Grant, Gordon, is the son of Peter Grant, a distinguished Civil Engineer who was employed on the construction of the Caledonia and Great North of Scotland Railways, who came to Canada in 1868, and who was from that date to its completion in 1876, employed on the construction of the Intercolonial Railway and subsequently on the Canadian Pacific Railway until its completion in 1885, and Helen (Gordon) Grant. Mr. Grant was born in Dufftown, Banffshire, Scotland, January 2nd, 1865, and came to Canada in 1872. He was educated in the Ottawa Business College and the Ottawa University. In 1882 Mr. Grant was invited to join the staff of his uncle, the late William B. Grant, C.E., who was then Chief Engineer of the Great Southern Railway in the Argentina Republic, and remained a member of his staff for six years, during which time he was employed on the construction of several hundred miles of railway. In 1887 there was a severe depression in the public works in that republic and railway construction came to a stop. Returning to Canada Mr. Grant was employed on the construction of the Sydney extension of the Intercolonial Railway until 1890. In July of that year he joined the staff of the late P. A. Peterson, then Chief Engineer of the Canadian Pacific Railway, and remained with him until July, 1893, when he accepted a position as Division Engineer of Construction on the Palm Beach extension of the Florida East Railway, and remained there until its completion in 1895, when he joined the Construction Department of the Canadian Pacific Railway, and was employed on the construction of the Crow’s Nest Pass and other Western branch lines until 1905, when he joined the staff of Mr. Hugh D. Lumsden, recently appointed Chief Engineer of the National Transcontinental Railway Commission. He was appointed Assistant District Engineer in May, 1906, Inspecting Engineer over the whole line in May, 1907, and on the resignation of Mr. Lumsden in July, 1909, was appointed by the Government to the position of Chief Engineer and remained in that position until the completion of the Railway, when he was, in January, 1917, appointed consulting Engineer to the Department of Railways and Canals, and also had charge of the work of completing the Quebec & Saguenay Railway from Quebec to Murray Bay, a very difficult piece of railway construction. In December, 1906, Mr. Grant married Katherine McCarthy, daughter of William McCarthy, Civil Engineer, and has two sons and two daughters. Mr. Grant is a member of the Canadian Society of Civil Engineers, a member of the American Railway Engineers’ Association; and a member of the Rideau, Royal Ottawa Golf and Rivermead Golf Clubs. In religion Mr. Grant is a Catholic. His residence is 58 Sweetland Ave., Ottawa, Ont.
Rawlings, Henry Edward, of 115 Crescent Street, Montreal, is a prominent Fidelity and Surety Underwriter in Canada and in the U.S.A., and is the President and Managing Director of the Guarantee Company of North America, the “pioneer company” in its particular field on this continent. He was born in Montreal on September 25, 1875, the son of Edward and Lucretia (Carter) Rawlings, and was educated at Lennoxville Academy and in other institutions. His late father, Edward Rawlings, was the founder of the Guarantee Company of North America in 1872, and the son was brought up with a most complete knowledge of its business. He went to the United States in 1897, and entered various branch offices of the G.C.N.A. and its affiliated institution, the United States Guarantee Company of New York. About 1905 he was appointed Vice-President of the American Company and in 1909 returned to Montreal to assume executive control of the parent institution, the Guarantee Company of North America. At this time he took the title of Assistant-Manager and on the demise of his father succeeded him in the positions, President and Managing Director. He was also appointed to succeed the elder Rawlings as a Director on the Board of the Montreal Telegraph Company. Mr. Rawlings’ business duties, which are international in scope have engrossed much of his time but he has published one important guide to business corporations entitled “How to Prevent Defalcations.” When the war broke out he entered the Home Guard as a full private and qualified himself by military drill. His recreations are described as “motoring, golf, and a little of everything else.” In religion he is an Anglican and in politics a Conservative, and is a member of the following Clubs: Mount Royal, St. James, Montreal, Montreal Hunt, Forest and Stream, Royal Montreal Golf, Beaconsfield Golf, Indoor Tennis Club, Winter Club, Automobile Club of Canada, St. Paul’s Lodge, A.F. & A.M. and the Society for the Prevention of Cruelty to Animals. Mr. Rawlings was married in 1907 to a daughter of Hon. James Bunting Snowball, Senator and former Lieut.-Governor of New Brunswick, and one of the pioneer lumber merchants of that Province. The union has been blessed with two children, Margaret Snowball, and Henry Miller Fitzwilliam Rawlings.
Hara, Frederick North (St. Catharines, Ont.), was born in that city on April 28, 1856. Son of John and Charlotte A. (Phelps) Hara. Educated at the Public Schools of St. Catharines and began his business career in 1874 as an office boy with S. Atkinson & Sons, Toronto. With said firm he subsequently became book-keeper and in 1878 returned to St. Catharines to accept a similar position with H. Patterson & Co. In 1884 he was promoted to the position of office and business manager and in 1893, when the firm name was changed to E. H. Phelps & Co., he purchased a partnership interest in the business and continued to act as business manager. In 1901, when the enterprise was re-organized and incorporated as the Canada Wheel Works, Ltd., he became its President and General Manager. In 1914 another change was effected when an amalgamation was arranged with the Windsor Turned Goods Co., Ltd., and the new corporation became known as the Canada Pole and Shaft Co., Ltd., of which Mr. Hara was appointed and still is President. His other business and industrial interests are extensive. He is President of the St. Catharines Steel and Metal Company, Ltd.; Vice-President of the Marathon Tire & Rubber Co., Ltd.; President of the United Gas Co., Ltd.; a Director of Industrials, Ltd., St. Catharines; a Director of the Port Arthur Wagon and Implements Co., Ltd.; and is also interested as a shareholder in many other companies. During the recent war his business energy was sought in connection with Red Cross and Patriotic Funds and he became an ardent worker and supporter of them, and was a member of the local executive in connection therewith. Though on many occasions his fellow citizens have desired that he take public office, his only experience of the kind was thirty years ago when he served two years as a school trustee at Merritton. His recreations are motoring and golf, and he is a Past President of the St. Catharines Club; Vice-President (1918) of the St. Catharines Golf Club and a member of the Laurentian Club, Ottawa. He is also a member of the A.F. & A.M., and is a Liberal in politics. On June 5, 1905, he married Emma Catherine, daughter of Mr. John Baillie.
Hough, John Atwell (Matheson, Ont.), Police Magistrate, was born in Ireland in 1882, and received his early education in England and Scotland, but migrated to Canada at an early age. He was appointed Mining Recorder, Larder Lake Mining Division, with headquarters at Larder Lake, Ont., in March, 1907; four years later, however, the boundaries of the Division were enlarged and the head office moved to Matheson, where he now resides. As Police Magistrate for the Town of Matheson and part of the District of Temiskaming, Mr. Hough was placed in charge of all relief work from Ramore to Porquis Junction, after the great fire which devastated Northern Ontario on July 29, 1916, and many stricken families have reason to be thankful for the energy and public spirit with which he discharged this difficult task. John Hough is a Conservative in politics and a member of the Masonic Order. By his wife, Myrtle, daughter of M. Donaghue of Windsor, Ont., he has two children.
Fifield, Albert Frank (St. Catharines, Ont.), was born at Lowell, Mass., on Feb. 8, 1876. Son of Frank and Abie Mary (Cummings) Fifield, of Ashland, N.H. Educated at the Public Schools of New Hampshire and commenced his business career operating a machine shop in Ashland, in 1896. This he continued until 1905, when he accepted a position as Construction Superintendent of the Jenckes Machine Company, Quebec, and has ever since been a resident of Canada. In 1907 he set up business at St. Catharines and engaged in buying and selling machinery until 1910. He established the Reo Sales Company for the sales of Reo motor cars in Canada, and, during this period, organized and fully carried out a coast to coast motor trip in a Reo car. This was the first trip of the kind made in Canada and Mr. Fifield furnished the car and men. In 1914 he organized and became the first General Manager of the Metal Drawing Company, Ltd., of St. Catharines. In pursuance of his policy of building up new industries in the city of his adoption, Mr. Fifield, when the demand came for shells from the British War Office, sold out his other interests and engaged in the manufacturing of munitions on a large scale with great success. In fact, he was one of the most prominent figures in this industry during the Great War. He also organized the American Patriotic Fund among former residents of the United States living in St. Catharines, part of whose revenues were subsequently diverted to the associated charities of the city, of which he was for a time chairman and is now a member of the executive. He also served as a member of the Executive Committee of the Local Branch of the Canadian Patriotic Fund. He is Independent in politics, a Protestant in religion and a member of the A.F. & A.M. His recreations are motoring, angling and hunting and he belongs to the following clubs: St. Catharines, Niagara (Niagara Falls, N.Y.), Buffalo Motor, St. Catharines Golf, and St. Catharines Canoe. On May 25, 1904, he married Velma Faunee, daughter of A. N. Linscott, Damarscotta Mills, Maine, and has two daughters.