive French Canadian of the present day. * * * * * =Macdonald, Augustine Colin=, Merchant, Montague, Prince Edward Island, was born on the 30th June, 1837, at Panmure, P.E.I. He is a son of Hugh Macdonald, who came from Moydart, Inverness-shire, Scotland, to Prince Edward Island in 1805, and settled at Panmure. The mother of the subject of our sketch was Catherine, daughter of A. Macdonald, of Rhue Arisaig, Inverness-shire. Augustine Colin Macdonald received his education at the Grammar School of Georgetown, and at the Central Academy, Charlottetown, P.E.I. He has taken part in all matters pertaining to the interests of the island in which he was born, and has been on several occasions a commissioner for managing the Exhibition of Local Industry for Prince Edward Island. He, too, is interested in military matters, and is captain in one of the local companies. He was first returned to the Legislative Assembly, as representative for the third electoral district of Kings county, P.E.I., in 1870. He supported the Railway bill, and on a dissolution of the house was again elected by his political friends. In 1873 he once more appealed to his constituents, and, as a supporter of “confederation” and “better terms,” was elected. When Prince Edward Island became part of the confederacy, Mr. Macdonald was returned a member of the Dominion parliament as a supporter of Sir John A. Macdonald. At the general election, held in 1874, he suffered defeat at the polls, being beaten by a small majority; but at the general election, held in 1878, he was again elected to a seat in the House of Commons at Ottawa. In politics Mr. Macdonald is a Liberal-Conservative, and during his parliamentary career at Ottawa rendered good service to the government when they were carrying through the Canadian Pacific Railway bill and the national policy resolutions. He is an adherent of the Roman Catholic church. He married at Charlottetown, on the 27th June, 1865, Mary Elizabeth, sixth daughter of the late Hon. John Small Macdonald, and has a family of seven children. * * * * * =Harris, John Leonard=, Merchant and Manufacturer, Moncton, New Brunswick, was born in Norton, Kings county, on the 27th September,