The Canadian Biographical Dictionary Collections – Page 3 of 27

Biography of Walter Mackenzie

Walter Mackenzie, registrar of the county of Prince Edward, and a native of Ross-shire, Scotland, is a son of Alexander Mackenzie, architect, and Christina Ross, and was born February 15, 1835. His father has been dead for many years; his mother is still living. Walter received a parish school education; came to Canada alone in 1851, and located in Picton, where he had and still has a maternal uncle, Walter Ross, who was at one time a member of the Canadian Assembly, and not long ago of the House of Commons of the Dominion. For this uncle, who was a … Read more

Biography of Walter Lambert, M.D.

Walter Lambert, mayor, and the oldest and most prominent medical practitioner in Amherstburg, his birth taking place on the 10th of April, 1832, in the township of Niagara, Ontario. His father, Robert Lambert, a farmer, was the son of Cornelius Lambert, one of the United Empire Loyalists, belonging to “Butler’s Rangers,” and living in New Jersey at the time of the Rebellion of the American Colonies. Walter spent his younger years exclusively in study. After receiving a grammar school education, he studied medicine with Dr. Theophilus Mack, of St. Catharines; attended lectures in the Medical Department of Trinity College, Toronto, … Read more

Biography of Very Rev. Joseph H. Tabaret, D.D.

Very Rev. Joseph Henry Tabaret, president of the Ottawa College, and a member of the Congregation of Oblates of Mary Immaculate, is a native of the Department of L’Isere, France, and was born on the 10th of April, 1828, his parents being Antony and Adele (Foret) Tabaret. His religious and missionary training began in the Novitiate of Notre Dame de L’Osier, a miraculous sanctuary and pilgrimage of Our Lady in the Department of L’Isere, not far from his native place; and was completed in the scholastic house of the Congregation at Marseilles. In the Autumn of 1850 our subject came … Read more

Biography of Uzziel Ogden

The Ogden family in America is a very large one, branches of it being found in almost every State in the Union, and throughout Canada. They are descended from a Scotch family, early members of which removed from some of the central counties of England, to Scot-land, at a very early period. There it became in time a thoroughly Scotch family, some members of which spoke only the Gaelic language. During the 18th century some of the Ogdens immigrated to Maryland. At the time of the revolution there were twenty-one brothers of this name, who settled in various parts of … Read more

Biography of Timothy T. Coleman, M.D.

Timothy Theobald Coleman, a pioneer physician at Seaforth, and a prominent manufacturer, was born in the county of Kerry, Ireland, February 11, 1828, his father being Thomas Coleman, a farmer, who died when our subject was four years old. Young as he was, Timothy was the oldest of three children, left to the care of the widowed mother. He was kept at school until eighteen years old, receiving an English and classical education, being obliged to drop his studies at that age on account of the famine in Ireland in 1846, when he had to resort to manual labor to … Read more

Biography of Thomas Wilson

Thomas Wilson, late mayor of Dundas, and one of the leading machinists and manufacturers of the town, was born in Dumbartonshire, Scotland, May 27, 1828. His grandfather was a manufacturer in Glasgow, and his father, Charles Wilson, was a distiller in the old country, and a farmer in Canada. His mother was Margaret McGregor, a descendant of the McGregors and Grahams of Stirlingshire. In the early youth of our subject the family moved to Lanarkshire, where he received a parish school education, and in 1843 they all came to Canada West. Thomas learned the trade of a machinist with John … Read more

Biography of Thomas Williams

Few men now living are more worthy of a place in this book, as a pioneer in Elgin county and a self made man, whose self reliance, perseverance and industry in life made him successful, than Thomas Williams. He was born in Manchester, Eng., April 5, 1803. His father, a silk manufacturer, was Richard Williams, and the maiden name of his mother was Mary Rice. The latter died at the great age of ninety-three, and then from the effects of an accident, and the former lived to be seventy-eight. In 1816, the family left the old country, and came to … Read more

Biography of Thomas W. Johnston M. D.,

Thomas W. Johnston, Sarnia’s pioneer physician, was a native of Ireland, and was born in Omagh, County of Tyrone, on the 24th of March, 1813. He was the son of Hugh Johnston, merchant and contractor, of the same place. His early studies were prosecuted at the High School in Omagh, under the direction of Sir William Smith. At the age of fifteen he was apprenticed to John Hamilton, a surgeon of great local celebrity; and the nature of the duties imposed upon the young apprentice will be inferred from an extract from the indenture executed by the parties at the … Read more

Biography of Thomas S. Shenston

Thomas S. Shenston, registrar of the county of Brant, and son of Benjamin and Mary (Strahan) Shenston, was born in London, England, June 25,1822. Two uncles on his father’s side were clergymen: Rev. William Shenston, twenty-five years pastor of a Baptist church at Little Aile St., Whitechapel Road, London, and Rev. John B. Shenston, a Sabbatarian Baptist, Shoreditch, London. His maternal grandfather was a Congregational minister. This branch of the Shenston family is remotely related to the poet Shenstone. When our subject was about nine years of age, the family emigrated to Upper Canada, and after halting one year near … Read more

Biography of Thomas Russell

Thomas Russell, a pioneer settler in the township of Caledon, county of Peel, dates his birth in Edinburgh, Scotland, May 16, 1802. His father George Russell, was a mining engineer. His mother, before her marriage, was Euphemia Tweedie, both parents being Scotch. Thomas had a high school education, including Latin; learned the baker’s trade; was two years in business for himself in Edinburgh, and subsequently a merchant in the same city, leaving Scotland in 1834, and emigrating to Canada. He took up land in Caledon, adjoining the village of Alton, where he opened a farm, which he still owns and … Read more

Biography of Thomas Racey

Thomas Racey, registrar of the county of Halton, was born in the city of Bath, Somersetshire, Eng., December 24, 1791, and hence is in his 89th year. His parents were James and Jane (Sumption) Racey. He received a plain English education; came to Canada in 1805, being engaged before leaving, as a clerk for Thomas Dickson, of Queenston, Eng., where he remained three years; and then went to Ancaster, at the “Head of the Lake,” and was a merchant’s clerk a while for Samuel Hatch, and subsequently his partner at an outpost at Mount Pleasant, near Brantford; and while there … Read more

Biography of Thomas N. and William H. Gibbs

Thomas N and William Henry Gibbs are sons of Thomas and Caroline (Tate) Gibbs, who emigrated from Kingsbridge, Devonshire, England, in 1819, and settled at Terrebonne, Province of Quebec, where both of the sons mentioned were born, Thomas Nicholson, March 11, 1821, and William Henry, November 29, 1823. In 1832 the family removed to Oshawa, where the father of our subjects engaged in the grain and flour trade, dying here in July, 1871. They are cousins of Frederick W. Gibbs, C. B., formerly tutor to the Prince of Wales. Thomas N. Gibbs was educated in England; and since his return … Read more

Biography of Thomas Murray, M.P.P.

Thomas Murray, member of the Local Parliament for North Renfrew, is a native of the county of Carleton, Out., dating his birth in the township of Gouldbourn, January 18, 1836. His father, James Murray, from King’s county, Ireland, came to Canada about 1825, and was engaged in commercial pursuits and afterwards farming, dying at Gouldbourn about 1846. The mother of our subject was Elizabeth Burrows, who died in 1854. Mr. Murray received his education in his native township, and at Smith’s Falls; and when fourteen years of age became an apprentice to the mercantile business with the late W. R. … Read more

Biography of Thomas Miller

Thomas Miller, Judge of the County of Halton, is the son of an early settler in this county. Thomas Miller, senior, who came hither from the County Down, Ireland, in 1827. Thomas was born in the Township of Nelson, September 15, 1830. His mother’s maiden name was Margaret McWha, who was also from Ireland. The father of our subject who was an extensive agriculturist in Ireland, and farmed in this country, died in 1867; his mother in 1837. He was educated in the Grammar Schools of Palermo, in this county, and Queen’s College, Kingston, being graduated in 1853; studied law … Read more

Biography of Thomas M. Nairn, M. P. P.

Thomas Macintyre Nairn, son of James and Agnes (Macintyre) Nairn, dates his birth at Balloch, at the foot of Loch Lomond, Dumbartonshire, Scotland, June 16, 1830. His father was a builder and contractor. Thomas attended public schools until thirteen years old; was connected with his father’s office for about two years, and then spent five years in the office of a writer and land agent in Dumbarton, there receiving a practical business training, which has since been of very great value to him. In May, 1850, Mr. Nairn started for the Western World; spent a short time as a clerk … Read more

Biography of Thomas Long, M.P.P.

The subject of this biographical sketch, is descended from German ancestors on his father’s side, the progenitor of the family settling in the County of Limerick, Ireland, about the commencement of the 17th century. In that county our subject was born, August 7, 1836, his parents being Thomas and Margaret (Farrel) Long. His father who was an agriculturist, died in the old country in 1847; his mother is still living there. Mr. Long was educated in part at the national school at Shanagolden; came to Canada in 1850, with his wardrobe carefully done up in a small cotton handkerchief, and … Read more

Biography of Thomas Kirkpatrick, Q.C.

Among the early settlers in what is now the Province of Ontario, few men in a semi public capacity have filled a more honorable place that the subject of this brief sketch. Upper Canada was still a country in its infancy, when, as a youth of 17 years, in 1822, Thomas Kirkpatrick made his home in Kingston. He was born in the parish of Castleknock, in the county of Dublin, and was led to think of Canada as a field in which to seek his fortune, by the fact that a connection of his own was already there in the … Read more

Biography of Thomas Jull

The subject of this brief notice is a descendant of a family of English agriculturists, and dates his birth in the County of Kent, February 17, 1817. His parents were Henry and Harriet (Farris) Jull. The name is not very common either in England or Canada; there are few families of that name in this Province. Thomas received an ordinary English education; did some farming with his father in boy hood; learned the trade of a millwright, and then abandoned it; in the autumn of 1835, left his fatherland; came to Trafalgar, in the County of Halton, and farmed and … Read more

Biography of Thomas Hodgins, M.A.,Q.C.

he subject of this sketch is a native of Dublin, Ireland, where he was born on the 6th of October, 1828, being the fourth son of the late William Hodgins, Esq., of that city, and formerly of the County Wicklow. His mother’s maiden name was Frances Doyle, daughter of the late James Doyle, Esq., Newcastle, County Wicklow, Ireland. Mr. Hodgins was educated in his native city, and at Bristol, England; and in 1848 immigrated to Canada, coming to Toronto, where he entered the public service as a clerk in the Educational Department, In 1852, he matriculated in the University of … Read more

Biography of Thomas H. Wright

Thomas Henry Wright, treasurer of Essex county, was born in Colchester, in the same county, and in the Province of Ontario, on the 19th of July, 1816. His father, Henry Wright, was a native of Pennsylvania, was born in 1786, and was the third son in a family of eight children. He came with his father’s family by land route to Detroit, in 1796, and crossed thence into Canada. There being no roads or settlements for most of the distance at that time, the goods and persons of the family were carried on the backs of pack horses. The family … Read more