Crossland, E. F. (Toronto, Ont.), was born at Port Dover, Ont., in 1866, was educated at Windsor, N.S., came to Toronto in 1886, and two years later he entered the Steele-Briggs Seed Co., Limited, and is at the present time the Second Vice-President. Being a man with a practical knowledge of this business, he has been a valuable asset to the Steele-Briggs Company, and much credit is due him for the high position that firm holds in the esteem of the Canadian people to-day. While his active business career requires considerable of his time and attention, still he is a citizen of more than ordinary worth, and he takes no small interest in all measures that have a tendency towards furthering public welfare, and is also a worthy friend of both religious and charitable enterprises. He is a Dominion Council member of the Brotherhood of St. Andrew and an ex-member of the Executive Committee; rector’s warden of St. Matthew’s Anglican Church, a member of the Toronto Board of Trade, and Masonic Order. Mr. Crossland is a man who makes many friends by his pleasing manner. In politics he is a Conservative, but believes that the future prosperity of Canada largely depends upon her public men, irrespective of their political leanings.
ZEPHERIN HEBERT
Montreal
Dickson, Rev. James A. R., B.D. (Galt, Ont.), was born in Tranent, Scotland, on October 22, 1839. His father was David Dickson, a pious man, who was careful of the godly upbringing of his children, and being a zealous Free Churchman, instructed them in the standards of that church. Mr. Dickson came to Canada in the summer of 1857 to an uncle in Brantford, who was engaged in business there, where he resided for some time. His uncle attending the ministry of the Rev. John Wood, of the Congregational Church, he went with him, and under the faithful preaching of Mr. Wood, experienced the great change which altered the entire current of his life. He was active in Christian work in the Sabbath school and Y.M.C.A., but an irrepressible longing for wider usefulness led him to prepare for the Christian ministry. He took private lessons in Latin and Greek, attended the Brantford Grammar School for several sessions, and in 1860 entered the Congregational College of B.N.A. in Toronto, which was then under the principalship of Adam Lillie, D.D. While pursuing theological studies here, he attended classes in Logic, Hebrew, Latin and Greek in University College; mathematics, metaphysics and other subjects being taken up by special masters appointed by the board of the Congregational College. In 1864 the college being removed to Montreal, he attended the McGill College, studying zoology, botany and geology under Sir William Dawson, LL.D.; Hebrew under Dr. De Sola, and logic, English literature and moral philosophy under Canon Leach. He graduated in 1865, and was called to the Congregational Church in London, Ontario, where he remained for six years. While here he edited for three years The Gospel Message, a monthly, published in Montreal. He published “Working for Jesus,” which is now and has been for the past thirteen years, issued by the American Tract Society of New York, and the Religious Tract Society of London. Also a 32-page tract, “Saved or Not?” and “Counsels for Young Converts.” In June, 1867, he married Isabella E., eldest daughter of Walter Fairbairn of London, Ontario. In 1871 he was called to the Northern Church, Toronto. Here he remained about eight years, till he changed his ecclesiastical relations, returning to the church of his fathers. While in Toronto he was honored with the highest position in the gift of the Congregational churches, being elected Chairman of the Congregational Union, of Ontario and Quebec in 1877. Here he began to write for the “Sunday School Times,” “Sunday School World,” and “Canada Presbyterian,” to which he has been a frequent contributor. He published “Immediately,” “The Rest of Faith,” “Christian Culture,” “A Good Minister of Jesus Christ,” tracts which have had an extensive circulation. He was chosen secretary of the Upper Canada Tract Society in 1874, which he held until 1879. On resigning his charge in Toronto, he visited for five months the branch societies of the Upper Canada Tract Society. He filled Dr. Cochrane’s pulpit in Brantford for three months, while the Doctor was in Britain in 1879. While here he was called to Galt, and settled there on October 13, 1879. Since his settlement in Galt he has published “Expository Bible Readings,” “Working for the Children,” and a tract entitled “A Word in Season.” On the regulations being issued for the conferring of the degree of Bachelor of Divinity, Mr. Dickson went to Montreal Presbyterian College, and passing the examinations proper to the degree, took it in March, 1883. The congregation of Galt built for him in 1881 one of the handsomest ecclesiastical structures in Canada. It is mentioned in “Picturesque Canada.” In 1887 the Religious Tract Society of London, England, published a little volume of Mr. Dickson’s entitled “How We Are Saved.” In 1891 Mr. Dickson had conferred upon him the degree of Doctor of Philosophy (Ph.D.), by Wooster University, Ohio, one of the great schools of learning belonging to the Presbyterian Church in the United States. He attained the degree by a stated course of special study in Political Economy and Social Science, and by examinations therein. He prepared also a paper to lay before the faculty on “Conscience the Living Source of Human Law.” In 1896 the Religious Tract Society of New York published a volume by Dr. Dickson, entitled “The Truth that Saves and How to Present It.” In 1904 Dr. Dickson wrote and published “The History of the Central Presbyterian Church, Galt,” bringing the story of the church’s life up to that time.
Choquette, Philippe Auguste, LL.B. (Quebec, Que.), Advocate, Senator and Judge of the Sessions, Quebec, was born on the 6th of January, 1854, at Beloeil, County of Vercheres. His ancestors came from Amiens, Picardie, France, in 1643, and settled in Varennes, in the county where the subject of our sketch was born. His parents were Joseph Choquette, farmer, and Marie Thais Audet. He received his education at St. Hyacinthe College, and at Laval University, Quebec, and graduated B.C.L., from the latter institution in 1880, having previously taken the silver medal given by the then Governor-General, Lord Lorne, receiving, in 1899, the degree of LL.D. While he was prosecuting his studies at Laval, he acted as private secretary to the late Hon. Honore Mercier, then solicitor-general in the Joly administration, and later on Premier of Quebec Province. He held for about three years and a half the position of commercial traveller in a wholesale boot and shoe establishment in St. Hyacinthe, before he began to study law. He moved to Quebec in 1887, and entered the office of the Hon. François Langelier, then a Member of Parliament and Mayor of Quebec (who died in 1915 as Lieutenant-Governor), to study law. After being admitted to the bar of Lower Canada, in 1880, he removed to Montmagny, where he successfully practised his profession. Since 1877 he has been a contributor to “L’Union,” of St. Hyacinthe, director of “Le Soleil” in 1905-06, having before, in 1883, founded “Le Sentinelle,” of Montmagny, still existing under the name of “Le Courier de Montmagny.” In 1878 he began to take an active part in politics and in 1882 he ran for a seat in the House of Commons against A. C. P. R. Landry, now Senator, the then Conservative candidate, but was defeated by a majority of 120 votes. At the general election held in 1887, he again presented himself in opposition to Mr. Landry, and this time carried his election by a majority of 195 votes, and was re-elected in 1911-1916 by large majorities. Mr. Choquette has travelled through the principal parts of the United States and Europe. He has been Secretary of the Reform Club of the County of Montmagny. In politics he is a strong Liberal, a free trader, and in favor of commercial union. In 1898, was appointed a Judge of the Superior Court; resigned in 1904 and was called to the Senate. In 1915 was by the local Government named Judge of the Sessions of the Peace for Quebec District. He is an adherent of the Roman Catholic Church, but objects to the clergy interfering and mixing in political contests. On the 29th of August, 1883, he was married to Marie, daughter of A. Bender, prothonotary of the Superior Court, and granddaughter of the late Sir E. P. Tache, baronet, A.D.C. to her late Majesty the Queen, and one of the promoters of Confederation. As recreations he favors music and sports, and has been President of the Quebec Hockey Club from 1913 to the present time (1917). He resides at 56 Conroy St., Ottawa.