And I have loved thee,
Ocean! and my joy
Of youthful sports was on thy breast to be
Borne like thy bubbles onward, from a boy
I wantoned with thy breakers—they to me
Were a delight, and if the freshening sea
Made them a terror—’twas a pleasing fear
For I was as it were a child of thee,
And trusted to thy billows far and near.
There is little doubt
that his future career as the founder of the line of vessels that
perpetuates his name was largely determined by his early training and
surroundings. His scholastic education was but scanty, and at the age of
thirteen Hugh Allan entered the employ of Allan, Kerr & Co., a shipping
firm of Greenock. Here he remained for about a year acquiring some
knowledge of the business for which he displayed a decided aptitude.
Acting on the advice of his father he resolved to emigrate to Canada,
and arrived at Montreal in the spring of 1826. The difficulties and
delays experienced by his father’s vessel, the Favourite, in
making the passage up the St. Lawrence on this trip, indicate the then
primitive state of the now extensive shipping interest of our commercial
metropolis. A strong head wind prevailed, and the solitary steam-tug
which then sufficed for the commerce of the port, was unable to tow the
ship up the St. Mary’s current. The services of a dozen yoke of oxen
were called into requisition, but even this additional power was
unavailing, and it was not until a large gang of men from a shipyard at
Hochelaga had lent their aid that the vessel was enabled to drop anchor
opposite Montreal. There were no wharves at that time. The bank shelved
down in its natural condition and landing cargoes by means of a long
gangway was a difficult and tedious process.
The future steamship king
obtained a situation with the firm of William Kerr & Co., dry goods
merchants, which he retained for three years, acquiring an excellent
knowledge of business methods. He also mastered the French language and
endeavoured to remedy the defects of his lack of education in boyhood by
assiduous study. He determined to revisit for a while his native land,
but previous to doing so took a trip through Upper Canada and New York
State. After spending a few months in the old country Mr. Allan returned
to Canada in the spring of 1831, and obtained a situation with the firm
of James Millar & Co., Montreal, shipbuilders and commission merchants.
Here he was engaged for some time in buying and shipping wheat, and he
turned his knowledge and experience to such good account and devoted
himself so thoroughly to the interests of the firm that after four years
of service in a subordinate position he was admitted to a partnership in
the year 1837. When the rebellion of 1837 broke out he joined the Fifth
Battalion as a volunteer and was speedily promoted to a captaincy. The
death of the senior partner in 1838 resulted in a change of the style of
the firm to that of Edmonston & Allan. The business continued steadily
to develop in both its branches. In 1841 the firm were employed by the
Governor-General, Lord Sydenham, to build a steam frigate which bore his
name. They also constructed a small screw steamer for the Government
called the Union, notable as one of the first vessels of that
description built in the country. The following year the firm turned
their attention to the improvement of the navigation facilities of the
port— building a powerful tug-boat and several barges to lighten vessels
up and down the river. About 1845 they temporarily discontinued
ship-building, devoting themselves for some years to the management of
their vessels and other commercial interests. About this time Mr.
Allan’s younger brother, Andrew, acquired an interest in the firm, which
after some other changes of nomenclature eventually adopted the style of
Hugh & Andrew Allan. In 1851 the ship-building branch of their business
was resumed, owing to the proposals of the Government with a view to the
establishment of a line of iron screw steamships between Liverpool and
the St. Lawrence. The first contract was given to a Glasgow firm, but
after a trial of a year and a half, the arrangement with them was
abandoned as unsatisfactory, and the Allans succeeded in making terms
with the Government. The first vessel built for this line was the
Canadian, which made her first trip in 1853. The mail service was
commenced the following year, the trips being fortnightly between
Liverpool and the St. Lawrence during the season of open navigation, and
monthly to Portland during the winter. The firm surmounted great
difficulties and sustained heavy losses at the outset of this great
enterprise, but by perseverance, energy, and judgment, succeeded at
length in obtaining public confidence and placing the Allan Line on a
firm and profitable basis. The four vessels at first engaged in the
service were before long supplemented by additional ones. In 1857 the
public demanded more frequent mail communication with England, and the
Government determined that the service should be weekly throughout the
year. Four larger steamships were built, and the weekly mail service set
on foot on the 1st of May, 1859. This great enterprise gave an immense
impetus to the commerce of Montreal, and in connection with the other
undertakings of the Allans did more than any other cause to give Canada
a high place on the roll of maritime nations. The firm also established
a line of steamers plying between the St. Lawrence and Glasgow. The
improvement of vessel architecture seriously engaged their attention, as
they were determined to spare no pains or expense to attain the style
best adapted to secure the safety and convenience of their passengers.
They were the first to build steamers for the Atlantic service with the
spar or flush deck now generally conceded to be a great improvement in
construction, though strongly opposed at the time of its first
introduction. The Allan fleet is one of the most numerous and important
on the globe, and is managed upon a strict system of organization and
discipline by which regular promotion is secured to competent and
deserving employes, and nothing left undone to secure thoroughness and
efficiency in every detail. In 1881 the Allans owned twenty-four ocean
steamships with an aggregate of 76,130 tons and thirteen Clyde-built
clippers with a tonnage of 19,016. On more than one occasion the
Imperial Government have availed themselves of the company’s steamers
for the transportation of troops in war time.
The remarkable business
enterprise and foresight of Mr. Hugh Allan found scope in many other
directions than that of his maritime undertakings. He has been
identified in one way or another with nearly all the important
commercial enterprises of a corporate character undertaken in Montreal
during his time. He was a leading promoter and a director of the
Montreal Telegraph Company, a member of the directorate of the Atlantic
Cable Company, and largely interested in many banking and other
mercantile organizations. And wherever his good judgment was largely
called into requisition in the conduct of such undertaking, they were
almost uniformly crowned with success. His connection with the
unfortunate Pacific Scandal, which has been already fully explained, is
an exceptional feature in a career almost uniformly characterized by
creditable public spirit and sound discretion. When Prince Arthur
visited Canada in 1869 he was entertained by Mr. Allan in right royal
sty1e at his mansion of Ravenscraig, in Montreal, and at Belmere his
summer residence on the beautiful shores of lake Memphremagog. In
recognition no less of his eminent services to the commercial interests
of Canada than of his hospitality to the Prince he received the honour
of knighthood at the hands of Her Majesty in the year 1871. Sir Hugh was
married on the 13th of September, 1844, to Matilda, second daughter of
Mr. John Smith, of Montreal, by whom he had a numerous family. He died
towards the close of 1882, leaving a fortune estimated at about six
million dollars.
A prominent figure in the
early annals of the Bay of Quinte District was Rev. Robert McDowall, the
pioneer of Presbyterianism in that section of the country. His parents
emigrated from Dumfriesshire, Scotland, and settled in the State of New
York. Robert McDowall was born in Saratoga County, on the 25th of July,
1768, received his education at William’s College, Schenectady, N.Y.,
was ordained as a minister of the Reformed Dutch Church at Albany. In
response to a requisition from Canada he was sent over the border by
that body as a missionary in 1798, making Fredericksburg his
headquarters. He had a widely extended field of labour among the then
scattered and isolated settlements along the frontier. His labours were
incessant and he was exposed to all the hardships and perils of travel
through a wilderness destitute of roads, and infested with beasts of
prey and hostile Indians. He usually journeyed on horseback, but
sometimes afoot, and made many voyages in Indian canoes, braving with
extraordinary courage the dangers by land and water. These journeys
extended as far east as Quebec, and on one occasion at least he
travelled as far West as Middlesex County. Mr. McDowall was of a robust
physique, lithe and muscular, qualities which often stood him in good
stead in encountering perils to which a man of weaker physical frame
must inevitably have succumbed. He was a welcome visitor in the lonely
cabins of the settlers. He preached to congregations hastily assembled
in the open air or in some available barn or schoolhouse, and held his
auditors entranced by the power and soul-stirring eloquence of his
discourses. His ready humour, lively wit and cordiality of manner in
social intercourse rendered him almost universally popular. For years he
was the only available minister in a large district for solemnizing the
rites of marriage and baptism, and his advent would often be the signal
for the assembling of numerous candidates for the matrimonial estate or
admission to the visible church, the ceremonial having been perforce
deferred for sometime until his arrival. As money was then very scarce
his services in celebrating the marriage rite were often gratuitous, and
sometimes the contracting parties testifed their appreciation by
offering what would now be considered out of place. It is stated
that one grateful bridegroom paid his tribute in the form of a load of
pumpkins. It is recorded in Dr. Canniff’s history of the "Settlement of
Upper Canada" that on one occasion Mr. McDowall walked all the way from
the Bay of Quinté to York following the lake shore and swimming the
rivers that could not be forded. In 1837 he was appointed by the Synod a
member of a committee instructed to consider the propriety of sending a
deputation to Scotland for the object of establishing a Collegiate
Theological Institution and took a deep interest in the work preliminary
to the establishment of Queen’s College and University at Kingston. An
interesting relic of his ministry is his record of marriages and
baptisms now in the possession of his grandson, Mr. R. J. McDowall, of
Kingston, which contains about 3,000 entries. Mr. McDowall was an
earnest temperance reformer and probably the first public advocate of
total abstinence in this country. This veteran pioneer in the cause of
religion closed his long and useful life, on the 3rd of August, 1841. He
left a widow and family, having at an early period of his ministry
married Hannah Washburn, daughter of Ebenezer Washburn, M. P., and
sister of Hon. Simeon Washburn, Senator.
Lachlan McCallum, of
Stromness, for many years M. P. for Monck, was born in Argyllshire,
Scotland, on the 15th of March, 1823, and emigrated to Canada in 1842.
He settled in Haldimand County where he engaged extensively in
contracting and ship-building. He received several contracts from the
Government for the construction of harbours on Lakes Ontario and Erie.
During the Fenian raid of
1866, Mr. McCallum commanded the Dunnville Naval Company at Fort Erie.
He was an unsuccessful candidate for the representation of Haldimand in
the Canadian Assembly at the general election of 1862, but was more
fortunate in 1867, when he was returned for the Dominion House of
Commons for Monck. He represented the same constituency in the Ontario
Legislature for a year, resigning in 1872, when dual representation was
abolished. He was a candidate for the Commons in 1872, but was defeated
by Mr. J. D. Edgar, but in 1874 he was again elected over the same
opponent, though the following year he was unseated for bribery
committed by his agents. He was, however, reelected the same year, and
defeated Mr. Edgar again in 1878. Mr. McCallum is a Conservative in
politics, and his practical common sense and technical knowledge made
him a useful member of the House.
Hector Cameron, Q.C, and
member of the Dominion House of Commons for the North Riding of the
County of Victoria, is the son of Assistant Commissary-General Kenneth
Cameron, and was born at Montreal, on the 3rd of June, 1832. By his
father’s side, he is descended from the Glen Dessary branch of the Clan
Cameron of Inverness-shire. His mother was the daughter of Mr. Robert
Selby, of North Earl, Northumberland, England. The family returned to
England during Hector Cameron’s boyhood, and he was sent to King’s
College, London, and afterwards to Trinity College Dublin, where he
graduated in 1851. Returning to Canada the same year, he took the degree
of M.A. at Toronto University. General Cameron was subsequent1y assigned
to duties in connection with the Commissariat Department in Montreal,
where he died in 1855. After Hector Cameron had completed his University
studies he entered upon the study of the law, with his distinguished
namesake, Hon. J. T. Hillyard Cameron, and was called to the bar in
1854, when he at once commenced the practice of his profession. In the
year 1858 he entered into partnership with Hon. Adam Crooks. This
connection was dissolved the following year, when Mr. Cameron received
into partnership the late Mr. Thomas Moss, who afterwards rose to the
position of Chief Justice. In 1864 Mr. Moss retired, Mr. Cameron
practised alone until 1876, when he became the leading member of the
firm of Cameron & Appleby. His practice has for many years been large
and lucrative, as he sustains an excellent reputation as a skilful and
profound lawyer. He was created a Queen’s Counsel in 1872. A large share
of Mr. Cameron’s practice is in connection with railway and telegraph
companies, for several of which he has a standing retainer. He has also
taken a prominent part as director in several railway undertakings. For
many years he has taken an active interest in politics. He contested
South Victoria unsuccessfully for the House of Commons in 1867, and was
again on the losing side in 1874, when he received the Conservative
nomination for the north riding of the same county. Better success
attended him in a subsequent contest in the latter constituency the year
following, his temporarily triumphant opponent, Mr. McLennan, having
been unseated. Although the second contest was at first decided in
favour of Mr. McLennan, a scrutiny of votes gave the seat to Mr.
Cameron, and he has since retained it, being returned at the two last
general elections. His course in Parliament has been consistently
Conservative, and he is a hard-working and useful member. He has
occupied the responsible position of chairman of the Private Bills
Committee. When he takes part in the debates of the House it is
generally in relation to some legal point his professional standing
giving great weight to his views upon all such questions. Mr. Cameron
was married, in 1860, to Clara, eldest daughter of Mr. William Boswell,
barrister, of Cobourg, by whom he has two children.
William Clyde Caldwell,
member of the Provincial Legislature for North Lanark, and a prominent
man in local affairs, was born in the village of Lanark, on the 14th of
May, 1843, his parents being Alexander and Mary Ann Campbell, both
natives of Scotland. He was educated at Queen’s College, Kingston,
graduating in 1864. He engaged in the lumbering industry, which was also
his father’s principal business. His operations during late years have
been very extensive, the out-put of his saw-mills amounting to about
6,000,000 feet annually, of which a large proportion is shipped to
Oswego, in New York State. Mr. Caldwell is also a miller, and has
devoted considerable attention to farming. He is known in his locality
as an energetic and public spirited man, and has held a number of
municipal offices. A vacancy occurring in the representation of North
Lanark in the Provincial Legislature, in 1872, owing to the resignation
of Mr. Daniel Galbraith, Mr. Caldwell was elected in the Reform
interest. He sustained a defeat in the general elections of 1875, but
was again returned in 1879 and in 1883. His name has become familiar to
the public of late years, by reason of the constitutional conflict over
the passage of the Rivers and Streams Bill by the Local House, and its
disallowance by the Dominion Government, the question as to the right of
the proprietor of land, through which a navigable stream flows, to
prevent its use by parties owning timber limits on the upper waters,
having been first raised in connection with his lumbering operations. In
politics, Mr. Caldwell is a Reformer.
James Hall, of
Peterborough, a former member of the Canadian Parliament, both before
and after Confederation, was born in Clackmannanshire, Scotland, in
1806, his father being a merchant of the same name. He received his
education in the grammar school of his native town, and studied the
profession of civil engineer in the office of his brother, Francis Hall.
In 1820, the family came to Canada, settling in the Township of Lanark,
then a wilderness. Their house was, in fact, the first built in the
township. After remaining for some time on the farm, James Hall, junr.,
started a store and distillery which he sold in 1830, going to Halifax,
N. S., where for about two years he practiced his profession as a
civil-engineer and surveyor. Returning to Lanark, he engaged for a short
time in the tanning business, first in Lanark and afterwards in
Peterborough, to which town he removed in 1834. Here he was also
concerned in extensive commercial operations, buying wheat largely, and
shipping flour to Montreal and lumber to New York State, being the first
man in the neighbourhood to engage in those enterprises. He was
elected as Parliamentary representative of the united Counties of
Peterborough and Victoria in 1848, and retained his seat until 1852. He
gave up business in 1856, and in the same year was appointed Sheriff of
the united Counties. The separation of the counties took place in 1863,
Mr. Hall retaining the shrievalty of Peterhorough until 1872, when he
resigned, and again went into politics, being elected member of the
Dominion House of Commons for East Peterborough in 1873. He remained in
public life until 1878. He was a consistent Reformer during his
parliamentary career. Mr. Hall has also held several municipal offices,
including that of Mayor of Peterborough, and has always maintained a
lively interest in anything tending to promote the moral and
intellectual welfare of the community, having been President of the
Peterborough Literary Club and Mechanics’ Institute, and an active
Sunday school worker. He married, in 1830, Jane Albro, daughter of
Samuel Albro, of Dartmouth, N. S., who died in 1868, and by whom he had
a large family. James Albro Hall, his eldest son, succeeded to the
shrievalty of Peterborough on his father’s resignation, and one of his
daughters is the wife of Mr. Sandford Fleming. Mr. Hall was re-married,
his present wife being the daughter of Fergus Ferguson, of Edinburgh,
Scotland.
Donald Guthrie, Q. C., of
Guelph, who for several years represented South Wellington in the House
of Commons, is a native of Edinburgh. The date of his birth is May 8th,
1840. His father, Hugh Guthrie, was in business for many years in the
Scottish capital. Donald Guthrie came to Canada when about fourteen
years of age, and was articled as a law student to Hon. Oliver Mowat. He
completed his legal education in the offices of Mr. John Helliwell,
Toronto, Hon. A. J. Fergusson-Blair and Mr. John J.
Kingsmill, Guelph. He was admitted to practice as an attorney in 1863,
called to the bar in 1866,and created a Queen’s Counsel in 1876. Mr.
Guthrie is a senior partner in the firm of Guthrie, Watt & Cutten, of
Guelph, and has a brilliant reputation as a forensic orator. He is
Solicitor for the County of Wellington and the City of Guelph, and holds
other important and responsible positions. In 1876 he was elected to
Parliament for South Wellington, on the resignation of the sitting
member, Mr. David Stirton, and in 1878, which proved a year of disaster
to many Reform representatives, was re-elected. Mr. Guthrie is one of
the leading citizens of Guelph. His wife, to whom he was united in 1863,
is a sister of Rev. Dr. D. H. MacVicar, Principal of the
Presbyterian College at Montreal.
Hon. Peter Gow, of Guelph,
Sheriff of the County of Wellington, and formerly a member of the
Ontario Ministry, is a native of Johnstone, Renfrewsbire, where he was
born on the 20th of November, 1818, being a son of John Gow, a boot and
shoe manufacturer. His mother’s maiden name was Agnes Ferguson, and she
came from Argyllshire. He assisted in his father’s business until his
departure for Canada in 1842. After spending a couple of years in
Brockville, he came to Guelpb, where he built a tannery and kept a
leather store. He continued this business until about the year 1868.
During this period he also built a woollen and oatmeal mill, and engaged
in other enterprises. Before Guelph attained the dignity of a city, Mr.
Gow took an active part in municipal affairs. In 1866, after a
lengthened period of service in the town council, he was elected Mayor,
an office which he filled with credit to himself and advantage to the
citizens, who, on his retirement, showed their appreciation of his
labours in their behalf by presenting him with a service of plate. He
was the first representative of South Wellington in the Ontario
Parliament when it was organized in 1867—and was re-elected by
acclamation in 1871. When the administration of Hon. John Sandfield
Macdonald was overthrown in the same year, Mr. Gow entered the Cabinet
organized by Mr. Blake, with the portfolio of Provincial Secretary. He
did not remain long in office, however, retiring with his chief in 1872,
though he retained his seat until 1876, when he was appointed Sheriff of
Wellington County. Mr. Gow married, in 1857, Mary Maxwell Smith, of
Kirkcudbrightshire, Scotland, and has a family of nine sons and one
daughter.
David Stirton, Postmaster
of Guelph, was born in Forfarshire, Scotland, in 1816, his parents,
James and Janet Stirton, emigrating to Canada when David was about
eleven years of age. The family settled in the bush about five miles
from the present city of Guelph. At that time there were no schools in
the neighbourhood, so that, with the exception of the rudiments of
instruction, which he had obtained before leaving Scotland, David
Stirton’s education was entirely self-acquired. He shared in all the
labours of "roughing it" in the bush, and for forty-five years, as man
and boy, toiled as a farmer in the townships of Guelph and Puslinch. He
was long connected with the municipal affairs of the latter township.
For nineteen consecutive years, ending with 1867, he represented South
Wellington in the old Canadian Parliament, and for nine years after
Confederation retained a seat in the House of Commons for that
constituency. It is very seldom that any representative of the people
can show such a long-continued and unbroken term of service. Mr.
Stirton retired from Parliamentary life in 1876; upon his appointment to
the office of Postmaster of Guelph. He has been twice married—in
1842 to Miss Mary Beattie of Puslinch, and in 1847 to Miss Henrietta
M’Gregor—having children by both marriages. His brother, Mr. William
Stirton was the first male child born in Guelph.
Col. John Walker, of
London, was born in Argyllshire, Scotland, in 1832. He was educated in
Stirling, and had been for several years engaged, in business in Leith
and Glasgow, when, in 1864, his abilities attracted the attention of a
number of Scottish capitalists, who were in want of an agent to look
after their interests at Bothwell, Canada West, where they had purchased
some oil lands and other property from Hon. George Brown. Col. Walker
soon found that he had no easy task, as the petroleum excitement had
attracted to Bothwell a large number of adventurers, including a lawless
element, which required to be kept in order. He received a special
appointment as magistrate, and his firmness and decision of character in
that capacity were of much service in checking the incipient tendency to
disorder. In 1867 he took up his residence in London, and entered upon
extensive operations in the manufacture of sulphuric acid and oil
refining. He speedily became one of the most prominent citizens, and
acquired a great influence in public affairs. He has been concerned in a
great many important commercial enterprises, and in various ways has
contributed to the progress and prosperity of the city with which his
interests are identified. At the time of the Fenian raid in 1866, Col.
Walker raised a company of volunteers in Bothwell, and afterwards in
1870, when danger was again apprehended from this source, he was
assigned to the command of the militia forces at Windsor, having in the
meantime attained the rank of major in the 7th Battalion. In 1877 he was
advanced to the rank of Colonel, and has since commanded the battalion.
Col. Walker is a member of the Council of the Dominion Rifle
Association, and one of the vice-presidents of the Ontario Rifle
Association. In 1874 Col. Walker received the nomination of the
Reformers of London for the House of Commons, his opponent being Hon.
John Carling. The contest, which was a very keen one, resulted in Col.
Walker’s being returned, but the election was controverted, and after a
trial which created intense interest throughout the country, he was
unseated. He entered upon another contest in 1878, but Mr. Carling was
again successful. Col. Walker has been president of the London
Mechanics’ Institute, and also of the St. Andrew’s Society.
Lieut.-Col. Alexander
Allan Stevenson, of Montreal, was born in the parish of Riccarton,
Ayrshire, in January, 1829. The family came to Canada in 1846, and he
was apprenticed to the printing trade in Montreal, serving the latter
part of his time in the Herald office. In partnership with two
others, he started the Sun newspaper in 1853. His venture proved
successful, the paper gaining a wide-spread popularity. Subsequently, he
embarked in a general printing business, which he continued to conduct
until the year 1879. Early in his business career, Mr. Stevenson joined
the Montreal Mechanics’ Institute, of which he was for many years a most
active member, having at one time or other held every office in the
list. He was connected with the Board of Arts and Manufactures for Lower
Canada, which, after Confederation, became the Council of Arts and
Manufactures for the Province of Quebec. He has held the position of
President of the Council, and is at present Treasurer of the Permanent
Exhibition Committee for Quebec, which is composed of members of the
Council of Agriculture and Arts. Mr. Stevenson is, perhaps, more
generally known to the public in connection with military affairs than
in any other capacity. In 1855 he assisted in organizing the celebrated
Montreal Field Battery of Artillery. He was promoted to a Lieutenancy in
1856, and in the same year succeeded to the command, which position he
has since retained. In 1858 this corps had the honour of participating
in the great military celebration held in New York in connection with
the laying of the first Atlantic Cable. The Montreal Field Battery is
the only British military organization that has carried the Union Jack
through the streets of New York since the evacuation of the British, a
century ago. Col. Stevenson became a Free Mason in 1856, holding various
subordinate offices in the fraternity, until, in 1868, he attained the
highest position it was in their power to confer, being chosen Grand
Master of the Grand Lodge of Canada. This office he held for three
successive years. He was also appointed by the Prince of Wales, as head
of the Knights Templars, Knight Commander of the Temple. He was one of
the founders of the Caledonian Society of Montreal, established in 1855,
being chosen Secretary, and afterwards occupied the presidential chair
for many years. In 1870, Col. Stevenson formed one of a delegation from
that society to the convention in New York, which resulted in the
organization of the North American United Caledonia Association, which
exercises a continental jurisdiction over affiliated clubs and
societies. He was also an active member of the St. Andrew’s Society of
Montreal, of which he was elected president in 1878. In this capacity he
received the Marquis of Lorne and the Princess Louise at the St.
Andrew’s ball held in their honour on their arrival in Canada. He was
elected to the City Council in 1861, serving for six years, during part
of which time he officiated as Acting Mayor. In 1882 he was again chosen
to a seat in the Council, where he has been of great service to the
city. Colonel Stevenson has taken an active part in politics on the
Conservative side. In 1874, without his knowledge or consent, he
received the Conservative nomination, as a candidate for the House of
Commons, for the constituency of Montreal West. His opponent was Mr.
Frederick McKenzie, who headed the poll on election day, though, on the
petition of Col. Stevenson, he was afterwards unseated on the ground of
bribery by agents. Col. Stevenson has been put in nomination as a
representative on two other occasions, but in both cases declined the
honour.
Rev. Matthew Witherspoon
Maclean, pastor of St. Andrew’s Church, Belleville, was born in Glasgow,
on the 11th of June, 1842, and completed his education at the University
of that city. While a divinity student, he visited Canada in 1862, and
decided to make this country the field of his labours. He entered the
Divinity Hall of Queen’s College, Kingston, where he studied two years,
afterwards attending a session of Princeton Theological Seminary, New
Jersey, where he graduated in 1866. Returning to Canada in that year, he
was licensed by the Presbytery of Niagara in connection with the Church
of Scotland. His first pastoral charge was St. Andrew’s Church, Paisley,
in Bruce County. Here he found abundant scope for his zeal and energy.
The country was newly settled, and the spiritual wants of the people had
been but inefficiently and irregularly supplied. Mr. Maclean found
himself the only pastor belonging to this denomination within forty
miles. His work extended over the large area of five townships, and, in
addition to daily pastoral visits, he travelled, every Sabbath, from
twenty to forty miles, preaching three times a day. His church increased
so rapidly that it became necessary to provide additional accommodation
for what had previously been a sparse and dwindling congregation. Three
mission-stations were organized at different points in the
neighbourhood. After five years of persistent and effective labour in
this place, Mr. Maclean accepted a call to the Mill Street Presbyterian
Church at Port Hope, where he remained for two years. In 1873 he went to
Belleville, where he became pastor of St. Andrew’s Church, which is the
oldest Presbyterian Church in the city, and comprises among its members
and adherents a very large proportion of the most substantial and
cultivated people of the city. Since his acceptance of the pastorate of
St. Andrew’s, Mr. Maclean filled the office of Clerk of the Presbytery
of Kingston, in connection with the Church of Scotland, up to the time
of the union of the Presbyterian Churches of the Dominion. Mr. Maclean
is an able and scholarly preacher, and most zealous in the discharge of
the various duties of his high office. He is also highly successful as a
platform speaker, uniting elaboration of thought with fluency and grace
of expression.
George Ralph Richardson
Cockburn, for upwards of twenty years Principal of Upper Canada College,
is a native of Edinburgh, his natal day being the 15th of February,
1834. He was educated at the Edinburgh High School and University, and
at his graduation in 1857 took the Stratton Prize. He subsequently
prosecuted his classical studies in Germany and France. In 1858 he
commenced his Canadian career, having been appointed by the Council of
Public Instruction to the Rectorship of the Model Grammar School for
Upper Canada. He was shortly afterwards commissioned by the Government
to inspect the higher educational institutions of the Province. The
results of this investigation, which extended over a period of two
years, were given to the public in two comprehensive reports, in which
the condition and needs of higher education were elaborately set forth.
Mr. Cockburn then visited a number of the principal institutions of
learning in the United States in order to familiarize himself thoroughly
with their methods. In 1861 the Government appointed him Principal of
Upper Canada College and a member of the Senate of Toronto University.
He has had a long and successful career as an instructor of youth, and
under his able management Upper Canada College has obtained a high
reputation both for the thoroughness of its teaching and the excellent
moral influences prevailing within its walls. There are few men who have
done more for the cause of Canadian education than Principal Cockburn.
The celebrated Dr. Schmitz of Edinburgh said of him, that he was no
ordinary scholar, but a thorough philologist, possessing a good insight
into the structure, the relations and affinities subsisting between the
ancient and modern languages of Europe, and also characterized him as
one of the best Latin scholars that Scotland has produced.
Judge Henry Macpherson,
of Owen Sound, is a son of Lowther P. Macpherson, barrister, and
grandson of Lieut.-Col. Donald Macpherson, who commanded the fort at
Kingston in the beginning of the war of 1812, being afterwards removed
to Quebec. Donald Macpherson was the son of Evan Macpherson of Cluny,
the chief of the clan Macpherson, who took part in the rising in favour
of Prince Charles in 1745. Henry Macpherson was born at Picton, Prince
Edward County, in 1832, his mother being a daughter of Lieut.-Col. Allan
McLean, of Kingston, for sixteen years Speaker of the old Canadian
Assembly. He was educated at Kingston Grammar School and Queen’s
College, graduating from the latter institution in 1851. He
studied law with Mr. Thomas Kirkpatrick, of the same city, and was
admitted as an attorney in 1854 and called to the bar the following
year. Mr. Macpherson practised his profession at Owen Sound for about
ten years, and in 1865 was made Judge of the County Court of the County
of Grey. In 1879 he received the additional appointment of Surrogate
Judge of the Maritime Court. Judge Macpherson is a leading Freemason,
and has held several important positions in the Order. He is Past Senior
Grand Warden of the Grand Lodge of Canada. He takes a heartfelt interest
in local enterprises, and has identified himself with many organizations
of a practical as well as a social character. He was united in marriage
in May 1875 to Miss Eliza M. McLean, daughter of Allan N. McLean, of
Toronto.
Sir Alexander Campbell,
though of English birth is of Scottish descent. He was born in 1821 in
the neighbourhood of Kingston-upon-Hull, Yorkshire, his father being Dr.
James Campbell. His parents came to Canada when he was very young, first
settling in Lachine, and afterwards removing to Kingston, where young
Campbell completed his education at the Royal Grammar School. He then
turned his attention to the study of the law under Mr. Henry Cassidy, a
leading Kingston practitioner, and upon his death, which occurred in
1839, entered the office of Mr. John A.. Macdonald. He was
admitted to practice in 1842, when he was taken into partnership by Mr.
Macdonald, which continued for many years. In 1843 he was called to the
bar. Mr. Campbell now entered upon a very successful and profitable
course, the firm receiving a very large practice. The beginning of his
distinguished public career was his election as an alderman in 1851. He
served in this capacity for two years. In 1856 he was created a Queen’s
Counsel. The Legislative Council having been made elective, Mr.
Campbell, in 1858, came forward as the Conservative candidate for the
Cataraqui Division and obtained the seat by a handsome majority. He
speedily attained a leading position in Parliament by his ability and
tact, and in 1863 was elected Speaker of the Council for the remainder
of the Parliamentary term. He was now regarded as one of the foremost
men in public life, and during the ministerial crisis of March, 1864 was
sent for by the Governor-General and requested to organize a cabinet. He
did not feel sure enough of his position to accept the responsibilities
of leadership, but took the Commissionership of Crown Lands in the Tach-Macdonald
Administration. This cabinet fell to pieces before long, but Mr Campbell
retained his port-folio in that which succeeded it. When the
Confederation scheme came up for consideration Mr. Campell strenuously
supported it. He was a member of the Union Conference which met in
Quebec, in 1864, and during the parliamentary discussion of the subject
was its foremost advocate in the Upper Chamber. One of the happiest and
most forcible utterances of Mr. Campbell’s career is the notable speech
which he delivered on the 17th of February, 1865, in reply to the
antagonists of Confederation. Upon the organization of the Senate in
1867, Mr. Campbell was nominated as one of the members, and has since
been the leader of the Conservative party in that body. He took office
as Postmaster-General in the first ministry organized after
Confederation and retained that position for about six years. In 1870 he
went to England in connection with the negotiations which resulted in
the Treaty of Washington. In 1873 he became Minister of the Interior, a
post which he did not retain long, as in November of the
same year the government of which he was a member was driven from office
on account of the Pacific Scandal revelations. Mr. Campbell was leader
of the Opposition in the Senate during Mr. Mackenzie’s five years tenure
of office, and upon the return of the Conservatives to power in 1878
became Receiver-General, a position which he exchanged for his old
portfolio as Postmaster-General the year following. In May 1879, he was
created a Knight of the order of St. Michael and St. George. He was
appointed Minister of Militia in 1880, but a readjustment of offices,
which took place in November of that year, restored him to the head of
the Post Office Department. Sir Alexander Campbell is a hardworking and
useful public official, and an influential party leader. He is not
brilliant or eloquent but eminently clear-headed, sound and far-seeing.
The unvarying moderation and courtesy of his speeches have done much to
elevate the tone of public discussion. In 1855 he married Miss Georgina
Frederica Locke, daughter of Mr. Thomas Sandwith, of Beverley, England.
Another Senator of
English birth and Scottish blood is Hon. James Skead, who was born on
the 31st of January, 1816, in Cumberland—his father William Skead being
a Scot. James was about ten years of age when his father emigrated. He
remained on a farm near Montreal for some years, and afterwards removed
to Ottawa. James Skead grew up with very few educational advantages, and
is almost entirely self-instructed. He engaged in lumbering in 1840 and
for thirty years had a course of almost uninterrupted prosperity, though
more recently he sustained some reverses. In 1862 Mr. Skead was elected
as a representative of Rideau Division to the Legislative Council, and
retained that position until Confederation, when he was called to the
Senate. He contested Carleton unsuccessfully for the Local Legislature
in 1867. He was chosen President of the Conservative Convention which
met in Toronto in 1874. Among the public and commercial positions which
he has held are those of President of the Dominion Board of Trade, of
the Ottawa Board of Trade, of the Ottawa Liberal Conservative
Association and of the Agricultural and Arts Association of Ontario. He
is largely interested in a number of commercia1 and railway enterprises
and has done a great deal in various directions to promote the progress
and welfare of the locality where his wealth has been acquired. He
married in 1842 Miss Rosanna McKay, a native of the North of Ireland,
and has a large family.
Allan Macdonell was born
in Toronto, about the year 1810, and was admitted to the bar in 1832,
having studied law in the office of Mr. H. J. Boulton, then Attorney
General. In the following year he entered into partnership with the late
Sir Allan N. Macnab. Shortly previous to the rebellion of 1837, he was
appointed to the shrievalty of the Gore District. When the outbreak
occurred, Sheriff Macdonell raised a troop of cavalry, arming and
equipping them at his own expense an outlay for which he was never
reimbursed. This corps originally enrolled for six months, remained in
service for a considerably longer period. Mr. Macdonell resigned the
Gore shrievalty, after holding the position for about five years. In the
winter of 1846, he obtained from the Government a license for exploring
the shore of Lake Superior for mines, and with the aid of friends,
fitted out a prospecting expedition. At that time, Lake Superior was but
little known. There were neither steamers nor sailing vessels upon its
waters and the only available mode of transit was by canoe or open boat.
The expedition, consisting of eleven men with the necessary provisions
and equipments, and an open boat of good size, started early in the
spring of 1847. They experienced a good deal of difficulty in obtaining
guides and voyageurs, as the Hudson Bay Company claimed the exclusive
control of the Lake Superior region. Mr. Macdonell was told that he must
report the expedition at the Hudson Bay forts along the coast, but he
refused to do this, and his enterprise was regarded with a good deal of
jealousy by the Company. He was followed by another party of mining
prospectors headed by Mr. Shephard, who represented the interests of a
number of Montreal investors. The latter body afterwards organized as
the Montreal Company, were on a friendly footing with the Hudson Bay
Company, and had the advantage of their assistance in the enterprise.
Mr. Macdonell, continued his explorations with good success until
November, when he proceeded to Montreal and reported his discoveries to
the Government. The result of his expedition was the formation of the
Quebec Company, in which he merged his interest in the locations
secured. Mining operations were carried on successfully for several
years. A good deal of difficulty was experienced, owing to the disregard
of the rights of the Indians to the soil. In selling the lands occupied
by the Quebec Company, which were then in the occupation of the
Aborigines, the Government altogether overlooked the claims of the
Indians for compensation. The matter was repeatedly brought to their
attention. Deputations of the Chiefs of the band were sent to the seat
of Government to urge their claims. Mr. Macdonell, who was impressed
with the necessity of dealing justly with the Indians, accompanied them
on two occasions. The Chiefs had an interview with Lord Elgin, and one
of them plainly told him that unless their rights were recognised and
compensation awarded them they would drive the miners from their lands.
Lord Elgin promised that a treaty should be made with them under which
their interests would be secured. Mr. Macdonell subsequently had two or
three interviews with Hon. Robert Baldwin, the then Premier, who
authorized him to assure the Indians that they should have every
justice, and that commissioners would be sent without delay to negotiate
a treaty. This was done shortly afterwards, but owing to the
incompetency of the commissioners appointed, no understanding was
arrived at. The result was that the Indians put their threat into
execution and resumed possession of their property, closing the mines
and driving off the workmen to the number of about 150, without,
however, doing any injury either to persons or property. In this course
they were supported by Mr. Macdonell, who felt that in no other way
could they obtain their rights. A military expedition was sent up to the
mines to restore order, and Mr. Macdonell and two of the Indian chiefs
were arrested and brought to Toronto. On being taken before the Chief
Justice under a writ of Habeas Corpus, they were at once
released, and the sum of $400 was paid the Indians as compensation. The
question of the Indian title to the lands was finally settled in 1850,
when the Government appointed Hon. William B. Robinson to negotiate a
treaty under which the Indians received $20,000 down and a further
annual payment of $4,000 to be increased in proportion to the sales of
land, in return for the surrender of their title to all the region
extending Northward from Lake Superior to the height of land.
Mr. Macdonell continued
for several years longer connected with mining and other interests in
the Lake Superior region. In 1850 he projected the construction of a
canal around the Sault Ste. Marie on the Canadian side, and had the
requisite surveys and estimates prepared, and a company formed to
undertake the work. The charter was refused by the Government, however,
being opposed by the Lower Canadians. The want was supplied a year or
two later by the construction of a canal on the American side of the
Sault. Mr. Macdonell afterwards applied to Parliament for a charter
authorizing the construction of a railway westward from the head of Lake
Superior to the Pacific Ocean. In his explorations of the country lying
west of the Lake, he had acquired from Indians and voyageurs whom he met
a good knowledge of the country and its capabilities, and at that early
date published a series of letters in the Toronto newspapers, advocating
the scheme of a Pacific Railway. The application to Parliament was not
successful, as the Railway Committee threw out the bill on the ground
that it was premature. Mr. Macdonell, however, continued to devote
himself to the object of opening up communication with the North West,
and in 1858 procured from Parliament the charter of the North West
Transit Company, conferring upon them very extensive powers including
railroad and canal construction, and the improvement of water courses in
any portion of Canada, west of Lake Superior, or north of that Lake or
Lake Huron. Sir Allan Macnab was at one time President, and Mr. John
Beverley Robinson, Secretary of the company, which, however, did not
prove a successful institution, and after some years ceased to exist.
Mr. Macdonell is now a resident of Toronto.
The name of Mrs. Moodie
is well-known, both to Canadian and to English readers in connection
with her descriptive writings—Roughing it in the Bush, a
book depicting the difficulties of a settler’s life half a century ago
is the most popular of her books. Mrs. Moodie is English by birth and
parentage, being a member of the celebrated Strickland family. Her
husband, Mr. J. W. Dunbar Moodie, was of ancient Orcadian stock. The
name was originally spelled Mudie, and is of Scandinavian origin; being
derived from the old Norwegian Earls of Orkney. His great grandfather,
Captain James Moodie of the Royal Navy, was a distinguished officer who
rendered important services to his country in Spain where he succeeded
in relieving the town of Denia when it was closely besieged by the
French. He was selected by the government after the death of Queen Anne
to convey her successor, King George I., to England, and was murdered in
the streets of Kirkwall, Orkney, in 1725, at the age of eighty, by Sir
James Stewart, an adherent of the Pretender.
The murderer was
afterwards brought to justice through the instrumentality of the son of
his victim, who was only nine years of age when his father was killed;
but determined to revenge his death, and many years afterwards delivered
the assassin who had again taken up arms for the Pretender over to the
authorities. Sir James, however, committed suicide in the Tower. J. W.
Dunbar Moodie was the fourth son of Major James Moodie of Melsetter, in
the Orkney Islands, where he was born on the 7th October, 1797. He
entered the army as second Lieutenant of the R. N. B. Fusiliers or 21st
Regiment of foot in 1813, when about sixteen years of age. He had an
early experience of the horrors of war, being engaged in the night
attack at Bergen-op-zoom on the 8th of March, 1814, when after entering
the works with a small party of soldiers in the midst of darkness and
confusion he succeeded in forcing open one of the gates and lowering the
drawbridge, On this occasion he sustained a severe wound in the left
wrist from a musket ball which disabled his hand and arm. He shortly
afterwards retired from the service on half-pay. In 1819 Mr. Moodie
joined his elder brother Benjamin who had emigrated to South Africa, and
remained in that country about ten years. On his return to England in
1829, he met at the house of a friend in London, Susanna Strickland,
whom he shortly afterwards married. Mrs. Moodie is the daughter of
Thomas Strickland, of Reydon Hall, near Southwold in Suffolk, several of
whose family became widely known as popular writers. Miss Agnes
Strickland, an elder sister of Mrs. Moodie’s, published a large number
of poetical, fictitious and historical works, the most extensive and
best known of which is her Lives of the Queens of England. Some
years previous to her marriage with Mr. Moodie, Susanna Strickland had
united with her sister Agnes in the publication of a volume of
Patriotic Songs and had written several other books. In 1832, Mr.
Moodie emigrated to Canada West and took up land as a half-pay officer,
in the Township of Douro, near Peterborough. The experience of the
family, like that of very many others whose previous training has not
been such as to fit them to encounter the hardships or endure with
equanimity the rough associations and coarse surroundings of backwoods
life, was extremely disheartening. The story of their struggles to gain
a livelihood upon a bush farm for seven years is graphically told in
Mrs. Moodie’s work entitled Roughing it in the Bush, which won
for its talented authoress a wide spread reputation. The book is a
narrative of plain facts set forth in a telling, vivacious style,
and while it does not in any way belittle the real advantages presented
by Canada as a field for emigrants accustomed to hard manual labour,
emphasizes a truth that it is well should be known and heeded by
intending emigrants, namely, that persons delicately reared, accustomed
to a life of luxury, and dependent upon the services of others in the
household, do not as a rule succeed in obtaining either pleasure or
profit from a farmer’s life in Canada. Of course the circumstances have
vastly altered since Mrs. Moodie’s book was written, and many of the
hardships to which the Moodies were subjected are now greatly mitigated
even on the outskirts of civilization, but the experience of thousands
of later emigrants goes to confirm their experience that the inbred
instincts and long established habits, such as fit a man for a
professional career in England, do not impart the qualifications needed
for a practical farmer in Canada. It would have been better both for the
country and for those who have made the mistake of attempting a mode of
living for which they were in no respect adapted, had this been more
generally understood in Britain.
On the breaking out of the
rebellion in 1837, Mr. Moodie immediately offered his services to the
Government, and served for several months during the winter of that year
in the Provincial Militia, at Toronto, and afterwards on the Niagara
frontier holding the rank of Captain in the Queen’s Own Regiment. In the
fall of 1838 he was appointed captain and pay-master to sixteen
companies of militia distributed along the shores of Lake Ontario and
the Bay of Quinte. In November, 1839, he was appointed by Sir George
Arthur to the shrievalty of the District of Victoria, now the county of
Hastings. This position he held until 1863, when he resigned. Colonel
Moodie had decided literary tastes, and published several volumes
principally relating to his travels and adventures. Ten Years in
South Africa was issued in England in 1835, favourably received, by
the press and public, and in 1866 a book from his pen entitled Scenes
and Adventures as a Soldier and Settler, including a number of
miscellaneous sketches some of which had previously appeared in serial
form was published in Montreal. Col. Moodie’s death occurred on the 22nd
October, 1869. His widow is still living, at an advanced age and is a
resident of Toronto. A revised edition of Roughing it in the Bush
was issued in Toronto in 1871. Among her other works are Life in the
Clearings, Flora Lindsay, Mark Hurdlestone, The World before Them,
Matrimonial Speculations, and
Geoffrey Moncton.
Dr. Daniel Clark, Superintendent
of the Provincial Lunatic Asylum, Toronto, was born in Granton,
Inverness-shire, Scotland, on the 29th of August, 1835. His father,
Alexander Clark, was a native of Morayshire. The family came to this
country in 1841, and settled near Port Dover, in the County of Norfolk,
where his father engaged in farming. In 1850 Daniel went to California,
where he realized a large amount of money by placer mining. Returning to
Canada the following year, he at once set about obtaining an education.
After attending the Simcoe Grammar School for some time, he pursued
classical and medical studies at Toronto, graduating from the Victoria
University Medical Department in 1858. He then went to Europe, and took
a course of lectures at Edinburgh University, and visited the London and
Paris hospitals. After an extended European tour, he returned home in
the summer of 1859, and commenced the practice of his profession at
Princeton, Oxford County. In 1864 he joined the Federal armies of the
Potomac and the James, being attached to the Surgeon-general’s
department as a volunteer surgeon. He returned to Princeton at the close
of the war. Dr. Clark was, for many years, a frequent contributor to
periodical literature, especially to the Medical Journal, Stewart’s
Quarterly, the Maritime
Monthly,
and the Canadian Monthly. He is the author of
a work entitled Pen Photographs, comprising descriptive sketches
of eminent persons, essays, and scenes of travel, published in 1873; and
also of a novel, dealing with the Canadian Rebellion of 1837, called
Josiah Garth. In addition to his miscellaneous literary work, Dr.
Clark has written considerably upon professional subjects. In 1872 he
was chosen a member of the Medical Council of Ontario, and was
re-elected to the position in 1875. During the two following years he
filled the Presidential chair of the Council. Among other positions
occupied by Dr. Clark, which testify to the estimation in which he is
held by the medical profession, have been those of Examiner in Chemistry
for the College of Physicians and Surgeons of Ontario, and Examiner in
Obstetrics and Medical Jurisprudence for Toronto University. In
December, 1875, he was appointed to the arduous and responsible post,
which he now holds, of Superintendent of the Provincial Lunatic Asylum
at Toronto. This step was taken in accordance with the general desire of
the medical profession, as unanimously expressed by the Medical Council
and other organizations representing that body. The result has more than
justified the opinion then formed of Dr. Clark’s exceptional
qualifications for the charge. As a specialist in the treatment of
insanity he has no rival among the profession in Ontario.
Our task is done. It
would be an easy matter to prolong it indefinitely, as there are many
Scotsmen who have taken minor, though still important and noteworthy
parts in the public, professional, and commercial life of the Dominion,
the story of whose lives would further illustrate the national
characteristics of determination, prudence, and integrity. But our
limitations as to space will not permit us to follow up the practically
limitless vistas which broaden out upon all sides. The line of
discrimination between those included and the greater number whose
personal stories remain untold may be deemed an arbitrary, perchance an
erratic one; nevertheless, it was essential to draw it somewhere, lest
the narration should "stretch out to the crack of doom."
The history of the Scot
in British North America has virtually been the history of the country
since its occupancy by the British. In politics, especially, the Scot
has been, unquestionably, the most prominent of the varied elements
which have gone to the making of our national life. By all the qualities
of statesmanship, of leadership, of diplomacy, men of Scottish origin
have proved their claim to the foremost place among those who have laid
the foundations of Canadian nationality. The splendid intellectual and
moral gifts of the race have lost nothing by transplantation to an alien
soil, but have rather become strengthened by the strenuous conflict and
pressure of unaccustomed social conditions, and the action and reaction
of new forces. The influence of Scottish opinions, associations,
and habits of thought upon the future of Canada must be one of the most
potent forces in forming and moulding the national character now in
process of evolution. The strong religious instincts, the keen moral
perceptions, the resolute will, tire-less energy, and acute logical
faculty of the Scot, tempered and modified by the qualities of the
peoples who share our national heritage, will enter very largely into
the fibre of the coming race.
Modern linguistic and
ethnological research has exhausted its ingenuity in the only partially
successful endeavour to trace back the threads of race origin which make
up the warp and woof of the composite Anglo-Saxon people. A document
which should show, with measurable precision, the respective proportions
of the elements which, since the time of the Saxon invasion, have
mingled their blood in the now homogeneous English people, would be
deemed of priceless scientific value. It may well be that at some future
day, when the Canadian has become a well-defined national type among the
races of the earth, blending indissolubly, the characteristics of the
ancestral stocks, something more than a mere historical or antiquarian
interest may attach to the record of the SCOT IN BRITISH NORTH AMERICA.
THE END.