Where the weary part no more.
Mr. Clark remained unmarried for sixteen years, when he was united in marriage to Amelia Torrance, widow of Thomas Gibb, of Quebec. She has been to him a wise counsellor, a true and affectionate wife, and while she was able, a help meet for him in his great work. After some time, however, she was seized with rheumatism, which at first gave little inconvenience; but it gradually increased in severity, till at last, in the winter of 1872, it completely prostrated her. Towards the summer of 1873 she recovered a little, and it was thought advisable to try the effect of a sea voyage upon her. Mr. Clark, also feeling his strength giving way, after having labored in Quebec for upwards of twenty years, thought himself justified in resigning that important and laborious charge. Accordingly they sailed for the old country in the autumn of 1873; and Mrs. Clark felt more benefit from the sea voyage than from all the medical treatment which she had received. After visiting Mr. Clark’s sister, the widow of Henry Scott Riddell, at Tiviot Head, they spent the winter partly at a hydropathic establishment, near Melrose; partly in Edinburgh, and partly in Dumfries. They then started for the south, spending a short time in London, a week in Paris, and then started for Aix-les-Bains, in Savoy, famous for its hot sulphur springs. After spending some time there they returned to Scotland, through Switzerland and France, arriving in Edinburgh near the end of May, a little before the closing of the Free Church General Assembly. They spent the remainder of the summer very pleasantly among their friends in the rural parts of the counties of Roxburgh, Peebles, and Dumfries, and in the neighborhood of Glasgow, from which port they sailed, and reached Quebec in safety in September, 1874. Mr. Clark was now too old to think of looking after another ministerial charge, but preached occasionally at Quebec and elsewhere as circumstances required till 1880, when he was called to be professor of Church History in Morin College, Quebec, which situation he still holds. While in Half-Morton he prepared a book for family worship, which was published by T. Nelson & Sons, Edinburgh, and obtained a large circulation. While in Maxwelltown, after the death of his only son, he wrote a little volume entitled, “Asleep in Jesus,” which was also published by the Nelsons, and extensively circulated. This little book was afterwards published in Philadelphia without the author’s knowledge. Mr. Clark produced another little work, entitled “The Promise of the Spirit,” which was published by Robert Kennedy, at Prescott. This book did not attract much attention, and was never republished.
Thompson, Hon. John Sparrow David, Q.C., Minister of Justice and Attorney-General of the Dominion of Canada, Ottawa, was born at Halifax, on the 10th of November, 1844. He is a son of John Sparrow Thompson, a native of Waterford, Ireland, who, after coming to this country, was for a time Queen’s printer, and afterwards superintendent of the money order system of Nova Scotia. Hon. Mr. Thompson chose law as a profession, and was called to the bar of Nova Scotia, in July, 1865, and appointed a Queen’s counsel in May, 1879. He was for six years alderman of the city of Halifax, and for five years a member of the Board of School Commissioners, being for some time chairman of the board. He was also a member of the Senate of the University of Halifax. He was for the last two years of his residence in Halifax honorary lecturer in the Halifax Law School, on evidence and the construction of statutes. He entered the political arena in 1877, and was elected for Antigonish county a member of the Nova Scotia legislature, by a majority of 517. He was returned by the same constituency at the general election of 1878, and was appointed attorney-general in 1878, and was again elected by acclamation. In 1882, on the retirement of the Hon. Mr. Holmes, he was chosen premier and attorney-general; and at the election that followed that year, he was returned by a majority of over five hundred. In July, 1882, he resigned office, and was appointed one of the judges of the Supreme Court of Nova Scotia. This office he held until the 25th of September, 1885, when he resigned, and was chosen by Sir John A. Macdonald to fill the important offices of minister of justice and attorney-general for the Dominion of Canada. He sat in the House of Assembly of Nova Scotia from December, 1877, until his elevation to the bench in 1882; and was first elected to the House of Commons, at Ottawa, in October, 1885, and re-elected at the general election of 1887, for Antigonish. Hon. Mr. Thompson in politics is a Liberal-Conservative, and in religion is a member of the Roman Catholic church. In 1870, he was married to Annie E. Affleck, daughter of Captain Affleck, of Halifax, and has a family of five children.
MacLean, Alexander, Parliamentary Printer, Ottawa, was born on the 9th December, 1834, in the township of Dumfries, county of Brant, Ontario. His parents were John MacLean and Isabella McRae, both natives of Inverness, Scotland, from which country they emigrated, and settled in Canada. Alexander received his education in the public and grammar schools, and remained at home, his father being a farmer, taking a share of the farm work, until he was twenty years of age. He subsequently taught school for a while, and also served for some years as a mercantile clerk. He abandoned these pursuits for the newspaper press, to which he had become a casual contributor, and became the publisher, in 1865, of the Cornwall Freeholder, then the home organ of the late Hon. Sandfield Macdonald, and continued its publisher until shortly after that gentleman’s death, in 1872. He then joined the staff of the Toronto Globe, as its Ottawa correspondent, and this position he held for several years, until he became (with Mr. Roger) one of the contractors for the printing of the Senate and House of Commons, and of the government at Ottawa, and such he has been for the last fourteen years. Mr. MacLean is a justice of the peace for the united counties of Stormont, Dundas, and Glengarry; a director of the Metropolitan Street Railway Company; of the Canadian Granite Company, both of Ottawa; and of the Cornwall Gas Company. He is also interested in several other public enterprises. He early joined the Masonic order, and is now a past worshipful master. He is a Liberal in politics, and in religion, belongs to the Presbyterian denomination. On November 20th, 1863, he was married to Sarah, daughter of John Smith, St. George, county of Brant.
Perrigo, James, M.A., M.D., M.R.C.S., (Eng.), Montreal, was born in the city of Montreal in 1846. His parents were John Perrigo and Eleanor Reeves. The doctor’s family have always been Conservative in politics, and we find that in the war of 1812 his grandfather served against the Americans; and it was in consequence of his patriotic services on this occasion that he escaped being expelled from the country during the troublesome times of 1837, he having commanded the rebels in the skirmish that took place near Beauharnois in that year. He received his education at McGill University, and afterwards went to England, where he further prosecuted his medical studies, and while there he was elected honorary secretary of the Obstetrical Society of London. Returning to Montreal in 1872, he began the practice of his profession, and now occupies a front rank as a medical practitioner in that city. He is a professor of surgery in Bishop’s College Medical School. In religion Dr. Perrigo is an adherent of the Episcopal form of worship; and in politics is a Liberal-Conservative. In 1885 he was married to Marion G., daughter of the late H. Chandler, who, during his lifetime, was a merchant in Montreal.
Medley, Rev. Charles Steinkopff, B.A., Rector of Sussex, New Brunswick, is of English birth, having been born in Truro, Cornwall, on the 16th September, 1835. He is a son of the Right Rev. John Medley, D.D., bishop of Fredericton, and Christiana Bacon, a granddaughter of the great English sculptor of that name. The Rev. Mr. Medley received his early education in the classics and mathematics at Marlborough College, Wiltshire, England, and came out to New Brunswick in 1855, his father having preceded him. Shortly after his arrival he entered King’s College, Fredericton, where he took the arts course. He studied theology under his father. In June, 1859, he was ordained deacon by his father, and the following year priest. He was first sent to the mission of Douglas, York county, New Brunswick, where he labored fifteen months, serving meanwhile as a school trustee, and doing good religious and literary work. At the end of this period Rev. Mr. Medley returned to Fredericton to assist his father in the Cathedral. After a short residence in Fredericton he removed to St. John’s, Newfoundland, where he was incumbent of St. Mary’s Church for three years, and then returned to New Brunswick in 1867, to become rector of Sussex. Since his settlement here he has done good work for the Master. A neat and tasty church edifice has been erected, with black ash and pine sheathing, one of the finest houses of worship of its kind in the province. The old church whose place it took was one of the earliest built in this part of New Brunswick, Sussex having been settled by U. E. loyalists. It is situated about half a mile from the village, and, like the residence of the rector a few rods from it, has beautiful rural surroundings, and is a most inviting place for man to worship God. Rev. Mr. Medley was appointed canon to the cathedral at Fredericton in 1869; and rural dean in July, 1880. He is an excellent scholar, a polished writer, a sound theologian, and has a pleasant delivery in the pulpit. Canon Medley was married on the 21st April, 1864, to Charlotte, daughter of Robert Bird, of Birdtown, York county, New Brunswick.