Part 95

=Genest, Laurent Ubalde Archibalde=, Counsellor-at-Law, Three Rivers, Province of Quebec, was born on the 4th March, 1828, at Gentilly, in the same province. His ancestors came from France, where several villages bearing their name remain to this day as old landmarks of several branches of this ancient family. One of them, Louis Genest, captain of militia, and a thriving agriculturist, settled at St. Jean, Isle d’Orleans, near Quebec, where, on the 19th January, 1777, he married Elizabeth Amireau, _alias_ Mireau, from l’Acadie, in Nova Scotia. From Louis Genest and Elizabeth Amireau, or Mireau, was born on 18th April, 1779, Laurent Genest, father of the subject of this sketch. L. Genest, the elder, received his education at Quebec, where, on the 24th March, 1808, he was, by Royal commission, appointed a notary public for Lower Canada. Shortly afterwards he left Quebec, and settled in the parish of Gentilly, in the county of Nicolet, where he acted as agent for the seigniory of Gentilly, and on behalf of several large landowners in the neighboring townships of Maddington, Blandford, Bulstrode, Stanfold and Somerset. On 29th October, 1810, he married, at Gentilly, Marie Anne Panneton, daughter of Jean-Baptiste Panneton, a captain of militia, and a prosperous agriculturist. On 1st September, 1812, he was appointed adjutant of militia in full pay, and raised a battalion, from the Bécancour division, for the American war with Great Britain. He marched off with that battalion for the seat of war; but the battle of Chateauguay (26th October, 1813) having been won, his battalion was recalled home. On the 17th February, 1815; 8th March, 1816; 13th September, 1830; 11th October, 1834, and 2nd March, 1835, he was appointed, by as many Royal commissions, a returning officer for the election of members for the counties of Buckingham and Nicolet. On 13th February, 1822, under the Earl of Dalhousie, he was appointed again captain and adjutant of militia for the Bécancour division. On 27th January, 1831, under Lord Aylmer, he was appointed again captain for the second battalion in the militia of the county of Nicolet. On 13th April, 1839, he was appointed clerk of the Court of Requests at Gentilly, a county court for the county of Nicolet which sat quarterly, doing considerable business. On 7th June, 1842, he was appointed a justice of the peace for the district of Three Rivers. On 22nd April, 1844, he was appointed clerk of the Circuit Court of Gentilly, a circuit embracing the whole county of Nicolet. On 6th October, 1845, he was appointed a commissioner to administer official oaths in Lower Canada. He was offered on several occasions, by the electors of the county of Nicolet, the nomination as their representative in the House of Assembly, but always declined. He was a man of sterling worth, much loved and respected on account of his irreproachable integrity and his sociable character. His friends were many and most distinguished, especially in the city of Quebec, whence he came. He died much regretted at Gentilly, on the 25th of September, 1846, in the sixty-seventh year of his age. His son, L. U. A. Genest, the subject of this sketch, was born at Gentilly on the 4th March, 1828. He is a brother of the late Charles B. Genest, advocate, and an M.P.P. for Three Rivers in the House of Assembly of Quebec. He was educated at Nicolet College, under the rectorship of the Right Rev. J. B. A. Ferland, the learned and distinguished Canadian historian (1840-1846). At the death of his father, in 1846, he succeeded him as agent for the seigniory of Gentilly, which office he held until June, 1851. This position induced him to make a special study of the seignorial tenure and feudal system, which he admired very much, as having been, as he considered, an excellent mode to settle, with a select and prosperous population, French Lower Canada, though afterwards he was compelled to acknowledge that circumstances were changed, and that many abuses had taken hold of this fine tenure of lands, which later justified its abolition. Indeed, his opinion is that too much gratitude cannot be bestowed on the memories of two very justly regretted Canadian statesmen, the Hon. L. T. Drummond and Sir George Etienne Cartier (with whom he had the advantage of being intimately acquainted) for the abolition and redemption of that tenure, which had lived its full time. He holds that the present lord and tenant system of Ireland, which, when established, like the Canadian seignorial tenure, must have been beneficial to all parties concerned, should also now be abolished by redemption, just after the same mode which was followed for the abolition of the feudal tenure of Lower Canada; and he affirms that the British statesman who would accomplish this at the present time, whatever be his name, would be the greatest benefactor of the British empire in our days, whilst he would render the utmost service to every lord and tenant of Ireland, who would only be the happier for the change, with remarkable gain to all, and an incalculable saving of ill-feeling, trouble and millions of money to the mother country. On 20th May, 1850, Mr. Genest was commissioned an ensign of the 2nd battalion in the militia of Nicolet. In June, 1851 he left Gentilly for Montreal, where he began his regular legal studies, under Joseph Peltier, advocate, one of the Canadian braves of 1837, and his then partner, Joseph Papin, one of the chieftains of the Liberal party of that period. On 3rd May, 1853, he was admitted as an advocate and barrister at the bar of Montreal, where he began to practice with Toussaint Peltier and the Hon. Joseph Bourret. On 18th November, 1853, he was commissioned lieutenant in the 9th battalion of the militia of Montreal. In 1855 he was called to take part in the labors of the Seigniorial Commissioners at Montreal, a task which his previous studies and taste well fitted him to fulfil. He was also appointed to and filled the office of clerk of the Seigniorial Court of Review, which sat at Montreal and Quebec. On 8th March, 1856, he was appointed clerk of the peace for Three Rivers, where he removed from Montreal, whilst continuing for some time after to take part in the labors of the Seigniorial Commission at Montreal and Quebec. On 18th September, 1857, he was appointed a commissioner to administer official oaths in Lower Canada. On 1st August, 1876, he was appointed a member of the commission for the civil erection of parishes and the building of churches in the diocese of Three Rivers, of which commission he is the president. He is a member of the Institut National, and of the Historical Society of Montreal, and of the Literary Society of Three Rivers. He is also a member of the society for the re-wooding of the province of Quebec. As a member of the Historical Society of Montreal, he has contributed largely, with the regretted Sir L. H. LaFontaine, baronet, with whom he was on very friendly terms, to numerous and important researches concerning the ancient families who first settled Canada. He ranks among the first as a criminal lawyer in Lower Canada, and his advice is also highly prized in civil matters. His word is as good as gold, and he is held in very high esteem, and enjoys the confidence of his fellow citizens, on account of his unimpeachable integrity and frankness. Though neutral in politics, he is, by inheritance and education, a strong Conservative; nevertheless a friend of all, without regard to party or creed. He is an enthusiastic admirer of the British constitution, and will cling to the very last to his allegiance. In religion he is a Roman Catholic, holding that religion is indispensable in the governing and ruling of nations to secure their peace, prosperity and happiness, and to insure the stability of kingdoms, empires and republics, thereby justifying the family motto—“Nascor, vivere, vincere et mori, pro Deo, reginâ, patriâ et civibus”; “Je nais, pour vivre, vaincre et mourir, pour mon Dieu, ma reine, mon pays, mes concitoyens.” On 21st January, 1856, he married, at Montreal, Emma MacCallum, daughter of John MacCallum, of that city (formerly a Quebec merchant), by Flavie Raymond, of Laprairie, a grand-daughter of James MacCallum, a Quebec merchant, seignior of the seigniories of St. James and Thwaite, in the district of Montreal, and also at one time a member for the city of Quebec in the House of Assembly of Lower Canada. Mrs. Genest is a first cousin, on her mother’s side, of the late Hon. Edouard Masson, M.L.C., and of his Excellency the Hon. L. F. R. Masson, member of the Queen’s Privy Council for Canada, late lieutenant-governor of the province of Quebec. Mr. Genest resides at 64 Royal street, Three Rivers, P.Q.

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=Lugrin, Charles S.=, who was born at Fredericton, New Brunswick, in 1818, and died in the same city on the 27th April, 1877, was educated at the Collegiate School of his native place. He was a son of George K. Lugrin, for many years Queen’s printer for New Brunswick, and grandson of Peter Lugrin, who served as master of hospital stores in the Royal army during the American revolutionary war. The Lugrins are of Swiss origin. Captain Peter Moses Lugrin lived at Romainmotier, Switzerland, in the early part of the eighteenth century, and held important public positions. He married Lady Beniné Marguerite Rochat, by whom he had issue, Simeon, great grandfather of Charles S. Lugrin. Charles S. followed his father’s business of printing, and after the latter’s death took charge of the Queen’s printer’s establishment, under John Simpson, the new incumbent of the office, with whom he was in partnership for some time. After Mr. Simpson’s death, he began the publication of the _Colonial Farmer_, which he conducted successfully for a number of years. In 1868 he was appointed secretary of the Board of Agriculture, and held the office until the abolition of the board in 1875, when he accepted the office of secretary of the school trustees for Fredericton, which he held until his death in 1877. He was paymaster in the militia when a young man. In his lifetime he was an active member of the Methodist church; a leading temperance advocate, and for a term occupied the position of grand worthy patriarch of the Grand Division of the Sons of Temperance of New Brunswick. As a writer he was sharp and incisive, and in politics a Liberal. He was married to Martha L., daughter of John and Mary Stevens. The latter was a granddaughter of Colonel Richard Lawrence, of Staten Island, N.Y., who served on the loyalist side during the American revolution.

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=Chisholm, Peter J.=, President and Manager of the Nova Scotia Lecture and Concert Bureau, Truro, Nova Scotia, was born at West River, Pictou county, N.S., on the 1st August, 1848, and is the youngest of a family of seven sons. Both parents were Scotch, and came to Nova Scotia in 1810. Being poor working people, they were only able to give their son a common school education; and at the early age of thirteen he was apprenticed to a general merchant. Here he remained until he was sixteen, and then started business on his own account. He visited Halifax and made his own purchases, and after a few years’ successful operations, he began to import his merchandise direct from foreign markets, and has continued to do so ever since. In 1866, he joined the Orange association by becoming a member of Derry lodge, No. 25, Truro, and is still a member of the same lodge. He occupied the position of worshipful master three years, and at the present time is grand master of the Grand Orange lodge of Nova Scotia. In 1873 he joined the Independent Order of Good Templars, and was elected chief templar the same year. In 1878 he was sent as a delegate to the Grand Lodge of Nova Scotia, and was nominated for grand chief templar, but declined. In 1880 he was elected one of the delegates to the Right Worthy Grand Lodge which met in New York city in 1880; also to Washington in 1884; Toronto in 1885; Richmond in 1886; and to Saratoga in 1887; and at Washington session was elected right worthy grand marshal. In 1880, he was elected grand chief templar of his own Grand Lodge. He held the office for four successive years; but on being elected the fifth time, he resigned, and was unanimously elected grand secretary. This office he held for two years, declining re-election at the last session of the Grand Lodge, on account of business engagements. When he assumed the office of grand chief templar in 1880, the Grand Lodge for Nova Scotia had less than 2,000 members, with a debt of over $400; but when he retired from the office the membership was over 6,000, and a surplus of cash on hand. During the four years he held the office of grand chief templar, he travelled extensively through the province of Nova Scotia as a lecturer and organizer, and was very successful. In 1886 he received an appointment as deputy right worthy grand templar from his very intimate friend, the late Hon. John B. Finch, R.W.G.T., and two weeks afterward he received a commission to proceed at once to Newfoundland and look after the interests of Good Templary there. His trip was a grand success, and on the eve of leaving the island he was tendered a grand reception and was presented with a very flattering address, signed by the leading Good Templars of Newfoundland. For three years he held the position of chairman of lecture work, and it was through his influence that the following celebrated lecturers visited Nova Scotia, New Brunswick, and Prince Edward Island, namely, Hon. John B. Finch, Colonel J. J. Hickman, Lou. J. Beauchamp, Hon. John Sobieskie, Professor Crozier, and others. In one year he reported over 300 lectures delivered and 60 lodges organized; the greatest number of lodges ever organized in one year in Nova Scotia. At the present time he holds no office in the Grand Lodge, but he is ever in demand as a lecturer and organizer. At the present time he is president and manager of the Nova Scotia lecture and concert bureau. He is a member of the Independent Order of Foresters. In politics, Mr. Chisholm has always been a strong Liberal; and in religion, a Presbyterian. Mr. Chisholm has been in business for twenty years in the town of Truro, and no one living in that beautiful town takes such great delight as he does in pointing out its beauty and advocating its advancement. During the last ten years great inducements have been offered him to leave his beautiful town, but to all such offers up to the present time he has given a refusal. In 1872 he married Bessie A. Cock, of Brookside, Colchester county. Her great-grandfather, Rev. Daniel Cock, was the first settled Presbyterian minister in the province of Nova Scotia. This is the oldest Presbyterian church in the Dominion. The Rev. William McCulloch, D.D., who retired from the ministry about a year ago, was pastor of the above congregation forty-eight years. Rev. John Robbins, late of Glencoe, Ontario, is now pastor of this church. Mr. Chisholm has been blessed with a family of two boys. Mrs. Chisholm is a very active church member; a worker in the Women’s Christian Temperance Union, and other moral reforms.

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=Guillet, Major George=, Merchant, Cobourg, Ontario, M.P. for West Northumberland, Ontario, was born in Cobourg, on the 19th July, 1840. His father, John Guillet, was born in St. Helier, Island of Jersey, and after coming to America resided several years in St. John’s, Newfoundland, where he acted as agent for a Jersey firm engaged in the fisheries. His mother, Charlotte Payne, was the second daughter of John Payne, and was born in Frome, Somersetshire, England. Mr. Guillet received his elementary education at the public schools, and at a private school of John Wilson, M.A., LL.D., and then entered Victoria College, Cobourg. He enlisted at the time of the _Trent_ difficulty in the Cobourg Rifle Company, was promoted to the ensigncy of that company, and afterwards received a lieutenant’s commission in No. 2 company, 40th battalion, becoming its captain in October, 1873. He is now quartermaster of the 40th, with the rank of major. He sat in the municipal council of Cobourg seven years, and was also for four years mayor and commissioner of the town trust. His municipal career was marked by the liberal encouragement given to the manufacturing interests of the town; the obtaining of the passage of an act in the Ontario legislature providing a property qualification for commissioners of the town trust, and declaring the position shall be held without emolument, save by the chairman and treasurer of the board. Several important street improvements in the town also owe their origin to him. In addition, he was active in promoting the educational interests of Cobourg, particularly in getting erected the Faraday Science Hall, in connection with Victoria University, and the Collegiate Institute. He contested the West Riding of Northumberland in the provincial election of 1879, but was defeated by 21 votes. On the resignation of the Hon. James Cockburn, in 1881, Mr. Guillet was nominated for the vacant seat, and was elected by a majority of 79 votes over the Reform candidate, George Waters, M.D. He was re-elected at the general election of 1882, but his election having been voided by the Supreme Court, he was again nominated for re-election, and was returned, defeating for the second time his opponent of 1882, William Kerr. At the general election of 1887, he again defeated the Reform candidate, J. H. Dumble, police magistrate of Cobourg, and now represents West Northumberland in the House of Commons at Ottawa. He is a firm supporter of British connection, and all lines of national policy consistent therewith. He is, however, in favour of reciprocal trade in natural products with the United States, and the abolition of the canal tolls on Canadian trade. While he is opposed to frequent changes in the British North America Act, he favours the idea of transferring the power of prohibiting the sale of intoxicating liquors to the provinces. In the session of 1882, he introduced the bill granting to seamen a first lien and the right of recovery of wages in _rem_, and by a summary process, which resulted in the amendment of the Merchants’ Shipping Act of 1873 to that effect; and he received the thanks of the Seamen’s Union for obtaining these concessions. He is opposed to commercial union, on the ground of impracticability, save at the sacrifice of distinctively Canadian interests and institutions, and at the cost of humiliation and dishonour to the Canadian name. He is a member of the Masonic fraternity, also of the Oddfellows, and the Ancient Order of United Workmen. In politics Mr. Guillet is a Liberal-Conservative, and in religion an adherent of the Methodist church. He has lived continuously in Cobourg since the day of his birth, and has been engaged in the wholesale and retail grocery and crockery business for over twenty-five years. This business was first established by John Guillet, and is now one of the oldest of its kind in Cobourg. Mr. Guillet has been a successful merchant; his career not having been interrupted by either suspension, assignment, or compromise. In addition to his regular line of business, he has invested considerable of his means in lake shipping.

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=McKinnon, Hon. John=, Farmer and Trader, Whycocomagh, M.P.P. for Inverness, Nova Scotia, was born at Whycocomagh, Cape Breton, Nova Scotia, on the 14th July, 1833. The family belongs to the McKinnons, of Skye, Scotland, and the subject of our sketch is the second son of Lauchlan McKinnon, who emigrated to Cape Breton from North Uist in 1828. His mother was Anna McLean. Mr. McKinnon received his education at the Free Church College, in Halifax. Apart from his business operations, he has devoted a good deal of his time to public concerns. He taught for several years, as Grammar school teacher in Halifax and Victoria counties. He was gazetted captain in No. 5 Inverness Infantry of militia, previous to confederation. In 1874 he was elected to represent the county of Inverness in the House of Assembly of Nova Scotia. In May, 1875, he was sworn in as member of the Executive Council, and held office without a portfolio in the Hill administration until its resignation, in October, 1878. He was an unsuccessful candidate at the general elections, held in 1878 and 1882; but at the general election in 1886 he was again returned to the Legislature by his old constituency. Mr. McKinnon was a strong supporter of confederation, and assisted in promoting the building of the railway extension from New Glasgow to the Strait of Canso. He takes a deep interest in the temperance movement, and has held several offices in the orders of the Sons of Temperance and Good Templars. He actively supports the Scott Act. In politics, he is a Liberal; and in religion, an adherent of the Presbyterian church. He was married on the 19th December, 1878, to Harriet, daughter of the late D. McQueen, of Sydney, Cape Breton.

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=Owens, William=, Stonefield, Lachute, M.P.P. for Argenteuil, was born at Stonefield, province of Quebec, in 1840. His father, Owen Owens, was a native of Denbigh, Wales, and his mother, Charlotte Lindley, of Brantford, England. Mr. Owens received his education in the schools of his native parish; and afterwards adopted commerce as his profession. In 1861 he joined his brother in partnership, under the firm name of T. & W. Owens, and they have since carried on an extensive business as merchants and forwarders, until 1887, when Mr. Owens retired from business. Mr. Owens was an officer in the active militia from 1863 to 1883, and retired with the rank of captain. For many years he held the position of postmaster of Chatham, and also filled several terms as councillor, and latterly as mayor, of the township of Chatham. In 1881 he entered political life, and at the general election of that year was returned to the Legislative Assembly of Quebec province, as representative of his native county. At the general election held in 1886 he was again elected for Argenteuil, this time by acclamation. In politics Mr. Owens is a Conservative; and in religion is an adherent of the Church of England. He is a widower.

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