J. ADELARD OUIMET.
Among the better known advocates of Montreal is J. Adélard Ouimet, who is a member of the firm of Ouimet & Guertin. He is one of the most successful men in his line, and by his career carries forward the tradition of the family which to a large extent has been connected with the legal fraternity. The grandfather, Michel Ouimet, was justice of the peace of St. Rose, in the county of Laval, and also took an active part in the insurrection of 1837. The father of J. Adélard Ouimet was Landré Ouimet, and his wife was in her maidenhood Miss Euphémie Bourqué. A brother of our subject, also named Landré Ouimet, was for ten years an alderman for St. Jean Baptiste ward and an uncle on the paternal side was judge of the court of appeals and president of the City and District Savings Bank.
J. Adélard Ouimet was born at Ste. Scholastique, in the county of Two Mountains, on the 7th of March, 1868. He pursued his classical studies in the Seminary of Ste. Thérèse and at the University of Ottawa and his law course at Laval University, being admitted to the bar in 1895. He then became a partner of the well known legal firm of Ouimet, Emard, Maurault & Ouimet, but after the appointment of the Hon. J. A. Ouimet, his uncle, to the judgeship of the court of appeals he entered into partnership with A. Délisle, Q. C., then a member of parliament for Portneuf county, but two years later decided to engage in practice independently. In May, 1913, he formed a partnership with C. A. Guertin, Q. C., under the firm name of Ouimet & Guertin. He possesses every quality of which a lawyer may be proud—skill in the presentation of his evidence, marked ability in cross-examination, persuasiveness before the jury, a strong grasp of every feature of the case, the ability to secure a favorable ruling from the judge, unusual familiarity with human nature and the springs of human conduct and, last but not least, untiring energy. He has often occasion to demonstrate his ability and has handled many important cases since his admission to the bar, his clientele being of the most representative character. He is dignified and impressive, deliberate in manner, his speeches always commanding attention. Entirely free from ostentation and display, he largely relies upon the simple weight of his character and is ever prepared to meet any attack of the opposing counsel, as his mind works with a rapidity which often excites the wonder and admiration of his colleagues.
On the 3d of September, 1901, Mr. Ouimet was united in marriage in Montreal to Miss Dersina Vaillancourt, a daughter of Benjamin Vaillancourt, a well known grain merchant of Montreal, and they have one son, George Etienne. As is but natural, Mr. Ouimet has taken a conspicuous part in the public life of his city and province, having participated in all elections since 1890, not only in the province of Quebec but also in Ontario. He is a conservative in his political affiliations and stanchly upholds the principles of his party. He was the founder and first president of Le Club Morin, holding the executive office during 1893 and 1894. From 1894 to 1896 he was also president of Le Club des Jeunes Conservateurs and is an active member of Le Club Cartier, of which he served as treasurer from 1910 to 1912. He is also a military man. After having been in the Sixty-fifth Regiment for ten years, he then joined the Eighty-fifth Regiment, becoming captain in 1900. He will be major of that regiment in 1914. Fraternally he is chief ranger of the Catholic Order of Foresters and is a member of the Royal Guardians and of the Catholic Foresters Club. His religious faith is that of the Roman Catholic church, to the work of which he gives his moral and material support. At the Ottawa University he was the founder of La Société des Débats Canadien Français in 1889 and served as its first president. In 1908 he was also elected president of L’Association St. Jean Baptiste of St. Jean Baptiste parish. Mr. Ouimet is a successful lawyer in the truest sense of the word, a man unusually broad-minded and intelligent, tolerant and of wide experience, never mercenary or grasping, believing in something greater than mere material wealth, who in the course of a distinguished career, spent simply and unostentatiously, has been a factor for good along various lines. His public-spirited citizenship has been a boon to Montreal, who proudly claims him as one of her citizens, and Mr. Ouimet returns the honor which the city’s people entertain for him by a loyalty which could not be more devoted.
CHARLES FRANCIS SMITH.
Charles Francis Smith, for half a century a leading figure in the business and social life of Montreal, was born in Aylesford, Hampshire, England, in 1841. He had reached the psalmist’s allotted span of three score years and ten when death called him in Montreal on the 30th of September, 1911. His position was one which gained for him not only the respect but also the admiration and love of his associates. Important and extensive as were his business enterprises, they constituted but one phase of an existence that was largely devoted to charitable works and civic affairs and he was no less esteemed for his generosity and unfailing kindness than he was admired for his business acumen. His residence in Canada covered a period of forty-eight years. He came to this country as a member of the standing army. The shed in which he and his fellow soldiers slept the first night after landing at St. Andrews, New Brunswick, is still standing near the beautiful summer home which he afterward built for himself there. His entrance into commercial circles in Montreal was made as proprietor of a shoe store on St. Mary Street. He afterward entered into partnership with the late James McCready and upon the latter’s death became sole proprietor of the business and so remained for almost one-third of a century; yet in order to give his employes the opportunity of sharing in the profits of the business he formed a limited company nine years prior to his demise. In April, 1911, the business was sold to D. Lorne McGibbon, although Mr. Smith retained an interest in the new company,—the Ames, Holden, McCready, Limited,—of which he became a director.
CHARLES F. SMITH
Public affairs as well as private interests profited by the efforts, the sound judgment and keen discrimination of Mr. Smith. He was at one time alderman of Montreal; was a member of the finance committee and was again and again urged to become a candidate for the mayoralty. Native modesty, however, caused him to remain in private life even when it was almost a certainty that he would be elected to any office to which he might aspire. He was the only English member of the French Commercial School which was established by the Gouin government, and he belonged to the Board of Trade for five or six years, being first a member of the council and rising through the offices of treasurer and vice president to that of president, being elected by acclamation. He was also a vice president of the Dominion Express Company; managing director of the Laurentide Pulp Company; a director of the Merchants Bank; a director of the Montreal Trust Company; a director of the Dominion Textile Company; was at one time the president of the Western Hospital, and had been for years one of the governors of both the Notre Dame and General Hospitals, and vice president of the Royal Alexandra. He was a well known figure in the city’s fashionable clubs, belonging to the Mount Royal and St. James Clubs, the Royal Montreal Golf Club, the Forest and Stream Club and the Royal St. Lawrence Yacht Club. He was also a charter member of Canada Council of the Knights of Columbus; a prominent parishioner of St. Patrick’s church, as well as warden of the same; a director of St. Patrick’s Orphan Asylum, and president of the Catholic Sailors’ Club. He was also a well known member of St. George’s Society.