Part 127

=Dunn, Timothy Hibbard=, Quebec, is one of the veterans of the Quebec timber trade, and certainly one of the most conspicuous and best respected citizens of the ancient capital, with whose history and commerce he has been closely identified for nearly half a century. He is of Scotch descent, but thoroughly Canadian in sentiment. He was born, like his father (the late Charles Dunn) before him, at Ste. Ursule, near Three Rivers, in the year 1816, and received his education in the common school of his native place. He was early initiated into acquaintanceship with the staple industry of the country, the lumber trade, and in 1841 entered as a clerk in the Quebec office of the great timber firm of Calvin, Cook & Counter, of Kingston, Ontario. Four years later he was admitted to the position of a partner of this house, and was entrusted with the management of the extensive business of its Quebec branch, which was thenceforward carried on under the name of Dunn, Calvin & Co. After the dissolution of the firm in 1850 or thereabouts, Mr. Dunn, whose ability and success had won general confidence and respect, associated himself with the late Thomas Benson, and, in partnership with that gentleman under the name of T. H. Dunn & Co., continued the business at Quebec. Two years later, Mr. Benson went out, and down to 1860 Mr. Dunn remained the sole head of the house, which ranked among the foremost of the Quebec market in making advances to timber manufacturers in the west, and doing business on commission, especially in hardwoods. About 1860 he formed a new partnership with the late William Home, of Quebec, under the name of Dunn & Home, and, among other important ventures of this firm, was the successful building of one of the most difficult sections of the Intercolonial Railway below Quebec. In 1872, the firm of Dunn & Home was dissolved, Mr. Home going out, Mr. Dunn then retired from active business on his well-earned wealth and honors, and his two sons, Logie and Stewart Dunn, assumed control of the old house under the name of Dunn Bros. In 1877 W. A. Griffith, of Quebec, was added to the firm, when its name was changed to Dunn, Griffith & Co. In 1884, Mr. Griffith retired, and ever since the firm has been Dunn & Co. In its fortunes, the subject of our sketch still continues to take a keen paternal interest, notwithstanding his seventy-one years, with unimpaired physical and mental vigor, which is an object of envy to many of his juniors. He can yet be seen any day on “Change,” and no figure is better known on St. Peter street, where the business men of Quebec most do congregate. He is one of the last remaining representatives of the old school who were identified with the ancient capital in its palmier days, and a type of a class of men who, unhappily for its present prosperity, have nearly all passed away. Strange to say, notwithstanding his extensive mercantile connections, Mr. Dunn never crossed the Atlantic, but he has travelled a good deal in North America, and especially in the West. In 1845 he married Margaret Turner, of Sorel, a niece of the late Captain Charles Armstrong, and a cousin of the present ex-chief justice of the Windward Islands, Hon. James Armstrong, now of Sorel, and by her had issue nine children, four sons and five daughters. As already stated, two of the former have succeeded him in the business at Quebec. The other two have boldly struck out in a new field and are now successful farmers in Manitoba. Mr. Dunn has been a widower for the last fourteen years, his wife having died in 1874. He is a member of the Church of England, and has always taken a hearty interest in its affairs. He was one of the founders of St. Mary’s Church and parsonage on the Island of Orleans, where his beautiful summer retreat, “Island Home,” is an object of admiration to every visitor and to the passengers in every vessel passing up and down the St. Lawrence from the harbor of Quebec. In politics he is a Conservative, but has never taken an active part in public affairs, though frequently pressed by his fellow-citizens to do so. He was, however, for many years a conspicuous member of the Quebec Board of Trade and its Council, and a director of the Quebec Bank. He was also a delegate to the first railroad convention held in Boston in 1851. In his younger days he held a commission as captain in the militia, and served under the late Colonel Boucher, of Maskinonge, P.Q. Throughout all the relations of life, Mr. Dunn has been an exemplary citizen, and his long and successful career is only another illustration of the triumph of well-applied industry and honorable dealing with his fellow men.

* * * * *

=Steadman, James=, Fredericton, N.B., Judge of the County Court for the Counties of York, Sunbury and Queen’s in the province of New Brunswick, was born at Moncton, in the county of Westmoreland, N.B., on the 27th March, 1818. His father was William Steadman, who was born in Cornwallis, Nova Scotia, but settled in Moncton about the first of this century. He married in 1803, Hannah Trites, also of Moncton. Judge Steadman was educated at Moncton. He studied law in the office of the present Judge Botsford, of Westmoreland county, and was admitted an attorney in the month of February, 1844. For the next twenty-four years he practised law at Moncton and then, in the year 1866, removed to the city of Fredericton, where he has continued to reside up to the present time. He was elected to the Provincial legislature in 1854, and, being a prominent man, in May 1860, was sworn in as a member of the Executive Council and Postmaster General of New Brunswick. These offices he held until April, 1865. Judge Steadman, thus has seen the last days of parliamentary life in his native province, days which produced such men as the late Governor L. A. Wilmot, the late Judge Fisher, the late Sir Albert L. Smith, Sir Leonard Tilley, Judges King and Palmer, and many others whose eloquence enlivened the political campaigns and the sessions of the legislature for many years. Between the years 1836 and 1845 the battle of Responsible Government was fought out in New Brunswick. Those were stormy times in all of the provinces of British North America. The visit of Earl Durham to the Canadas, and his famous report upon the lines of which all the later political movements in the provinces have proceeded, gave an extraordinary impetus to the popular wish for a larger measure of political power. In all of the English speaking provinces the Reform party were steadily and fiercely opposed by small governing bodies variously known as “family compacts,” “council of xii,” and other suggestive appellations. Another stormy period in which Judge Steadman was himself a prominent figure, was the era just preceding the Confederation in 1867. As we have said, during these years he was a member of the Executive and Postmaster General. Party spirit ran very high in New Brunswick, and the first time that the question of Confederation was submitted to the people it was lost. In Nova Scotia the people were never asked to sanction the measure until the British North America Act had been passed and the union was consummated. After twenty years the question is still keenly debated in both of the leading Maritime provinces. Judge Steadman is connected with the Baptist denomination. He has for many years been a strong temperance man, having joined the order of Sons of Temperance in March, 1848. In 1865 he was elected Grand Worthy Patriarch, and still maintains his connection with this leading order. In June, 1887, he was appointed judge of the County Court. Judge Steadman has seen his native town of Moncton from the smallest beginning expand into a city of 9000 inhabitants, and become the headquarters of the Intercolonial Railway, with streets lighted by electricity, daily newspapers, an extensive and increasing trade, and all the signs of outward and moral improvement.

* * * * *

=Macdonald, Lawrence George=, Q.C., St. John’s, province of Quebec, was born at Chateauguay, Que., on July 30th 1831. His parents were born at Fort Howe, N.B. His father, James Macdonald, was a second son of the late Adjutant and Quarter-master, William Macdonald, late of the 104th Regiment of the line, and his mother Eliza Holland, a daughter of Captain E. Holland of the same regiment. Captain Holland served in Egypt and saw the great Napoleon while a prisoner at Elba. Adj. Macdonald took an active part in the war of 1812-14. Mr. James Macdonald was a merchant for many years in Chateauguay, and was actively engaged on the Loyalist side during the rebellion of 1837-38. The subject of this sketch commenced his studies under the Rev. Dr. Black, of Laprairie, afterwards attending two private schools, and finally taking a full classical course at the High School, Montreal. While studying law he continued to take private lessons from the Rev. David Robertson, chaplain to the forces in Canada. After leaving school he studied law in the office of Meredith, Bethune and Dunkin, of Montreal, and four years later was admitted to the bar in December, 1852. In 1854 he removed to St. John’s, where he has since resided. He was appointed a Queen’s counsel under the Joly government in March, 1878, which appointment was afterwards confirmed by the Dominion government. Mr. Macdonald has taken an active part in military affairs, obtaining a first-class certificate on May 12th, 1865, when he was appointed cornet in the St. John’s troop of cavalry, and was sent to the front during the Fenian raids. He was Crown prosecutor for several years in the Court of Queen’s Bench, St. John’s, district of Iberville. At present he is a director of the Richelieu Bridge Co. He is a member of the Episcopalian church, and in politics is a Conservative. He was married at St. John’s, in August, 1856, to Louise Gertrude, second daughter of the late Deputy Commissary-General Lister. Mr. and Mrs. Macdonald have one daughter, who is married to Dr. Robert Howard, of St. John’s, and who has issue four children.

* * * * *

=McCaffrey, Charles=, Lumber Merchant and Steam Saw Mill Proprietor, Nicolet, province of Quebec, was born at Drummondville, county of Drummond, Quebec. He is the son of Hugh McCaffrey and Rose McEvay. His father, Hugh McCaffrey, served as a soldier In the 27th British Regiment of the line, obtained his discharge at Chambly, and located, together with a number of other discharged soldiers, at Drummondville. The late Colonel Harriette procured lands for them to settle upon, and also obtained supplies from the government for them until they were able to build homes and clear sufficient land to enable them to supply themselves with the necessaries of life. During the time the government furnished the provisions, the commissariat stores were under the charge of Hugh McCaffrey, who was authorized to distribute the provisions to all those entitled to receive the same. The great majority of the new settlers, not being inured to farming life, or clearing the bush land given them by the government, sold out their claims for a nominal sum, and left for other parts. Hugh McCaffrey, however, settled down in his new home, and commenced getting out lumber, which he supplied to Colonel Harriette, who owned a saw mill near by, and his son Charles, the subject of this sketch, has continued in the lumbering business for the past forty years, with fair success. Apart from the regular annual output of sawed lumber, he has shipped hundreds of thousands of tamarac railway ties to Whitehall and Plattsburgh, N.Y., for the Delaware and Hudson Canal Co., and has contracted with the same company to supply a large number during the present season. He received his education partly in the common schools and partly at the hands of private tutors, high schools being at that time few and far between. In politics, he is a Conservative, and wields considerable influence in his locality. He has often been requested to allow himself to be put in nomination for both the Federal and Provincial parliaments, and in municipal and town councils, but has steadily refused to do so, or to accept any public office. He has travelled through several of the States, both east and west, also through the upper and lower provinces in connection with his lumber business. In religion he is a Roman Catholic. He was married in 1860, to Ann McLeod, a native of Campbelltown, N.B., who is of Scotch origin, and Presbyterian in religion. Mr. McCaffrey has resided in Nicolet for twenty-five years, and is much respected by the residents.

* * * * *

=Seymour, James=, Collector of Inland Revenue, St. Catharines, was born in Limerick, Ireland, in 1824, came to Halifax with his father four years later, and died in St. Catharines on the 9th of January, 1888. Mr. Seymour spent his boyhood in the maritime provinces, and after leaving school learned the business of printer. He then came west and worked in several offices, among others the Toronto _Globe_ and the Hamilton _Spectator_. In 1856 he purchased from Mr. Giles the St. Catharines _Constitution_, an influential weekly newspaper, which he continued to publish until he received the appointment of collector of inland revenue, and this office he held until the day of his death. In 1851 he joined St. George’s Masonic lodge, and very soon, through his faithfulness and zeal, became to be looked upon as one of the main pillars of the order. In 1871 he was elected Grand Master of the Grand Lodge of Canada, and this position he filled during the term of his election with great credit. He was a member of the Scottish Rite, and a P.G.M.G. of Royal and Oriental Freemasonry 33-96°⁂90°. He was buried with Masonic honors.

* * * * *

=Tims, Frank Dillon=, Deputy Provincial Auditor of the Province of Quebec, is a prominent figure in official life at Quebec, and few members of the Civil Service enjoy a larger share of the public respect. He is the youngest son of the late William and Catherine Dillon Tims, and was born in Oldcastle, county Meath, Ireland, on 26th December, 1829. The family came to Canada in 1834, and settled in the city of Quebec, where Mr. Tims, sr., died in 1836 and his widow in 1862. An elder brother of the subject of this sketch, Thomas D. Tims, now occupies the important position of Financial Inspector of the Dominion of Canada, at Ottawa, and their sister, the Reverend Mother St. Catherine, who entered the Monastery of the Ursulines at Quebec many years ago, is still living, after having occupied for two consecutive terms, the longest period permitted by the regulations, the high position of Lady Superior. Our subject was educated at the Seminary of Quebec and the Quebec High School, and subsequently studied law with Charles Alleyn, Q.C., subsequently Provincial Secretary of Canada, and now sheriff of Quebec. Seized with the “gold fever” in 1849, he gave up the study of the law, and on the 12th November, 1849, sailed on the barque _Rory O’Moore_, the first vessel leaving Canada bound for California, by the way of Cape Horn, finally reaching San Francisco after a five and a half months’ voyage. He remained in California, engaged principally in mining, until the fall of 1851, when he started on his homeward journey down the Pacific coast, stopping at San Juan del Sur and Lake Nicaragua for some weeks and then proceeding to Panama, where he crossed the isthmus and took steamer to New York from Chagres in January, 1852. He reached Quebec in February of the same year, and on the 23rd October following, was married at Sherbrooke, to Caroline Dudley, youngest daughter of the late Captain John Fraser, of H.M. 76th regiment, formerly town mayor of Quebec. He next removed to Upper Canada, where he was principally engaged in mercantile pursuits down to 1857, when he went to Illinois, entered the lumber business for some time, and while there in 1859, was licensed to practice as an attorney and counsellor-at-law in that state. Returning to Canada in 1861, he entered the employ of the late Hon. Jas. Skead, senator, then one of the largest lumber producers of the Ottawa district, where he remained in charge of the business until January, 1868, when he was appointed to the Audit branch of the Treasury department of the province of Quebec, and promoted to the office of Deputy Provincial Auditor in 1884, which he still holds. In religion, Mr. Tims is a Roman Catholic. In 1856, he held a commission as lieutenant and adjutant in the Waterloo (Ont.) Militia. He is a past president of the St. Patrick’s Society of Quebec, and has taken a prominent interest in the progress of the Geographical Society of Quebec, of which he has been the secretary for several years. In this last capacity, he was one of the principal promoters of the government exploring expedition, which was sent out within the last few years to endeavor to solve the mystery surrounding Great Lake Mistassini, in north eastern Canada. By his marriage, he has had issue thirteen children, seven of whom are living, four sons and three daughters. Of the former, three are actually settled in the Canadian North-West, at Swift Current and Beaver Lake, near Edmonton, where they are largely engaged in commercial pursuits. One of them, F. F. Tims, had the honor to be the first to erect a building at Regina, the present capital of the province of Assiniboia. During the late rebellion this son rendered valuable public service in freighting for the troops and in provisioning the Battleford contingent and Mounted Police.

* * * * *

=Ostigny, Joseph Henry=, Manager of the Bank of Hochelaga, at Joliette, Quebec, was born at St. Hilaire, county Rouville, Quebec, on the 5th of January, 1849. His father, Zephirin Ostigny, was an agriculturist, and lived for more than thirty years in the parish of l’Ange Gardien, county Rouville. His mother’s name was Sophie Montplaisir. The subject of this sketch, when fifteen years of age, told his father of his wish to give up farming, and get his livelihood in some other way. For that he required more education, and through the kindness of a father, who sacrificed his own personal interests to promote those of his children, he was sent to school at St. Césaire from 1863 to 1866, and from 1867 to 1869 at the Jacques Cartier Normal School, at Montreal. In the year 1870, he took the course at the Montreal Business College, and was for nearly two years a professor of that institution. When the Bank of Hochelaga commenced operations, April 6th, 1874, he entered it, and since then has worked up to be manager, which position he has held since January 25th, 1885. In religion he is a Roman Catholic. He was married on February 9th, 1886, to Maria Georgiana Athala Piché, daughter of Urgel Piché, broker, of Joliette.

* * * * *

=Ratcliffe, John=, was born in Lanarkshire, Scotland, on the 9th September, 1813. His father, Daniel Graham Ratcliffe, was a native of Cumberland, England, but removed to Scotland in early manhood, married Elizabeth Latham, a native of Hamilton parish, Lanarkshire, and spent the remainder of his days mostly in Avondale parish. The father was suddenly cut off in the prime of life, leaving a heavy burden to rest upon the shoulders of his son John, the eldest of the family. Before he had completed his twentieth year, in the spring of 1833, he sought the shores of Canada, in the hope of securing a better home and portion for the family. The township of Whitby, county of Ontario, was the part of Upper Canada to which he was directed. He purchased from the government the north half of lot 6, concession 6, where he settled. The following year the family removed to Canada, where they found a home ready for them. On October 31st, 1836, Mr. Ratcliffe married Margaret Hepburn, eldest daughter of John Hepburn, a native of Lanarkshire, who also came to Canada in 1833. To them were born seven sons and three daughters, all of whom are still alive. The subject of this sketch was a man of more than ordinary ability. Not having educational opportunities beyond a few months in the parish school, his pathway was made more difficult, but this loss was largely compensated for by extensive and careful reading. Time for reading was not abundant in the life of a pioneer, but moments were utilised, and to such good advantage that, having the misfortune to break his leg, he was, during the time of enforced rest from work, chosen to teach a school opened in the neighbourhood. When municipal affairs began to demand attention, he was alive to every question that agitated the public, and occupied a seat at the council board for many years, presiding as reeve over its affairs during the greater portion of the time. In the year 1863 he occupied the warden’s chair, thereafter retiring from public municipal life. For many years he was an active justice of the peace, and in the discharge of the magisterial functions won the respect and confidence of the whole community. During the years that East Whitby was without a township hall, his house was the court-room in which most of the petty trials of the township had a hearing. He always counselled a harmonious settlement of difficulties; and many a quarrel was satisfactorily disposed of, without “going to law,” by having the parties meet and talk over the trouble with him. In politics he was a consistent and pronounced Liberal, and for many years held the honorable and responsible position of president of the South Ontario Reform Association. His name was frequently mentioned when a candidate was to be selected, but he always declined the honor. In religion he was a loyal Presbyterian. With all his interest in public affairs, his relation to the church of Christ, and his responsibility to its Head were never allowed to be interfered with. In the year 1856 he was ordained to the eldership of the United Presbyterian church, which office he adorned until called higher. Only ill-health or absence from home ever kept him from his accustomed place in the house of God, or from his class in the Sabbath school. He was a most successful teacher, personally interested in every member of his class, and many were by his instrumentality led to decide for Christ. In his home he was tender and affectionate, yet firm, and his children remember with gratitude his kindly, wise counsel, and, above all, his Christian instruction and personal example. Suddenly, on March 9th, 1878, he was called to his rest and reward.

* * * * *