Thomas, Newell Wood, Coaticook, Quebec province, was born at Barnston, on the 25th June, 1842. His father was a native of Barnston and carried on farming. He was also a mail contractor, being the first person who carried her Majesty’s mails out of the town of Coaticook. He was for many years a councillor, and afterwards warden of the county of Stanstead. His mother, Orissa A. Norton, was also born in Barnston. Newell W. Thomas, the subject of our sketch, received his educational training in the common school of his native place. On leaving school he went into the establishment of the late John Thornton, as a clerk, and here he gradually rose, step by step, until he finally became a partner in the business. Some years afterwards, on the retirement of Mr. Thornton, he assumed the whole business and carried it successfully on alone for a period of twenty-four years, when he retired from active mercantile life. Mr. Thomas is one of the original founders of the Cascade Narrow Fabric Manufacturing Company, and is now vice-president of the company. This undertaking was begun in 1886, and has proved very satisfactory to its shareholders. In politics he is a Liberal-Conservative, and in religion belongs to the Methodist church. On the 20th of October, 1868, he was married to Katie Barry, and the fruit of the union has been three sons (one of whom is now a banker), and one daughter.
Bethune, Robert Henry, Manager of the Dominion Bank, Toronto, was born at Cobourg, Ontario, on the 5th of May, 1836. His father was the beloved and highly respected Bishop A. N. Bethune, D.D. (the successor of Bishop Strachan in the Toronto Episcopate), who died in 1879. The subject of our sketch was educated at Upper Canada College and at other schools of the province. Early in life he took to banking as a vocation, and for the long period of now thirty-five years he has been closely and honorably connected with banking institutions, and has become one of the most respected and trustworthy, as well as perhaps the best known and most successful, Bank managers of Toronto. For several years he has been the cashier of the Dominion Bank, and, during this period, thanks to his prudent and able management, no institution in the country has had a more satisfactory record, or to-day stands higher in the confidence of the commercial and financial community of Canada. Mr. Bethune’s life, though it has been uneventful, has not been without incident or devoid of importance. Nor has it been lacking in the kind or quality of service which, in the course of a long career of responsibility and duty, a trusty and competent Bank officer renders to the corporate body whom he represents and to the public at large. In the course of this career, Mr. Bethune has seen banks rise and fall, looked on the barometer of finance in sunshine and storm, been confronted with all sorts of commercial vicissitudes, and, like other old Bank managers, been at times threatened with mercantile and financial panic. Yet has he held bravely on his course, with a firm hand on the interests with which he has been charged, and has faithfully and successfully done his duty. Mr. Bethune, for the first twelve years of his business life, was connected with the Bank of Montreal, and served that institution in various towns and cities of the province, from junior clerk in 1853 to manager in 1865. In 1853, for instance, we find him acting as junior clerk in Brockville; in 1854 as teller in Cobourg; in 1859 as assistant accountant in Toronto; in 1861 as accountant at New York; in 1862 as accountant at Hamilton; and finally, in 1864, as manager at St. Catharines. At the close of 1865 he severed his connection with the Bank of Montreal, on being appointed inspector of the Quebec Bank, and in the following year was made manager of the Toronto branch of that institution. Here he remained until 1871, when he received the appointment which he now holds, that of Cashier and Manager of the Dominion Bank. Personally, Mr. Bethune is not only highly respected, but is much beloved; and he enjoys the esteem and confidence of the whole community. He is conservative in his ways, and is what is known as an eminently safe banker, as may be predicted from the stability and success of the institution which he has long guided and controlled. In politics he is a Liberal-Conservative; in religion, a member of the Church of England. In 1862 he married Jane Frances Ewart, eldest daughter of the late J. B. Ewart, of Dundas, by whom he has six children.
McLeod, Hon. John David, M.L.C., Pictou, Nova Scotia, is a native of Pictou county, N.S., being descended from an ancient Highland family. He is about forty-seven years of age. He received his early education in Pictou, and having finished his academic course he entered upon the study of the law. Having completed his four years’ apprenticeship he was admitted to the bar of Nova Scotia on 5th December, 1866. He carried on the practice of his profession with great success in Pictou for upwards of twenty years. Being a man of great social popularity, he has been several times before the people as a candidate for legislative honors, being considered the strongest man the Liberals could put in the field. In the local general election of 1886 he polled 2,514 votes, but failed being elected, Pictou being one of the strongest Conservative constituencies in the province. In the general election for the House of Commons, February, 1887, he again entered the field but was unsuccessful. In local affairs he has met with more success, and has been three times mayor of Pictou. He is a fluent and ready speaker, and is possessed of a fine presence. The local government recognized his services to the party by appointing him, 10th March, 1887, a member of the Legislative Council, and on 15th March he was made a member of the executive, in which, until his retirement, he sat without portfolio, but holding the position of Liberal leader in the council. In the following summer failing health led him to seek a residence in a warmer climate, and with his family he removed from the province and settled in Southern California. Previous to his leaving Pictou his friends honored him with a public banquet, and presented him with a complimentary address.
Wilmot, Hon. Robert Duncan, Fredericton, New Brunswick. Hon. Mr. Wilmot, late Lieutenant-Governor of the province of New Brunswick, was born at Fredericton, N.B., on the 16th October, 1809. His grandfather was the late Major Lemuel Wilmot. His father, the late John M. Wilmot, represented St. John county for many years in the New Brunswick legislature; and his mother, Susan Harriet, was a daughter of the late Samuel Wiggins, a prominent merchant of St. John. When about five years of age the future lieutenant-governor removed with his parents to St. John, where he received his education. On reaching manhood he entered into business with his father, who at that time was a prominent merchant and shipowner. In 1833 he was married to Miss Mowatt, of St. John, and shortly after this event removed to Liverpool, England, where he resided for five years. On his return he began to take an interest in municipal affairs, and for some time he sat as alderman in the city council, and afterwards became mayor of the city. In 1846 he entered the arena of politics, and on presenting himself for parliamentary honors was elected to represent the county of St. John in the New Brunswick legislature, and this constituency he continued to represent, with the exception of one term, until the confederation of the provinces. He was appointed surveyor-general of New Brunswick in 1851, and held the office until 1854. In 1856-7 he was provincial secretary, and became premier of the government formed in 1865. He was also a member of the government of 1866-7. This year he was a delegate to the conference held in London, England, to discuss matters relating to confederation. On the 1st of July, 1867, he was called by royal proclamation to a seat in the Senate of the Dominion of Canada. Upon the formation of Sir John A. Macdonald’s government, in 1878, he was sworn in a member of the Privy Council without portfolio, and shortly afterwards was appointed speaker of the Senate, as successor to the Hon. David Christie. This office he held until the time of the death of Lieutenant-Governor C. B. Chandler, when he resigned the speakership, and on the 11th February, 1880, was appointed lieutenant-governor of his native province. In this position he faithfully served his country until the 11th November, 1885, when he was succeeded by Sir Leonard Tilley. In 1851 the Hon. Mr. Wilmot left the city of St. John to reside in Sunbury county, on a farm known as “Belmont,” owned by his grandfather and father, and on the expiration of his term of office at Fredericton, he again selected Belmont as his home, and here he now resides. In politics, he is a Conservative, and for many years was a leader of this party in New Brunswick. In religion, he is a member of the Church of England. Few men are more respected than the Hon. Mr. Wilmot, and all hope he may be long spared to enjoy the honors he has earned, and of which he is most deserving.
Rogers, Lieutenant-Col. Robert Zacheus, Grafton, Ontario, is a younger brother of Henry C. Rogers, who is referred to at length on page 147. He was born at Grafton, Northumberland county, Ontario, 29th March, 1842. His education was completed at Upper Canada College in 1859, and soon afterwards he was entrusted with the management of the farm and business of his father, whom he succeeded. He was among the first to take advantage of the military training offered by the School of Instruction established by the government at Toronto in 1864, and subsequently took an active part in the volunteer movement of 1866, serving as a lieutenant during the Fenian raids of that year. After nineteen years’ service as a captain in the 40th Northumberland battalion V.M., he assumed the command of the same in compliance with the request of his brother officers, some of whom were senior to him. In politics, he has always taken an active part on behalf of the Conservative party, and for eight years was the chosen leader of the county organization in support of the government of Sir John A. Macdonald. In the spring of 1880 he organized an expedition to colonize and develop the valley of the Souris river, in the Canadian Northwest, which had been partly surveyed the previous season and most favorably reported on. The point selected as the business centre was called Millford, near the mouth of the Souris—at which place he started a saw mill in June of that year, and erected the first frame building west of the old province line, range 13 west of Winnipeg, and south of the present main line of the C. P. Railway. The following year he added the pioneer flour mill of the district to his establishment, and for five years carried on an extensive business, and in many ways took an important part in promoting the advancement of that very promising agricultural district. This enterprise, however, did not prove a financial success, and Mr. Rogers was forced reluctantly to abandon the idea of making that his future home. In September, 1867, he married Isabella, eldest daughter of the late Sheriff Waddell, of Chatham, Ontario, and granddaughter of the late Captain William Waddell, of the 1st Royal Dragoons, a veteran of Waterloo fame.