Panneton, Louis Edmond, Q.C., B.C.L., LL.M., Barrister, Sherbrooke, province of Quebec, was born at Three Rivers, in that province, on the 6th July, 1848. His parents were André Panneton and Marie Blondin. Mr. Panneton received his education at the college of Three Rivers, where he took the classical course. In 1865 he removed to Sherbrooke, and in 1870 was admitted to the bar of Lower Canada. He was elected a school commissioner in 1877, and in the same year was appointed a member of the Catholic Board of Examiners for granting diplomas to teachers. In 1878 he was elected president of the Club Cartier (Conservative Association), and a member of the city council in 1886. The degree of B.C.L. was conferred upon him in 1882, and that of LL.M. in 1885. He is a professor of civil law at Bishop’s University. He was chosen president for the years 1885 and 1886 of the Eastern Townships Typographical Company, which published Le Pionnier. He was made a Queen’s counsel in 1887, and in the same year was elected president of the bar of the district of St. Francis. Mr. Panneton travelled through the United States in 1876, and made an extended tour through Europe in 1878. In religion, he is an adherent of the Roman Catholic church, and in politics, a Conservative. He was married on the 6th July, 1886, to Corinne Dorais, of St. Gregoire, daughter of L. T. Dorais, M.P.P. for the county of Nicolet, Province of Quebec.
Blair, Frank I., M.D., St. Stephen, New Brunswick, was born on 6th January, 1855. His father, Dugald Blair, M.D., was a Scotchman by birth, having been born in Greenock, Scotland, and afterwards settled in New Brunswick. His mother, Sarah Henrietta Marks, was a native of St. Stephen, and was a descendant of Captain Nehemiah Marks, a noted loyalist. Dr. Blair received his early education in Sunbury Grammar School and the University, Fredericton; and adopting medicine as a profession, completed his studies at the Bellevue Hospital Medical College, New York. He then returned to his native province, and began the practice of his profession in St. Stephen, where he has succeeded in building up a good business. He takes an interest in Masonry, and is a Knight Templar. He has travelled a good deal, and found time to visit Europe, California, and several other Western states of America. In politics he is a Liberal-Conservative; and in religion an adherent of the Church of England. On the 1st of December, 1881, he was married to Alice J. Owen, of St. Stephen.
Irving, Andrew, Registrar of the County of Renfrew, Pembroke, Ontario, was born at Chatham, Miramichi, Northumberland county, New Brunswick, on the 14th of December, 1820. His father, Andrew Irving, was a second cousin of the celebrated preacher and divine, Edward Irving, the founder of the sect known as the “Irvinites,” and was born in the parish of Middlebec, Dumfriesshire, Scotland. He emigrated to New Brunswick in 1816, and lived a quiet life as a farmer on the banks of the Miramichi river, about a mile from the town of Chatham, where he died in 1864. His mother, Margaret Henderson, came to this country some time after her husband, and died at a ripe old age in 1871. Mr. Irving’s grandfather, John Henderson, married Clarinda Douglas, the daughter of Sir Archibald Douglas, of Castle Milk, and had the Cleugh Brae farm presented to him by Sir Archibald on the day of his marriage. He died at the age of fifty-eight. Having made his will only eight days before his death, it was declared illegal, from the circumstance that at that time the law of Scotland required that a testator must attend both kirk and market, and live six weeks after making his will, otherwise it would be null and void. The family contested the validity of this will in the courts, with the usual results, namely that of financial ruin to them all. Andrew, the subject of our sketch, was educated at the Grammar School at Chatham, and afterwards studied medicine for three years with Dr. Key, then the most successful practitioner in New Brunswick. Finding, however, that too close application to study was endangering his health, he abandoned medicine, and resolved to seek his fortune in Western Canada. With this object in view, in the summer of 1842 he began his journey westward, and rather than slowly voyage on board a schooner from Miramichi to Quebec he chose the land route. He rode on horseback from Miramichi to Dalhousie, a distance of over a hundred miles, then crossed the Restigouche river at Campbelltown with his provisions on his back, and walked across the country to the St. Lawrence river at Metis, a distance of nearly a hundred miles. The road for the greater part of the route was only a footpath, and the sole guide he and his party had was the Indian blaze; and it took three hard days’ travel to make the journey. He then walked the entire distance, two hundred miles, from Metis to Quebec, in five days. When he arrived at Bytown (now Ottawa city), he crossed the Ottawa river, and was driven to Aylmer in a vehicle called a stage, a distance of nine miles, by a man named Moses Holt, who is still alive, though bordering on his one hundredth year. The next day he took passage in a bark canoe, working his way as far as Fitzroy Harbor, a small village on the south banks of the Upper Ottawa. The following day he embarked on the steamer George Buchanan, which at her best could not steam more than five miles an hour, and came on with her as far as Farrel’s Wharf, in the township of Horton. The distance from this point to Pembroke by the then route was nearly fifty miles, and our dauntless young Scotch settler accomplished the distance in a day and a half, arriving at his destination in good health and spirits. At this time it took a traveller three days from Ottawa to Pembroke, and now the journey can be made in about as many hours. In January, 1842, he began his career as a teacher in Pembroke, the settlers having erected for him a log school-house, in the bush, and agreeing to pay him a salary of forty pounds ($60) and board for a year, which, we may say, was not always promptly paid. However, our young teacher was satisfied, and his indomitable pluck carried him through all difficulties, and he is now one of the leading men in his county. For about three years Mr. Irving filled the office of clerk of the township and village of Pembroke, and was Division Court clerk for over twenty years. In 1861 he was chosen county treasurer, and held the office until 1875. He was local superintendent of education for a part of the county before the law abolishing this office came into force; and was a member of the Board of Education for a number of years, during three of which he acted as its chairman. In 1861 he was appointed a justice of the peace; and for upwards of ten years was license inspector. In 1866 he was appointed registrar of the county of Renfrew, and this office he still holds, and devotes all his time to the performance of his duties. Mr. Irving has always taken a deep interest in municipal affairs, and it was he who during the years from 1861 to 1865 led in the county town struggle for Renfrew county, and it has since been conceded by both friends and foes that it was through his good management that Pembroke came off victorious. He has been an ardent politician, and was always found fighting in the Reform ranks. On one occasion, during a hard election contest, he was approached by an old and valued friend, and offered a lucrative office if he withdrew his opposition to the government candidate, but, with true Scotch pride, he replied, “My principles are my own; they are neither those of John A. Macdonald or George Brown, and you would think very little of me if I would abandon them for any such offer.” This answer led to an estrangement between him and his friend, but after some years his friend admitted he was right, and so the matter was forgotten. Unfortunately Mr. Irving is not so liberal in his religious views as he is in his political. He is a very strict Presbyterian; and the highest of Calvinists, and would resist to the death any innovation or reform in his church standards. In 1844 he was married to Jane Reid, the eldest daughter of the late Peter Whyte, the first settler in Pembroke. She died in 1852, and two of her children survive her. He again married in 1860, his second choice being Mary, daughter of the late Doctor William Cannon, of the Royal navy. This lady is still alive, and has been the mother of five children, four of whom are living.
Laliberté, Jean Baptiste, Fur Merchant, St. Roch, Quebec, was born in the city of Quebec, in 1843. His father, who was the owner of one of the largest tanneries located on St. Valier street, in that city, sent him early to the Quebec Normal School, where he received a sound commercial education. On leaving school he commenced work with a merchant, and was afterwards apprenticed for a few years to a furrier to learn the trade. Here he soon acquired a thorough knowledge of it in all its branches, and laid the foundations of a successful business career. In May, 1867, he began, in a small way, on his own account. Being attentive and obliging and keeping all the latest styles in his stock, customers came dropping in; and at the end of five years, having worked very hard, he had accumulated sufficient means to enable him to re-build the store in which he had begun, and which had now become too small to accommodate his growing trade. After a lapse of a few more years he began again to be crowded for room; and he then decided to enlarge his premises. This time he erected a handsome building on St. Joseph street, St. Roch’s, containing six floors, 110 x 45 feet, which he now occupies. On the top of the building is a dome and flag-staff, on which he always hoists the French flag on the 24th of June of each year, this being the anniversary of his patron saint, St. Jean-Baptiste. Mr. Laliberté has made it a rule to purchase his goods in the best markets of the world, and to offer for sale only articles which may, by their excellence in regard to quality and workmanship, defy the keenest competition. Not content with visiting only the fur markets of New York, London, Paris and Leipsic, he, in 1880, and every year since, has visited in person the great fur emporium of Russia, being the first furrier from the province of Quebec who has done this. He has now branch offices in the principal cities of Europe, and his managers at these places advise him weekly as to prices, etc. Mr. Laliberté employs over three hundred persons, several of whom are constantly employed trapping and hunting in our own northern forests, and are paid the highest prices for furs and peltries in season and of the best grades. He is both an importer and exporter, and when a choice set of furs is wanted, even for the far west, the St. Roch fur emporium is generally called upon to supply it, as it is well known that from his immense stock, said to be the largest in Canada, it can readily be selected. Mr. Laliberté is erect in stature, manly in bearing, and is noted for his courteous demeanour to his fellow men. In short, he is a fair representative of the progressive French Canadian of the present day.
Macdonald, Augustine Colin, Merchant, Montague, Prince Edward Island, was born on the 30th June, 1837, at Panmure, P.E.I. He is a son of Hugh Macdonald, who came from Moydart, Inverness-shire, Scotland, to Prince Edward Island in 1805, and settled at Panmure. The mother of the subject of our sketch was Catherine, daughter of A. Macdonald, of Rhue Arisaig, Inverness-shire. Augustine Colin Macdonald received his education at the Grammar School of Georgetown, and at the Central Academy, Charlottetown, P.E.I. He has taken part in all matters pertaining to the interests of the island in which he was born, and has been on several occasions a commissioner for managing the Exhibition of Local Industry for Prince Edward Island. He, too, is interested in military matters, and is captain in one of the local companies. He was first returned to the Legislative Assembly, as representative for the third electoral district of Kings county, P.E.I., in 1870. He supported the Railway bill, and on a dissolution of the house was again elected by his political friends. In 1873 he once more appealed to his constituents, and, as a supporter of “confederation” and “better terms,” was elected. When Prince Edward Island became part of the confederacy, Mr. Macdonald was returned a member of the Dominion parliament as a supporter of Sir John A. Macdonald. At the general election, held in 1874, he suffered defeat at the polls, being beaten by a small majority; but at the general election, held in 1878, he was again elected to a seat in the House of Commons at Ottawa. In politics Mr. Macdonald is a Liberal-Conservative, and during his parliamentary career at Ottawa rendered good service to the government when they were carrying through the Canadian Pacific Railway bill and the national policy resolutions. He is an adherent of the Roman Catholic church. He married at Charlottetown, on the 27th June, 1865, Mary Elizabeth, sixth daughter of the late Hon. John Small Macdonald, and has a family of seven children.