Ontario Canada

Biography of Rev. Edward L. Elwood, A.M.

Edward Lindsay Elwood, Rector of St. George’s church, Goderich, and archdeacon of Huron, was born in Cork, Ireland, December 13, 1810. His parents were Edward Elwood, Captain 7th Royal Fusiliers, and Esther nee Lindsay. The Elwoods belong to the gentry of Roscommon, Ireland. Our subject was educated at a private school in Dublin, taught by the Rev. T. P. Huddart, Chief Justice Hagarty being a pupil in the same school, and Trinity College, Dublin, being graduated A.B., in 1831, and receiving the degree of A.M., in course seven years later. He was ordained deacon October 6, 1833, by the Rev. … Read more

Biography of William Johnston Ritchie, Chief Justice

William Johnston Ritchie, Chief Justice of the Supreme Court of the Dominion, is a son of the Hon. Justice Ritchie, of Nova Scotia, and was born at Annapolis, in that Province, in October, 1813. His paternal grandfather came from Scotland and settled in Nova Scotia, prior to the American Revolution. The mother of our subject was Eliza Wildman Johnston, a descendant of a distinguished U. E. Loyalist family, her grandfather being a Scotchman of the Annandale line. He married a Miss Peyton, a lady of French Huguenot extraction. He was Governor of the Province of Georgia, in the troubled times … Read more

Biography of Charles F. Gildersleeve

Charles Fuller Gildersleeve, Mayor of Kingston, and one of the leading business men of this city, was born here on the 17th of October, 1833, his parents being Henry and Sarah (Finkle) Gildersleeve. His father came from Portland, Conn.; settled in Kingston in 1816; was a ship builder and steamboat owner, and an energetic business man. His maternal grandfather was a United Empire Loyalist. The subject of this notice received his literary education at the High School of Ontario, better known as the Upper Canada College, Toronto; prepared for the profession of law, partly in Kingston and partly in Toronto; … Read more

Biography of Henry Turner, M.D.

Henry Turner, the oldest physician in practice at Millbrook, county of Durham, is a native of the county of Cork, Ireland, a son of Young Turner, merchant, and Alice, nee Evans, and was born March 1, 1829. Both parents came from old Cork families. The subject of this brief sketch studied at Richmond Hospital School of Medicine; was licensed first by the Royal College of Surgeons, Ireland, in October 1852, then by Rotunda Hospital the same year, and was graduated at the University of St. Andrews, in 1853. Dr. Turner came directly to Canada, settled in Millbrook, then a village … Read more

Biography of James S. Thorburn, M.D.

Dr. James Thorburn, is a native of Canada, and was born on the 21st day of November, 1830, at Queenston, Ontario. The names of his parents were David Thorburn and Isabel nee Thompson. Mr. Thorburn came from Scotland to this country, where he engaged for many years in merchandising, He also entered politics and became a prominent and influential leader of the Reform Party, holding various positions of honor and trust: For about sixteen years he sat for the Counties of Welland and Lincoln in the old Canadian Parliament, in which body he took a leading and active part during … Read more

Biography of Thomas Kennedy

Thomas Kennedy. The door of opportunity is everywhere opened to the man of enterprise. The most characteristic industry in the State of Kansas was built up by a young machinist who came to Galena nearly thirty years ago and somewhat later established a factory for the manufacture of perforated metals. The Thomas Kennedy Company of Galens is the only concern of its kind west of the Mississippi River as far as the Pacific Coast. Mr. Kennedy created in his own mind the idea for the machines that are now at work in his plant. He realized the need of perforated … Read more

Biography of Daniel O’Connor

Among the earlier class of families that settled in Ottawa (then known as Bytown), was that of Daniel O’Connor, senior, who was born in Tipperary, Ireland, in 1796. He was possessed of considerable scholastic attainments, his parents, being in comfortable circumstances, having intended him for the clerical profession. Like many more of a literary turn of mind, Mr. O’Connor kept a journal through life, and being permitted to peruse it, we are in a position to give correctly his early life and history. Not feeling the necessary disposition to comply with his parents wishes, he was allowed to follow his … Read more

Biography of George Ralph Richardson Cockburn, M. A.

George Ralph Richardson Cockburn, Principal of the Upper Canada College, Toronto, for nearly twenty years, is a son of Robert and Margaret (Burke) Cockburn, and was born in Edinburgh, Scotland, February 15, 1834. He received his education in that city, in the celebrated High School, then under the Rectorship of Dr. Schmitz, and passed thence to the University, where, on the completion of a brilliant career, he graduated with the highest classical honors, carrying off the Stratton Prize, 1857. He then more fully prosecuted his classical studies under Professor Zumpt, one of the most famous classical scholars in Germany, while … Read more

Biography of George Watson

George Watson; Collector of Customs at Collingwood, was born near Aberdeen, Scotland, December 2,1828. He lost his mother when about six years old. In 1836 the remainder of the family, father and two sisters, immigrated to Upper Canada, settling on a farm in the Township of Chinguacousy, twenty miles from Toronto. George finished his education at a grammar school in Toronto; continued on the farm until 1855; then became a passenger conductor on the Northern Railway, and was in that position between eleven and twelve years, his home being at Collingwood. He left the road on account of ill health … Read more

Biography of George T. Orton, M. D., M. P.

George Turner Orton, who represents Centre Wellington in the House of Commons, is a son of Dr. Henry Orton, who came to Upper Canada from Leicestershire, England, and settled in Guelph in 1835, was County Coroner many years, and died at Fergus in 1869, and Mary nee Jerram, also a native of England; and was born in Guelph, January 19, 1837. His mother died at Nottingham, England, in 1858. Our subject received a grammar school education at Guelph; studied German while with a private tutor at Berlin, County of Waterloo, Ontario; and for the medical profession at the College of … Read more

Biography of Hon. Robert Lyon

Robert Lyon, one of the judges for the county of Carleton, born July 6, 1829, is a son of the late George Lyon, a native of Scotland, an officer in the British army, and one of the founders of the town of Richmond, which was named for the duke of Richmond, then Governor-General of Upper Canada. It was made a military settlement, and Mr. Lyon cut the first tree there when it was decided to start a town. That was a few years before the birth of our subject, who was educated in the common schools of the village of … Read more

Biography of John O’Donohoe

John O’Donohoe, barrister-at-law, and ex-member of the Dominion Parliament, justly occupies a prominent place in the foremost rank of those Irishmen, who, adopting Canada as their home, and closely identifying themselves with her manifold interests, have, through the exercise of industry, perseverance, and personal integrity, attained to considerable and well deserved eminence. He is fourth son of the late Malachy O’Donohoe and Margaret O’Neill, and was born at Tuam, County Galway, Ireland, in June, 1824. The family on the paternal side are a branch of the ancient family of the name known as O’Donohoe of the Glen, having their chief … Read more

Biography of Hon. Elijah Leonard

The family, originally consisting of two brothers, emigrated from Wales, England, to the colony of Massachusetts Bay, in the year 1632, and have ever since been identified with the production and manufacture of iron. His grandfather, Samuel Leonard, of Taunton Massachusetts, is said to have made the first spade or shovel manufactured in the United States. His father, Elijah Leonard, settled in Onondaga county, State of New York, in the early part of the present century, where he engaged in the production of iron, and subsequently married Miss Mary Stone. Senator Leonard was born on the 10th September, 1815, on … Read more

Biography of Isaac Waterman

Isaac Waterman, of the Atlantic Petroleum Works, is a native of Bavaria, Germany, a son of Jacob Waterman, and was born August 16, 1844. He was educated in a common school till eleven years old; then spent two years in a mercantile college in the city of Fuerth, and in October, 1858, reached London, Ontario, his present home. Here, after clerking in a store for one year and attending a night school, he was sent by his employer to take charge of a store in Kingston. In 1864, after spending a few weeks in Watertown, N. Y., Mr. Waterman returned … Read more

Biography of Hon. Billa Flint

Among the self educated and remarkably successful business men of Ontario, the subject of this notice has a front rank. He never went to school but six weeks after he was ten years old; was put to work at eleven, and by his industry, pluck and perseverance placed himself years ago, among the independent “commoners” of this Province. He is a son of mills and Phoebe (Wells) Flint, and was born in Elizabethtown, county of Leeds, Ontario, February 9, 1805. His paternal grandfather was from Cornwall, England, and immigrated to New England a century ago, where both parents of our … Read more

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 Lieut-Col. Thomas Bog, J.P.

Thomas Joshua Pelton Bog, deputy registrar of the county of Prince Edward, and a resident of Picton, the shire town, for thirty-eight years, dates his birth at Montreal, November 26, 1826. His father, David Bog, a native of Edinburgh, Scotland, and an officer in the British army, retired on half pay, more than a half century ago, and died at Montreal, of cholera, in 1832; and his mother, who was English, and whose maiden name was Mary Wilkes, died at Picton in 1856. Thomas supplemented a common school education with one term at the Potsdam, New York, Academy; came to … Read more

Biography of Hon. George Brown

George Brown, Senator, managing director of the Globe Printing and Publishing Company, and one of the most prominent and influential citizens of Canada, is a native of Edinburgh, Scotland, where he was born on the 29th of November, 1818. His father was Peter Brown, merchant, of Edinburgh, but later connected with the newspaper publishing business in New York and Toronto, and his mother was the only daughter of George Mackenzie, Esq., of Stornoway, Isle of Lewis. He was educated at the Edinburgh high school and afterwards spent a few years in London. In 1838 he accompanied his father to New … Read more

Biography of David Robertson, M.D., M.P.P.

David Robertson, the leading physician and surgeon in Milton, and a member of the Ontario Legislature for Halton, is a native of this county, and was born in the Township of Esquesing, July 9, 1841. His father, Alexander Robertson, was from Perthshire, Scotland; his mother, whose maiden name was Nancy Moore, from New England. The father of our subject, born in Perthshire, 1785, was the grandson of Colonel Donald Robertson, of Woodshiel, who commanded the Clan Robertson at the battle of Culloden, April 16, 1746, in which he was severely wounded. On recovering he made his escape to France, and … Read more

Biography of Robert Armour

Robert Armour, Registrar of the West Riding of Durham, is a native of Donne, Perth. shire, Scotland, dating his birth March 10, 1818, his parents being Samuel and Margaret (Douglas) Armour. The Armours were Huguenots, driven from France in the times of Catholic persecution. His mother’s branch of the Douglas family descended in a direct line from “Black Douglas,” who figures conspicuously in Scottish history. In 1820, the father of our. subject, with his family, emigrated to Canada in company with the father of Sir John Alexander Macdonald, and one or two other families from the same part of Scotland, … Read more