Part 147

=Wright, Philemon.=—The late Mr. Philemon Wright was appropriately called the “Father of the Ottawa.” He was a native of Woburn, State of Massachusetts, United States, where he was born in 1760. Mr. Wright emigrated to this country in the year 1800, and with a steady perseverance, he determined on ascending the river Ottawa in quest of a tract of land suitable for an agriculturist. With this object in view, he steadily penetrated into the country, at a great expense of mental and bodily exertion, for sixty miles beyond any previous settler, where, finding a spot adapted for his purpose, he obtained, after many efforts, and irritating delays, from government, permission to settle upon and survey the township of Hull, in the county of Ottawa, Lower Canada. This being accomplished, he went to work with a will characteristic of the early New England pioneers, and was in a few years rewarded for his toil and hardships by witnessing a thriving settlement growing up around him. In furtherance of his agricultural pursuits, he, at a very heavy cost, imported from Great Britain some of the most approved breeds of cattle, and thereby contributed in the most efficient manner to promote the interests of the settlers in that section of the country. He was also the projector of some of the greatest improvements on the Ottawa. He died at Hull, C.E., on 2nd June, 1839. He left a numerous offspring, to all of whom he was endeared by the tenderest ties of affection and esteem. His epitaph will be recorded in the beautiful and prosperous settlement of Hull, or, as it was sometimes called, Wrightstown, which he commenced and lived to see attain a degree of magnitude, where his name will be long remembered with the highest respect.

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=Quinton, William A.=, Fairville, N.B., Farmer and Lumber Dealer, M.P.P. for the county of St. John, New Brunswick, was born on the 4th April, 1847, in the parish of Lancaster, county of St. John, N.B., and is descended from a family who has made its mark in the world. In looking over the history of the early settlers in New Brunswick, we find that among the party who arrived at the mouth of the St. John river, August 28th, 1762, was Hugh Quinton and wife, and that their son James was noted as being the first child of the new settlers born here, having first seen the light in Fort Frederick the evening of their arrival. Hugh Quinton was born in New Hampshire and had been a soldier in the old French war. He enlisted when quite a youth, as did many others, but at that time recruits for military service were enlisted at an early age. In the Revolutionary war, in some, if not all of the colonies, all who were sixteen years old were compelled to do military duty. Hugh Quinton first enlisted from Windham, formerly part of the town of Londonderry, New Hampshire, March 5th, 1757, in a company in which Hercules Mooney was captain and Alexander Todd lieutenant, and was discharged March 5th of the same year. The following spring he again enlisted, April 12th, in a company in which Alexander Todd was captain, and he was discharged October 30th. He again enlisted, the following year, for the third time, on the 11th of March, 1760, and on the 24th of October was discharged sick, and it is said he went to Albany, N.Y. The expeditions in which he was engaged were four operations at Crown Point and Fort William Henry, on the north shore of Lake George. Fort William Henry was captured by the French and Indians in August, 1757, and out of two hundred New Hampshire soldiers, eighty were mercilessly slaughtered by the Indians after they had surrendered. Some of Hugh Quinton’s relatives early settled not far from Albany, in that part of old Whitehall township known as Hampton. Among them were Josiah and John Quinton and their sister Ann, who married a McFarland. In 1806 Josiah removed across the State line to Fairhaven, in Vermont, a short distance from Hampton. Fairbank’s History of Fairhaven names a number of descendants. In an old family bible of the Quinton family it is stated that Hugh Quinton was born at Cheshire, New Hampshire, in 1741; that Elizabeth Cristy was born at Londonderry, N.H., 1741, and that they were married in 1761. In the lower tier of counties of New Hampshire, is one called Cheshire, but the writer has found no mention of the name of Quinton among early settlers, but in the town now called Chester, which was originally called Cheshire, in Rockingham county, was a prominent early settler named James Quenton. The first settlers of Cheshire or Chester, Londonderry, Windham and vicinity were mainly Scotch Presbyterians from the North of Ireland. In the “New Hampshire Provincial Papers,” volume 4, is copied a petition to the governor from sundry inhabitants of Chester, in 1737, which states that “the present inhabitants of Chester, aforesaid, formerly belonged (most of them) to the Kingdom of Scotland and Ireland, where they were educated in the principles of the Kirk of Scotland, for which they have great veneration,” and the petition proceeds to refer to some differences about calling a minister. Among the signers is the name of James Quenton. He is named again in a list of tax-payers, 1741, and again in the minutes of the Presbyterian church, Sept. 14, 1753, as parish clerk. As he is the only Quenton or Quinton named in the full list of tax-payers at that place, it is reasonable to presume that he was the father of Hugh Quinton. The latter had two half-brothers named Jonathan and Joshua. In 1771, a John Quinton is named at Dorchester, N.H. In the revolution, David Quentin enlisted Oct. 1, 1777, at Windham, and he is again named in New Hampshire Provincial Papers, vol. 11, in an order for pay of a soldier’s dues in 1790. After this, the writer has found no mention of the name of Quinton in copies of New Hampshire records. Hugh Quinton the St. John pioneer, had sons, James, John, David and Jesse. In the early days of the settlement of the city, when fears were entertained of Indians, Hugh Quinton, it is said, was appointed captain of a militia company, organized for defence of the settlers. In Hotten’s list of emigrants it is stated that a Henry Quinton, aged 20, left London, Jan. 2, 1634, for Virginia, and Roger Quintin left London, July 24, 1635, for the same place. This was about a century before the name of James Quinton appears in New Hampshire. In the same work is named Henry Quintyne of Barbadoes as a person to whom were consigned “convicted rebels” from Bristol, England, in 1679 and 1685. This may be the same “Henry Quinton of Barbadoes” named in a will of Samuel Spicer of Boston, Dec. 24, 1664, who speaks of him as “my loving father-in-law, Henry Quinton.” This will is quoted in the New England Historical and Genealogical Register, volume 16, page 330. In the New Hampshire records, the name of this family is given by town and parish clerks as Quinton, Quenton, Quanton and Quentin. The latter was probably the spelling when the name was first introduced into England as a surname, and it eventually became Anglicized to Quinton. It appears to belong to that class of surnames brought into England about the time of William I., derived from French towns or places. The town of St. Quentin in Picardy was so called in honor of Quentin, an early Christian martyr. Sir Walter Scott names the leading character in his novel of Quentin Durward for this saint. The first or founder of the Quentin family in England was Sir Herbert St. Quentin, a companion in arms of William the Conqueror, who granted him the manor of Skipsey and other lands in county Notts. Sir Herbert St. Quentin, a grandson, was summoned to parliament in 1294, and had two daughters; first Elizabeth and second Lora, who eventually became sole heir and married Robert de Grey of Rothersfield. The barony of St. Quentin passed through Grey, Fitzhugh and Parr to the Earl of Pembroke, descending from William St. Quentin, eldest surviving son of Edward II., and fourth in descent from the founder of the county. The last baron was Sir William St. Quentin, who died 1795, when the baronetcy became extinct. His nephew, Wm. Thomas Darby, of Sunbury, Middlesex, was his heir, and upon succeeding to the estates, assumed the surname and arms; he was succeeded by his son, Matthew Chitty Downes St. Quentin. There appears to have been several branches of this family beside the above direct line, which show the gradual changing of the name from St. Quentin to Quentin and Quinton. The arms and crest of the different branches are given in both Burke’s and Fairbanks’ Armory of families of Great Britain and Ireland. The arms and crest of the first of the family, Sir Herbert, is thus given; Arms: Or, three chevronels, gu. a chief vair. Crest: Out of a ducal coronet gu. A pearise, ppr., on the top of a fluted column between two horns, or. A representation of the crest of the “Quintons of England” is given in Fairbank’s Armory, and it is thus described: “An arm, in armour, couped, embowered, in hand, a sword, ppr.” Mr. Quinton, the subject of our sketch, is the son of James Quinton, who was a farmer and the leading contractor and builder in St. John, and served two terms in the New Brunswick legislature, and was one of the first confederate members. His mother was named Elizabeth Tilley. Young Quinton received his educational training in the city of St. John; and when only twenty years of age, having begun early in life to take an interest in military affairs, enlisted in the militia, and has since kept up his interest in militia life, being now major in the force. For four years he has been member of the city council; and for five years he was a member of the municipal council. In 1882 he entered political life, and was returned as member for the county of St. John, N.B., and has since represented that county in the New Brunswick legislature. Over eighteen years ago he joined the Masonic order; and is also connected with the Orange order. He has travelled extensively through the United States, and during the late war visited the Southern States. In religion, Mr. Quinton is an adherent of the Episcopal church; and in politics, a Liberal. He was married 6th December, 1877, to Kate, daughter of R. R. Allan, of Carleton, St. John, N.B. Mr. Quinton resides on the old family homestead, and follows the business of farming and dealing in lumber.

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=Chagnon, Hon. Hubert Wilfred=, residing in the town of St. John’s, in the district of Iberville, Judge of the Superior Court of the province of Quebec, now retired, was born in the parish of Verchères, district of Montreal, on the 22nd of March, 1833, from the marriage of Eloi Chagnon, farmer, of said parish, with Justine Brousseau. He followed a classical course of study at the College of Montreal, and was articled as a law student in November, 1852, under Forréol Pelletier, then a practising advocate in Montreal, and since assistant judge of the Superior Court in Montreal. He followed the course of the law faculty, under the professorship of Maximilien Bibaud, at the Jesuits’ College, in Montreal, and was admitted to the bar in November, 1855. He remained in the office of Mr. Pelletier, practising with him, up to July, 1856, when he entered into partnership with A. Papineau, then practising advocate in St. Hyacinthe, and now a judge in the Superior Court in Montreal In December, 1857, he left Mr. Papineau, and took a partnership with L. V. Sicotte, then practising advocate in St. Hyacinthe, and practised with him up to 1863, when Mr. Sicotte was appointed judge of the Superior Court of Quebec. Since then he went into partnership with Mr. Sicotte’s son, and during a certain time with Magloire Lanctot, since a district magistrate for the district of St. Hyacinthe, and finally he was appointed a judge of the Superior Court of Quebec province on 27th September, 1873. He administered justice in the district of Iberville from 27th September, 1873, to November, 1887, when, on account of ill-health, he was obliged to retire, with the ordinary pension. He is, and has always been, an adherent of the Roman Catholic church. He was married, in January, 1858, to Marie Elizabeth Varin, daughter of Jean Baptiste Varin, registrar of the county of Laprairie, in the district of Montreal.

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