Mr. Cotton opened his first office in Sweetsburg, this province, practising in partnership with J. C. McCorkill, and proving able, farsighted and discriminating in the discharge of his professional duties. From Sweetsburg he came to Montreal, and he is today one of the representative citizens of this community, prominent in his profession and a leading factor in the promotion of those projects and measures which have for their object municipal growth, advancement and progress. The firm of Cotton & Westover is one of the strongest of its kind in the city and connected through a wide and representative patronage with a great deal of important litigation. Mr. Cotton is recognized as an able advocate, possessed of a comprehensive knowledge of the law and a practical ability in its application, and his developed powers and wide experience are bringing him constantly increasing prominence in his chosen field.
Mr. Cotton is a member of the Anglican church and was formerly a captain in the Fifteenth Shefford Field Battery. A strong liberal, he takes an intelligent interest in public affairs, opposing political corruption wherever he finds it and supporting by word and action pure and clean politics. Viewed from any standpoint his has been a useful and successful career, and the future undoubtedly holds for him further honors and continued prosperity.
WILLIAM ALEXANDER HASTINGS.
William Alexander Hastings, for many years vice president and general manager of the Lake of the Woods Milling Company, Ltd., and one of the best known men in his line of business in Canada, was born at Petite Cote, March 6, 1852, a son of George and Margaret (Ogilvie) Hastings. George Hastings came from Boston, Massachusetts, and located at Petite Cote where he was engaged in farming.
William A. Hastings pursued his education in the schools of his native city and began his business career as a clerk in the Exchange Bank. His progress was rapid and he was promoted to manager of the Bedford (Quebec) branch, and later manager of the Exeter branch. Subsequently he was appointed treasurer of the St. Joseph (Missouri) Gas Company, serving until 1882 when he became identified with the milling business in which he achieved such notable success. In that year, with his brother, George V. Hastings, he became associated with the Ogilvie Company at Winnipeg, building and opening the flour mills there with great success. In 1888 he severed his connection with the above firm and became vice president and general manager of the Lake of the Woods Milling Company, filling this prominent and important position until his death, which occurred on May 23, 1903.
Mr. Hastings had thoroughly acquainted himself with the business in its different phases so that he was well qualified to assume the control of one of the largest businesses of its kind in the Dominion, and to his rare judgment and marked executive ability is credited, to no small extent, the high degree of prosperity enjoyed by the company whose affairs he so ably directed.
Robert Meighen, president of the Lake of the Woods Milling Company, said that he had been associated with Mr. Hastings for thirteen years and that any business which passed through his hands passed through the hands of God’s noblest work—an honest man. Others bore equally strong testimony as to his enterprise and his thorough reliability. He never weighed an act in the scale of public policy but always measured his deeds by the standard of upright principle.
In 1884 Mr. Hastings was united in marriage to Miss Georgina Roy Ure, daughter of the late George P. Ure, and they became the parents of the following children: Margaret Ogilvie, who died in infancy; William Roy, of Montreal; and John Ogilvie, of Montreal.
Mr. Hastings was lacking in none of the qualities which make for upright manhood and progressive citizenship, and his cooperation with any movement or plan largely insured the successful outcome of the same. In 1890 he became a member of the Corn Exchange and in 1893 was elected a member of the committee of management, in which office he continued until 1898, serving for the last three years of that period as treasurer. Throughout his entire life Canada numbered him among her best citizens and the record which he made reflected credit upon the Dominion, constituting a factor in its material development.