It is impossible to separate true poetry from its sister, painting, and here the two walk hand in hand. The rich coloring of the painter, the subtle thought and music of the poet, and all developed strongly, so as to come within the immediate grasp of ordinary intelligence. We have not seen Mr. Roberts’ prose writing, but we are informed that he has written much that is masterly in thought and style; can do good battle in a political discussion, and has peculiar and abundant gifts in the field of criticism. In 1882 he was appointed head-master of York Street School, Fredericton. In 1883 he accepted the position of editor of The Week, a Toronto weekly, from which he, finding his tastes did not harmonize with the director’s, retired in four months, when he returned to New Brunswick, and was there engaged with several literary undertakings, till his call, in 1885, to the University of King’s College, Windsor, Nova Scotia, as professor of English and French literature and political economy. In 1887 he published his most important work, “In Divers Tones” (Montreal: Dawson Bros.; Boston: D. Lothrop & Co.), which has been very favorably received. Professor Roberts is a contributor to most of the notable publications printed in the English language; among these may be mentioned “Longman’s,” “The Century,” “Wide Awake,” and “Outing.” Mr. Roberts is a member of the Church of England, and was married December 29th, 1880, to Mary Isabel Fenety, daughter of George E. Fenety, Queen’s printer, of Fredericton, New Brunswick. By this marriage he has three children.
Chicoyne, Jerome Adolphe, Advocate, Sherbrooke, was born on the 22nd August, 1844, at St. Pie, county of Bagot, province of Quebec. His paternal ancestors came over from France at the time Mr. de Maisonneuve was recruiting settlers for the colony of Ville-Marie. His name was Pierre Chicoyne, and his place in France was and is still called Channay, in the old Province of Anjou. He became proprietor of the fief Bellevue, in the parish of Verchères, which fief still belongs to his descendants. Members of the family continue to reside in the same place and vicinity in France, and intercourse is regularly kept up between them from both sides of the ocean. A new settlement, started in the township of Woburn, at the head of Lake Megantic, in the county of Beauce (where the subject of our sketch felled the first tree on the 8th December, 1880), is named Channay, as a reminiscence of the place wherefrom his ancestor came. Mr. Chicoyne was educated at the Seminary of St. Hyacinthe, and followed the usual course—eight years. He was admitted to the bar of Lower Canada on the 17th September, 1868, at Montreal; and after practising at St. Hyacinthe until 1872, was compelled to quit it in consequence of ill-health. He then became attached to the department of agriculture of the province of Quebec, as colonization agent, and has ever since been connected with the colonization movement in the Eastern Townships. In 1875 he left St. Hyacinthe with his family, and settled at La Patrie, one of the new settlements organized by him in his capacity of government agent. In 1880, he started a colonization scheme (under the patronage of both the Provincial and Federal governments) in France, which resulted in the influx of considerable French capital and immigrants to these townships. Some of the results may now be seen in the great progress achieved by the village of Megantic, in the county of Compton, and in the above mentioned settlement of Channay. In January, 1886, he took the direction of Le Pionnier, the oldest French paper in the Eastern Townships, which paper has largely contributed to, and still helps, the settlement of that comparatively new section of the country. He took part for the first time in politics during the elections of 1867, in the Conservative interest, and is still, and has ever been a most devoted and faithful worker in the Conservative ranks. Mr. Chicoyne has made four trips to Europe, and has visited England, France, Belgium, Switzerland and Italy, and while in these countries studied the political economy and social questions of the age. In religion he is a member of the Roman Catholic church. On the 7th January, 1868, he was married at St. Hyacinthe, to Dame Caroline Perreault.
Elliott, Edward, Barrister, Perth, Ontario, was born in the township of Elmsley, county of Lanark, Ontario, on the 29th June, 1884. He is of Irish descent, his father, John Elliot, and mother, Rebecca Taylor, both having been born in Ireland. The family came to Canada in 1818, and shortly afterwards settled in Lanark. The subject of this sketch received his education at the Grammar School of Perth. In 1863 he began the study of the law with the late William Oscar Buell, barrister, in Perth. Mr. Elliott was admitted as a solicitor in Michaelmas term 1868, and called to the bar in Hilary term 1869. Though devoted to his profession, he has yet found time to serve his fellow-citizens in various capacities. For ten years he has been a member of the town council, during two of which he served as mayor, namely, in 1879 and 1880. He has been for some time a member of the Board of Education of Perth. In politics, he has taken an active interest, and was a candidate for parliamentary honors, on the Conservative side, in South Lanark, in 1879, but was defeated by only fifty-three of a majority. Again he contested the same riding, in 1883, but again suffered defeat; this time, however, by only twenty-nine of majority. He has resided in Perth since he commenced the study of the law, and is the senior member of the firm of Elliott & Rogers, solicitors, etc., doing a good law business. In 1882 Mr. Elliott was called to the bar of Manitoba. In 1880 he joined the True Britons’ lodge, No. 14, A. F. and A. M., and has taken an interest in the order ever since. He has travelled through the United States, and the greater part of Canada. In politics, he is a Liberal-Conservative; and in religion, is a member of the Church of England. He has held the office of warden, and is also a lay delegate to the Diocesan Synod. He was married on the 5th July, 1870, to Harriet, youngest daughter of the late John Rudd, merchant, Perth, and has a family of four girls.
La Rue, Thomas George, Quebec, Notary Public and Collector of Inland Revenue for the Dominion of Canada, in the division of Quebec, is descended from one of the most ancient French families in New France, represented by Jean de La Rue, who settled at Quebec in 1636, and married Jaqueline Pin, in 1663, one of the first pupils of the Ursuline nuns of Quebec. Thomas George La Rue was born at St. Jean, Orleans Island, on the 21st December, 1834, and is the second son of Nazaire La Rue, who was a lieutenant-colonel in the militia, and a notary public. His mother was Adelaide Roy. He was educated at the Laval University, and was admitted to practice his profession on the 4th February, 1856. Mr. La Rue is noted for the lively interest he, in common with the late Dr. Hubert La Rue, and his brother, a professor at the Laval University, has taken in agricultural pursuits in the province of Quebec. In 1867 he published, in the Evénement newspaper, several essays, under the title of “Causeries Agricoles,” bearing on the experiments he had made on his farm on the Island of Orleans, and these were, in 1872, collected and issued in book shape by the Journal d’Agriculture de St. Hyacinthe, and distributed all over the province. He was a member of the Notarial Board for the province of Quebec, from 1862 to 1879, and was elected vice-president of it in 1876. In 1869, jointly with the Hon. Louis Archambault and Emery Papineau, his colleagues, he prepared the constitution which governs the Board of Notaries for the province of Quebec. For twenty-five years he was an active worker in the ranks of the Liberal party, and in 1862 acquired by purchase, assisted by the Hon. Ulric J. Tessier, now a judge in the Court of Appeal; Francis Evanturel, ex-minister of agriculture; the late G. Joly, seignior of Lotbinière, father of the present Hon. H. G. Joly; and J. G. Barthe, barrister, the journal known as Le Canadien. And this newspaper originated in its columns such a fierce opposition to the government of the day—the Cartier-McDonald—on the Militia Bill, that it compelled it to resign and give way for the formation of the McDonald-Sicotte administration. Mr. La Rue was mainly instrumental in securing for the Liberal party the parliamentary division of Quebec East, which, ever since the warmly-contested election of the Hon. Senator Pantaléon Peltier, in 1871, has remained until this day, a fortress to the party. In 1872 he came forward on the Liberal ticket, in the county of Montmorency, but was beaten at the polls by the late Jean Langlois, Q.C. In 1874 the McKenzie administration entrusted him, as a notary, with the settlement of the claims arising from seignorial dues in the province of Quebec. In 1878, Mr. La Rue finally withdrew from politics, and accepted the important appointment of collector of inland revenue for the division of Quebec, the duties of which he has continued to fill ever since. In 1857, he was married to Helen Marie Louise, eldest daughter of the late Pierre Guénette, a merchant in Quebec city.
Baynes, William Craig, B.A., was born in Quebec in 1809. He was educated in England for the service of the East India Company, but on the death of his father gave up the appointment, and later entered Trinity College, Cambridge, where he took the degree of B.A. in 1836. In 1839 he was summoned to receive his M.A., but had scruples of conscience as to taking the oath of conformity, and the higher honor was refused. Mr. Baynes came of a military family. His father saw service in Africa, where he assisted in the capture of the Cape in 1795, and in India, and was adjutant-general of the army in Canada and colonel of the Glengarry Fencibles in the war of 1812. Three of his sons also entered the army. Mr. Baynes married in 1841, and in 1843 returned to Canada, and settled in the neighborhood of Kingsey, where his father had purchased land. Here he carried on farming for twelve years, giving it up in 1856, when he received the secretaryship of the Royal Institution for the Advancement of Learning (McGill College, Montreal), which post he held continuously until his death, which took place on Sunday, 9th October, 1887. He leaves four sons. He was for many years the leading member of the Plymouth Brethren in Montreal, and generally conducted their services.