Casgrain, Thomas Chase, Q.C., LL.D., M.P.P., Advocate and Professor of Criminal Law at Laval University, Quebec, was born in Detroit, Michigan, on the 28th of July, 1852. He is descendant from one of the oldest French families in Canada. His paternal ancestors belonged to an ancient family at Ervault, in Poitou, France. The first who came to Canada was Jean Baptiste Casgrain, an officer in the French army, who landed about 1750. His son, Pierre, was lord of the Seigniories of Rivière Ouelle and L’Islet. Maternally he is descended from Jacques Babie, an officer of the Regiment of Carignan-Salières, who landed in Quebec in 1665, and whose descendants of that name have occupied high and responsible positions in the country. His grandfather was the late Hon. Charles Eusèbe Casgrain, lieutenant-colonel, unattached, who sat for Cornwallis in the Lower Canada Assembly from 1830 to 1834, was a member of the Special Council of Lower Canada from 1838 to 1840, and at his death held the office of assistant commissioner of Public Works of Canada. His father, the Hon. Charles Eugène Casgrain, C.M., M.D., is one of the senators of the Dominion. He was educated in Quebec, and studied medicine in McGill College, Montreal. He began the practice of his profession in Detroit, U.S., in 1851, but removed to Sandwich in 1856, and now resides at Windsor. He has held various prominent positions in his country; and was created a knight of the order of the Holy Sepulchre in 1884. He was called to the Senate in 1887. His mother is Charlotte Mary Chase, a daughter of the late Thomas Chase, of Detroit, Michigan, and Catherine Caroline Adelaide Bailli de Messein, of Quebec. Thomas, the subject of our sketch, is the eldest son of this union. He was educated in classics at the Quebec Seminary, in Quebec, where he graduated with high honors in 1872, having stood at the head of his class for five years. In mathematics, sciences, moral philosophy, at Laval University, Quebec, and law, also at Laval, where he graduated a master-in-law (licencié en droit), summa cum laude in June, 1877, carrying off the Dufferin medal for that year. He was called to the bar in August, 1877, and settled in Quebec, where he began the practice of law in partnership with Col. Guillaume Amyot, M.P., whom he left in 1881 to join the extensive law firm of Langlois, Larue, Angers & Casgrain. Mr. Langlois having died, and Mr. Larue having been appointed a judge of the Superior Court, Mr. Casgrain, in 1887, on his appointment as a Queen’s counsel, became the senior partner of the firm of Casgrain, Angers & Hamel, which has one of the most extensive practices in the district of Quebec. He was appointed a member of the Law Faculty of Laval University in October, 1878, and its secretary in November of the same year. He was also appointed professor of Criminal Law in the same institution, and granted the degree of Doctor of Civil Law in October, 1883. He represented the Crown in Quebec with the late Judge Alleyn, at two terms of the Court of Queen’s Bench, criminal side, in 1882, and was deprived of the office by Attorney-General Loranger, because his views did not agree with those of the government on the sale of the North Shore Railway to Mr. Sénécal. He was junior counsel for the Crown at the trial of Louis Riel and other rebel leaders, at Regina, in July and August, 1885. Mr. Casgrain was chairman in 1879 and 1880 of the Cartier Club, a political organization; and is now one of the directors of the Conservative Club of Quebec. He was elected a member of the Legislative Assembly of the province of Quebec in October, 1886, by 196 of a majority, after a severe contest in which the Riel cry was worked to its utmost. His opponent was the Hon. Pierre Garneau, the leader of the Parti National. He is a strong Conservative. He was offered the position of stipendiary magistrate for Alberta, when it became necessary to appoint a French magistrate, but he declined the honor. Mr. Casgrain is a nephew of the Abbé H. R. Casgrain, a celebrated French Canadian writer, and of P. B. Casgrain, Q.C., member of the House of Commons for l’Islet. He married, in Quebec, on the 15th May, 1878, Marie Louise, eldest daughter of the late Alex. LeMoine.
McDonald, Alexander Roderick, River du Loup (en bas), province of Quebec, Superintendent of the Quebec and St. Flavie District of the Intercolonial Railway, and President of the Temiscouata Railway Company, River du Loup (en bas), Quebec, was born on the 9th of August, 1846, at Montreal. His parents were James Ronald McDonald, and Adèle Quevillon. He was educated at St. Hyacinthe College, and went through the classical course. Mr. McDonald entered the railway service, April, 1864, as station master on the Grand Trunk Railway, from which position he retired in October, 1871, to enter mercantile business in Kamouraska, Quebec province; but in January, 1880, he again entered the railway service as assistant superintendent of the Intercolonial Railway. In October, 1881, he was promoted to be the district superintendent of the same road, which position he now holds. In January, 1885, he formed a company for the construction of a line from River du Loup, Quebec, to Edmundston, in New Brunswick, under the name of the Temiscouata Railway Company, of which he was elected president, and which office he has held since. This line is now in an advanced state of construction, and will be completed in the fall of 1887. In politics, Mr. McDonald is a Liberal-Conservative, and in religion, a member of the Roman Catholic church. He has been twice married. First on September 14th, 1866, to A. Blondeau, of St. Paschal, who died 10th of February, 1873; and secondly, on May 16th, 1881, to Marie Langevin, of Quebec, sister of Sir Hector L. Langevin, minister of Public Works of Canada, and of his Lordship the bishop of Rimouski.
Clark, Rev. W. B., Quebec.—This worthy divine was born at Biggar, Lanarkshire, Scotland, on January 27th, 1805. His father was William Clark, a respectable country merchant, who died when his son was only two years old. Thus in the providence of God the charge of a family of six devolved on his widow, Janet Brown, who did her best to bring them up in the fear of the Lord, to provide for their wants, and give them a good education. William was educated chiefly at the parish school of Biggar, where he obtained a knowledge of the elements of Greek, with a pretty accurate and extensive knowledge of Latin. But when he was ready to go to college, in consequence of family reverses he could not be sent. He remained some time at home therefore, and got a still more extensive acquaintance with the Latin classics. But he was anxious to do something for his own support, and betook himself to teaching. By the assistance of James Hogg, the “Ettrick Shepherd,” he was enabled to open a small school in the parish of Yarrow. Mr. Hogg kindly provided a school-room, with an apartment and free board for the teacher in the farm house of Mont Benger. This farm was rented by the poet, and was situated about a mile from the cottage of Altrive Luke, where he resided, and the house was occupied only by a servant, who looked after the cattle, etc. At that time Mr. Hogg had no children of his own old enough to be instructed, but he interested himself in this school partly for the accommodation of the neighbors, and partly, perhaps, from kindness to the young teacher, who had been introduced to him the year before by Henry Scott Riddell, who afterwards married his sister—the Eliza of one of his popular songs. During his leisure hours, Mr. Clark wrote a tale, which he showed to the shepherd, who made a large addition to it, and published it in Constable’s Magazine, and generously gave the money paid for it to the young teacher. At the close of April, when some of the young people had to resume field work, the school at Mont Benger had to be broken up; but Mr. Clark found employment at Manor, in Peeblesshire, where two farmers, for their own children’s sake, organised a school, in the house of one of whom—Mr. Murray, of Cademuir—the teacher was kindly and freely boarded. In the beginning of November, 1822, Mr. Clark entered the University of Edinburgh, having saved money enough to pay all personal and college expenses during the session. On going to Edinburgh, Mr. Hogg furnished him with a letter of introduction to Professor Pillans, who treated him very kindly and presented him with a free ticket to his class. In this class he gained two prizes, one on the direct and indirect forms of speech, and another for superiority in private studies. At the close of the session he returned to his old employment at Manor, where he remained till the following November, when he went home to Biggar, where he taught a short time, and then accepted a school at Roberton, in Lanarkshire. About this time his mother died, and shortly afterwards, his own health failing, he returned to Biggar, and spent the summer and fall in teaching a son of Mr. Gillespie, Biggar Park. At the opening of the college session of 1824, he had not saved money enough to support himself and pay the necessary college expenses; but an old lady, a friend of the family, lent what was necessary to make up the deficiency. During this session, he seems to have devoted his energies chiefly to Latin, and gained a prize for an essay on the eighth satire of Juvenal. At the close of this session he received an appointment as tutor in a large boarding school at Eddleston, in Peeblesshire, where he remained for eighteen months. It was here that a favorable change took place in his spiritual condition. He had for a long time had doubts and difficulties on the subject of religion; but at this time, after a careful study of “Chalmers’ Evidences of Christianity,” his doubts were removed, his difficulties solved, and he became a believer in revealed truth, so far as the exercise of the intellectual faculties could make him so. From this time he had a deep conviction that the reading of the heathen classics had deeply injured his moral and spiritual condition. The contempt which an intelligent mind cannot but feel for the heathen mythology, seems to have confirmed his doubts in regard to religion altogether. And it is indeed surprising that Christian people should encourage the study of the heathen classics to the neglect of the ancient Christian classics. In this way we believe that unspeakable mischief is done. And there is no excuse for it; for some of the ancient Christian classics wrote sufficiently pure Greek and Latin. We have often been surprised that the dialogue entitled Octavius, of Minutius Felix, and the letters of Cyprian, bishop of Carthage, should not have been generally introduced into our schools and colleges. Their latinity is beautiful, and their religious and moral teaching such as cannot fail to exercise a beneficial influence on all who read them with attention. The same thing may be said in regard to the writings of Justin Martyr, whose Greek, if not so pure as that of Xenophon or Plato, is sufficiently good for all practical purposes. His first Apology, addressed to the emperor Antoninus Pius, is especially valuable, and ought to be read by all students of divinity. On leaving Eddleston, at the end of October, 1826, he had saved money enough to pay the little debt which he had contracted the year before, and to meet all his expenses during the ensuing session at college. But before returning to Edinburgh, a friend had procured for him abundance of private teaching, so that he had now money enough and to spare. From this time he had private teaching enough, so that he no more required to lose a session at college. But what was of more importance, his faith in the glorious truths of the gospel was now confirmed, and he was growing slowly in grace and Christian experience. In 1828, Mr. Clark entered the Divinity Hall the same year in which Dr. Chalmers came to the University of Edinburgh as professor of divinity. It is needless to say that he profited greatly by the teaching of that devout and extraordinary man, who not only communicated instruction in the most effective and memorable manner, but infused somewhat of the fire of his own soul into the minds of his students. Mr. Clark not only made great progress in the systematic knowledge of divine truth, but imbibed something of the spirit of his master. One of the exercises prescribed to Mr. Clark was an exegesis on the subject, “An Christus sit colendus summo cultu deo patri debito?” that is, “Ought Christ to be worshipped with the supreme worship due to God the Father?” This led him to an investigation, on biblical principles, of the grand fundamental truths of the gospel, which resulted in a firm conviction in his mind of the truth of the grand evangelical principles embodied in the Westminster Confession of Faith. The preparation of this discourse produced a most salutary effect on his mental character; but it did more, it deepened his religious convictions, and called forth in his soul more lively emotions of gratitude and love to the God of salvation. Soon after this, Dr. Chalmers recommended Mr. Clark for one of the government bursaries, and it was conferred upon him. The bursary was one of ten pounds a year; but it had been vacant for a year, so that he got twenty pounds sterling the first year and ten pounds a year for the two succeeding years. With his revenue from private teaching, this placed him in very comfortable circumstances. And as he succeeded about this time to a small property left him by his father, he had now more than sufficient for all his wants. In the summer of 1832, Mr. Clark was licensed to preach the gospel by the presbytery of Biggar, but as there was at that time a superabundance of preachers in connection with the Established Church, no opening appeared for him in that line, so he continued his labors as a private teacher. His work now consisted almost exclusively in assisting in their studies young gentlemen attending the Edinburgh Academy. About this time a society was formed by the preachers of the Establishment in Edinburgh for voluntary missionary labors among the poor in the most destitute parts of the city. Mr. Clark was chosen by the venerable Dr. Inglis to labor in his parish of Old Greyfriars, and the scene of his operations was the Cowgate, with the closes extending from it to the Lawn market and High street. Dr. Inglis soon after this died, and was succeeded by the Rev. John Sym, a young man of fine talents, very popular as a preacher, and of genuine Christian character. Mr. Clark was soon after his appointment introduced to Mr. Sym, when he engaged him at a respectable salary as his assistant, to labor among the poor of the parish. As Old Greyfriars was a collegiate charge, his services were not required in the parish church; but he preached regularly in an old church in the Cowgate, whose spire is still visible from the South Bridge. At that time it had passed out of the hands of the church, and was the property of the Society of Hammermen, who kindly gave the use of it for missionary meetings. It was in this church that the first General Assembly of the Church of Scotland was held, and it has now happily passed into the possession of the Free Church. The scenes of poverty and wretchedness and vice which Mr. Clark had to encounter in his visits among this people were often heartrending. On one occasion, when urging a poor woman to attend the church, he was met by the reply, “Oh, sir, our thoughts are mainly taken up about how we are to get the next meal of meat.” It was not uncommon to find houses in which there was no bed, and only some litters of straw, or even shavings, as a substitute. This was afterwards the scene of Dr. Guthrie’s labors when he became colleague to Mr. Sym, in the parish of Old Greyfriars, and no doubt furnished the materials for his book on the sins and sorrows and sufferings of the great cities of the old world. When Mr. Clark’s health was beginning to fail, he was relieved from the severe and often painful work which he had to perform in the Cowgate and its closes. In 1835 he was recommended by Dr. Chalmers to Lady Maxwell, of Springkell, who had requested him to send a young man to take charge of the parish of Half-Morton. This parish was then in a peculiar condition. It was still a distinct parish quo ad civilia, but was united, quo ad sacra to the parish of Langholm, of which the minister was a Pluralist, having to preach three Sabbaths in the month at Langholm and one at Half-Morton. A suit was afterwards instituted in the Court of Tiends for the separation of the two parishes, which was successful; and in 1839 Mr. Clark was presented by the Crown to the resuscitated parish of Half-Morton. Meanwhile he had been married to a distant relation of his own, Jane Brown, a daughter of James Brown, of Edmonston, but as there was no suitable residence for them in the parish, they had to reside at Longtown, a village of Cumberland, on the English side of the border, till a manse was built at Half-Morton. Here they spent four years in comfort and happiness, till the disruption took place, when they had to leave their pleasant home. They found a temporary residence at Annan, a town ten miles from the church of Half-Morton. This distance from the scene of his labors occasioned great additional labor and hardship to Mr. Clark, more especially as he had often to preach in the adjoining parishes of Canonbie and Langholm, where a strong feeling in behalf of Free Church principles had been excited. During the summer of 1843, the preaching in country places had to be done chiefly in the open air; but at Canonbie a marqué, capable of sheltering several hundred people, was erected in a pasture field near the road-side. Mr. Clark had officiated only two Sabbaths in this place when he was interdicted by the Duke of Buccleugh, who was the sole proprietor of the parish. The duke’s interdict was obeyed, but preaching was immediately begun on the road-side, where increasing numbers attended. A preacher was immediately procured for Canonbie, and when Mr. Clark appeared after a few Sabbaths’ absence, he chose for his text, Philippians i., 12: “I would ye should understand, brethren, that the things which happened unto me have fallen out rather unto the furtherance of the gospel.” The opposition of the duke only intensified the determination of the people. It is only justice, however, to his grace to add, that some time afterwards he granted a site for a church and manse with a piece of land on easy terms. Towards the close of 1843, Mr. Clark was called to Maxwelltown, a suburb of Dumfries, but the presbytery refused to release him from Half-Morton. In the spring of 1844, however, difficulties having arisen in the congregation of Maxwelltown, the call to him was renewed. This time the presbytery withdrew their opposition to his removal, and he was transferred to Maxwelltown in the spring of 1844. With a good manse and large and beautiful garden which he had planted with the choicest fruit trees, and in the midst of a satisfied and increasing congregation, here Mr. Clark lived with his family in great happiness and comfort till the spring of 1853, when, under the impression that he was called of God, he removed to Canada. This was a great trial to him, more especially as his wife, who was in delicate health, was unwilling to go. She was too good a woman, however, to resist what her husband believed to be a call from God, and, trusting in the Lord, consented to go. In February, 1853, Mr. Clark sailed for New York alone, thinking it better to leave his family to come out the following summer. On reaching New York, he proceeded immediately to Quebec, which he reached on the 1st of March, and immediately entered upon his labors there. He was treated with great kindness by the late James Gibb, of Woodfield, who very handsomely kept him in his house till the arrival of his family in September. Mrs. Clark was very feeble when she arrived at Quebec; the sea voyage appeared to have weakened her, and she did not improve much by the change of air and rest which she now enjoyed. And when the cold weather set in, she began gradually to sink. But she had perfect faith in Jesus, no complaint escaped her lips, and in February, 1854, she died in the full assurance of a blessed resurrection. Instead of enlarging on her beautiful character now, it will answer the purpose better to insert a poem which Mr. Clark wrote on the occasion of her death: —
With a sorrowful heart,
She prepared to depart
From dear old Scotland’s shore;
For well she knew,
That its mountains blue,