After being dux of the high school of Montreal William D. Lighthall pursued a classical course in McGill University, from which he was graduated with the Bachelor of Arts degree and the Shakespeare gold medal in English literature in 1879. He then entered upon the study of law at McGill, which conferred upon him the B. C. L. degree in 1881, and he took the honorary degree of M. A. in 1885. With the completion of his law course he was called to the bar and began practice as an advocate. Nature endowed him with keen mentality, and the thoroughness with which he prepared his cases and the earnestness with which he presented his causes before the courts won him success and advancement. He was created king’s counsel in 1906. For a long period he has been accounted one of the distinguished representatives of the Montreal bar, practicing as senior member of the law firm of Lighthall & Harwood.
What he has accomplished as a member of the legal profession would alone entitle W. D. Lighthall to mention among the representative men of Montreal, yet he has gained equal prominence as an author, as a promoter of various societies, as an antiquarian greatly interested in historical and antiquarian research, and as a public-spirited citizen who takes cognizance of the needs of the hour and employs practical methods in working for high ideals for the benefit of city, province and Dominion. He was the founder of the Society of Canadian Literature, the Canadian National League, the Westmount Liberal Club, the Montreal Tourist Association, and originated and, in connection with De Lery Macdonald, established the Chateau de Ramezay Historical Museum. He was also the founder of the Union of Canadian Municipalities. He was one of those largely instrumental in securing the erection of the Maisonneuve monument at Montreal and was the discoverer of the Indian burying ground at Westmount. He is interested in all that pertains to the history of the country from prehistoric times down to the present, and his researches and investigations have been carried far and wide, bringing to light many interesting points bearing upon the travel history of the North American Indians as well as upon the period of the early colonists and the development of Canada. He is a member of the Scotch Society of Literature and Art; a vice president of the National Municipal League of America; a fellow of the Royal Society of Canada and a fellow of the Royal Society of Literature; an honorary member of the Women’s Historical Society of Canada and of the Chateauguay Literary and Historical Society; life corresponding member of the Quebec Literary and Historical Society; president of the Numismatic and Antiquarian Society; a governor of the Congregational College of Canada and of the Joint Board of Theological Colleges of McGill University; and has been a representative fellow of the University. In 1910 he was appointed a member of the Metropolitan Parks Commission.
In all these years, retiring to the quiet of his study, he has devoted hours to writing, and his authorship has gained him equal renown with his efforts in other directions. His first published volume, Thoughts, Moods and Ideals (verse), came from the press in 1887 and was followed in 1888 by The Young Seigneur. Then came The Battle of Chateauguay, in 1889; Montreal After 250 Years, in 1892; The False Chevalier, in 1898; a Prehistoric Hochelaga Burying-ground, in 1898; A Link in Iroquois History, in 1899; The Glorious Enterprise, in 1901; Hiawatha the Great, in 1901; and Westmount: a Municipal Illustration, in 1902. This last book followed his three years of service as mayor of Westmount, so that he was qualified to discuss the subjects of which the volume treated. The same year he brought forth a volume entitled To the Boers: A Friend’s Appeal from Canada. In 1904 he published Canada, a Modern Nation, and Thomas Pownall: His Part in the Conquest of Canada. In 1908 he added to the list of his publications A Romance of Prehistoric Montreal and The Master of Life; and in 1910, The Governance of Empire and Sights and Shrines of Montreal. He also published Songs of the Great Dominion (Windsor series) in 1889, and Canadian Poems and Lays (Canterbury Poets series) in 1891.
There are few men in possession in so eminent a degree of the habits, tastes and ability of the scholar and at the same time in so large a measure the practical qualities which find expression in successful professional service and in public-spirited citizenship. Mr. Lighthall has studied as closely the signs of the times and the questions of the hour as he has the history of the past. His deep interest in the cause of education was manifest in his service as chairman of the board of school commissioners of Westmount, to which office he was appointed in 1909. He is an imperialist in principle and at the same time a strong believer in the necessity and advantage of organizing the intellectual and higher interests of Canadian nationality and retaining state ownership and control of forests, railways, land tenure, coal mines and other public resources.
In October, 1890, Mr. Lighthall was married to Miss Cybel Charlotte Wilkes, a daughter of John Wilkes and a granddaughter of the late Rev. Dr. Henry Wilkes. Mrs. Lighthall is vice president of the local branch of the Zenana Bible and Medical Mission, and is also a vice president of the Canadian Handicrafts Guild. Something of the nature of his recreation is indicated in the fact that Mr. Lighthall belongs to Lac Tremblant Fishing Club, of which he was elected president in 1909, and in the same year he was admitted an Iroquois Indian chief with the name of Ticonderoga in recognition of services to that race. He furthermore belongs to the University, Canada, Reform, Montreal, Country and Canadian Clubs of Montreal and the Royal Societies Club of London, England. His winter residence, Chateauclair, is at No. 14 Murray Avenue, Westmount, while his summer home, Camp Beartracks, is at Lac Tremblant. In the review of his history it seems that his constantly expanding powers are opening to him a still broader field of usefulness and establishing him more firmly in the position of prominence which he today occupies.
JOSEPH DROUIN.
Joseph Drouin, a member of the Montreal bar, was born at Two Mountains, in the province of Quebec, on the 15th of November, 1875, a son of Firmin and Mathilde (Lafrance) Drouin, sturdy French Canadian farmers. He is of the eighth generation in descent from Robert Drouin, of Pin au Perche, France, who became the founder of the family in the new world, establishing himself at Quebec in 1635. The principal branch of the family remains in Quebec and Orleans, but in 1751 one branch detached itself from the main Quebec stem and was transplanted to Montreal, where representatives of the name have since been found in the city and surrounding districts.
JOSEPH DROUIN