Part 77

=Armstrong, Hon. James=, Q.C., C.M.G., Sorel, province of Quebec, son of Charles Logie Armstrong, descendant of a United Empire loyalist, and of Marjory Ferguson, daughter of Alexander Ferguson, of Restigouche, district of Gaspé, was born at Berthier, province of Quebec, in 1821. He was educated at Berthier and Sorel academies, and called to the Quebec bar, 1844. Mr. Armstrong was appointed Crown prosecutor for the district of Richelieu in 1864, and as such conducted the trial of Provencher, for the murder of Joutras, poisoned by strychnine, being the first case actually tried for such an offence in Canada, and when the “color test” of Messrs. Girdwood & Rogers was established. The _Evening Telegraph_ of the 15th April, 1867, referring to the celebrated trial, said: “The crime was clearly proved on a trial of unusual length. We mention the matter particularly now to express in a marked manner our appreciation of the way in which the case was got up and conducted throughout for the Crown. Having followed it day by day, and carefully gone over the evidence since, we feel justified in saying that there has not been these twenty years in Lower Canada a criminal case of the magnitude and difficulty so carefully and thoroughly prepared, and so completely and convincingly placed before the jury. If it lacked the fire-work flashes of eloquence, to which too many criminal lawyers trust, it showed at every step of its long course the true genius, intelligence directing patient labor in mastering every difficulty, seeking for, finding, and welding into one chain the many far scattered and deep hidden links of evidence.” He was appointed chief justice of St. Lucia, West Indies, 1871, where the old French law was in force, and in 1880 to the chief justiceship of Tobago, which he held, conjointly with that of St. Lucia. He was created a companion of the most distinguished order of Saint Michael and Saint George in 1879. He is author of a “Treatise on the Law of Marriage of the Province of Quebec,” and of the “Law of Intestacy of the Dominion” (1886). In conjunction with Sir George William Desveaux, then governor, he prepared the civil code of St. Lucia, based in a great measure upon that of Quebec in civil matters, and succeeded in having laws passed by the legislature, enacting that the laws of England should prevail in commercial and criminal matters. He afterwards prepared a code of civil procedure. He received the thanks of the Legislative Council of St. Lucia “for the great service rendered by him in the preparation of the codes.” He resigned office in December, 1881. The governor, in announcing this to the Legislature, said: “He regretted to have to inform the Council that he had received a despatch from the Secretary of State, notifying him of the retirement of Chief Justice Armstrong, which he considered would be a serious loss to the colony.” The Legislature passed a vote of thanks embodying the opinion of the governor. In a despatch to the Earl of Kimberley, the governor wrote: “I cannot close this despatch without placing on record my appreciation of the invaluable services rendered to the colony by Mr. Armstrong during his term of office of chief justice,” and after mentioning Mr. Armstrong’s labors on the code and revision of the statutes, added: “Measures such as these will stamp Mr. Armstrong’s term of office as one which, whilst reflecting the greatest credit upon himself, will be remembered in this island as the inauguration of a new and more simple machinery for the administration of law and justice.” Mr. Armstrong was appointed, in 1886, by the Dominion government, a member of the commission for the purpose, among others, of inquiring into and reporting upon the subject of labor, its relation to capital, and to inquire into and report on the practical operations of courts of arbitration and conciliation in the settlement of disputes between employers and employees, and the best mode of settling disputes. He is married to Charlotte, daughter of the late Major Hercule Olivier, who was wounded in the engagement at Plattsburg, in 1812.

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=Steeves, Chipman Archibald=, Barrister, Moncton, New Brunswick, was born at Hillsborough, N.B., on the 28th of January, 1880. His father, Joseph A. Steeves, was descended from a German family, formerly called “Steiff,” a common name in Germany, who, after leaving Fatherland, resided for some time in Pennsylvania, and then made their home in New Brunswick a few years before the arrival of the U. E. loyalists. His mother, Rebecca Taylor, is of Irish descent, her people having come from the north of Ireland. Mr. Steeves was educated at the public schools in Albert county, and at the Baptist Seminary in Fredericton; and studied law with the present Judge Palmer, at St. John, N.B. He was admitted an attorney on the 21st October, 1876. In September, 1878, Mr. Steeves was appointed by the Mackenzie government official assignee under the Insolvency Act of 1875, for the county of Westmoreland, and this office he held until the repeal of the law. At present he is one of the school trustees for the town of Moncton, and is also a member of the Moncton town council. From early youth he has been connected with the temperance movement, though at this moment he is not a member of any of the existing temperance organizations. Mr. Steeves has travelled, accompanied by his wife, through portions of the United States and Europe, and has visited Rome and Naples, and been up Vesuvius and down into the Catacombs. He was brought up in the Baptist faith, and is a member of the Baptist church. On the 15th November, 1877, he was married, at St. John, N.B., to a daughter of Dr. W. Y. Theal, formerly of that city. This lady has a number of brothers and sisters, one of whom, George M. Theal, resides in, and fills a government position at, Cape Town, South Africa, and has written and published several works on the history, geography, and folk-lore of Africa, which have been adopted and used in public schools. Mr. Steeves has two brothers, who are masters of British iron steamers, and one sister, who is married, and resides in St. John, N.B.

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=Bourinot, John George=, LL.D., Ottawa, Honorary Secretary of the Royal Society of Canada, Fellow of the Statistical Society of London, Honorary Corresponding Secretary of the Royal Colonial Institute, Clerk of the House of Commons, Canada, and author of several important works and essays, was born at Sydney, Nova Scotia, on the 24th of October, 1836. He is a son of the late Hon. J. Bourinot, senator of the Dominion, and grandson of Judge Marshall, of Nova Scotia. His mother was a daughter of the late Judge Marshall, well-known as an advocate of temperance, and for his works on religious and social topics. His father’s family came originally from Normandy, were Huguenots, and settled in the Island of Jersey. The Marshalls were Irish originally. The father of Judge Marshall was a captain in the British army, and a loyalist. In his early days Mr. Bourinot received his intellectual training under the tutorship of the Rev. W. Y. Porter, at Sydney. The preceptor saw much promise in the lad, and often spoke highly of his quickness and perception, and of the strength of his intellectual grasp. When this period of tutorship was over, his father conceived the idea of sending him to the University of Trinity College, Toronto. At college young Bourinot distinguished himself, and he always was a prominent figure in his class. His industry frequently called forth admiration; and he secured the Wellington and other scholarships. When he left college he could not easily decide upon a calling. It was with the young graduate as it has been with all men possessed of a pervading literary instinct. He was restive, and looked with dissatisfaction at any course of life that promised only a drudgery and a routine, removed from the dear aspiration that was in him. The newspaper press has always afforded a sort of escapement for literary yearning; and as was quite natural to expect, to the newspaper press the young man attached himself in the meantime. He became parliamentary reporter and editor, continuing in such position for some time. Subsequently, in 1860, he established the Halifax _Reporter_, and was chief editor of that journal for a number of years. From 1861 to the year of confederation, Mr. Bourinot was likewise chief official reporter of the Nova Scotia Assembly. In 1863 he was appointed to the Senate as shorthand writer, and this office he retained until appointed second clerk assistant of the House of Commons, in April, 1873. In February, 1879, he was appointed first clerk assistant, and on the 18th of December, 1880, he became chief clerk of the House of Commons. Through the greater part of his life Mr. Bourinot has been a tireless literary worker, and his articles are remembered by all who take an interest in the discussion of important public questions. His essay on the “Intellectual Development of Canada,” which appeared in the pages of the “Canadian Monthly,” was a careful, elaborate and valuable treatise on the intellectual development of the colonies as an unwedded brotherhood, and of Canada subsequent to the union. He has contributed to many leading papers of this continent, to the Toronto _Mail_ in its inception, and to the New York _World_. He was for years one of the best known contributors to the “Canadian Monthly.” His desire has always been to create a love for Canadian subjects. He has contributed papers to the Royal Colonial Institute, which have attracted much attention. One of these papers, which referred to the federation of the empire, was deemed so important that Justin McCarthy devoted a whole chapter of his “History of our Times” to its consideration. An article in “Blackwood” (to which he has been one of the very few Canadian contributors), on the “Progress of the New Dominion,” was reviewed by the London _Times_ as “the best article that has yet appeared on the subject in a British periodical.” He has also written other papers in the “Westminster Review,” the “London Quarterly,” the “Scottish Review,” and other leading British periodicals, with the view of making Canada better known to the British world. A monograph on “Local Government in Canada,” which appeared in 1886, attracted much attention in England and Canada, and was reprinted in the series of historical and political science, which is published by the Johns Hopkins University, Maryland. Of late years he has devoted his leisure time for the most part to constitutional and parliamentary studies, and has written a large work on “The Practice and Procedure of Parliament, with a review of the origin and growth of parliamentary institutions in the Dominion of Canada,” which has been most favorably reviewed in England and Canada, and has already been accepted as a constitutional authority in every dependency of the Crown. The London _Times_, in a three-column review, wrote most approvingly of the work, and the Australian press has also noticed it in very eulogistic terms. Mr. Bourinot is an advocate of the grand idea of Imperial Federation, and a member of the executive committee appointed at a public meeting in Montreal, in May, 1885, with the object of promoting the scheme. In April, 1887, Mr. Bourinot received the honorary degree of LL.D. from Queen’s University, Kingston. Mr. Bourinot was married in October, 1865, to Emily Alden Pilsbury, daughter of the American consul at Halifax, who was distinguished for her remarkable beauty and many accomplishments. She died in September, 1887, amid the regrets of a very large circle of friends. She belonged to a well-known family of Maine, which is connected with that of the famous Governor Endicott, who played so important a part in the annals of the old colonial times of New England.

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=Moles, Robert George=, Arnprior, Ontario, was born in the township of Yonge, county of Leeds, on the 7th October, 1845. He is the youngest son of the late Edward Moles, Leeds county. Mr. Moles received his education in the public school of his township; and in 1866 he began business as a photographer in the city of Hamilton, and remained there until 1868, when he removed to Arnprior, in which place he has since resided and built up a good business. In 1873 he established the Art Union Copying Company, of which he was manager for several years; and did a large business throughout Canada in copying and enlarging portraits for the trade. In 1874 Mr. Moles took an active part in the establishment of Vivian lodge, No. 146, Independent Order of Oddfellows, of which he was a charter member, and was four times elected to represent it in the Grand Lodge of Ontario. He is also an active Freemason, and for several years held the position of master in Madawaska lodge, No. 196. Mr. Moles has been a member of the Arnprior Board of Education for the past fifteen years; and in 1884 and 1885 occupied a seat in the municipal council. In January, 1886, he was chosen reeve of Arnprior, and occupied the position with honour to himself and credit to the town. He has always been closely identified with every enterprise which has had for its object the improvement and advancement of the place in which he resides, and his fellow-citizens duly appreciate his work. In politics Mr. Moles is a Conservative, and is secretary of the South Renfrew Conservative Association. On the 20th March, 1866, he was married to Mary, youngest daughter of John Burgess, Hamilton, and has a family of six children, four daughters and two sons.

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=Doney, Charles=, Merchant, Ottawa, province of Ontario, was born at Lannevet, in Cornwall, England, on the 10th March, 1854. His father, William Doney, was one of the earliest railway contractors in Great Britain, and aided in the construction of most of the trunk lines in the west of England. He is at present one of the twenty-five individuals who receive a life pension from the Railway Association of Officers in Great Britain as a reward for distinguished railway services. This pension is granted by a majority of votes from the railway officers throughout the kingdom. His mother, Elizabeth Hawke, is descended from one of the oldest families and landed proprietors of Cornwall; her father being Thomas Hawke, of Tintagel, whose father was Thomas Hawke, of St. Kew. They owned estates in different parts of the county, and carried on business at (1) the Pollard Tucking Mills, weaving blankets; (2) the St. Tudy flouring mills; (3) the Polrade farms and the Soloden’s farm in the parish of St. Tudy; (4) the Trevilla farm in the parish of St. Teath; (5) the Fenteonadel farm, in the parish of St. Brewevard; (6) the Tippen farm, in the parish of Tintagel, near King Arthur’s castle; and (7) the Beslow farm, in the parish of Tintagel. Mr. Doney’s parents now reside in Plymouth, England. Charles Doney, the subject of our sketch, being of an adventurous and speculative turn of mind, decided against his parents’ wishes, to leave his native land, and sailed for America. Arriving in Canada on the 2nd of February, 1874, he went direct to the city of Ottawa, where he filled a humble position until November of the same year, when he decided to prepare himself for a commercial career. Entering the Ottawa Business College, after three months’ study, the shortest on record, he graduated, receiving a diploma. He then received the position of book-keeper and assistant manager of the Clarendon Hotel, Ottawa. He remained here nine months, and then was appointed, through the introduction of the late Hon. James Skead, caterer to the Senate of Canada. At the same time he received the appointment of steward of the steamer _Queen Victoria_, of the Ottawa River Navigation Company, which gave him employment during the summer months. Two years after the _Queen Victoria_ was destroyed by fire, and then he made use of his time by travelling through the Western States and Canada, and spent some months studying the French language in the College of Ste. Thérèse, in the province of Quebec. In 1881 he resigned his position as caterer to the Senate for the purpose of entering into business as a retail shoe merchant, and opened a store at 65 Sparks street, Ottawa, where after three years he removed to his new and handsome store in the Scottish Ontario Chambers, 52 Sparks street. Within six years after this he placed himself at the head of the shoe business in Ottawa, being now president of the Ottawa Shoe Company, and proprietor of the store in the Scottish Ontario Chambers, which is recognized as being the leading shoe establishment in Ottawa. As a merchant, for his years, and without any other aid or capital to start him in his Canadian career, save youth and energy, he has certainly been remarkably successful; but as a writer he stands out unique. The talents which make a successful trader and those which tend to success in the field of literature are generally supposed to be diametrically opposed to each other, and they really are; yet he has demonstrated beyond dispute that he is possessed of both. In 1881 he started out in his career as a trader; in 1887 he is the recognized leader in his city of his particular line of trade. In May, 1886, he entered the field of “trade” literature in the United States. To-day, 1887, he is recognized and has fairly earned the recognition of being the first and best writer throughout the continent of America among shoe merchants. In the early part of 1886 the publishers of the _Boot and Shoe Recorder_, of Boston, the leading shoe paper of the United States, offered three prizes, first, second, and third, for the best essays from shoe merchants, on “How to Manage a Retail Shoe Store.” Mr. Doney was the first to reply, sending in his essay within four days after the prizes were offered. The _Recorder_ acknowledged the receipt of the essay with many compliments, and decided to publish it in their next issue, May 19, 1886. From this day it can be fairly claimed that Mr. Doney has been famous throughout America as a writer upon shoe topics, and his name is continually in the ascendency. This competition went on for over five months, and although all the other writers had the advantage of reading Mr. Doney’s essay, and the president of the Shoe Dealers’ Association of the United States was among the competitors, yet by vote throughout the United States and Canada, the shoe merchants awarded Mr. Doney the first prize, giving to their president the second. The _Boot and Shoe Recorder_ on June 8, 1887, forwarded to him a beautiful silver tea and coffee service of six pieces in recognition of first prize. Inscribed on the coffee pot are the words, “Presented to C. Doney for Prize Essay, 1886.” Mr. Doney is the only known shoe merchant holding a prize for a similar effort or for any other production in the field of literature throughout America. In his youth he always found pleasure in writing upon subjects beyond his years. When a boy of fourteen he wrote for self-amusement an essay upon the “Lord’s Supper,” which obtained quite a circulation among his private circle. During the time he held the position of caterer to the Senate, about 1877, he wrote a small temperance novel of one hundred pages, and published it some five years after it was written, its title being “John the Flunky.” This little work has many faults, some of them slightly ridiculous; but the book, as a boy’s mere free will effort, shows the bent of the author’s mind and undoubted mental capacity. He has completed a second novel which he intends to publish in 1888, and as G. W. Bengough has consented to illustrate it, we may infer that it is at least creditable. It will make a book of 244 pages, and with illustrations by Mr. Bengough, will become a volume of 275 pages. Its title is “David Morrice; or the Reunion of the Races.” Mr. Doney is a constant contributor to the _Boot and Shoe Recorder_, of Boston; the _Shoe and Leather Review_, of Chicago, and occasionally to _The Merchant_, of Toronto, and _Leather Gazette_, of St. Louis. The _Review_, of Chicago, pays him regularly for editorials for its shoe dealers’ department. As an inventor he is the possessor of two patents; one for a plate for the heel of a rubber shoe which it is generally conceded will bring him good returns. It is a simple device, but being a universal want in a climate such as Canada possesses, it has the merit of being an excellent commercial idea. The other is a plate for the heel of a leather boot or shoe. This plate will also in all probability become much used, as it is decidedly the best of its kind ever invented. We think it is not too much to predict for Mr. Doney a successful career.

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