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

becoming solicitor-general, and a member of the Macdonald-Dorion government. In 1863, whilst holding the office of solicitor-general, he was elected speaker of the House of Commons, which position he occupied for a little more than four years, and presided over the debate on confederation at Quebec. After retiring from political life he practised law in Belleville, and on the death, in 1882, of Hon. E. B. Wood, chief justice of Manitoba, was appointed to succeed him. Hon. Mr. Wallbridge was one of the last survivors of a long line of prominent Canadian politicians whose records as such are, for the most part, now known only in history. It is almost fifty years since he first began the practice of his profession, and almost the lifetime of a generation since he first entered parliament. He was a moderate Reformer in politics. He was of a kindly genial disposition, and had many personal friends. He was buried at Belleville, Ontario. * * * * * =Brodie, Robert=, Merchant, Quebec, was born in Montreal on the 11th May, 1835. His parents, Charles Brodie and Elizabeth Kerr, emigrated from Innerleithen, Peeblesshire, Scotland, in 1831, and settled in Montreal. Robert, the subject of our sketch, received a common school education in his native city, and in 1850, when but a lad of fifteen years of age, entered the dry goods establishment of Henry Morgan & Co., the then leading retail store in Montreal, and continued in this business until 1855, when he removed to Quebec city. Here he entered the employment of his brother, Charles Brodie, who was at that time carrying on an extensive flour and provision business. In 1859 Charles Brodie died, when Robert, with his brother William, succeeded to the business, and continued to carry it on on a more extensive scale, under the firm name of W. & R. Brodie. In 1868, Thomas Brodie, another brother, was admitted a partner, the firm name remaining unchanged. The operations of the firm then further extended, and the three brothers are now doing the largest business in their line in the ancient capital. Besides an extensive local trade, they send to the Provinces of New Brunswick and Nova Scotia annually large quantities of flour and provisions. Outside of business hours, Mr. Brodie has taken an active part in whatever movement happened to be on foot calculated to improve the social condition of the people among whom he resided. He has been a total abstainer all his life, and was one of the first to join the Rechabites, when this temperance order was first introduced into Canada. When it was superseded by the order of the Sons of Temperance at a later date, he joined the new order, and for many years was one of its most active members. He is one of those who firmly believe in the doctrine that the liquor traffic must be ultimately suppressed by law. Apart from social reform, he has also been connected with most of the local enterprises originated in Quebec city during the past fifteen or twenty years, either as an assistant or promoter. He is a shareholder in the Quebec Steamship Company; the Quebec and Levis Ferry Company; the Quebec Fire Insurance Company; the Quebec Bank, etc. He, with others, originated the Quebec Worsted Company and is one of its directors. Mr. Brodie has been a member of the Protestant Board of School Commissioners for a number of years. This board is composed of six members—three being appointed by the city council and three by the local government, and he is the appointee of the city council. He has not had time to extend his travels beyond Canada, but he has visited nearly every point of interest in the Dominion. In religion, he is a Presbyterian. For a number of years he has been an elder in Chalmer’s Church, and was a commissioner from the presbytery of Quebec to the general assembly held in Winnipeg, Manitoba, in June, 1887. He has always been a Liberal in politics, and gives a generous support to the Liberal party. In 1865 he was married to Jane, daughter of David Blair, of Lotbinière, Province of Quebec, who emigrated from Scotland in 1831. * * * * * =Rourke, James=, Manufacturer, St. Martin’s, New Brunswick, was born at Musquash, St. John county, N.B., on the 27th of June, 1838. His father was William Henry Rourke, a descendant of O’Rourke, one of the kings of Ireland. His mother, Phœbe Ann Cronk, born in Digby, Nova Scotia, came of a Lancaster, England, family. Mr. Rourke received his education in the schools of his native parish. He removed from Musquash in 1858, to Hopewell, Albert county, N.B., and in 1863 left Albert county and took up his permanent abode at St. Martin’s, where he now resides. Early in life he devoted himself to business pursuits, and is now extensively engaged in the manufacture and shipping of lumber at St. Martin’s. He is connected with the St. Martin’s Manufacturing Company; the Upham Railway Company; the North-Eastern Railway Company, and the Bell Telephone Company. He takes an interest in military affairs, and is captain of the St. Martin’s Rifles Company of Volunteers. He is a past master of the Masonic brotherhood, and is also a member of the order of Oddfellows. In politics he is a Liberal-Conservative, and is vice-president of St. Martin’s Liberal-Conservative Club. At the last general election he was nominated for a seat in the New Brunswick legislature for St. John city and county, but failed to carry his election, although he received a large vote. He was a member of the municipal council of St. John city and county from 1876 to 1886, but on his being appointed a valuator he resigned. However, he was again elected in 1887 to a seat in the council, as representative of his parish. He is an adherent of the Episcopal church. On the 16th March, 1871, he was married to Charlotte Wishart, daughter of Captain B. Wishart, a native of Scotland. * * * * * =Ure, Rev. Robert=, D.D., Minister of the Presbyterian Church, Goderich, Ontario, though a long resident of Canada,—having come to the country in 1842—is a Scotchman by birth. He was born in the parish of Shotts, Lanarkshire, on the 23rd January, 1823. His father, John Ure, was an iron founder in Dumbarton, Scotland, and, like many other enterprising men of his day, helped to develop the iron industries of his native country, and are now held in grateful remembrance by the toiling thousands in the south-west of Scotland. His mother was Barbara Dalziel. The Ure family, from which the subject of our sketch is descended, came originally from France, being Huguenots, and settled in Scotland. Robert received his primary education in his native parish, and when only nineteen years of age emigrated to Canada, and settled in Hamilton, Ontario. Having resolved to devote himself to the ministry, he for a time studied privately with the late Rev. Alexander Gale, M.A., Presbyterian minister, and then, in 1845, entered Knox College, Toronto, and completed his theological course in 1850. The same year he received a call to the Presbyterian Church in Streetsville, where he remained for twelve years. In 1862 he removed to Goderich, and here he has since labored with great acceptance, and is greatly beloved by his flock. Dr. Ure’s scholastic attainments are of a high order, and in recognition of this, Queen’s College, Kingston, conferred upon him the degree of Doctor of Divinity in May, 1876. For two years he lectured in Knox College, Toronto, on apologetics, still attending to his pastoral duties, but in consequence of ill-health he had to give up this lectureship. During the years 1879-80 he gave lectures on homiletics in Queen’s College, Kingston, and when the Knox College Alumni Association was formed, the doctor was chosen its first president. Dr. Ure took a conspicuous part in bringing about the union of the Presbyterian churches in Canada; first with the United Presbyterian Church, and secondly with that connected with the Kirk of Scotland. During the negotiations for the former union he was convenor of one committee, and the late Rev. Dr. William Taylor, of Montreal, of the other. When the scheme had been consummated, Dr. Taylor, being the senior, was honored by being chosen first moderator of the General Assembly of the united churches, and Dr. Ure had a similar honor conferred upon him by being its second moderator after the union. In the subject of education the doctor takes the deepest interest, and for a long period he served as grammar school trustee. He has a large parish, with two country stations attached, and has the advantage of an assistant. He is an eloquent preacher, and his sermons are noted for their earnestness and originality. He has been twice married. He was married to his first wife, Margaret Gale, sister of the late Rev. Alexander Gale, M.A., first Presbyterian minister of Hamilton. This estimable lady died in December, 1869. His present wife is Mary Fraser, widow of the late Sheriff Macdonald, of Goderich. * * * * * =Taché, Eugene Etienne=, Quebec, Assistant Commissioner of Crown Lands for the Province of Quebec, Provincial Land Surveyor for Upper and Lower Canada, and Architect, was born at St. Thomas, Montmagny county, on the 24th of October, 1836. His father was the Hon. Sir Etienne Paschal Taché, one of the fathers of confederation, and his mother, Sophie Morency. Mr. Taché, the subject of our sketch, was educated at the Seminary of Quebec, and at the Upper Canada College, Toronto. In 1862 he held a captain’s commission in the Chasseurs Canadiens in Quebec, and after his temporary removal to Ottawa, held for a time the position of lieutenant in the Civil Service Rifle Corps. He is also a captain in the sedentary militia of Quebec. In 1869 he received the appointment of assistant commissioner of Crown Lands for the province of Quebec, and this position he occupies now. As a surveyor, he has had considerable experience. For eighteen months, while studying this branch of his profession under Walter Shanley, C.E., he was engaged on the survey of the Ottawa Ship Canal. As an architect, too, he has done a good deal, having acted in this capacity in the erection of the Quebec parliamentary buildings, and the Quebec drill hall. He was also the designer of the handsome façades on the new court house, in Quebec. In the midst of his various duties he has devoted some time to travel, and in 1867 visited Britain, France, and Italy. He is the author of “Maps of the Province of Quebec,” of which he issued two editions, the first in 1870, and the second in 1880. In religion, Mr. Taché is a Roman Catholic. He has been twice married; first, in July, 1859, to O. Eleonore Bender, who died without issue; second, to Clara J. Duchesnay, daughter of the late Hon. Antoine Juchereau Duchesnay, senator. Five children have been born of this union. * * * * * =Adams, Aaron A.=, Coaticook, province of Quebec.—Mr. Adams, who was born at Henniker, New Hampshire, United States, on the 2nd September, 1806, and died at Coaticook, on the 13th of August, 1887, at the ripe age of eighty-one years, came to Canada when only sixteen years of age, and made his home in the Eastern Townships. He went into trade in 1832, at Georgeville, then an important place, and removed to Barnston in 1837, where he continued to trade with the late M. W. Copp, and others until 1853. Then he took up his abode in Coaticook, then a straggling village of about a dozen houses. He traded here for some years in company with John Thornton, and was subsequently largely interested in mining operations, at the time it was very active in the townships. Of late years Mr. Adams’ private business was principally confined to farming. For the past fifty years scarcely any public enterprise, affecting the interests of this part of the townships, has been carried through without Mr. Adams’ active and cordial support. He was for many years a leader in municipal matters, and in perfecting Coaticook’s present municipal organization. He was a member of the first district council, and under the new order a member of Barnston Council, of which he was mayor for several years, and at different times warden of the county. He was a member of the first council of Coaticook and mayor, which office he held for several years of this first council, elected twenty-three years ago, only one member, A. K. Fox, now survives. Mr. Adams was an active promoter of the St. Lawrence and Atlantic Railway, now operated by the Grand Trunk and connecting Montreal and Portland. He was also actively engaged in the Massawippi Valley road, now operated by the Passumpsic Company. The establishment of the Eastern Townships’ Bank was actively promoted by him. He was one of the first directors, and from 1880 to 1885 was vice-president of the institution. He was also for many years a director of the S. and S. Mutual Insurance Company. All local enterprises received active and substantial support from him. He was, from its foundation, a director of the flourishing industry, the Coaticook Knitting Company, of which he was vice-president at the time of his death. In religion, Mr. Adams was a Methodist, and most zealous and consistent in his belief and practice; he joined this church at an early age, and for many years was a class leader and Sunday school teacher in its service. Few men led a more active and useful life, and his death was greatly regretted by his numerous friends. He left a widow, two daughters, and two sons, namely: Mrs. Pomroy, of Compton; Mrs. Baker, of Haverhill, Mass.; A. F. Adams, of Coaticook; and George E. Adams, of Boston, United States. * * * * * =Cimon, Hon. Marie Honorius Ernest=, Fraserville, Rivière du Loup (_en bas_), a Puisne Judge of the Superior Court for the province of Quebec, was born at Murray Bay, province of Quebec, on the 30th March, 1848. He is a son of Cléophe Cimon, notary public of Murray Bay, who represented Charlevoix county in the Canadian Assembly from 1858 to 1861. His mother, Marie Caroline Langlois, was a sister of the late Jean Langlois, Q.C., a distinguished member of the bar of Quebec, who represented, for several years, the county of Montmorency in the House of Commons. Cléophe Cimon, the father of our sketch, was born at Murray Bay, January 30th, 1822, from the marriage of Hubert Cimon, by Angèle Simard _dit_ Lombrette. Hubert Cimon, his grandfather, was born at l’Isle-Verte, province of Quebec, April 22nd, 1789, from the marriage of Jean Baptiste Cimon, by Marie Angélique Salomée Miville _dit_ Dechéne, and died in Bay St. Paul, county of Charlevoix, August 27th, 1854. Jean Baptiste Cimon, his great-grandfather, was born July 20th, 1751, at Rivière Ouelle, province of Quebec, from the marriage of Jean François Cimon, by Marie Dorothée Gagnon. This Jean François Cimon (whose name was then written Simon) was his first ancestor who came alone from France to settle in Canada, about the year 1744, leaving his father, Joseph Simon, with Jeanne Lefeuvre, his mother, in the parish of St. Pée, Evêché de Coutance, province de Rouen, en Normandie, France, where they were living. Judge Cimon was educated at Ste. Anne de Lapocatière’s College, Seminary of Quebec, and Laval University, where he became a licentiate of law (LL.L.) in June, 1871. He was called to the bar of Lower Canada on the 12th July, 1871, and took up his residence in Chicoutimi (Saguenay), where he practised from July 16th, 1871, to July, 1882. He acted as Crown prosecutor in Chicoutimi from 1873 to 1882, and from 1871 to 1882 his services were retained in all the important cases brought before the courts of that district. He sat in the House of Commons for the united counties of Chicoutimi and Saguenay from 1874 to 1882 as a Conservative member. For eleven years he was an active promoter of all the public enterprises in the Saguenay and Lake St. John country; and to his efforts and energy are due the telegraphic line to Chicoutimi, the Marine Hospital, the deepening of the river Saguenay. Members of the then House of Commons well remember how strongly he advocated the Federal subsidy, granted in the session of 1882 to the Quebec and Lake St. John Railway, and the other important public works obtained by his influence for the Chicoutimi and Saguenay counties. He was mayor of the town of Chicoutimi from 1881 to 1882, and also president of the St. Jean Baptiste Society of Chicoutimi. He was appointed a Queen’s counsel in January, 1882, and elevated to the Bench on the 20th July, 1882, with residence at Perce, Gaspé county; but soon afterwards, in June, 1883, was transferred to Joliette, province of Quebec. He received the commission of revising officer for the county of Joliette in October, 1885, and resigned this situation in May, 1886. He resided in Joliette for three years; but since April, 1886, he has administered justice in the district of Kamouraska. The Hon. Mr. Cimon was the recipient of congratulatory addresses, when appointed a judge, from the citizens of Chicoutimi, the bar of Perce, and from the bar of Joliette and l’Assomption on his arrival. He also received a farewell and complimentary address on leaving Joliette, soon followed by a welcome address from the bar of Kamouraska. In religion, he is a Roman Catholic, as his ancestors were. He married, January 27, 1880, Marie Delphine, only daughter of the late Pierre Antoine Doucet, judge of the Sessions of the Peace, Quebec, by Marie Thérèse Delphine, eldest daughter of the late Hon. Judge Bruneau, of the Superior Court, her godfather, and niece and goddaughter of Olivette Doucet, the wife of the well-known historian, Robert Christie, of Quebec, who for over thirty years represented the county of Gaspé in the old Canadian Assembly. * * * * * =de Cazes, Paul=, Secretary of the Department of Public Instruction of the Province of Quebec, was born in Britanny, France, on the 17th June, 1841, and came to Canada in February, 1858. He is the son of Charles de Cazes, who arrived in Canada in 1855, and settled in the Eastern Townships, where he purchased considerable property near Danville. This gentleman was elected member for the counties of Richmond and Wolfe in 1861, and died in 1867, being the only Frenchman by birth who has been a member of the Canadian parliament. Paul de Cazes studied at Paris at _L’Institution Loriol_, a preparatory or training school for the navy, and at the Polytechnic School. He obtained a certificate from the Military School at Quebec in 1865. He edited _Le Messager de Joliette_, and _Le Courier de St. Hyacinthe_ for some time. He also owned and edited _La Nation_, published at St. Hyacinthe; and was for five years a contributor to _Le Monde_, of Paris. He was admitted to the bar of Quebec in October, 1869, and practised law from that date until 1874 at St. Hyacinthe, in partnership with the Hon. H. Mercier, the present premier of the province of Quebec. In January, 1874, he was sent to Paris as agent for the Dominion, took part in the Paris Exposition of 1878, and was recalled in April, 1879. He was appointed an officer of the department of Public Instruction in April, 1880, and secretary of the same department in April, 1886. He was appointed a member of the Geographical Society of France in 1875, and member of the Royal Society of Canada at its formation. He was vice-president of the first section of the said Society from May, 1884, to May, 1886, and president of the same from May, 1886, to May, 1887, and he is a member of several other learned societies. He is the author of “Notes sur le Canada,” of which four editions have been printed, and of several essays and studies, published at various times in France and Canada. The papers contributed by him to the Transactions of the Royal Society of Canada are the following:—“Deux Points d’Histoire”; “La Frontière Nord de la Province de Quebec”; “La Langue que nous parlons.” In religion he is a member of the Roman Catholic church. He married, on the 3rd November, 1869, Hermine St. Denis, sister-in-law of the Hon. H. Mercier, premier of the province of Quebec. * * * * * =Ratcliffe, Rev. John Hepburn=, Pastor of the First Presbyterian Church, St. Catharines, Ontario, was born in the township of East Whitby, county of Ontario, province of Ontario, on the 15th November, 1849. His parents, John Ratcliffe and Margaret Hepburn, were both born in Lanarkshire, Scotland, emigrated to Canada in the year 1833, and were among the pioneers of East Whitby. They belonged to that branch of the Presbyterian church known as the United Presbyterian church, which in 1861 united with the Free church, and formed the Canada Presbyterian church. At the age of fourteen, Hepburn Ratcliffe, their second son, the subject of our sketch, left the farm to engage in mercantile pursuits, but in the course of a few years was led to devote his life to the ministry of the Word. He entered Knox College in the autumn of 1869, and pursued his studies, first under the Rev. George Paxton Young, now the learned professor of metaphysics and ethics in Toronto University, and afterwards in the divinity classes, graduating in the spring of 1876. In October of the same year he was called to the pastoral charge of Ancaster and Alberton, and was ordained and inducted by the Presbytery of Hamilton on the 1st November. Here he continued to labor until May, 1883, when he became pastor of the First Presbyterian Church, St. Catharines, where he is now laboring, and is very much respected by his people. He was married on the 11th January, 1887, to Margaret Fletcher, of Toronto. * * * * * =Saint-Cyr, Dominique Napoleon Deshayes=, Conservator of the Museum of National Instruction, Quebec, was born on the 4th of August, 1826, in the parish of St. Jean Baptiste de Nicolet, district of Three Rivers, province of Quebec. His father, Jean Baptiste Deshayes Saint-Cyr, was an honest farmer, and his mother, Josephte Lefebvre Descôteaux. They were both descended from old French families, having numerous representatives all over the province, and more particularly in the district of Three Rivers. After undergoing a successful course of classical studies at the College of Nicolet, Mr. Saint-Cyr proceeded to Sherbrooke, Quebec, at that time settled almost entirely by people of English descent, for the purpose of mastering a knowledge of the English language, teaching French meanwhile at the Lennoxville Grammar School from 1846 to 1848. He then founded the first French Catholic school ever established in Sherbrooke, teaching until 1850. (This school still exists in the town of Sherbrooke, in the same building in which it was started.) In August, 1850, he removed to St. Anne de la Pérade, and lived in that beautiful village until 1876, devoting twenty-six years of his life to the noble work of educating the youth of the country. In 1851, he received his diploma as model school teacher, and in 1859 that of academy teacher. In 1855, he was elected secretary-treasurer of the municipal council of Ste. Anne, and filled the duties of that office until 1863. During that period, the handsome bridge, 1,400 feet long, which crosses the river Ste. Anne, was built, and the same structure is still standing. In 1867 he was admitted a notary public. He attended the Quebec Military School in 1863, and received a first class certificate, and went into camp at Laprairie in 1864. In 1875 the subject of our sketch was induced to enter public life, and was elected to the Legislative Assembly for the county of Champlain by a majority of 122, at the general election which took place on the 7th July of that year. The constituents of his county elected him once more to represent them in the Assembly at the general elections held on the 1st May, 1878, by the handsome majority of 566. The favorite study of Mr. Saint-Cyr had been natural history, and, to have more freedom, he resolved, in 1881, to abandon public life, and to devote his time to the formation of a museum of specimens of natural history of the province of Quebec, with the result of forming the museum of public instruction, which is composed of large collections of plants, insects, fossils, minerals, etc., and for which he was awarded at the last provincial exhibition eleven diplomas, four medals, and two first prizes in cash, and this he considered sufficient reward for his untiring efforts. His appointment as conservator of the Museum of Public Instruction was confirmed by order-in-council on the 6th of April, 1886. In 1882, Mr. Saint-Cyr started on a scientific expedition to the Labrador coast and the islands, returning on the 20th September of the same year. He brought back with him a large number of plants, insects, shells (living and fossil), minerals, etc., to enrich his embryo museum. He made another voyage to the Gulf of St. Lawrence in 1885, a report of which was published by order of the Legislative Assembly in April, 1886. A second edition of the same work, ordered, at the last session of parliament, to be printed, was issued in November, 1887. He also wrote for several years in _Le Naturaliste Canadien_ on Canadian zoology, etc. At the present time he devotes all his energies to the enlargement and management of the museum entrusted to his care. On the 12th September, 1854, Mr. Saint-Cyr married Marie Rose Anne Amanda, a daughter, of Antoine Deshayes Saint-Cyr and Marguerite Emilie Ricard, by whom he had issue fifteen children, eight of whom still survive, five sons and three daughters. His residence is Ste. Anne de la Pérade. * * * * * =Thomas, Benjamin Daniel=, D.D., Pastor of the Jarvis Street Baptist Church, Toronto.—This popular divine is a Welshman by birth, having been born near Narberth, Pembrokeshire, on the 23rd January, 1843. He comes of a good stock. His parents were Benjamin and Jane Thomas. His father, the Rev. Benjamin Thomas, was pastor of the Baptist Church in Narberth for the long period of forty years. Dr. Thomas received his primary education in Graig House Academy at Swansea, where he spent four years, and then entered Haverford-West, the denominational college of South Wales, where he pursued a regular course of study, and graduated. Immediately on leaving college he was chosen pastor of the Baptist Church at Neath, Glamorganshire, where he successfully labored for six years. In the fall of 1868 he came to the United States, and soon after his arrival entered upon the pastorate of the Baptist Church in Pittston, Pennsylvania, where he remained nearly three years. In October, 1871, became pastor of the Fifth Church, one of the largest in Philadelphia, where he labored with great acceptance until he removed to Canada. In 1882 he was chosen as successor to Rev. Dr. John Castle, who had become principal of McMaster Hall (Baptist College), Toronto, and in October of the same year he settled as pastor of Jarvis Street Baptist Church. Here a large congregation attends his ministrations, to whom he has greatly endeared himself. As a preacher he is popular, and never fails to bring forth things new and old from Bible treasures, and presents them to his hearers in “thoughts that breathe and words that burn.” He contributes occasionally to religious papers and magazines; and a few years ago he published a small volume of great merit, entitled, “Popular Excuses of the Unconverted.” He favors all social movements having in view the elevation of the race, and labors earnestly to extend Christ’s kingdom on the earth. He was married in Wales, in 1864, to Mary Jones, but this estimable lady died in 1886, leaving six children behind, with their father, to mourn her early demise. * * * * * =Richey, Hon. Matthew H.=, Q.C., D.C.L., Government House, Halifax, Lieutenant-Governor of the Province of Nova Scotia, was born on the 10th June, 1828, at Windsor, N.S. He is the third son of the Rev. Matthew Richey, D.D., by his marriage with Louisa Matilda Nichols, a native of New York, but of English parentage, her grandfather having been one of John Wesley’s assistants, and of a Cornish family. Lieutenant-Governor Richey received his education at the Windsor Collegiate School, the Upper Canada Academy (Cobourg), of which his father was the first principal, the Upper Canada College (Toronto), and Queen’s College (Kingston), where he went through the usual course of study in the English branches and classics. He adopted law as a profession, and began its study in Windsor, N.S., in the office of the Hon. Lewis M. Wilkins, afterwards one of the judges of the Supreme Court of Nova Scotia. He was called to the bar of Nova Scotia in 1850, and practised his profession in Halifax. In 1873 he was created a Queen’s counsel. He occupied a prominent position among his fellow-citizens of Halifax; sat as alderman in the city council during the years 1858-1864, inclusive; and was mayor of the city for six years, namely, from 1864 to 1867, and from 1875 to