Dessaint, Major Alexander, LL.B., Kamouraska, Quebec province, M.P. for Kamouraska, was born at Kamouraska, on the 16th July, 1847. He received the beginning of a first-class collegiate training in the College at St. Anne’s, whence he graduated to the larger and more advanced institution at Three Rivers, proving himself an apt scholar. His parents determined to fit him for the practice of the law, and he entered upon the reading for that profession at Laval University. He completed his college course in Victoria University. He was called to the bar of his native province when but twenty-one years of age, and began practice in Kamouraska. In 1873 he married Marie Blanche Henriette Paradis. His father, having been a prominent merchant of Kamouraska, Mr. Dessaint, from his entrance upon man’s estate was one of the leading citizens of the place, and his natural abilities enabled him to improve the advantages of his position. Having a taste for military affairs, he connected himself with the 88th battalion, of which, he soon became major, which rank he still retains. He has been over and over again elected mayor of Kamouraska, and is a commissioner of the Superior Court for the county. Being a public-spirited citizen, he naturally took an interest in public affairs. He allied himself with the Liberal party, of which he soon became one of the leading spirits for the district. The county had for a long time been a close one, and the contests were proportionately arduous. In 1882, Mr. Blondeau, a Conservative, was elected and sat out his term; but when the general election of 1887 was called, Mr. Dessaint was nominated as the Liberal standard-bearer. Being successful in the contest, he entered parliament with the éclat of one who had “redeemed” a seat from the opposing party. In his brief parliamentary career, Mr. Dessaint has proved himself one of the most scholarly and thoughtful members of the Liberal opposition. He is an able speaker also, as was shown by his contribution to the debate on unrestricted reciprocity with the United States, which took place during the session of 1888.
Honan, Martin, Barrister, Three Rivers, Quebec province, was born in 1845, at Fermoy, Cork county, Ireland. His parents were Kernon Honan, and Mary Burns. His father was a corporal in the 94th regiment of foot, and served for twenty-one years in the army. The parent pair with their three children, Patrick, Martin and Margaret, all under eleven years of age, emigrated to Canada in 1848. A short time after their arrival in Montreal—having been taken sick on the boat while on the passage from Quebec to that city—father and mother and little sister died, and Patrick, eleven years of age, and Martin, the subject of our sketch, three years of age, were left to the tender mercy of the world. They were at first taken to the hospital, and afterwards conveyed by a Catholic priest (now Monsignor Marquis of St. Celestine, county of Nicolet, P.Q.) to Becancour, in the latter county. The little party taken to the country at this time consisted of fourteen orphans, and all were adopted by French-Canadian farmers. Patrick was adopted by Nazaire Comeau, and Martin by Olivier Tourigny. He remained three years and three months at Nicolet College, and on the 1st of May, 1862, having completely forgotten the English language, he went to St. Patrick’s Hill, in the township of Tingwick, county of Arthabaska, and settled in the midst of an Irish settlement to pick up again his native language. Here he hired as a clerk in a store, where he remained four months. He then resolved to adopt a profession, and in July, 1861, began to study for the position of notary public. In 1863, having been retained by the late Mr. Parker, a celebrated lawyer of his day, to take notes of the evidence in a celebrated murder trial then going on, he was so impressed with Mr. Parker’s eloquent address to the jury, that he decided to abandon the notaryship and begin the study of law. But having had only three years of a classical course, he found he could not be admitted to study without further education. Nothing daunted he bought a lot of books, and perused his studies alone, and when he thought he could pass an examination he went to a person authorised by our law and passed his examination. Having received from him the necessary certificate of qualification, he went to Quebec, passed his examination before the Board of Examiners, of which Mr. Parker was a member, and was admitted to the study of law. He studied hard, and had the satisfaction of being admitted to the bar of Lower Canada on the 5th of August, 1867, and began the practice of his profession at Arthabaskaville, where he remained until the 2nd of October, 1872, when he removed to Three Rivers, where he now successfully does business. Mr. Honan was deputy registrar of deeds at Arthabaskaville, in the county of Arthabaska, from the 7th September, 1862, to December, 1865, and from the latter date to October, 1866, clerk in the prothontary’s office. From this time to June, 1867, he followed the law lectures at St. Mary College, Montreal, and studied under the Hon. Senator Trudel. He is a Liberal in politics, and has taken part in all political contests since 1867. He was married on the 6th September, 1868, to Marie Louise Annabella Stein, second daughter of Adolphus Stein and Marie Genevieve Buteau. Mrs. Honan’s father emigrated from Germany when only seventeen years of age.
Gilmour, Lieut.-Col. Arthur H., Banker, Stanbridge East, province of Quebec, was born at “The Manor,” Nicolet, Quebec. His grandfather was the late Assistant Commissary-General Gilmour; and his father the widely-known Dr. Gilmour, master of surgery, F.R.H.S., Glasgow, Scotland, and now located as a practising physician and surgeon at Waterloo, Quebec. His mother was a de Cressy, daughter of the late Michael de Cressy, seignior, of Nicolet. His parentage, therefore, is half Scotch and half French. Colonel Gilmour, the subject of the present sketch, received his education principally in the French College, Nicolet, and is equally conversant with the French and English languages. In 1864 he entered the Military School in Quebec city, where he took a full course of instruction, and passed a highly creditable examination, receiving a first-class diploma, and was immediately gazetted as captain in the militia service of Canada. The following year he received his commission of lieutenant in the 52nd (Brome and Shefford) battalion, in which he served about four years, during which time he was called to the front with his company on the occasion of a threatened invasion by Fenians. He was afterwards transferred to the 60th (Missisquoi) battalion, with the rank of senior major, and was shortly afterwards elevated to the rank of lieutenant-colonel, a position which he now holds. Colonel Gilmour also holds a prominent position in the Masonic order, having entered the Sussex Encampment, Dunham, in 1874, and was installed and proclaimed knight-preceptor of the Order of the Temple in 1877, and past eminent preceptor in 1883. He is a director of the Montreal and Vermont Junction Railway Company, and secretary-treasurer of the board. He is also vice-president of the M. P. and B. Railway, and, besides, holds several important local positions, such as president of the Stanbridge Agassiz Association, president of the Missisquoi County Ploughing Association, and vice-president of the 60th battalion Rifle Association. In June, 1885, the two latter associations united in a grand demonstration in his honor, to show their appreciation of the valuable services he had rendered these bodies during his connection with them. The event was one long to be remembered by the hundreds who participated in it, and was the grandest affair of the kind ever held in the township. Colonel Gilmour is now the owner of the most valuable real estate properties in Missisquoi county, having in his possession about one thousand acres of extra tillable land. He is also the proprietor of the Missisquoi Record newspaper, published in Stanbridge East, a journal established June 5th, 1885, and devoted to the interests of the Eastern Townships of Canada. His banking institution was established in 1867 by J. C. Baker, his late father-in-law, to which he succeeded in 1880. Since Colonel Gilmour assumed control of its affairs the business of the bank has nearly doubled. Although a private and non-incorporated institution, “Gilmour’s Bank” is known far and wide, and its numerous customers are among the best and most prominent people and firms in the province.
Deschenes, Geo. Honore, St. Epiphane (oû Viger), province of Quebec, M.P.P. for Témiscouata, was born at Cacouna, on the 16th August, 1841. He is a farmer and takes an active interest in public affairs. He has been for thirteen years secretary-treasurer of his municipality and of the school board of the parish. He is also a director of the St. Lawrence & Témiscouata Railway Co. He has always taken a part in the management of the Agricultural Society of Témiscouata county, and is its vice-president. In 1875 he was returned to represent Témiscouata in the Legislative Assembly, and was re-elected in 1882 by acclamation. He was again elected at the last general election. In politics he is a Conservative, and in his county is held in high esteem. On 26th January, 1864, he married Susan Michand.
Duchesnay, Lieutenant-Colonel Henri Jules Juchereau, was born in Quebec on the 6th July, 1845, and in his unexpected and untimely death, not only those who know him lost a true friend, but the parliament of Canada lost a member who, had he lived, would doubtless have taken a leading part in the councils of the nation. He was a descendant of some of the most distinguished French families of the province of Quebec, the Duchesnays having settled in Canada in 1645, and held several seigniories, including Beauport, Gaudarville and others. His father was a member of the Dominion senate, and the mother of the present sketch was of the famous Taschereau family, which has given to Canada its first cardinal and one of its greatest politicians and most able judges. Young Duchesnay received a liberal education, studying both at Laval and McGill Universities, after having passed through a sound preliminary training in the Seminary of Quebec. After reading a course in law, he was, at the age of twenty-one years, called to the bar of the province of Quebec. Being in a position to do so, he gave a great part of his time and attention to public affairs and to great public enterprises. He identified himself with the 23rd (Beauce) battalion of the active militia, and became lieutenant-colonel of the regiment, a position which he was eminently fitted to hold. In 1869 he married Caroline Tetu, daughter of C. Tetu, a well-known member of the old family of that name. He served several terms as mayor of St. Mary, Beauce, and also as warden of Beauce county, in which positions he qualified himself to engage in the higher legislative duties which he was afterwards elected to perform. He was for a time president of the Levis and Kennebec Railway Company, of which enterprise he was one of the most active promoters. In the general election of 1877 he was nominated as the nationalist Conservative candidate, and succeeded in defeating his opponent by about five hundred majority. During the short time he was in parliament he made many friends, and his untimely death, a short time after the session of 1878, was a subject of general regret among his fellow-members.