Part 81
=Cloran, Henry Joseph=, B.C.L., Barrister, Montreal, was born in that city on the 8th May, 1855. His father and mother are both Irish. The former, Joseph Cloran, is a native of county Galway, and the latter, Ann Kennedy, is from county Limerick. Having received his primary education in the Christian Brothers’ School at home, and passed a year in the public schools of New York, he entered the Montreal College in 1868, where he made a complete and successful course of classical studies. On graduating from college in 1875, he left for Europe, where during three years he prosecuted a course of scientific, philosophical and theological studies in the celebrated college of St. Sulpice, in Paris. During his sojourn in Europe he visited Italy, Switzerland, France, England and Ireland, and returned to Canada strongly equipped for the combats of the future with an extensive stock of knowledge, and a precious _ensemble_ of information on the Irish question and general European politics. On his return home, Mr. Cloran filled for a year a professorship of English literature in his _alma mater_, the Montreal College. He then took a course of law in the Universities of Laval and McGill, and graduated from the latter with the degree of B.C.L. He studied in the offices of the eminent legal firm of the late Edward Carter, Q.C.; Hon. R. Church, now judge of the Court of Queen’s Bench; and of Hon. J. A. Chapleau, ex-premier of Quebec, and now Secretary of State. At the close of his law studies, the editorship of the Montreal _Post_ and of the _True Witness_ became vacant in 1882 by the resignation of J. C. Fleming. This responsible and important position was offered to Mr. Cloran, who accepted, and then commenced a journalistic career which has been crowned with marked success. We have no need to dwell upon the cleverness, judgment and ability displayed by Mr. Cloran in the functions of editor, nor upon the success he achieved. The _Post_ is the only Irish daily paper in America, and he made it the organ of Irish Canadian opinion, esteemed by friends and feared by foes. The articles from Mr. Cloran’s pen have been widely reproduced and commented on by the leading papers in Canada and the United States, and even in the European press. In 1886 when the board of directors wished to give the support of the _Post_ to certain Tory candidates in the general provincial elections of that year, the young editor declined to obey their mandate, and rather than write a single line inconsistent with his convictions, he threw up the editorship of the paper. Mr. Cloran is a man of principle, and has on all occasions the courage of his convictions. There is no hypocrisy in his nature; he is at all times manly and straightforward. Animated by no prejudice, he bends and yields to none. His public opinions are also his private ones—a trait which is not always to be discovered in the character of public men. He is an ardent lover of fair play, and finds his pleasure in championing the cause of the weak and the wronged. An Irish Canadian, and an uncompromising Home Ruler, like all patriotic Irishmen, he ranks among the number of those broad and liberal minds who do not shut themselves up in the narrow circle of an exclusive programme. The cause of the half breeds of the North-West—which is, after all, the same in many respects as that of the Irish people—naturally found in Mr. Cloran a willing and earnest advocate. His attitude on the North-West and Riel questions was inspired by the purest and most patriotic of motives. Living in the midst of French Canadians, whose friend he is, and a patriot from a Canadian as well as an Irish standpoint, Mr. Cloran rightly believed he was consistent with himself in joining with them in the province of Quebec to defend provincial rights and autonomy. He finds, with much reason, that Home Rule, if it is good for Ireland, is equally good for Canada; and he has in consequence labored with all liberal minds for the cause of provincial autonomy, which is, in Canada, the condition necessary to ensure union and harmony among the different races, and consequently the condition essential to the future grandeur and prosperity of our country. Mr. Cloran’s public and political career began on the 16th November, 1885, when he was unanimously chosen at a meeting of citizens, jointly with George H. Duhamel, now the solicitor-general of the province, to fill the position of secretary to the national movement that was inaugurated to secure the defeat and overthrow of Sir John A. Macdonald’s government, for the mal-administration of the North-West Territories, and the execution of the leader of the half breeds. He took a prominent part in the historic mass meeting of fifty thousand people assembled, from all parts of the province, on the Champ de Mars, Montreal, where he distinguished himself at one bound as an orator capable of speaking in both the French and English languages. He went through the famous winter campaign of 1886, and during the late provincial elections he fought a brilliant and victorious battle in company with Messrs. Laurier, Mercier, Bellerose, Duhamel and Bergeron, which resulted in the final overthrow of the old Conservative government, and the general break-up of the Tory and “Bleu” party which had controlled the destinies of Quebec almost uninterruptedly since confederation. No one contributed more to the establishment of the National administration of Hon. Honoré Mercier in Quebec than Mr. Cloran. There was not a National candidate who made a vain appeal to him for assistance. Always in the breach, and always at the disposal of his friends, Mr. Cloran covered almost the entire province; he addressed mass meetings in over forty counties, and everywhere he appeared he won the esteem and the confidence of the people who heard him. In the short space of one year he became one of the most popular orators, and one of the political lights of the province. Mr. Cloran placed himself at the service of the Liberal party to fight out the election campaign in Ontario, and put down the “No Popery” brigade in favor of the Mowat administration, which carried the standard of honest government and of civil and religious liberty. He took an active part in the struggle in the counties of Glengarry, Stormont and Prescott, where the three Liberal candidates were elected by large majorities. In showing no hesitation to go to Ontario to assist the Liberal government of Mr. Mowat, Mr. Cloran and his Quebec friends contributed much towards giving its true signification to the National movement. They clearly proved thereby that in the minds of none of them there never was harbored the slightest thought of a war of races, as was pretended by the Tory press and speakers; that far from attempting to divide and separate the different races, they were, on the contrary, ready and willing to strengthen more firmly than ever the bonds that unite us from one end to the other of the Dominion, irrespective of race and creed. In the general elections of 1887 for the House of Commons at Ottawa, Mr. Cloran was selected by the Liberal party as their standard bearer for Montreal Centre, one of the largest and most important constituencies in the Dominion. Although defeated, he almost doubled the Liberal vote given in the election of 1882, and succeeded in reducing the previous majority of his opponent, J. J. Curran, Q.C., M.P., by some five hundred votes. Before becoming one of our most noted public men, Mr. Cloran had occasion, at different times, to give proof of his energy and ability in occupying honorary positions in a number of literary, athletic and national and other organisations to which he was called by the confidence and esteem of his fellow citizens. It was thus that he was elected president of the Catholic Young Men’s Society, of Montreal, in 1880 and 1881. He was chosen secretary of the Parnell Reception Committee, which was the grandest accorded the great Irish leader in his memorable visit to America seven years ago. He has filled the office of president of the Press Association of the province of Quebec. An amateur of Canadian sports, he is the president of the renowned Shamrock Lacrosse Club. A Home Ruler, he is president of the Montreal branch of the Irish National League. He was a delegate to the Irish National Convention at Chicago in 1886, where he distinguished himself by two eloquent speeches. He was chairman of the organisation that gave Michael Davitt, the father of the League, a reception which has never been surpassed for brilliancy and enthusiasm. He is first vice-president of the St. Patrick’s Society; and is a director of the Montreal Diocesan Colonization Society, under the presidency of his Grace Mgr. Fabre. At the convention of the Young Liberals of the Dominion, held last July, he was elected as the Irish representative from Quebec province on the executive committee. Mr. Cloran was also a delegate to the Central Trades and Labor Council, in the foundation of which he took an active part. Since his _début_ in public life he has not ceased to interest himself in the welfare of the working classes. His pen and voice were always at their service. He was also the chief organiser of the immense popular demonstrations and receptions accorded to William O’Brien, M.P., editor of _United Ireland_, on the memorable occasion of the latter’s visit to Montreal. Having abandoned journalism, he prepared himself for the bar, and on the 7th July, 1887, after a severe and brilliant examination, he was admitted with honors to the practice of the law. Although still young in years Mr. Cloran has acquired much valuable experience, and, as has been seen, has played an honorable and influential _rôle_ in society, and has rendered distinguished service to his country. Mr. Cloran married, in 1882, Agnes, the third daughter of Michael Donovan, a leading Irish citizen and business man of Montreal, and for years president of the St. Patrick’s Society, and of the Irish National League.
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=Edwards, William Cameron=, Manufacturer of Lumber, Rockland, Ontario, M.P. for the county of Russell, was born in the township of Clarence, Russell county, in 1844. His father, William Edwards, was a native of Portsmouth, England, and came to Canada about 1820, and settled in Clarence township. Here, for a long period, he took a leading part in all movements intended for the advancement of the district in which he resided, and was for over twenty years reeve of the township. The mother of the subject of our sketch, Ann Cameron, was a native of Fort William, Scotland. William was educated in the Ottawa Grammar School, and when he had reached the age of nineteen was employed by Cameron & Edwards, lumbermen, of Thurso, and here he remained for a number of years. In 1868 he joined in a partnership with James Wood, and they, having built a small steam sawmill at Rockland, on the Ottawa river, commenced the lumber business under the firm name of W. C. Edwards & Co. The business having proved successful, in 1871 Cameron & Edwards gave up their establishment at Thurso, and threw in their lot with W. C. Edwards & Co., at Rockland. A large mill was then erected, and their business steadily increased. In 1875 a fire visited the locality, and unfortunately destroyed the whole premises of the firm, including mills, docks, buildings, plant, and indeed everything pertaining to the establishment, and besides a large stock of sawn lumber. And to add to this misfortune, the amount of their insurance did not cover one-third of the loss. Nothing daunted, the firm went to work, the same year, to rebuild, and in the spring of 1876 they were at work again. Since this time their business has largely increased, and the firm now give employment to a great number of hands. Previous to the opening of the mills at Rockland there were only two or three houses in the place; but to-day the village has a population of about fifteen hundred; is incorporated; and has a post office, telegraph office, stores, school house, churches, a good public hall, a division court, etc. Mr. Edwards has always been the sole manager of the firm’s business, and, as may be seen, has very successfully conducted its affairs. In 1866 he succeeded in forming the Thurso infantry company, and for three years, up to his leaving the village, was captain of this company. He has been for many years a justice of the peace, and has also been reeve of the village of Rockland. During the past four years he has been president of the County of Russell Agricultural Society, and has done considerable towards promoting the improvement of stock and the general advancement of agriculture in the county. He is a Liberal in politics, and in 1882 he unsuccessfully contested Russell for a seat in the House of Commons against Moss Kent Dickinson. Again at the last general election he entered the field, and was elected by a majority of 156 votes over C. H. McIntosh, who opposed him. Mr. Edwards is an adherent of the Baptist church. In 1885 he was married to Catherine M., eldest daughter of William Wilson, of Cumberland, Ontario, who for many years has been the leading business man of his township, and over twenty years its reeve, and a justice of the peace.
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=Jones, Sir David=, Brockville.—The late Sir David Jones, who was born in 1794, died on the 23rd August, 1838, at Brockville, Ontario, where he and his family long resided. Few men were more respected, and none could be held in higher estimation by his countrymen. He was an uncompromising supporter of British interests. On visiting England in 1835, as agent of the Brockville Loan and Trust Company, he received the honor of knighthood from His Majesty William IV., at Windsor Castle, being the first native of Ontario who had the honor of receiving so distinguished a mark of royal favor. Sir David died after an illness of only five days, and his early demise cast a gloom over his native place.
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=Kemble, William=, Quebec.—This talented journalist was a native of Surrey, England, and a member of a distinguished mercantile family in London, one of whom, at the time of Mr. Kemble’s death, was a member of the Imperial parliament, for the county above mentioned. He was born in 1781, and died at Quebec, on the 25th February, 1845. While editing the Quebec _Mercury_, from 1823 to 1842, he greatly distinguished himself as a writer, and the spirit and raciness that characterized his writings will long be remembered by his _confrères_ of the press. His talents were of a high order. He was also a generous contributor to many periodicals, including the then celebrated “Simmond’s Colonial Magazine,” of London, England.
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=McMicken, Hon. Gilbert=, Winnipeg, Manitoba, Agent of the Commercial Union Assurance Company of London, England, is a native of England, having been born in London in 1813, but was from earliest infancy brought up in Glenluce, Wigtonshire, Scotland, of which country, his father was a native. He left Scotland in 1832, and landed at the port of Quebec on the 1st July of the same year. He proceeded to Montreal, and remained there about three weeks, and then went to Toronto (then Little York). From Toronto he removed, in September, to Chippewa, and engaged in the forwarding business. In July, 1838, he was appointed collector of customs, at Queenston, and subsequently held the same office at Suspension Bridge, near Niagara Falls. In 1851 was warden of the united counties of Lincoln and Welland; and was the first mayor of Clifton, and served for several subsequent terms in the same office. In 1857 Mr. McMicken entered the political field, and was elected to represent the county of Welland in the parliament of Canada, which he did for four years. In 1860 he moved to the county of Essex; and in 1864 was appointed stipendiary magistrate with jurisdiction over the whole Western Canada frontier, and in this capacity he successfully quieted frontier excitement, especially in the cities of Detroit and Buffalo, and afterwards received the special thanks of Lord Monck, the then governor-general of Canada, for his services on this occasion. He managed the extradition of Burley, for piracy on lake Erie; and also adjudicated upon and extradited the parties in the two celebrated express robbery cases of Reno and Anderson and of Morton and Thomson. He discovered and arranged the settlement of the disputed line of international boundary at the St. Clair flats canal. In 1865 Mr. McMicken was specially charged to watch over the Fenian movement in the United States in that year, and continued to do so until their last efforts at invasion failed in 1870. During these exciting times, and on the occasion of the murder of T. D’Arcy McGee, on Sparks street, Ottawa, he had committed to his care the government and parliament buildings in that city, and the persons of the members of the government and of parliament then at the capital; and protected, by convoy, the persons of Black, Richot and Scott, delegates from Manitoba, from the United States to Ottawa, during the first troubles in the North-West. In 1869 he was appointed to accompany his Royal Highness Prince Arthur, and his suite, with Governor-General Young, Lady Young, and Colonel Elphinstone, in their tour through Ontario, thence to Montreal, and then on to Ottawa, and for the valuable services rendered the party he received the special thanks of Prince Arthur, accompanied by a valuable _souvenir_. In 1871 he was made agent of the Dominion lands in Manitoba, and assistant receiver-general, Dominion auditor, manager of the Dominion savings banks, and immigration agent. In the same year he was instrumental in preventing a rising of the Metis when the Fenians offered to come over from the United States to help them. From 1874 to 1877 he was the acting inspector of the Manitoba Penitentiary, and in the latter year he retired from the government service on a pension, having served the Dominion faithfully and well. In 1879 he was elected to represent Cartier in the Manitoba legislature, was chosen speaker of that body, and retired from political life on the dissolution of the parliament in 1883. In 1879 he was appointed agent of the Commercial Union Assurance Company of London, England, and this position he still holds. Though greatly advanced in age, he is still hale and hearty, and a good many years of usefulness are still apparently before him. Hon Mr. McMicken married at Chippewa, on the 19th February, 1835, Ann Theresa, grand-daughter of Commodore Grant.
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=Masson, Lt.-Colonel Louis François Roderique=, ex-Lieutenant-Governor of the Province of Quebec, was born at Terrebonne, on November 7th, 1833. He is the fourth son of Hon. Joseph Masson, a member of the Legislative Council of Canada, at the time of his death, and M. G. Sophie Raymond, of Laprairie. Mrs. Masson died in 1883, at Terrebonne, where she was buried. The ceremonies of her funeral were very impressive, the archbishop of Montreal officiating; the musical service, under the leadership of Professor Guillaume Couture, of Montreal, with a select choir of forty male voices, was the grandest ever performed in the country. Besides distributing a considerable fortune to her children and relatives, she left princely legacies to various charitable institutions, the Deaf Mute Institution of Montreal receiving for its share a sum of $20,000. The ancestors of Mr. Masson came to Canada very early, and settled originally in Saint Eustache. At the present time the ramifications of the family spread over the whole province of Quebec. The subject of our sketch was educated at the Jesuits’ College, Georgetown, Worcester, Mass., and at St. Hyacinthe, Quebec, where he completed his classical studies. During this period he travelled for two years through Europe and the Holy Land, in company with that distinguished scholar, Rev. Mr. Désaulniers, of St. Hyacinthe College. Their tour lasted twenty four months, and was productive of immense benefit to young Masson, both in a physical and mental point of view. At the conclusion of his classical course he entered the law office of the late Sir George Etienne Cartier, in Montreal, where he resided three years, and in November, 1859, he was admitted to the bar. He never, however, practised his profession. Since October, 1862, he has held a commission in the Canadian volunteer force. On August 21st, 1863, he was appointed brigade-major 8th military district of Lower Canada, doing active duty on the frontier during the first Fenian raid, March, 1866; and also during the second raid in the same year, and was promoted to the rank of lieutenant-colonel in 1867. Colonel Masson has held various offices in the municipality of his native town, and was mayor of Terrebonne in 1874. In 1867 he was first elected to parliament as representative for the county of Terrebonne, and at every subsequent election he was re-elected by acclamation. He is perhaps the most popular man in the province of Quebec among his constituents. He is a Conservative, and stands very high in the estimation of his chiefs. In 1873 he was offered a seat in the Macdonald cabinet, but declined; the outspoken views he held on the amnesty for political offences in Manitoba, and on the settlement of the New Brunswick mixed schools question, forbade his acceptance of the honour proffered, unless he should make a sacrifice of principles. He is in favour of a reciprocity treaty with the United States, provided Canada is able to get equitable terms; of a moderately protective tariff, and he always advocated the construction of the Canadian Pacific Railway wholly on Canadian soil. In 1878, when the Mackenzie administration resigned, Mr. Masson, who was travelling in Europe, was offered a portfolio in the new cabinet, and he sailed immediately for Canada. On his arrival (19th October), he was sworn in a member of her Majesty’s Privy Council and minister of militia and defence. Under his energetic administration numerous improvements and useful changes were effected in the Canadian militia organization,—more especially the establishment of drill associations in educational institutions, the supply of military clothes from Canadian manufacture, the manufacturing in the country of gunpowder, cartridges, heavy guns, etc. For reasons of health he was forced to discontinue the arduous labours he had undertaken, and on the 16th January, 1880, he resigned his position of minister of militia and defence, and was appointed president of the Privy Council. Mr. Masson resigned his seat in the cabinet in 1880, and in 1882 was called to the Senate. In 1884 he was appointed a member of the Legislative Council of Quebec, and he held that position until the 7th November, 1884, when he resigned, to assume the duties of lieutenant-governor of the province of Quebec. In 1856 Col. Masson married Louise Rachel, eldest daughter of Lieut.-Col. Alexander Mackenzie, and granddaughter of Hon. Roderique Mackenzie, once a member of the Legislative Council of Canada, and a partner in the North-West Fur Company; by this marriage he had issue five children, three sons and two daughters. Mrs. Masson died, and in 1884 he married his second wife, Cécile Burroughs, eldest daughter of John H. Burroughs, prothonotary of the Supreme Court of Canada.
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