Robillard, Alexander, M.P.P., Russel, was born in the township of Gloucester, county of Russel, in 1843. He comes of the best French-Canadian stock, his father having been a man of extensive business as a contractor in Ottawa. His father died at the ripe old age of 87 years, his mother being still alive and in the enjoyment of good health at an equally advanced age. Young Robillard had the benefit of a sound commercial education at St. Joseph’s College, Ottawa, and this education he has used to such advantage that he is now one of the heaviest operators in contracting work and quarrying. He was the contractor for the construction of the Model School, one of the most substantial buildings in the city, which was put up by the Ontario Government. His career in business has been one of steady advance, his record having been throughout such as none could find fault with. Being of adventurous disposition, Mr. Robillard has travelled extensively and in places which, when he saw them, were new and strange. He made extensive tours in the West, especially on the Pacific coast from Panama to British Columbia. He has crossed the Isthmus of Panama twice and has been through a great portion of South America. He has also visited Europe several times, making it a point to see all the out-of-the-way places his time would permit him to visit, and has crossed the Pacific to the Orient twice. These travels have been undertaken at various times and the effect of them is plainly to be seen in his toleration of opinions differing from his own and his great knowledge of foreign lands. Mr. Robillard was married at the age of twenty-two, to Miss Sophia Lafleur, who died in May, 1885. The children of the union are seven in number, of whom six are boys. Political affairs have always had great attraction for Mr. Robillard, and he has taken an active part in all the municipal and political contests of his district since he was entitled to vote. His record as a municipal councillor is a long and honorable one, he having been elected Deputy Reeve of Gloucester for five years and afterwards Reeve for three years. In 1886 he was elected to represent his native county in the Legislative Assembly of Ontario. In that capacity he has served only one session, but he enters upon his career with the confident belief on the part of his constituents that he will certainly make his mark. He is a Liberal in politics.
Rexford, Rev. Elson Irving, B.A., Secretary of the Department of Public Instruction, Quebec, was born at South Bolton, Brome County, P.Q., on the 17th June, 1850. He is the eldest son of Orrin Rexford, (who married Eliza Dimond), and a grandson of one of seven brothers who came from the shores of Lake Champlain about 1790, and settled in the County of Stanstead, on the shores of Lake Memphremagog. The Rexford family on this continent are descendants of Arthur Rexford, who was master of a trading vessel between England and the West Indies and the New England colonies, and who died in New Haven, Conn., in 1727. The Rev. Elson I. Rexford attended the elementary and superior schools of his native county until he was sixteen years of age, when he entered the McGill Normal School, Montreal, where he obtained a Model School diploma at the end of a two years’ course of training, taking first place and the Prince of Wales’ medal. He held the positions of assistant master in the model training school of the McGill Normal School and head master of one of the city schools under the Protestant Board of School Commissioners, Montreal, for three years. During this time he took an active part in the local association of Teachers, of which he held the position of Secretary for some time. He entered upon the Arts course of McGill University, Montreal, in September, 1871. He graduated with honors in mental and moral philosophy in 1876, having dropped out for one year when he entered upon the study of theology; this study he continued during the last two years of his arts course. He was ordained by the Right Reverend Ashton Oxendon in 1876, and immediately entered upon the charge of St. Luke’s Church, Montreal. This charge he was obliged to resign after a few months, in consequence of ill-health, by which he was deprived of the use of one leg for about two years. On account of this he returned to the work of teaching, first as head-master of his former school in Montreal, and afterwards as assistant head master of the Montreal High School. During this time he was President of the Local Association of Montreal Teachers, and Secretary of the Provincial Association of Protestant Teachers, Quebec. In 1882, he was called from the High School to fill the position of English Secretary of the Department of Public Instruction, Quebec, rendered vacant by the retirement of Dr. Miles, which position he still holds. He was elected several times Representative Fellow on the Corporation of McGill University, and on his removal to Quebec, he was appointed Governor’s Fellow of the University. In September, 1882, he married Louisa Norris, of Montreal.
Derbishire, Stewart.—If variety in the career of a man tend to render his life—other things being equal—more interesting than those of his fellows, who maintain an even tenor on their way, following the profession through life in which they have been brought up and educated, then will our readers find this element of interest not wanting in the life of the subject of the following sketch. Beginning life as a soldier, the late Mr. Derbishire soon turned to the study of the law, and though he found himself on the high road to distinction in this profession, he relinquished it for the more exciting pursuit of journalism, which led him to Spain during the Constitutional war, where he drew his sword on behalf of Queen Isabella. When however, the decisive action, which ended in the defeat of Gomez, placed the crown upon her head, he embarked in the very opposite mission of endeavouring to bring peace to a distracted country, in the train of Lord Durham. Unlike his master, however, he did not leave this country on the apparent failure of that nobleman’s truly humane and generous efforts on behalf of the people; but being drawn into the political life of the country, after executing some very delicate missions of a diplomatic character, he was elected the first member for Bytown, now Ottawa; which constituency he continued to serve in parliament for several years, until, after the passing of the Independence of Parliament Act, he gave up his seat, having become Queen’s Printer for united Canada in 1841. So slight are the causes to which we are sometimes led to attribute the direction given to our current of life, that Mr. Derbishire was often heard to say, that it was owing to his belief that the rebellion was by no means finally quelled, but that there would be another spurt before long, and wishing—to use his own words—“to see the fun,” that Canada finally became his home—a home to which he accorded a loyal affection and admiration, and whose fluctuating course, after he had retired from the political arena, he watched with anxiety and interest to the end of his life. Stewart Derbishire, born in London, in the year 1800, was the third son of Philip Derbishire, M.D., and Ann Masterton, daughter of Allan Masterton, of Edinburgh, an intimate friend and companion of Burns, whose verses he was fond of setting to music. Miss Masterton, who was gifted with great personal charms, and of more than average mental ability, was the subject of those lines by Burns, entitled “Beware o’ Bonnie Ann.” At the age of sixteen, Mr. Derbishire commenced life as an ensign in the Eighty-second regiment, but very soon afterwards, the peace having caused the reduction of the army to one half its strength, he became a student of law of the Honorable Society of Gray’s Inn, about the year 1824. He was engaged in several cases of much public interest, in the conduct of which he distinguished himself, and amongst which was that of the Dorsetshire labourers, prosecuted for machine-breaking in 1832. The case created great interest throughout England, and was reported at unusual length in the Times of that period. From an early age Mr. Derbishire was of very strongly pronounced Liberal views in politics, and being drawn into the vortex of political journalism, aided very effectually the movement which ended in the passing of the Reform Bill. Having gained the warm regard of Sir de Lacy Evans, commander of the British Legion, which championed the cause of Queen Isabella in 1837, and having become much interested in the struggle going on in Spain, Mr. Derbishire proceeded to the troubled scene as special correspondent of the Morning Chronicle. Not satisfied, however, with using his pen only in the cause, and desiring to be more actively engaged in the struggle, he volunteered at the assault of Irun, and for his personal bravery received a medal, as well as a very flattering letter from Sir de Lacy. He also earned the high approbation of Narvaez, under whom he served in the campaigns of Castile, Valladolid and Sagovia, for which services he was made a Knight of the Christian and Military Order of San Fernando, and received several medals for his gallantry. The honor of saving the life of Narvaez in a mutiny, has been attributed to him, and he is also said to have been the first to point out to the Melbourne ministry—then active champions of the Quadruple Alliance—the inefficiency of Espartero, and to foretell the rise of Narvaez. In 1838, the subject of our sketch came out to Canada as attaché to the Earl of Durham. He held this nobleman in high esteem, as well for his personal qualities as for his generous and large-hearted statesmanship, and like him, he considered a lenient policy the only one to be pursued towards the recently insurgent population, amongst whom he acted as an emissary of mercy, visiting in the Montreal district the localities, which, like Saint Benoit and Saint Eustache had been desolated by the flames of civil war, carrying consolation and assistance to the victims of the strife. He continued after the troubles had ceased, to have a warm corner in his heart for the rebels, some of whom became his personal friends, and towards whom—more especially Dr. Wolfred Nelson and Dr. Rolph—he entertained, not only feelings of affectionate regard, but of high respect and admiration, as towards men who had taken up a course detrimental to their own interests, in the hope of gaining for the country that which, in a short time, all but an insignificant minority agreed the country must have. For some of the less fortunate among their brethren, who remained in exile, he used his influence with the Canadian government. Later in the day, when many of the former rebels were serving their country in honourable positions, and it was no singular thing to be in friendship with them, one of Lord Metcalfe’s aides was heard to say, “How are your friends the rebels, Derbishire?” “Oh,” was the reply, “I can’t get to see them now, you keep them at government house; when Viger was in jail we could get to him, now we can’t.” Viger was then president of the council. In the course of Mr. Derbishire’s diplomatic duties, he brought up from New York the news from Britain that, as he expressed it, “would make his lordship kick and throw up his commission,” as indeed it did, and shortly after the Earl’s departure, the rebellion again breaking out, as all along he had predicted it would, he was asked, as one who knew the country and the people, to undertake the dangerous service of carrying despatches to New Brunswick and Halifax, demanding immediate re-inforcements of troops; this he did, travelling in mid-winter from Quebec to Halifax by sleigh and on horse-back, and resting neither night nor day till his mission was fulfilled. Finding everything tranquil on his return to Lower Canada, he endeavoured to regain his native land, but owing to the badness of the roads, arrived in New York too late for the packet, by which he intended sailing. There were at that time matters of great interest in agitation at Washington, and Mr. Fox—then British minister there—engaged his services to draw up several papers upon the international relations between Great Britain, the United States and the Canadas, which were sent home to the Foreign office with high commendations, and Mr. Derbishire was just on the eve of embarking with strong recommendations to Lord Palmerston, when a letter reached him, stating, that Mr. Poulett Thompson, afterwards Lord Sydenham, wished him to join his government, whereupon he once more turned his footsteps in the direction of the country which appeared fated to become his home. Before leaving the United States, however, Mr. Fox commissioned him to travel leisurely through Maine, on his way from New Brunswick to Canada, and endeavor to find out the feelings of the people of that state upon the vexed question of their northern boundary; he did so, and found the Mainites in a highly irritated, and what he considered to be, wholly unreasonable frame of mind on that subject, and he drew up a somewhat lengthy paper on the knowledge gained through his enquiries, which Mr. Fox spoke of as containing some extremely valuable information, and the gist of which would form a useful addition to the history extant upon the subject. In 1841, Mr. Derbishire was elected member of Parliament for Bytown, having been personally recommended by Lord Sydenham, as “a friend of my own, qualified by his ability to do honor to any constituency.” Sir Charles Bagot’s administration, Mr. Derbishire considered in the highest degree successful, and full of promise to the young country, whose factions were beginning to coalesce and work in harmony under the straightforward, wise and honorable policy of that governor. If, however, he was so fortunate as to have his political sentiments at one with those of each governor-general who had ruled in the country since his arrival in it—during whose administrations had been developed and brought into action that principle of responsible government which was to release the youthful limbs of the country from the bands that had hitherto confined them, allowing them to gain strength within the bounds of legitimate freedom—responsible government, “without which, British rule in this part of the empire must have become a monument of cruelty, injustice and folly”—it was far otherwise when Sir Charles Bagot’s unfortunate successor came upon the scene—the former happy unity of sentiment ceased. Admiring, as he did, Lord Metcalfe’s benevolent heart, it could only be with a sorrowful foreboding that he watched the reversion, by this nobleman’s want of head, of all that the three former governors had striven to establish. Lord Metcalfe was only “fighting again a battle which had been already fought and lost; but fighting it with diminished forces, and positions considerably less favorable, reviving a contest lost by Sir F. B. Head.” Believing, that until prepared with other ministers, granting a reasonable time for the construction of a cabinet, it is out of all rule of representative, responsible, or any government short of a despotism, to dismiss, or what is the same thing, promote the resignation of an existing ministry, his vote condemned the claim advanced by the governor-general, to make appointments without the knowledge of the cabinet, although a threat of dismissal from the office of Queen’s printer—which had been bestowed upon him in 1841—was held over his head. It was a question to him whether the country should progress in that development, which seems to be the lot of all new countries where free play is given to the instinct of the Anglo-Saxon race for self-government, or whether the irritation caused by the frustration of this instinct, should break out again into civil war, bringing anarchy and annexation in its train. Being a man of honor, of course all personal considerations were dwarfed beside the gigantic proportions assumed by this question, in view of the future welfare of the country. Not long after this critical period, Mr. Derbishire gave up his seat in parliament, on the passing of the Independence of Parliament Act, but after retiring from active politics, as was to be expected of a man, the bias of whose mind was toward political life, his interest in the destinies of his adopted country did not grow dim with years. He watched her course with keen sight, and continued to champion what he considered her best interests in the press, both of the colony and of the mother country. In 1849, when financial ruin stared the country in the face, and Britain, by her oft-repeated neglect, seemed callous to her fate, he, with many others, sorrowfully believed that annexation was inevitable, and with much bitterness of spirit, expressed himself to a friend in England, who had for many years been a public servant in this country: “In view of annexation, I feel, as I suppose a man feels who knows that one of these coming days he is to be led out to the scaffold to be strangled in presence of numerous spectators who come to enjoy the sport, and so feel a good many, I fancy.” His feelings towards Canada had been one of peculiar loyalty—in the first years of his residence in it he wished people to believe that he had taken root and identified himself with its interests, and with a lavish hand, spent the large income he received, that they might know that it was not riches he sought in making Canada his home. United to his talents in public life, Mr. Derbishire possessed those qualifications which make a man the admired favorite of society. A wide range of sympathies, rare scholarship and artistic taste, joined to a warmth and geniality of disposition, which caused him to help with heart and hand and purse all those who appealed to his sympathy, made the domain in which he ruled by affection, a wide and varied one. One, a friend from the time he first came to the country, says of him, “Coming within the vast pale of those whom he admitted to sympathy, from the highest to the lowest, to whom he extended the generous helping hand, and knowing him better, I believe, than those with whom he was intimate, or the public, I was deeply impressed with the depth of his philosophy and his accomplished literary power and taste.”
Adam, Lucien Alexandre Samuel, Sheriff of the District of St. Hyacinthe, in the Province of Quebec, was born at Coteau du Lac, county of Soulanges, district of Montreal, the 10th day of November, 1847. His parents were Louis Adam, notary, and Henriette Bourgeois, third daughter of the late Captain François Louis Bourgeois, who came to Canada with the title of captain, in a company of the regiment of the Meurous. He was a native of Neufchatel, in Switzerland. Before the recall of his regiment, Captain Bourgeois remained in this country, which he made his retreat, and died in 1860, at the home of his son-in-law, Louis Adam, at Coteau du Lac, aged ninety-one years. Madame Bourgeois was a daughter of the late Dr. Stubenger, surgeon, etc., who died in this country several years ago. In 1837, Louis Adam was among the number of patriots who assisted and took part with his father, Augustin Adam, at St. Charles. He was then only fourteen years of age. Lucien Samuel Adam took his classical course at the Grand Seminary of St. Hyacinthe, which he left the 15th June, 1866, after having been admitted as a law student. He studied his profession with the late Louis Taché, then notary and sheriff of St. Hyacinthe, and acted as deputy sheriff during six years. In April, 1870, at the time of the Fenian invasion, Mr. Adam was attached to the staff of the St. Hyacinthe regiment, then under the command of Lieut.-Colonel Romuald St. Jacques. The regiment was called out on duty and set out for the frontier to suppress the insurrection, with others from Montreal, where the subject of our sketch was appointed paymaster. In May, 1871, he was admitted as a member of the legal profession, by the Assembly of Notaries at Laval University, Quebec, and on the 14th of July he commenced the practice of his profession at St. Hyacinthe, which he continued until May, 1881, when he was made sheriff by the Chapleau government, in place of the late Louis Taché, deceased, the 1st April of the same year. Mr. Adam took part in several election contests, provincial as well as federal, and was always a staunch supporter of Conservative interests. On the 15th of May, 1872, he was married at St. Hyacinthe, to Miss Marie Zoé Boivin, second daughter of the late Leonard Boivin, merchant and importer, of St. Hyacinthe, and in later years collector of inland revenue for the said place, whose wife was Madame Marie Zoé Lagorce and who died in August, 1872. Mr. Adam has three brothers, the Rev. F. L. T. Adam, of Hochelaga, Montreal; A. A. Adam, advocate of Ottawa, and the Rev. Father Adam, Jesuit, of Montreal. In religion, it is needless to say, Mr. Adam is an earnest and devout Roman Catholic. He was appointed sheriff at the early age of thirty-three, and to-day is but forty years of age. Possessing all the necessary requirements—talent, industry and integrity—of success, Mr. Adam has undoubtedly a brilliant career before him.
McConnel, William George, Berthierville, Quebec, was born in the city of Quebec, on the 12th of July, 1838. His father, John McConnel, and his mother, Margaret, were both born in the north of Ireland, in the good old county Derry, but both parents died while the subject of this sketch was still a mere youth. Thrown thus on his own resources, William George found his way to the New World, and received a good commercial education at the Protestant Orphan Asylum, Quebec. At the age of thirteen he was bound to a clergyman of the Church of England, for the sum of $100, to learn farming. He soon found, however, that his talent lay in another direction, and in a short time he was sent to Mr. J. S. Dixon, merchant, of Berthier, and here he obtained that thorough knowledge of mercantile affairs which has been so useful to him in later years. He remained with Mr. Dixon for thirteen years, when his entire savings, some $1,300, were swept away by the failure of his master. Mr. Dixon, however, resumed business, and, nothing daunted, Mr. McConnel entered into partnership with his former master, and they continued in business together for three years. On October 1st, 1868, Mr. McConnel entered into business on his own account as a general produce merchant, but making flour his chief business, and he still continues to make a specialty of this indispensable article. In 1881 he entered into partnership with Mr. Robillard, M.P.P., in the wholesale grain business, but this partnership was dissolved in the fall of 1886. Mr. McConnel is a member of the Montreal Corn Exchange, which he joined in 1879. He is a staunch Liberal in politics, and has always thrown his influence heartily into every contest, so as to make that party successful in the county of Berthier. He has been an alderman of the town since 1881; and the esteem in which he is held by his fellow-townsmen is shown in the fact that his election is always by acclamation. In 1888 he was appointed a justice of the peace for the county of Richelieu. He is a faithful adherent of the Church of England. In 1881 he was elected people’s churchwarden, and since that time the church has been independent of outside support. He is also one of the trustees of the Berthier Protestant Academy. He was married on December 1st, 1872, to a French lady, Miss Amelia Mailloux, daughter of Antoine and Marie Louise Mailloux, of Berthier, by whom he has a family of nine children, of whom seven only are living. All of them speak the French and English languages fluently. Mr. McConnel is a good conversationalist, with an intimate knowledge of men and places acquired in the course of constant travel in the United States and Canada.