Part 145
=Lafrance, Charles Joseph=, City Treasurer, of Quebec, is one of the best known and most respected public citizens in the ancient capital. His true name is Charles Joseph Levesque, _dit_, or called, Lafrance. The possession of two names in this way is an institution peculiar to many of the French Canadians of the province of Quebec, the first being the original or real family appellation, and the other more in the nature of a distinguishing _sobriquet_, given in the remote past for some reason which cannot now be traced, but eventually crowding the real name out of daily and general use. Thus, the late Hon. Joseph Cauchon, ex-lieut.-governor of Manitoba, was better known by that name than by his real patronymic, which was Laverdière _dit_ Cauchon. The same remark applies to the city treasurer of Quebec, who is better known to his fellow citizens by the name of Lafrance than by his real family name of Levesque, though his brother, the present parish priest of Matane, P.Q., was ordained under the name of Levesque, and is known by no other. In fact, nine-tenths of them would hardly recognize him by any other. He was born in the St. Roch suburb of Quebec, on 13th November, 1833, of the marriage of the late Charles Levesque _dit_ Lafrance, carpenter, and Marie Prevost. His parents were not blessed with a superabundance of this world’s goods, but they were actuated by a laudable ambition to give their boy a good education and ultimately a profession. He was accordingly placed at the Quebec Seminary with the intention of following a complete classical course in that institution in order to prepare himself for the study and practice of the law. He was an apt scholar, and the progress he made in his collegiate studies was remarkable, but, before he could complete them, circumstances over which he had no control compelled him to abandon them, and relinquish—as he then thought, only for a time—the legal career which he had laid out for himself, and to turn his attention to school teaching as a means of livelihood. In the fall of 1850, he secured the appointment of teacher at Cap Rouge, near Quebec, and for the next three years he “taught the young idea there how to shoot.” He then removed to Batiscan, P.Q., where he taught for another year. In June, 1854, he wedded Catherine Stegy _dit_ Angers, daughter of the late Olivier Stegy _dit_ Angers, and his wife, Catherine Bilodeau, of St. Roch’s of Quebec. After his marriage, he bade adieu for good to his long cherished idea of becoming a member of the legal profession, and took charge of the school at Beauport, some three miles out of the city of Quebec, on the road to Montmorency Falls. In this field he again labored for some time, until tiring of the position and prospects of a country teacher, he resolved to establish himself in the city where there was a greater opening for his talents. Accordingly on 1st May, 1859, he opened in the St. John suburb of Quebec, an independent school under the name of the “St. Jean Baptiste Commercial Academy,” which he continued to superintend until July, 1876. During the interval, he devoted all his leisure time from his pupils to study and the compilation for his classes of a number of valuable works on French, English, and book-keeping. Among these may be more specially mentioned, the very useful French grammar which he published in 1865, and his treatise on arithmetic, published in 1867. He also took a great interest in the affairs of the Teachers’ Association, of which he was long a member, and several times secretary and president, besides being chosen as a delegate to represent the teachers of the Quebec district at the great convention of the teachers of the province of Quebec, held at Montreal in May, 1861. In the educational interest, he also started in 1864, at Quebec, jointly with N. Thibault and Joseph Letourneau, both professors of the Laval Normal School, the publication of _La Semaine_ (_The Week_), a weekly paper devoted to the cause of education and the teaching profession. The promotion of a strong national feeling among his French Canadian fellow-countrymen was another of his ambitions, and he early became a prominent member of their great national society, the St. Jean Baptiste, of Quebec, of which he was elected secretary in 1866. He filled this office during eight years, then that of vice-president during two years, and lastly that of president during two years more. It was while he was still an office-holder of the society in 1874, that he was named with the Hon. Hector Fabre, now the Canadian commissioner in Paris, and J. P. Rheaume, ex-M.P.P. for Quebec East and an alderman of the city, as one of the delegates to represent Quebec at the great celebration of the national festival at Montreal that year. The active and intelligent interest which Mr. Lafrance had also taken in municipal affairs, his large fund of information and ready eloquence, marked him out as early as 1868 for civic honors, and in that year he was pressed to stand as a candidate for one of the seats for St. John’s ward in the city council of Quebec. But, politically, he was a liberal of the liberals; toryism was then in the ascendant in the ancient capital, and he had to make a desperate fight against terrible odds. He won, however, and after that he was constantly re-elected without opposition down to 1876, when he declined further re-election, though pressed thereto by a requisition signed by the majority of the electors of both political parties. In the Quebec city council, Mr. Lafrance was one of the most conspicuous figures, leading in all important debates, and generally taking a prominent part in all committee and council work for the good of the city. On financial questions, he was especially strong, and was altogether a valuable municipal representative, his course throughout being marked by great independence, and his name unsullied by the breath of scandal. It has already been stated that Mr. Lafrance was an ardent liberal in politics. Even in his school-days, he was noted for the intensity of his liberalism, and as he grew to manhood he threw himself with all the enthusiasm and self-denial of his nature into all the struggles of his party in the Quebec district. But the liberal fortunes were at a low ebb in Lower Canada in those days, the cause was unpopular, and the very name of _Rouge_ was a bugbear. It required great moral courage for a young man to cast his lot with the Dorions, the Holtons, the Lauriers, the Fourniers and the other ardent spirits, who were then considered the advocates’ of revolution among the French Canadians, and condemned accordingly from hustings and pulpit. All the worldly, and, it may be added, spiritual inducements of the day were on the other side. But Mr. Lafrance never hesitated even for a moment in his choice between principles and interest. He at once took his place in the van of the Liberal party militant, and boldly lifted its fallen banner in the Quebec district. Prompt to perceive that the great want of his fellow-countrymen was political education, and that the chief drawback of his party was the absence of organs to supply that education and to denounce the wrong doing and short comings of their adversaries in power, the hard-working school teacher threw himself also into journalism, and started paper after paper in the interest of his party. His confidence in the eventual success of that party’s mission was unbounded; but his means and support were necessarily limited, and though his papers were ably, nay, brilliantly, conducted, they were short lived. Each failure, however, seemed to encourage him to new exertion. Thus, in 1866, he assumed the publication of _L’Electeur_, and upon its death embarked his fortunes in _L’Echo du Peuple_, which he published during 1867 and 1868. In 1870, he brought out _L’Opinion Nationale_, and in 1871 and 1872 _L’Opinion du Peuple_, the last named being an open advocate of annexation to the United States as the only remedy for existing evils from which escape then seemed to him otherwise hopeless. In this view, it will be remembered that he did not stand alone at the time. But he had the courage of his convictions and boldly advocated them. It was, however, up-hill work to do so, and his life history at this stage was one of prolonged struggle and self-sacrifice. In 1874, he was the candidate chosen by the Liberal party to contest with the government candidate the seat for Quebec Centre in the Provincial legislature, and his personal popularity with the mass of the electors was so great that his return was confidently anticipated. But the government delayed the issue of the writ from January to April, and in the interval the late Hon. Joseph Cauchon was commissioned to announce to him that the government would allow him to be elected by acclamation, provided he signed a pledge to give them a certain amount of “fair play.” Mr. Lafrance’s reply to this tempting offer was characteristically consistent. He said: “I have always been a Liberal. If to have the honor of representing Quebec Centre I must begin by making concessions of this kind, I prefer to remain at home.” This reply cost him the active support of Mr. Cauchon, who was then a great political power in Quebec, and the English vote of the division was also alienated from him by a pamphlet which he had published towards the end of December, 1873, under the title of “Our Political Divisions.” Bribery and corruption on an extensive scale, coupled with the treachery of several of his chief election managers, did the remainder of the work and secured his defeat at the polls. In 1876, the Liberal government of Mr. Mackenzie was in power at Ottawa, and our subject was named as inspector of gas at Quebec, when he abandoned school teaching. But he continued to contribute to the local press and especially to _L’Evenement_, of which he assumed the complete editorial management from the fall of 1876 to the close of 1877, during the absence of its proprietor and usual editor, Senator Fabre, at Ottawa and in France. In 1878, the important and responsible office of treasurer of the city of Quebec became vacant, and, recalling the financial ability he had manifested as a member of the city council, public opinion at once designated Mr. Lafrance for the office and he received it. This appointment, and successive family bereavements about the same time, determined his abandonment of politics and the devotion of his remaining years of usefulness to the finances of the city and the interests of his family. Under his able and cautious management, Quebec’s financial situation as a city has since very materially improved, and its credit stands high in the money markets of the world—the latest quotation of its bonds on the English market being 118. He has also very thoroughly and effectively re-organized the book-keeping and audit systems of the Quebec corporation, and is the originator of a scheme for the consolidation of the city debt, which still claims very serious attention and may probably at no distant day be carried out. In religion, Mr. Lafrance is a Roman Catholic. He has seven surviving children. One of his sons is assistant accountant of the Quebec corporation, and one of his daughters not long since left Quebec with thirty self-sacrificing young ladies to devote herself as a nun to the care of the sick and infirm in the convent of the Incarnate Word at San Antonio, Texas.
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=Scarth, William Bain=, Winnipeg, M.P. for the city of Winnipeg, Manitoba, was born in Aberdeen, Scotland, on the 10th November, 1837. His father was James Scarth, a scion of the family of the Scarths of Binscarth, Orkney Islands; and his mother, Jane Geddes, of Stromness in the same islands. He received a general classical education in schools in Aberdeen and Edinburgh. Mr. Scarth came to Canada in 1855, when seventeen years of age, and after several years spent in mercantile life in Hamilton and London, Ontario, he removed, in 1868, to Toronto, where he resided till 1884. Soon after his removal to Toronto he began to take a prominent part in public affairs. For two years he occupied a seat in the city council as representative of St. James’ ward; was a high school trustee, and was manager of the North British-Canadian Investment Company and the Scottish Ontario and Manitoba Land Company. He was also president of the Conservative Association of Centre Toronto. After removing to Winnipeg, in 1884, he became managing director of the Canada Northwest Land Company; secretary and director of the Canadian Anthracite Coal Company, and director of the North British-Canadian Investment Company. He presented himself for parliamentary honors in 1887, and was elected to serve in the House of Commons at Ottawa as representative for Winnipeg, and this seat he still occupies. Mr. Scarth has travelled a good deal, and long before railway days traversed the far North-west. He has also visited Cuba, and is familiar with every part of the United States and Canada. In politics he is a Conservative; and in religion, a member of the Presbyterian church. In 1869 he was married to Jessie Stewart Franklin, daughter of the late Dr. John Macaulay Hamilton, R.N., a native of Stromness, Orkney, and cousin of Lord Macaulay, the historian. Her mother was Miss Rae, sister of Dr. Rae, the Arctic explorer.
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=Hould, Jean Baptiste Ludger=, LL.B., Barrister, Three Rivers, who is one of the most prominent lawyers in Three Rivers, was born on the 3rd of September, 1841, at St. Angèle de Laval, and is the son of Jean Baptiste Hould, who for many years was mayor and member of the council of the latter place. His mother was Olive Tourigny, of the same place. Mr. Hould was educated at the Seminary of Nicolet, where he succeeded in securing a good education. He afterwards studied law at Laval University, during which term he was engaged in the office of the then well-known firm of Casault, Langlois & Angers, the Hon. Mr. Casault, now judge of the Superior Court, and the Hon. Mr. Angers, the present lieutenant-governor of Quebec, being members of it. Mr. Hould was admitted to the bar of Lower Canada in July, 1864, and commenced practice at Three Rivers in 1865, and since then he has enjoyed by far the most lucrative practice in that city. Amongst his many duties, he has pleaded at the Court of Review, in the Queen’s Bench and in the Supreme Court. He held office for many years in the city council, but his multifarious duties in connection with his practice compelled him to relinquish his connection with municipal affairs. He was elected twice president (_bâtonnier_) of the bar of Three Rivers, and in May, 1883, was also chosen president (_bâtonnier_-general) of the bar of the province of Quebec. He is acknowledged by his _confrères_ as possessing a great amount of professional ability; is greatly respected by the community at large, and highly deserving of the confidence for integrity reposed in him. Mr. Hould helped to have the tax of $4.00 abolished which each advocate was formerly compelled to pay for the publication of the Lower Canada Reports; and he established a law library for the bar of Three Rivers. He is one of the founders and the first president of the literary and scientific society called _Société Basault_, which was founded in 1863, at Laval University, in Quebec. He acted as advocate for F. H. B. Methot, H. Montplaisir, H. G. Mathiot and F. Trudel when their elections were contested. He married on the 30th June, 1869, Sarah, daughter of the late Francis Xavier Turcotte, who was for many years clerk of the peace for Three Rivers. By this marriage there has been issue nine children, five of whom survive.
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=Taschereau, His Eminence Elzéar-Alexandre=, Cardinal and Archbishop of Quebec, was born on the 17th February, 1820, at St. Marie de la Beauce, Quebec province. This illustrious prince of the Roman Catholic church is descended from Thomas Jacques Taschereau, a gentleman who came to Canada in the early part of the seventeenth century from Touraine, in France, and whose descendants have ever since occupied prominent positions in the province of Quebec. Soon after the arrival of the founder of the Canadian branch of the family, he was appointed to the office of marine treasurer, and in 1736 received a grant of a seigniory on the banks of the Chaudière river. The Cardinal’s grandfather was the late Hon. Gabriel Elzear Taschereau, who, during his lifetime, was a member of the Legislative Assembly. His father was Jean Thomas Taschereau, who was a judge of the King’s Bench and died in 1832. His mother, Marie Panet, was a daughter of the Hon. Jean Antoine Panet, who was the speaker of the first Legislative Assembly of Canada. This estimable lady died in 1866. The future Cardinal, when a mere lad, was sent to the Quebec Seminary, where he soon became distinguished as a student. Here he pursued a course of classical studies, and then entered the Grand Seminary, where he began the usual course of theology. In 1836, when he was in his seventeenth year, he visited Rome in company with Abbé Holmes, of the Seminary, and in the following year received the tonsure at the hands of Monsigneur Piatti, archbishop of Trebizonde, in the Basilica of St. John Lateran. Shortly after this he returned to Quebec and again took up his theological studies, which, with other branches of learning, occupied his attention for about six years, when, though he was still under canonical age, he was ordained priest. His ordination took place on the 10th September, 1842, at the Church of St. Marie de la Beauce, his native place, in the presence of Monseigneur Turgeon, then coadjutor, and subsequently successor to Archbishop Signal. Within a short time after his ordination he was appointed to the chair of philosophy in the Seminary, and this important position he held for twelve years. Previous to this, even in 1838, he held the professorship of Latin and Greek, and in 1841 he was professor of rhetoric. A very interesting episode in this illustrious clergyman’s life occurred shortly after this date, which we cannot help recording here, and which deserves to be written in letters of gold. About thirty miles below the port of Quebec, in the St. Lawrence river, and nearly opposite St. Thomas, is a small island known by the name of Grosse Isle, which has been used for a great number of years by the government of Canada as a quarantine station, where all ships carrying emigrants are required to report before sailing further up the river. In 1847 a malignant fever broke out among the emigrants there which ran a rapid course, and the victims died in great numbers. At this time the emigrants coming in were chiefly Irish Roman Catholics who had been driven by poverty and famine to seek a home in Canada; their vitality had been greatly impaired by starvation before leaving home, and they fell easy victims to the ship fever then so prevalent, which in some cases carried them off in a few hours. The greater part of the island was for a time little better than a mass of loathsomeness and pestilence, and the heroism that would enable a man to face such a state of things is much more praiseworthy than the courage required to enable him to walk up to the mouth of a cannon. Father Taschereau felt the call of duty and volunteered his services to assist the Rev. Father Moylan, who was then chaplain at Grosse Isle, to minister to the spiritual necessities of the victims of the fever. His kind offer was thankfully accepted, and he landed on the island where he remained until he himself was stricken down by the scourge and brought literally to death’s door. His conduct at this time endeared him very much to the Irish Roman Catholics in Quebec and their countrymen throughout the west. But, to resume, Father Taschereau was appointed professor of theology in the Seminary in 1851, and three years afterwards, in 1854, he again visited Rome, charged by the second Provincial Council of Quebec to submit its decrees for the sanction of his Holiness the Pope. He spent two years at this time in the Eternal City, during which period he occupied himself chiefly in studying the canon law, and while here (July, 1856) the Roman Seminary conferred upon him the degree of doctor of canon law. On his return to Quebec, he was appointed director of the _Petit Seminaire_, a position which he filled until 1859, when he was elected director of the _Grand Seminaire_, and appointed a member of the Council of Public Instruction for Lower Canada. In 1860 he became superior of the Seminary and rector of Laval University. In 1862 he accompanied Archbishop Baillargeon to Rome on business connected with Laval University, and on his return the same year, was appointed vicar-general of the arch-diocese of Quebec. Again in 1864 he paid a visit to Rome on similar business connected with Laval. In 1866, his term of office as superior of the _Grand Seminaire_ having expired, he was again appointed director, and three years afterwards, on the expiration of another term, he was re-elected superior. In 1870 he paid another visit to Rome, this time as secretary to Monseigneur C. Baillargeon, archbishop of Quebec, who went there to attend the Vatican Council, and on his return the same year he resumed his duties as superior of the Seminary and rector of Laval University. After the death of Archbishop Baillargeon in October, 1870, he administered the affairs of the arch-diocese conjointly with Grand Vicar Cazean. On the 13th Feb., 1871, it was announced that he had been appointed successor to the late archbishop, and on Sunday, the 19th of March, following, he was consecrated to this high office in the presence of a vast concourse of people, many of the clergy of the diocese and of the bishops of Quebec and Ontario,—the Archbishop of Toronto officiating. In 1872 and 1884, business again led him to Rome. And in 1887, on his last visit to the capital of Christendom, he was presented with the Cardinal’s hat. His Eminence is the first Canadian who has thus been so honored by his church, and his Protestant fellow-countrymen are as proud of the honor conferred upon him as his co-religionists, for he is held in high esteem by persons of all classes and creeds in the Dominion for his work’s sake.
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