Part 13

“Our sheet this week appears in mourning, because we are called to record the death of one whose removal is indeed a public loss, and one, too, of no ordinary magnitude. Almost every individual in our community feels the death of Charles F. Allison as a public bereavement. But far beyond the circle of personal acquaintanceship, everywhere throughout the lower British American colonies, Mr. Allison’s name has been known and his influence felt, as the most munificent public benefactor who has yet arisen in these provinces, to bless his country and benefit the world. Mr. Allison was a native of Cornwallis, Nova Scotia, but came to this place when a young man, and here carried on, in connection with his partner, the late Hon. Wm. Crane, an extensive business until 1840. In all his business transactions he was remarkable for diligence, promptitude, punctuality, and rigid honesty. He did not make haste to be rich by embarking in any rash speculation, being, doubtlessly, more inclined to the _safe_ than to the _rapid_ mode of acquiring wealth. He was, however, quite successful, so that when he was led, many years since, to the more earnest consideration of the fundamental doctrine of the Christian system of practical ethics, ‘_Ye are not your own, but bought with a price_,’ etc., he found himself in possession of a considerable amount of property, of which he evidently, thenceforward to the end of his life, considered himself but the steward; and as such he was eminently wise and faithful, so that, we doubt not, he has been greeted by his Divine Master with the commendation, ‘_Well done, good and faithful servant._’ A large portion of the last eighteen or twenty years of his life was most unostentatiously employed in various works altogether unselfish. The noble educational institutions which he founded, and which he has so largely helped to build up to their present state of pre-eminent usefulness, have occupied a great deal of his time and attention, for he not only cheerfully paid six thousand pounds and upwards to ensure their establishment, but without fee or reward discharged the onerous duty of treasurer, and watched and labored with parental kindness, solicitude and devotion, to promote their prosperity. These, we believe, will long stand, monuments of the wisdom as well as of the benevolence of the Christian patriot and philanthropist. We have not room to enlarge upon the modesty, gentleness, affability, and other traits of character which so endeared him to all who had the privilege of his personal acquaintance. Nor yet can we speak of the many ways in which his quiet influence will be so much missed in our neighborhood. ‘_He rests from his labors, and his works do follow him._’”

In _The Provincial Wesleyan_, of the same week, published at Halifax, Nova Scotia, a similar notice of Mr. Allison’s death appeared, in which the writer said:

“He was a benefactor to his race, a blessing to his country, an ornament to the age in which he lived. He lived not for himself, but for his generation and for generations yet unborn. Fortune, this world’s wealth, he sought and won; but lavished it not on personal pleasures or selfish aggrandizement. His time and his means were freely given to the noble cause of securing to the youth of these provinces a sound, liberal, and religious education. His humility equalled his munificence. He thirsted not for fame. But he has left a monument for himself more noble than sculptured stone in the institutions he has reared, and with which his worthy name must be forever associated.”

The Mount Allison _Academic Gazette_, in its first issue after the death of Mr. Allison, said:

“The relation which Mr. Allison sustained to the institution, and to all who were connected with it, was such as no other individual can ever sustain. His removal is, therefore, to it and to them an irreparable loss. The feeling of sadness and anxiety induced by this event must, therefore, with those who understand the matter, be altogether other than an evanescent one. But although we are sure that we shall find everywhere many to sympathise with us in our abiding sorrow as we think of the deep affliction which befell us and the institution when its father was taken from us, we think it more becoming for us to ask them to rejoice with us in gratefully acknowledging how much he was allowed to accomplish for it whilst he yet lived. Nearly nineteen years were added to his life after he had formed the noble design of founding such an institution, and during all these years he labored and studied and prayed for its prosperity, as its father only could do. The value of the services which he rendered to the institution, ‘not grudgingly, as of necessity,’ but ever most cheerfully, and, be it remembered, entirely gratuitously, cannot be estimated. Probably if an accurate account had been kept of them, charging for each item its fair business value, they would be found to amount to scarcely less than the sum of his princely money benefactions to the founding and establishing this institution. Certainly it may well be questioned whether the devotion of twice the six or seven thousand pounds, which he gave, would without such personal attention and services, have secured the establishment of such an institution as he has left to perpetuate the blessed memory of his name.”

The board of trustees of the institution, at a special meeting held on 6th Jan., 1859, passed the following resolutions, among others:

“1. That although we are deeply conscious that the academy has sustained an irreparable loss in the decease of Charles F. Allison, Esq., and although the remembrance that his work on earth is done, that the invaluable services which, as treasurer, chairman of building, furnishing, and executive committees of the institution, he has ever been wont so ungrudgingly to render, have now ceased, and that the board can no more hope to be aided in its deliberations by his eminently sage counsels, induces a feeling of sadness almost overwhelming; yet the board would recognize as ground for profound gratitude to Him without whom ‘_nothing is wise, nothing good_,’ the magnitude of the work which our departed brother was enabled and allowed so wisely to undertake and successfully to accomplish in founding, and so essentially helping to build up to its present eminently prosperous condition, the Mount Allison Wesleyan Academy in its two affiliated branches.

“2. That in the judgment of this board, Mr. Allison, in devoting so large a portion of his time and wealth to the establishment of an educational institution which is of such wide-spread influence and usefulness, acted as a truly wise Christian steward, and fairly entitled himself to the pre-eminently honourable position which has been assigned to him as ‘_the noblest public benefactor which has yet arisen in these provinces to benefit his country and bless the world_;’ and believing that so long as this institution may continue in operation true to his design and worthy of its past history, it will stand the monument of the distinguished Christian patriot and philanthropist, perpetuating the memory alike of his wisdom and his benevolence, this board will, as performing a sacred duty, earnestly endeavour to maintain in ever increasing efficiency.”

Resolutions of a similar character were passed by the Wesleyan Methodist Conference of Eastern British America at its next ensuing annual session. See published minutes for the year 1859, pp. 21-22.

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=Senkler, William Stevens=, Judge of the County Court of the County of Lanark, Perth, is an Englishman by birth, having been born at Docking, Norfolk county, England, on the 15th of January, 1838. His father was the Rev. Edmund John Senkler, M.A., of Cains College, Cambridge, a clergyman of the Church of England; and his mother was Eleanor Elizabeth Stevens, daughter of the Rev. William Stevens, M.A., Oxon, of Sedberg, Yorkshire, England. The parents of Judge Senkler, with their family of nine children, came to Canada in May, 1843, and resided in the city of Quebec, where the Rev. Mr. Senkler occupied for some time the position of rector of the High School. He then moved to Sorel, and in September, 1847, to Brockville, at which place he died on the 28th of October, 1872, Mrs. Senkler following him to the grave on the 16th of March, 1873. Judge Senkler was educated by his father, and commenced life in mercantile pursuits; but afterwards studied law with the Hon. A. N. Richards, late lieutenant-governor of British Columbia, and also with the Hon. Edward Blake. During the Michaelmas term of 1860, he was admitted as solicitor; and was called to the bar in Trinity term, 1861. He then began the practice of the law in Brockville, first, with J. D. Buell, then with Hon. A. N. Richards, and lastly, with his brother, Edmund John Senkler (now county judge of Lincoln), down to December, 1873, when he was appointed by the Mackenzie government, judge of the County Court of the county of Lanark. On the 15th of October, 1875, he was appointed master in chancery at Perth, by the judges of that court. On the 10th of October, 1877, referee of titles by the judges of the Court of Chancery. On the 14th of March, 1882, he was made local judge of the High Court of Justice for Ontario; and on the 26th of October, 1885, he was appointed to the position of revising officer for the south riding of Lanark by the Macdonald government. Judge Senkler has taken an active interest in military matters, and helped to organize the Brockville Light Infantry Company, which now forms part of the 42nd battalion. He held the rank of ensign in his company. True to the traditions of his house, the judge is a member of the Church of England, and served as church warden in St. Peter’s Church, Brockville, and St. James’ Church, Perth, for several years. He has also acted in the capacity of lay delegate to the Synod of the diocese of Ontario from St. James’ Church, Perth. Judge Senkler was married on the 21st of May, 1862, by the late Rev. Dr. Adamson, in the Episcopal Cathedral, Quebec, to Honor Tett, daughter of the late Benjamin Tett, of Newboro’, Ontario, who at that time represented South Leeds in the parliament of Canada, and who sat for the same riding in the first parliament of Ontario. The issue of this marriage has been two daughters and one son. Judge Senkler is a hale and hearty man, and we predict for him a long life of usefulness.

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=Hill, Andrew Gregory=, Police Magistrate, Niagara Falls, was born on the 23rd of September, 1834, in the township of Clinton, county of Lincoln, Ontario. His ancestors were among the pioneers of the province. They came to this country immediately after the revolutionary war of 1776, and took up land as U. E. loyalists. The township of Clinton was then an unbroken wilderness, without a habitation, and without a road, save the track of the red man. Newark, now Niagara, about twenty-five miles distant, was the nearest village, and the only practicable means of reaching it was by boat down the lake. It is difficult for us now to realize the privations that the early settlers had to undergo, especially when we consider the severity of the winters, the proximity of the Indian bands, and the inaccessible condition of the country. Even in later years when small plots of land were reduced to a state of cultivation, they were compelled to manufacture their own meal by the most primitive methods. Solomon Hill was one of the second generation after these pioneers, and in 1833 he married Eleanor Gregory, also the descendant of a U. E. loyalist family. Andrew Gregory Hill was the eldest child of this marriage. Both his grandsires bore arms in the war of 1812, and were both severely wounded. Solomon Hill, his father, served with the militia in the rebellion of 1837, but privately sympathized with the patriot cause, and in later years became a great admirer of William Lyon MacKenzie, the patriot leader. Andrew was brought up to farm life, attending the public school in winter, and assisting his father in summer. At the age of eighteen he was sent to Victoria College, Cobourg, where he subsequently graduated in arts and in law, having in the meantime taught school for nearly two years in order to provide funds with which to prosecute his studies. He subsequently studied law in Cobourg, and afterwards in St. Catharines, and lastly with the late Adam Crooks, at one time minister of education for the province of Ontario, in Toronto. Mr. Hill was admitted to practice in 1862, and called to the bar in 1864. He commenced practice in St. Catharines, but only continued there a few months, when he entered into partnership with Warren Rock, late of London, and removed to Welland. Here he practised for more than ten years. He took an active interest in all local matters, being for many years in succession a member of the school board, the village council, the county council, and the county board of education. In 1864, Mr. Hill became identified with the local press, and shortly afterwards started _The Welland Tribune_, which paper at once became, and has since continued to be, the organ of the Reform party in the county. In 1872 Mr. Hill, being an active politician, was nominated by the Reform party of the county of Welland for the House of Commons, in opposition to the late Mr. Street, a tory, who had held the county for many years, but was defeated. In 1874 he was appointed police magistrate for the town of Niagara Falls, under the special “Act to provide for the better government of that part of Ontario situate in the vicinity of the Falls of Niagara,” which position he has held since that time. His administration in that capacity has been prompt and vigorous—some of his judgments being regarded by many as severe—but in consequence of the bold stand he took as a magistrate, he soon brought about a beneficial change in the locality, and drove away large numbers of the criminal class who formerly infested the neighbourhood. Notwithstanding his appointment as police magistrate, he still continued to practise his profession, and in 1886 was appointed solicitor for the town of Niagara Falls, for the Imperial bank of Canada at Niagara Falls, and for the Niagara Falls Street Railway Company. In 1865 Mr. Hill married Isabel Thompson, daughter of Archibald Thompson, of Stamford, who was for many years treasurer of the county of Welland, and whose ancestors were among the earliest settlers of this county.

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=Anderson, Alexander=, Principal of the Prince of Wales College, Charlottetown, Prince Edward Island, was born at Aberdeen, Scotland, 30th September, 1836. His father, Alexander Anderson, and his mother, Margaret Imray, belonged to families residing in the adjacent parishes of Banchory Ternan and Midmar. Until 1854, he attended school in the town of Aberdeen. The six or seven years prior to that date were passed under the tuition of William Rattray, an educationist of considerable repute in the north of Scotland. Government grants and inspection were then in their infancy, and Mr. Rattray was one of the first in that quarter to hail the advent of a system which, sooner or later, was bound to develop into a national scheme of education. From Aberdeen, Mr. Anderson proceeded to Edinburgh to the Training College at Moray House, having gained the first scholarship at the annual competition held in that city. At this institution he remained two years. Moray House was then under the able rectorship of James Sime, one of the best scholars and most enthusiastic teachers of whom Scotland could then boast, and was, during his incumbency, several times reported as the best college of its kind in Great Britain. When Mr. Anderson finished his course at the Training College, he was selected as an assistant master in the public school in connection with it. He held this position for more than two years, and only resigned it to complete his studies at the university. At the University of Edinburgh, whose classes he attended for four years, his career was distinguished. In the classes of mathematics and natural philosophy he took the first place, and in both was bracketed with another for the Straton gold medals, at that time the highest mathematical honours conferred by the university. In the spring of 1862, the proposal was made, through the rector of the Training College, that he should take the second professorship in the Prince of Wales College. This appointment he accepted, and proceeded to Prince Edward Island in November of that year. In 1868 he was appointed principal, and on the amalgamation of the Prince of Wales College and Normal School, principal of the united institutions, and a member of the Board of Education. On the schools of Prince Edward Island, Mr. Anderson has made a marked and lasting impress, which is every year deepening. His remarkable accuracy of information, his thorough scholarship, and his enthusiastic devotion to the cause of education, have had a most astonishing effect in arousing an interest in the public schools throughout the province. In addition to this, his integrity of purpose, his high sense of honour, and his love of truth, have been instilled into the minds of his pupils, and made effective through that extraordinary force of character which has rendered all his teaching so impressive. He has a wonderful tact in finding out and developing talent in his pupils, and many a young man has been started by him in a career of usefulness and distinction, who might otherwise have remained unknown. Two of Mr. Anderson’s pupils won, successively, the Gilchrist scholarship. The highest honours in the Maritime provinces are generally gained by students from his classes. During the twenty-four years Mr. Anderson has been in the province, he may be said to have taken the leading part in every forward movement in the cause of education.

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=Reddin, James Henry=, Barrister, Charlottetown, Prince Edward Island, was born at Kew, Surrey, England, on the 9th January, 1852. He is the eldest son of James Reddin, formerly a merchant in Charlottetown, but now holding the position of Government inspector of weights and measures for Prince Edward Island. His mother, Louisa Anna Matthews, was a daughter of John Matthews, a retired London merchant, and a freeman of that city, related through his marriage with the widow of Henry Monk, a scion of the family of Monk, of Albemarle, to the Kershaws, Millers, Chadwicks, and other well known commercial families of Liverpool and Manchester. James Reddin’s father, Dennis Reddin, was the son of a manufacturer in Carrick-on-Suir, Tipperary county, Ireland, by his marriage with Miss O’Meara, a daughter of an old established family in the south of Ireland. Dennis Reddin emigrated to Prince Edward Island during the latter portion of the eighteenth century, and having been possessed of a better education than most Irish settlers of his day, he taught school for some time on the island. He afterwards became engaged in mercantile pursuits, notably in the building of ships, in which he was very successful until the year 1847, when a great fall took place in this class of property, and he, like many other shipbuilders, became involved in the common ruin that ensued. The Reddin family have been for nearly a century the leading Irish Catholic family of Prince Edward Island, and one of the sons of the late Dennis Reddin has successively held the position of solicitor-general and attorney-general of the province, and is at present a county court judge,—he being the first Roman Catholic in Prince Edward Island appointed to a judicial office. James Henry Reddin, the subject of this sketch, was educated at a private school, and then at the Prince of Wales and St. Dunstan’s Colleges. After leaving school he occupied for some time the position of clerk in his father’s office, and when that gentleman gave up business, he commenced the study of law with his uncle, Richard Reddin, and continued it in the office of the Hon. Neil McLeod. In July, 1885, he was admitted an attorney of the supreme court, and a barrister the following year. Mr. Reddin has been connected with several literary societies, has written on various occasions for the press, and delivered before the public lectures on literary and other subjects. Mr. Reddin’s father is a Roman Catholic, and he has followed in his footsteps; his mother, however, was a member of the Episcopal church. In politics he is a Liberal-Conservative. In conclusion, we may add that Mr. Reddin’s father for many years filled the position of president of the Benevolent Irish Society, established by Lieut.-Governor Ready in 1825, and on his retirement from office was elected patron of the society in the room of the deceased Hon. Daniel Brenan.

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=Galbraith, Rev. William=, B.C.L., LL.B., Pastor of the Methodist church, Orillia, was born in the township of North Monaghan, three miles from Peterboro’, on 13th of July, 1842. His parents, William Galbraith and Mary MacGlennon, were both natives of Ireland. His mother is a woman of strong mind and great force of character, and her son has inherited from her those qualities which have made him a power in the church. The subject of this sketch was converted at the age of eleven years, and united himself with the Wesleyan Methodist church, and has continued connected with that body of Christians ever since. He received his education for the ministry at Victoria College, Cobourg, and when only seventeen years of age was licensed as a local preacher. In June, 1861, before he was nineteen years old, he entered the ministry, and was ordained in June, 1865. While doing the work of a heavy city appointment, he took up the law course in McGill College, Montreal, and in 1875 received the degree of B.C.L. In 1881 he received the degree of LL.B. from Victoria College. Rev. Mr. Galbraith has been delegate at four general conferences; chairman of a district for seven years; was the last president of the Montreal Conference of the Methodist church of Canada, and the first president of the Montreal Conference of the Methodist church after the union in 1884. Apart from his pulpit duties, the Rev. Mr. Galbraith has taken a deep interest in the educational work of the church, and has contributed liberally to the support of Victoria College, Stanstead Wesleyan College, and the Wesleyan Theological College, Montreal. He has been twice married. His first wife was Hettie Howell, the only child of Isaac Reid and Nancy Howell, of Jerseyville, Ontario. She died when only thirty years of age, leaving three children. His second wife is Kate Breden, daughter of John Breden, Kingston, Ontario.

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