Part 69

He was born at Upton, P. Q., November 16, 1868, and is a son of Damase and Celina (Larvie) Richer, of Antonvale, P. Q. His education was acquired at Sabrevois Mission College and in Bishop’s College at Lennoxville, P. Q., where he was accorded the degrees of M. D. and C. M. in 1892. Since that time he has taken post-graduate work in New York and for a year and a half he was connected with the Pasteur Institute of Paris. He was also assistant under Dr. Roux in his private laboratory, and under his guidance and that of Pasteur, Metchkinoff and others, Dr. Richer performed many successful experiments. Later he was assistant at L’Ecole de Pharmacie Superieure at Paris for a short time and was appointed house surgeon at the faculty surgical clinic at Krakow, Austria, in 1895. He next went to Breslau for a winter’s study before returning to Canada. At different times he was a student at Dresden, Leipzig, Halle, Berlin and Hamburg and was an assistant in the laboratory of physiology of the faculty of medicine of Paris.

Dr. Richer returned to Canada in 1897 and located for practice in Montreal. He has since carried on an active crusade against tuberculosis in this country. The scheme of a recuperative home such as Brehmer Rest at Ste. Agathe des Monts was suggested by Dr. Richer. He has been a lifelong worker in fighting the dread disease and in the early spring of 1905 Brehmer Rest was opened as the result of his untiring efforts. In his first annual report concerning the institution he said: “When we select for treatment convalescents from pneumonia, pleurisy, and typhoid fever, as well as those affected with anaemia, chlorosis and debility, we do so with a definite object in view. Nine-tenths of those affected as above will inevitably become victims of tuberculosis.

“If they can be treated and trained before they become a prey to the dread scourge, the saving is evident from every viewpoint. In the pre-tuberculosis stage a patient can be restored to health in eight or ten weeks; when tuberculosis has developed it becomes a matter of as many months. At the last International Congress, held in Paris, October, 1905, one of the delegates present expressed his opinion in very strong terms regarding the treatment of the conditions of disease known as ‘pre-tuberculosis;’ they comprise the group above mentioned. In this respect Brehmer Rest stands out as supplying an actual need, and enjoys the unique distinction of being the first institution in the world devoted to that special class of work. Brehmer Rest has undoubtedly anticipated the movement of the future, particularly when considered in the light of the statements recently made by Von Behring in connection with his method of vaccination against tuberculosis. The new product (Tulase), which this distinguished scientist offers to the world, is a substance extracted from the cultivated germ of the disease (tuberculosis), so modified as to impart resisting power to the human organism without impairing health. It is markedly curative in the first stage of the disease, thus its action is twofold, protective and curative.”

Dr. Richer’s efforts along this line have gained him not only national but international fame and distinction. His name is known on the other side of the Atlantic as well as on this, and he has joined hands with the men of earnest purpose who are using the highest scientific skill and knowledge to blot out the dread disease. His labors have been effective in hundreds of cases and thus his life work has been a valuable contribution to mankind, placing him with the benefactors of the race.

JOSEPH TREMBLAY.

Joseph Tremblay, chief of the Montreal fire brigade, was born at St. Isidore, a little village a few miles from Montreal, where his parents were the proverbially poor but honest French-Canadian small farmers. His education was the usual course of reading, writing and arithmetic gleaned from the village priest. At the age of twelve years he left school and the farm, thinking to find more congenial and profitable occupation in the city. He made his way to Montreal with all his earthly possessions tied in a bundle, after the manner of Dick Whittington of old. At that period he knew no English, but he had little difficulty in finding a position as errand boy with one Beauvais, a merchant tailor of Chaboillez Square. Being an errand boy had small attractions in those days and it did not suit Joe Tremblay to remain one for long. He, therefore, gathered up his bundle, put his money in his sock and departed for the United States. For a while he lingered on that side the border, learning many lessons in the school of experience which have since been of much use to him. Following his return to Montreal he sought to establish himself in the tailoring business, which he had followed during his sojourn in the United States. He located at Ste. Cunegonde, then a separate municipality south of Westmount and north of Point St. Charles. There he hung out two neat brass signs, one of which read Joseph Tremblay, Tailleur, and the other Joseph Tremblay, Tailor, thus soliciting business from both the English and French population. While he was then ready for business, it appeared that business was not ready for him. F. Beecher Edwards, in an article in a Montreal paper, said:

“Fate, wishing to do some good to poor old Montreal for a change, glimpsed one Joseph Tremblay working busily in his little tailoring and men’s furnishing shop on the southwestern borders of the city. Whereupon, things went very badly for the said Joseph Tremblay in his little tailoring and men’s furnishing business. People to whom he owed money camped on his doorstep and people who owed him money left for parts unknown in the dead of night, so Joseph Tremblay put up the shutters on his little tailoring and men’s furnishing shop on the southwestern borders of the city and went into the Ste. Cunegone fire department. Consequently the Montreal fire department is today a thing to be proud of in a city which has little enough reason to be proud of the vast majority of its civic enterprises.

“Fate, it will be observed, may be a trifle circumlocutious in her methods, but she gets there in the end. So we may thank fate that made Joseph Tremblay an unsuccessful tailor and haberdasher, for the fact that during the tragic Christmas week--1913--when through somebody’s outrageous blundering the greater portion of this great Canadian metropolis went inadvertently dry; when the fire menace, ever present, hovered more threateningly over thousands of human lives and millions of dollars worth of property, because of the fact that our strongest barrier of defense was broken down with the collapse of a few feet of unstable concrete somewhere out beyond Point St. Charles, we may thank fate for the fact that we had at the head of the Montreal fire department, deprived from no fault of its own of its heaviest ammunition, a man of the quality, the resource and the ability of Joseph Tremblay, the bad tailor who became one of the greatest, if not the greatest of fire chiefs on the North American continent.

“At the time that Joseph Tremblay became a member of the fire department he was much as he is now, with the exception of recent inclination to embonpoint, a well set up, good looking man of above the average build and as strong as two ordinary men. He had a brain, too, but they did not find that out until he had been in the Ste. Cunegonde force at least a week, when it began to be hinted that there was more to this young man than to the average. Six months after Joe Tremblay joined the Ste. Cunegonde fire brigade the chief of the brigade retired from office; whereupon, to the amazement of one and all, the Ste. Cunegonde council made the new recruit, the man who had been an unsuccessful tailor, chief. This may safely be put forward as the world’s record for rapid promotion.

“In the course of time Ste. Cunegonde was annexed to Montreal and Chief Tremblay became Sub-Chief Tremblay, in charge of the western division. This was in 1906. In 1907 he was made a deputy chief to Chief Benoit and when one year later the veteran retired in his turn Deputy Chief Tremblay became head of the Montreal fire brigade.

“Chief Tremblay is an omnivorous reader of all literature appertaining to fires and fire fighting and he is not above learning from other cities and makes at his own expense at least one trip a year to the principal cities in the States to see what helpful piece of information he can pick up.

“One of his first official acts was to institute an inspection system which was largely instrumental in reducing the rates of fire insurance here. In 1905, 1906 and 1907 the fire loss was around nine dollars per annum per capita. In 1913 it was something like two dollars and thirty-four cents per capita. He was responsible for the introduction of automobile fire apparatus here; he started the firemen’s drill school at Chaboillez Square, and he had the fire headquarters transferred from the City Hall to its present location on Craig Street. The chief is well known by sight to Montrealers. His inspiring figure has bulked large on the horizon of many a panic stricken householder at hundreds of fires during the last few years. He is a big, handsome man, and his very size begets confidence. He works his men hard and he works himself just as hard, for he believes that the citizens should get full value for their money. He has one or two hobbies, all of them connected with fire fighting, a high pressure system for the down town district, a fire tug for the harbor and the placing of the firemen’s benevolent fund on a sound footing. Chief Joseph Tremblay is a man’s size man and if there was any doubt on the subject lingering in anyone’s mind it was banished by the splendidly efficient manner in which he handled the appalling situation during the water famine of December, 1913.”

PAUL E. MERCIER.

Paul E. Mercier, one of the best known civil engineers in Montreal and a member of the firm of Baulne & Mercier, has won a position of high standing in his profession. He was born at St. Hyacinthe, Quebec, March 15, 1877. His father was the late Hon. Honore Mercier, premier of Quebec, of whom a more extended mention appears elsewhere in this work, while his mother previous to her marriage was Virginie St. Denis.

When four years of age Mr. Mercier was brought to Montreal and in the schools of the city pursued his early education. He afterward attended St. Mary’s College and was graduated with honor from Ecole Polytechnique with the Bachelor of Science degree in 1899. During his holiday periods he was employed by the Canadian Pacific Railway Company and following the completion of his college course he went to the Yukon, where he spent a year as assistant engineer of the Dominion public works and two years as district engineer in the Yukon.

Following his return Mr. Mercier was for two years district engineer of Dominion public works for the district of Quebec and from 1904 until 1907 was engineer in charge of work of the National Transcontinental Railway. In the latter year he returned to Montreal and opened an office as consulting engineer, while in 1910 he formed a partnership with S. A. Baulne, with offices in the Shaughnessy Building. Reading between the lines one may see that his progress has been continuous and that he has advanced step by step until he now occupies a commanding position in engineering circles. His ability has increased through experience and continuous study and investigation. He keeps abreast with the leaders of the profession in all that pertains to his chosen life work and his ability has won him wide recognition and well earned reputation. In 1911 he was appointed professor of railway engineering at Ecole Polytechnique and in 1913 was appointed on the board of examiners for the Canadian Society of Civil Engineers. On May 16, 1914, he was appointed deputy chief engineer of public works of Montreal. He has important membership relations along professional lines. He has been secretary of the Association des Anciens Elèves de L’Ecole Polytechnique since its organization and he has been professor of transportation and communication at l’Ecole des Hautes Etudes Commerciales de Montreal. He is a member of the American Railway Engineering Association, the Quebec Land Surveyors’ Corporation, the Society of Civil Engineers of France and the Association International Congress of Navigation. Mr. Mercier is also well known in military connections. He is captain of the Corps of Guides of the Canadian Volunteer Militia and organized and commands as major the Canadian Officers Training Corps of Laval University.

On the 29th of June, 1901, Mr. Mercier was married, at Whitehorse, Yukon, to Miss Marie Louise Tache, of Ottawa, Ontario, and their children are Simone, Jeanne, Yvonne and Heva.

JAMES MORGAN.

James Morgan, an influential citizen of Montreal, is perhaps best known as president of Henry Morgan & Company, Limited. His activities, however, have extended to other lines, all of which have proved beneficial to Montreal in its material, civic or moral upbuilding. In the utilization of opportunities that others have passed heedlessly by, he has achieved distinction and honorable success, and yet the acquirement of wealth has been but one phase of his existence, never excluding his active participation in and support of other vital interests which go to make up community and national life. He was born in Glasgow, Scotland, a son of the late James Morgan, a native of Saline, Fifeshire, who was associated with his brother, Henry Morgan, in the conduct of the business now carried on by Henry Morgan & Company, Limited.

In early life James Morgan became a resident of Montreal and attended the Montreal high school. He then became connected with the business founded by his uncle and father, and gradually worked his way upward in that connection. Mr. Morgan, moreover, is president of the Colonial Real Estate Company and has been prominently connected with various other business enterprises of far-reaching importance. He aided in promoting the British Columbia Bank Note Company in 1904 and in organizing and developing the Montreal Cement Company in 1905. He was likewise vice president of the Accident & Guarantee Company of Canada, and in all these associations his judgment is sound, while his ability to coordinate and unify seemingly diverse elements has been one of the strong features in his growing success. While he has reached the millionaire class, his business methods have ever been such as will bear the closest investigation and scrutiny, in that there is no esoteric phase in his entire career and what he has accomplished, both for himself and the community at large, represents the fit utilization of the innate powers and talents which are his.

Mr. Morgan was united in marriage to Miss Anna Lyman, a daughter of Frederick Lyman, of Connecticut. They are influential members of the Church of the Messiah (Unitarian) of Montreal, in which Mr. Morgan is serving as trustee. His interests and activities extend to many beneficent projects and to those which spread culture and stimulate intellectual activities. He is a director of the Montreal Horticultural and Fruit Growing Association and one of the principal promoters of the Montreal Citizens Association, of which he is now a director and treasurer. He was likewise one of the promoters of the Montreal Board of Control, but declined election thereto. He is one of the governors of the Montreal General Hospital and is interested in various projects seeking to meet public needs along broad humanitarian lines. He is a councillor of the National Historical Society, belongs to the St. Andrews Society, to the Montreal Art Association and to the Antiquarian and Numismatic Society. He is also a member of the Canada and the Reform Clubs. His life has been one of intense and well directed activity, fruitful of good results for the general public as well as for himself.

ANSELME SERAPHIN DEGUIRE.

Anselme Séraphin Deguire enjoys high distinction as a lawyer and has also given much evidence of his public spirit in his position as alderman of the city of Montreal. He comes of an old Canadian French family, the earliest ancestor recorded in Abbé Tanguay’s Dictionnaire being François De Guire, who was born in 1641 and who died at Montreal. In 1669 he married Mlle. Rose Colin, born in 1641, and they became the parents of nine children.

Anselme S. Deguire was born at Côte des Neiges on the 25th of November, 1874, a son of Séraphin Deguire and Alphonsine Pilon of Ste. Anne de Bellevue. The father was a gardener by profession. Mr. Deguire of this review studied at Montreal College, from which he was graduated in 1895 with the degree of B. A., and afterwards took a law course at Laval University. He was admitted to practice in 1901. Immediately afterwards he interested himself in municipal affairs and his aptitude along financial lines made him valuable in a number of important positions which he held in the administration of the village of Côte des Neiges. Under his leadership the proceedings to erect the village into a town were successfully completed.

As a lawyer Mr. Deguire soon secured a select clientele, no long novitiate awaiting him in his practice. He is one of a coterie of lawyers, or more correctly, he continues the traditions of a coterie of lawyers who had their origin in Côte des Neiges and several of whom were well known and very prominent. Such were the late Judge Madore and Judges Charbonneau and Demers. Mr. Deguire is universally esteemed by his fellow citizens and since the annexation of Côte des Neiges to the city of Montreal, of which annexation he was an ardent advocate, he has been its representative in the Montreal city hall. He was elected first for the Côte des Neiges ward in 1910 and reelected by acclamation in 1912.

At the Church of St. Louis de France, on the 18th of November, 1902, Mr. Deguire married Mlle. Aloysia Chopin, a daughter of the late Dr. J. Nestor Chopin of Sault au Récollet. Mr. and Mrs. Deguire have one son, René, born January 1, 1904. Mr. Deguire is not only a successful advocate and lawyer, but a patriotic citizen and a splendid example of a loyal French-Canadian. Fraternally he is affiliated with the Royal Arcanum.

JOHN J. ARNTON.

When death claimed John J. Arnton on the 13th of November, 1894, he was the oldest real-estate man in Montreal in years of continuous connection with the business in this city. Montreal numbers him among her native sons, his birth having occurred in 1832. He began his business career with the firm of John Leeming & Company and later practically succeeded to the business and good will of the firm. He watched the notable development in real estate methods and, keeping abreast of the progress of the times, met substantial success. He was in business at the time of the real-estate boom of the ‘70s and he gained a patronage as large as he could handle. Realizing fair profit from his real estate negotiations, he was at length able to retire with a comfortable competence. The integrity of his business methods was one of the features of his growing success, and his progressiveness was also an element in his advancement.