Mrs. McCaskill was in her maidenhood Miss Abbott, a member of the Abbott family of Andover, Massachusetts, and one of the old New England families. They were separated by death on the 12th of July, 1907, when Mr. McCaskill passed away at Lausanne, Switzerland.
While an active factor in the business world, Mr. McCaskill also took a great interest in political matters and for several years was president of the Sir John A. Macdonald Club. In 1900, at the solicitation of a large body of electors of his native county, he became a candidate for political honors. The conservative party lost in that connection and Mr. McCaskill was defeated at the polls, although a large vote was accorded him and his course gained him the general esteem of the people. By preference he concentrated his efforts upon his business interests and private affairs and worked his way upward until he stood among the successful merchants and manufacturers of the city with a record that commended him to the confidence and admiration of colleagues and contemporaries.
SAMUEL HAMILTON EWING.
With intense activity intelligently directed and with ability to plan and perform that amounts almost to genius, Samuel Hamilton Ewing has become one of the prominent manufacturers and capitalists of Montreal. He today has financial investments in many of the most important corporate interests of the province, and his opinion concerning complex business matters is eagerly sought and constitutes a valuable element in the attainment of a wise conclusion.
From his boyhood Samuel Hamilton Ewing has been a resident of Canada. He was born May 10, 1834, at Lisdillon House, Londonderry, Ireland, and is a representative of an old family of Irish origin, his parents being Samuel and Margaret (Hamilton) Ewing, who with their family crossed the Atlantic to Canada during the boyhood of their son Samuel H. Entering the public schools of Montreal, he pursued his education and afterward joined his brother, Andrew S. Ewing, in the ownership and management of the extensive coffee and spice mills formerly owned by his father. The business, established in 1860, was conducted under the firm style of Samuel Ewing & Sons, Samuel Hamilton Ewing remaining an active factor in the management and direction of the business until his retirement from the firm in 1892. In the meantime the efforts of the partners had resulted in the establishment of an enterprise of extensive proportions. Gradually he extended his efforts to other fields, becoming financially and ofttimes actively interested in corporations which are now recognized as among the foremost in the commercial and industrial circles of the province. He is president of the Montreal Cotton Company, president of the Canada Accident Assurance Company, president of the Levis County Railway and the Cornwall Street Railway, and is vice president of the Molson’s Bank and the Sun Life Assurance Company, while he is a director of the Atlantic Sugar Refinery, the Standard Clay Products, Limited, the Crown Trust Company, and the Illinois Traction Company. One of the local papers said of him: “It is doubtful if there is a more active man of his age in the city of Montreal.” What he undertakes he accomplishes, and he utilizes opportunities that many others have passed heedlessly by. Moreover, he has the ability to unify seemingly dissimilar elements, coordinating them into a harmonious whole.
Mr. Ewing has been married twice. He first wedded Miss Caroline Wilson Cheese, of London, England, who died in 1872, and later he wedded Margaret Anna Knight, who passed away in March, 1908. She was a daughter of George Knight, of Glasgow, Scotland. Mr. Ewing’s attractive home, Seaforth, is situated at No. 100 Cote des Neiges road. He is well known in club circles, holding membership in the Mount Royal, Canada, St. James and Canadian Clubs. He is a life governor of the Art Association of Montreal. His political belief is that of the conservative party but the honors and emoluments of office have little attraction for him. He has preferred always to devote his leisure to such activities as seek the public welfare along charitable or humanitarian lines. He is a governor of the Montreal General Hospital and served for several years prior to 1906 as its treasurer. He is likewise a governor of the Protestant Hospital for the Insane, and in 1906 was the delegate to the Sixth Congress Chambers of Commerce of the Empire. Forceful and resourceful, his is a record of a strenuous life, stable in purpose, quick in perception, swift in decision, energetic and persistent in action.
ALBERT HEBERT.
Albert Hébert, deceased, who for many years was one of the best known business men of Montreal, was born in this city, February 28, 1864. He was educated in the Jesuit College and the Archambault Commercial School, from which he was graduated. At the age of seventeen years he entered the firm of Dufresne & Mongenais and a year later became a member of the firm of Hudon, Hébert & Company, wholesale grocers. Later, when his father, C. P. Hébert, retired from the firm, Albert Hébert became the general manager of the business and so continued throughout his remaining days, directing the policy and stimulating the progress of the business, which became one of the important commercial concerns of the province. A man of resourceful ability, he was a director of the Montreal City and District Savings Bank and succeeded his father as treasurer of Notre Dame Hospital. He was a prominent member of the Board of Trade, serving as a councillor in 1904 and 1905, a governor of Laval University and a governor of the Antiquarian and Numismatic Society. Mr. Hébert was married in Montreal to Miss Loulou Barbeau, a daughter of the late E. G. Barbeau, who was the first manager of the Montreal City and District Savings Bank. Mr. and Mrs. Hébert had one daughter, Joséphine, now the wife of Mr. LsRaoul de Lorimer, of Montreal. While traveling in Europe Mr. Hébert died at Lucerne, Switzerland, June 21, 1911, although when he left Montreal for this trip he was in the best of health. He was but forty-seven years of age at the time of his demise, yet he stood very high in the opinion of the leading business men of the wholesale district of Montreal and was also appreciated and esteemed in financial circles. When Notre Dame Hospital was threatened with a financial crisis in 1909 it was Mr. Hébert, the treasurer of the institution, who opened the subscription and by his energetic campaign raised the two hundred thousand dollars which saved the day. One who knew him well and was, therefore, qualified to speak of his sterling traits of character wrote to the Montreal Star: