Part 40

Joseph P. Beaudry was born in Ottawa, Ontario, a son of Joseph and Alphonsine (Valiquette) Beaudry. The father, a wood manufacturer, was born at Three Rivers, while the mother was a native of Quebec.

Reared in his native town, Mr. Beaudry after attending school there, completed his educational training by taking a commercial course. Taking up the printing business, he began at the bottom and was gradually advanced from one capacity to another of greater importance, successfully filling the positions of foreman, superintendent, manager and traveling representative for some of the largest printing houses in Montreal. While he had become well known in this line of business and enjoyed a high standing among those connected with it, Mr. Beaudry concluded that the real-estate business afforded better opportunities, and in 1909 he decided to enter it. The wisdom of his judgment in this move has been fully shown in the success that has come to him. He has formed a number of successful real-estate companies and has come to be known as a shrewd judge of realty values.

The Beaudry Realty Company, of which he is manager, is generally known to carry the largest list of city lots and property among the French real-estate firms in the city. This firm’s extensive clientele is not confined to Montreal, but branches out into a great many towns throughout the province of Quebec.

Mr. Beaudry is a director of seven different real-estate companies, all limited concerns and formed by him. He is a member of the Canadian Club, also the Automobile Club, belongs as well to the Sixty-fifth Regiment and holds membership in the Commercial Travellers Association. In political matters his interest is that of a business man, and he votes with the conservative party, while in his religious connection he is a Roman Catholic.

On May 25, 1897, he was married to Alexina Senecal, a daughter of Adolphe and Cordelia (Colletts) Senecal. Mr. Beaudry’s children are Alexina, Gabrielle, Guillaume, Jean-Rene and Raoul.

He has earned for himself a reputation as a careful man of business, and in his dealing is known for his prompt and honorable methods which have brought him success.

REV. JOHN E. DONNELLY.

Rev. John E. Donnelly, who since 1891 has been rector of St. Anthony’s parish, Montreal, one of the largest Irish Catholic congregations in the city, was born in this city, February 22, 1861, a son of the late Charles and Margaret (McAfee) Donnelly. He acquired his education in the local grammar schools and later entered Ste. Thérèse College, from which he was graduated with the degree of B. A. in the class of 1880. He afterward attended the Grand Seminary, where he received his theological training, graduating with the class of 1883. He was ordained in the following year and after spending three years as private secretary to Archbishop Fabre became connected with St. Anthony’s church as curate. He was made parish priest in 1891 and he has since had spiritual jurisdiction over the twelve thousand families which go to make up this large Irish Catholic parish in Montreal. St. Anthony’s church was founded in April, 1884, and the first rector was Joseph U. Leclerc. The present church building was erected in 1889 and the parish house in 1901. The church property is ably administered, Father Donnelly proving himself a capable, farsighted and energetic business man as well as a zealous, sincere and untiring servant of God.

Father Donnelly is an honorary member of the Shamrock Lacrosse Club and a great patron of athletics, and is familiarly and lovingly known as “Father John” among the people to whom his singleness of purpose, his high-mindedness and his constant geniality have so greatly endeared him. The Montreal Herald calls him “A skilled musician, a good preacher and a man justly considered a leader among the Irish Catholic clergy in the city.”

WILLIAM STIVEN PATERSON.

The story of the life of William Stiven Paterson is the story of honest industry and thrift. It is the record of a strong individuality, sure of itself, stable in purpose, quick in perception, swift in decision, energetic and persistent in action. A native of Dundee, Scotland, born April 16, 1841, Mr. Paterson was but one year old when brought to this country by his father, James Paterson, who lived in Upper Canada and there engaged on the river Humber, in the manufacture of blankets. He afterward removed to near Meaford, Ontario, where he engaged in farming, and there he died.

The public-school system of Canada afforded William S. Paterson his educational opportunities. After leaving home he spent one year in the oil fields of Pennsylvania, and then came to Montreal and eventually with the late J. T. Wilson formed the firm of Wilson, Paterson & Company of which he remained an active member until his death. The business developed as the years passed, owing to the progressive methods instituted in its conduct, and prosperity attended the labors of the partners.

In Montreal, in 1875, occurred the marriage of William S. Paterson, and Miss Electa C. Childs, daughter of Charles Childs, who came from Massachusetts in 1851 and engaged in the retail shoe business in Montreal. He became the pioneer in the manufacture of shoe lasts in this city and built up an extensive trade, in which he continued until his death in January, 1888. Mr. and Mrs. Paterson had a family of five children: Kate Elizabeth, who became the wife of R. B. Ross, Jr., secretary of the Mount Royal Milling Company, by whom she has three children; Dr. Robert C. Paterson, who is married and has two children; Charles S., a missionary in Calcutta, India; Arthur L., of The Wilson-Paterson Company, and who has two children; and E. Russell, secretary of the Boy Scouts.

Mr. Paterson was interested in outdoor sports, especially in fishing, and was a member of the Little Cascapedia Fishing Club and as a devotee of golf, a member of Westmount Golf Club. He belonged to the American Presbyterian church, in which he served as a trustee and elder, and his life was actuated by high and honorable principles. His record measured up to exalted standards of manhood and citizenship and when death called him on the 2d of June, 1907, he left behind him not only an excellent competence but an honored name. He never allowed personal interests or ambition to dwarf his public spirit or his activities, and he was prominent as a man whose constantly expanding powers took him from humble surroundings to fields of large enterprise and continually broadening opportunities.

REV. GEORGE DALY, C. SS. R.

Rev. George Daly, who since 1912 has been rector of St. Anne’s parish in Montreal, discharging his manifold duties in this connection in a way which reflects credit upon his religious zeal and his administrative ability alike, is a native son of the city, born September 5, 1872, his parents being William and Josephine (Morin) Daly. The father was born on the isle of Malta, where the grandfather, a native of County Cavan, Ireland, was an officer in the British army. William Daly came to Canada with the Forty-seventh Regiment Band in 1861 and was afterward in the employ of the Grand Trunk Railway Company for one year, resigning in order to accept the position of manager of the Point St. Charles branch of the City & District Savings Bank, a position which he held continuously for thirty-seven years, retiring from active life in 1909. He died May 19, 1913, and is survived by his wife. They were for many years members of St. Gabriel’s Catholic church. The following children were born to their union: William, who is a member of the firm of Daly & Morin, manufacturers in Montreal; George, of this review; Louisa, the wife of D. J. Byrne, of Leonard Brothers, wholesale fish dealers of this city; Elizabeth, a nun at Hotel Dieu, Montreal; Aileen, who resides with her mother; and Mary, Joseph, Alphonsus and Walter, all of whom have passed away.

Rev. George Daly acquired his education in the parochial schools of Montreal, which he attended until he was twelve years of age. He then entered Montreal College and in 1888 became a student at St. Trond, Belgium, where he remained five years. At the end of that time he went to Beau Plateau, in Belgium, studying seven years there, returning to Quebec at the end of that time and becoming a director in the Preparatory College at Ste. Anne de Beaupré, a position which he retained for twelve years. In 1900, previous to his return to Canada, he was ordained to the Catholic priesthood in Belgium and on the 2d of August, 1912, was made parish priest at St. Anne’s in Montreal. Here he has done excellent work during the two years of his incumbency, for he is a man of abiding faith, energy and religious zeal and, moreover, possesses unusual administrative and executive ability. He is a man of scholarly attainments, most earnest and consecrated in his work and is ever watchful over the interests of his people, whose love he holds in large measure, while he enjoys the respect of people of all denominations.

EDMOND BROSSARD.

One of the most able and deservedly successful barristers in Montreal at the present time is Edmond Brossard, practicing at the bar in partnership with Hon. P. E. Le Blanc, K. C., and connected through his important clientage with a great deal of notable litigation. He is numbered among Montreal’s native sons, his birth having occurred in this city on the 19th of December, 1873. His parents were Telesphore B. and Evelina (Turgeon) Brossard, the former for many years Dominion appraiser of His Majesty’s customs in this city. The family is of old French origin and of long Canadian establishment, having been founded in the Dominion by the ancestor who came to Canada with Maisonneuve in 1642.

In the acquirement of an education Edmond Brossard attended St. Mary’s Jesuit College and was afterward a student in Laval University, where even at that time he showed promise of the distinction to which he has since attained. He was graduated B. A. in 1894, taking the governor general’s medal, and he received the degree of LL.L. with first rank honors in 1897. In the following year he was called to the bar as advocate and since that time has practiced his profession in Montreal. He was made a councillor in 1900 and a member of the general council in the same year, and his standing is high in legal circles of the city. He has formed a partnership with Hon. P. E. Le Blanc, K. C., and is in control of a large and important clientage, his success and prominence having increased yearly as his ability has become more widely known. Mr. Brossard has successfully conducted a number of hotly contested legal cases for he possesses clear and incisive qualities of mind, a power of close reasoning and clear deduction as well as the personality and force necessary to make knowledge effective in any line. His ability has carried him into important relations with the legal life of the city, his standing in professional circles being evidenced by the fact that in 1900 he was made secretary of the Montreal bar and in 1908 was elected president of the Junior Bar Association.

In October, 1900, Mr. Brossard was united in marriage to Mlle. Alice de Lorimer and they are well known in social circles of the city. Mr. Brossard is a man of considerable literary attainments, possessed of a clear, lucid and forceful style in writing and the ability to present his ideas in a concise and able way. He is an occasional contributor to the press and to law reviews, and his name is a synonym for efficiency and comprehensive knowledge in everything relating to the legal profession. He is one of Montreal’s prominent, able and successful barristers and in a profession where advancement depends almost entirely upon individual merit and ability he has risen steadily, holding today a place of prominence and possessing in his native talents and developed powers the guarantee of still greater attainment in the future.

AIME GEOFFRION, K. C.

Aime Geoffrion, treasurer of the council of the bar and one of those at the head of the French section of the Montreal bar, as well as holding one of the civil law professorships at McGill, occupies a distinguished professional position. He was born in Montreal, November 13, 1872. Fortunate is the man who has back of him an ancestry honorable and distinguished, and happy is he if his lines of life are cast in harmony therewith. In person, in talents and in character Aime Geoffrion is a worthy scion of his race. His father was the late Hon. C. A. Geoffrion one of the leading members of the bar, minister without portfolio in the Laurier government, and his mother was Eulalie G. Dorion, the eldest daughter of the late Chief Justice Sir A. A. Dorion. In the acquirement of his education Aime Geoffrion attended successively St. John’s school, St. Mary’s (Jesuit) College and McGill University. Having determined to enter upon the practice of law, he prepared for the profession at McGill and was graduated B. C. L. in 1893, being also a gold medalist. He began practice as an advocate in 1894 and within nine years had won such success that he was created a king’s counsel. He occupies an enviable position in his profession, and in addition to his appearance before Canadian courts he has pleaded on several occasions before the judicial committee of the privy council. He was one of the counsel retained by the province of Quebec in the arbitration between the Dominion and Ontario and Quebec for a settlement of outstanding accounts existing at the time of the confederation. He was also made the junior Dominion counsel in the matter of the Alaskan boundary arbitration in 1903-4. When he expresses himself upon questions of vital importance to city or province his opinions are listened to with attention and interest, for it is recognized that he is a farsighted and public-spirited man who has the municipal, provincial and Dominion welfare close at heart. He is not only recognized as the distinguished lawyer but also as a most able educator along professional lines, having since 1905 been professor of civil law in McGill University, in which position he succeeded Mr. Justice Fortin.

In November, 1896, Mr. Geoffrion was married to Miss Marguerite Thibaudeau, the eldest daughter of the late J. R. Thibaudeau, senator of Montreal. Mr. Geoffrion gives his political allegiance to the liberal party and is stanch and warm in support of the principles in which he believes. His religious faith is that of the Catholic church. He is a member of several of Montreal’s leading clubs, including St. James Club, and the Montreal Reform Club, and also of the Rideau Club of Ottawa. Sir Wilfrid Laurier spoke of him as “one who well sustained the hereditary glories of his house.” The Montreal Star has referred to him as “a man of a remarkably clear and vigorous mind who has been highly successful before all the courts.” He is widely recognized as a man of earnest purpose, seeking ever to benefit by those activities and interests which look beyond the exigencies of the moment to the possibilities and opportunities of the future, and which seek provincial welfare rather than the aggrandizement of self.

LAWRENCE MACFARLANE.

Lawrence Macfarlane, member of the well known firm of Lafleur, Macdougall, Macfarlane & Pope, barristers and solicitors, was born in Montreal on the 12th of November, 1876, a son of the late James Ferrier and Cecilia Clare Macfarlane. He was a student in the Montreal high school and then entered McGill for his arts course, graduating with the degree of B. A. in 1897. He pursued his studies in the law department of McGill and obtained the degree of B. C. L. in April, 1900. He was called to the bar in the same year and was admitted a partner in the law firm headed by the late R. D. McGibbon, K. C., with whom he had previously studied for three years. As representing English interests Mr. Macfarlane is a director of the British Columbia Breweries, Limited; the North Saskatchewan Land Company, Limited; the Alabama Traction Light and Power Company, Limited; Terminal Cities of Canada, Limited; Mexican Northern Power Company, Limited; and the Cities Service Company.

Mr. Macfarlane’s political allegiance is given to the conservative party. He belongs to St. Paul’s Lodge, Masons, English Register, and he also has membership in the more important clubs of his native city, including the St. James, Canada, Royal Montreal Golf, University and Racquet Clubs.

JOSEPH CHARLES WRAY.