Part 186
The United States found itself compelled to add a Bureau of Statistics, and the only regret we ever heard expressed is that the bureau had not been established years ago. * * * In addition to all these arguments there is the fact that the government have now in the temporary employ of the finance department a man who till lately was chief of that bureau—a skilled, experienced man, capable of putting the Canadian bureau into good working order without those expenditures which are the invariable price of experience when accumulated from a beginning of ignorance. Such a skilled man would save the country thousands of dollars by reason of the experience he has had. We refer to Edward Young, Ph.D., a Nova Scotian who left this province some years ago and worked his way up to the eminent position he held in Washington by sheer force of ability. The time, then, is opportune; the work is immensely important; the man is at hand.
Although Sir Leonard Tilley appreciated the importance to the government and people of a Statistical Bureau, yet he regarded the carrying out of the new revenue system without friction as a measure of pressing necessity. To interpret the tariff and prescribe uniformity in the various custom houses, a board of appraisers was appointed of which Mr. Young was acting secretary. After a few months he resigned and returned to Washington, and soon after established in New York the _Industrial Monthly_, devoted to the manufacturing industries of America, and the advocacy of protective legislation. This was published for several years and then merged in _America_, a serial of similar views. Until his removal to Windsor he was engaged in writing for the weekly and daily press of New York, chiefly on economic subjects, and in advocacy of protection, in order that the toilers in American shops, mills, factories, and mines should receive full reward for their labor. Although not fully in accord with the economic views of the president and the secretary of state, yet it was the particular desire of Mr. Bayard that Dr. Young should enter the consular service and be stationed in Canada, where his knowledge of the trade and the fishing and other industries of the several provinces, would prove useful to the United States government. Accordingly he was appointed and confirmed as consul of the Windsor consular district, which embraces the counties of Hants, Kings, and Cumberland, with parts of Annapolis and Colchester, succeeding D. K. Hobart, of Maine, who had held the office for fourteen years. Dr. Young spends, by permission of his government, accompanied by his wife and daughter, some of the winter months during which navigation on the Avon is closed, at Wolfville, where he has relations, and where he has access to the valuable library of Acadia College. He has two sons, both married and settled in Washington; the older, Charles E., a civil engineer; the younger, William H. Young, B.D. (of Yale), pastor of the Metropolitan Baptist Church. Another son who was a very able man, an accomplished linguist, connected with the Smithsonian Institute, died four years ago. He represented the institution at the Vienna Exposition in 1873, and officially visited its agencies in Europe. Dr. Young occasionally comes before the public as a speaker on moral and religious topics. He delivers a very learned and interesting lecture on the subject of Russia, in which he accords a high place to the late Czar, Alexander II., for his great act, the emancipation of the serfs. He has for a long period been actively engaged in religious and benevolent work. For many years a member and deacon of Baptist churches, and for a few years superintendent of a Sabbath school in Washington; and although strongly attached to the principles of his own denomination, yet has been actively engaged in all union efforts. He was one of a committee that planned, and secretary of a society that established in Halifax, about forty years ago, the first Sailors’ Home and Bethel. In the cause of temperance he was one of the pioneers, uniting with a society established in Wolfville in 1829, was secretary of a society in Windsor more than fifty years ago, and in Halifax about forty-five years ago, where he published a weekly paper devoted to temperance. His consistency was proved by not permitting his vessels to take cargoes of rum from the West Indies; and—the only American—by declining to partake of wine at dinner in the palaces of the Emperor of Russia and of Grand Dukes and other members of the Imperial family, and by declining to drink wine with the Prince Dolgorouki, governor-general of Central Russia, at his palace in Moscow. That his eccentric conduct produced no ill-feeling is evidenced by the fact that he succeeded in having released from Russian prisons twelve poor people who had been long kept there charged with inducing members of the Russo-Greek church to unite with the Standists (chiefly Baptists), when the Evangelical Alliance, which met in New York in 1874, failed even to have their memorial submitted to the Imperial court. In 1873 the Russian minister at Washington, in a despatch to the secretary of state, asked permission to present to Dr. Young, delegate from the United States to the International Statistical Congress in 1872, a diamond ring from the Emperor’s private cabinet, as a _souvenir_ of that congress. To overcome a constitutional obstacle, a joint resolution was passed at the ensuing session of Congress, and approved by the president, giving the recipient permission to accept the valuable ring. It has the Emperor’s initials and a crown in gold and small diamonds on blue enamel surrounded by eight large diamonds of the first water. Although well up in years (and old only in years)—“his hair just grizzled as in a green old age”—yet Dr. Young preserves a youthful flow of spirits, takes great interest in the rising generation and its pursuits, and loves sociality and friendly conversation. If he has a craze it is the belief that English not Volapüt will be the universal language of commerce at least, and that the two great English-speaking peoples, having a common language and literature, and possessing greater freedom than other nations, shall unite their efforts to extend the blessings of civil and religious liberty to all other peoples, and to evangelize the world.
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=Huggan, William Thomas=, Charlottetown, Accountant and Auditor, Prince Edward Island Railway, was born on the 24th May, 1851, at Halifax, Nova Scotia. His father, Thomas Huggan, was born on the 5th May, 1817, at Barney’s River, Pictou county, Nova Scotia; and his mother, Sarah Dowler, was born on the 27th December, 1818, at Leith, Scotland. Mr. Huggan received his educational training at Halifax, Nova Scotia, in a private school,—Michael McCullough being master. He entered the government employ at Halifax, on January 14, 1870, as junior clerk in the accountant’s office, Nova Scotia railway. In August, 1870, he became a clerk in the general store-keeper’s office; in August, 1871, time-keeper and clerk in the mechanical superintendent’s office, and in November, 1871, clerk in the audit office. Upon the amalgamation of the Nova Scotia Railway with the Intercolonial and European and North American railways in November, 1872, under the name of the Intercolonial, he was transferred to Moncton, New Brunswick, on the 27th of that month, as clerk in the audit office of the road. In October, 1873, he became clerk in the local store of the Intercolonial Railway; February, 1874, clerk in the general store-keeper’s office; April, 1874, clerk in the mechanical superintendent’s office; July, 1874, clerk in the accountant’s office, and in November, 1875, he was appointed chief clerk in the accountant’s office. On the 1st of July, 1882, he was made accountant and auditor of the Prince Edward Island Railway, with charge of the general ticket department, which office he now holds. During the period covered above he served in the various capacities of station-master, paymaster, cashier, etc. In January, 1881, he became connected with St. John’s Presbyterian Church, Moncton, N.B., since which time he has been a Sabbath-school teacher. In March, 1882, he was ordained an elder of this church, and afterward taking up his abode in Charlottetown, was elected to same position, that of elder in Zion Church. Mr. Huggan has also served as manager in the former church, and as a trustee and treasurer in the latter congregation. While always a total abstainer, he became a charter member of Orient Division, No. 161, Sons of Temperance, in September, 1886, since which time, he has twice served as financial scribe. He served five years in the first battery Halifax Volunteer Artillery. He was married, October 25th, 1875, to Sarah L., eldest daughter of William E. Weldon, of Moncton, N.B., and Margaret A. Church, of Point Du Bute, N.B.
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=Brymner, Douglas=, Ottawa, Historical Archivist of the Dominion, was born in Greenock, Scotland, in 1823. He is the fourth son of Alexander Brymner, banker, originally from Stirling, where the family held for many years, a prominent position. The elder Brymner was a man of fine intellectual attainments, an enthusiast in letters, and refined in his tastes and feelings. He had great influence over his children, and took every opportunity to instil into their minds a hearty love for literature in all its branches. They had the additional advantage of frequent intercourse with living men of letters, and their acquaintance with the writings of the most eminent and esteemed authors of the time soon became extensive. The mother of Douglas Brymner was Elizabeth Fairlie, daughter of John Fairlie, merchant in Greenock, who died at an early age, leaving his widow and family in comfortable circumstances. The subject of our sketch was educated at the Greenock Grammar School, where, under the skilful tuition of Dr. Brown, he mastered the classics and higher branches of study. After leaving school, Mr. Brymner received a thorough mercantile training. He began business on his own account, and subsequently admitted his brother, Graham, as a partner, on the return of the latter from the West Indies, where he had been engaged for some years. The brothers were highly successful, the younger filling, in later years, several important offices, such as justice of the peace for the county of Renfrew, and chairman of the Sanitary Commission for his native town. He died in 1885, from typhus fever, contracted in the discharge of his duties as chairman, universally regretted by all. In 1853, Mr. Brymner married Jean Thomson (who died in 1884), daughter of William Thomson, of Hill End, by whom he had nine children, six of whom survive. The eldest of these is William, a rising artist of an excellent school, who has studied for several years in the best studios of Paris, and whose recent exhibits have received general praise. The second son, George Douglas, is one of the accountants in the Bank of Montreal, and James, the third son, is in the Northwest. Two daughters and a son are at home. In consequence of ill health, induced by close application to business, Mr. Brymner was compelled to retire from the partnership in 1856. Complete withdrawal from mercantile cares for a year having restored him to something like his former self, he removed to Canada in 1857, and settled in Melbourne, one of the Eastern Townships. Here he filled the office of mayor for two terms with conspicuous ability. On both occasions he had been elected without a contest, and without having solicited a single vote from any one, his belief being that an office of this sort ought to be conferred by the unasked suffrage of the constituency. He declined to serve for a third term, although earnestly requested to do so. While mayor, he introduced various improvements in the mode of conducting municipal business. Like many other immigrants possessing capital, he found his means vanishing before the financial crisis of 1857. Mr. Brymner drifted into what seemed to be his natural calling—literature, for which his early training and continuous study well qualified him. On the acceptance by Dr. Snodgrass of the office of principal of Queen’s College, the post of editor of the _Presbyterian_, the official journal of the Church of Scotland in Canada, became vacant. It was offered to Mr. Brymner, his fitness for the position having been recognized by the leaders of the church, he having been an active member of the church courts as a representative elder, and his numerous contributions to the discussion of important religious topics being esteemed and valuable. Under his guidance, the editorials being written with a straightforward, independent spirit, the paper at once took a high place. Many of Mr. Brymner’s articles on ecclesiastical questions were in particular much admired, and leading religious journals often made lengthy quotations from them. About the same time he joined the staff of the Montreal _Herald_, where in a little he was appointed associate editor with the late Hon. Edward Goff Penny. Often, owing to the severe indisposition of Mr. Penny, Mr. Brymner had sole editorial charge of the _Herald_. He was noted as one of the most efficient and hard-working members of the Press Gallery at Ottawa, and in 1871, the presidency of the Press Association devolved upon him. A year later, in 1872, it having been resolved to establish a new branch of the Civil Service, namely, the collection of the historical records of the Dominion and its provinces, Mr. Brymner, with the approval of men of all political shades, received the appointment. Before leaving Montreal for Ottawa, an address, signed by leading men in the professions, in business, and of the different nationalities, was presented to Mr. Brymner, accompanied by a magnificent testimonial. No better selection could have been made for the office of archivist than that of Mr. Brymner. He had peculiar fitness for the task imposed on him. His extensive historical knowledge, unwearied industry, patience, and love for research, his power of organizing and arranging materials for reference, etc., were all admirable qualifications, and these he possessed to a remarkable degree. His reports are models, and present in clear and terse language the results of his labours. The story of the origin of the office, and the important part played in its construction by Mr. Brymner, will be found in the archivist’s report for 1883. In 1881, the Public Record Office (London) authorities republished the whole of Mr. Brymner’s report as part of their own, owing, as the keeper of records, Sir William Hardy, said, to the importance of the information it contained. Every year since then copious extracts have been made from Mr. Brymner’s reports. Perhaps it will not be out of place to insert here the following excerpt from the preface to the admirably annotated publication of “Hadden’s Journal and Orderly Books,” by General Horatio Rogers, who says:—“I cannot refrain from referring to the unwearied zeal and unfailing courtesy of Mr. Douglas Brymner, the archivist of the Dominion of Canada, in affording me the fullest and most satisfactory use of the Haldimand papers and the other manuscripts confided to his charge. Would that all public officials in custody of valuable manuscripts might take a lesson from him!” Mr. Brymner is an adherent of the Church of Scotland, to which he has always belonged, and he has been one of the most formidable opponents of union. His evidence before the Senate Committee, on the 24th and 26th of April, 1882, which is substantially the argument of the non-contents on the Union question, was presented with great power and skill. It can be found in a pamphlet of over forty pages, published by Hunter, Rose &. Co., Toronto, in 1883. The greater part of his literary work is anonymous. He possesses a fund of caustic humour, some of which found vent in his letters in Scotch, under the name of “Tummas Treddles,” an octogenarian Paisley weaver, originally contributions on curling to the Montreal _Herald_, but afterwards extended to other subjects in the _Scottish American Journal_. These have ceased for some years, doubtless from the pressure of other and more serious occupations. His translations of the Odes of Horace into Scotch verse were happy imitations. A favourable specimen, “The Charms of Country Life,” is in the _Canadian Monthly_ of 1879, the others having appeared in newspapers, and, so far as is known, have never been collected. He is another illustration of the fallacy of Sidney Smith’s statement, that it requires a surgical operation to get a joke into a Scotchman’s head. Mr. Brymner’s work is gaining, year by year, in reputation with scholars and students. Dr. Poole, chairman of the American Historical Association, says that the archives “under the care of Mr. Brymner forms the most valuable collection of manuscripts for historical purposes to be found on this continent.” (_Library Journal_ for 1877, p. 458.) Dr. George Stewart, jr., president of the Literary and Historical Society of Quebec, says in _Canadian Leaves_, “Mr. Douglas Brymner has really created the department of archives, and made it one of the most efficient in the public service of Canada.” Other historical writers express the highest opinion of the value of the work in progress, and the annual reports are now eagerly looked for.
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=Cameron, Allan=, M.D., Owen Sound, on the 30th December, 1830. His father, Daniel Allan Cameron, was the only son of Allan Cameron, at one time lieutenant and adjutant of H. B. M. 1st regiment of foot. His mother, Margaret Fisher Buchan, was a niece of the late James Ewing, of Strathleven. He was educated in Glasgow, at the Collegiate Institute and High School. He afterwards entered as a medical student at the Glasgow University, graduating in the year 1853 as Doctor of Medicine. In the following year he obtained the diploma of the College of Physicians and Surgeons of Glasgow, and coming to Canada, in 1854, was granted the provincial license to practice his profession in the province of Ontario. In 1886 was registered as a member of the College of Physicians and Surgeons of Ontario, and is also a member of the Ontario College of Pharmacy. In 1873, he was appointed coroner for the county of Grey. He has held various offices in the Masonic lodge, and in the chapter, and also in the lodges of Oddfellows and Foresters. He was married in June, 1857, to Elizabeth Hartley, of Keighley, Yorkshire, England.
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=Robertson, Henry=, LL.B., Barrister, Collingwood, Ontario, was born in the township of Whitchurch, county of York, in the province of Ontario, on the 31st May, 1840. He is of Scottish descent, his father being John Robertson, a native of Edinburgh, and his mother, Catherine Smith. He was educated at the Central School, Hamilton, and the Grammar School at Barrie. He then entered the University of Toronto, where he distinguished himself as a close student of law, and graduated as LL.B., in June, 1861. On being called to the bar in August, 1861, he commenced the practice of his profession at Collingwood, and succeeded in building up a good law practice, which he still continues in that enterprising town. He joined the volunteer force in 1868, and served as second lieutenant in the Collingwood garrison battery of artillery until 1870. In municipal matters he has always taken a prominent part, and has been a member of the Collingwood town council for several years, and deputy reeve in 1881 and 1882. He has also taken a deep interest in the educational wants of Collingwood and vicinity, and has served as member of the High School Board for six years, being chairman in 1873 and 1874; and also chairman of the Public School Board in 1877 and 1878. But it is in the fraternal societies of our Dominion that Mr. Robertson’s name is most widely known. He has filled the highest offices in the gift of the various societies he has joined, and from his knowledge of law has safely directed them over many a knotty point. In 1861 he joined the Masonic craft; in 1870 he was elected grand junior warder of the Grand Lodge of Canada; in 1872 and 1873 he was district deputy grand master of the Toronto district; in 1884 and 1885 he was elected deputy grand master, and in 1886 grand master of the Grand Lodge of Canada, and this position he still holds. He is the author of a work on Masonic jurisprudence. In the Independent Order of Oddfellows he has likewise held responsible positions, having joined that order in 1869, he was grand warden in 1880; deputy grand master in 1881, and grand master in 1882. He has been prominently connected with various other societies and organizations, Mechanics’ Institutes, etc. In politics he is a Reformer, and has held office for a number of years in the local and county Reform Association, and was president of the West Riding of Simcoe Reform Association in 1885 and 1886. He was married July 9th, 1866, to Bethia, third daughter of the late John Rose, of Bradford, and has two daughters,—the eldest, Madge R. Robertson, is an honor undergraduate of the University of Toronto.
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