Fraser, John A., Big Bras d’Or, Cape Breton, M.P.P. for Victoria county, is a native of Boularderie, C.B., where he was born 6th of November, 1840. He is the only surviving son of a Scotch pioneer clergyman, the late Rev. James Fraser, who emigrated to the island of Cape Breton from Ross-shire, Scotland, in 1835. He was employed as a missionary of the Church of Scotland, and like many another hard-working, self-denying pioneer minister, lived hard and travelled far, preaching the blessings of peace and contentment among a poor and scattered population. In many a fishing village of Cape Breton, and through many steep mountain paths in that inclement region, the name of Rev. James Fraser is held in reverence. The men who carried the gospel into the wilds of Cape Breton were possessed of more than ordinary courage. One of them, Rev. John Stewart, forty years pastor at Whycocomagh, a profound Gaelic poet and scholar, but lately passed away. The educational facilities of the island forty years ago being of the scantiest, John A. Fraser removed to Halifax, N.S., and received his scholastic training at the Free Church Academy in that city. Having completed his course he returned to his native county and went into business. He held the position of postmaster in Big Bras d’Or for eighteen years, and resigned it in obedience to the wishes of his numerous friends, in order to contest the constituency of Victoria at the general election of 1874, and was successful. He took his seat in the Legislative Assembly and earned a good reputation as a parliamentarian, being listened to with respect in the debates, and attending well to the work of committees. The great question agitating the public mind in Cape Breton for some years past has been the matter of railway construction. Cape Breton may be described a huge coal-bed, much of it worked, but by far the larger part being quite unexplored. Ocean steamers call at North Sydney and at the coal-shoot of Sydney proper, and carry away much coal for their own consumption. A large export of the black diamond is also carried on in coasters. Parts of the island are admirably adapted to agriculture, notably the shores of the Little Bras d’Or. A railway is wanted to weld together all parts of the island, and the great question is, what course shall it take? People living at Whycocomagh advocate a road travelling their section, whilst the central route from Port Mulgrave to Sydney, with a branch to Mabon and Port Hood, has many to support it. The population is rent by the favorers of either route. Last summer the Dominion government undertook the initial steps of the work, and every move since has been carefully criticized. Whichever route is finally adopted, the gain to the island will be great, and Cape Breton, which steadily increases her output of coal year by year, will gradually become a very opulent section of Canada. Its attractions in summer draw a great influx of visitors from the southward. Gold and marble have also been found there, whilst superior iron ore has been smelted. Mr. Fraser, having sat out his term of office did not offer again until the general election of 1886, when he was elected second on the list, there being six candidates. The vote stood: Dr. John L. Bethune, 777; John A. Fraser, 513; defeating M. A. McLeod, 459; John Morrison, 408; J. J. McCabe, 389; J. Munro, 468. Mr. Fraser also sat for four years in the municipal council of Victoria. He is a Liberal and takes a warm interest in all matters affecting the welfare of Cape Breton.
Chênevert, Cuthbert Alphonse, Barrister, Berthierville, Quebec province, was born in St. Cuthbert, Berthier county, P.Q., on 21st May, 1859. His parents were Theophile Chênevert and Mathilde Filteau. His father was for many years one of the largest merchants of the county of Berthier, and died in January, 1873. Young Chênevert studied at the College of L’Assomption and the College of Ste. Marie, at Montreal. On the 12th of January, 1880, he was admitted to the study of law, and followed the course of Laval University, at Montreal, attending at the same time the office of Longpré & David, advocates. He was called to the bar of Quebec on the 20th of January, 1883, and began to practise his profession at Berthierville, in partnership with the Hon. Honoré Mercier, prime minister of the province of Quebec, and C. Beausoleil, now member for Berthier, under the name and style of Mercier, Beausoleil & Chênevert. But he practises his profession alone at Berthierville, attending the circuits of Richelieu, Berthier, and Joliette. Mr. Chênevert is a Liberal in politics, and has been in several contests. He was a member and officer of the National Club at Montreal, and took an active part in its management. In 1881 he delivered a very interesting lecture before the members of this club, and La Patrie, on the 13th March of that year, thus flatteringly alludes to it:—“At the last meeting of the National Club, which was numerously attended, one of the members, Mr. Cuthbert Chênevert, delivered a very instructive lecture, prepared at the request of the secretary, entitled ‘The History of the Press.’ The work is worthy of the title. It unites in the recital didactic language, strict history and pure literature. The invention of printing, the first attempts of Gutenberg, were related in a most interesting manner, and the encomiums passed on Canada were to the effect that our newspapers were the defenders of our liberties against oligarchy and bureaucracy. This magnificent lecture was marked with patriotic sentiments, expressed with great force. We congratulate Mr. Chênevert on his success. His example should encourage his friends, being one of the youngest members of the club. We hope this effort will not be his last.” Mr. Chênevert was married, on August 27, 1884, to Valerie Berthe Rocher, daughter of Clothilde Roy and Barthelemy Rocher, notary and registrar of the county of L’Assomption.
Robinson, D. A., M.D., Coaticook, Quebec, was born at West Charleston, Vermont, U.S.A., Feb. 29th, 1836. He was the eldest son of Dr. Elijah Robinson and Ann Eliza Smith, whose ancestry were of purely English origin and among the early settlers of the state of Connecticut. The great-grandfather on the father’s side was a colonel in the Revolutionary war of the American colonies against Great Britain, and the great-grandfather on the mother’s side, with several brothers, held positions of honor and trust in the Federal army. Dr. Robinson’s early education was confined mostly to the common schools. His classical course, preparatory to his entering upon the study of medicine, was through select schools and private teachers. His strictly medical course was commenced under the direction of his father, then a prominent and leading practitioner in the county in which he lived. His first course of medical lectures commenced at Dartmouth Medical College, Hanover, N.H., in the summer of 1858. He subsequently graduated among the first of his class at the Vermont University Medical College, Burlington, Vt., June, 1859, and commenced the practice of medicine at Milan, N.H., the following year. His successful career as a practitioner led to his appointment as surgeon in the United States army, and during the great American rebellion was with the Union army under Gen. Grant, and served with it till the surrender of the Confederate Gen. Lee and the close of the war. He recommenced civil practice at Island Pond, Vt., soon after his services ended as army surgeon in 1866, and conducted a successful practice in this town till the year 1874, when he moved to the prosperous and thriving town of Coaticook, P.Q. Two years subsequently he was made a member of the College of Physicians and Surgeons of the Province of Quebec, after having undergone a searching examination before the Provincial Medical Board in Montreal, by whom every applicant but himself was rejected, which reflected considerable honor on his ability and proficiency as a medical man. Aside from the position he now occupies in the medical profession of his adopted country, he is a member of the Vermont State Medical Society, and various other societies. Dr. Robinson is now in successful practice in Coaticook.
Foster, Hon. George Eulas, B.A., D.C.L., Ottawa, Minister of Marine and Fisheries of the Dominion of Canada, M.P. for King’s, New Brunswick, was born in Carleton county, N.B., on the 3rd September, 1847. His father, John Foster, was a descendant of a United Empire loyalist who settled in New Brunswick in 1783. His mother, Margaret Haney, was descended on her father’s side from German stock. George, the future statesman, received his primary education in the common and superior schools of his native county, and in September, 1865, entered the University of New Brunswick, at the head of the matriculating class, and was the winner in strong competition, of the King’s county scholarship in the same university. He also took, during his first year, the Douglas gold medal for an English essay, in a competition open to all the classes, and won the compound achromatic microscope, as a first prize, for natural science. His strong points at college were mathematics and classics, with a strong liking for English literature and history. He graduated B.A., in 1868; taught the Grammar School at Grand Falls, N.B.; became superior of the school at Fredericton Junction, and in the Baptist Seminary at Fredericton, one year at each. He became principal of the Ladies’ High School at Fredericton in 1870, and was appointed professor of classics and history in the University of New Brunswick, in 1871. He spent the years 1872 and 1873 at Edinburgh, Scotland, and Heidelberg, Germany, prosecuting his studies, and took at Edinburgh the medal, one first, and three other prizes. Returning to New Brunswick, he assumed the duties of his chair in the university at the end of 1873, and occupied the same until 1st January, 1879, when he resigned. Acadia College, N.S., conferred upon him the title of D.C.L., in 1885. He was examiner in Grammar and English at the Provincial Normal schools, Fredericton, from 1874 to 1879. Early in life—in the thirteenth year of his age—Mr. Foster identified himself with the order of the Sons of Temperance and later with the British Templars, the United Temperance Association, the Dominion Alliance, and the International Temperance Association. He filled the office of Grand Worthy Patriarch in the Grand Division of the Sons of Temperance of New Brunswick; Most Worthy Grand Templar of the British Templars of Canada; National Chief of the United Temperance Association, vice-president and president of the Executive of the Dominion Alliance of Canada, and president, for four years, of the International Temperance Association. During Professor Foster’s occupancy of the university chair, he frequently delivered lectures and addresses upon temperance topics, and upon his resignation, engaged in an extensive lecturing tour, delivering addresses on the total abstinence and prohibition questions in all the provinces of Canada, and most of the eastern and western states of the United States. He likewise edited several temperance papers. He has been identified for many years with the Young Men’s Christian Association of Fredericton, and was a member of the executive of the International Sabbath School Committee. After a lecturing tour of remarkable success, Professor Foster resolved to try what fortune had in store for him in the political sphere, though considering how wide and how brilliant his achievements had been, we may be sure he had no misgivings in taking the contemplated step. In looking about him for a constituency, naturally that one nearest his heart, the county wherein he first drew breath, suggested itself, and to King’s he went, though it was represented by that stalwart politician, Major James Domville. The friends of Mr. Domville considered the act of Professor Foster as one that could be properly described only by the phrase “cheeky,” but what they thought made no difference to the young candidate—he proceeded with his canvass, addressing the people everywhere upon the leading topics of the day. Against such eloquence as Professor Foster brought into the field, Major Domville was powerless. But apart from his ability as a debater, the people of King’s had put the highest estimate upon the integrity and character of the young candidate, and they accordingly elected him in June, 1882, to represent them in the House of Commons at Ottawa. His election was voided; but he was again elected in November of the same year, and still continues to represent King’s county at Ottawa. On December 10th, 1885, he was sworn in a member of the Privy Council, and invested with the portfolio of marine and fisheries. Professor Foster has travelled in all the provinces of Canada, and through the greater portion of the United States, and has also visited England, Scotland, France, Germany and Switzerland. In religion he belongs to the Free Baptist denomination, and for many years has been, and is still, a prominent member of its conference. He was president of the Union Baptist Educational Society in 1884-5. The Hon. George Eulas Foster is a Liberal-Conservative in politics, and a full believer in the future greatness of Canada. He favors a civil service system which shall, so far as consistent with the peculiar circumstances of our country, conform to the system in operation in Great Britain, a moderate protective tariff, such as shall maintain our markets for our own manufactures, and at the same time not conduce to the formation of monopolies, a wise, tried economy in the administration of the finances of the country, and an enlightened, progressive and comprehensive policy. He is one of the foremost speakers in the country, if force and clearness of statement, fluency, and adherence to logic can entitle him to that place. He is a man of great energy, and of boundless nervous force. A literary grace pervades his style, but his speeches are never florid, or beyond the bounds of good taste in this respect. There is a singular earnestness in his manner, and nearly every speech that he delivers resolves itself into a series of propositions, one consequent upon the other. As we have said, he is a speaker of much force, and sometimes his eloquence rises to the height of passion.
Leclerc, Rev. Joseph Uldaric, Montreal, was born at Isle Bazarre, August 7th, 1836. He is the son of Francis Leclerc, farmer, and Josephte Demers, his wife. While still a youth, his parents determined to dedicate their son to the service of the church, and with this object in view his education was properly attended to. He took, first, a classical course at Montreal College, after studying philosophy at St. Mary’s College, Montreal, and St. Michael’s College, Toronto. He next went to Sandwich College, as professor, in 1858, but soon resigned this position to enter on a course of study in theology, at the Grand Seminary at Montreal, being ordained priest in June, 1862. His first clerical charge was at Vaudreuil, where he was curate for two years. In 1865 he left Vaudreuil, having been appointed chaplain of the Reformatory Prison, at St. Vincent de Paul. In 1873 he was appointed chaplain to the great penitentiary there, and for the ten years following he filled that important post with great acceptability to the officers of the institution, who were deeply struck with the chaplain’s piety, and the zeal with which he ministered to the spiritual wants of the many unfortunate outcasts from society who were confined within its walls. In 1883 Father Leclerc was transferred to the important parish of St. Joseph’s, Richmond street, Montreal, where he has since ministered. He is also pastor of St. Anthony’s parish, for the English-speaking classes of St. Joseph’s and Cunegonde, by whom he is much beloved. About four years ago he visited Manitoba, and was much impressed with the richness of the country, and the immense resources of the Northwest territories. He has also twice visited the maritime provinces, and has thus a good knowledge of the topography of the Dominion from personal observation.