Part 54

Rev. Joseph Guillaume Laurent Forbes, bishop of Joliette, was formerly the spiritual director of the thirty-nine hundred families which make up the great French-Canadian parish of St. Jean Baptiste in Montreal, a position of responsibility as well as one of power and importance among the Catholic people of the city. This responsibility rested upon the shoulders of a conscientious, capable and God-fearing man and the power was used wisely and humbly, so that Father Forbes has become an important force in the conservation and propagation of the doctrines which he teaches and professes. He is a native of the province of Quebec, born in Isle Perrot, near Montreal, August 10, 1865, a son of John and Octavie (Léger) Forbes, both natives of Vaudreuil. The Forbes family was founded in Canada in 1757 and representatives of the Léger family came to Quebec with the first French colonists in 1608. Both parents are still living, the father having retired from active life.

Rev. Guillaume Forbes acquired his early education in the kindergarten at the Nazareth Asylum in charge of the Grey Nuns in Montreal and was afterward a student at the Catholic Commercial Academy of this city. He was graduated from Montreal College with the class of 1882 and from the Seminary of Philosophy in 1884. He finished the course in the College of Theology in 1887 and was ordained to the Roman Catholic priesthood March 17, 1888. Immediately afterward he was sent as curate to Caughnawaga, where he did excellent work among the Iroquois Indians. He held his original position until 1892 and was then given the direction of the Caughnawaga mission, serving until 1903. In that year he was appointed parish priest of the Church of St. Anne de Bellevue, in the province of Quebec, and he there remained until 1911, when he was appointed rector of St. Jean Baptiste church in Montreal. The parish of St. Jean de Baptiste in Montreal is one of the largest and most important French-Canadian congregations in the city, and its rector holds a very responsible position and one which makes him a great individual force in Catholic circles. The original church building was burned June 27, 1911, and is now being replaced at a cost of three hundred thousand dollars, the entire property being valued at five hundred thousand dollars. Father Forbes had four assistants, Rev. Joseph A. Lefevre, Rev. Charles A. de Lamirande, Rev. Auguste Paré and Rev. Hector Quesnel, and had spiritual jurisdiction over thirty-nine hundred families and nineteen thousand souls, all French-Canadians. He became very popular and widely beloved among the people of this congregation, who saw his simplicity of character, his greatness of heart, his earnestness and sincerity, and who recognized his administrative and business ability. On the 6th of August, 1913, Rev. Forbes was chosen by the Holy See to succeed the Rt. Rev. Alfred Archambeault as bishop of Joliette. He received the episcopal consecration in the cathedral of Joliette from the hands of His Grace, Monseigneur Bruchesi, archbishop of Montreal, on the 9th of October, 1913. A brother of Bishop Forbes, the Rev. Father John Forbes, of the White Fathers, after a stay of sixteen years in the mission fields of Africa, is since the year 1900 residing in Quebec, superior of the branch house of the Society of the White Fathers in Canada.

Bishop Forbes is profoundly learned in Indian dialects and is in addition an author of some note, his works being all of a religious character. Besides his original volumes he has edited and republished a Life of Catherine Tekakwitha and an Iroquois almanac for the years between 1899 and 1903.

ARTHUR EDOUARD JOSEPH BISSONNET.

The name of Bissonnet has long been a distinguished one in this locality, the first member of the family having been one Pierre, a son of Jacques, who was born in 1626, and on the 3d of May, 1660, married Mathurène Des Bordes and who, as the records show, had seven children. A brother of Pierre, Jacques, was married in 1670 and sixteen children are credited to him. Arthur Edouard Joseph Bissonnet worthily upholds the honor of the family name, having gained a reputation along legal lines in Montreal, where he has successfully practiced since 1897. He was born at St. Hyacinthe, Quebec, and is a son of Napoléon and Domithilde (Scott) Bissonnet. The father was a well known manufacturer of that city, where he passed away in 1887, the mother having predeceased him in 1882. The paternal grandparents were Jérome and Josephte (Courtemanche) Bissonnet, who died in 1870 and 1872, respectively.

Arthur E. J. Bissonnet received an excellent education. His preliminary courses were taken at the College of the Sacred Heart at Arthabaskaville, which was followed by a classical course at St. Hyacinthe that earned him the title of M. L. A. In 1894 he studied law at Laval University and in 1895 and 1896 at McGill University which he left in 1897 with the degree of B. C. L., being admitted to the bar of the province of Quebec in the same year. His advent in Montreal soon followed and here he has ever since been engaged in the practice of his profession. No long novitiate awaited him for he soon demonstrated his ability to successfully cope with the most intricate law problems and gained a reputation which connected him with much important litigation. He has represented some of the foremost firms and individuals as well as other interests, having attained a name for preparing his cases thoroughly and presenting them in an able manner. He has all the attributes of a successful lawyer, clearly sets forth his cause and by the weight of his character and his insight into human nature has won a high standing in his profession. In 1909 Mr. Bissonnet was appointed king’s counsel and as such handled important government cases which especially connected him with provincial law revenue on duties on successions. His prominence in fraternal circles has led to his election as legal adviser of the Council of St. Henry (for 1913), a branch of the Knights of Columbus at Montreal. Mr. Bissonnet is now at the head of the legal firm, Bissonnet & Cordeau, occupying suite 606, in the Royal Trust building.

On the 14th of February, 1905, occurred the marriage of Mr. Bissonnet to M. A. Ernestine Roy, a daughter of Amedée Roy and Hemma (Rocher) Roy. The family has been long established in the county of Bagot, in the province of Quebec, and her father was a prominent merchant in his locality. Mr. and Mrs. Bissonnet have the following children, Jean, Léon, Marie Laure, Louise Marie and Paul.

His political convictions lead Mr. Bissonnet to support the liberal party, and he is a member of the Montreal Reform Club and other political institutions. Although not an active politician, he takes a deep and helpful interest in the issues of the day that affect the Canadian people as a nation and his province as part of the Dominion and stands ever ready to support progressive measures making for advancement, either material or intellectual. His faith is that of the Catholic church. A distinguished and influential lawyer, he is highly respected in the profession and is esteemed by the general public as a public-spirited citizen who loyally acknowledges and fulfills his duties to his city and his country.

DUNCAN A. MCCASKILL.

Duncan A. McCaskill was a factor in Montreal’s commercial development and progress, inasmuch as he was the founder and head of the house of D. A. McCaskill Company, later McCaskill, Dougall & Company, manufacturers of railway and carriage varnishes and japans. The extent and importance of his business made him well known in commercial circles, while his career demonstrated the possibilities for successful achievement on the part of any individual who must perforce start in life as he did, without any capital to aid him. He was born in Victoria county, Cape Breton, in 1845 and was a son of Murdo McCaskill, a justice of two counties of Cape Breton. His education was acquired in his native county, where the first thirty years of his life were passed. The year 1875 witnessed his arrival in Montreal, where he connected himself with one of the large business houses of the city. During the succeeding five years he steadily progressed and there awakened in him the ambition to enter commercial circles on his own account. He took his initial step in the direction in which his later labors brought him to the prominent position which he occupied as the head of the house of what is now McCaskill, Dougall & Company, manufacturers of railway and carriage varnishes. He was ever a most industrious man, close application and energy constituting the basis of his success. In 1902 he retired and spent his remaining days in those ways which afforded him recreation and enjoyment, traveling extensively in company with Mrs. McCaskill through the United States and Europe.

Mrs. McCaskill was in her maidenhood Miss Abbott, a member of the Abbott family of Andover, Massachusetts, and one of the old New England families. They were separated by death on the 12th of July, 1907, when Mr. McCaskill passed away at Lausanne, Switzerland.

While an active factor in the business world, Mr. McCaskill also took a great interest in political matters and for several years was president of the Sir John A. Macdonald Club. In 1900, at the solicitation of a large body of electors of his native county, he became a candidate for political honors. The conservative party lost in that connection and Mr. McCaskill was defeated at the polls, although a large vote was accorded him and his course gained him the general esteem of the people. By preference he concentrated his efforts upon his business interests and private affairs and worked his way upward until he stood among the successful merchants and manufacturers of the city with a record that commended him to the confidence and admiration of colleagues and contemporaries.

SAMUEL HAMILTON EWING.

With intense activity intelligently directed and with ability to plan and perform that amounts almost to genius, Samuel Hamilton Ewing has become one of the prominent manufacturers and capitalists of Montreal. He today has financial investments in many of the most important corporate interests of the province, and his opinion concerning complex business matters is eagerly sought and constitutes a valuable element in the attainment of a wise conclusion.

From his boyhood Samuel Hamilton Ewing has been a resident of Canada. He was born May 10, 1834, at Lisdillon House, Londonderry, Ireland, and is a representative of an old family of Irish origin, his parents being Samuel and Margaret (Hamilton) Ewing, who with their family crossed the Atlantic to Canada during the boyhood of their son Samuel H. Entering the public schools of Montreal, he pursued his education and afterward joined his brother, Andrew S. Ewing, in the ownership and management of the extensive coffee and spice mills formerly owned by his father. The business, established in 1860, was conducted under the firm style of Samuel Ewing & Sons, Samuel Hamilton Ewing remaining an active factor in the management and direction of the business until his retirement from the firm in 1892. In the meantime the efforts of the partners had resulted in the establishment of an enterprise of extensive proportions. Gradually he extended his efforts to other fields, becoming financially and ofttimes actively interested in corporations which are now recognized as among the foremost in the commercial and industrial circles of the province. He is president of the Montreal Cotton Company, president of the Canada Accident Assurance Company, president of the Levis County Railway and the Cornwall Street Railway, and is vice president of the Molson’s Bank and the Sun Life Assurance Company, while he is a director of the Atlantic Sugar Refinery, the Standard Clay Products, Limited, the Crown Trust Company, and the Illinois Traction Company. One of the local papers said of him: “It is doubtful if there is a more active man of his age in the city of Montreal.” What he undertakes he accomplishes, and he utilizes opportunities that many others have passed heedlessly by. Moreover, he has the ability to unify seemingly dissimilar elements, coordinating them into a harmonious whole.

Mr. Ewing has been married twice. He first wedded Miss Caroline Wilson Cheese, of London, England, who died in 1872, and later he wedded Margaret Anna Knight, who passed away in March, 1908. She was a daughter of George Knight, of Glasgow, Scotland. Mr. Ewing’s attractive home, Seaforth, is situated at No. 100 Cote des Neiges road. He is well known in club circles, holding membership in the Mount Royal, Canada, St. James and Canadian Clubs. He is a life governor of the Art Association of Montreal. His political belief is that of the conservative party but the honors and emoluments of office have little attraction for him. He has preferred always to devote his leisure to such activities as seek the public welfare along charitable or humanitarian lines. He is a governor of the Montreal General Hospital and served for several years prior to 1906 as its treasurer. He is likewise a governor of the Protestant Hospital for the Insane, and in 1906 was the delegate to the Sixth Congress Chambers of Commerce of the Empire. Forceful and resourceful, his is a record of a strenuous life, stable in purpose, quick in perception, swift in decision, energetic and persistent in action.

ALBERT HEBERT.

Albert Hébert, deceased, who for many years was one of the best known business men of Montreal, was born in this city, February 28, 1864. He was educated in the Jesuit College and the Archambault Commercial School, from which he was graduated. At the age of seventeen years he entered the firm of Dufresne & Mongenais and a year later became a member of the firm of Hudon, Hébert & Company, wholesale grocers. Later, when his father, C. P. Hébert, retired from the firm, Albert Hébert became the general manager of the business and so continued throughout his remaining days, directing the policy and stimulating the progress of the business, which became one of the important commercial concerns of the province. A man of resourceful ability, he was a director of the Montreal City and District Savings Bank and succeeded his father as treasurer of Notre Dame Hospital. He was a prominent member of the Board of Trade, serving as a councillor in 1904 and 1905, a governor of Laval University and a governor of the Antiquarian and Numismatic Society. Mr. Hébert was married in Montreal to Miss Loulou Barbeau, a daughter of the late E. G. Barbeau, who was the first manager of the Montreal City and District Savings Bank. Mr. and Mrs. Hébert had one daughter, Joséphine, now the wife of Mr. LsRaoul de Lorimer, of Montreal. While traveling in Europe Mr. Hébert died at Lucerne, Switzerland, June 21, 1911, although when he left Montreal for this trip he was in the best of health. He was but forty-seven years of age at the time of his demise, yet he stood very high in the opinion of the leading business men of the wholesale district of Montreal and was also appreciated and esteemed in financial circles. When Notre Dame Hospital was threatened with a financial crisis in 1909 it was Mr. Hébert, the treasurer of the institution, who opened the subscription and by his energetic campaign raised the two hundred thousand dollars which saved the day. One who knew him well and was, therefore, qualified to speak of his sterling traits of character wrote to the Montreal Star:

“There were many sympathizing and sad hearts in Canada after it was known that Albert Hébert, Esq., of your city died in the prime of life, far away from home in Switzerland. In the death of Mr. Hébert Montreal has lost the prince of the many princely merchants. He was known far and near not only by reputation but personally and wherever he was known he was respected and beloved. I have had business dealings with the late Mr. Hébert for over a quarter of a century and during that long period I have had many opportunities of forming an opinion of his worth as a man and of his splendid abilities as a business man. At the annual business meeting of the Wholesale Grocers Guild, of which he was a prominent and respected member and at which meetings I have often had an opportunity of attending, it was always a pleasure to hear him speak in his faultless English, with a slightly French accent. His opinions and advice had a spirit of fairness and good sense that invariably carried conviction with them. No better argument in favor of a joint English and French training could be had than to hear him address a meeting in English. The late Mr. Hébert will be missed in Montreal. He will be sadly missed by the many English speaking friends in the west when they visit Montreal. It is men of his type that are needed to build up Canada as a nation.”

J. GEORGES PICHE, M. D.

Among the successful physicians of Montreal is Dr. J. Georges Piché, who has been in practice since 1900. He was born in St. Gabriel de Brandon, Berthier, province of Quebec, September 4, 1872, and descends from one of the oldest families of that section.

His father, Camille Piché, was a notary of St. Gabriel for forty years, occupying the position at the time of his death. He was regarded as one of the best known and most highly respected citizens of the locality. He married Sophie Desparrois dit Champagne, a native of St. Sulpice, province of Quebec.

Dr. Piché acquired his early education at St. Gabriel and later attended the normal school at Montreal, leaving there in 1887. He then went to the United States and for several years was a bookkeeper in the employ of a wholesale grocery house at Providence, Rhode Island. In 1896 he returned to Montreal and, having determined upon a professional career, began the study of medicine at Laval University, where he was graduated in 1900 with the degree of M. D.

Dr. Piché immediately began the practice of his profession in Montreal on DeMontigny Street, where he continued with gratifying success until 1914, when he removed his offices to No. 287 St. Denis Street. He is now accorded a liberal practice and his ability is constantly increasing as the result of broad experience and wide reading and research. He is now physician to the Merchants & Employers Guarantee & Accident Company, and he is a member of La Société Médicale de Montreal.

In 1894 Dr. Piché was married in St. Gabriel de Brandon, province of Quebec, to Albertine Bellemore, a daughter of John Bellemore, of that place, and they have four children: Julien, Georges, Albert, Ernest and Rachel.

JOHN S. ARCHIBALD.

John S. Archibald, an architect holding to the highest professional standards and one of Montreal’s native citizens, is a son of the late David A. Archibald, formerly of Inverness, Scotland. Reared and educated in Scotland. Mr. Archibald prepared for the profession which he has made his life work and which he has successfully followed in Montreal. He is a member of the firm of Saxe & Archibald and as such has been connected with the execution of some important professional contracts. A number of the fine structures of the city stand as monuments to his skill and ability. Moreover his position is indicated by the fact that in 1905 he was honored with election to the presidency of the Architects Association of the province of Quebec and at the congress of architects held in July, 1906, he moved the resolution favoring statutory qualifications of architects. He has never believed in deviating from the highest standards of the profession.

In December, 1900, Mr. Archibald was united in marriage to Miss Edith Thurston, the third daughter of J. D. Thurston, of Montreal. In politics Mr. Archibald is a liberal and is interested in all projects that are opposed to misrule in civic affairs and which seek to promote the interests of the many rather than of the few. He is now a councillor of the Montreal Reform Club, and he belongs also to the Engineers Club. He has carefully cultivated the powers and talents with which nature endowed him and thus has gained more than local recognition as a capable architect, well versed in the science of his profession.