Harris, Michael Spurr.—The late Michael Spurr Harris, of Moncton, New Brunswick, who was born at Annapolis Royal, Nova Scotia, September 22nd, 1804, and married, May 11th, 1826, Sarah Ann Troop, of Granville, Annapolis county, N.S., was descended from a long line of ancestors. One of these, Arthur Harris, came from England, and was among the earliest settlers in Duxbury, Plymouth county, Massachusetts. In 1640 he moved to Bridgewater, Mass., and a few years afterwards, about 1656, he took up his residence in Boston, where he died on the 10th June, 1674, leaving a widow and five children. Samuel Harris, a direct descendant of Arthur Harris, married, in 1757, Sarah Cook, in Boston, from whence, about 1763, they emigrated to Nova Scotia, and settled in Annapolis county at a place called Mount Pleasant, near Bridgewater, and here Samuel Harris died in 1801, leaving several children, among others the father of the subject of our sketch, Christopher Prince Harris, who died in Annapolis county, near Digby, 30th January, 1853, and his widow at the same place in 1862. Sarah Cook, wife of Samuel Harris, was a grandchild of Francis Cook, who came with the first Pilgrims from Plymouth, England, to Plymouth, America, in 1620. Six years afterwards her grandfather, on her mother’s side, came out to the Plymouth settlement, and he it was who, in 1676, captured the celebrated Indian chief “Annawan.” Michael Spurr Harris received his early education in the parish schools of Nova Scotia, and passed his boyhood at his father’s home in Digby county, N.S. When quite young he went to St. John, N.B., and entered the employ of Mr. Peterson, a carriage-builder, where, after serving his apprenticeship, he began business; and in 1826 married Sarah Ann Troop, and settled in St. John, continuing his trade of carriage-making. A few years later moving to Norton, Kings county, N.B., he extended his business, and remained there until the fall of 1836, when he moved with his family to Moncton, N.B., then called the Bend of Petitcodiac. Here he became largely interested in the lumber trade and shipping, building and owning vessels and sawmills. He was one of the earliest prominent business men, and foremost in promoting the social, commercial, and industrial welfare of Moncton. Comparatively self-educated, his manner of life did not throw him in conflict with others in political questions; but he held liberal and advanced views on the leading questions of his day, and supported the policy of provincial responsible government, the union of the provinces, and the encouragement of manufactures. He was a magistrate, and held a justice’s court for many years. From about 1840 to 1862 he was very actively engaged in shipbuilding and the shipment of lumber to England, which at that time were the leading industries of the province. His business called him frequently to Great Britain, and he was known among shipping men in Liverpool as a man of strict business integrity. The town of Moncton elected him its mayor in 1859, a position which he filled with much ability. Possessed of strong natural powers, a fine physique, a kindly and courteous manner, and a strong belief in the orthodox Christian faith, he lived a useful and exemplary life, and died at his home in Moncton, January 26th, 1866, of paralysis, a malady which had for some years previous deprived him of the active use of his limbs. His remains are in the family lot at Moncton cemetery.
Bell, Andrew Wilson, Carleton Place, Ontario, was born in the town of Perth, county of Lanark, Ontario, on the 14th February, 1835. His grandfather, the Rev. William Bell, who came from Scotland in 1817, and was the first Presbyterian minister in Perth, died in 1857. His father, John Bell, carried on business in the same town as a merchant from 1828 until 1849, when he died. A. W. Bell received his education in the old district grammar school in Perth, and after leaving school began a busy and useful career. In March, 1885, he commenced business at Douglas, Renfrew county, with Charles Coulter, under the name of Bell, Coulter & Co., general merchants, and next year having admitted into the partnership Thomas Coulter, of Clayton, Lanark, they traded in the villages of Douglas and Eganville under the name of Bell & Coulter, and in Clayton as Coulter & Bell. The partnership was dissolved in the spring of 1858, each partner taking the branch he then had in charge. Mr. Bell was then a resident of Eganville, and in the spring of 1859 he sold out his stock to the Coulters, and removed to Carleton Place for a few months. In the fall of the same year he again began business in Douglas, and in 1862 entered into partnership with Donald Cameron. The new firm did a large local mercantile trade, and sent several rafts of square timber to the Quebec market in 1863-4. This partnership was dissolved in 1864. Mr. Bell, in the years 1858, 1865 and 1866, carried on saw-mills at Eganville and Douglas; and in 1864 and 1865, having joined William Halpenny, in Renfrew, under the name of A. W. Bell & Co., they carried on a general mercantile business. In 1867 Mr. Bell removed from Douglas to Newboro’, Leeds county, and where he bought out the business belonging to John Draffin. In this place he remained until April, 1872, and then took up his abode at Carleton Place. Here he prosecuted his mercantile business until 1875, and then, selling it out to a partner he had admitted in 1873, he retired into private life. In addition to his other business enterprises, Mr. Bell has dealt considerably in real estate in the counties of Lanark and Renfrew, and has bought and sold many thousand acres of farm lands, and built several shops and dwellings in Carleton Place, which he still owns. In 1856 he was appointed postmaster in Eganville, Renfrew county, which position he held until 1859, when he resigned; again, in 1862, he was appointed postmaster of Douglas, in the same county, and resigned in 1867. In March, 1862, he was made clerk of the Seventh Division Court for Lanark and Renfrew, but when these counties were separated in October, 1866, he gave up the position. In 1862 he was made a notary public, and also commissioner for taking affidavits and an issuer of marriage licenses. In 1863 the Government conferred upon him the commission of a justice of the peace. In 1873 the Board of Trade of Ottawa appointed him official assignee for the county of Lanark, and in 1875 the Government appointed him to the same office, and this office he held until the repeal of the Insolvency Act. Mr. Bell also acted in the capacity of creditors’ assignee in the counties of Lanark, Renfrew and Pontiac, and was arbitrator for the Canada Central Railway at Renfrew and at Pembroke, and purchased part of the right of way for the railway company. Mr. Bell was the originator of the Winnipeg and Hudson Bay Railway and Steamship Company,—his name being first in the charter as passed by parliament,—and he also had a hand in procuring two other North-West charters. Mr. Bell is a member of the Masonic fraternity, having joined in June, 1859. He held a commission as lieutenant, and afterwards captain, in the militia, dating from July, 1856. Though brought up as a Presbyterian, Mr. Bell now attends the Episcopal church, his wife being a member of that communion. He married, 27th July, 1857, Jane Andersen, daughter of the late James Gibb, merchant, of Glasgow, Scotland. Mrs. Bell died on 2nd June, 1886.
McIntyre, Right Rev. Peter, D.D., Bishop of Charlottetown, was born at Cable Head, in the parish of St. Peter, Lot 41, Kings county, Prince Edward Island, on the feast of SS. Peter and Paul, June 29th, 1818. His parents, Angus McIntyre and Sarah McKinnon, Scotch Highland Catholics, emigrated from Southwest Inverness-shire to Prince Edward Island, towards the close of the last century. Providence blessed their industry and integrity; and they were enabled not only to have “full and plenty” for a large family of sons and daughters, but also to extend the sacred rites of hospitality to all who came in the way. Mr. McIntyre’s house at Cable Head was one of the principal stations of the late Bishop McEachern in that part of the country—before there was a church at St. Peter’s—and his children were naturally enough brought to the notice of the pious and discerning bishop. The bishop, it is needless to say, entertained a very high regard for Angus McIntyre and his family, and his lordship insisted that the youngest son, little Peter, should be sent to college to be educated for the church. Mr. McIntyre was well aware that the proposed undertaking would be exceedingly heavy, at a time when schools were few and means were not easily obtained. But out of respect for the wishes of his bishop, he generously acted upon the suggestion, and his son Peter was accordingly among the first students at the opening of old St. Andrew’s College. After the death of the good Bishop McEachern, in 1835, young McIntyre expressed a strong desire to be sent to Canada to pursue his studies. This wish was complied with by his kind father, who placed him in the college of St. Hyacinthe, where he remained for five years, entering the Grand Seminary of Quebec in 1840. After a three years’ course at the Grand Seminary he was, on the 26th of February, 1843, ordained to the priesthood by Bishop Signay in the Cathedral of Quebec, and returned to his native diocese the same year. We have been told by an old friend of the family that when young McIntyre first went to college, his father had accumulated quite a large sum in Spanish dollars, and so was enabled to promptly make generous remittances to his son and pay the college bills on presentation. The same good friend also tells us that by the time young “Father McIntyre” returned from Quebec the Spanish dollars were pretty low, but not exhausted. May it not be that the generous manner in which his venerable father furnished him with ample funds until he was able to provide for himself, materially helped to form and develop those generous, hospitable and princely traits of character which we all admire in Bishop McIntyre. The first missionary duties of Father McIntyre were performed as assistant to Father Perry. After a short time, however, he was appointed to the charge of Tignish, Lot 7, the Brae and Cascumpec, with his principal residence at Tignish. There he lived and laboured for seventeen years; and it was there that he first gave evidence of his talent for building. The Acadian French, who form the largest proportion of the Catholic congregation at Tignish, were, at that time, neither rich in this world’s goods nor counted enterprising. Yet to them belongs the very great credit of building, under the direction of Father McIntyre, the first brick church—if we mistake not, the first public building of brick—ever erected in this province—a church which, at this day, is one of the finest on the island. Inspired by their enthusiastic priest, the poor French people made the bricks, hauled them to the site, laid the foundation, and built the church. They had little money, but much zeal; and they were led by a man of rare administrative ability. To the church at Tignish was added a handsome parochial house and a fine convent, both of brick. A church and parochial house were also about the same time built at Brae. The talents and zeal of Father McIntyre were soon recognized by a church which—whatever her faults—is not slow to see and reward true merit. On the death of Bishop Macdonald, he was appointed to preside over the Roman Catholic diocese of Charlottetown, comprising Prince Edward Island and the Magdalen Islands; and on the 15th of August, 1860, he was solemnly consecrated Bishop of Charlottetown. The ceremony was performed by the late Archbishop Connolly, of Halifax, assisted by the late Bishop McKinnon and Bishop Sweeney—the late Bishop Mullock, of St. John’s, Newfoundland, and Bishop Dalton, of Harbour Grace, being also present. Under the administration of Bishop McIntyre great attention has been given to the education of the youth of the Catholic people and to the erection of buildings in which to carry on the work of the church; and the bishop’s talent for building has found scope. The first work of consequence which he undertook was the rebuilding of St. Dunstan’s College. The Catholic population of the island at the time of Bishop McIntyre’s consecration was 35,500. There were only thirteen priests to minister to their spiritual wants. The Catholic population is now about 55,000, and there are thirty-seven priests with well organized missions. The new parishes established by Bishop McIntyre are Cardigan Bridge, Montague Bridge, Cardigan Road, Morrell, South Shore, Hope River, Lot 7, Lot 11, Brae, Palmer Road, Little Pond, Bloomfield, Alberton, Summerside, in Prince Edward Island, and Bassin in the Magdalen Islands, which form part of the diocese. Besides the splendid episcopal residence in Charlottetown, which was much required for the diocese, he has built St. Patrick’s School (one of the finest buildings in the city); St. Teresa’s Church, Cardigan Road; St. Francis’, Little Pond; St. Mary’s, Montague Bridge; St. Andrew’s, St. Peter’s; St. Lawrence’s, Morell; St. Michael’s, Corran Ban Bridge; St. Patrick’s, Fort Augustus; St. Joachim’s, Vernon River; St. Lawrence, South Shore (the first stone church built on the island); St. Anne’s, Hope River; St. Charles, Summerside; St. Mark’s, Lot 7; St. Mary’s, Brae; St. Bridget’s, Lot 11; St. Anthony’s, Bloomfield; SS. Simon and Jude, Tignish; St. Thomas’, Palmer Road; Sacred Heart, Alberton; and in the Magdalen Islands, Notre Dame de la Visitation, Amherst; Etang du Nord, St. Pierre; Bassin, St. François Xavier. This is work enough, one would say, for one prelate and an indefatigable staff of clergymen for one generation; but besides these churches, many of them splendid specimens of architecture, there have been eight conventual establishments erected and founded within the last twenty-five years in various parts of the province, which educate annually thousands of pupils. The chief part of the labour of the churches was done by the zealous people in several of the parishes. In 1877 Bishop McIntyre organized the Central Council of the Catholic Total Abstinence Union, with affiliated societies in every parish of the diocese. He has accomplished a great work in the suppression of intemperance in many parts of the island. In 1878 he founded the City Hospital, which has already done a vast amount of good, and has stimulated others to found another hospital for the sick. His lordship has visited Rome four times since his consecration, and on one occasion extended his journey to the Holy Land. He took part in the Œcumenical Council of 1870, where it was generally conceded that no more imposing figure was seen in the grand procession of churchmen, than that of the venerable and stately Bishop of Charlottetown. In person his lordship is above the medium height, his carriage is stately and his step elastic. His activity is remarkable; few young persons could endure the amount of travelling and fatigue which is constantly undergone by Bishop McIntyre, upon whom it has no ill effect whatever. His voice, which is low and sweet, is so clear that he is easily heard even at a great distance. His prepossessing appearance and courtly manner, no less than his genuine kindness of heart, have made him hosts of friends. He is highly esteemed by Protestants throughout the province, from whom his blameless life and fearless advocacy of what he deems to be right command respect. The bishop takes a great interest in education, and is invariably present, when his duties allow him, at the examinations in his Catholic schools. It is to his lordship’s unflagging energy and zeal that St. Dunstan’s College owes its present hopeful position. Besides providing for their secular instruction, the bishop has always been much interested in the spiritual welfare of the little ones of his flock; it is his delight to preach at the children’s mass on Sundays, when the large congregation of young folk listen to his clear and practical instructions with profit and pleasure. He is a clear, forcible speaker, impressive if not eloquent, with a perfect command of good Anglo-Saxon. Though a zealous prelate, he has never been known to give utterance to any intolerant expression against those differing from him in religious matters. He has been to Charlottetown, and the island generally, a public benefactor. Though drawing close to the seventies, his eye is bright, his lip is firm, and his face fresh. He has a fine constitution, rises between four and five a. m., and has a day’s work done before most Charlottetown folks are out of bed. He has many years of usefulness ahead of him, and hopes not to complete his labours until he shall have built a magnificent cathedral in the metropolis of his province. That such a great worker deserves and receives the gratitude of his own people might be expected, that he should and does command the admiration of all classes is only reasonable; and that he enjoys the esteem of his peers is witnessed by the number of bishops and archbishops who did him honour on the occasion of his silver jubilee, which was celebrated in Charlottetown, on the 12th of August, 1885, amid the congratulations and good wishes of all classes, creeds and nationalities in the community.
Fitzgerald, Rev. David, D.D., Charlottetown, Prince Edward Island. This reverend and highly respected divine was born at Tralee, in the county of Kerry, Ireland, on the 3rd of December, 1813. He is the eldest surviving son of William Fitzgerald, barrister-at-law of Adrivale, county of Kerry, who married Anne, sole daughter and heiress of the Rev. Robert Minnitt, of Blackfort, county of Tipperary, and rector of Tulla, county of Clare, whose ancestor, Captain John Minnitt, came to the country in the reign of Charles II. One of Mr. Fitzgerald’s ancestors was a captain in King James’ army. This gentleman lived during the reign of six English monarchs, and died at the advanced age of 116 years. Rev. Mr. Fitzgerald was educated at schools in Clonmel and Limerick, and obtained his A.B. degree and divinity testimonium at Trinity College, Dublin. In February, 1843, he married Cherry Christina, second daughter of Rowan Purdon, M.D., a physician of established reputation and extensive practice in Kerry, his native county. His brother, Richard, was a fellow of Trinity College, Dublin, and his son, George, was a scholar in the same university. In June, 1845, after a creditable examination by Rev. I. T. Russel, archdeacon of Clogher, he was ordained deacon at Tuam by Lord Plunket, bishop of the diocese, and in 1846 was ordained priest by Lord Riversdale, bishop of Killaloe, on letters dimissory from the bishop of Clogher. He began his ministry as curate to Rev. Geo. Sidney Smith, D.D., ex-fellow of Trinity College, Dublin, at Cooltrain, county of Fermanagh. He then had charge of the district church, at Maguire’s Bridge, in the same county, where as secretary to the Poor Relief Committee of that place, he established a soup kitchen for its famine-stricken inhabitants, and was the means by obtaining subscriptions from absentee landlords and other benevolently disposed persons, with a ton of rice from the Quakers, of providing daily suitable cooked food for four hundred families for several months, and left on his departure over £100 in the hands of the committee to carry on the work. In June, 1847, he came out to Prince Edward Island as assistant minister to Rev. Dr. Jenkins, then rector of St. Paul’s Church. On the retirement of Dr. Jenkins and that of his successor, Rev. C. Lloyd, in 1857, he was appointed rector of the parish, which he served without intermission for thirty-eight years, when in 1885 he retired from active duty. For upwards of twenty years he was a member of the board of education, and a trustee of the Lunatic Asylum, and for some time was chaplain of the Legislative Council. He is the author of several printed sermons and pamphlets, and has delivered lectures on various subjects for several years. In 1881 he took the degrees of A.M., B.D., and D.D., at King’s College, Windsor. On several occasions since his retirement, he has occupied the pulpit in the parish church and in other churches in the province, and hopes while he has the power of utterance to speak a word for the Master and for the edification of his followers. Three of his children have been called from this world, and three remain, viz., Rowan Robert, Q.C., stipendiary magistrate and recorder of Charlottetown; Sidney David, chemist and druggist, now residing at Kansas, U.S.; and Minnitt John, for many years connected with the Union Bank of Charlottetown, now amalgamated with the Nova Scotia bank of Halifax. Mr. Fitgerald’s religious views have undergone no change. He is to-day what he was fifty years ago, an Evangelical churchman. He has been a member of the L. O. A. since 1832, when he became secretary to Calvin lodge, No. 1509, then established in Dublin. In 1848 he joined the order of the Sons of Temperance, and is a member of the National division. He has seen some service and undergone some labour, and trusts that the years already past have not been spent in vain.
Brock, Major-General Sir Isaac, K.B., was the eighth son of John Brock, and was born in the parish of St. Peter’s, Port Guernsey, on the 6th of October, 1769, the same year which gave birth to Napoleon and Wellington. He entered the army as ensign in the 8th Regiment of Infantry by purchase, on the 2nd of March, 1785. In 1790 he was promoted to the rank of lieutenant, and at the close of the same year obtained his captaincy and exchanged into the 49th regiment. In June, 1795, he purchased his majority, and on the 25th of October, 1797, he was gazetted lieutenant-colonel. In a little more than seven years he had risen from the rank of ensign to that of lieutenant-colonel. He served with his regiment in the expedition to Holland under Sir Ralph Abercrombie in 1799. He greatly distinguished himself at the battle of Egmont-of-Zee, where he was wounded. He was second in command of the land forces in the celebrated attack on Copenhagen by Lord Nelson in April, 1801. On its return from Copenhagen the 49th was stationed at Colchester till the spring of 1802, when it was ordered to Canada, where its distinguished commander earned the fame and performed the gallant services which have so endeared his memory to the Canadian people. At Fort George, shortly after his arrival in Canada, Brock quelled an attempted mutiny with great firmness and tact. His regiment soon became one of the most reliable in the service. In 1806 Brock succeeded to the command of the troops in Canada, and took up his residence in Quebec. In 1811 Lieutenant-Governor Gore went to England on leave, and Major-General Brock was appointed administrator of the government,—and thus happened to be the civil as well as the military head of the province of Upper Canada on the outbreak of the war with the United States in 1812. He at once threw himself with great vigour, and with the full force of his soldierly instincts, into preparations for the war. Upper Canada then had a population of only some seventy thousand; the United States had a population of about ten millions. In Upper Canada many of the settlers were aliens from the States—half-hearted, if not absolutely disloyal. The timid viewed the outlook with grave misgivings. In fact, the surroundings were enough to discourage the stoutest heart. It was in these circumstances, entering upon what seemed almost a hopeless struggle, that the noble courage, the unfaltering determination, and the perfect faith in his country, of General Brock shone out with such striking brilliancy. Our Canadian poet, Charles Mair, in his drama of “Tecumseh,” has given fine expression to the spirit which animated Brock, when he puts in his mouth these words: —