Macdonald, Rev. James Charles, Charlottetown, Prince Edward Island, is descended from an old Highland family, who emigrated to Prince Edward Island in the last century. His ancestors formed part of the gallant band brought out by the Laird of Glenaladale, in the Alexander in 1772. His father, John Macdonald, of Allisary, and his mother, Ellen Macdonald, of Garahelia, were natives of Prince Edward Island. Their son was born at Allisary, in the parish of St. Andrew, in that province, on the 15th July, 1840, and was baptised in the old St. Andrew’s Church, built in that mission, by Bishop McEachern, in the early days of Catholicity in Prince Edward Island. After preliminary studies in a district school, Mr. Macdonald entered St. Dunstan’s College in 1866. He remained there for four years, and in 1870, went up to the Grand Seminary, at Montreal. After a three years’ course, he was ordained by the Bishop of Charlottetown, and at once proceeded to St. Dunstan’s College, to fill a vacant professorship in that institution. In 1875, Mr. Macdonald was appointed to the missions of St. James, Georgetown, and All Saints, Cardigan Bridge. In 1876, the mission of St. Theresa, Baldwin’s Road, was added to these; but in 1878, it was placed in the charge of another priest. In 1881, the late Very Rev. Dr. Macdonald was associated with Father Charles Macdonald, in the care of the missions of St. James and All Saints, to which was annexed St. Paul’s, Sturgeon. In September, 1884, to the great regret of his parishioners, Father Macdonald was removed from Georgetown, and installed as rector of St. Dunstan’s College, Charlottetown. During the period in which he has presided over that institution, St. Dunstan’s has prospered exceedingly, and now boasts a staff of eight professors, three clerical and five lay, and a roll of eighty-six students, several of whom give promise of doing great credit to their alma mater.
Macpherson, Henry, Braeside, Owen Sound, Ontario, Judge of the County Court of the county of Grey, Local Judge of the High Court of Justice, Surrogate Judge of the Maritime Court, was born 17th August, 1832, at Picton, county of Prince Edward, province of Ontario. He was son of Lowther Pennington Macpherson, late of Picton, barrister-at-law, and of Eliza Isabella Louisa McLean, his wife. Lowther was the son of Lieut.-Colonel Donald Macpherson, of the 10th Royal Veteran Battalion, who commanded at Kingston at the commencement of the war with the United States in 1812; and was afterwards ordered to Quebec, where he remained till the close of the war in 1814, when he returned to his property of Cluny, near Kingston. Colonel Macpherson was the son of Evan Macpherson, chief of the clan Macpherson, who joined the standard of Prince Charles Edward Stuart at the time of the rebellion in Scotland in 1745. Lowther was born on shipboard, in the Gulf of St. Lawrence, when his father was coming out to Canada with his regiment, and died at sea near the West India Islands, where he had gone for his health in 1836. Eliza Macpherson was the youngest daughter of Lieut.-Colonel Allan N. McLean, of “The Grove,” Kingston, and who practised law there. In 1812 he closed his office, and was greatly instrumental in raising the Incorporated Militia, which regiment he commanded until he was superseded by an officer of the line. One of his sons was a lieutenant in the Glengarry Fencibles, and was killed at Queenston Heights, and his son-in-law, Captain Walker, commanded a company of the Incorporated Militia, and was killed at Lundy’s Lane. Colonel McLean represented the county of Frontenac in the Provincial parliament for many years, in the early part of the present century, and was for sixteen years Speaker of the House of Assembly. Eliza Macpherson died in 1885 in her eightieth year. Henry Macpherson was educated at the Grammar School, Kingston, and afterwards at Queen’s College, where he graduated as Bachelor of Arts in April, 1851. He studied law in the office of Thomas Kirkpatrick, Q.C., of Kingston, who was afterwards M.P. for the county of Frontenac. He was admitted as an attorney in Easter term in 1854, after which he entered the law office of George A. Phillpotts, of Toronto, afterwards Junior Judge of the county of York, where he remained until called to the bar, in Hilary, term 1855. In March of that year, he commenced the practice of his profession at Owen Sound, in the county of Grey, where he continued until appointed judge of the County Court of that county in January, 1865. Owen Sound was at that time a portion of the township of Sydenham, but in 1856 it was incorporated as a town, having a population of about 2,000. It was the county town of the county of Grey, which, with the adjoining county of Bruce, was then comparatively a new settlement, the population of Grey, according to the census of 1852, being something over 13,000 and that of Bruce being between 2,000 and 3,000. The peninsula north of Owen Sound, between Georgian Bay and Lake Huron, was then a wilderness and not yet surrendered by the Indians. The roads through the counties were in a very bad condition, and until the opening of the Northern Railway to Collingwood in the winter of 1854-5, everything had to be brought to Owen Sound by vessel from Coldwater, or teamed up from Guelph. A few years after this, the county of Grey expended $200,000 in building about 180 miles of gravel roads through the country, on which no toll gate was ever placed, and the county of Bruce a few years after followed the example thus set of building a number of leading gravel roads through the county without placing toll gates on them. The population of the county of Grey at the last census, in 1881, was over 75,000, and that of Bruce over 65,000. A number of railways are now running through the counties, the Canadian Pacific Railway having a lake terminus at Owen Sound, which has a population of about 6,000, a dry dock capable of receiving very large steamers (the first built in Canada above the Welland Canal), an excellent system of waterworks, is lighted by electric lights, and to and from its harbour a large fleet of steamers (including the Canadian Pacific Railway’s steel steamships), and sailing vessels run to all the various ports on the upper lakes. Besides the position of county judge to which Mr. Macpherson was appointed in 1865, he holds the position of local judge of the High Court of Justice, to which he was appointed in March, 1882; of surrogate judge of the Maritime Court of Ontario, to which he was appointed in February, 1879, and of revising officer of the North Riding of Grey, to which he was appointed in October, 1885. Judge Macpherson has long taken a great interest in Freemasonry, into which he was initiated in June, 1857, in the city of Toronto, and in the fall of that year, assisted by other brethren, he opened a lodge in Owen Sound under a dispensation from Sir Allan Napier MacNab, grand master of the Ancient Grand Lodge of Canada, and of which lodge he was the first worshipful master. He is the only survivor of the original members of that lodge. The Ancient Grand Lodge was in July of the following year merged in the Grand Lodge of Canada. He has been a regular attendant at the meetings of the Grand Lodge, and in 1863 was elected grand senior warden. He has been, with the exception of two years, continuously a member of the Board of General Purposes since its formation in 1861, has frequently been and is at present vice-president of that board, and is also chairman of the sub-committee on jurisprudence. He is also the representative of the Grand Orient of Uruguay, and of the Grand Lodge of Maryland, near the Grand Lodge of Canada. He has also taken an active part in Capitular Masonry. He was exalted in February, 1858, and in 1866, assisted in the formation of a chapter in Collingwood, of which, in 1867, he became first principal. In 1873, he assisted in the formation of a chapter in Owen Sound, of which, at the commencement he was first principal. In Grand Chapter, after filling the chairs of 3rd and 2nd principal, he was, in 1883, elected grand first principal, which office he held two years. He is also representative of the Grand Chapter of California, near the Grand Chapter of Canada. He has also been instrumental in the formation or carrying on of many local and other societies. Judge Macpherson was the first secretary and afterwards president of the Mechanics’ Institute. He has been president of the North Riding of Grey Agricultural Society, and has been several times and is now president of the Horticultural Society, and has been vice-president of the Fruit Growers’ Association of Ontario. He was the first captain and several years president of the Cricket Club, was several years president and is now patron of the Curling Club, and has been president of the Ontario branch of the Royal Caledonian Curling Club. He also, in 1874, assisted in the formation of a joint stock company to build a curling and skating rink, of which he was the first president. This was the first company formed for this purpose under the Ontario Act. He has also been president of the First Canada Rifle Club, of the Gun Club, and of the Fish and Game Protection Society, and is now chairman of the managing committee of the Owen Sound Club. In this age of locomotion his travels can hardly be considered important, yet he has travelled through Canada from Manitoba to Newfoundland, and through all the great lakes. He has been through most of the states east of the Mississippi from Minnesota to Florida; and has visited a number of cities of the United States from St. Paul and Minneapolis to New Orleans, and from the Atlantic coast to the Mississippi. He was at the Paris Exhibition of 1867, the Centennial Exhibition held at Philadelphia in 1876, the Colonial Exhibition at London, and the International Exhibition at Liverpool in 1886. He has visited the Bahama Islands, and last winter travelled by sea from New York to New Orleans, up the Mississippi to Memphis, and across home by rail, paying visits to the different cities on the way, and also visiting the mammoth cave of Kentucky, his journey being nearly 5,000 miles. He has also visited most of the important cities and other points of interest in England and Scotland, including the islands of Skye, Staffa, Iona, Man, Wight, etc. During last summer, he also visited Egypt, including the Suez Canal, the Nile, Cairo, the Pyramids, the battle field of Tel-el-Kebir, etc., going by way of the Mediterranean and calling at Gibraltar and Malta, travelling in all nearly 15,000 miles. He is a member of the Church of England. In May, 1875, he married Eliza McGill McLean, second daughter of Allan N. McLean, formerly of Toronto, now of London, England, and grand-daughter of the late John McLean, formerly sheriff at Kingston, who was a brother of the late Hon. Chief Justice McLean, of Toronto; Mrs. Macpherson died in April, 1880, leaving two children, only one of whom still survives.
Campbell, Rev. Kenneth A., Orillia, Ontario, was born in the township of Thorah, Ontario county, on the 30th of November, 1837. His father, Kenneth Campbell, was born in the county of Glengarry, Ontario, and was one of the earliest settlers in the township of Thorah, and rendered most valuable assistance to the Scottish immigrants, who afterwards settled in that and neighbouring townships. Mr. Campbell was captain of militia. Rev. Mr. Campbell received the rudimentary part of his education in a public school of his native section, and afterwards made a full course, preparatory to ordination, in St. Michael’s College, Toronto, and was ordained to the priesthood by Archbishop Lynch, in St. Joseph’s Church, Beaverton, on the 21st of September, 1854. He was appointed assistant to the Very Rev. G. R. Northgroves, in the parish of Barrie, and in April, 1856, he was appointed parish priest of Mara and Orillia. In this charge he laboured with zeal for eight years. He built a neat substantial brick church in the village of Brechin; attended to the wants of the settlers of his faith in the district of Muskoka, and discharged efficiently the duties of local superintendent of schools in the townships of Mara and Rama. In June, 1872, he built the Church of the Angels Guardian, in Orillia, a solid structure of fine architectural design, and an ornament to the town. The interest of the congregation of Orillia requiring a resident priest, the village was erected into a separate parish, and Father Campbell was appointed to the charge in 1874. Upon his removal to Orillia, he set to work to erect the handsome presbytery in which he now resides. Subsequently he built a solid, well-planned, well-appointed separate school-house, and a tasteful brick church in the village of Warminster. He not only attends to the elementary instruction of the children under his care, but takes a deep interest in higher education. Four years ago he was appointed by the county council of Simcoe trustee of the High School Board, and on that board he has held the position of chairman for the four years that he has been a member thereof. Father Campbell has left his imprint for good in the various important positions he has held, and we hope he may be long spared to bless mankind.
Bruce, Rev. George, B.A., Pastor of St. David’s (Presbyterian) Church, St. John, New Brunswick, is a Scotchman by birth, having been born near Aberdeen, Scotland, on 6th of September, 1837. His parents were John Bruce and Elspeth Cadger. The family is an old one and can be traced far back in the annals of Scotland. The Simpsons (Sir George and Thomas), of Hudson Bay notoriety, were relatives, and Mr. Bruce, sen., remembers when young George Simpson came to bid them good-bye before leaving for America. Alexander Bruce, the eldest brother of John Bruce, was educated in King’s College, Aberdeen. When the Rev. George Bruce was only four years of age he was brought to Canada. The family settled in Markham, near Toronto, and there they have been extensively engaged in various kinds of business ever since, chiefly, however, in farming and milling. George, the subject of this sketch, after receiving the usual public school training, attended the Normal School in Toronto for some time; and in 1863 he went to Whitby, where, under Thomas Kirkland, now principal of the Toronto Normal School, he prepared himself for the university. In September, 1864, he matriculated in the University of Toronto, and four years afterwards he graduated from the same institution. While attending the university he devoted himself to general study, principally, however, in the direction of mathematics, metaphysics, political economy and natural science (especially in regard to its more modern developments, in which he took an exceptional interest). He then entered Knox College, in the same city, and from this college he graduated in 1871. While a student, Mr. Bruce became deeply impressed with the great loss sustained by the church through the frequent removal of student missionaries from their fields, on account of their return to college every winter to pursue their studies, leaving the fields unsupplied to the manifest and serious loss of the interest and organization which had resulted from the labours of the missionary during the summer. As licentiates were almost always settled in congregations at once upon the completion of their studies, the smaller and more sparsely settled mission fields were left almost entirely to the student supply in the summer vacation. It seemed to him that the only relief for this lay in getting students to give from one to two or more years of voluntary work to these fields after they were licensed, so as to bring them up to a stable and self-sustaining position. He wrote a considerable number of articles calling attention to this matter, and brought it before the General Assembly. In order to make practical trial and do, himself, what was recommended, he took such work for four years after he was licensed, declining to be ordained, though he is not sure of the wisdom of that part of his course now, as ordination gives additional fitness for the work falling to the hand of the missionary. The system, however, gradually gained favour, and is now almost universally put in practice in such fields, as far as young men can be found willing to undertake such work. Rev. Mr. Bruce’s field lay in the region of Newmarket and Aurora, Ontario, which, though old and prosperous settlements, had suffered very much so far as the Presbyterian church was concerned, from the system he had spoken of. Two brick churches were built during the four years he resided there, and the congregations were separated soon after and are both prosperous. In September, 1876, he was ordained over the First Presbyterian Church in St. Catharines, Ontario, where he remained seven years. This charge had been one of the congregations established by the American Church, and retained its name as such and its connection with the Presbytery of Buffalo till immediately before his ordination. He was, therefore, the first minister in the new relation, although it was a very old congregation. During his ministry a brick church, the one now in use, was erected. Rev. Mr. Bruce was for six years convener of the Home Mission Committee of the Presbytery of Hamilton, and member of the General Home Mission Committee of the church. In 1881 he was sent out with the Rev. Dr. Cochrane by the Home Mission Committee to visit the churches in Manitoba, and to meet with the presbytery and arrange for the designation of the Rev. James Robertson as superintendent of missions, as well as for the settlement of various other questions which had been before the committee. On his way up to fulfil this appointment he was on the steamer City of Winnipeg when she was burnt at Duluth. The fire took place at night and five lives were lost, the others escaping with difficulty. Besides church work he has always had a deep interest in educational matters, and has written a good deal in connection with our system from time to time. In January, 1883, he was inducted into his present charge, St. David’s Church, St. John, New Brunswick. The congregation was one formed at the disruption as the Free Church, and is a large and active one. Here as formerly he has taken a deep interest in home mission work. Within the bounds of the large presbytery there is a vast field. He is convener of an “Augmentation Committee” for enlarging the salary of ministers in weak charges. Rev. Mr. Bruce’s travels have not been great, although somewhat extended on this continent, and almost incessant at times in church work. His trip in 1881 to the North-West was an interesting experience of the “trail and tent” life, as the Canadian Pacific Railway was only commenced, and he passed the men at work several times. They had then attained a rate of one mile per day, which was considered a wonder, although this speed of track-laying was afterwards increased to three or even four miles per day. His religious views have continued much the same in general principles. He is a Presbyterian, and therefore, of course, a Calvinist in doctrine. He has gone over all the ground carefully in connection with scientific difficulties and other new phases, and with a mind, so far as he knows, open to receive impressions and conviction. He believes much enlargement has come from the study of Science in connection with Religion, but has seen nothing to cause him to change his faith in the “old doctrines.” It has been, he thinks, man’s narrow, mistaken, and prejudiced construction of Bible teaching which has been the source of the weakness, wherever there has really been a weakness. What is needed is practical adaptation of teaching, preaching, and modes of work to the requirements of the age. Broad sympathy and charity is the very pith and marrow of the Gospel, and unswerving loyalty to the truth where it is perceived. He has read extensively in rationalistic literature, the “new theology” and evolutionary theories of revelation and man. He admires the scientific spirit and patient research, but is deeply impressed with the rash and superficial nature of much of the theorising so confidently asserted. It is unscientific and unreliable. On the 18th June, 1884, Rev. Mr. Bruce was married to Catherine Emily, third daughter of the late John R. Dickson, M.D., president of the Royal College of Physicians and Surgeons, Kingston, Ontario, and medical superintendent of the Asylum for the Insane there. Dr. Dickson’s name is widely known in the medical profession. He was especially celebrated as a surgeon, and in the midst of a very extensive practice he found time to keep himself abreast of the scientific progress of the age, and to take an active interest in many matters of moral beneficence and religion. He came from Ireland when quite young, part of the family remaining at home.
Stewart, John, Superintendent of the Northern Division of the New Brunswick Railway, Woodstock, New Brunswick, was born at St. Andrews, N.B., on the 2nd February, 1845. His father, Duncan Stewart, was in early life a colour-sergeant in the rifle brigade, and afterwards became an officer in the Customs department, and served in that capacity at St. John and at St. Stephen. John was educated at the St. Stephen and Calais High schools. Some time after leaving school he entered the Customs service, and acted as weigher and gauger at St. Stephen in 1864-5, when he was appointed to the position of conductor on the New Brunswick and Canada Railway, and acted as such until 1874, when he was promoted to a superintendency. In 1882, after the consolidation of the line with the New Brunswick Railway Company, he was appointed to and filled the office of general superintendent until 1885, and then was made superintendent of the Northern division, which office he now fills. Having a taste for military affairs, he joined the volunteers when a mere youth, and held the rank of captain in the St. Stephen Infantry School, and saw a good deal of active service during the Fenian invasion of our frontiers. In 1872 he was made a Freemason, and has ever since taken an interest in the order. Mr. Stewart is a member of the Presbyterian denomination. In 1874 he was married to Susan A. Haddock, daughter of J. Haddock, of St. Andrews, and has a family consisting of three children.