Part 32

A scholar, a deep thinker and a broadly educated man, Mr. Gordon has long been an ardent student of Oriental languages and literature and has paid particular attention to the language of his own race, in which he is thoroughly proficient. In 1909 he was appointed lecturer on rabbinical and mediæval Jewish literature and instructor in Semitic languages at McGill University and in this position has done a great deal to promote a more general interest in these subjects and a more widespread knowledge of the customs, language and traditions of the Jews. An ardent champion of his race and an upholder of its creed, a foe to the injustices and wrongs which have continually oppressed it, he has supported the cause of the Hebrew people on every occasion and one of the most eloquent and telling appeals on behalf of the nationalization of the Plains of Abraham came from him. The people of Temple Emmanu-El are fortunate in having at their head a man so fearless in conviction, so able in argument, so uncompromising in support of his professed beliefs, and the city of Montreal is fortunate also, having in Rabbi Gordon an upright, public-spirited and loyal citizen.

EDOUARD CHOLETTE.

Edouard Cholette, a member of the notarial profession of Montreal, is a representative of one of the oldest French families of the city, tracing his ancestry back to Sebastian Cholette, who was born in 1679 and was married in Montreal on the 19th of October, 1705, to Miss Anne Hard. They became the parents of a large family. Edouard Cholette, born in Montreal on the 3d of April, 1880, is a son of L. E. A. and Marie Antoinette (Le Sieur) Cholette, and in the acquirement of his education attended St. Mary’s College, from which he was graduated in June, 1899. He completed a course in Laval University in June, 1903, winning the Bachelor of Arts degree for work done in the classical course and the Master of Laws degree, indicative of his preparation for the profession which he now follows. Since his graduation he has practiced in Montreal as a notary public and has been accorded liberal support.

In religious faith Mr. Cholette is a Roman Catholic. He is well known socially in the city where his entire life has been spent and is a valued member of the Canadian and St. Denis Clubs.

CARL RIORDON.

As vice president and managing director of the Riordon Pulp & Paper Company, Ltd., Carl Riordon occupies an important position in the commercial life of the city. He was born June 3, 1876, at St. Catharines, Ontario, and is a son of Charles and Edith (Ellis) Riordon. Carl Riordon was educated at Upper Canada College, Bishop Ridley College and Toronto University, where he took the degree of B. A. in 1896. He entered business fields in the Merritton mill, a property of the Riordon Paper Mills in St. Catharines, becoming connected with the sulphite department. He did work in the various departments of the concern and subsequently took charge of the repairs which were made on the Hawkesbury mill, of which he later became superintendent. In 1902 he returned to the Merritton mill in the capacity of manager and in 1906 was made general manager of the Riordon Paper Mills, which concern absorbed the business of G. H. Perley & Company in 1910, the firm adopting the name of the Riordon Paper Company and establishing headquarters at Montreal. In 1912 the Riordon Pulp & Paper Company took over the business of the former company. It is one of the foremost concerns of its kind in the Dominion. Mr. Riordon is vice president and managing director and is also director of The Mail Printing Company of Toronto and the Niagara Falls Suspension Bridge Company.

Mr. Riordon has an interesting military record to his credit, being gazetted second lieutenant in the Nineteenth St. Catharines Infantry Regiment in 1898. He was made captain in the following year and in 1901 became quartermaster with the honorary rank of captain. For some time he led B Company of that regiment. He retired in 1904.

Carl Riordon married on June 23, 1900, Miss Amy Louise Paterson, a daughter of the late Rev. Charles Paterson, of Port Hope, Ontario. To this union have been born five children: Charles Harold, Edith Amy, John Eric Benson, Mary Kathleen and Peter Hamilton.

In his religious faith Mr. Riordon is an Anglican. He is prominent in clubdom, being a member of the Mount Royal, the St. James, the University and the Hunt Clubs of Montreal; the Toronto Club of Toronto; and the British Empire Club of London, England. He also is a member of the Alpha Delta Phi Club of New York city. His political views incline him toward the conservative party and although his commercial interests are so extensive as to prevent active participation in governmental affairs, he shows great interest in matters of public importance. In the world of paper making his name is well known and he is considered one of the foremost authorities along that line. At a comparatively early age he has attained a position of importance and distinction. He is shrewd, able, energetic and technically highly trained and his success therefore is but natural, being typical of the younger Canadian business men of the most modern and progressive tendencies.

LAWRENCE LEOPOLD HENDERSON.

Among the successful business men of Montreal is Lawrence Leopold Henderson, general manager of the Montreal Transportation Company. He was born in Kingston, Ontario, March 5, 1866, a son of Peter Robertson and Henrietta Jane (Sweetland) Henderson, the former a merchant of Kingston, born in Aberdeen, Scotland, and the latter of English ancestry. The father died in 1895 and the mother in 1896.

Lawrence L. Henderson received his education in private schools and in the collegiate institute at Kingston. In 1884, at the age of eighteen, he entered the employ of the Montreal Transportation Company as a clerk. Devoting himself assiduously to the work at hand, he was promoted from position to position in the various departments of the institution until he became in 1896 agent at Kingston. In January, 1909, he was made general manager and at that time left Kingston for Montreal, having since occupied this important position. Mr. Henderson is a director of the National Real-Estate and Investment Company of Montreal, the Montreal Transportation Company, the Montreal Dry Docks and Ship Repairing Company, the Rothesay Realty Company, and president of the Dominion Marine Association. He is also a member of the Montreal Board of Trade.

While in Kingston Mr. Henderson was a member of the city council from 1907 to 1908 and of the school board from 1904 to 1906. He also served on the executive of the Dominion Marine Association. He was prominent as a member of the Board of Trade of Kingston and upon leaving that town was presented with a handsome silver salver on behalf of the board and with a silver loving cup by the employes of the company.

He is a member of the Canada Club, the Engineers Club, the St. George Snowshoe Club, the Canadian Club of Montreal, the Country Club of Montreal, the Frontenac Club of Kingston, the Kingston Curling Club, and the Heather Club of Westmount.

On April 30, 1890, Mr. Henderson was married to Miss Jennie Lena Spencer, a daughter of the late L. B. Spencer, of Kingston. Their children are Lawrence Spencer, Mabel Spencer, Ruth Sweetland, Kenneth Robertson, Florence Lillian and Jean Lewis.

ALBERT PIERRE FRIGON.

Various corporate interests have felt the stimulus of the cooperation and enterprising spirit of Albert Pierre Frigon, who today stands in a prominent place on the stage of financial activity in Montreal, his native city. He was born on the 14th of June, 1872, a son of Benjamin and Philomene (Cassan) Frigon, the former a general contractor for more than thirty years. Both he and his wife are still living. The ancestors of the family were all from France and the genealogy can be traced back to the fifteenth century.

Albert P. Frigon was educated in the Catholic commissioner’s school, Archambault’s, where he was graduated with the class of 1888. Crossing the threshold of business life, he became bookkeeper for P. P. Mailloux, a hardware merchant on St. Paul Street in Montreal, with whom he remained for thirteen years, his capability and fidelity being attested by his long connection with the house. He resigned in 1901 to become business and financial manager for the Seminary of St. Sulpice of Montreal and in the intervening years to the present his activities have constantly broadened in scope and importance. He is now a controlling figure in various corporate interests and has large investments in others. At the present writing he is a member of the firm of St. Cyr, Gonthier & Frigon, bankers and brokers, is vice president of Viauville Lands, Ltd., president of the Star Realty Company, president of the Compagnie Immobilière d’Outre-Mer, president of the Canadian Siegwart Beam Company of Three Rivers, vice president of the New Ontario Oil & Gas Company, Ltd., president of the Société de Construction Lafontaine, president of the executive board of the General Animals Insurance Company, president l’Immobilière du Canada, vice president of the France-Canada Company, president of St. Francis-Valley Railway Company and president of the St. Francis Construction Company. This recital of his connections indicates clearly the breadth of his interests and of his capabilities. In various companies he is bending his energies to administrative direction and executive control and he possesses notable power in unifying and coordinating seemingly diverse elements into a harmonious and resultant whole. His opinion upon complex and involved financial problems is ever accepted with respect and consideration by those well qualified to judge thereof. He is the vice president of the General Trust Company of Canada, president of Comité de Surveillance Caisse Nationale d’Economie and is a member of the board of La Chambre de Commerce of Montreal.

Mr. Frigon’s activities also extend to various public interests which have no bearing upon his individual prosperity but arise from a deep interest in the general welfare. He votes with the liberal party but takes no active part in politics. He is a gouverneur à vie de l’Hôpital Notre Dame and he belongs to Société St. Jean Baptiste. He is also a Knight of Columbus and one of the most sincere, earnest and enthusiastic workers of the order, in which he has held a number of offices. His religious faith is indicated in the fact that he is a past president of a number of Roman Catholic societies. Along more strictly social lines he is connected with the St. Denis and Canadian Clubs. Of the former he is a life member and has also been a life member since 1901 of the Montreal Amateur Athletic Association. He is an honorary member of the Sixty-fifth Regiment. His official municipal service has been that of mayor of the new village of Sault au Récollet, to which office he was called in February, 1910, and as school commissioner of the same village, to which position he was chosen in August, 1913.

On the 18th of April, 1898, in Montreal, Mr. Frigon was married to Miss Malvina Perreault, a daughter of Jérémie and Victoria (Saint Dizier) Perreault, both of whom are now deceased. Her father was for a term of years alderman of the city of Montreal and president of l’Association St. Jean Baptiste of Montreal. For thirty years he conducted business here as a dry-goods merchant. Mr. and Mrs. Frigon are the parents of two children: Jeanne, born in Montreal on the 12th of February, 1899; and Germaine, on the 12th of November, 1900.

Mr. Frigon is a most enthusiastic supporter of his native city, in which his entire life has been passed, taking keen interest in its progress and having firm belief in the great future. He has been an untiring worker for the construction of the Georgian Bay canal, acting as president of the special commission appointed by the Chamber of Commerce of Montreal to take charge of that project. In all of his public as well as his private connections he has been a man of action rather than of theory, formulating his plans carefully and carrying them forward to successful termination.

HUGH MACKAY.

On the list of Montreal’s lawyers appears the name of Hugh Mackay, who in 1913, was created king’s counsel. His practice covers a period of fourteen years, in which he has made continuous advancement. He was born in Montreal in 1875, a son of the Hon. Robert Mackay. His early educational opportunities were supplemented by a course in McGill, where he was graduated in 1900, with the B. C. L. degree. He has since practiced as an advocate in his native city, and his professional career has been one of growing success, a liberal and distinctively representative clientage being now accorded him.

Mr. Mackay was married in 1903 in Montreal to Miss Isabel, a daughter of J. N. Greenshield, K. C.

Mr. Mackay’s military history covers service as a captain of the Royal Highlanders, and he is widely and favorably known in military, professional and social circles, having many warm friends in this city where his entire life has been passed.

ANDRE ODORIE RONDEAU.

Capable, earnest and conscientious, and well versed in the knowledge of the law, André Odorie Rondeau enjoys a large practice, especially among the French citizenship of Montreal, ably representing valuable French interests in the local courts. A man of sound judgment and logical reasoning, he readily discerns the moving factor in any legal situation and presents his views and conclusions so concisely that he seldom fails to convince court or jury. He is gifted with all the qualities of which a lawyer may be proud and has a deep insight into human nature, understanding the springs of human conduct, which qualities assist him in his work. As the years have passed he has come more and more to the fore in his profession and is now recognized as an authority upon many subjects of the law.

Born at St. Marcel, in the county of Richelieu, on the 8th of June, 1876, André O. Rondeau is the son of Louis Rondeau, a successful agriculturist, who was born in the county of Berthier, and Lucie (Ouellette) Rondeau, a daughter of Godefroy Ouellette, born in St. Ours, in the county of Richelieu. Both parents are highly respected in their locality. The earliest record of the Rondeau family goes back to one Pierre Rondeau, a son of Jean, who married Catherine Verrier on September 30, 1669, at Ste. Famille, and had a large family. Another of these early records mentions Jacques Rondeau, born in 1663, who married Françoise Beaudry at Trois Rivières on November 6, 1691, and had a family of seven children.