Part 106
=Sénécal, Hon. Louis Adelard=, Senator, was born at Varennes, county of Verchères, on the 10th of July, 1829. The man who, in after years, became so universally known throughout the length and breadth of the continent, received but a rudimentary education afforded by the humble school of his native village, and attended a common school in Burlington, Vermont, for a few months. After a residence of two years in the United States, he settled in Verchères, province of Quebec, where he established a general store. Such was his _début_ in trade; and from the outset he showed the indomitable energy, the undaunted courage, and the business tact which caused the admiration even of his opponents. In 1853 he purchased the steamboat _Frederic George_, which was at Ogdensburg, took command of her, came down the river in the midst of floating ice, and arrived at Montreal on the 9th of April. Since that time he was known as “Captain Sénécal.” The _Frederic George_ did service between Montreal and Sorel. In 1854 he repaired his steamboat, renewed her machinery and boilers, and named her the _Verchères_. In 1857 he built the steamboat _Yamaska_ in the short space of two months and a-half, to inaugurate navigation on the river Yamaska, and established a line from St. Aimé to Montreal. The next year he built the _Cygne_, and established a regular service on the river St. Francis, between St. Francis and Sorel. Thus he was the first to open navigation on these rivers, and later on, by his energy and with government aid, he improved the service to a considerable extent. In 1859 he launched the steamboat _Ottawa_ to run in opposition to the Richelieu Company’s boats between Montreal and Quebec. Since 1882 he was the president of the Richelieu and Ontario Navigation Company, and it is due to his admirable management that the company was enabled to refit its steamers and place its finances on a sound and paying basis. When he took charge of the company’s affairs its finances were almost disorganized; he left it in full prosperity and almost doubled its field of operation and its monetary value. Meanwhile Mr. Sénécal was doing a large trade in lumber and grain in the United States. He had become the owner of eleven steamers and eighty-nine barges plying between Montreal, Sorel and Whitehall. One can easily form an idea of his marvellous activity from the fact that during the year he was forced to suspend his operations, he did three million dollars worth of business, without leaving the village of Pierreville, which was the centre of his operations. The losses suffered by several Montreal firms on account of the suspension were the subject of much comment at the time; it is only fair to say that all of these firms had derived benefits from their connection with him, certain houses having endorsed his notes at the rate of two per cent., others again having loaned him money at rates varying from 10 to 40 per cent. It was during the American civil war; he obtained money at par at three months and was obliged to reimburse in bankable (?) value, and pay a high rate of interest besides. Mr. Sénécal has built and was the owner of several saw and grist mills at St. David, St. Guillaume, Wickham, Wickham West, Yamaska, Kingsey, Pierreville and Acton. The Pierreville mill was destroyed by fire on the 20th June, 1868. He rebuilt in forty-seven days, and on the 5th August 146 saws were in operation. The fire had been extinguished at one o’clock on Saturday afternoon, and at twelve o’clock on the following Monday the foundations of the new building were under way. The same mill was destroyed a second time on the 14th January, 1870. He had not a single piece of timber on hand and was obliged to draw from the forest the pine and oak necessary for the building of the manufactory. Moreover, he was forced to buy new machinery in the United States. In spite of these difficulties, and although it was mid-winter, thirty days later, on the 15th February following, the smoke from the new building was rising out of its chimney, and the buzz of the saws proved that the Pierreville mill was giving life to a busy population. In 1866 he purchased almost the whole of Upton township, and it was at this period that he gave full scope to the development of colonization, and that he found the solution of this important problem. He cleared a piece of land at his own expense, sold it to a farmer, and employed him to clear an adjoining lot to be sold again in the same manner. In 1871 he turned his attention to railroading and solved another problem, that of building excellent railroads with very limited resources. He first built forty-three miles of road laid with wooden rails between Sorel and Wickham, _via_ Yamaska and Drummondville, during the year 1871, and finished it before the time agreed on by the contract; he thus had the benefit of the line during all the year 1872. The boldness he displayed on that occasion is a matter of astonishment, for all the resources he could dispose of to complete the undertaking, including rolling material, right of way, embankments, ballast, the Yamaska bridge, station buildings, wooden rails, etc., etc., were only $5,000 in bonds per mile, on which he was able to realize but $4,250 per mile. This road was sold to the South Eastern, and he undertook, on his own account, to replace the wooden rails by iron ones, and to build thirteen extra miles in order to reach Acton. The contract was signed in September of 1875, and on the 15th of February, 1876 the railroad was entirely completed. When he obtained the contract he had not a single tie at his disposal, and received only $2,300 per mile; yet he built fifty-four miles of a first-class railway, in about seventeen months, at a total cost of $6,550 per mile. It must be said, however, that the South Eastern Company furnished the iron rails, which amounted to a value of about $2,000 per mile. In 1877, the contractor of the Laurentian Railway having failed, Mr. Sénécal was called upon to complete the road, hardly half built, with the scanty resources left. He could dispose of a subsidy of $4,000 per mile, and bonds on the road which could not be negotiated. Col. King, of Sherbrooke, consented to advance $50,000, and Mr. Sénécal built the six or seven miles not constructed, as well as the bridges, and the ballasting in three months. He then proceeded to Lévis and undertook the Lévis and Kennebec line, the contractors of which were also bankrupt. There was very little left of the subsidies available, and with these, and the revenue from the running of the road, he built several miles of the new line, ballasted the whole, and made it a first-class road. In the execution of this enterprise he showed his wonderful power of perseverance and energy in the face of difficulties. The English shareholders, who owned all the bonds and stock of the road, had thought they would be able to control the operations of the line, and a number of business and professional men were certain they would not meet with any obstacle. Mr. Sénécal saw the situation at a glance, attacked the enemy in the front, and defended himself for two years in civil and criminal suits. He resisted the police and orders of the court, kept possession of the road as long as he wanted, and in the end he proved that he was in the right, for he obtained judgments in his favor in forty or fifty cases brought against him by the Hon. Mr. Irvine. However, as there was no money to be made out of the line, he abandoned it, according to the terms of his contract, after making it a first-class-road. One of the most striking traits of his character was that he never allowed himself to be legally or financially cornered, and had always gained his object, even when he had no resources available, and had to struggle against combined wealth, talents and influence. He has built the following railroad lines:—From Sorel to Acton, from Lanoraie to St. Felix de Valois, the Berthier branch, the St. Eustache branch, the ice railway; and he completed the St. Lin road and the Lévis and Kennebec line. When he was appointed general superintendent of the Q., M. O. & O. Railway it was far from finished, and the experience he had acquired in railroad construction was of great benefit to the government in the completion of the provincial road. The services rendered by Hon. Mr. Sénécal in that transaction have been misrepresented by his political adversaries; however, he effected important savings for the provincial government. As these matters still belong to the domain of political history, we will merely place this observation on record. In 1881 he formed a syndicate for the purchase of part of the road. The history and developments of this transaction are too well known to require comment. Later on he sold the road to the Grand Trunk Company, and when the Canadian Pacific Railway Company obtained possession of the line, they were obliged to discharge the bonds issued by the Grand Trunk to pay the first possessors. Although Mr. Sénécal was the bearer of a considerable amount of these bonds, they were not available, and he received only about $100,000 out of the transaction. Mr. Sénécal was one of the founders of the Cumberland Mining and Railway Company, which is to-day the most powerful company in the maritime provinces. In 1883-84 he was president of the Montreal City Passenger Railway, and, had he so desired, he would probably have filled the position until now, but he resigned on being re-elected. He has generally encouraged all great enterprises. He took a large amount of shares in the Coaticook Cotton Company, and also in the Richelieu pulp factory. A few years ago he spent a large amount of money to introduce the electric light system, and he obtained, by a statutory charter, the power to dam the Caughnawaga rapids. The purchase of timber limits, and of the Hull mills, for which he paid more than a million dollars, proved a disastrous venture. His plan was perfect; but no individual was in a position to advance such an enormous amount, and he had to give up the undertaking after losing nearly $400,000. This loss we look upon as a national calamity, because his main object in purchasing such an immense tract of territory was to put a great industry into the hands of his countrymen. It is well known that when Mr. Sénécal had money, it was used to the benefit of everybody, for in his opinion the hoarding of wealth was contemptible. Through the vicissitudes of his eventful career, there were moments when his financial resources were _nil_, as in 1878-79, when his subsidies and his railroad bonds were practically not worth a cent. Nevertheless he undertook the task, at that period, to bring about the dismissal of Lieutenant-Governor Letellier de Saint-Just, on account of his famous _coup-d’état_ of the 2nd of March, 1878. He sold his life insurance policy, some real estate, and, in fact, everything which he could convert into cash, for a few thousand dollars, proceeded to Ottawa, where he took up house and passed the session of 1879, in order to keep the Lower Canadian members united, and finally succeeded in carrying a point considered as irretrievably lost after the refusal of the Marquis of Lorne to sign the dismissal of the Hon. Letellier de Saint-Just. In the same year he employed the same tactics in Quebec and brought about the fall of the Joly ministry. In politics Mr. Sénécal has played a prominent part. He was the mainspring of the Conservative party in the Quebec provincial election in 1881, and again in the Dominion election of 1882, and it is mainly due to his efforts that the party gained such brilliant victories at that time. He was an admirable organizer, and possessed the talent to infuse his own courage into others. His iron will, his energy, and the quickness of his movements carried the day every time. When he had once made up his mind to do a certain thing, it was done. Hon. J. A. Chapleau, who has the reputation of knowing how to gauge a man at his proper worth, and deservedly so, knew the ability of this man of large heart and energy, and honored him with his entire confidence. The secretary of state, who also remembers services and rewards merit when the occasion presents itself, never missed an opportunity to render homage to his valor and to the eminent services he had rendered. He did not hesitate to give him a substantial proof of his gratitude as soon as he found himself in a position to do so, by calling him to the senate, the highest distinction in the gift of the government. In 1882 the French government sent to Mr. Sénécal the cross of a commander of the Legion of Honor. Before giving his allegiance to the Conservative party Mr. Sénécal had been a Liberal, and he was elected as such to the Legislative Assembly for the county of Yamaska, which he represented from 1867 to 1871; at the same time he had been elected for Drummond and Arthabaska to the House of Commons, in which he sat from 1867 to 1872. He is the only man in the country who has been elected in two separate constituencies for two separate chambers in two separate elections. In 1874 he had formed the project, with Hon. Mr. Cauchon, to unite the two political parties, and had almost succeeded, when Mr. Joly, then leader of the opposition, destroyed the _entente_ in a speech delivered at a banquet in Montreal. He then abandoned the Liberals, and the chiefs of the party have often expressed their bitter regrets at losing such a man. On the other hand the Conservatives expressed the same regret, when he was forced to abandon the Conservative government at Ottawa on the Riel question. In 1850 Senator Sénécal married Delphire Dansereau, daughter of Lieutenant-Colonel Dansereau, merchant, of Verchères. Several children were the fruit of this marriage, two of whom only survive: Madame Judge Gill, and Madame W. E. Blumshart. Senator Sénécal was a brother-in-law to Dr. Hercule Dansereau, of Thibodeau, La., Hon. Felix Geoffrion, Captain St. Louis, the late Cyril Archambault, barrister, and uncle to F. X. Archambault, Q.C.
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=Sweeny, Right Rev. John=, D.D., Roman Catholic Bishop of St. John, New Brunswick, was born in Fermanagh, Ireland, in May, 1812. His parents, who belonged to the farming class, were James Sweeny and Mary Macguire. The family emigrated to Canada, and settled in St. John in 1828, taking up land for farming. Bishop Sweeny received his literary education in schools in New Brunswick, and studied theology in the Grand Seminary in Quebec city. In 1844 he was ordained priest by Archbishop Turgeon. He was then appointed to missionary work, and returned to St. John and entered upon his labors. Subsequently he was engaged in similar mission work at Chatham and Shediac, until 1851, when, on the death of the Right Rev. Dr. Dollard, he became administrator. A little later he was appointed vicar-general under the Right Rev. Thomas Connolly, bishop of St. John; and in 1860, on the elevation of Bishop Connolly to the archbishopric of Halifax, he was made bishop. During the many years Bishop Sweeny has occupied his high and responsible position he has done good work for his people, irrespective of his spiritual administration. He has built the St. Vincent Convent and Orphan Asylum; the Convent of the Sacred Heart; the Episcopal residence; the side chapels and spire of the cathedral, and a considerable portion of the cathedral itself; a large brick structure for school purposes; St. Malachi and St. Joseph halls, and an Industrial School near St. John city. His lordship has a large diocese which includes the southern half of New Brunswick, embracing the counties of Westmoreland, Albert, Kings, St. John, Charlotte, Queens, Sunbury, York, Carlton, and the larger part of Kent. On this immense diocese he keeps a vigilant eye, and is ever careful of his people’s spiritual wants. As a preacher his discourses are eminently practical; and whenever he expounds any of the doctrines of his church, he never fails to clearly point out how they should affect the lives of the thousands who listen to his voice. His style is plain, simple, and unaffected, so that a listener is at once impressed with the idea that his aim is rather to instruct than to make a display. In the administration of his diocesan affairs he keeps quietly at work, and every year shows an improvement in all its branches. He seldom undertakes anything that he does not finish; and seems to know not the import of the word “fail.”
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=Pidgeon, J. R.=, Justice of the Peace, Indiantown, New Brunswick. Mr. Pidgeon was born where he still resides, in April, 1830, and is consequently in his fifty-eighth year. His father and mother, who are still living at the age of 83, were among the earliest settlers, and tell many amusing anecdotes of life in New Brunswick in the early part of the century. Our subject received his education in the Common and Normal schools of his province, and at the age of eighteen began the study and practical education of lumber surveyor. At the age of twenty-five he obtained what was termed a “warrant” qualifying him to practice his profession as surveyor which he did until his 42nd year. That year he received the appointment of railway mail clerk on the Intercolonial Railway which appointment he still holds being one of the oldest employés of the postal department on that road. It is however in connection with the temperance reform that he is best known, having espoused the principles of total abstinence as long ago as 1848. He has held the highest offices in the gift of the various temperance societies of his native province, and there are few platforms in the maritime provinces that have not at one time or other resounded with his eloquent voice. In religious belief Mr. Pidgeon is a Baptist, having united with that body in 1864. He is also a member of the Masonic craft of long standing, and has often occupied positions of eminence therein. For some years he has been in the commission of the peace for New Brunswick, a distinction well merited in his case, to say the least. As a speaker, Mr. Pidgeon is forcible, logical, and eloquent, abounding in anecdote and bubbling over with fun. Politically he is a Prohibitionist through and through, and his whole life seems to be to educate the people up to his standard. To the Independent Order of Good Templars in New Brunswick he has been and still is a tower of strength, and wherever he is known enjoys the respect of all and the hatred of none.
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