Part 12

GEORGES GONTHIER.

In financial circles in Montreal we have to mention Mr. Georges Gonthier as one of the most familiar figures. A member of the well known firm of St. Cyr, Gonthier & Frigon and a public accountant of some standing and repute, he has nevertheless found time to promote many measures of great commercial and public utility, and to prepare the way for the foundation of one of our most important institutions (L’Ecole des Hautes Etudes Commerciales).

Mr. Gonthier was born in Montreal in November, 1869. After a period of arduous study and preparation he entered upon his business activities in 1890, and since that time has advanced steadily in his profession winning the good-will and esteem of everyone, so that we now see him occupying such positions of trust and public confidence as that of treasurer and director of the Chamber of Commerce and president of the Institute of Accountants and Auditors of the Province of Quebec. In fact, it was Mr. Gonthier himself who was chiefly instrumental in bringing about the establishment of the last mentioned institute, and he played no small part in its subsequent organization, for which his wide business experience and knowledge coupled with what we might term an unrivalled commercial sagacity, especially fitted him.

He was moreover one of the founders with the late Mr. Poindron of the Canada-French Trade Development Committee, since merged into the Comité France-Amérique under the presidency in Canada of the Hon. Raoul Dandurand.

Nor are Mr. Gonthier’s activities limited to the field of practical achievement. He has entered the lists as a public lecturer on financial and accounting subjects where he has won for himself considerable renown. In particular his essay on “Bonds as an Investment” has been highly praised and was even published in the financial journals at Paris. It is not surprising therefore that he has considerable influence in Belgium and in France.

It would be superfluous to add anything further to demonstrate the sterling qualities and well deserved reputation of Mr. Gonthier. It may, however, be interesting to accountants and auditors in general to know that it was mainly through his efforts that the law was passed to render compulsory the keeping of proper accounts to all who engage in business.

HUNTLY WARD DAVIS.

Huntly Ward Davis, member of the firm of Hogle & Davis, architects, was born in Montreal, October 22, 1875, a son of M. and Lucy (Ward) Davis, the latter a daughter of Hon. J. K. Ward, M. L. C. Huntly Ward Davis attended Eliock school at Montreal and the Massachusetts Institute of Technology, from which he was graduated as Bachelor of Science in June, 1898. He prepared for and has always followed the profession of architect, working in early manhood under A. T. Taylor, who became senior partner of the firm of Taylor, Hogle & Davis, but has since withdrawn, leaving the firm Hogle & Davis. Mr. Davis is a conservative, and his membership relations are with St. James Club and with the Church of St. James the Apostle. On the 26th of October, 1910, in Montreal, he was married to Evelyn St. Claire Stanley Bagg, daughter of the late Robert Stanley and Clara (Smithers) Bagg, and they have a daughter, Evelyn Clare Ward Davis.

FRANCOIS XAVIER ROY.

This is an age of specialization. It is the unusual rather than the usual thing for any man to attempt to gain proficiency in the various departments of the law; on the contrary he usually concentrates his efforts upon a single branch of jurisprudence, with the result that he reaches a position which otherwise he could not hope to gain. Following this general course, François X. Roy has devoted his attention to commercial law, in which connection he has a large and distinctively representative clientage. He has been a lifelong resident of the province of Quebec, his birth having occurred on the 13th of August, 1863. His educational training was received at the College of Nicolet and in Laval University. He also spent a year in special study at Sherbrooke in 1886, was for a year under the direction of the law faculty at Bishop’s College, and then passed the usual examinations that secured his admission to the bar.

Choosing Montreal as the seat of his labors, Mr. Roy here began practice in association with the late Hon. C. A. Geoffrion, and later was with D. R. Murphy, K. C. He had become so well established in practice as a successful commercial lawyer that in 1909 he was created king’s counsel. He has become a recognized authority in the department of law in which he has chosen to specialize, and as such is called to all parts of the province, his opinions being largely received as authority upon points of commercial law. He is now attorney for the Williams Manufacturing Company, Henon-LeBlanc, Ltd., and several other commercial firms of Montreal. He readily grasps the relation of cause and effect, and in the preparation of his cases his analytical power is strongly manifest. In presenting a cause before the courts he is logical, and his deductions follow in orderly sequence.

Mr. Roy is a liberal in politics and in all his political interests is actuated by a spirit of progressiveness as affecting both provincial and Dominion affairs. He has ever stood for improvement, reform and advancement, and for many years has held the office of treasurer of the Reform Club. Aside from this he is a member of Le Club Canadien, L’Alliance Nationale, L’Alliance Française, La Société St. Jean Baptiste and other societies. He stands as a high type of the French element in the citizenship of Montreal, combining with the admirable and strongly marked characteristics of a French ancestry the progressive spirit of the modern age, a spirit which falters not in the accomplishment of a task until success is achieved.

NAPOLEON URGEL LACASSE.

Napoléon Urgel Lacasse, attorney at law practicing in Montreal as a member of the well known firm of Bastien, Bergeron, Cousineau, Lacasse & Jasmin, was born at St. Vincent de Paul, in the county of Laval, P. Q., July 11, 1877. In the early records of the French families it is found that there are several variations to the family name which appears also as Casse, Cassé and Du Tertre. Angelique Lacasse was born in 1715 and died at Beaumont, August 22, 1738. Antoine Lacasse, who was born in 1706, married Marguerite Sionnaux and died November 27, 1778. The parents of Napoléon Urgel Lacasse were Zéphirin and Rose Delima (Fortier) Lacasse. Under the parental roof he spent his boyhood days while studying in St. Mary’s College and Laval University of Montreal, winning his Bachelor of Arts degree on the 15th of June, 1898, and that of Bachelor of Laws on the 21st of June, 1901. Following his graduation he entered immediately upon the active practice of his profession and was alone therein until the 1st of July, 1912, when he entered into his present partnership relations. He is recognized as one of the strong and able members of the bar among the younger practitioners, and his experience and study are continually promoting his knowledge and ability. Aside from his profession he is financially interested in several joint stock companies and has extensive real-estate investments.

Mr. Lacasse has been married twice, on the 28th of September, 1903, to Eugénie Barbeau and on the 31st of March, 1913, to Miss Yvonne Barbeau, daughter of the late Godfroy Barbeau, a merchant of Ste. Geneviève county, P. Q. The four children of Mr. Lacasse are: Jean François Bernard, Jacques Vincent Ferrier, Joséphine Hélène Marcelle and Suzanne Andrée Victoire. The religious faith of the family is that of the Catholic church. The military experience of Mr. Lacasse covers more than three years’ service as commanding officer of St. Mary’s College Cadets from 1896 until 1898 inclusively. He was one of the winners in the cadets contest in 1893 for the Duke of Connaught prize, also in 1894 and 1895.

In politics he is a conservative and has made public battles for his principles in elections in the counties of Terrebonne, Jacques Cartier, Laval and Yamaska. However, the practice of law he considers his real life work, regarding it as abundantly worthy of his best efforts, and in his chosen profession he has made continuous and gratifying progress.

FRANK BULLER, M. D., C. M.

Dr. Frank Buller was one of the most celebrated ophthalmologists of the new world, occupying, as practitioner and educator, a position in which he had few peers. His scientific research and his broad reading gave him a knowledge far superior to that of many able members of the profession, and in the wise utilization of his time and talents he made valuable contributions to the world’s work.

Dr. Buller was born at Campbellford, Ontario, May 4, 1844, a son of Charles G. and Frances Elizabeth (Boucher) Buller, of Hillside, Campbellford. After attending the high school at Peterboro, from which he graduated in due time, he took up the study of medicine in Victoria College at Cobourg, completing his course with the class of 1869. He then went to Germany, where he spent two years in the study of the eye, ear, nose and throat, acquainting himself with the advanced methods of eminent men in the profession. While at the University of Berlin he received close personal instruction from Von Helmholtz and Von Graefe, and, during the Franco-German war, served as assistant surgeon in a number of military hospitals of northern Germany. In 1872 Dr. Buller went to London and studied for some years in “Moorfields”--the Royal London Ophthalmic Hospital. He was for two years chief house surgeon of this hospital, and he introduced to London the “direct” method of ophthalmoscopy. In England he became a member of the Royal College of Surgeons. Dr. Buller began practice in Montreal in 1876 and rapidly advanced to a foremost position in his profession. For seventeen years he was the opthalmic and aural surgeon in the Montreal General Hospital and resigned to take the same position in the Royal Victoria Hospital. He was the first ophthalmologist to be appointed to the General Hospital--and so remarkably recent is the development of opthalmology in the new world that, prior to that time, every physician and surgeon treated his eye cases in his own clinic. For many years Dr. Buller was professor of ophthalmology and otology in McGill University, being appointed professor when the chair was founded in 1883. He was equally able in his large private practice and enjoyed an ever widening reputation. Dr. Buller received the English degree of M. R. C. S.

Dr. Buller was a powerfully built man, restless and very energetic. His students used to say of him, “Buller is a great teacher, but he wears us out.” He was forever engaged in arduous mental work but also took keen interest in matters outside of his profession. He was frank, straightforward and kind--a strong generous nature.

Dr. Buller married Elizabeth Belton Langlois, of Quebec, who died November 20, 1895. By this marriage there were two children, Marguerite and Cecil. In 1898 he married Miss Jean Brien, of New York, and they had three children, Francis, Audrey and James, the latter dying in 1909.

Dr. Buller was a member of the Church of England. He died October 11, 1905. He was followed to the grave by the entire medical profession of Montreal and numerous physicians from a distance. Also many of the city’s poor were present at the obsequies--a fact which, had he been able to know it, would have touched that great heart which had so keenly felt their sorrows.

A colleague of Dr. Buller writes as follows: “In very delicate cases, where he feared to trust patients in the hands of untrained attendants, and they were too poor to hire professional nurses, he has been known to stay with the patients all night, after an operation, and attend to the dressing himself, lest the eye, so tender and in such a precarious condition, might suffer needless pain or be injured through a slight mistake.”

“Dr. Buller will be especially remembered because of three inventions: (1) the Buller eye-shield (composed of a watch-crystal and strips of sticking-plaster and oftenest employed to protect an unaffected eye when its fellow is afflicted with gonorrheal infection). (2) Temporary tying of the cacalieuli for the prevention of wound infection in operations on the eye-ball. (3) The Buller trial frame. Yet his inventions and investigations were very numerous and, for the most part, successful in every way. Thus, concerning his investigation into ‘Methyl Alcohol Blindness,’ conducted jointly with Dr. Casey A. Wood, De Schweintz declares the work to be ‘by far the most important contribution to the subject and one to which too high praise cannot be given.’” Scientists, members of the profession and all mankind delighted to honor him because of what he had accomplished. High above any desire for pecuniary reward was his deep interest in humanity and an earnest purpose to make his life a serviceable one to his fellowmen.

WILLIAM WATSON OGILVIE.

Foremost among those men whose life’s record seems an inseparable part of Canada’s industrial and commercial growth during the period of their activities, is that of William Watson Ogilvie, whose identification with the milling business covered a period of nearly a half century. The position of Mr. Ogilvie in this important industry was unquestionably at the head. He did more to develop it than any other man before or since his time, and the great success he achieved was fully merited.

William W. Ogilvie was born at Cote St. Michel, Montreal, February 14, 1835, of Scotch ancestry, and belonged to the Banffshire family of that name. He received his education in Montreal schools, and in entering on a business career chose that which was his by inheritance, the milling business.

His grandfather, Alexander, erected in 1801, a mill at Jacques Cartier, near Quebec, where was ground the first flour under British rule that was ever exported to Europe. This old mill was really the foundation of the immense business that was built up by W. W. Ogilvie. In 1860 he entered into partnership with his brothers, Alexander and John, grain merchants and proprietors of a mill at Lachine Rapids. The growth of the business was soon responsible for the building of the Glenora Flour Mills on the Lachine canal. The business continued to grow, and the Ogilvies erected mills at Goderich and Seaforth, Ontario and Winnipeg, Manitoba; and later, the Royal Mills at Montreal. The three brothers operated together until 1874, when the elder brother retired, and on the death of his brother, John, in 1888 the entire business management devolved upon William W. Ogilvie, whose well developed powers were entirely adequate to the demands made upon him in the further control and management of this extensive enterprise, of which he became the head. In addition to the properties mentioned, Mr. W. W. Ogilvie afterward purchased the City Mills, Montreal, and at the time of his death had accepted plans for a very large mill at Fort William. Some years previous to his demise to facilitate the administration of his western business, the Ogilvie Milling Company of Winnipeg was formed in which Mr. Ogilvie was the dominant factor. The Ogilvie Flour Mills Company, of the present, was organized in 1903 and is practically the successor of the Ogilvie Milling Company and various other interests in this line, belonging to Mr. Ogilvie’s estate.