Webster, Walter Chester, Hardware Merchant, Coaticook, Quebec province, was born in Hatley, P.Q., on the 27th November, 1841. His father, Oscar F. Webster, was a farmer. His mother, Eliza Watson, was a native of Antrim, Ireland. Mr. Webster received a sound commercial education at Hatley Academy. Before settling down to business he devoted some time to travel, and spent about three years in California. On his return to Canada, he turned his attention to farming, which he successfully prosecuted for eight years, and then adopted a mercantile life. In 1876 he opened a hardware and crockery store in Coaticook, and through close attention to business he has succeeded to his entire satisfaction. In 1873 Mr. Webster was appointed a justice of the peace by the Joly government, and for a number of years he has been a member of the municipal council of Coaticook, and also that of the township of Barnston. He was one of the original promoters of the Coaticook Knitting Company; and holds a considerable amount of this company’s stock. He is also a director of the Stanstead and Compton Agricultural Society. Mr. Webster takes a deep interest in the Independent Order of Oddfellows, and is an active member of this benevolent organization. Recently he was offered the position of mayor of the town by his fellow citizens, but owing to the pressure of business he was forced to decline the proffered honor. But, nevertheless, though refusing to take office, it is not to be presumed he lacks public spirit. There is no man in the community that does more to promote the prosperity of the place of his adoption than he does. He is always to be found amongst its workers, and is often consulted by both political parties when anything is on the tapis for the promotion of the interests of either town or county. In politics, Mr. Webster is a Liberal, and in religion, a member of the Episcopal church. He was married, on the 20th September, 1865, to Adella A. Kennedy, second daughter of Washington Kennedy, of Hatley, and to them have been born six girls and one boy, a very promising youth of eighteen years, and named after his grandfather.
Papineau, Hon. Louis Joseph, was born in Montreal, 7th October, 1786. He was the son of Joseph Papineau, a well-known notary of his day, and one of the principal promoters of the constitution of 1791, and a member of the first parliament after the conquest. Louis Joseph was educated chiefly at the seminary of Quebec, and having studied law was admitted to the bar of Lower Canada in 1811. So brilliant were his prospects and his talents even before this that in 1809, and while still a student, he was elected to the Legislative Assembly for the county of Kent, now Chambly, and in 1815 was appointed speaker of the house. This office Mr. Papineau held, with only two years’ intermission during his mission to England as delegate of the Assembly in 1822-’23, for the long period of twenty years, or until the year 1837, the year of the unfortunate troubles, when he threw himself heartily into what he considered the right and lawful course of action to gain that which the present generation enjoys, through his and his confrères’ endeavors then,—Responsible Government—and all the liberties of the British Constitution which had so long been denied in practice. In 1820, when Lord Dalhousie became governor, he appointed Mr. Papineau to a seat in the Executive Council, but this post was soon declined by him, when he found it a vain honor without the influence the council should have had on the determination of the governor. In 1822, the union of Upper and Lower Canada having been upon the tapis, and the subject being distasteful to many, Louis Papineau and John Neilson went to England, and were successful in getting the union postponed for the next two years. In 1827, unfortunate difficulties arose between the governor and Mr. Papineau, and to such a height did they reach that the former refused to acknowledge Mr. Papineau as speaker, though duly elected to that high office by a large majority of the Assembly. The Assembly triumphed, and Lord Dalhousie resigned his office as governor, after having dissolved the Assembly. He was succeeded by Sir James Kempt, who, after the next election, duly accepted Mr. Papineau as the speaker again appointed, and giving him, perhaps, one of the greatest triumphs ever achieved by any person in the political arena of any country. Political troubles grew worse as years rolled on, and in 1836 they culminated in the events of that and the next two years, which for the time threw Canada into a state of turmoil and anxiety, now happily all passed away, leaving only the fruits so bravely and indomitably sought for, constitutional government and unbiased representation. The so-called leaders of the disturbance having had rewards for apprehension placed on their heads, Mr. Papineau, as one, fled to the United States, where he resided from 1837 to 1839. He then removed to Paris, France, where he lived till 1847, when the issue of the amnesty proclamation enabled him to return to his native land. He again entered parliament, and was continued there until 1854, when he retired into private life, and for the next seventeen years enjoyed the calm of a green and sturdy old age, the love of books and horticulture, and the personal esteem of those who best knew his character. His death took place on Saturday, the 23rd September, 1871, at his residence at MonteBello, at the patriarchal age of eighty-five. His son, Louis Joseph Amédée Papineau, is the present joint-prothonotary of Montreal.
Greenwood, Stansfield, Manager of the Coaticook Cotton Company, Coaticook, Quebec province, was born in Lancashire, England, on the 28th of June, 1853. His father, Edward Greenwood, was a manager of a large cotton mill in Lancashire, His mother was Mary Chadwick, a descendant of the celebrated Sir Joshua Chadwick, of Lancashire. Mr. Greenwood, the subject of our sketch, was educated at Longholme Normal School, receiving an elementary education. After leaving school he entered the cotton mill in which his father was manager, and there learned all the details of the business. At the age of twenty-two, he came to Canada, and took charge of one of the departments of the Valleyfield Cotton Mills, which position he filled for six years. After that period he entered into a partnership with Wallace Bros., and started the Chambly Cotton Company at Chambly Canton, P.Q. This partnership lasted a year, when it was turned into a limited liability company. After another term of two years he retired from that company and took entire charge of the works of the Coaticook Cotton Company. Their mill, under the skilful management of Mr. Greenwood, has paid a good dividend, and still continues to do so. Mr. Greenwood is a Liberal of the Gladstone style, and in religion a Methodist. He was married on the 12th August, 1874, to Mary Ann Bury, daughter of John Bury, of Oswaldtwistle, Lancashire, and the fruit of the union has been three sons and a daughter.
Smith, Rev. James Cowie, M.A., B.D., Pastor of St. Andrew’s Church, Guelph, province of Ontario, was born in Aberdeenshire, Scotland, on the 17th January, 1834. His father, James Smith, followed the calling of a farmer. His mother was named Jane Cowie. The future divine received his elementary education at Smith’s Classical Academy, at Fordyce, Scotland, and on coming to Canada entered Queen’s University, Kingston, where he graduated, taking the degrees of B.A. in 1862, M.A. in 1864 (holding the first place in the university examinations), and B.D. in 1880. He was licensed to preach the gospel by the presbytery of Kingston, and was inducted into the pastorate of Cumberland and Buckingham Presbyterian congregations, July 11th, 1864. During this pastorate, he discharged the duties of local superintendent of schools, in the township of Cumberland, and acted as chairman of the Grammar School board. He was translated, in 1868, to St. Andrew’s Church, Belleville, where he remained some years, acting as inspector of schools in the town, in addition to his ministerial duties. About this time, having met the requirements for county school inspector, he was officially declared eligible for such a position by the chief superintendent of education of Ontario. Having been called to the vacant pastorate of St. Paul’s Church, Hamilton, Rev. Mr. Smith was translated thither about 1872, when he was again called to succeed the Rev. Dr. Hogg, deceased, in his pastorate charge, St. Andrew’s Church, Guelph. At different times Rev. Mr. Smith has served, in the capacity of stated clerk, successively in the presbyteries of Ottawa and Kingston; and while pastor in St. Paul’s Church, Hamilton, was appointed moderator of the Synod of Hamilton and London. For several years he has also been chosen to, and still holds at present, the responsible position of member of university council, Queen’s University, Kingston. He was at one time called to St. Andrew’s Church, Peterborough, and twice to St. Andrew’s Church, St. John, New Brunswick, both of which invitations he declined. Rev. Mr. Smith is very popular among his congregation, and takes a deep interest in all matters calculated to improve the social and spiritual condition of the people among whom his lot has been cast. He is in full harmony with the doctrines of his church, and can always be depended on to defend its standards. He was married, June 21st, 1866, to Emily Georgina, third daughter of the late Captain Archibald Petrie, R.N., of Cumberland, Ontario.
Carling, Hon. John, London, Ontario, Minister of Agriculture of the Dominion, M.P. for the City of London, Ontario, is the youngest son of Thomas Carling, a native of Yorkshire, England, who came to Canada in 1818, and settled in the county of Middlesex the following year. The future minister of state was born in the township of London, on the 23rd of January, 1828, and received his education in the public school of his native city. While quite young he became a member of the brewing firm of Carling & Co., London, and was an active member of it for a number of years. He took part in nearly all public matters, and was for several years a director of the Great Western Railway Company; the London, Huron & Bruce Railway Company; the London & Port Stanley Railway Company, and was also chairman of the Board of Water Commissioners of the city of London. In 1857 Mr. Carling aspired to parliamentary honors, on the Conservative side, and was returned by a considerable majority over the Liberal candidate, Elijah Leonard, and continued to represent London in the Legislative Assembly of Canada continuously down to the time of confederation. In 1862 Mr. Carling made his first appearance as a cabinet minister, having been appointed receiver-general that year. At the general election, after the consummation of confederation, Mr. Carling was elected to the House of Commons, and was likewise returned as a member of the Legislative Assembly of Ontario. In the Ontario Assembly he was appointed minister of agriculture and public works, under the Sandfield-Macdonald administration, and this portfolio he retained till 1871, when fortune went against the administration, and it was forced to resign. In 1878 Hon. Mr. Carling was again returned to parliament, and took his seat in the House of Commons, at Ottawa, but he did not hold a portfolio in the new cabinet. However, in 1882, he was made postmaster-general, and this office he held until the 25th September, 1885, when he became minister of agriculture, and he has held this office ever since. At the general election of 1887 he was re-elected to the House of Commons, after a lively contest with Charles S. S. Hyman, a local Liberal, his majority over his opponent being thirty-nine votes. Hon. Mr. Carling is not a demonstrative member, but the same clear-headedness and calm judgment that had served him so well in his important successful business affairs has stood him in good stead as a parliamentary representative. He has proved himself a capable minister of the crown, and although he seldom makes a speech in the House of Commons, yet when he does he always speaks to the point. In politics Hon. Mr. Carling is a Liberal-Conservative, and in religion he belongs to the Methodist church. He is married to Hannah, eldest daughter of the late Henry Dalton of London, Ontario.