Deroche, William Paschal (Napanee, Ont.), Local Registrar of the Supreme Court of Ontario, is the son of Paschal and Elizabeth Jane Deroche, and married on January 1, 1919, Helen Aylesworth Asselstine, daughter of the late Benjamin Asselstine, of Kingston, Ont. He was born at Newburgh, Ont., on August 27, 1854, and educated at Newburgh Academy. After graduation, Mr. Deroche taught school at Deseronto (then Mill Point) and other places for five years successfully, and began the study of law in 1878 with his brother, the late H. M. Deroche, K.C., and Judge Madden, at Napanee, and also with the well-known firm of Beatty, Blackstock & Co., at Toronto. He was appointed local Registrar of the Supreme Court of Ontario, Clerk of the County Court and Registrar of the Surrogate Court in June, 1887, and has been a member of the Public Library Board in Napanee for several years. Outside of these offices, however, Mr. Deroche has sought no public honors, devoting his entire energies and finding his best reward in discharging them to the satisfaction of the public and the members of his chosen profession. He is a member of the Anglican Church and a Liberal in politics. Judge Deroche, W. D. M. Shorey, Barrister, both of Belleville, Ont.; Col. Alex. P. Deroche, Director of Works and Buildings at Ottawa; and H. M. P. Deroche, Barrister, of Melville, Sask., are all nephews of Mr. Deroche. With the possible exception of Chief Justice Sir Glenholme Falconbridge, of Toronto, all the Judges of the High Court who were on the Bench when Mr. Deroche was appointed to his present position, are dead. His brother, H. M. Deroche, K.C., died March 10, 1916.
Forster, J. W. L., Artist (Toronto, Ont.), was born at Norval, Ont., and was educated at the Brampton Grammar School. Of him, an eminent public man gives us the following: “Canada, though in some senses a young country, has already produced a group of noted artists, whose depiction of her landscape and life is helping to make the Dominion known throughout the world. Among the leaders in this group is John Wycliffe Lowes Forster, than whom none of our artists has done so much for our national portraiture. Not only has he painted more of our public men than any of his contemporaries, but he is the only Canadian artist who has devoted his whole genius to the painting of portraits. If all Mr. Forster’s portraits of famous Canadians, which hang in public buildings and noted homes, were gathered together, they would in themselves constitute a large national portrait gallery, and this gallery would be quite representative of the great leaders in all walks of life. Among our statesmen—Sir John A. Macdonald, Sir Wilfrid Laurier, Alexander Mackenzie, John Sandfield Macdonald, Sir John Thompson, Robert Baldwin, Wm. Lyon Mackenzie, William S. Fielding, Sir George Ross and Sir James P. Whitney, constitute a comprehensive group. In divinity, such noted personalities as Punshon, Cavan, Carman, Primate Archbishop Machray, Primate Archbishop Sweatman, Bishop O’Connor, Milligan, Kellog, Maclaren; in the Judiciary—Chancellors Moss, Boyd, Meredith and Mulock; in University life—Paxton Young, Geikie, Nelles, Burwash, Rand, Wallace, Loudon and Galbraith; among noted military men—Wolfe, Brock, Roberts, Denison, Merritt and Otter; in other walks—Strathcona, Goldwin Smith, General Booth, Egerton Ryerson, Sir Sandford Fleming, Senator Cox, Senator Jaffray, MacKenzie King, Sir Gilbert Parker and George Brown are representative of a brilliant galaxy preserved to posterity by Forster’s indefatigable genius. Added to his Canadian clientele, Mr. Forster has in recent years painted many distinguished portrait subjects in the United States. Born in Halton County in the middle of the Nineteenth century, of cultivated English stock, he was reared, like other men of genius, amid the simpler pursuits of country life, and his pictures are therefore remarkable for subtle insight into character, and have at the same time the refined atmosphere of old world culture.”
Englehart, Joel Lewis (Toronto, Ont.), Chairman of the Temiskaming and Northern Ontario Railway (owned by the Province of Ontario), is the son of Joel and Hannah Englehart, and was born on November 2, 1847, in Cleveland, Ohio, and received his education there. He arrived in Canada in January, 1869, and soon afterward engaged in the oil business in London, Ont., becoming a producer, then a refiner and exporter, with offices in New York, and in 1881, when only thirty-four years of age, became Vice-President of the Imperial Oil Co., which position he still holds. In 1882 he removed to Petrolea, where he became, and still is, President of the Crown Savings & Loan Company, of Petrolea, and he is also Vice-President of the London & Western Trusts Co.; Director of the Bank of Toronto; ex-Governor of Toronto University and President of the Petrolea Liberal-Conservative Association, in addition to having many other business interests. In 1891 Mr. Englehart married Charlotte Eleanor, daughter of the late Thomas Thompson, of Adelaide, Ont., who died in 1908, and in whose memory he founded the Charlotte Eleanor Hospital in Petrolea in 1910, which is on the site of his old homestead and surrounded by thirty-five acres of land. In 1909 he gave an X-Ray equipment to St. Michael’s Hospital, Toronto, and in the following year a chime of eleven bells, one of the finest in the Province, to Christ Church, Petrolea, and it is safe to assume that his private generosity has more than kept pace with his public benefactions. In March, 1905, Mr. Englehart was appointed Chairman of the Temiskaming & Northern Ontario Railway Commission and his success in developing what he is pleased to call “Greater Ontario” has amply justified the late Sir James Whitney’s choice in placing him in this responsible position. He has been accustomed to business on a large scale, involving powers of comprehension, quick perception and careful calculation, and on his appointment, turned his ability and experience to good account in the service of the Province. He is very much interested in the extension of the road and the development of the vast farming, timber and mining country it serves, as may be judged from the fact that only eleven times during the twelve years he has been Chairman of the Commission has he missed his monthly trip over the road, and only once has he taken a month’s holiday. He believes that “Greater Ontario” is the biggest asset Canada has and is firmly convinced that no spot on the continent affords such opportunity for success as the territory traversed by the T. & N.O. Railway System and that to which it has not yet extended. In support of this claim, Mr. Englehart refers to a series of articles published in the “Globe” of August, 1916, which has previously been somewhat critical, written by that paper’s farming editor, and giving statistics to show that the production both in roots and grain per acre in “Greater Ontario” was far in excess of the best returns in the older sections of the Province. Mr. Englehart is both the apostle and the prophet of the North, enthusiastically proclaiming its unrivalled potential possibilities, and as he is better informed on the subject than any other man, his statements may be accepted at face value. Mr. Englehart is an Episcopalian in religion and a Mason. His clubs are the New York, Toronto, Albany, Empire, Toronto Hunt and Ontario Jockey, and the London, of London, Ont. Genial, a versatile and convincing conversationalist, alert and strong willed, he works actively in the immense field he supervises and takes keen pleasure in its development.
MacKenzie, John Angus, who was born at Guelph, Ontario, October 20, 1878, was educated at the Public and High Schools, Harriston, and the Model School, Guelph, Ontario, and taught school at Hanover, Ontario, from 1897 to 1898. From 1899 to 1901 he was assistant to C. M. Hayes, General Manager of the Grand Trunk Railway, Montreal. Arriving in Ottawa in the latter year he started in business for himself, and to-day is President of MacKenzie Limited, Manufacturers of Railway and Lumbermen’s Supplies, 132 to 136 Lyon Street, Ottawa, whose trade extends throughout Canada and to other parts of the world. From 1903 to 1907 Mr. MacKenzie served as Lieutenant of Company A, Governor-General’s Foot Guards. His brother, James David MacKenzie was killed on September 28, 1918, while fighting at the front in the great World War. Twice before he had been wounded and had just returned to the front in France when he met his death. Two brothers, W. M. and Thomas, served King and Country, the former being gassed and wounded, and a sister, Margaret, served as a nurse at the Orpington Hospital, England. Mr. MacKenzie in 1901 married Jean Andrew, daughter of Archibald Andrew, one of Ottawa’s most charming vocalists, as a result of which he has one son and one daughter. Mr. MacKenzie’s father and mother, Kenneth and Mary MacKenzie, reside on Melgund Avenue, Ottawa. Mr. MacKenzie is a Liberal in politics, and for years was Secretary of Ottawa Reform Association. He is a member of the A.F. & A.M. Society. His recreations are fishing and tennis, and his place of residence 229 Clemow Avenue, Ottawa, Ontario.
Harkin, James B., is one of those successful journalists who have been selected by the Dominion Government to occupy important positions in the service of Canada. In appointing Mr. Harkin to the responsible position of Commissioner of Dominion Parks, the Government of Canada made a happy selection, and his work in connection with the Government-owned Parks of Canada—in his descriptive and handsomely printed and illustrated publications, in his general ability for such work and in his careful and personal attention to their care and improvement—is well seen in the vast improvements that have taken place and in the publicity that they have had. When Hon. Sir Clifford Sifton was Minister of Interior in 1903, he selected Mr. Harkin as his Private Secretary, which office he held with that distinguished gentleman until the latter resigned his portfolio in 1905. Hon. Frank Oliver, succeeding Sir Clifford as Minister of Interior, retained the services of Mr. Harkin until 1911, when he appointed him to his present position, viz., Commissioner of Dominion Parks. If anything, Mr. Harkin has proven more competent in his present position than he was when occupying the position of private secretary, and that is saying something. Mr. Harkin was born at Vankleek Hill, Ont., January 30, 1875, and received his education in the Public School, Vankleek Hill, and at the High School, Marquette, Michigan. He became connected with the newspaper work in Montreal in 1892 and served on the staff of the Ottawa “Journal” from 1893 to 1900. Mr. Harkin is the son of William and Eliza (McDonnell) Harkin, is a member of the Ottawa Civil Service and the Rivermead Golf Clubs. He is a Roman Catholic in religion and resides at 138 Lewis Street, Ottawa, Ontario.