Beek, James Scott, Auditor-General of the Province of New Brunswick, Fredericton, is an Irishman by birth, having been born in Bandon, county of Cork, on the 1st June, 1814. His parents, Joseph and Mary Beek, both natives of the same county, were born in Cork city. James came with his father, his mother having died in Ireland, to New Brunswick in 1823, and settled in Fredericton, where Mr. Beek, senr., held the office of registrar of deeds and wills at the time of his death. James Scott Beek attended for some time the public school at Fredericton, but most of his education was obtained by private study, he acting as his own tutor, both before and while serving as a merchant’s clerk. After this he went into business for himself in Fredericton, and for about twenty years he dealt in general merchandise, retiring in 1856. For the past thirty years or more Mr. Beek has been constantly in one or more offices connected with the municipality of the city of Fredericton, or of the province of New Brunswick. He was alderman for about a dozen years, mayor for three consecutive terms, commencing in 1859; judge of the Court of Common Pleas for several years; has been a justice of the peace for a long period; was librarian for the Legislative Assembly from 1864 to 1867, and from the latter year has acted in the capacity of auditor-general for the province. In this latter position he has proved himself a most painstaking official, as the reports he issues annually amply prove. His motto seems to be: “Whatever is worth doing is worth doing well.” Mr. Beek is a Liberal-Conservative in politics, and in his younger days was an energetic worker for his party. He is a member of the Masonic fraternity, and occupies the position in the order of master mason. In religious matters he is an adherent of the Church of England, and has on several occasions been a delegate from the Cathedral to the Church Society. He is a firm believer in total abstinence from the use of intoxicants as a drink, and of late years has done good service to the cause of temperance by working hard as a prohibitionist, and as the president of the United Temperance Association of New Brunswick, to suppress the liquor traffic, and as a Son of Temperance. He is a man of warm feelings and a true friend to his brother man. Mr. Beek has been three times married; first, to Margaret Barker, of Mangerville; second, to Mary Elizabeth Garrison, of St. John, both deceased; and then to Emma R. daughter of the Hon. John K. Partelow, of Fredericton. He has one child living by the first wife and one daughter by the second, and has lost children by both wives.
Lord, Major Artemas, Agent of the Marine Department, Charlottetown. Prince Edward Island, was born at Tryon, P.E.I., on the 10th May, 1835. His father, James Lord, and his mother, Lydia Lea, were both of English descent. His paternal grandfather was among the number of loyal Englishmen who, at the outbreak of the American revolutionary war, gave up all their worldly possessions, refused to fight against their rightful sovereign, left the state of Massachusetts and moved to Prince Edward Island, where they found a home more congenial to their tastes. Artemas Lord, having been deprived of the tender care of his mother, who died when he was only sixteen months old, was adopted by his uncle, W. W. Lord, who afterwards provided for all his wants and set him afloat in the world. When he was five years old his uncle and aunt removed to Charlottetown and took the boy with them. And here they sent him to a private school; next to the Central Academy (now the Prince of Wales’ College), and then to the academy at Sackville, New Brunswick, where he received a thorough mercantile training. At eighteen he left school, but finding his health considerably impaired through confinement and close study, he resolved to take a few sea voyages with the object of restoring his health, and for three years thereafter he sailed in one of his uncle’s ships trading between Charlottetown and England. In 1856 he entered into partnership with his uncle, under the firm name of W. W. Lord & Co., general merchants and shipowners, and this partnership lasted until 1864, during which time they built and owned ships which traded to the West Indies, to the southern cotton ports, to the River Plata, to Great Britain, and to the East Indies, when his uncle retired, and he continued the business under the old name, until 1878. In 1864 Mr. Lord joined the first battery of volunteer artillery, and in 1868 he was appointed to the command of the second battery, which position he held until 1873, when Prince Edward Island became part of the Dominion of Canada, at which time he applied to be, and was placed on the retired list, with the rank of major. When the question of providing Prince Edward Island with a railway was before the public Mr. Lord took a very active part in the agitation, and helped to carry the measure. He, too, was found among the ranks of those who went in for confederation; and when the people agreed to throw in their lot with the other provinces, he chose the party led by Sir John A. Macdonald, and has ever since supported it on patriotic grounds. In 1859 Mr. Lord joined St. John’s lodge, and has continued to keep up his connection with the Masonic order ever since. In 1881 he was appointed agent of the Marine department for the province, and retired from active mercantile life to attend to the duties of the office. His connection with the shipping business enabled him in his younger days to see a good part of the world; and he made no less than nineteen round trips across the Atlantic. He spent three winters in London, Liverpool, and other towns in England, and also visited the Highlands of Scotland, part of Ireland, and other places in the old land, combining business with pleasure. In political matters, as we have seen, he is a Liberal-Conservative; and in religious matters, though brought up in the Wesleyan Methodist fold, he saw fit, in 1876, to change to that of the Presbyterian church. In 1859, he was married to Carrie M. Rich, daughter of Lathley Rich, of Frankfort, Maine, who died in 1864, leaving a little boy who survived his mother only seventeen months. Four years after, in 1869, he married Margaret P. S. Gray, daughter of colonel the Hon. John Hamilton Gray, chairman of the first convention called in Prince Edward Island to consider the question of confederation. This gentleman, in 1869, held the position of adjutant-general for the province of Prince Edward Island, and at the time was well known throughout the Dominion as a large hearted, prominent public man. A few years ago he retired into private life. Mr. Lord has a family of three boys and two girls alive, and three boys dead. His uncle and aunt are still alive—his uncle being now (1887) eighty-nine years and his aunt eighty-seven years of age—and having been married over sixty years. This venerable couple are now enjoying the fruits of a happy life spent in each other’s society. They are highly respected by all in the city in which they have spent the greater part of their useful lives. They never had any children of their own, but many nevertheless bless them this day for assistance and counsel given them in the past. Hon. W. W. Lord, we may add, was for more than thirty years an active politician, and sat in the local legislature as representative for his native county, and took an active part in council with such leaders as Coles, Pope, Whelan, Mooney and others in all measures that had for their object the good of his country. Mrs. Lord is an active worker in the church, and prominent in all works of charity and mercy.
McLeod, Hon. Neil, M.A., Charlottetown, Prince Edward Island, Member of the Executive Council, M.P.P. for Charlottetown and Royalty, is of Scotch descent, and was born on the 15th December, 1842, at Uigg, Queens county, Prince Edward Island. His parents were Roderick McLeod and Flora McDonald. He was educated at Acadia University, Wolfville, Nova Scotia, and received from that institution the degrees of B.A. and M.A. He chose law as a profession, and was called to the bar of Prince Edward Island in 1872. He is now a member of the well known firm of McLeod, Morson, and McQuarrie, with offices at Charlottetown and Summerside, P.E.I. Mr. McLeod was first elected to the House of Assembly at the general election in 1879; was sworn in a member of the Executive Council, and on the 11th March, of the same year, appointed provincial secretary and treasurer. This office he held until March, 1880, when he resigned, with the object of applying himself more closely to his professional duties, but still remained a member of the government without a portfolio. He was re-elected to the Assembly at the general election of 1882, and again at the last general election, and is now a member of the government. Hon. Mr. McLeod holds the position of chairman of the Poorhouse Commissioners, and is also a trustee of the Provincial Lunatic Asylum. In politics he is a Liberal-Conservative, and in religious matters he has, from youth up, been a member of the Baptist denomination. He stands high among his fellow citizens as a man of probity, intelligence and culture. In June, 1877, he was married to Adelia, only daughter of James Hayden, of Vernon River, Prince Edward Island.
Le May, Léon Pamphile, Homme de Lettres, Quebec, Chief Librarian of the Legislative Assembly of Quebec, was born at Lotbinière, on the 5th of January, 1837. His ancestor was Michel Le May, or Le Mée, who came to Canada more than two centuries ago, from the diocese of Angers, France. He settled, in 1666, at Three Rivers, where he was a farmer, and in 1681, removed to Lotbinière. Some members of the family are still residing in the latter place. He had thirteen children, whose descendants are scattered over the Dominion and the United States. The father of our subject was Léon Le May, farmer and merchant; and his mother, Louise Anger. They had a family of fourteen children. Léon Pamphile Le May received his education at the Quebec Seminary, studied law for some time, and then went to the United States, in search of a fortune. At the end of two years he returned to Canada, and engaged himself as a clerk in a mercantile house, in Sherbrooke, Quebec province. He soon discovered that he had no taste for mercantile pursuits, and soon after we find him in Ottawa, invested with the cassock, and studying theology. In 1861, dyspepsia compelled him to leave the cloister. In 1862, he was given employment as a French translator in the Legislative Assembly, Quebec, at the same time resuming his legal studies. He was admitted to practice in 1865, and went to reside in his native place, Lotbinière. In 1872, he returned to Quebec, and took the position he occupies at the present time—chief librarian of the Legislative Assembly. As Mr. Le May is a “book-worm,” the employment is congenial to him. When a young man, he commenced writing for the press, and his writings at once attracted the notice of the littérateurs of Canada, the United States and France. In 1865, he published his first work, “Essais Poétiques,” a volume of over 300 pages, which was cordially received, and placed him in the first rank. In 1870 appeared a translation of Longfellow’s “Evangeline,” which raised Mr. Le May to a high position among the Canadian poets. Longfellow sent a congratulatory letter to the poet, and ever afterwards treated him as a friend. The translation is looked upon as Mr. Le May’s master-piece, and he can safely rest his reputation on it. The pathetic story of the Acadian exiles is admirably told; the poet’s soul seems to have been invaded by the sorrow he is describing; in fact, he lives his subject, while the harmony and flexibility of the verse leave nothing to be desired. There have appeared since that time, in the order mentioned: “Deux poèmes couronnés,” Quebec, 1870, for which the author received two gold medals; “Les Vengeances,” Poème, Quebec; “Les Vengeances,” drama in six acts; “Le Pèlerin de Sainte-Anne,” a novel, 2 vols., Quebec, 1877; “Picounoc, le Maudit,” a novel, 2 vols., Quebec, 1878; “Une Gerbe,” miscellaneous poetry, Quebec, 1879; “Fables Canadiennes,” 1 vol., Quebec, 1882; “L’affaire Sougraine,” novel, 1 vol., Quebec, 1884. The following criticism is from the pen of Louis Honoré Fréchette, the poet-laureate, whose works “Les Fleurs Boréales et les Oiseaux de Neige,” have been crowned by the French Academy. Mr. Fréchette, as is well known, is not tender, as a rule, to his brother poets and confrères: “It has not the booming of the mad torrent: it is the purling of a fountain on a mossy bed; it has not the roaring of the lion: it is the cooing of the dove; it has not the bold swoop of the eagle: it is the timid undulation of the cygnet.” Mr. Le May married, in 1863, Selima Robitaille, of Quebec, and they have twelve children, five sons and seven daughters.
Murchie, James, St. Stephen, ex-M.P.P. for Charlotte county, New Brunswick, and one of the leading merchants, lumber manufacturers, and ship owners of that county, is a native of St. Stephen, having been born on the 16th of August, 1813. His father, Andrew Murchie, was from Paisley, Scotland, and his mother, Janet Campbell, was a native of New Brunswick, and a daughter of Colin Campbell. James Murchie was educated at St. Stephen, and remained on his father’s farm until he became of age, and since that period has been engaged in manufacturing lumber on the St. Croix river, merchandising, and shipping, being one of the most extensive operators in those branches of industry in this valley. The firm of James Murchie and Sons has mills at Benton, Deer Lake, and Edmundston, on the New Brunswick Railway, as well as at Calais, Maine, and are cutting about 20,000,000 feet per annum. This firm also owns 200,000 acres of timber land, nearly half of it being in the province of Quebec, and about 38,000 in Maine, and the balance in New Brunswick. Mr. Murchie, who was a captain of militia in his younger days, is one of the oldest magistrates in this part of the country. He served for some years as school trustee, and has held, in fact, nearly all the local offices in the gift of the people, being painstaking and efficient in discharging the duties which he assumes. He represented Charlotte county in the House of Assembly from 1874 to 1878, being sent there by his Liberal-Conservative friends, and while in that legislative body secured the repeal of the Wild Land Tax Act, which had been attempted in vain by previous representatives from his county. He also carried other bills regarded as very important, and proved himself a diligent law as well as a lumber maker. He is one of the directors of the St. Stephen Bank; of two bridge corporations; the Calais Tug Boat Company, and other incorporated companies; vice-president of the New Brunswick and Canada Railway; president of the Frontier Steamboat Company; St. Croix Lloyds Insurance Company, and the St. Croix Cotton Mill Company. He was a leading force in engineering this last enterprise, giving several weeks’ time to getting the company organised, its capital ($500,000) taken, the site secured for the mill, the corner stone laid, &c. The last act mentioned was done by the Masonic order on the 24th June, 1881, and marked an epoch in the history of the town of Milltown, in which our subject resides, being the owner of the finest house in the place. This cotton mill is 517 feet long, 98 feet wide, and four stories above the basement, in addition to which are dye house, &c., which cover nearly two-thirds as much ground as the main building. The erection of this mill has converted one of the most squalid parts of the town into the most thrifty and industrious, and added from 800 to 1,000 inhabitants to the place. Mr. Murchie has done, and is doing, a great deal to encourage home industry, knowing that all such enterprises tend to increase the value of his own property as well as the prosperity of the country. It is a few such men as he—men of energy, push, and pluck—found in St. Stephen, Calais, and Milltown, that have built up this trinity of towns, and given them their present air of thriftiness. Milltown, the smallest of all, is just now probably the liveliest of the three. Mr. Murchie was also a leading stockholder and organiser in the Calais Shoe Factory, which employs 300 or 400 hands. He is a member and trustee of the Congregational Church, Milltown, which body has a house of worship which is a gem of architecture; and it is the impression of the community that no such elegant and costly structure could have been reared in the little town without both the shaping and the plethoric pocket of Mr. Murchie. He was first married, in 1836, to Mary Ann Grimmer, daughter of John Grimmer, late collector of customs, at St. Stephen. She died in 1857, leaving ten children. He was married the second time, in 1860, to Margaret Thorpe, daughter of Jackson Thorpe, of St. George, Charlotte county, having by her three children. She died in 1872. All of the children excepting one boy, who is at school, are settled in life. Five of the sons—John G., William A., James S., George A., and Henry S.—are in business with their father. The first, John G., ex-mayor of the city of Calais, is director of the Calais Tug Boat Company, and St. Croix Lloyds Insurance Company; the second, William A., is treasurer of the Calais Tug Boat Company, director of the Calais Shoe Factory and vice-consul of Brazil and the Argentine Republic. Two other sons, Charles F. and Horace B., are in the commission business on Wall Street, New York. His daughters are all married.