Roche, William, jr., M.P.P., Coal and Commission Merchant, Halifax, Nova Scotia, was born in Halifax in 1842. His father, William Roche, is a merchant in Halifax, and his mother was named Susan M. Roche. His uncle, Charles Roche, represented Shelburne, N.S., in the Provincial Assembly from 1830 to 1835. The grandparents of Mr. Roche were loyalists, and moved from the state of New York in 1783 to Nova Scotia, and settled in Shelburne. The family is of Irish descent. William received his education at the Halifax, Dalhousie, and Free Church academies, and on leaving school selected commerce as a profession. He now carries on a large coal and commission business, and is agent for several steamship companies. For some years he was a member of the school board, and in 1886 occupied the position of chairman of that body. In politics Mr. Roche is a Liberal, and at the general elections held in 1886 was chosen, by a majority of 950, to represent Halifax in the Provincial Assembly, and is a firm supporter of the present government. He is a director of the Union Bank of Halifax. Mr. Roche is an adherent of the Episcopal church.
Mitchell, Samuel E., Bookseller and Publisher, Pembroke, Ontario, was born on the 8th of December, 1836, at Bury, Lancashire, England. He is a son of John Mitchell, J.P., formerly of Bury, but now of Clitheroe, Lancashire, England, senior member of the firm of John Mitchell and Sons, paper manufacturers, Primrose Paper Mills, Clitheroe. Samuel was educated at the Bury private and grammar schools. He came to Canada in 1858, and settled in Pembroke, where he has ever since resided. He commenced business in 1863, in company with John G. Cormack, as druggists, booksellers and stationers, which business partnership was dissolved in 1866, Mr. Cormack taking the drug, and he the books and stationery, and the latter he has carried on continuously to this time. Mr. Mitchell was appointed clerk of the county council of the county of Renfrew, in January, 1869, and has continued to hold this office ever since. He has never missed a meeting of council since his appointment, from illness or other cause. He was high and public school trustee of the town for several years, until his appointment to the above clerkship brought him under that law which says that no municipal officer shall be a school trustee. He was made a justice of the peace for the county of Renfrew in June, 1876; police magistrate in and for the town of Pembroke on the 17th April, 1884, and police magistrate in and for the county of Renfrew, on 1st June, 1887. As a magistrate Mr. Mitchell has been very successful, and has received high commendations from both political local newspapers. The Pembroke Standard (Conservative) of the 20th November, 1886, thus spoke kindly of him:
The charge of murdering her husband brought against Mary Dunlop, of Mink Lake, was investigated last week before S. E. Mitchell, Esq., police magistrate, at great length, occupying five days and the half of the intervening nights. Many questions of an important nature had to be decided by his worship, and the ability and learning with which he disposed of them are shown by the fact that at the close of the evidence the counsel on both sides expressed their entire satisfaction and appreciation of the fairness shown to each by the bench. It is almost needless to say that no other justice of the peace for the county could have displayed as much ability and skill in the hearing of this important case. At the close his worship delivered a most eloquent and instructive address on the gradual development of our criminal law and the duties of the court on such a case arising. There was no evidence brought out that would point to the guilt of the prisoner. She was consequently discharged, and the matter remains as great a mystery as ever.
The same paper again, in its edition of the 25th January, 1887, thus alludes to Mr. Mitchell: —
There is an agitation on foot at present to get the county council . . . . to recommend the appointment of Mr. S. E. Mitchell as police magistrate for the county of Renfrew, with a view to the better enforcement of the Scott Act. Mr. Mitchell has made it a special study, and, so far as we have been able to learn, the decisions rendered by him since he has occupied the position of town police magistrate have not only been in accordance with the facts of the cases in question, but from a legal point of view have been eminently satisfactory to those who are versed in the law and understand its meaning. He is also a pronounced temperance advocate, and would no doubt render valuable assistance to the temperance people, who are anxious to see the Scott Act properly enforced.
The Pembroke Observer (Liberal) of 28th January, 1887, has also a good word to say in favour of Mr. Mitchell: —
The question of recommending the Ontario Government to appoint S. E. Mitchell, Esq., police magistrate for the county of Renfrew, will come before the county council now in session here. Every member of the council will, of course, admit that Mr. Mitchell is a gentleman in every way fitted for the position of county police magistrate. He is scholarly, and well versed in the law; and his appointment would be a gratification to the supporters of the Scott Act. It is said, however, that many of the councillors are opposed to the appointment, on the ground that it would entail considerable expense on the county. The committee will probably report on the matter to-day, and then we shall see how the matter stands. One thing is certain—Mr. Mitchell will bring eloquence, ability, and good judgment to the bench, should he receive the appointment.
Although the council, being decidedly anti-Scott Act, failed to recommend Mr. Mitchell for the office, nevertheless the Ontario government, to its credit, on the recommendation of the License Board and the county branch of the Dominion Alliance for the suppression of the liquor traffic, appointed him to the office. Mr. Mitchell has had a hand in almost every public and private movement inaugurated in Pembroke during his long residence of about thirty years. Among others, the establishment of the Pembroke Philharmonic Society; the building up of the Pembroke lodge, No. 128, G.R.C. Free and Accepted Masons, the mastership of which he held during the years 1870 and 1871; the Pembroke lodge of the Independent Order of Oddfellows, and temperance societies in general. He delivered an address on “Oddfellowship” at the anniversary celebration of the Renfrew lodge, which at the time was characterised by the Noble Grand as the finest presentation of objects of the order he had ever listened to, and after hearing Mr. Mitchell give a song, the same high dignitary said “Mr. Mitchell had proved himself as good a singer as he was an orator.” Mr. Mitchell is a staunch Reformer, and was for many years president of the Pembroke Reform Association, up until 1886, when he found the position somewhat incompatible with that of police magistrate, and resigned. He has always occupied a foremost place in the councils of his party in his district, and has on some occasions been spoken of as the coming man for legislative honours, but various considerations have prevented him from complying with the kind solicitations of his political friends. He was brought up in the Church of England, but in 1859 he joined the Methodist church of Canada, and has continued to be a member of that church over since. He has served on some of the most important of the church committees for about a quarter of a century, and was a member of the General Conference of 1878. Mr. Mitchell has been twice married. First, in 1860, to Mary Ann, daughter of D. B. Warren, of Allumettes Island, county of Pontiac, Quebec province, who died in 1868, leaving three children, who still survive. Second, in 1869, to Ellen Jane, daughter of John Deacon, J.P., of South Sherbrooke, county Lanark, Ontario, and sister of John Deacon, county judge of Renfrew, by whom he has two surviving children.