Part 66

The great industrial undertakings which have led to the substantial development and upbuilding of Canada have found a prominent representative in Clarence I. de Sola, today regarded as one of the foremost men engaged in public works and in shipbuilding in Canada. Moreover, he is prominent in the consular service and is a recognized leader in various movements for the improvement of the economic condition of the Hebrew people, some of his work in that direction being of world-wide significance. Montreal numbers him among her worthy and honored native sons, his birth having occurred here on the 15th of August, 1858. He is a member of an ancient and illustrious Jewish family that long resided in Spain, where it produced many distinguished men. He is the third son of the late Rev. Abraham de Sola, LL. D., who was one of the most eminent and scholarly exponents of orthodox Judaism in America and an author of international repute.

Liberal educational opportunities were accorded the subject of this sketch, and his life has been one of steadily expanding and increasing usefulness. Step by step he has advanced in business connections, and in 1887 he was made managing director of the Comptoir Belgo-Canadien, a syndicate of the leading Belgian manufacturers of steel and other structural material and builders of bridges, railroads and canal locks. The syndicate includes the famous Cockerill Works, of Seraing, employing eighteen thousand hands. His duties and responsibilities in this direction are most important. He secured and executed contracts in the building of the Soulanges and Trent canals, in re-laying large portions of the track of the Inter-Colonial Railway and the Prince Edward Island Railway, and in the construction of many of our largest public bridges. He was associated with the engineers Lafontaine and Lemoine in the construction of the Brock Street tunnel. It was largely due to his efforts that hydraulic lift locks were first used in American or Canadian canals.

It was in recognition of the ability he had shown in developing commercial relations between Belgium and Canada that Mr. de Sola was appointed, in 1904, vice consul for Belgium at Montreal, and his work in helping to negotiate the arrangement between the Belgian and Canadian governments, whereby the benefits of the intermediate Canadian customs tariff was secured for Belgian manufacturers, was rewarded by his advancement, in 1911 to the full rank of consul.

Extensive as have been Mr. de Sola’s efforts in connection with Belgian trade, he has also employed his energies in other fields, for he is the managing director of the Canadian office of Swan, Hunter and Wigham Richardson, Ltd., the great shipbuilders of Wallsend-on-Tyne, and he has undertaken and executed many contracts for the building of a large number of ships for traffic on the Canadian Great Lakes, the River St. Lawrence and the Atlantic oceans, amounting in all to quite a large fleet. The Canadian government has also had several ships built for its service by contracts awarded to Mr. de Sola, including some very fine vessels for hydrographic survey work, that have made their way through the ice-bound waters of Hudson’s Bay in dangerous seasons. The first ship ever seen in American waters, or that ever crossed the Atlantic ocean propelled by oil combustion engines, was built by Swan Hunter and Wigham Richardson for Mr. de Sola as consignee. It was the ship Toiler, and it was run by Mr. de Sola on the St. Lawrence and lake route until sold by him to James Playfair. An improvement on the Toiler, the ship Calgary, was built during the following year and these were the first Diesel oil combustion engined vessels to run in Canadian waters.

Clarence de Sola is a director of the Reid-Donald Steamship Company, of which he is the Canadian manager, and he is also a director of the Farrar Transportation Company.

Mr. de Sola has become widely known as a leading factor in the world-embracing Zionist Movement, for the settlement in Palestine of the persecuted Jews emigrating from Russia and other eastern European countries and for the restoration of the Holy Land as the national home of the Hebrew race. He was for a long period on the Actions Committee, which is the supreme governing council of the Zionist Movement, and for many years has been president of the Federation of Zionist Societies of Canada. This federation is a huge organization having branch societies in about sixty different cities and towns throughout the Dominion, and is the most representative Jewish body in Canada. It was through his initiative and foresight that the Zionists of Canada, at their eleventh convention, established a special fund for purchasing land in Palestine on which to settle Jewish colonists and two Jewish colonies in the Holy Land owe their existence entirely to this measure. The Canadian Century has aptly styled him “the head and shoulders of the Zionist Movement in Canada.” He has also figured prominently in the Zionist International Congresses.

Mr. de Sola is a recognized authority on Jewish history, more especially the early records of the Jews of this country, to which he has given years of research. A number of his articles on this subject have appeared in print. He is an honorary corresponding member of the American-Jewish Historical Society and member of the Anglo-Jewish Historical Society. When Funk & Wagnalls published the Jewish Encyclopedia Mr. de Sola was selected to be one of the writers of the articles on Jewish history and his contributions are to be found in most of the twelve volumes. One of his most salient characteristics is his loyalty to any cause which he espouses. Men have learned to know that what he promises he will do, that what he undertakes he will execute, and to all his work he brings the correct principles of business; accomplishing with dispatch, with accuracy and decision that which he sets out to do. He does not confine his efforts to institutions for the benefit of those of his own race. In fact his work has always been broad and nonsectarian in character and any call for humanity’s sake has met with ready response from him. He is a governor of the Montreal General Hospital and an officer of numerous philanthropic societies. He is the presiding warden (Parnas) of the Corporation of Spanish and Portuguese Jews of Montreal, the handsome design of whose synagogue building is due to the architectural taste of Mr. de Sola, a taste which also made itself felt in the striking beauty and individuality of his own home.

In 1901 Mr. de Sola was married to Miss Belle Maud Goldsmith, daughter of Leopold Goldsmith, a prominent citizen of Cleveland, Ohio. She completed a collegiate course with the Bachelor of Arts degree, and is an active officer of various organizations, including among nonsectarian ones the Victorian Order of Nurses, the Royal Edward Institute, the Needlework Guild and many others. Among Jewish societies she is founder of the Daughters of Zion in Canada and of the Women’s League for Cultural Work in Palestine. She also was one of those who organized the Friendly League of Jewish Women, of which she was the first president. She has written several absorbingly interesting literary articles, among them being “The Higher Education of Women,” “The Origin of the French Salon,” and “The Jew--Imaginary and Real.”

Mr. and Mrs. Clarence de Sola’s home, on Pine Avenue, is one of the most beautiful in Montreal. It is a splendid example of Saracenic architecture, such as is seen in southern Spain. In both its general outlines and in its rich ornamental details it is an exquisite specimen of the highest form of Andalusian art. It is a home that is additionally attractive by reason of a gracious and cordial hospitality.

EDOUARD GOHIER.

There is probably no other line of business that is equal as a factor in a city’s growth and development to the real-estate business when conducted by men who are reliable and who aim to develop only properties of merit and value. Included among such men in Montreal is Edouard Gohier, senior member of Edouard Gohier & Company. Mr. Gohier has been connected with a number of the largest high-class suburban property deals that have taken place around Montreal in recent years. His long experience in that line of business, as well as his straightforward business methods, has secured for him a high position in real-estate and financial circles.

Mr. Gohier comes from one of the oldest families in the province of Quebec and was born April 29, 1861, at St. Martin, Laval county, his parents being Benjamin and Celina (Crevier) Gohier. Mr. Gohier’s early life was spent on a farm, but when about twenty-two years old he entered business circles in connection with the dry-goods trade at St. Laurent and was thus engaged about seven years. He then turned his attention to the real-estate business in that town and Cartierville, later opening an office in Montreal. For sixteen years he served as mayor of St. Laurent and has always taken a deep interest in public affairs in that town. Among the larger deals negotiated by Edouard Gohier & Company of late years have been La Cie des Boulevards de l’Ile de Montreal and the sale to the Canadian Northern Land Company of the land for the Model City, a suburb of Montreal, transactions that have been profitable to the principals and valuable acquisitions to the city. Mr. Gohier is managing director of the Northmount Land Company as well as one of the original promoters of the company. His connection with public interests has been of value in various lines and always marked by the same careful consideration given his own business affairs. He is a director of Notre Dame Hospital and of Le Devoir, while in March, 1914, he was appointed by the federal government as a member of the Georgian Bay Canal Commission. In political matters he is a supporter of the conservative party, while his religious faith is that of the Roman Catholic church.

Mr. Gohier married at St. Laurent Phomela Gosselin, a daughter of Narcise Gosselin, and to them have been born thirteen children, eight of whom are living. Horace, a graduate of St. Lawrence College, later attended Notre Dame University of South Bend, Indiana. Aside from his connection with the firm of Edouard Gohier & Company he is a member of the firm of Gohier & Bigras, who handle city properties, Laval on the Lake and the properties of the Montreal Extension Land Company. He is likewise a director of the Montreal Turnpike Trust. Politically he is a conservative and is an alderman of the town of St. Laurent. His wife bore the maiden name of Rosa Jasmin. The other children of Edouard and Phomela (Gosselin) Gohier are as follows: Joseph, a farmer of St. Laurent, who married Alice Valois; Ernest, a graduate of McGill University, who married Berthe Mont Briant of Montreal and who is a civil engineer and a partner of F. C. Laberge of Montreal; Edouard, a graduate of St. Lawrence College, who has taken post-graduate work in Notre Dame University at South Bend, Indiana, and is now a lumber merchant of St. Laurent; Amanda, who married J. Bruno Nantel; Yvonne; Lorette; and Leo.

Mr. Gohier has always resided in St. Laurent, while his summer home is in Cartierville. Among his individual holdings of real estate in St. Laurent is a valuable stock farm of five hundred acres. He is a successful business man whose career has been marked by honorable methods and whose progressive ideas in educational and civic matters have long since caused him to be numbered among the valued and respected citizens of his town.

JOSEPH EMERY-CODERRE.

Joseph Emery-Coderre, a well known notary of Montreal, was born April 14, 1880, at Ste. Anne de Stukely, in Shefford county, Quebec, and is descended from an old family of St. Antoine on the Richelieu river. He is a grandnephew of Dr. J. Emery-Coderre, who was a professor at Victoria and Laval Universities in Montreal.

J. Emery-Coderre, father of him whose name introduces this review, removed to Indian Orchard, Massachusetts, 1882 and to Woonsocket, Rhode Island, in 1886 and there the son was educated in the parochial school, while from 1892 until 1897 he attended the Brothers of Mary school at Waterloo, Quebec, and from September, 1897, to January, 1898, the Seminary of St. Hyacinthe. In April, 1898, he returned to Woonsocket, Rhode Island, and for two years was employed in the Globe Cotton Mills, old Braid Shop, and by the American Wringer Company. In 1900 he left the mills to continue his education at the Séminaire of St. Marie de Monnoir at Marieville, Quebec, remaining there for six years. In 1906 he won his Bachelor of Arts degree from Laval University and during the ensuing two years he clerked in the office of Boisseau & Bazinet, notaries at St. Hyacinthe, Quebec. During the succeeding two years he studied at Laval University and clerked in the office of Biron & Savignac, notaries. Thus alternating business activity with the acquirement of an education, he at length reached a position that enabled him to pass the examination before the board of notaries on the 10th of July, 1910. Immediately afterward he became a member of the firm of Biron & Savignac, notaries, with offices at 99 St. James Street, Montreal, the said firm having now another member and being known as Biron, Savignac, Coderre & Poirier.

J. Emery-Coderre is secretary and treasurer of the corporation of Montreal East and is a member of the Montreal East Land Company. At the same time the firm with which he is connected is accorded an extensive clientage, and thus his professional and business interests are important. He has made wise use of time, talents and opportunities, and his ability has advanced him to an enviable position.

On the 12th of October, 1910, J. Emery-Coderre was married at St. Hyacinthe to Bertha Tetrault, a daughter of François Xavier Tetrault, and they have become parents of two children, François Xavier and Maurice. J. Emery-Coderre is a member of the Club Champetre Canadien. A young man, he has won popularity in both professional and social circles, and he now has a wide and favorable acquaintance in Montreal.

HON. COLONEL SIR RODOLPHE FORGET, M. P.

“One of the most powerful men in financial circles in Canada; he can make and unmake and has seldom been beaten in a financial battle.” Thus wrote the Canadian Courier concerning one of the foremost French-Canadian citizens of Montreal--Colonel Joseph David Rodolphe Forget, better known as Sir Rodolphe Forget, banker, broker and legislator. He was born at Terrebonne, Province of Quebec, December 10, 1861, and while spending his youthful days in the home of his parents, David and Angele (Limoges) Forget, he attended Masson College. In early manhood he established a home of his own through his marriage in October, 1885, to Mlle. Alexandra Tourville. Subsequent to her death he was married, in April, 1894, to Miss Blanche, youngest daughter of the late A. R. McDonold, a stock broker of Quebec. Lady Forget is prominent in charitable and benevolent circles, being a director of the Montreal Day Nursery and the Notre Dame Hospital, while in 1909 she was elected vice president of the Women’s Canadian Club.

Sir Rodolphe Forget’s active connection with financial affairs began in 1890, when he joined the Montreal Stock Exchange, of which he was chosen chairman in 1908, continuing in that position until 1911, when he resigned. He was for a time connected with the business of L. J. Forget & Company, the senior partner being the late Hon. L. J. Forget. In 1909 a branch house was established in Paris and as banker and broker Sir Rodolphe Forget has attained prominence equal to that which has come to him in connection with public affairs. Many of the extensive and important corporation interests of Canada have been quickened and stimulated through his cooperation, while his sound judgment has constituted a controlling force in their management. He is president of the Quebec and Saguenay Railway, the Quebec Railway Light, Heat & Power Company; vice president of the Montreal Light, Heat & Power Company; and director of the Toronto Railway Company, the Quebec Gas Company, the Sterling Coal Company, Limited, the Canadian General Electric Company, and the St. Lawrence Flour Mills Company. He was formerly president of the Richelieu & Ontario Navigation Company, the Eastern Canada Steel & Iron Works, Limited, the Royal Electric Company, and the Mount Royal Assurance Company; and vice president of the Canadian Securities Corporation and La Société d’Administration Générale; and director of the Duluth Street Railway Company, the Montreal-London Securities Corporation, the Black Lake Consolidated Asbestos Company, the Union Brewery Company, the Murray-Bay Lumber & Pulp Company, the City Central Real Estate Company, the Montreal Smelting & Reduction Company, the Prudential Trust Company, the Wayagamack Pulp & Paper Company, the Crown Life Insurance Company, the Canada Marconi Wireless Telegraph Company, the Payne Consolidated Mining Company, La Banque Provinciale and Le Journal. In 1911 he founded La Banque Internationale du Canada. He was rated as a millionaire by the Montreal Star in 1907, which in itself is a testimonial of his power as a financier. In 1911 he headed the navigation merger. He has also been connected with the Canada Car Foundry Company, the Industrial Development Company, the Butte Central Copper Company, and the Montmorency Cotton Mills Company. All these indicate something of the wonderful scope of his business interests and activity and yet by no means give a complete record of his interest and his efforts, which have been equally strong forces in the control, development and upbuilding of organizations having to do with the public welfare. In 1911 he made a gift of two hundred and fifty thousand dollars to the Notre Dame Hospital, of which he is a director. He is also president of the Province of Quebec Rifle Association, and he was appointed honorary lieutenant colonel of the Sixty-fifth Carabiniers, “Mount Royal” of Montreal in 1907, and was promoted to honorary colonel in March, 1914. He is a director of the Canadian National Bureau of Breeding and is a life governor of the Antiquarian and Numismatic Society. He was vice president of Credit Foncier Franco-Canadien. He has been a member of the executive committee of the Canadian Handicrafts Guild of Montreal, holding the office in 1908.

In politics an independent-conservative, Sir Rodolphe Forget has sat for Charlevoix in the house of commons since 1904. In 1911 he was elected for Charlevoix and Montmorency--said to be the first occasion in the history of the Dominion in which a member in opposition was elected for two constituencies. He was offered a portfolio when Premier Borden formed his cabinet, but declined. He believes in a direct contribution from Canada for the imperial navy and opposed the Taft-Fielding reciprocity pact. His religious faith is that of the Roman Catholic church. In club circles he is well known as a member of the Mount Royal, the St. James, Club Lafontaine, Club Canadien, Club St. Denis, Canada, Montreal, Montreal Jockey, Montreal Hunt, Canadian, Forest and Stream, Montreal Curling, Montreal Military Institute, Royal Montreal Golf, Royal St. Lawrence Yacht Clubs, of Montreal, and the Garrison Club of Quebec, in many of which he has held official positions. He has been termed “the young Napoleon of St. François Xavier Street.” He has manifested Napoleonic powers in other connections and his strength, power and resource have given him the position of honor and distinction which he now occupies. His residence is at No. 71 Ontario Avenue, and his summer home is “Gil Mont,” St. Irenee les Bains, Quebec.

FITZ-JAMES E. BROWNE.

One of the best known citizens of Montreal whose reputation in business is international is Fitz-James E. Browne, president of the famous and highly successful firm known as “The House of Browne, Limited,” real-estate experts, auctioneers, architects and fire insurance agents. He was born in Montreal on the 22d of September, 1871, a son of the late John James and Agnes Dunlop (Hay) Browne, and comes of Irish and Scotch ancestry. He acquired his early education at the McTavish school and afterward attended Lincoln College at Sorel, province of Quebec.

After leaving school Mr. Browne became associated in the architectural profession with his father and soon after the death of the latter, in 1893, Fitz-James E. Browne engaged in the real-estate business, continuing the firm name of John James Browne until 1894, when the present title of “The House of Browne, Limited” was assumed, and no real-estate firm in the Dominion is as widely known. Mr. Browne’s advertising measures are both progressive and aggressive as well as unique. He has been a pioneer in methods that others attempt to imitate. As a real-estate auctioneer it is doubtful if he has an equal. He has officiated at the biggest sales on record in Canada and holds the proud honor of having sold the highest priced property per foot in Montreal. He possesses a comprehensive and accurate knowledge of values as well as a thorough and practical understanding of all the intricacies of the real-estate business in the city, and his upright business methods have won him the esteem and confidence of all. His knowledge of architecture from both the scientific and practical standpoint is broad, and as a real-estate expert he stands in the front rank. He is frequently called upon to address meetings of real-estate dealers and deliver lectures upon real-estate selling in both Canada and the United States.

Mr. Browne was married in August, 1896, to Miss Sarsie Geraldine Nagle of Montreal. Her tragic death, resulting from injuries sustained in being struck by a tram car, occurred on November 15, 1913. She is survived by two sons: John James Ethelbert and Henry Shewbridge Bashford.

Like the majority of progressive business men of the day, Mr. Browne keeps well informed on leading questions and issues, but does not seek nor desire the honors and emoluments of office, preferring to concentrate his attention upon his business affairs. In his younger days he devoted much time to amateur sport, in which he still retains deep interest. As a member of the Montreal Amateur Athletic Association he was foremost in opposition to the introduction of professionalism into the organization. He was a prime factor in the organization of the St. Patrick’s Amateur Athletic Association and has since been its leading spirit. Mr. Browne is a very public-spirited man and any movement for the advancement of the city, province or Dominion finds in him a most hearty supporter.