E. C. WHITNEY
Ottawa
Pennington, David Henry, one of the prominent lumber merchants of Quebec City, formerly a member of the Legislative Assembly, and later a member of the Harbor Commission of Quebec, was born in that city on February the 14th, 1868. He is a son of William Pennington of Preston, England, who for many years lived at Montmorency Falls, while engaged in the office of the G. B. Hall Lumber Company. Entering as a junior clerk of that company, the subject of this sketch worked his way up to the post of general manager of the Company’s branch of operations in the Eastern Townships. Eventually buying out the interests of the Company in the Townships, he established himself at Lyster, there possessing two saw-mills, a large dressing lumber mill, and a pulpwood storing station. His business activities were soon felt in the community, making it, as they did, an important business outlet on the Grand Trunk Railway route between Quebec and Richmond, for the adjacent counties of Lotbinière and Megantic. During the twelve years he resided at Lyster he was Mayor of the place for nine of them, besides being Warden of the County of Megantic. In 1908 he was elected to represent that county in the Local Legislature at Quebec, where his intimate knowledge of French as well as English, won an influence for him at once. In 1912 he sold his properties at Lyster, and returned to Quebec, there to continue his successful career as a lumber merchant. During these years there has passed through his hands an annual output of from sixty to seventy thousand cords of pulpwood alone. He was among the first to export pulpwood to the United States, and was one of the promoters of the Wayagamack Pulp and Paper Company of Three Rivers. He has been largely interested for years in the asbestos industry in the Thetford Mining district, and has a large business interest in timber limits on and near the Lower St. Lawrence. As a public-spirited citizen he takes high rank, having in 1916 been appointed by the Federal Government at Ottawa to the highly responsible position of one of the three Harbor Commissioners of his native city. He has given two of his sons to the Service of the Empire, his eldest, Lieut. Ronald N. Pennington and his younger brother Frank, having distinguished themselves with Canada’s “bravest” at the front. Mr. Pennington has been married twice, first to Miss S. E. Neil, the mother of the two lads just mentioned; and, second, Miss Mary S. Stewart, the daughter of the late Duncan Stewart of Inverness. By the latter he has one son and one daughter. Mr. Pennington’s mother was born in St. John’s, Newfoundland. He is a Warden of the Anglican Cathedral and a member of the Board of Trade, being prominent in all the public and patriotic movements of the city.
MacLean, Hon. John Duncan, M.D.C.M., M.L.A. (Victoria, B.C.), is a son of Roderick A. MacLean and his wife, Effie Mathieson MacLean. Was born at Culloden, P.E.I., on November 8, 1875. Educated at Prince of Wales College, Charlottetown. Taught school in British Columbia and Alberta until 1901, when he entered McGill University, from which institution he graduated in 1905, with the degree of M.D.C.M. with Honors in Surgery and Pathology. Successfully practised medicine in Arizona, U.S.A., Rossland and Greenwood, B.C. Was a candidate for the first time in the Liberal interests at the general Provincial Elections for the Province of British Columbia in 1916, when he was elected for the constituency of Greenwood, and was subsequently appointed Minister of Education and Provincial Secretary for British Columbia, being called to the Cabinet on the formation of the new Liberal Government after the election. Before taking up his residence in Victoria, the capital, the Hon. Dr. MacLean resided at Greenwood, B.C., of which municipality he was Mayor, 1914-16. He is a member of the Masonic Order, Independent Order of Oddfellows, and Knights of Pythias, and in religion is a Presbyterian. Married, 1911, to Mary Gertrude, daughter of Joseph Watson of Owen Sound, Ontario, and is the father of four children—Jessie Marion, Roderick Watson, Elizabeth, and John Angus. The Provincial Secretary is a member of the Pacific Club of Victoria and the Greenwood at Greenwood. He takes a lively interest in sports, and his principal recreation is trap shooting and curling. The Minister’s ancestors were Highland Scotch of the Isle of Skye, Inverness. His parents came to Canada in 1834, settling in Prince Edward Island, where his father engaged in farming.
O’Hara, Francis Charles Trench, Deputy Minister of Trade and Commerce for Canada, and one of the best known citizens of Ottawa, was born at Chatham, Ont., November 7, 1870, the second son of Robert O’Hara, Master of Chancery in that city, and Maria S. (Dobbs) O’Hara. He was educated at the Chatham Collegiate Institute and in 1888 entered the service of the Canadian Bank of Commerce. His inclinations led him to literary pursuits, however, and in 1891 he left the service of the bank to enter newspaper work in Baltimore, Maryland. In this field he showed great promise, but in 1896 Rt. Hon. Sir Richard Cartwright, having entered the first Laurier cabinet as Minister of Trade and Commerce, persuaded him to return to Canada and become his private secretary. Since then Mr. O’Hara has continued to reside in Ottawa, and has been a vital factor in the Department of Trade and Commerce, of which, since 1908, he has been Deputy Minister. He was Superintendent of the Trade Commissioners Service, to extend Canada’s markets in various parts of the world from 1904 to 1911, and from 1908 to 1911 Chief Controller of Chinese Immigration. During the late war he rendered very important service as Chief Canadian officer in charge of British and United States Import and Export Trade Restrictions; until that work was assumed by the War Trade Board in 1918. He was also a member of the Ships Licence Committee, the Editorial Committee on Government Publications, and officer in charge under H.M. Ministry of Munitions of the distribution in Canada of Industrial diamonds. Since June, 1918, he has been also Deputy Commissioner of Patents. He is a Fellow of the Royal Statistical Society and of the Royal Colonial Institute. In 1907 the late Earl Grey, then Governor-General of Canada, induced him to become Honorary Secretary of his Musical and Dramatic Trophy Competitions, which for six years did admirable service in stimulating public interest in these arts. In 1914-16 he was Local Officer for Canada for the Dominion Royal Commission to inquire into there sources of the Overseas Dominions. Mr. O’Hara wields a skilful pen as evidenced by numerous magazine and newspaper contributions. He is also a Captain of the Corps Reserve of the Governor-General’s Foot Guards. His recreations are golf, fishing and shooting, and he is a member of the Rideau, Country and Royal Ottawa Golf Clubs, Ottawa. He married Helen R., a daughter of the late Senator Corby of Belleville, Ont., and has one daughter. His residence is at 125 Wurtemburg Street, Ottawa.