Nault, Joseph, the present joint Registrar of St. Hyacinthe, province of Quebec, was born at St. Ours, on the 17th of April, 1841. Early in life his father, Jean Baptiste Nault, who is a well known farmer of Quebec, married Edes’n Girouard, and in 1886 they celebrated their golden wedding at which eighty relatives, consisting of eight children with their families and some other distant connections were present. Joseph Nault, the subject of this sketch, received his education at the St. Hyacinthe Seminary, where he took a full classical course. In 1865 he passed his examination, and was duly admitted as a notary for the province of Quebec. He was secretary of the city of St. Hyacinthe from 1868 to 1874, and only retired from that office in order to take a position in the bank of St. Hyacinthe. In 1879, having received the appointment of joint registrar, he resigned his position in the bank, of which he is now a director. He has taken a great interest in the municipal affairs of St. Hyacinthe, where he occupied the position of alderman from 1874 to 1879, and was one of the promoters of the St. Hyacinthe waterworks, which were erected in 1875, and of which he is secretary and also a shareholder. Since 1878 he has been president of the school commissioners. He belongs to the prevailing religious denomination in Quebec, the Roman Catholic church, and in politics is a Liberal. He was married on the 8th of November, 1864, to Flavie Bourgeois, and has a family of nine children and two grandchildren.
Ouimet, Hon. Gédéon, Q.C., D.C.L., Quebec, Superintendent of Public Instruction for the Province of Quebec, officer of Public Instruction of France, Commander of the Order of St. Gregory the Great, member of the “Academie des Arcades de Rome,” president of the Council of Public Instruction, and of the Roman Catholic Committee, of the province of Quebec, was born in Ste. Rose, Laval county, on the 3rd June, 1823. His father, Jean Ouimet, farmer, was descended from an old French family; and his mother was Marie Bontron dit Major. Mr. Ouimet received a classical education at the colleges of St. Hyacinthe and Montreal, having at the last named place been under the charge of the noted instructor, l’Abbé Duchaine. He studied law with Mr. Sicotte, who was afterwards promoted to the bench, and was admitted to the bar, at Montreal, in August, 1844. Mr. Ouimet practised his profession for about five years, when he removed to Vaudreuil. In October, 1853, he returned to Montreal, and continued his profession along with L. S. Morin and L. W. Marchand, and afterwards with P. Morean and J. A. Chapleau. He soon rose to prominence in his profession, and was highly respected by his fellow-citizens. He was created a Queen’s counsel in 1867, and for a period served as bâtonnier for Quebec province. In 1869 he filled the position of president of the St. Jean Baptiste Society of Montreal. He has also held the president’s chair of the Institut Canadien-Français; and is a member of the Literary and Historical Society; and the Geographical Society of Quebec. He was appointed commissioner to the Indian and Colonial Exhibition, in 1886. Entering political life, he represented the county of Beauharnois from 1857 to 1861 in the Legislative Assembly of Canada. From Confederation in 1867 to 1876 he represented the county of Two Mountains in the Quebec legislature, and was attorney-general of the province until February, 1873, when he became premier, minister of public instruction (succeeding the Hon. P. J. O. Chauveau), and provincial secretary. At that time it was necessary that the minister of public instruction should be a member of the parliament; but after a while it became evident to observant statesmen that the two positions were too burdensome for one man to hold, if not inimical to the best interests of education. Consequently, in 1875, the Assembly passed an act abolishing the dual office, and the administration of the educational affairs of the province was put in the same position it was before confederation, namely, in charge of a superintendent. The judgment of the proper authorities, as well as public sentiment, pointed to the Hon. Mr. Ouimet as the person best fitted to this highly responsible position, and he was, on the 1st February, 1876, appointed superintendent of public instruction for the province, when he retired from public life. Since that time educational matters have been greatly improved; and in all cases in which Protestant and Roman Catholic educational interests infringed upon each other, or came into collision, he has succeeded in smoothing down the conflicting elements by his strictly impartial decisions. And judging from his many published addresses, and the frequency of his visits to Protestant schools on public occasions, it cannot be questioned that he is at heart a real friend of education, irrespective of creed or nationality. His well-known urbanity, legal eminence, experience in public business, and impartial zeal in the cause of public education not only qualify him, in a mixed community like that of Quebec, for the important public post which he occupies, but justify the bright future for education in his province. Hon. Mr. Ouimet is a D.C.L. of the University of Bishop’s College, Lennoxville, and of Laval University. He is the author of the “Law on District Magistrates”; and while in the legislature he secured important amendments to the law relating to the qualification of jurors in criminal cases, and also in the code of procedure. Herein it will be seen that he has, in more ways than one, and is still leaving the impress of his well-disciplined and powerful mind in the archives of his native province. In 1878 he was named by the French government “Officier d’Instruction publique,” as a mark of distinction and approbation of the scholastic exhibition of Quebec province during the International Exhibition held in Paris that year. In August, 1850 he was married to Jane Pellant, daughter of the late Alexis Pellant, and they have had a family of six children, five of whom are married.
Gauvreau, Rev. Antoine, Parish Priest, Lévis, was born at Rimouski, on the 22nd September, 1841. His father was Pierre Gauvreau, a notary public, and his mother Elizabeth Dubergès. Rev. Mr. Gauvreau was sent to the college of Ste. Anne de Lapocatière, in the county of Kamouraska, where he followed a complete course of classical studies. At the completion of his course he determined to enter the holy orders, and with that purpose in view was admitted to Laval University to study theology. On the 2nd of October, 1864, he was ordained priest, and appointed missionary vicar to the parish of Rivière-au-Renard, Gaspé. This charge he retained until 1866, when he was called to the city of Quebec, to assume the duties of almoner at the archbishop’s palace, being at the same time chaplain to the Sisters of Charity, the Christian Brothers, and St. Vincent de Paul Society. In 1870 he was removed by his ordinary to the curacy of St. Nicholas, Lévis county, where he remained until 1875. He was then transferred to Ste. Anne de Beaupré, the place of pilgrimage of the Roman Catholics of the whole American continent. Every summer thousands of devout pilgrims wend their way to the shrine of the saint. It is said that the number of people who visited Ste. Anne this season (1887) exceeded one hundred thousand. Two golden crowns of great value were lately presented to the present curate of Ste. Anne by the citizens of Quebec, and his eminence Cardinal Taschereau presided at the ceremonies incidental to the blessing of the princely gift. The attendance was so large that an altar was improvised and high mass was said in the open air, an eloquent proof that faith is still deep-rooted in the hearts of the faithful of the province of Quebec, reports to the contrary notwithstanding. Rev. Mr. Gauvreau exercised his ministry in Ste. Anne until 1878, when he took charge of the important parish of St. Romuald d’Etchemins, county of Lévis, and retained it until 1882. At that date he removed to Lévis, and has had charge of that parish ever since. Rev. Mr. Gauvreau is remembered in all the parishes over which he presided as a kind and considerate pastor.
Peck, Charles Allison, Hopewell Hill, New Brunswick, Barrister-at-law, was born at Hopewell, in the county of Albert, N.B., on the 12th August, 1840. He was educated at Fredericton. Mr. Peck is the youngest son of Elisha and Sarah Peck. His father was an extensive landowner in the county, and captain in the militia, and was one of the first appointed to the magistracy. Charles Allison Peck studied law in the office of the late Sir Albert J. Smith, and was called to the bar in Easter Term, 1861, receiving a first-class certificate. Shortly after he formed a law co-partnership with the Hon. Bliss Botsford, at present Judge Botsford, and practised his profession at Hopewell, residing upon the old homestead. He first appeared in public life in 1865, when he unsuccessfully contested Albert on the Quebec scheme of confederation, to which he was opposed, against the Hon. John Lewis and A. R. McLellan, but was defeated by a small majority. After the union in 1867 he was elected to the New Brunswick Legislature for Albert, where he sat for three sessions, and was generally found supporting progressive legislation; but devoted much of his time to the Albert Railway question, the necessary legislation for which railway he secured against much opposition, the construction of this railway being largely due to his efforts while in the legislature, and subsequently. He was the solicitor of the company until its completion. He organized, and was the first president of, the Albert Southern Railway. In politics he is a Liberal-Conservative. He has more than once declined candidature for political honors, preferring to devote himself to his profession. Mr. Peck was appointed captain of the militia; trustee of Albert county Grammar School; and is a referee in equity. He is not a member of any religions denomination, but a liberal supporter of all. Mr. Peck was married, in 1864, to Amelia, youngest daughter of the late Solomon Nichols, of the city of St. John, who was president of the Bank of New Brunswick at the time of his death. Mrs. Peck is an Episcopalian; and her ancestors were loyalists, who, on coming to the Maritime provinces, left behind them at Flushing, New York state, large and valuable properties. They have two sons, Henry Brougham and Charles Allison, and one daughter, Celia Isabel Frances. The elder son, Henry, who is a student at law, recently entered the civil service.
Sénécal, Hon. Louis Adelard, Senator, was born at Varennes, county of Verchères, on the 10th of July, 1829. The man who, in after years, became so universally known throughout the length and breadth of the continent, received but a rudimentary education afforded by the humble school of his native village, and attended a common school in Burlington, Vermont, for a few months. After a residence of two years in the United States, he settled in Verchères, province of Quebec, where he established a general store. Such was his début in trade; and from the outset he showed the indomitable energy, the undaunted courage, and the business tact which caused the admiration even of his opponents. In 1853 he purchased the steamboat Frederic George, which was at Ogdensburg, took command of her, came down the river in the midst of floating ice, and arrived at Montreal on the 9th of April. Since that time he was known as “Captain Sénécal.” The Frederic George did service between Montreal and Sorel. In 1854 he repaired his steamboat, renewed her machinery and boilers, and named her the Verchères. In 1857 he built the steamboat Yamaska in the short space of two months and a-half, to inaugurate navigation on the river Yamaska, and established a line from St. Aimé to Montreal. The next year he built the Cygne, and established a regular service on the river St. Francis, between St. Francis and Sorel. Thus he was the first to open navigation on these rivers, and later on, by his energy and with government aid, he improved the service to a considerable extent. In 1859 he launched the steamboat Ottawa to run in opposition to the Richelieu Company’s boats between Montreal and Quebec. Since 1882 he was the president of the Richelieu and Ontario Navigation Company, and it is due to his admirable management that the company was enabled to refit its steamers and place its finances on a sound and paying basis. When he took charge of the company’s affairs its finances were almost disorganized; he left it in full prosperity and almost doubled its field of operation and its monetary value. Meanwhile Mr. Sénécal was doing a large trade in lumber and grain in the United States. He had become the owner of eleven steamers and eighty-nine barges plying between Montreal, Sorel and Whitehall. One can easily form an idea of his marvellous activity from the fact that during the year he was forced to suspend his operations, he did three million dollars worth of business, without leaving the village of Pierreville, which was the centre of his operations. The losses suffered by several Montreal firms on account of the suspension were the subject of much comment at the time; it is only fair to say that all of these firms had derived benefits from their connection with him, certain houses having endorsed his notes at the rate of two per cent., others again having loaned him money at rates varying from 10 to 40 per cent. It was during the American civil war; he obtained money at par at three months and was obliged to reimburse in bankable (?) value, and pay a high rate of interest besides. Mr. Sénécal has built and was the owner of several saw and grist mills at St. David, St. Guillaume, Wickham, Wickham West, Yamaska, Kingsey, Pierreville and Acton. The Pierreville mill was destroyed by fire on the 20th June, 1868. He rebuilt in forty-seven days, and on the 5th August 146 saws were in operation. The fire had been extinguished at one o’clock on Saturday afternoon, and at twelve o’clock on the following Monday the foundations of the new building were under way. The same mill was destroyed a second time on the 14th January, 1870. He had not a single piece of timber on hand and was obliged to draw from the forest the pine and oak necessary for the building of the manufactory. Moreover, he was forced to buy new machinery in the United States. In spite of these difficulties, and although it was mid-winter, thirty days later, on the 15th February following, the smoke from the new building was rising out of its chimney, and the buzz of the saws proved that the Pierreville mill was giving life to a busy population. In 1866 he purchased almost the whole of Upton township, and it was at this period that he gave full scope to the development of colonization, and that he found the solution of this important problem. He cleared a piece of land at his own expense, sold it to a farmer, and employed him to clear an adjoining lot to be sold again in the same manner. In 1871 he turned his attention to railroading and solved another problem, that of building excellent railroads with very limited resources. He first built forty-three miles of road laid with wooden rails between Sorel and Wickham, via Yamaska and Drummondville, during the year 1871, and finished it before the time agreed on by the contract; he thus had the benefit of the line during all the year 1872. The boldness he displayed on that occasion is a matter of astonishment, for all the resources he could dispose of to complete the undertaking, including rolling material, right of way, embankments, ballast, the Yamaska bridge, station buildings, wooden rails, etc., etc., were only $5,000 in bonds per mile, on which he was able to realize but $4,250 per mile. This road was sold to the South Eastern, and he undertook, on his own account, to replace the wooden rails by iron ones, and to build thirteen extra miles in order to reach Acton. The contract was signed in September of 1875, and on the 15th of February, 1876 the railroad was entirely completed. When he obtained the contract he had not a single tie at his disposal, and received only $2,300 per mile; yet he built fifty-four miles of a first-class railway, in about seventeen months, at a total cost of $6,550 per mile. It must be said, however, that the South Eastern Company furnished the iron rails, which amounted to a value of about $2,000 per mile. In 1877, the contractor of the Laurentian Railway having failed, Mr. Sénécal was called upon to complete the road, hardly half built, with the scanty resources left. He could dispose of a subsidy of $4,000 per mile, and bonds on the road which could not be negotiated. Col. King, of Sherbrooke, consented to advance $50,000, and Mr. Sénécal built the six or seven miles not constructed, as well as the bridges, and the ballasting in three months. He then proceeded to Lévis and undertook the Lévis and Kennebec line, the contractors of which were also bankrupt. There was very little left of the subsidies available, and with these, and the revenue from the running of the road, he built several miles of the new line, ballasted the whole, and made it a first-class road. In the execution of this enterprise he showed his wonderful power of perseverance and energy in the face of difficulties. The English shareholders, who owned all the bonds and stock of the road, had thought they would be able to control the operations of the line, and a number of business and professional men were certain they would not meet with any obstacle. Mr. Sénécal saw the situation at a glance, attacked the enemy in the front, and defended himself for two years in civil and criminal suits. He resisted the police and orders of the court, kept possession of the road as long as he wanted, and in the end he proved that he was in the right, for he obtained judgments in his favor in forty or fifty cases brought against him by the Hon. Mr. Irvine. However, as there was no money to be made out of the line, he abandoned it, according to the terms of his contract, after making it a first-class-road. One of the most striking traits of his character was that he never allowed himself to be legally or financially cornered, and had always gained his object, even when he had no resources available, and had to struggle against combined wealth, talents and influence. He has built the following railroad lines:—From Sorel to Acton, from Lanoraie to St. Felix de Valois, the Berthier branch, the St. Eustache branch, the ice railway; and he completed the St. Lin road and the Lévis and Kennebec line. When he was appointed general superintendent of the Q., M. O. & O. Railway it was far from finished, and the experience he had acquired in railroad construction was of great benefit to the government in the completion of the provincial road. The services rendered by Hon. Mr. Sénécal in that transaction have been misrepresented by his political adversaries; however, he effected important savings for the provincial government. As these matters still belong to the domain of political history, we will merely place this observation on record. In 1881 he formed a syndicate for the purchase of part of the road. The history and developments of this transaction are too well known to require comment. Later on he sold the road to the Grand Trunk Company, and when the Canadian Pacific Railway Company obtained possession of the line, they were obliged to discharge the bonds issued by the Grand Trunk to pay the first possessors. Although Mr. Sénécal was the bearer of a considerable amount of these bonds, they were not available, and he received only about $100,000 out of the transaction. Mr. Sénécal was one of the founders of the Cumberland Mining and Railway Company, which is to-day the most powerful company in the maritime provinces. In 1883-84 he was president of the Montreal City Passenger Railway, and, had he so desired, he would probably have filled the position until now, but he resigned on being re-elected. He has generally encouraged all great enterprises. He took a large amount of shares in the Coaticook Cotton Company, and also in the Richelieu pulp factory. A few years ago he spent a large amount of money to introduce the electric light system, and he obtained, by a statutory charter, the power to dam the Caughnawaga rapids. The purchase of timber limits, and of the Hull mills, for which he paid more than a million dollars, proved a disastrous venture. His plan was perfect; but no individual was in a position to advance such an enormous amount, and he had to give up the undertaking after losing nearly $400,000. This loss we look upon as a national calamity, because his main object in purchasing such an immense tract of territory was to put a great industry into the hands of his countrymen. It is well known that when Mr. Sénécal had money, it was used to the benefit of everybody, for in his opinion the hoarding of wealth was contemptible. Through the vicissitudes of his eventful career, there were moments when his financial resources were nil, as in 1878-79, when his subsidies and his railroad bonds were practically not worth a cent. Nevertheless he undertook the task, at that period, to bring about the dismissal of Lieutenant-Governor Letellier de Saint-Just, on account of his famous coup-d’état of the 2nd of March, 1878. He sold his life insurance policy, some real estate, and, in fact, everything which he could convert into cash, for a few thousand dollars, proceeded to Ottawa, where he took up house and passed the session of 1879, in order to keep the Lower Canadian members united, and finally succeeded in carrying a point considered as irretrievably lost after the refusal of the Marquis of Lorne to sign the dismissal of the Hon. Letellier de Saint-Just. In the same year he employed the same tactics in Quebec and brought about the fall of the Joly ministry. In politics Mr. Sénécal has played a prominent part. He was the mainspring of the Conservative party in the Quebec provincial election in 1881, and again in the Dominion election of 1882, and it is mainly due to his efforts that the party gained such brilliant victories at that time. He was an admirable organizer, and possessed the talent to infuse his own courage into others. His iron will, his energy, and the quickness of his movements carried the day every time. When he had once made up his mind to do a certain thing, it was done. Hon. J. A. Chapleau, who has the reputation of knowing how to gauge a man at his proper worth, and deservedly so, knew the ability of this man of large heart and energy, and honored him with his entire confidence. The secretary of state, who also remembers services and rewards merit when the occasion presents itself, never missed an opportunity to render homage to his valor and to the eminent services he had rendered. He did not hesitate to give him a substantial proof of his gratitude as soon as he found himself in a position to do so, by calling him to the senate, the highest distinction in the gift of the government. In 1882 the French government sent to Mr. Sénécal the cross of a commander of the Legion of Honor. Before giving his allegiance to the Conservative party Mr. Sénécal had been a Liberal, and he was elected as such to the Legislative Assembly for the county of Yamaska, which he represented from 1867 to 1871; at the same time he had been elected for Drummond and Arthabaska to the House of Commons, in which he sat from 1867 to 1872. He is the only man in the country who has been elected in two separate constituencies for two separate chambers in two separate elections. In 1874 he had formed the project, with Hon. Mr. Cauchon, to unite the two political parties, and had almost succeeded, when Mr. Joly, then leader of the opposition, destroyed the entente in a speech delivered at a banquet in Montreal. He then abandoned the Liberals, and the chiefs of the party have often expressed their bitter regrets at losing such a man. On the other hand the Conservatives expressed the same regret, when he was forced to abandon the Conservative government at Ottawa on the Riel question. In 1850 Senator Sénécal married Delphire Dansereau, daughter of Lieutenant-Colonel Dansereau, merchant, of Verchères. Several children were the fruit of this marriage, two of whom only survive: Madame Judge Gill, and Madame W. E. Blumshart. Senator Sénécal was a brother-in-law to Dr. Hercule Dansereau, of Thibodeau, La., Hon. Felix Geoffrion, Captain St. Louis, the late Cyril Archambault, barrister, and uncle to F. X. Archambault, Q.C.