Part 22

On May 30, 1911, at Montreal, Mr. Hurtubise was united in marriage to Miss Yvette Brault, a daughter of H. A. A. Brault, a well known notary of this city. In his political views Mr. Hurtubise is independent, preferring to entirely follow his judgment in support of candidates. His religious faith is that of the Catholic church. Fraternally he is a member of La Fontaine Council of the Knights of Columbus. Yet a young man, Gabriel Hurtubise has already made his mark in the world and has taken his place in business circles of Montreal. Ambition has been the beacon light of his life and his career again is proof of the fact that ambition, coupled with industry and energy, will lead to success.

GEORGE BROWNING CRAMP, K. C.

George Browning Cramp was for many years a veteran member of the Montreal bar and a distinguished representative of the profession, his opinions being largely accepted as authority on questions of real-estate law, in which department of jurisprudence he specialized. He was born in England in 1833, a son of Rev. J. M. Cramp, who came to Montreal to accept a position at the Baptist College. For years he was at the head of Acadia University in Nova Scotia and was one of the prominent educators in the maritime provinces.

In the schools of England and of Nova Scotia George B. Cramp pursued his education and qualified for the bar as a student in the law office of J. J. Day, K. C., an eminent member of the bar. Thorough and careful preliminary training resulted in his being called to the bar about 1855 and he entered upon active practice in connection with his former preceptor. The latter had been called to the bar in 1837 and was one of the most distinguished lawyers of Montreal at an early day. Following his retirement, Mr. Cramp entered upon active professional association with A. F. Lunn, K. C., under the style of Lunn & Cramp, a connection that was continued until the death of Mr. Lunn in 1894. Four years later, or in 1898, Mr. Cramp was joined by J. Armitage Ewing, K. C., under the style of Cramp & Ewing, and two years later they admitted George S. McFadden, at which time the firm name was changed to Cramp, Ewing & McFadden. This relation was maintained until the death of the senior partner, who was then in his eightieth year. While well versed in the various departments of the law, he specialized in the field of real estate and became an expert on legal questions relative thereto. He was regarded as an expert in the matter of titles. He was retained in a consulting capacity by such corporations as McGill University, Liverpool & London & Globe Insurance Company, the Montreal Loan & Mortgage Company, and the White Star Dominion Line. He remained throughout his entire professional career an active and discriminating student of law, constantly broadening his knowledge by reading and investigation, as well as experience.

Mr. Cramp held membership in the Mount Royal Club and the St. James Club and was a casual attendant of the Olivet Baptist church. For many years Mr. Cramp spent the summer season at Saratoga, New York, or at Lachine, while his city residence was at No. 62 McTavish Street, where his sister, the last survivor of the family, now resides. He passed away February 16, 1913, at the age of eighty years, leaving behind him the record of a well spent life, in which he had wisely employed his time and talents.

THOMAS PRINGLE.

High on the list of mechanical and hydraulic engineers appears the name of Thomas Pringle. Scientific study, investigation and experience brought him to the enviable position which he long occupied, making his word authority upon many problems relating to the profession. He was born in Huntingdon, province of Quebec, in 1830, and died in Montreal on the 7th day of May, 1911. His father, David Pringle, was a farmer of Huntingdon and it was there that the son was reared and educated, but in 1850, when a young man of twenty years, he engaged in business in Montreal as a milling engineer and for many years was prominently connected with many water power developments and mill building operations throughout Canada. Every phase of the milling business seemed familiar to him and each forward step that he made seemed to bring him a wider outlook and broader opportunities. He later interested himself in the Montgomery Cotton Mills, the Hochelaga and St. Ann’s Mills, of the Dominion Cotton Company, and the Magog Print Mills, owned by the same corporation. His connection with all these different important projects constituted him a forceful factor in the industrial development of the country. He was thus associated with many of the chief productive industries of Canada and beyond this he became one of the foremost consulting engineers. It was in the ‘60s that his attention was first attracted to the water power possibilities of the Lachine Rapids, which were subsequently utilized by the Lachine Rapids Hydraulic & Land Company. At that early date, now more than half a century ago, he made preliminary plans and wrote a report upon the feasibility of the development in the interests of Hugh Fraser, founder of the Fraser Institute. Mr. Pringle predicted then that the water power would some day be used and he lived to see the day when the prediction was fulfilled. In 1891 he was again asked to report on this power in the interest of the Royal Electric Company, and the following year was asked to report on the Chambly water power for the same concern. In 1892 his eldest son was admitted to the business under the firm style of T. Pringle & Son, hydraulic engineers, and during the succeeding three years close observations were made and much data accumulated concerning the water power resources of the country, the firm being regarded as authority upon many questions relative thereto.

Mr. Pringle retired from the firm in 1898 but the business has since been continued by his son under the same name. His services were greatly sought, owing to his sound judgment, his scientific attainments, his keen insight, and his practical experience. He was considered the soul of honor and none ever questioned his integrity. He assisted many men to gain a start in life and many others were benefited by his powers of perception and keen insight. His services were in constant demand as an arbitrator when insurance companies were concerned in milling matters. John McDougall took delight in giving him credit for the creation of the large McDougall fortune and others acknowledged their indebtedness to him in a similar way. As a natural mathematician he perhaps had no superior in all Canada and he was regarded as one of the most distinguished members of the Canadian Society of Civil Engineers.

In 1861 Mr. Pringle was united in marriage to Miss Catherine Ross, a daughter of Alexander and Isabella (Lang) Ross, of Chateauquay Basin. The mother, who came from Scotland in 1832, made her home at Chateauquay Basin, until death called her at the notable old age of ninety-seven years. Alexander Ross was a builder and assisted in the construction of the locks at Lachine Canal but his death occurred when he was yet a young man. Mr. and Mrs. Pringle had two sons: David Alexander, a mechanical engineer of Montreal; and R. E. T. Pringle, of Toronto, an electrical engineer.

ANDREW JOSEPH DAWES.

One of Montreal’s foremost business men, whose prominent identification with the financial and industrial life of this city has made him an important factor in business circles, is Andrew J. Dawes, president of the National Breweries, Ltd., and also president of Dawes & Company, Ltd. The latter is the oldest established industrial institution in the Dominion, and was founded more than a century ago by Thomas A. Dawes, the grandfather of Andrew J. Dawes, who was the first of the family to leave England and settle in Canada.

Thomas A. Dawes was first connected with the brewery at River St. Pierre. Ambitious to engage in business on his own account, he established the Dawes Brewery in 1811, placed it upon a substantial and profitable basis and was later joined in its management by his sons, Thomas A. and James P., who were admitted to a partnership in the business. When James P. Dawes passed away in 1878 his share in the business passed to his two sons, James P. Dawes, Jr., and Andrew J. Dawes, who then became associated with their uncle, Thomas A. Dawes, in continuing the business which developed steadily until it became one of the most extensive enterprises of its kind in the Dominion.

Thomas Dawes, Jr., son of Thomas Dawes, the founder of the family in Canada, was familiarly and affectionately styled Tom throughout Lachine and wherever he was known. He there resided for nearly eighty years and it was said that such was the regularity of his habits that one could tell the time of day by his actions. He always took the same train into town each morning and the same walk in the evening and visited the bank at the same hour each day. His life was to the utmost methodical and systematic, and he was modest in demeanor and of retiring disposition. He occupied a beautiful home on the river bank of Lachine with his maiden sister. There he passed away on the 14th of May, 1908, when he was in the seventy-ninth year of his age, his birth having occurred in Lachine on the 19th of September, 1829.

James P. Dawes, Sr., another son of Thomas Dawes, the founder of the family in Canada, married a Miss Leishman, who died in 1856, leaving three sons, James P., Andrew J. and Thomas A. James P. Dawes, Sr., was prominently identified with the business during his active life, and contributed his part towards its progress and expansion. He died in 1878. His son, Andrew Joseph Dawes is now at the head of the mammoth business, which had its inception in the brain of his grandfather and took on material form through his efforts, and grew and developed through the labor of representatives of the family in intermediate generations to the present.

To accumulate a fortune requires one kind of genius; to retain a fortune already acquired, to add to its legitimate increment and to make such use of it that its possessor may derive therefrom the greatest enjoyment and the public the greatest benefit, requires another kind of genius. Mr. Dawes belongs to that generation of business men called upon to shoulder responsibilities differing materially from those that rested upon their predecessors. In a broader field of enterprise they find themselves obliged to deal with affairs of greater magnitude and to solve more difficult and complicated financial and economic problems. Such is the position in which Andrew J. Dawes found himself and he has proven at all times equal to the occasion and the demands made upon him.

Born in Lachine, June 15, 1846, he received his education in that town, and also in Montreal. His business career began early in connection with the interests of his father and on the death of that parent he assumed additional responsibilities in the business, which have been continued to the present time. Mr. Dawes has been a prominent factor in the development of the business. With its gradual growth facilities were increased, new buildings were added and the plant has thus expanded until it is represented by immense blocks of buildings, covering several acres on each side of the main street in Lachine. Aside from his extensive interests in the brewery business, Andrew J. Dawes is prominently identified with various projects and organizations for the development and improvement of the province along horticultural and agricultural lines, being especially interested in the subject of fruit growing.

He is a director of the Montreal Horticultural and Fruit Growing Association; is president of the Council of Agriculture of the Province of Canada, and at one time was president of the Lachine Horticultural Association. He is a director of the Merchants Bank and holds the same official position in regard to the London and Lancashire Fire Insurance Company, Ltd. He is well known in social and club circles and was president of the Auto Club of Canada from 1903 to 1906, while his membership relations extend to the Mount Royal, St. James, Forest and Stream, Royal Montreal Golf, Royal St. Lawrence Yacht, Montreal Hunt, Auto and Aero, Montreal Jockey, Montreal Polo, and St. George Snow Shoe Clubs and to the Rideau Club of Ottawa.

Mr. Dawes married Miss Mary O. A. Wilgress, of Lachine, and they have two daughters: Rachel M., the wife of F. L. Bond, of Montreal; and Frances H., the wife of B. Hazen Porteous, of Montreal.

A man of unusual energy whose exceptionally well preserved physical condition enables him to display a capacity for business more becoming to one twenty years his junior, success has made possible for Mr. Dawes the enjoyment of many social pleasures and interests. Yet prominent club man, that he is, Mr. Dawes’ first interest is the extensive business of which he is the controlling head and he is everywhere recognized as a forceful, resourceful man, ready to meet any emergency and ever looking beyond the exigencies of the moment to the opportunities and possibilities of the future.

T. STERRY HUNT, LL. D., F. R. S.

It is a trite saying that there is always room at the top, for while the lower ranks of life are crowded, comparatively few have the ambition and the energy to climb to the heights in connection with business or professional interests. Recognizing and utilizing his opportunities and wisely employing his time and talents, T. Sterry Hunt became recognized as one of the eminent Canadian scientists, his ability winning for him the unusual honor of being made a fellow of the Royal Society of London. He was born in Norwich, Connecticut, September 5, 1826, a representative of an old New England family. It was his parents’ desire that he should become a representative of the medical profession, but a strong inclination toward the study of chemistry, mineralogy and geology prevented him from becoming a physician. In 1845 he pursued his studies under Professor Benjamin Silliman of Yale University and later became his assistant. His constantly expanding powers marked him a man above the ordinary and distinguished honors came to him as the years passed. As early as 1846 the result of his original research work was published in an article which he wrote for the American Journal of Science. When the Geological Survey of Canada, then recently organized by Mr. (later Sir) William E. Logan, required the service of a competent chemist and mineralogist, Mr. Logan applied to Professor Silliman to supply the man and Mr. Hunt was recommended for the position, which he accepted early in 1847. His connection with the survey continued until 1872, when, much against the wish of the government, he resigned. His work embraced a large amount of field geology. The most difficult problems presented by the geological formation of Canada are those of its crystalline rocks. To this study Mr. Hunt addressed himself from the beginning and made the first clear exposition ever presented of the earlier rocks of the country. He afterward gave the names of Laurentian and Huronian to these rocks and in his investigations, analyses and scientific research laid the foundation of what he regarded as his life work. He also gave constant attention to the economic and practical departments of the survey and was the first to make known the deposits of phosphate of lime in Canada and call attention to its commercial value for fertilizing purposes, collecting and sending specimens of the same to the foreign exhibits of 1851, 1855 and 1867. He analyzed soils, investigated the petroleums of Canada and their distribution, and his studies of the mineral waters of the Dominion were the first and most complete ever made. His work in many respects constituted the foundation, basis and stimulus of all later investigation.

During his connection with the survey work Mr. Hunt took part in the great exhibitions of 1856 and 1867, acting as judge at both, while his services in a similar connection were sought at the Centennial Exposition in Philadelphia in 1876. His fame was world-wide as the result of his investigations and researches were made known, for he took the lead in much pioneer geological work on the North American continent.

From 1856 until 1862 Dr. Hunt was professor of chemistry at Laval University in Quebec and was continued as one of its honorary professors until his death. His annual course of instruction there comprised forty lectures in the French language and for some years he was also lecturer at McGill University. In 1872 he accepted the chair of geology in the Massachusetts Institute of Technology in Boston, there remaining until 1878, when he resigned in order to concentrate his efforts upon further study and professional work. His scientific attainments have gained him recognition both on the American and European continents. Harvard University created him Master of Arts in 1852 and from Laval and McGill Universities he received the degree of Doctor of Science. In 1881 he had the unusual honor of receiving the degree of Doctor of Laws from Cambridge University of England, and in special recognition of his eminence as a geologist he was created a fellow of the Royal Society of London in 1859. In 1874 he was elected to membership in the National Academy of Sciences of the United States and in 1882 he was one of those called upon by the Marquis of Lorne to aid in the organization of the New Royal Society of Canada, becoming that year chief of the section of physical and mathematical sciences. In 1884 he was elected its president. Thus year after year honors were conferred upon him--honors well merited yet worn with becoming modesty. He was one of the founders of the American Association for the Advancement of Science at Philadelphia and in 1870 was elected to its presidency. He was also an early member of the American Institute of Mining Engineers and was its president in 1877, while in 1880 he became the founder and president of the American Chemical Society. Among the decorations conferred upon him was that of the Legion of Honor, bestowed by Napoleon III, and the cross of St. Mauritius and St. Lazarus from the king of Italy. He contributed much to scientific literature and was a well known lecturer on scientific subjects. He frequently went abroad for study, spending much time in that way in Great Britain, Switzerland and Italy. A chemical green ink which he invented in 1859 was the cause of giving the name of greenbacks to American currency. His explorations on the American continent had extended from the Gulf of St. Lawrence southward to the Gulf of Mexico and westward to the Pacific.

In January, 1878, Dr. Hunt was married to Miss Anna Rebecca Gale, the eldest daughter of Justice Samuel Gale of Montreal, who was judge of the court of queen’s bench for Lower Canada. His wife was Mary M. Hawley, who was born in Montreal and was educated in this city and abroad. One of their daughters became the Baroness von Friesen, of Dresden. After the death of the father in 1865, Mrs. Hunt traveled extensively in Europe in company with her two sisters. She is the author of one or two volumes of poems of considerable merit, so that her name, like her husband’s, is known in literary circles. Dr. Hunt passed away in February, 1892. His contribution to the world’s work was a valuable one. His investigation, research and native intelligence constituted the key which unlocked for us many of the portals beyond which lay nature’s mysteries. The earth and its construction were largely to him an open book and he made it a readable volume for others, placing his investigations before mankind in a way that has constituted the foundation for further research.

LIEUTENANT COLONEL FREDERICK WILLIAM HIBBARD.

Lieutenant Colonel Frederick William Hibbard has been frequently before the public as a speaker and writer upon topics of public interest. Although never a candidate he was for years a participant in both federal and provincial politics and has appeared on numerous public occasions both in the province of Quebec and in that of Ontario. He is the senior member of the firm of Hibbard, Boyer & Gosselin, and a successful member of the Montreal bar. Ireland claims him as a native son, his birth having occurred in Dublin on the 19th of October, 1865. His father was the late Lieutenant Colonel Ashley Hibbard, of Montreal, and his mother was Sarah Ann Hibbard, the second daughter of the Rev. Ambrose Lane, M. A., perpetual curate of St. Thomas, Pendleton, Manchester, England.

After spending some years under private instruction, Lieutenant Colonel F. W. Hibbard entered McGill University, where he took his Bachelor of Arts degree in 1886. After a couple of years spent in teaching he returned to the university for the study of law, graduating as B. C. L. in 1891. In addition to the degree of B. C. L. received in that year he was also gold medallist. In 1892 he received the degree of M. A. He began practice as a barrister in 1893 and was created king’s counsel in 1907. His advancement at the bar has been continuous and long since he left the ranks of the many to stand among the successful few. From 1907 until 1910 he was crown prosecutor for the district of Montreal, and his clientele of a private character has been extensive and important. In literary circles he is known and has given papers and addresses upon a number of subjects. In 1903 he was president of the St. James Literary Society of Montreal. His popularity as a lecturer is based both upon the entertaining and the instructive nature of his discourses. He has addressed various audiences upon the following comprehensive subjects:--Canadian Constitutional Government, The Land Defence of Canada, The Value of Organized Effort in Municipal Affairs, The Prophecy of the West, and Canadians at Home and Abroad. He is not merely a theorist, for his ideas have many times taken practical, tangible form, and in 1910 his fitness for the position led to his appointment to the presidency of the Quebec public utilities commission. In military circles his name is known, for he holds a first class certificate from the Royal School of Artillery, and in 1894 joined the Second Regiment Canadian Artillery as a lieutenant. He was advanced to the rank of captain in 1895, major in 1897, lieutenant colonel in command in 1901 and R. O. in 1906. He was one of the artillery officers of the Second Canadian Contingent at Queen Victoria’s Jubilee, received the Diamond Jubilee medal from the hand of King Edward, and was presented to the late Queen Victoria at Windsor Castle. In 1900 he was elected to the presidency of the Montreal Military Institute and in 1905 became vice president of the Dominion Artillery Association.

Lieutenant Colonel Hibbard was married in November, 1898, to Miss Emily Laura Baker, the third daughter of Joseph S. Baker, of Dunham, P. Q. He finds recreation in golf and has been president of the Outremont Golf Club. He is a member of the St. James and University Clubs and the Quebec Garrison Club. A liberal in politics, he has been active in support of the principles of his party, recognizing the duties and obligations as well as the privileges of citizenship. In religious belief is an Anglican, having twice served as warden of his church, is a member of the synod of Montreal and of the executive committee of the diocese. Mr. D. A. Lafortune, his colleague as crown prosecutor, has characterized him as “a man of dignity and learning.” His lifelong habit of study and investigation, his deep and continuous interest in important public questions, and his earnest purpose, prompting him to action in behalf of the public welfare, have made him a citizen of value in advancing progress and working toward that better ordering of things which is always the goal of progress.