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

By Good Press

This book is an outstanding collection of biographies of famous Canadian men. Hundreds of names are featured inside, with some whose contributions may have already been lost to history. The book is organized in alphabetical order, and features these individuals, amongst many others: Richard Pim, Evan John Price, John Ratcliffe, David W. Robb, Willis Russell, Henri C. Saint-Pierre, and Noah Shakespeare.

• Language: English
• Publisher: Good Press
• Release date: Dec 16, 2019
• ISBN: 4064066166670

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

Published by Good Press, 2022

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EAN 4064066166670

Table of Contents

PREFACE.

INDEX.

ADDENDA.

PREFACE.

Table of Contents

It has been too long a custom to regard as proper subjects for biographical literature only persons who have figured in political life. In preparing the present work, any man or woman who has, in any conspicuous way, contributed to the moral, intellectual, industrial or political growth of the country, has been deemed a suitable person for these pages. To the heroism and uncomplaining industry of the men who hewed out homes in the wilderness, and little by little overcame the obstacles of nature, are we indebted now for our thriving cities, and for our wide stretches of cultivated lands; and to omit a record of their labors, and select only for permanent record the deeds of those who came upon the scenes when the rugged work was done, would be singularly unjust. We have had, and still have amongst us, men of great genius in engineering skill, and in mechanical contrivance; and it was fitting that a brief record of their lives, and what they accomplished for the community, should be handed down in the history of our common country. The same may be said of men prominent in every branch of commerce, of our notable divines, our eminent judges, our great lawyers, our talented medical men, and those who have contributed to the educational growth of the country. These it was considered were worthy of place side by side with the men who chose political careers, and have won more or less distinction therein. There is to be said in justification of all these records, that even the history of the man in an obscure village is a portion of the history of the country, and the aggregate record of Representative Canadians may be regarded in a young country like Canada, as a full historical account, in every sense, for the period covered by the biographical matter in the volume. Men are forever drifting down the slow stream, and most of their deeds like themselves, pass into oblivion; it is well while the opportunity is at hand to save as much of the record as possible for posterity. The labor, the time, and the pains spent in securing data for the sketches herein contained have been greater than would be believed; and the more so since accuracy of statement of fact, and the chronological order of incidents, have been so rigidly aimed at. Dates and facts have all been verified either by reference to the best published authorities, or to the persons themselves. For the most part, the call for the coöperation of the public in furnishing data for the records has been cordially responded to. As for the literary portion of the work, no pains have been spared to make that equal to the other features. To make the volume complete in the historically representative sense, memoirs of the most illustrious of the dead of this country will be found in its pages. The enterprise has been tedious, laborious and expensive; but if it will supply a record that the country should not let die; if it preserves the names of worthy men and women whose deeds deserve to be remembered, it surely will have well repaid the time, the anxiety, and the pains that have been expended upon it. A work of this kind could not be else than tedious; and, therefore, since its commencement, several changes have taken place: some of the persons in its pages have died; others have passed from one office to another, and dropped from public places; but with these latter exceptions and some other minor ones, each memoir, it is believed, will be found to be an accurate record up to the present date.

GEO. MACLEAN ROSE.

Toronto, March, 1888.

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INDEX.

Table of Contents

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A CYCLOPÆDIA

OF

CANADIAN BIOGRAPHY.

Cartier, Jacques.—The ancient town of St. Malo, in France, had been for centuries a nursery of hardy seamen, and among the most eminent on its list stands the name of Jacques Cartier.—This celebrated navigator was the first European who explored the shores of Canada to any extent. On the 20th April, 1534, he sailed with two ships of three score tons apiece burthen, and sixty-one well appointed men in each. He steered for Newfoundland, which he reached in twenty days, passed through the straits of Belle Isle, and advanced up the St. Lawrence, till he saw the shores of Anticosti. The approach of winter caused him to return to France. In the spring of 1535, he received a fresh commission, and three vessels, named La Grande Hermine, La Petite Hermine and L’Hémerillon, the largest about 120 tons, were placed at his disposal. On the 16th May, the officers and sailors assembled in the Cathedral at St. Malo, where, after confession and hearing mass, they received a parting blessing from the bishop, and, three days later, they set sail. After experiencing very stormy weather, during which the vessels were separated, they reached the coast of Newfoundland on the 26th July. On the 10th August, it being the festival of St. Lawrence. Cartier gave that name to the bay which he entered, and it was afterwards extended to the river and gulf. On the 16th, he reached Stadacona (now Quebec). Hearing from the Indians that a town of some importance stood by the bank of the river, many days’ journey above, and named Hochelaga, Cartier determined to go thither, and on the 19th September, he hoisted sail, and with his pinnace and two small boats, departed on his journey up the river. On the 28th he reached lake St. Peter. At the head of this lake he was compelled to cast anchor on account of the shoals; and finding it impossible to proceed further with his vessel (L’Hémerillon), he took to his boats, and on the 2nd October, 1535, he landed about six miles from the town, below the current St. Mary. After he had gone about four miles, he was met by one of the chiefs, accompanied by many of the natives, who gave him a cordial welcome. Having seen all that he deemed worthy of notice in the village, Cartier was conducted to the top of the mountain, the view from which filled him with feelings of joy and gratification. In honour of his king he named it Mont Royal, which name has been extended to the city. On his return to the boats he was accompanied by a large number of natives, who appeared to be anxious to have him stay longer. He, however, embarked the same evening, and on the 4th October, he reached his vessel, in which he passed down the St. Lawrence, and rejoined his company at Stadacona. As the season was far advanced Cartier made the bold resolve to winter in the country. His party suffered much during the winter from want of proper food and clothing, and in addition to this, they were all attacked by the scurvy, twenty-six of whom died. The remainder soon recovered their health by the use of a decoction of the spruce fir, which had been recommended to them by an Indian. When spring returned Cartier sailed for France, taking with him several of the natives, and among them, Donacona, a chief. None of them ever returned, all dying before the French again visited Canada. On his return to France, Cartier found his native land distracted with religious dissensions, and it was not until 1541, that he sailed with five vessels, and full power to make discoveries and settlements in Canada. Jean François de la Rocque, superior of Roberval, was appointed by the king viceroy and lieutenant of Canada, and was to have accompanied Cartier, but through insuperable obstacles he was unable to leave until the next year, when he left with three vessels, having on board two hundred persons, male and female. Cartier passed the winter at Cape Rouge, where he erected a fort, but fearing the natives he resolved to return to France. On his way he fell in with Roberval, at St. John’s, Newfoundland, but he refused to return with him to Canada, and proceeded on his way to France, where he died shortly after his return. Cartier manifested in all his expeditions adventurous courage. No contemporary navigator had as yet dared to advance so far into the lands of the new world as he. In his braving the rigours of a Canadian winter, and shutting himself up for six months, without means of escape, he gave a signal example of the intrepidity of the mariners of his time and country. Of right therefore in every sense, he heads the long file of visitors of inner North America.

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Young, Hon. Charles, LL.D., Q.C., Judge of Surrogate and Probate, Charlottetown, Prince Edward Island, was born on the 30th of April, 1812, at Glasgow, Scotland, and is the younger brother of Sir William Young, Chief Justice of Nova Scotia. The father of these illustrious men was John Young, of Falkirk, Stirlingshire, Scotland, and subsequently of Halifax, Nova Scotia. Judge Young received his early education in Dalhousie College, Halifax, and studied law in the office of his brother, Sir William Young, in that city. He was called to the bar of Nova Scotia in 1838, and to the bar of Prince Edward Island the same year. He practised his profession for a short time with his brothers, Sir William and the Hon. George Young, now deceased; and on November 23rd, 1847, was created a Queen’s Counsel, being the first barrister in Prince Edward Island on which this honour was conferred. Judge Young entered public life a young man in 1840, where he was returned for Queen’s County to the Island Assembly, and in December following, he was appointed to the Legislative Council. In this latter body he accepted a seat until 1863, ten years of which period he acted as president. He filled the office of Attorney-General from 28th May, 1851 to the 2nd of May, 1852; and from 26th June, 1858 to 11th April, 1859; and held the commission under the Royal Sign Manual as administrator of the Government of the Island for four years. Judge Young has the honour of being the first public man who advocated the question of responsible government for the Island, and he and his co-workers had the pleasure of seeing this boon granted in 1851, together with other important reforms, such as free schools, free lands for tenantry, savings banks, etc. He received his appointment as judge of probate in 1852, and judge in bankruptcy in 1868. On retiring from the latter position in March, 1875, he was presented with the following address, which was signed by every member of the bar in Prince Edward Island, viz: —

"To His Honour Judge Young, LL.D., etc.

"Sir,—We, the undersigned barristers and attorneys, cannot permit the opportunity to pass of your honour’s retiring from the judgeship of the Insolvent Debtor’s Court—the jurisdiction of which is now merged in another court by virtue of ‘The Insolvent Act, 1875,’ of the Dominion of Canada—without expressing our entire satisfaction at the manner in which you presided over the meetings of the court; and at the same time thanking you for your many courtesies extended to us during the eight years Your Honour presided over said court.—(Signed), F. Brecken, Attorney-General; W. W. Sullivan, Solicitor-General; John Longworth, Q.C.; Charles Palmer, Q.C.; Charles Binns, Richard Reddin, E. H. Haviland, Edward J. Hodgson, Louis H. Davies, R. R. Fitzgerald, W. D. Haszard, Henry E. Wright, Malcolm McLeod, Neil McLean.

Charlottetown, P.E.I., March 29th, 1876.

To which His Honour Judge Young replied:—

"Gentlemen,—Be pleased to accept my best thanks for the address you have so unexpectedly presented, and be assured that I do most highly value it on account of the expressions it contains of your entire satisfaction with the manner in which I have presided over the Insolvent Debtor’s Court for the last eight years. Where I have always been treated with marked consideration by yourselves, gentlemen, I could not do otherwise than reciprocate the courtesies to which you kindly refer. (Signed),

Charles Young.

While Judge Young was practising at the bar, he had a large and lucrative business, and was generally engaged on one side or the other in most of the leading cases then before the courts. He was invariably retained on behalf of those he was pleased to style the Bleeding tenantry of Prince Edward Island against the landlords, and generally succeeded in gaining a verdict in favour of his clients. He was always the friend and advocate of the oppressed. It is pleasing to note here that Judge Young has held no position which he has not adorned. In office and out of office he has rendered great service to the community. In 1838, a Mechanics’ Institute was established in Charlottetown, mainly through his efforts, and he had the honour of delivering the introductory lecture, which was afterwards published in the Gazette. He has since 1845 taken a very deep interest in the cause of temperance, and was Grand Worthy Patriarch of the Sons of Temperance of Prince Edward Island several terms, and is a member of the National Division of the Sons of Temperance of North America. He is also an active member of the Methodist church, a local preacher, and a Bible-class teacher, and fills several other important offices in that church. He was instrumental in founding the second Methodist church in Charlottetown, and is president of Prince Edward Island Auxiliary Bible Society. The Judge is a thorough working Christian. The degree of LL.D. was conferred upon him by the Newton (United States) University; and in 1858 he was offered the honour of knighthood by Her Majesty, but respectfully declined the royal gift. In Masonry he takes an interest, and belongs to the Royal Arch Chapter. In 1838 Judge Young married Lucretia, daughter of John Starr, of Halifax, Nova Scotia, and he and his wife, there being no children, enjoy life in their beautiful home, Fairholm, Charlottetown.

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Ussher, The Right Rev. Brandram Boileau, M.D., Montreal, Bishop of the Reformed Episcopal church in the Dominion of Canada and the Island of Newfoundland, was born in the city of Dublin, Ireland, on the 6th day of August, 1845. He is the youngest son of Captain Richard Beverly Ussher, late of H. M. 86th Regt., and Henrietta Ussher (née Boileau). On both sides of the house his ancestors were most distinguished. Captain R. B. Ussher was descended from Richard Neville, the great Earl of Warwick, one of whose descendants (for political reasons took the name of the office which he bore, viz., Usher of the Black Rod, thus retaining his influential and lucrative position when the name of Neville had become unpopular and the Kingmaker’s influence had waned,) subsequently settled in Ireland. To distinguish the family name from the office, the second letter, s, was added some eighty years ago. The subject of this sketch is descended from a long line of churchmen. His great-grandfather was rector of the parish of Clontarf, near Dublin, which was held in the family from father to son for over one hundred and fifty years. The Rev. John Ussher, afterwards Astronomer Royal for Ireland, was the last of the family to hold the incumbency. His sons were Rear-Admiral Sir Thomas Ussher, K.C.A., who figured in the history of the great Napoleon, taking him to Elba in H.M.S. Undaunted. He died Naval Commander-in-Chief, at Cork, Ireland, and lies buried in one of the vaults of Monkstown church, County Dublin—his record was that of a gallant sailor. John Ussher, of Woodpark, who left four sons, the youngest of whom, Richard Beverly, was the father of Bishop Ussher, of Montreal. He is directly descended from Archbishop Henry Ussher, one of the founders of Trinity College, Dublin, whose brother Arland was the father of James Ussher (Trinity’s first student, buried in Henry VII. Chapel in Westminster Abbey), the celebrated Primate of Ireland, author of Ussher’s Chronology, etc., with whom the Duke of Wellington was also connected, owing to the fact that Mary Ussher married Henry Colley, of Castle Carberry, who was the mother of the first Lord Mornington, who was the grandfather of the Duke of Wellington. The Venerable Archdeacon Adam Ussher, rector of Clontarf, was the brother of the above named Mary Ussher and son of Sir William Ussher, clerk of the Council. The Rectory of Clontarf descended to his son Frederick, and from him to his son Henry Ussher, D.D., who held the Andrew’s Professorship of Astronomy in Trinity College, Dublin, and from him is directly descended Captain R. B. Ussher, the father of the Right Rev. Bishop Ussher. Three hundred years ago two brothers of the name of Ussher were driven from Ireland during one of the troubles, and settled in the neighbourhood of Melrose, in Scotland, where they acquired considerable lands, and amongst them the property of Huntley-burn, one of the most celebrated spots on the Borders. The grandfather of the present Thomas Ussher, of Edinburgh, for seventeen years secretary of the Borders’ County Association for the Advancement of Education (and out of which arose the celebration of the centenary of Sir Walter Scott), sold to Sir Walter Scott the chief part of the estate of Abbotsford (vide Lockhart’s Life of Scott). By unbroken tradition this branch claims kinship with Archbishop Ussher; and the Rev. W. Neville Ussher, cousin of the above named Thomas Ussher, is a canon of the Cathedral in Edinburgh. The Ussher family have had the honour of having four distinguished church dignitaries; two Archbishops of Armagh; one Bishop of Kildare (Robert Ussher); and Bishop B. B. Ussher, of Montreal, who has at present five surviving brothers and two sisters as follow:—Major-General John Theophilus Ussher, Beverly Ussher, Henry Ussher, M.B., Rev. P. R. C. Ussher, a prominent minister in Australia; and James Ussher, solicitor; Henrietta Buchanan and Arabella Madelina Buchanan. On his mother’s side Bishop Ussher has an equally distinguished ancestry, the Boileau family being one of the few that can trace their genealogy back without a break for a period of over six hundred years. The present Baron Boileau de Castleneau is the seventeenth in descent from Etienne Boileau, who, born early in the thirteenth century, was appointed by Louis IX., in the year 1255, Grand Provost of Paris, at that period the highest officer of state. In 1371, Jean Boileau was ennobled by Charles V. At the revocation of the Edict of Nantes, A.D. 1685, Jacques Boileau, the 10th baron, was arrested as a Protestant, tortured, and, after an imprisonment of ten and one-half years, died in the prison of St. Jean de Vedas, one mile from Montpellier, a noble martyr for the Protestant faith, having been beheaded by order of the Duke de Nemours. His son, Charles Boileau, then a youth, having taken refuge in England and having entered the British Army, firm to his Protestant faith, formally renounced his rights and titles to the honours and estates of the family which thereby devolved on his younger brother Maurice, who became the eleventh Baron Boileau. From that time the barony fell into the hands of the junior and Roman Catholic branch of the family of which the present Baron Boileau de Castleneau is now the representative. He holds, too, the ancient château de Castleneau, six miles from Nimes, which has been for three and a half centuries in the family to which it gives the present title of the barony. Five of the Barons de Castleneau held in succession the office of Royal Treasurer. Charles Boileau died in 1733, leaving three children who had issue, whose grandchildren and more remote issue are now living to the number of six hundred and fifty. The Right Rev. Bishop Ussher, when a child, was sent from under the jurisdiction of a governess at a very early age. At Delgany College, in the county Wicklow, the Rev. Dr. Daniel Flyns, of Harcourt street, Dublin, and the Rugby of Ireland, the Rev. Dr. Stackpools, of Kingstown, he received his education as a youth. As a lad he was older than his years and sought the company of those much his seniors, showing a decided penchant for those given to study. Thrown chiefly amongst medical students he followed the course of study so closely with one companion, that he was almost as well fitted as he to pass the examinations. At a little over sixteen years he secured the diploma of the Royal Dublin Society, taking sixth place out of seventy-three candidates. Owing to heavy financial losses, through the dishonesty of associates, the father of young Ussher was unable to permit him to continue his studies and the determination was formed to visit the United States. The resolve was put into execution, and, in the city of New York, mercantile life was entered upon; successful, though not in harmony with it, it was abandoned after a year, and a visit undertaken to Washington, where several of the United States’ army hospitals were visited; the old medical love rekindled and much practical knowledge gained in the treatment of surgical diseases and gun-shot wounds. The resolve was then formed to adopt medicine as a profession, and after pursuing his medical studies in the University of Michigan, he finally received the degree of Doctor of Medicine in Illinois, became a member of the State Medical Association, and was ultimately elected a member of the National Eclectic Medical Association. As a practitioner he was most successful, and as a citizen highly esteemed in the city of Aurora, Illinois, where he practised for over ten years. He was vigorously identified with the welfare of the community, and at one time it seemed that he would enter into political life, being offered the nomination by the Democratic party as a candidate for the legislature. Politics, however, were too impure to have any permanent attraction for him, and he devoted himself to his professional duties and the interests of the Anglican Church, of which he was a member. Set thinking by a sermon preached by the well-known evangelist, Mr. Moody, the instructions of pious parents were revived, and earnest Christian work entered upon with marked evidence of the divine favour. Under the license of the Right Rev. Dr. Whitehouse, then bishop of Illinois, he kept alive several mission fields and taught a large Bible-class with great acceptability. It was then pressed upon him that he should enter the ministry of the Anglican Church in the Diocese of Illinois. Steadily the conviction of the need of entire consecration to God’s service deepened; it was fought back, but the urging of Bishop Whitehouse was strong, and as there was then little evidence of the sacerdotalism that subsequently manifested itself, the course of study was entered upon under the bishop’s direction. In time it became apparent that the bishop of Illinois held strong High Church views. He was a guest in Dr. Ussher’s house on the evening of the day of the publication of Bishop Tozer’s letter condemning Bishop Cummins of Kentucky, for partaking of and administering the communion of the Lord’s Supper with Dr. John Hall, Drs. Arnot and Dorner, of the Presbyterian church, and reading it with a sense of indignation, he (Dr. Ussher) asked Bishop Whitehouse what he thought of such a letter, to which Bishop Whitehouse replied in cold, severe tones, I think Bishop Tozer is perfectly right, and Bishop Cummins deserves the severest condemnation. Those words decided the mind of Dr. Ussher, and realizing that as an Evangelical Protestant Churchman, he would be out of sympathy with Bishop Whitehouse, he determined to abandon the idea of entering the Anglican ministry. He felt, however, that his heart was so bound up in the Episcopal Church, and his love for her liturgy was so great, that he could not be at home in any other branch of Christ’s Church. At this juncture the Right Rev. Bishop Cummins, D.D., took steps to organize the Reformed Episcopal Church, which being made public, proved the open door. Under the guidance of that distinguished Protestant prelate, he pursued his studies and was ordained deacon in the city of Chicago, by the Right Rev. Bishop Cheney, in Christ Church, June 9th, 1874, and presbyter, July 16th, 1876, in Emmanuel Church, Ottawa, Ontario, by Bishops Cheney, Nicholson, Cridge and Fallows. His pastorates in Canada have been, one of three years in Toronto, during which was built the church on the corner of Simcoe and Caer Howell streets, and his present charge in St. Bartholomew’s, Montreal, over which he has been pastor since 1878. For good and sufficient reasons he and his congregation withdrew from the jurisdiction of the Reformed Episcopal Church in the United States and united with the English branch of the Reformed Episcopal Church under the Right Rev. T. H. Gregg, M.D., D.D., otherwise called the Reformed Church of England. By the General Synod in England, in the following year, the Rev. Dr. Ussher was elected to the episcopate, but declined. Two years after he was elected again, the Canadian Synod electing him as their bishop, and in 1882, on the 19th day of June, he was consecrated in Trinity Church, Southend, by the Right Rev. Bishop Gregg, and seven presbyters, as a bishop in the Church of God. Returning to Canada he took charge of the Diocese of Canada and Newfoundland. The bishop believing in benevolent societies as handmaids to the church, has been a member of the Order of Oddfellows since 1865, and has held the office of Grand Master of the Province of Quebec; he has also been, and is at present, a member of the Order of Knights of Pythias, in which he holds the rank of Past Grand Chancellor, and has had the honour of being Supreme Representative for the State of Illinois, and the authorship of one of the degrees in use by the order. Bishop Ussher is a graceful and forcible writer and an eloquent speaker, and poet of acknowledged merit. In his religious views he is an old-time Evangelical believer, pronounced in his Protestant views, in fact, a keeper in the old paths, for which reason he is ecclesiastically where he is to-day. On the 16th day of July, 1867, he was married by the Rev. Dr. Kelly, in the city of Chicago, to Elizabeth Leonora Thompson, third daughter of the Rev. Skeffington Thompson, of Broomfield, near Lucan, in the county of Dublin, Ireland, and Elizabeth Margaret D’Arcy. The father of Mrs. Ussher, the Rev. Skeffington Thompson, is the thirteenth child of the late Skeffington Thompson, of Rathnally, county of Meath, by Anna Maria Carter, only child and heiress of Thomas Carter, of Rathnally, county Meath. Skeffington Thompson the elder was an unsuccessful candidate in the last Irish Parliament against the Duke of Wellington for the borough of Trim, both candidates being neighbours in the same county, Dangan Castle, the Wellesley seat, being near Trim. The family of Thompson, according to Burke, descended from the Thompsons