Robitaille, Louis Adolphe, Quebec, is a well-known and much respected citizen of the ancient capital. He is a brother of Hon. Theodore Robitaille, fourth lieutenant-governor of the province of Quebec, and now a senator of the Dominion, and, like him, was born at the family residence at Varennes, P.Q. His father, who was a notary, was descended from one of the oldest French families in Lower Canada, and figured very prominently among the patriots during the insurrection of 1837-38, even to the extent of suffering imprisonment for his political opinions until after the pacification of the province. On the maternal side our subject claims descent from the Monjeaus and the Brodeurs, two more of the good old Lower Canadian families. He was educated at the Ste. Therese, St. Hyacinthe, and Montreal Seminaries. He was offered and accepted an appointment in the Crown Lands department of Canada sometime about 1855. Before confederation, Mr. Robitaille was promoted and placed in charge of the Woods and Forests branch of Canada, and in this position he was continued until confederation, when he became superintendent of Woods and Forests for the province of Quebec. He afterwards left this branch of the service for an appointment in the Railway department of Quebec province, which position he held until shortly after the transfer of the North Shore Railway, and was then superannuated. Though retired from the government service, Mr. Robitaille is still in active employment as secretary-treasurer of the Baie des Chaleurs Railway. He is a brother-in-law of Mr. Riopel, M.P. for Bonaventure. Having been a public officer from early life, serving under different administrations, Mr. Robitaille has never taken an active part in politics.
Caron, Hon. Sir Joseph Philippe Rene Adolphe, B.C.L., K.C.M.G., Q.C., Ottawa, Minister of Militia, M.P. for Quebec county, was born in the city of Quebec in 1843. He is the eldest surviving son of the late Hon. R. E. Caron, lieutenant-governor of the province of Quebec. The Caron family is ancient, and many members of it from time to time held distinguished places in the state. Sir Adolphe was educated at the Seminary of Quebec, at Laval University, and at the University of McGill, in Montreal. In 1865, he graduated from the last mentioned institution, taking with him the degree of B.C.L. Mr. Caron had as preceptors in the offices wherein he studied his profession, very distinguished lawyers. At first he studied with L. G. Baillairgé, Q.C., and subsequently with the Hon. (now Sir) John Rose, bart. In 1865, he was called to the bar of Lower Canada, and in May, 1879, was appointed a Queen’s counsellor. He is the only remaining member of the widely known firm of Andrews, Caron & Andrews, Quebec city, Mr. Andrews, sr., having died a few years ago, and Mr. Andrews, jr., was appointed to a justiceship. The firm is now re-organized and known as Caron, Pentland & Stuart. Besides his attention to law, he has formed prominent connections in other directions. He has been a director of the Stadacona Bank, and was vice-president of the Literary and Historical Society of Quebec in 1867. But above all other interests, he found himself attracted to public life, and first sought parliamentary honors in 1872, at Bellechase, but failed to secure his election. In March, 1873, he was more successful, having been then returned to represent the county of Quebec in the House of Commons at Ottawa, and has sat in the House of Commons ever since, and has been twice elected by acclamation. He always showed himself to be an industrious and practical member of the house, and those who observed him closely had no difficulty in predicting that sooner or later he must obtain a substantial recognition of his abilities. Sir John A. Macdonald always keeps his eyes about him for talent, and Mr. Caron was long under his scrutiny. A very great friend and warm admirer of Sir John A. Macdonald declares, however, that the premier does not want to have near him any ability, or brilliancy that could ever be likely to cast his own in the shade. Nevertheless, we are pretty certain that he is shrewd enough to seek to gather about him the best brains that he can lay hold of, and, as a rule, he has always succeeded in doing this. He perceived that the subject of our sketch would not alone make a good minister, but that he would likewise make a popular one, and Mr. Caron was sworn in a member of the Privy Council, 9th November, 1880, and appointed minister of militia. To some men, indeed to most men, come that one opportunity, at some period or another in their lives; that one opportunity arose for the Hon. Mr. Caron, minister of militia, in 1885. We need not, so close to the event which furnished the opportunity, dwell at length upon it here. Like a thunderbolt upon our ears came the tidings that several policemen and civilians had fallen before a body of armed rebels in the North-West. It was the winter of the year, the theatre of revolt was far away; it could not be reached by railroad, but almost interminable stretches of wilderness lay before whomsoever should go there to re-assert the majesty of the law. A weak or incapable minister of militia would have been at his wit’s end in the face of a problem, grave as this, thrust upon him for immediate settlement. But Hon. Mr. Caron was not dismayed; he did not hesitate at all, but promptly and firmly grappled with the difficulty. Looking back upon it now, it naturally gives us ground for the heartiest approbation to think of the celerity with which troops were placed at different points in the territories, in the face of long and difficult marching, and at an inclement season. It is perhaps doubtful if there is to be found in the history of ordinary wars a record showing more promptness of design and action than this uprising put in the way of our militia department to display. It is a fact that the decision and speed of our movements elicited the highest approbation from disinterested military spectators. His Excellency, the governor-general, who is a gentleman of very superior judgment, recognized the efficiency of the minister in this time of peril, and had no hesitation in communicating the fact to the Imperial government, and recommending that he should obtain recognition from the Crown. That recognition came, and there was no room to doubt that the minister of militia well deserved to become Sir Adolphe Caron. Of late it has come to be the custom in certain quarters to sneer at distinctions like the knighthood, and to declare that they have been conferred at random; but in the selection of Sir Adolphe for such an honor, no reasonable man can make this criticism. In politics Sir Adolphe is a Liberal-Conservative, and in religion a Roman Catholic. In 1867, he married Alice, only daughter of the late Hon. François Baby, who represented Stadacona division in the Legislative Council for many years.
Edgar, William, General Passenger Agent, Grand Trunk Railway, Montreal, was born at Birkenhead, on the Mersey, opposite Liverpool, on the 14th of June, 1841. When quite young he came to Canada, and on the 13th of October, 1856, entered the stationery department of the Great Western railway as a clerk. During the twelve years following, he filled various capacities in connection with the same important line, being at different times, clerk of the stores department, clerk of the audit department and chief clerk to the general ticket agent. In discharging his duties, he was always able to give satisfaction to his employers, and never failed to command the respect of those with whom he came in contact. In July, 1869, he was appointed passenger agent for the western division of the Great Western, being stationed at Detroit, a post which he held until the succeeding January, when he became general ticket agent on the same road and on the Michigan Central. In that position he remained until November, 1875, when he was offered and accepted the office of general passenger agent on the Great Western line. In November, 1882, another change in his career took place, as he was then appointed assistant-general passenger agent of the Grand Trunk Railway which included the Great Western system. His new functions necessitated his removal to Toronto, where he made many friends during his stay of some twenty months. In July, 1884, Mr. Edgar was further promoted to the important position which he now holds, that of general passenger agent of the Grand Trunk, with headquarters at Montreal. He enjoys the esteem of many friends, both among his colleagues and in the community at large.
Perley, William Dell, Wolseley, N.W.T., M.P. for East Assiniboia, was born at Gladstone, Sunbury County, New Brunswick, 6th February, 1838. Among his ancestors were the pioneers of America as well as the pioneers of New Brunswick. On his father’s side the family traces its descent back to Allan Perley, who emigrated from Wales to Massachusetts in 1630. When the Revolutionary war broke out a number of members of the family remained true to the British cause, and being expelled with the other Loyalists, settled in New Brunswick. The father of the subject of this sketch was Hon. W. E. Perley, of Sunbury, a prominent man in the politics of New Brunswick in ante-Confederation times. He was educated in the best school of the province, concluding his collegiate course at the Baptist Seminary at Sackville. In 1860 Mr. Perley married Phebe Augusta Slipp, of Hampstead, N.B. Being a man of public spirit and unusual energy, he early became prominent in public affairs. His first training as a legislator he received in the municipal council of his native county, to which he was elected for seven consecutive years, this fact alone being sufficient proof of the esteem in which he was held by those among whom he had spent his life. The opportunities afforded to men of energy and capital in the Canadian North-West has had great attraction for Mr. Perley from the earliest public announcements of the great resources of that country. Going to the North-West in 1882 he became from the first a leading citizen of what is now Assiniboia district. He was a member of the first municipal council of Wolseley, and was elected chairman of that body. In this capacity he had most to do with completing the municipal organization. He became a member of the North-West council in September, 1885, and was appointed one of the delegates from the North-West Territories to confer with the Government of the Dominion, in relation to important questions affecting the North-West which were then pending. In 1887, Mr. Perley resigned his place in the North-West council to contest the newly established riding of East Assiniboia for the House of Commons. The elections in the North-West were of absorbing interest owing to the close results of the elections for the Eastern Provinces, and they were fought with keenness throughout. Mr. Perley succeeded in carrying his district, as also did the other Conservative candidates. Though but a short time in the House, Mr. Perley has already taken a respectable place and has shown himself to be possessed of qualities which would win him distinction in any legislative body. He speaks seldom, but has already made it plain that he possesses independence of spirit which is unfortunately too rare in Canadian politics. He is an active promoter of a number of great public enterprises, such as railways and others, and has, even in his short career in parliament, won important advantages for his constituents in hastening the construction of the North-West Central Railway, a most important enterprise, and in various other ways.
Stephenson, Major James, Superintendent of the Grand Trunk Railway, Montreal, was born in England in the very year and month in which our Gracious Queen ascended the throne, June, 1837, and in a place renowned in history for its association with a line of English kings, the ancient town of Lancaster. It is the capital of the important county which comprises those great centres of trade and industry, Liverpool and Manchester. But Mr. Stephenson was not destined to spend more than his early years on the banks of the Lune. Early in life he was induced to come to Canada, where the railway movement initiated by the enterprise of British capitalists, seemed to hold out prospects of success to energetic young men. It was not, however, in the railway, but in the telegraphic service that he began his career. In 1855 he obtained a situation in the British American Telegraph Company, and in the following year, on the amalgamation of that company with the Montreal Telegraph Company, he was offered a position on the Grand Trunk, and severed his connection with his former employers. It was at the Don Station, Toronto, that, in September, 1856, he made his début in the new calling which was henceforth to be the business of his life. Two months later an event occurred, which may be regarded as the starting-point of a new era for Canada—the great Grand Trunk celebration at Montreal, inaugurating the completion of the connecting link between Montreal and Toronto. To have been a railway man at that date, makes good his title to the ranks of veteran. The first duties that were entrusted to Mr. Stephenson were those of ticket clerk and operator, but in 1858, he succeeded to the agency of the station. It was the first of many steps forward. In 1860, he was appointed train-despatcher; in 1862, divisional telegraph superintendent and agent at Belleville; in 1864, assistant superintendent; and in June, 1881, general passenger agent. But the promotion of Mr. Stephenson did not stop here, for in July, 1884, the Company recognizing his great ability, he was promoted, to the satisfaction of his colleagues and the public, to the responsible position which he still holds. Mr. Stephenson is a true Briton, and was not the man to look on inactive, when in 1866—a year which not a few of our people have had cause to remember—Canada was the victim of unprovoked attack from the Fenian element of the United States. He buckled on his armour with thousands of other brave men to meet and repel the invader. He was quickly raised to the rank of captain, and in March, 1867, had earned his majority. In October, 1871, he retired, retaining his rank. His certificates of qualification are dated 2nd class, March, 1867; 1st class, May, 1867. He married in September, 1866, Agnes Frances, eldest daughter of the late Captain Richard Arnold, of Toronto. In private life Major Stephenson is much respected and has many friends.