Campbell, Rev. Robert, M.A., D.D., Pastor of St. Gabriel Presbyterian Church, Montreal, was born on a farm near the town of Perth, Lanark county, Ontario, on the 21st June, 1835. Peter Campbell, father of the subject of this sketch, was born at Rein-a-Chullaig, Loch Tayside, Breadalbane, Perthshire, Scotland, and belonged to the Lochnell branch of the Campbell clan. One of his ancestors having taken part in the Jacobite rising in 1715, and thus having incurred the displeasure of Argyll, who was at the head of the Hanoverian forces, did not return to his native district, but placed himself under the protection of his other great kinsman, Breadalbane, who was neutral in that contest, and who assigned him the property called Rein-a-Chullaig. Peter Campbell was a man of high character and intelligence. He had for a time been a teacher in Scotland, and this gave him much influence with his Highland countrymen who accompanied him to Canada in 1817, and settled in the Bathurst district. He brought some money with him to Canada, and owned the first yoke of oxen in the settlement; although during the first season he had to carry a bag of flour on his back through the woods from Brockville, a distance of about fifty miles, having no road to follow but guided only by the blazes on the trees. He was chosen an elder of the first Presbyterian church, which was under the ministry of Rev. William Bell, shortly after his arrival in the country. But as he was born and bred in the Church of Scotland, he united with that branch of the Presbyterian communion as soon as it was established in Perth under the ministry of the late Rev. T. C. Wilson, of Dunkeld, Scotland, and was installed an elder in it too, which office he retained till his death in 1848. Margaret Campbell, Rev. Dr. Campbell’s mother, was of the Gleno and Inverliver branch of the clan Campbell. She was born in Glenlyon, Scotland, her mother being a MacDiarmid, one of the oldest families in Scotland. Mrs. Campbell ably seconded her husband in all his aims and efforts; and one of the results of their joint influence and instruction was that three of their sons became ministers of the Presbyterian Church of Canada in connection with the Church of Scotland, and a fourth studied for the ministry of the Baptist church, but his health broke down before he was able to complete his course of preparation. Robert was the seventh son, and eleventh child of the family, his youngest brother being Rev. Alexander Campbell, B.A., of Prince Albert, North-West Territory. He was educated at the common school, near his birth place; but as it happened that the school was taught by a succession of able masters, one of them being an admirable scholar in both classics and mathematics, he enjoyed considerable advantages, and he, with his youngest brother, made very rapid progress in study. He himself became a common school teacher at the age of sixteen; and the desire he had to perfect himself in the subjects which he had to teach was the best master he was ever under, and he learned more always while teaching than while avowedly only a student under the direction of others. In 1853 he entered as a student at Queen’s University, taking the only open scholarship for the year. This scholarship he retained by competition every year all through his course. In 1855 he obtained the first medal ever offered in Queen’s College for a special examination in English history and ancient geography. In 1856 he graduated B.A., and in 1858 M.A., in the same university. He taught the public school near Appleton in 1852, and the next year the school at Leckie’s Corners, near Almonte. In 1856 he was appointed headmaster of the Queen’s College Preparatory School, where he had under his care, at a time when High schools were few and inefficient throughout the country, students from all parts of Canada, and even from Nova Scotia and Prince Edward Island, who had it in view to matriculate in Queen’s University. A great many of the youth of Kingston also took advantage of the educational facilities afforded by the school. This position he held till 1st October, 1860, when he quitted it with a view to entering the ministry of the Presbyterian Church of Canada in connection with the Church of Scotland. In the autumn of 1860, after having received license as a preacher in Canada, he went abroad with a view to seeing a little of the world, and becoming familiar with men and things in the older civilized communities, and he remained thirteen months in Great Britain and the Continent, taking advantage of access to the museums, art galleries, and learned societies of Edinburgh particularly, where he spent most of the winter, as well as giving occasional attendance at lectures in the university. He returned to Canada late in the autumn of 1861, and accepted a call in April, 1862, to St. Andrew’s Church, Galt, Ontario, having declined overtures from Melbourne, Beckwith, and one or two other charges. He remained in Galt till 1st December, 1866, when called to his present sphere of labour as minister of the oldest Presbyterian church in the inland provinces. The centennial celebration of the founding of the congregation that built this church was held on the 9th of March, 1886, and was an occasion of great interest to the entire community. The University of Queen’s College conferred the degree of Doctor of Divinity upon him at the convocation in April, 1887. Rev. Dr. Campbell is chairman of the Board of Management of the Widows’ and Orphans’ Fund of the Presbyterian Church of Canada in connection with the Church of Scotland; a member of the Executive Committee of the Temporalities Board of the same church; a trustee of Queen’s University, and a member of the Senate of the Presbyterian College, Montreal. He held the office of lecturer in Ecclesiastical History for two sessions in Queen’s University, Kingston, and was a vice-president of the Natural History Society of Montreal. He has maintained steadfastly his early religious convictions. But while orthodox himself, he has always exercised toleration towards those that could not see exactly as he did. Rev. Dr. Campbell won the prize for the best essay on Presbyterian Union offered by a committee of gentlemen in Quebec and Montreal in the year 1866, which was afterwards published, and greatly helped to leaven public opinion on that question. He is now engaged on a history of the St. Gabriel St. Church, Montreal, which will shortly be published, and cannot fail to prove of great interest to every Presbyterian in Canada. Rev. Dr. Campbell was married on the 29th of December, 1863, to Margaret, eldest child and only daughter of Rev. George Macdonnell, minister of St. Andrew’s Church, Fergus, a faithful, useful, and highly respected minister of the Presbyterian Church of Canada in connection with the Church of Scotland. Rev. D. J. Macdonnell, B.D., of Toronto, and G. M. Macdonnell, Q.C., of Kingston, are her brothers. Her mother was Elizabeth Milnes, of the same stock as Moncton Milnes, Lord Houghton.
Inches, Peter Robertson, M.D., M.R.C.S., England, St. John, New Brunswick, was born on the 19th of February, 1835, at St. John, New Brunswick. He is a son of James Inches, of Dunkeld, and Janet Small, of Dirnanean, Perthshire, Scotland, who emigrated to America in 1832, and settled in St. John. Dr. Inches received his early education in the Grammar School of his native city, and studied medicine in New York city, at the University College, and from this institution he graduated in 1866. He then went to Great Britain and further prosecuted his studies at the University of Edinburgh, and at King’s College, London. In 1868 he was elected a member of the Royal College of Surgeons of England, and then returned to St. John, New Brunswick, and commenced the practice of his profession, and here he has ever since resided. Dr. Inches was brought up in the faith as taught by the Presbyterian church, and has continued his connection with that body of Christians. In 1876 he was married to Mary Dorothea, daughter of Dr. C. K. Fiske, from Massachusetts, who for many years practised his profession in St. John. The doctor has had five children born to him, four of whom survive.
Leach, The Ven. Archdeacon.—The late William Turnbull Leach, D.C.L., LL.D., Archdeacon of Christ Church Cathedral, Montreal, was born in Berwick-on-Tweed, Scotland, on the 1st of March, 1805, and died at Montreal, on the 13th of October, 1886. He was of English descent, his grandfather having removed to Berwick from the previous home of the family in Lincolnshire, England. Archdeacon Leach was educated in Edinburgh, and took the degree of M.A. in the university of that city in 1827. In 1831, he was ordained a minister of the Presbyterian church, but shortly afterwards came to Canada, and was appointed to the charge of St. Andrew’s Church, Toronto, and was also chaplain to the 93rd Highlanders, stationed in that city, about the time of the rebellion in 1837-8. He subsequently entered the Church of England, to which he was ordained by Bishop Mountain in 1841, and was appointed to the incumbency of St. George’s Church, Montreal, which position he retained for nearly twenty years. He took the warmest interest in educational matters, was one of the founders of Queen’s College, Kingston, and was for many years an honoured member of the Council of Public Institution for Lower Canada, afterwards the province of Quebec. He was one of the little band who brought McGill University to its present position. His connection with McGill dates from 1845, and he may be said to have been the last survivor of the original staff. From the earliest years of the college, he was one of the professors of the Faculty of Arts, and as the work of the university extended, he relinquished his ministerial duties to devote himself exclusively to college work. During his active connection with the college, he held the Molson chair of English language and literature, was professor of logic and of mental and moral philosophy, dean of the Faculty of Arts, and vice-principal of the University. He was created D.C.L. of McGill in 1849, and LL.D. of McGill in 1857, and in 1867, the University of Lennoxville conferred upon him the degree of D.C.L. The Venerable Archdeacon Leach married three times. Shortly after his arrival in Canada, he returned for a short visit to Scotland, where he married Miss Skirving, daughter of Mr. Skirving, of Haddington, and granddaughter of Adam Skirving, author of “Johnnie Cope,” and other songs very popular at the time in Scotland. Of this marriage there were four children, two of whom are living, viz.: David S. Leach, of Montreal, and Mrs. Howell, of London, England. He afterwards married Miss Easton, daughter of the Rev. Robert Easton, a lady well known and much beloved, who previous to her marriage had conducted one of the principal establishments in Canada for the education of young ladies. His widow (daughter of the late Francis Gwilt), with her young unmarried daughter, reside in Montreal.
St. George, Percival Walter, Civil Engineer, Montreal, was born at Forres, Morayshire, Scotland, on the 22nd October, 1849. He is a son of Lieutenant-Colonel James D. N. St. George, who was a lieutenant-colonel in her Majesty’s Ordnance Staff Corps, and had charge for many years of the clothing establishment of the British army in London, England. Walter was sent to France by his parents to be educated, and spent seven years of his boyhood days in that country, and then finished his educational course in Edinburgh University, where he took honours in mathematics. He came to Canada in 1866, and began the practice of his profession. From 1866 to 1868, two years, he was the pupil of Alexander McNab, chief engineer for the province of Nova Scotia; from 1868 to 1872, four years, he acted as assistant engineer on construction and survey of the Intercolonial Railway of Canada; in 1872-73 he was engineer on survey of the North Shore Railway of Canada; in 1873-74, engineer maintenance of way on the Intercolonial Railway, in charge of one hundred and eight miles; in 1874-75 engineer on survey of the Northern Colonization Railway, from Ottawa to the Mattawan; in 1875-76 he was assistant engineer of Montreal; and from 1876 to 1883, eight years, deputy city surveyor of the same city; from July to December, in 1883, he was engineer in charge of three hundred miles of line on the Norfolk and Western Railway in Virginia; and in December of 1883 he was appointed city surveyor of Montreal, and this position he has occupied ever since. He was also one of the members of the Royal Flood Commission of Montreal, appointed in 1886. Mr. St. George has been an associate member of the Institute of Civil Engineers of England since 1877; and is now a member of the Council of the Canadian Society of Civil Engineers. He is a master Mason, and a member of the Royal Arch Chapter. He has travelled a good deal, and his profession has made him familiar with the greater part of Canada. He is a member of the Church of England. On the 11th July, 1872, he was married to Flora Stewart, daughter of the Rev. Canon Geo. Townshend, rector of Amherst, Nova Scotia, and Elizabeth Stewart, daughter of the Hon. Alexander Stewart, C.B., master of the Rolls, and judge of the Vice-Admiralty Court, and has issue five children.
Palmer, Caleb Read, Justice of the Peace, Moncton, was born at Dorchester, Westmoreland county, New Brunswick, on the 13th February, 1834. His father, John Palmer, grandson of Gideon Palmer, a U. E. loyalist, who came to New Brunswick from Staten Island, New York, is a veteran of 1812, and is now (1887) in his ninety-ninth year, and regularly draws his pension for services during the war. His mother, Elizabeth Cole, was a daughter of Ebenezer Cole. Caleb received his education at the Wesleyan Academy, in Sackville, N.B., taking a course in the higher mathematics and languages, and then for some time adopted teaching as his profession. From 1859 to 1870 he taught the Superior School in Sussex, Kings county, and from January, 1870, to September, 1882, he acted in the capacity of station master at Dorchester for the Intercolonial Railway Company. In July, 1883, he became manager of the Moncton Publishing Company, and this position he occupied until February, 1885, since which time he has confined himself to the duties of justice of the peace, and secretary to the Board of School Trustees of the town of Moncton. Mr. Palmer is interested in shipping, and is also a stockholder in the Moncton Cotton Factory. He is a member of the Royal Arcanum, and in politics is a Liberal. Although brought up in the Episcopal church, he found it more congenial to his taste to attend the Methodist church, and is now a member of that denomination. He was married on the 21st of December, 1865, to Agnes Murray, daughter of John Murray, of Studholm, Kings county, N.B.