James G. Day was born in Montreal, December 12, 1834. He had therefore passed the seventy-second milestone on life’s journey, when called to the home beyond. He was one in a family of nine children, whose father, John J. Day, was born in London, but came to Montreal and was one of the most active men of his time in the city. He was particularly interested in all things pertaining to its welfare and progress and his aid in public movements was of a beneficial character.
James G. Day was educated in Montreal and took the law course at McGill University. He was admitted to the bar in Montreal. He engaged in the practice of his profession until 1866, when he was compelled to abandon it because of poor health. After spending one year in the United States he returned to Montreal and became a member of the firm of Hutchins & Company, wholesale tea merchants, and there continued for a few years. He then engaged in the coal business until his failing health caused him to seek a change. He then located at Troy, New York, and there resumed the practice of law, so continuing until his death, January 6, 1907.
It was while a resident of the United States that he was married in Bloomington, Illinois, to Miss Ellen E. Lewis, a daughter of Dr. William Lewis, who was an English Army surgeon and spent twenty years in the West Indies. He was afterward stationed for a time at Halifax and subsequently removed to Chicago, where he lived prior to establishing a home in Morris, Grundy county, Illinois, where his remaining days were passed. He was very active in his profession, being recognized as an able and eminent medical practitioner.
Mr. and Mrs. Day had three sons: Dr. John L. Day, engaged in the practice of his profession in Westmount; Albert J. Day, who is with Greenshields & Company; and Maurice Baldwin Day, acting manager of the Bourbonniere branch of the Union Bank of Canada, at Montreal.
HENRY MILES.
Henry Miles in 1895 became one of the founders of the firm of Leeming, Miles & Company of Montreal, importers and manufacturers of drugs, chemicals and proprietary articles in the drug and grocery lines. He has since been an active factor in the successful control of the business and to other fields of activity has extended his efforts with equally desirable results. He was born in Lennoxville, P. Q., May 8, 1854. His father, the late Henry Hooper Miles, D. C. L., LL. D., a well known historian and for twenty-five years vice principal of Bishop’s College at Lennoxville, afterward became secretary of the Protestant section of the department of public instruction for the province. He married Elizabeth Wilson, daughter of Dr. William Wilson, of Sherbrooke, Quebec.
In the Lennoxville grammar school their son Henry Miles pursued his preliminary education, which was supplemented by study in the high school of Quebec and in the Laval Normal School of the same city. His early business experience came to him through association with the firm of Lyman, Sons & Company, of which he became manager and managing partner, his association with the house continuing from 1870 until 1895, when he separated his interests and in the latter year organized the firm of Leeming, Miles & Company of Montreal for the importation and manufacture of drugs, chemicals and proprietary articles in both the drug and grocery lines. After continuing for a considerable period as managing partner he was elected to the presidency of the company on incorporation. He is also engaged in the manufacture of medicines as proprietor of a business conducted under the style of Dick & Company and he is publisher and editor of the Montreal Pharmaceutical Journal. Even this does not compass the extent of his business activity, for he is president of the National Hydro-Electric Company, Ltd., and managing director of the Carillon Construction & Development Company, Ltd.
