Part 74

HON. JAMES KEWLEY WARD.

Out of the struggle with comparatively small opportunities Hon. James Kewley Ward came finally into a field of broad and active influence and usefulness. Not seeking honor but simply endeavoring to do his duty, honors were yet multiplied and prosperity followed his undertakings. His father settled on the Isle of Man and it was there that the son, James Kewley Ward, was born on the 9th of September, 1819. He was reared and educated at the place of his nativity but the opportunities of America attracted him in early manhood, and he crossed the Atlantic to New York, remaining for a decade in that city. His initial experience in the new world was one of continuous advancement, for the wise use he made of his time and opportunities brought about the development and increase of his powers. He left New York for Canada in 1853, and settling in Montreal engaged in the lumber business, which he found a profitable field of labor, owing to his keen discernment and his wise management of his affairs. He also became deeply interested in the Canadian cotton manufacturing industry and in time came to rank with the leading representatives of manufacturing and commercial interests in his province.

Important and extensive as were his business affairs, Mr. Ward never allowed these to preclude an active and helpful interest in the municipal life or provincial welfare. For eighteen years he was a valued member of the town council of Cote St. Antoine, and for nine years he was mayor, giving to the city a businesslike and progressive administration that brought about needed reforms and improvements. In 1882 and again in 1887 he was defeated in the dominion general election, after which he was appointed to the legislative council in 1888 and in 1903 was made a member of the council of public instruction. He reached the remarkable old age of ninety-one years, yet remained an active factor in the work of the legislative council, being seen daily at his desk in the legislature, taking a keen interest in many public questions which were submitted for consideration. He was a liberal and his position upon any vital issue was never an equivocal one. He stood stalwartly in defence of what he believed to be right and for the best interests of the province at large. He was a man of broad vision, whose public service was characterized by no petty personal prejudices. Duty was his watchword in public office, and he seemed to view a vital question from every possible standpoint.

Hon. Mr. Ward was connected with various public institutions, having to do with the welfare and benefit of the unfortunate or tending to alleviate hard conditions of life for the needy. He was a governor of the Montreal General Hospital and of the House of Industry and Refuge, was president of the Protestant Hospital for the Insane and president of St. George’s Society and other organizations. He passed away October 2, 1910, having kept his faculties unimpaired to the last. To build up rather than to destroy had ever been his broad policy, and through life he had attacked every important work which he undertook with a contagious enthusiasm.

JOSEPH MEDARD GUINDON.

Joseph Medard Guindon, engaged in the real estate business in Montreal since December, 1908, was born at St. Ignace du Coteau du Lac in the county of Soulanges, on the 23d of March, 1866, a son of Jules and Marguerite (Wilson) Guindon the father born at St. Eustache and the mother at Coteau du Lac. The ancestry of the Guindon family can be traced back to Pierre Guindon, who was born in 1648 and died September 27, 1733. He married Catherine Rouchallet dit Bergerac, who died August 22, 1710. To his marriage were born three children. The eldest son, Jean Baptiste Guindon, was born September 15, 1707, and married, February 14, 1729, Madeleine Labette. Pierre Guindon, the second son, was born in 1708, and died October 7, 1709. Paul Guindon, the youngest son, was born August 21, 1710, and married November 16, 1733, Marie Josette Aube dit Aubert, to which marriage were born two sons: Paul, August 20, 1735; and François, March 23, 1737. Paul Guindon married Marie Amable de Maisonneuve in 1770 and had one son, Amable, born in 1772. Amable Guindon married in 1809 and had a son, Magloire, born October 15, 1811. Magloire Guindon was married in 1835 to Josette Guindon, his cousin. He took up arms at the revolt of St. Eustache in 1837, was arrested and imprisoned for a period of seven months after the confiscation of the greater part of his goods. To his marriage were born six children of whom Jules, born in 1840, married Marguerite Wilson, May 20, 1865, at Coteau du Lac. To them were born eleven children, the most of whom died at an early age.

Joseph Medard Guindon was a student in l’Ecole du Plateau in Montreal, where he completed the commercial course in 1882. He then turned his attention to the hardware trade and in 1897 became a hardware merchant in Valleyfield, where he conducted business for nine years. In 1907 he established a hardware store in Montreal, of which he was proprietor for two years. In December, 1908, he opened a real estate office with L. D. Latour under the firm name of Latour & Guindon, in which business he has since been engaged with a large capital. He has personally made investments in improved property and vacant land and his holdings are now very extensive. As real estate agent and expert he has a large clientage and his business is growing year by year. He is thoroughly informed concerning realty values and the energy and enterprise which he displays in carrying on his work have constituted the salient forces in the attainment of his success.

Mr. Guindon has been twice married. On the 30th of June, 1886, he wedded Rosalinda Bourdon, a daughter of Narcisse and Marie Anne (Bisaillon) Bourdon, and to this marriage was born one son, Paul Herve, whose birth occurred at Valleyfield, April 2, 1898. On October 7, 1902, Mr. Guindon was again married, his second union being with Marie Rose Anne Sevigny, a daughter of Philias and Madeleine (Cantin) Sevigny. The children of this marriage are: Marguerite, Marcelle, Suzanne, Juliette, Mario, Robert, Jacques and Jean Rodrigue.

While living in Valleyfield Mr. Guindon served as city alderman from 1898 till 1904. He manifests a deep interest in municipal affairs and all lines of public progress, but has never been ambitious to hold office, preferring to concentrate his energies upon his business interests, which are now extensive and important.

WILLIAM PATTERSON, K. C.

William Patterson was born in Ormstown, Quebec, and is a son of the late Samuel Patterson. He was educated at the public school of Ormstown; Huntingdon Academy at Huntingdon, Quebec; McGill University of Montreal, which institution conferred upon him the degree of B. A. with first rank honours in classics, in 1886, M. A., in 1889, and B. C. L., in 1895; and at Laval University, which granted him the LL. B. degree in 1900.

Mr. Patterson was principal of the Royal Arthur school at Montreal from 1888 to 1898, during which time he organized and directed a movement in favor of a school history of Canada, written from a Dominion instead of a provincial point of view, the object being, while the history of our country is told from its earliest periods, to direct, as far as possible, the mind of the reader from the various currents of provincial history into the broader channel of the Dominion and to make the boys and girls of Canada feel as they grow up into the responsibilities of citizenship that under confederation we have a united country and a united people. He addressed in support of the movement the Provincial Association of Protestant Teachers of the Province of Quebec at their annual convention in McGill Normal school, Montreal, in October, 1889, and also addressed the Teachers of the Province of Nova Scotia at their annual convention, in Halifax, in December, 1890. He also read before the Royal Society of Canada at Montreal in June, 1891, a paper entitled A Proposal for a Dominion Text-Book of Canadian History. He was appointed secretary of the Dominion history committee, with the Hon. George W. Ross, later Sir George W. Ross, as chairman, by the Dominion Educational Association at its first meeting, which was held in Montreal in July, 1892. The result of these efforts was the organization of the Dominion history prize competition, open to authors of recognized ability, and the publication in June, 1897, of The History of the Dominion of Canada, by W. H. P. Clement, B. A., LL. B., which had been awarded the first prize, and of A Canadian History for Boys and Girls, by Miss Emily P. Weaver, which had been awarded the second prize--both works written from the viewpoint indicated above.

Mr. Patterson organized at Ormstown, Quebec, in 1888, the Chateauguay Literary and Historical Society and was its corresponding secretary from that time until 1895, when, under the auspices of the society and in the presence of over seven thousand people, many of whom had come from a distance, a monument erected on the Chateauguay battlefield by the Dominion government, the outcome of a long agitation, was unveiled in memory of Colonel de Salaberry’s brilliant victory of 1813 over the American invading army.

Mr. Patterson was called to the Quebec bar in July, 1901, and has since successfully practiced his profession at Montreal, where he is the attorney of the Dominion Alliance and of other bodies. He is the author of the Handbook of Commercial Law, published in 1904. In 1910 he was appointed joint crown prosecutor for the district of Beauharnois and in April, 1912, was created a king’s counsellor.

Mr. Patterson married Miss Naomi Florence Smith, a daughter of Robert Smith, of Westmount, Quebec, in July, 1909. He is a liberal in politics and has taken an active part on the hustings in all federal and provincial elections at Montreal and in its vicinity since 1900. His church membership is held in the Presbyterian denomination, and he is a member of the Canadian and Reform Clubs of Montreal. His residence is at 2290 Mance Street, Montreal.

WILLIAM HENRY ATHERTON.

William Henry Atherton was born on November 15, 1867, in Salford, a suburb of Manchester, in Lancashire, England, of Joseph Atherton, sanitary engineer, and Sarah (Nicholls) Atherton. His grandfather, William Atherton, was of a line of merchants and was the last volunteer fire chief in Salford where in Peel Park Museum his famous fire dog “Lion” held an honoured place. His maternal grandfather’s family of Nicholls had farms in Yorkshire and previously in North Wales.

William Henry Atherton spent his early boyhood at the old cathedral city of Norwich in Norfolk, and in 1879, at the age of twelve, started his classical studies at Stonyhurst College, in Lancashire, graduating from the class of Rhetoric in 1886 and matriculating the same year in the first class in the University of London. After several years’ further classical studies he entered the course of scholastic philosophy at St. Mary’s College, Stonyhurst, and at the end of the third year, in 1895, presented his theses in Universa Philosophia, which he passed with distinction “aptus ad docendum,” the degree being equivalent to the Doctorate of Philosophy, which was, after a further thesis on “Beatitudo Finalis” accepted as ad eundum gradum at the University of Ottawa in 1908. From 1898 to 1902 he pursued a four years’ course of scholastic divinity at St. Beuno’s College, St. Asaph, North Wales. When not engaged in the above courses he taught for nearly ten years as a professor of classics and elocution at Stonyhurst College, Lancashire, and Beaumont College, Old Windsor, Berkshire, two of the principal “public schools” of England. At both of these colleges he had charge of the dramatic performances, which are a recognized and important feature in their educational system. There he produced many of the best examples of the classical drama as well as of the best modern plays. He also had charge of the preparation of the annual or term “academies” or “speech days” and thus his students presented parts of Latin, Greek, English and French classical pieces.

On coming to Canada in 1907 William Atherton taught classics for a year at St. Albert, Alberta, at the Bishop’s Seminary, assisting Mgr. Légal in the preparation of a history of the Catholic church in North Alberta. In 1908 he taught classics at Loyola College, Montreal. Since then he has filled other educational posts in the city as lecturer in psychology and ethics at the College for the Higher Education of Women, established in connection with Laval University; professor of the English course in the new “Ecole des Hautes Etudes Commerciales” erected by the Gouin government in 1910, and from 1911 he has also been an examiner in Arts for the entrance examinations conducted by the College of Physicians and Surgeons of the province of Quebec. During his career in Montreal Dr. Atherton has identified himself with most phases of the sociological problems of the city. In 1908 he was invited to assume the managership of the Catholic Sailors’ Club, a position he still holds. In 1909, when the City Improvement League was established, he was selected to become the executive secretary. He is a member of the Civic Secretaries’ Association in connection with the National Municipal League of America, a member of the National Housing Association, the International City Planning Conference and the American Civic League. At the Toronto convention of the International City Planning Congress held in June, 1914, he was appointed by the Canadian delegates to represent them before the Commission of Conservation of the Dominion government to urge the creation of a special Municipal Improvement Bureau in connection with that Commission, to co-operate with and to organize the various movements for city planning, housing and civic improvements in the Dominion. He has taken an active part in most of the recent Civic Improvement and Good Government movements in Montreal, being one of the pioneers in affecting the appointment of the Metropolitan Parks Commission for Montreal, and a consistent advocate of better housing conditions for the working classes. He was the organizing secretary of the notable Child Welfare Exhibition held in Montreal in the Drill Hall on Craig Street in October, 1912. In 1914 he was a member of the executive committee of the “clean-up week” movement, a great public health movement which was taken up by the whole city, in which he acted as chairman of the Co-operation Committee.

Dr. Atherton has been the author of many contributions and criticisms to literary, philosophical and civic journals. His first work, published anonymously under the auspices of the Catholic Truth Society of England, was the Life of Father Damien, the Leper Priest, which appeared in England in 1889, attracting attention as the first authentic life then published. Dr. Atherton has identified himself with the literary life of Montreal. He was one of the founders of the Montreal branch of the Dickens’ Fellowship of which he has been vice president for three years and president for the years 1912-1913-1914. He is the author of the two volumes of the history of Montreal under the French Régime and under the English Rule now being published.

HON. RAYMOND PREFONTAINE.

Joseph Raymond Fournier Préfontaine was a member of an old French family which was established in 1680 in New France. Mr. Préfontaine was born at Longueuil on the 16th of September, 1850. He began his education under private tutors and completed his classical studies at St. Mary’s College under the direction of the Jesuit Fathers. He obtained his Bachelor’s degree at McGill University and was admitted to the bar in 1873. While taking up his private practice he began at the same time occupying himself with public affairs with success.

There are few men who, step by step, possessed more than he the rare gift of being always the man of his time and who at all times retained the favor of his friends. He made his debut in municipal politics as alderman for Hochelaga, and in 1879 became the mayor of that municipality, which honorary post he held until 1884. At this period the progress of Montreal was slow, it being the custom to retard rather than hasten her development. The town and city officers at that time were struggling along with inadequate acts and regulations. They were like the undeterred scientists of old who obstinately tried to solve the problem of squaring the circle although without the slightest vestige of success. New blood was needed and Hochelaga supplied the first infusion in the person of Mr. Préfontaine. When Hochelaga was annexed to Montreal Mr. Préfontaine became alderman of the Montreal council and president of the public works commission. The task which confronted him was not a small one. On the one hand he had to fight against a routine held sacred, and on the other hand against a majority which was absolutely neglecting the eastern part of Montreal.

In 1898 Mr. Préfontaine was mayor of Montreal and began to carry out his program of action. Nothing was neglected for the advancement of the city, and he employed to the utmost his legal acumen and ability in restoring Montreal to her rights. From that time he displayed a deep and abiding devotion to Montreal East which owes so much to him, his labors in this connection being the crowning achievement of his efforts. It was he who gave to the city the Viger railroad station, and this was in itself but a small matter when compared with the shipbuilding yards, the mammoth warehouses and thousands of habitations that he by his persistency won for the French region of the metropolis. He thought of everything; the street railway service, the electric lighting system, the street paving, all these bore the stamp of his personality. He was sometimes unjustly accused of lending himself to questionable deals but always emerged from these ordeals without a stain upon his character or a shadow of doubt remaining as to the entire justification of his actions.

He was the Haussman of the city. It was generally known that he was the friend of the working men and would defend their interests as his own. It was but natural therefore that the workingmen of Hochelaga were his best friends and his stanchest partisans. They were his standard bearers throughout the entire town and were the first who made possible his election to the magistracy of the city. Mr. Préfontaine lifted Montreal out of the old routine and after he was elected mayor all worked hand and glove with him in order to crown his work, and it is not short of the truth to say that a complete reorganization of the municipal autonomy took place.

Hon. Mr. Préfontaine at the time of his death had been in politics for thirty years. In 1875 he was elected member of parliament from Chambly to the legislature of Quebec and continued to represent that county from 1886 to 1896 in the Dominion parliament. In his early days he served as president of the Young Men’s Liberal Association and later as president of the Club National. He was always the man of the hour. His remarkable popularity, the wide prestige which he enjoyed in the liberal party and the financial world, his intimate knowledge of political and administrative affairs, all betokened him the foremost man in the province of Quebec and more particularly in the district of Montreal. He was actively interested in all the movements of his party; few were the counties which he did not visit during the campaigns, and he took part in all the important debates. From his debut he was always in the public eye. Men like him are always the first in all ranks of life. One sees him ceaselessly battling when vital interests are at stake. At the general elections of 1900 he was elected by a large majority for Maisonneuve and Terrebonne. At the time of his death he was representing Maisonneuve, which had elected him by a majority of twenty-five hundred votes. When the Hon. Mr. Tarte resigned from the Laurier cabinet Mr. Préfontaine was prevailed upon to accept the portfolio of marine and fisheries. It is to him that Canada owes the fine organization of this department and the excellent results obtained.

Let us recall what he wrote regarding this subject on the 21st of October in Le Soleil: “We receive every day confirmation of the happy news that the harvest of this year will surpass all hopes. In fact, everything indicates that it will be phenomenal. The Grain Merchants Association values for only the west the production of wheat at ninety-one and a half millions bushels; that of oats at sixty-seven millions of bushels; that of flax at half a million. On the other side the reports from Quebec and Ontario are excellent. There is no doubt that our exportations of agricultural products will this year largely exceed those of 1903, our maximum year, which amounted to one hundred and fifteen million dollars. These figures are so outstanding that they speak for themselves. They mean that the facilities of transportation will have to be considerable to ship all of this,--that is that the St. Lawrence route will be largely put in requisition to export our grain and in return, for the importation of articles sent in exchange. But they signify also that large sums of money will come into the treasury and that the St. Lawrence route will well merit its share. The St. Lawrence begins at the head of Lake Superior and goes as far as Belle Isle, I may say nearly to Newfoundland.

“One of my predecessors asked from Sir Wilfrid Laurier twenty-five million dollars for the single purpose of deepening the channel from Montreal to the Gulf. It is far from being completed. Since the channel was started we have not yet expended one-fifth of this amount and yet we can look backward with confidence and contemplate with pride the work accomplished. It is needless to give here the figures. Suffice it to say this is not a financial treatise but a statement to the people, telling them frankly that in less than five years we have created from nothing at Sorel, the national workshops of maritime construction, the most perfect, the best equipped, the best managed in existence in Canada and which would do credit to any other country. We have constructed the dredges and the apparatus necessary for digging and maintaining the channel at a desirable depth. The channel will be thirty feet in depth throughout almost its entire course. We have reasonably widened the curves wherever they were met. We have constructed signals and placed buoys to extend as far as the gulf and join with the channel. We have installed submarine bells and we are experimenting with a new electrical system for the direction of the vessels in the channel. We have made the channel between Montreal and Sorel as light at night as it is by day. We are now replacing floating fires with stationary fires. We have commenced and will continue with powerful vessels specially constructed to this end to make possible winter navigation and this trial, mark my words, will culminate in good results. That is as a matter of fact quite a goodly sum of finished work since Sir Wilfrid Laurier has come into power and, without boasting too much, since he has entrusted to your humble servant the portfolio of marine, so much decried by our good friends, the conservatives.