Corning, Thomas Edgar, Barrister, Yarmouth, Nova Scotia, is of English descent. His ancestors came to America in 1640, and settled in Beverley, Massachusetts. His great grandfather removed in 1764, and was one of the first settlers in Yarmouth. His father is Nelson Corning, of Chegoggin, Yarmouth. Mr. Corning was born at Chegoggin on the 11th April, 1842. He received his early education in Acadia College, Wolfville, Nova Scotia, and graduated on the 6th June, 1865. Besides holding the degree of bachelor of arts, he has been elected a scholar and member of the senate of the University of Acadia. This latter event occurred in 1883. Having finished his classical studies, Mr. Corning entered upon the study of the law, and was admitted to the bar on 30th October, 1869. His thoroughness and practical business turn of mind soon secured to him a fair share of the legal business in Yarmouth, and he now enjoys the reputation of being one of the best lawyers in Yarmouth county. He is head of the firm of Corning & Chipman. In politics he is a Liberal-Conservative, but resides in a constituency which has always been intensely Liberal. However, at the general elections in 1882, Mr. Corning was elected as a supporter of the then Liberal-Conservative government led by the Hon. J. S. D. Thompson, now minister of justice at Ottawa. This government resigned shortly after the elections, giving place to the Liberal government first led by the Hon. Mr. Pipes, afterwards by the Hon. Mr. Fielding. In the House of Assembly Mr. Corning took a leading part in all the debates, and carefully considered every question upon its merits, aiming to give an intelligent vote always. Although staunch to his party, his candor and fairness made him popular and respected by the dominant party. On the dissolution of the house, in 1886, he was nominated by his party. But the secession agitation had begun, and the Fielding ministry went to the country with the cry of “Repeal.” To this issue Mr. Corning presented an unwavering opposition, but the popular enthusiasm was too great for him, and he was defeated in June, 1886, by a majority of one thousand. Since then he has continued in private life, but his integrity and ability will, no doubt, before many years bring him again to the fore in political matters. Mr. Corning has never travelled much outside of his native province. He has held the office of treasurer of the municipality of Yarmouth since 1874. Although one of the largest towns in the province, Yarmouth has never been incorporated, and is still managed in the old way. Nine of the county councillors, elected in the limits of the polling district of Yarmouth town, manage its affairs. Mr. Corning married, on the 25th August, 1880, Jane Alden Baxter, daughter of John Baxter, of Yarmouth. He is a Baptist in religion.
Black, J. Burpee, M.D., Windsor, N.S., was born at St. Martin’s, New Brunswick, on the 15th August, 1842. Dr. Black is of Irish extraction, his father, Thomas Henry Black, having been a native of county Armagh, Ireland. His mother’s maiden name was Mary E. Fownes, and resided in St. Martin’s. Dr. Black received his early education in St. Martin’s, and continued his course in St. John, New Brunswick, and at the Mount Allison Wesleyan Academy, Sackville, N.B. His family were Baptists, but, owing probably to his educational associations, Dr. Black has for twenty-five years worshipped with the Methodists, and has for some years been an active member of their church. Having completed his studies at Sackville, where he made the acquaintance of the lady who afterwards became his wife, he studied medicine at Berkshire Medical College, in Massachusetts, and received the degree of M.D., after finishing his course at the University of Philadelphia. He commenced the practice of his profession in the village of Hantsport, Hants county, N.S., but after residing there for five years removed to Windsor, where he has since resided, and has worked up one of the largest practices in Nova Scotia. Hantsport has been in its growth one of the most prosperous villages in Nova Scotia. It owes the greatest part of its success to the business ability, integrity and enterprise of the Hon. Ezra Churchill, who worked his way up from the humblest beginnings to the position of M.P. in Nova Scotia before confederation, and a senator of the Dominion. When he died, at Ottawa, in the spring of 1874, he owned a fleet of upwards of forty ships of various sizes, and his property was estimated at $800,000. He literally made Hantsport, most of the houses there having been erected under his supervision. His daughter, Bessie, was married to Dr. Black at Hantsport, on the 11th May, 1864. They have been blessed with a family of ten children, nine of whom are living, and one, the eldest, is married. Like his father-in-law, Dr. Black has always been a Conservative in politics, and in some campaigns has taken the stump in behalf of his friends. He has also been freely spoken of as a possible candidate for legislative honors. He was elected a member of the town council of the town of Windsor in October, 1882, and held the position until his time of service expired in 1884, when he was elected warden of Windsor without opposition. Windsor became an incorporated town in the year 1878. Previous to this time its affairs had been administered by justices of the peace sitting at quarter sessions. Its public moneys were voted at a town meeting held once a year. The chief officers were the town clerk, the commissioner of streets, and the collector of rates. During Dr. Black’s period of service as councillor the town was supplied with water from a reservoir on Fall Brook, a stream of water running from lakes on the South Mountain, six miles in rear of the town. The actual length of the water mains is about three miles. The cost of this public work, the greatest yet undertaken by the town, was $48,000, and $8,000 has since been expended in extending the system. Debentures paying five per cent in two half-yearly instalments were issued to raise this sum, which was readily procured, and has proved to be excellent stock, the bonds now selling considerably above par. All parts of the town are supplied cheaply and plentifully with excellent water, while the pressure, 86 lbs., is so great that the town has no need of fire engines, the supply from the hydrants being sufficient to quickly extinguish any fire which has yet broken out. Dr. Black was chairman of the water committee, and the works under his management were constructed for a less cost than that estimated by the engineer—a result very rare in public works. Dr. Black has also been interested in most of the new manufacturing enterprises of the town. On the expiry of his first term of service as warden, in 1884, he was re-elected by acclamation, and held the office until he retired in 1885. He is connected with no secret society except the Masonic fraternity. He was made a Mason in Mount Lebanon lodge, R.E., Prince Edward Island, in 1866. He held the office of master of Poyntz lodge, at Hantsport, from 1867 to 1870. In 1873 he became high priest of Hiram Chapter, at Windsor. He was also district deputy grand master of the Nova Scotia Grand Lodge in 1883 and 1885.
Bingay, Thomas Van Buskirk, Yarmouth, N.S., was born in 1814, at Shelburne, Nova Scotia. He comes of an old loyalist family. His mother, Sarah Van Buskirk, was the daughter of Jacob Van Buskirk, who saw stirring times during the American revolution. In the first American war he held the position of major, and during the war of 1812 he was colonel. Later on he became a judge of the old inferior court of Common Pleas, of Nova Scotia, in the list of the judges of which court occur some of the brightest names of Nova Scotians, such as Judge Haliburton (“Sam Slick”), John G. Marshall, and Peleg Wiswell. Jacob Van Buskirk’s father was Abraham Van Buskirk, who was colonel in the 4th battalion of New Jersey Volunteers, and second in command to Brigadier-General Arnold in his expedition to New London (being specially mentioned in his despatches for active exertions), and who, at the close of the revolutionary war, in 1784, settled in Shelburne. Shelburne was then a city of some ten thousand inhabitants, and Abraham Van Buskirk was its first mayor. Mr. Bingay is the eldest son of the late John Bingay, of Shelburne, who for some years represented the county of Shelburne in the provincial parliament, and who was deputy-sheriff of the county of Yarmouth, and subsequently, in 1836, first high sheriff of the county, which office he held until his death, which occurred in 1851. He was educated at Church Point, in Digby county, with the venerable Abbé Sigogne, for many years parish priest of the Acadian district of Clare, in which settlement he exercised great influence, and where his name is still held in great reverence. The abbé was a great friend of T. C. Haliburton whilst that author practised law in Annapolis Royal and represented the county of Annapolis in the House of Assembly. He was not only a very learned man, but also a typical country clergyman, being consulted by his flock on all occasions about affairs of every class. Mr. Bingay subsequently attended school in Halifax. He began to study law in Liverpool, N.S., but completed his term of apprenticeship in Halifax, where he was enrolled as attorney in 1835. In those days, a year elapsed before an aspirant for forensic honours after becoming an attorney, could be admitted to practice at the bar of this province. In 1835, Mr. Bingay became a barrister and began the active duties of his profession in Yarmouth. In 1839, he was appointed judge of probate, and in the next year, master in chancery. He was also a captain of the Yarmouth militia in 1839. In 1852 he left Yarmouth and made a voyage to Australia. On his way home he stopped in California, where his son, Thomas V. B., was born. He returned to Yarmouth in 1857, and has resided there ever since. Mr. Bingay has lived through the most prosperous times of Yarmouth. Has seen the rise, good times, and decadence of one of the most enterprising shipbuilding eras of this province, and has been professionally connected with most of the leading enterprises of his town. His first wife was Lois, daughter of the late Joseph Tooker, by whom he had two sons, who both died in early manhood, and a daughter who died in infancy. His second wife was Margaret J., daughter of the late James Budd Moody, who was a brother of the late Elisha W. B. Moody, and grandson of Col. James Moody, of New Jersey. Col. James Moody, at the close of the American war, settled in Weymouth, N.S. Of this marriage there were eight sons and a daughter, of whom two sons and the daughter died in infancy. Of his sons, the oldest three reside in Yarmouth. These are James Wentworth Bingay, Q.C., revising barrister, and major of Yarmouth county militia; George Bingay, barrister and captain of militia, and Thomas V. B. Bingay, accountant in the Exchange Bank of Yarmouth. All of these are men in first-rate standing. Mr. Bingay and his two oldest sons constitute the legal firm of Thomas V. B. Bingay & Sons. They are the solicitors of the following local corporations, viz.:—The Bank of Yarmouth; The Western Counties Railway Company (James Wentworth Bingay, sec’y.-treasurer); The Mutual Relief Society of Nova Scotia (James Wentworth Bingay, director and trustee); and the Yarmouth Water Company (George Bingay, sec’y.-treas.). Of the latter company George Bingay was one of the three original corporators. From his family antecedents, as well as his professional and social environment, as may be supposed, Mr. Bingay’s sentiments lean strongly towards Conservatism. He is the oldest representative of a family, which for a hundred years, has held a very prominent position in the western counties of Nova Scotia. His ancestors made great sacrifices for British connection. The family are Episcopalians in religion.
Shields, John, of Toronto, was born at Crammond Bridge, nine miles from Edinburgh, Midlothianshire, Scotland, on the 26th day of June, 1842. His father was Alexander Shields, a farmer from Fifeshire, Scotland, and mother, Margaret West. They came to Canada in 1854, and settled in the township of Markham, afterwards removing to the township of the Gore of Toronto. The subject of this sketch commenced his education at Edinburgh, and afterwards attended the Collegiate Institute, Toronto, graduating with prize honours. He then passed a regular examination which enabled him to take a position as head master of a school in the township of Toronto, which occupation he continued at for two years. He then successfully passed the civil service and excise examination, taking a clerkship with John Morrow, who now holds the position of inspector of Inland Revenue, Toronto. At the time excise duty was put on petroleum he was sent to Petrolia and Sarnia by the Dominion government to organize the staff for the Inland Revenue department. After getting this branch of the service in active operation, he resigned in 1872 and commenced the production of oil by sinking a large number of wells on his own account. After a very short time he became one of the largest Canadian oil operators, continuing in this business a number of years. During this time his fellow operators and the citizens generally having seen that his administrative talent would be of great service to the town of Petrolia, they elected him in 1875 to the office of reeve, he being the youngest member ever elected to the county council. This was his first experience in politics, and from that time forth he took an active part in the interests of the Liberal-Conservative party by fighting in that Reform stronghold the Hon. Alexander Mackenzie and his brothers. From oil he gradually began the formation of railway companies, and was largely interested with the late F. C. Cline, in promoting and building the Kingston and Pembroke Railway. About this time, while still reeve of Petrolia, he organized the Erie and Lake Huron Railway, which was afterwards carried out to a successful issue in 1876. He removed again to the city of Toronto, since which time he has been actively engaged in building railways, canals, bridges and other large works of a public character, among which may be mentioned that most difficult engineering undertaking of the Canadian Pacific Railway between Lake Superior and the city of Winnipeg. This part of the line was considered the most inaccessible part of the road between the Atlantic and Pacific oceans. He and his confrère finished this difficult task one year before the allotted time, much to the surprise of the government, the officials of the board, and the public generally. This unheard of result showed to great advantage his ability in controlling a large body of men. After finishing the line, he operated the same for traffic purposes for a year, and inaugurated the first through train service, when it was taken over by the company. During this time he saw the opportunity and necessity for a large business in the lumber trade, in which he, with his usual enterprise, at once embarked, and built the first saw-mill and the first house in Brandon, Manitoba. He also built several other extensive saw-mills in various parts of the province. In 1886-7 he rebuilt and enlarged the Welland Canal, and also built a considerable portion of the St. Catharines and Niagara Central Railway, being the sole contractor for that line. In 1887 he commenced to build the Harvard bridge, between the cities of Boston and Cambridge. This bridge will have twenty-six spans, will be over half a mile long, and when completed will doubtless reflect great credit on Mr. Shields as a builder, justifying the confidence his American cousins have placed in him. He also owns and develops large granite quarries on the coast of Maine, particularly at Deer Isle. Mr. Shields is a consistent member of the Church of England, and was first married on the 8th of October, 1870, to Essie Annis Smiley, of St. Catharines, who died on the 20th July, 1881, at Rat Portage, leaving four children to mourn her loss, two sons and two daughters. Mr. Shields afterwards married a second time Matilda Esther Gould, at Rochester, N.Y., on the 5th of November, 1884.
Hale, Hon. John.—The late Hon. John Hale belonged to an ancient and distinguished family, and was a descendant of Nicholas de Hales, of Hales Place, one of whose sons, Sir Robert, treasurer of England, prior of the Hospital of St. John of Jerusalem, temp. Edward III., 1381, was killed by the insurgents in Wat. Tyler’s insurrection; and of Thomas Hale, who, in 1400, held Codicote, the family seat in Hertfordshire, England, as per inscription in the old mansion there, which was pulled down and rebuilt in 1774; and of Richard Hale, of King’s Walden and Stagenhoe, in Hertfordshire, temp. Elizabeth, 1567 and 1588. His father, General John Hale, came to Canada with General Wolfe in 1758, and as colonel commanded the 47th Regiment at the memorable battle on the Plains of Abraham, September 13th, 1759, and was the one chosen by Wolfe, during his dying moments, to carry home the despatches. We give an extract from The Literary Gazette, London, December 11th, 1847: —