Bâby, Wolstan Alexander Dixie, Collector of Inland Revenue for the Division of Hamilton (Ontario), is one of the most widely known and respected of Federal Government officials. Moreover, he comes of one of the oldest of all Canadian families and his ancestry dates back almost to the beginnings of white settlement on the continent of North America. He is the son of the late William Duperon Bâby, attorney-at-law and sheriff of the County of Essex, Ont., and Christina Jane Wilson, daughter of Captain John Wilson, of H.M. Canadian Militia, Amherstburg, Ont., and was born at Sandwich, Ont., on April 13, 1858. As a matter of record it is important to say something of the ancestry and family history of Mr. Bâby. His forefathers came from France in the earlier years of French settlement, and settled at Fort Detroit in what is now the State of Michigan, but then part of the French domain of Canada. Later they moved across the Detroit River, and took up land in what is now the town of Sandwich, Ont. The founders of the family on this continent were Jacques Bâby de Rainville and his wife, Isabeau Robin, of Monteton, in the Bishopric of Agen, France. Jacques was an officer in the famous Carignan Regiment and with it came to America in the seventeenth century. Subsequently, in 1670, he was married a second time to Jehanne Dandonneau de Sables, of which union were born nine children. The eldest grandson of this couple was Hon. Jacques Duperon Bâby, who was born in 1731, and lived until 1796. While he was still a young man, the British conquest of Canada occurred, and Detroit falling into British hands in 1760, Jacques Duperon Bâby and his wife, Suzanne de la Croix Rheaume (who lived until 1812), became British subjects. In all they had twenty-two children. The name of Hon. Jacques Duperon Bâby is intimately interwoven with the history of the Essex peninsula. He played a prominent part in the defence of the Detroit district during the conspiracy of the Indian chieftain, Pontiac, in 1760. He was a man of great worth and integrity, who enjoyed the confidence alike of the French, English, and Indian population, and consequently was able to be of great assistance to the British government in the establishment of the new regime. Hon. Jacques Duperon Bâby was the eldest of his many children. He was born in 1762 and died in 1833, and held positions of honour and influence in the young colony of Upper Canada. Jean Baptiste Bâby, grandfather of the subject of this sketch, was a younger brother, and served as Treasurer of the newly-organized County of Essex. Two other brothers entered the British army, one, Daniel, rising to the rank of Major-General; while four of his sisters married British officers, one of whom was Lord Bellingham. The eldest son of Jean Baptiste Bâby was William Duperon Bâby, afterward sheriff of Essex, born at Sandwich in 1819; and the subject of this sketch was William’s sixth child. Since most of the various generations had large families, the Bâby family connection in Western Ontario, and indeed throughout America is literally enormous, and all have preserved the high tradition of “noblesse oblige.” Mr. Dixie Bâby was educated at the Separate Schools and at Assumption College, Sandwich, Ont., and at the Christian Brothers’ School, Toronto, in 1876. At the age of eighteen he was appointed to the Inland Revenue service, and detailed to Rae’s distillery as assistant officer to the late Pierre Ramon. He qualified himself so well as a vigilant watcher of the government interests in connection with the important revenue derived from excise that he has since served in many parts of Canada, including Paris, Woodstock, St. Catharines, Belleville, Brantford, Portage la Prairie, and Berthierville, Que. He was first stationed at Hamilton in 1886 as second officer to the late William Donaghy, and in 1890 transferred to Berthierville. In 1892 he went back to the Hamilton distillery, and was appointed officer in charge in October, 1898. On November 21, 1914, he was appointed Collector of Inland Revenue in charge of the entire Hamilton division. His duties have always been of a character which required expert knowledge as well as rigid probity, and during his forty-three years’ service he has won the unfailing confidence of the Department, no matter which party was in power. In December, 1880, he married Mary McDougall, of Belleville, Ont., who was born April 7, 1861. He has had seven children: Christina Caroline, deceased; Julia Fortier and Mary Louisa (twins, also deceased); Frances Jeanette, wife of Henri Bâby, notary public, Lachine, Que.; John Dixie; George Raymond; and Madeline Cecilia. Capt. George Raymond Bâby, M.D., C.M., who was born at Berthierville on April 1, 1892, went to France with the McGill University 1915 unit, Canadian Army Medical Corps, and was awarded the Military Cross for bravery and devotion to duty during the great British advance which began August 8, 1918, and only ended when the armistice was signed. The other son, John Dixie Bâby, is a civil engineer by profession, who assisted in building the Canton Hankow Railway, China.
Bell, Hon. George Alexander, Chairman of the Local Government Board for the Province of Saskatchewan, is one of the pubic administrators of the Canadian West, and in an unusual degree the architect of his own fortunes. He was born on a farm in Brant County, Ontario, on August 3, 1856, the son of David and Agnes (Melrose) Bell. He was educated in the public schools of Huron County, and continued on the farm until he was twenty years old, after which he learned the trade of blacksmith, which he followed for the next twelve years, four in Ontario and eight in Manitoba. He moved to the latter province in 1880 on the opening up of that province by the Canadian Pacific Railway. In 1888 he engaged in the agricultural implement business as agent for the Massey-Harris Company, and continued therein for the next thirteen years. In 1903, because of his exceptional knowledge of the country he was appointed by the Dominion Government Homestead Inspector for the Land District of Estevan, Saskatchewan, a position he resigned in 1908 to become a candidate for the Saskatchewan Legislature, and was elected as a supporter of the Liberal administration of Hon. Walter Scott. He was re-elected for Estevan in 1912, and called to the Cabinet and sworn in as Provincial Treasurer on August 19 of that year. The Government had established a system of Government-owned telephones, and this portfolio was shortly combined with his duties as Treasurer. In his second capacity of Minister of Telephones he was sworn in February, 1913, and continued to administer both offices until May, 1918, when he resigned from the Cabinet and Legislature to accept the post of Chairman of the Local Government Board, an important office, for which his administrative capacity and thorough knowledge of Western conditions eminently fit him. Mr. Bell is a Liberal in politics, and a Presbyterian in religion. He is a member of the Wascana Country Club, Regina (his favorite recreation being golf), and of the following societies: A.F. & A.M., I.O.O.F., and C.O.F. On December 6, 1883, he married Elizabeth, daughter of Johnston and Rachel (Cosgrove) Smith, of Elmwood, Bruce County, Ont., and has seven children, George Melrose, Ella Mabel, Gordon, Ethel, Grace Agnes, Lorne David, and Harold Alexander Bell. Mr. and Mrs. Bell reside at Regina, Sask.
Martin, Hon. William Melville, K.C., Prime Minister of Saskatchewan, is a native of the village of Norwich, Oxford County, Ont. He was born on August 23, 1877, the son of Rev. William M. and Christina (Jamieson) Martin, both his parents being natives of Scotland. While he was very young his parents removed to Exeter in Huron County, where his father served as Minister of the Presbyterian Church for twenty-six years. The subject of this sketch was educated at Exeter Public School, Clinton Collegiate Institute, and the University of Toronto, from which institution he graduated with the degree of B.A. and honors in classics. He also attended the Ontario School of Pedagogy to qualify as a High School teacher, and subsequently acted as Classical Master at Harriston High School for two years, 1899-1901. This however he regarded but as a stepping-stone to the practice of law for which he qualified at Osgoode Hall, Toronto. On being called to the bar he went to Regina, Saskatchewan, and commenced practice in July, 1903. He developed great talent not only as a lawyer but as a public speaker, and soon became prominent in the Liberal party. In 1906 he was offered the Liberal nomination for the House of Commons, for the old riding of Western Assiniboia, in succession to Hon. Walter Scott (who had resigned his Ottawa seat to become the first Prime Minister of the newly organized province of Saskatchewan), but declined. At the general elections of 1908, however, he yielded to the requests of his friends and accepted nomination, being elected by a majority of 708. At the general elections of 1911, despite the fact that the Liberal party as a whole met defeat, he was elected by the increased majority of 1,730. In all he sat in the House of Commons at Ottawa for eight years and although one of its youngest members was regarded as one of the most brilliant. In 1916 Hon. Walter Scott was obliged to resign the Premiership of Saskatchewan owing to ill health and Mr. Martin’s party friends in the West urged that he resign from Federal politics and accept the Premiership. He assented and at a by-election on November 13, 1916, was returned for Mr. Scott’s seat, Regina City, by acclamation. He reorganized the cabinet and framed a programme of progressive legislation which proved so acceptable to the electorate that at the general election of 1917 his administration was sustained by a very handsome majority. In addition to the offices of Prime Minister and President of the Council he administers the portfolios of Minister of Education and Minister of Railways. His educational reforms, covering as they do many problems of extreme moment, have been very important, and have attracted wide attention throughout Canada, and in the United States as well. Generally speaking Saskatchewan legislation under his regime has won fame for progress and effectiveness. So widespread is his reputation that on the death of Sir Wilfrid Laurier, early in 1919, many, both in the East and West, suggested him as the best available successor to the Federal Liberal leadership. Many of his friends still predict a Federal career for him, although Mr. Martin himself prefers to see his own programme of legislation for Saskatchewan carried out before aspiring to a wider arena. He is a Presbyterian in religion and a member of the Wascana Country Club and the Assiniboia Club. On Sept. 26, 1906, he married Violet Florence, daughter of the late Walter Thomson of Mitchell, Ont., and has two sons, Walter M. and Douglas Martin. His home is at 2042 Cornwall St., Regina, Sask.
Henry, David Edouard, founder of Henry’s Shorthand School, 209 Sparks Street, Ottawa, on January 2, 1913, was born at Clarence Creek, Russell County, Ontario, April 24, 1874, his parents being Jacques Henry, a farmer, and Aurelie Laviolette. He was educated in Ottawa at the Grey Nuns’ Convent and the Christian Brothers’ School. Building it on a sure foundation—according to the laws of economics, well equipped, and capably managed by experts—Mr. Henry made his school an enviable success. At the opening in 1913, the school was located at the corner of Bank and Gloucester Streets, and within three months, having outgrown its original premises it was removed to its present premises on the corner of Sparks and Bank Streets—the Capital’s busy corner—which from time to time have been enlarged as the requirements of increased attendance demanded until to-day they are some five times the original size, and are likely to be enlarged still further at an early date, although his school is to-day the largest in Eastern Ontario. When the school was transferred from the corner of Bank and Gloucester Streets to the corner of Bank and Sparks, Mr. Henry had but 40 day pupils. In 1918, the number had increased to 562, which students are to-day holding good positions in the Dominion Government offices, manufacturing and wholesale establishments, banking houses, etc., all of which bears tribute to the high standard of efficiency of the school. For eleven years before Mr. Henry went into business for himself, he was in charge of the shorthand department of the Willis Business College in Ottawa, when S. T. Willis was proprietor. In his school, his staff consists of experts in shorthand, typewriting, business penmanship, practical English, spelling, punctuation, transcription, correspondence, etc., etc., and those who receive instruction in any one of these receive the best that can be had. At the age of 16 years, Mr. Henry was awarded a Fourth Form Certificate and honours for composition, spelling and penmanship. He acquired a systematic course of self-instruction, studied shorthand (French system) and afterwards English, and made himself proficient in the Isaac Pitman, Ben Pitman, Graham, Munson, Scott-Browne, Beale, Calligraphy (a Canadian production), and the Gregg systems. He studied French, English, German, Greek and Latin, and received special study in penmanship at the Zanerian College, Columbus, Ohio. To acquire a practical business education, he had experience as stenographer and bookkeeper with big business firms such as Perkins & Fraser, barristers; Alexander Mutchmor, auditor, etc. From 1894 to 1896, Mr. Henry made a special study of scientific methods for imparting shorthand and typewriting, and during 1895-6 taught shorthand at the Capital City Business College, at Ottawa, and had charge of the Y.M.C.A. classes for several months. In 1896, he attended the Rochester, New York, Business Institute, to acquire a greater qualification for teaching, and, in 1899, established a shorthand school, which later he closed to join the staff of the Metropolitan Business College at Ottawa. For two years, he attended Rev. Dr. McMeekin’s “Ottawa College of Oratory,” and gave several successful recitals in the Albert Hall. In 1899, Mr. Henry corrected a text book on Pitman’s shorthand for Messrs. Powers and Lyons, of Chicago, Illinois. Mr. Henry is a graduate of the New York College of Phonography; the Phonographic Institute, Cincinnati, Ohio; and is the only personal graduate in Canada of the well known Gregg School of Chicago. He holds the Scott-Browne’s Certificate. In his examination for the Phonographic Institute Teacher’s Certificate, he made the highest record, viz., 97.2 per cent., thereby defeating more than 700 candidates. Mr. Henry is a member of the Gregg Shorthand Association of America, and is the author of two standard works in shorthand. Mr. Henry is a Roman Catholic in religion, a Liberal in politics, and, for recreation, spends his time motoring. He resides at 205 O’Connor Street, Ottawa, Ontario.
Gibbon, Arthur Playford, Principal of the Central Business College, Hamilton, Ont., is one of Canada’s leading commercial educationists. He was born on April 7, 1871, in a log house in the township of Nichol, Wellington County, Ont., the son of William and Susan (Reynolds) Gibbon. His early education was received in the rural school of his section, and later he walked four miles night and morning to attend the High School and Model School at Elora. From January, 1892, to July, 1894, he taught in rural ungraded schools, after which he returned to the farm for five years to care for his father and mother. Deciding to equip himself as a commercial teacher he took a course at Stratford Business College, and after graduation taught in that institution for six months. In 1901, he went to Woodstock, Ont., to take the post of junior commercial teacher, and after one year became senior in these subjects. In 1904, he became Principal, and under his guidance built up the institution into one of the most important of its kind in Western Ontario. In Woodstock he also took an active part in public and business affairs. He acted as auditor for several large commercial houses, and sat in the municipal council as alderman. In the latter capacity his business acumen and sound judgment made him one of the most useful of public servants. His faculty for acquiring knowledge of every detail of civic business made him very valuable in the consideration of measures for the city’s welfare, so that when in August, 1909, he decided to leave Woodstock, expressions of regret were universal. In Woodstock, also, he became very active in the temperance cause, and served as Secretary-Treasurer of the North Oxford Prohibition Association. As Treasurer of the local branch of the Y.M.C.A., he rendered very important service in connection with the erection of new buildings, and he was very prominent in church work as a member of the Methodist body. In 1909, he sold his interest in Woodstock Business College, and bought Clark’s Business College at Hamilton, Ont. When he took charge on January 1, 1910, the attendance at the institution was but 34 day and 28 night students. He changed the name to the Central Business College, and within a few years his powers of organization had built up the attendance to five times the original figure. Mr. Gibbon’s chief hobby is Sunday School work, and he has served as a religious teacher of the young for over thirty years, in the various places where he has lived. His spirit of enterprise and attractive personality make him an ideal influence on youth. He is a member of the Kiwanis Club, Hamilton, and of the following fraternal societies, I.O.O.F., A.F. & A.M., Royal Templars of Temperance, and the Orange Order. On November 6, 1901, he married Margaret H. Lacey, and has two children, Playford Sutherland Gibbon and Ada Margaret Gibbon.