The public-school system of Canada afforded William S. Paterson his educational opportunities. After leaving home he spent one year in the oil fields of Pennsylvania, and then came to Montreal and eventually with the late J. T. Wilson formed the firm of Wilson, Paterson & Company of which he remained an active member until his death. The business developed as the years passed, owing to the progressive methods instituted in its conduct, and prosperity attended the labors of the partners.
In Montreal, in 1875, occurred the marriage of William S. Paterson, and Miss Electa C. Childs, daughter of Charles Childs, who came from Massachusetts in 1851 and engaged in the retail shoe business in Montreal. He became the pioneer in the manufacture of shoe lasts in this city and built up an extensive trade, in which he continued until his death in January, 1888. Mr. and Mrs. Paterson had a family of five children: Kate Elizabeth, who became the wife of R. B. Ross, Jr., secretary of the Mount Royal Milling Company, by whom she has three children; Dr. Robert C. Paterson, who is married and has two children; Charles S., a missionary in Calcutta, India; Arthur L., of The Wilson-Paterson Company, and who has two children; and E. Russell, secretary of the Boy Scouts.
Mr. Paterson was interested in outdoor sports, especially in fishing, and was a member of the Little Cascapedia Fishing Club and as a devotee of golf, a member of Westmount Golf Club. He belonged to the American Presbyterian church, in which he served as a trustee and elder, and his life was actuated by high and honorable principles. His record measured up to exalted standards of manhood and citizenship and when death called him on the 2d of June, 1907, he left behind him not only an excellent competence but an honored name. He never allowed personal interests or ambition to dwarf his public spirit or his activities, and he was prominent as a man whose constantly expanding powers took him from humble surroundings to fields of large enterprise and continually broadening opportunities.
REV. GEORGE DALY, C. SS. R.
Rev. George Daly, who since 1912 has been rector of St. Anne’s parish in Montreal, discharging his manifold duties in this connection in a way which reflects credit upon his religious zeal and his administrative ability alike, is a native son of the city, born September 5, 1872, his parents being William and Josephine (Morin) Daly. The father was born on the isle of Malta, where the grandfather, a native of County Cavan, Ireland, was an officer in the British army. William Daly came to Canada with the Forty-seventh Regiment Band in 1861 and was afterward in the employ of the Grand Trunk Railway Company for one year, resigning in order to accept the position of manager of the Point St. Charles branch of the City & District Savings Bank, a position which he held continuously for thirty-seven years, retiring from active life in 1909. He died May 19, 1913, and is survived by his wife. They were for many years members of St. Gabriel’s Catholic church. The following children were born to their union: William, who is a member of the firm of Daly & Morin, manufacturers in Montreal; George, of this review; Louisa, the wife of D. J. Byrne, of Leonard Brothers, wholesale fish dealers of this city; Elizabeth, a nun at Hotel Dieu, Montreal; Aileen, who resides with her mother; and Mary, Joseph, Alphonsus and Walter, all of whom have passed away.
Rev. George Daly acquired his education in the parochial schools of Montreal, which he attended until he was twelve years of age. He then entered Montreal College and in 1888 became a student at St. Trond, Belgium, where he remained five years. At the end of that time he went to Beau Plateau, in Belgium, studying seven years there, returning to Quebec at the end of that time and becoming a director in the Preparatory College at Ste. Anne de Beaupré, a position which he retained for twelve years. In 1900, previous to his return to Canada, he was ordained to the Catholic priesthood in Belgium and on the 2d of August, 1912, was made parish priest at St. Anne’s in Montreal. Here he has done excellent work during the two years of his incumbency, for he is a man of abiding faith, energy and religious zeal and, moreover, possesses unusual administrative and executive ability. He is a man of scholarly attainments, most earnest and consecrated in his work and is ever watchful over the interests of his people, whose love he holds in large measure, while he enjoys the respect of people of all denominations.
EDMOND BROSSARD.
One of the most able and deservedly successful barristers in Montreal at the present time is Edmond Brossard, practicing at the bar in partnership with Hon. P. E. Le Blanc, K. C., and connected through his important clientage with a great deal of notable litigation. He is numbered among Montreal’s native sons, his birth having occurred in this city on the 19th of December, 1873. His parents were Telesphore B. and Evelina (Turgeon) Brossard, the former for many years Dominion appraiser of His Majesty’s customs in this city. The family is of old French origin and of long Canadian establishment, having been founded in the Dominion by the ancestor who came to Canada with Maisonneuve in 1642.