leading man up from self and earth and sin into the presence of God, the Father of all. Physically the Rev. Mr. Barclay is tall and muscular, giving one an idea of strength and power. He belongs to the Charles Kingsley school, and is a lover of outdoor pastimes and sports, a champion cricketer and golf player, and a great admirer of the “roaring game”—curling. The Edinburgh Scotsman has spoken of him as being the best all round cricketer in Scotland, and a terrifically fast bowler who has won victory after victory for the west of Scotland. He was captain of the Glasgow University cricket and football clubs for some years, and also captain of the “Gentlemen of Scotland.” We are glad that in this matter of out-door recreation, and also in some other matters, he has shown the courage of his convictions, and we do not think he has lost anything by it. There is such a thing as being too professional and too priestly, and there can be little doubt but that this has done its full share in creating the somewhat general prejudice that exists among young men against religion. This popular divine has been honoured by being called on to preach before Queen Victoria on several occasions, and he stands high in her Majesty’s estimation as an expounder of the gospel of Christ. The congregation of St. Paul’s Church is large and influential. Its ministers have always been men of commanding intellect and gentlemanly bearing, and who held their several pastorates for a considerable number of years. Their names and good deeds are kindly remembered by the citizens and the members of the church and congregation. The regular communicants of the church number about six hundred, and the Sacrament of the Lord’s Supper is administered three times a year. The several organizations of the church are doing good work for humanity, and there is a large and flourishing Sunday school. The Victoria mission, at Point St. Charles, is supported and carried on by this church; and it also supports a missionary in Central India. Its annual revenue amounts to about $22,000.00, and the pastor’s salary is $7,300.00, the largest paid to any minister in the dominion.
Watson, George, Collector of Customs, Collingwood, Ontario, was born on the 2nd of December, 1828, in the parish of Strathdon, near Aberdeen, Scotland, on a farm that had been occupied by his forefathers for over two hundred years, and which one of the family still occupies. The first of the Watson family, an aunt of the subject of our sketch, came to York, Upper Canada, in 1816, at the solicitation of Bishop Strachan, who came to Canada in 1812 from the same parish. His uncle-in-law, William Arthurs (father of the late Colonel Arthurs), was one of the first city councillors of Toronto, William Lyon Mackenzie, mayor. His father, Alexander Watson, emigrated to Upper Canada in 1832, and settled on a farm in the township of Chinguacousy, about twenty miles from Toronto, and died at Collingwood on the 30th of November, 1877, at the ripe old age of eighty-four years and six months. His mother was named Annie Watt, and died at the family homestead in Scotland when only twenty-nine years and nine months old. George received his early education in the parish school of Strathdon, and coming to Canada in 1843, finished his course of studies in the Grammar School at Toronto. He went on his father’s farm and continued there until 1855, when he took the position of passenger conductor on the Northern Railway, and continued as such for nearly twelve years. In October, 1866, in consequence of ill health, he gave up railroading, and in November of the same year received the government appointment of sub-collector at the port of Collingwood. In 1873, when the port was made an independent one, he was made collector, and this position he still holds. He has now resided in Collingwood over thirty-two years, and occupied the position of government officer of customs over twenty years. In 1867 Mr. Watson was elected mayor of Collingwood, and held the office for five consecutive years, and at the end of this time he declined to serve any longer; but in 1877, however, he was again induced to accept the office, and served another term. He is a justice of the peace; and has been chairman of the board of license commissioners for West Simcoe since the passing of the Ontario License Law in 1876. He is an enthusiastic Scot, and has filled the office of president of the Collingwood St. Andrew’s Society since its organization in 1880. Mr. Watson is also surveyor and registrar of shipping for the Collingwood district. He is an adherent of the Presbyterian church, and in politics a Reformer, as were his forefathers. In June, 1865, Mr. Watson was married to Joanna, daughter of the late John Watson, of Chinguacousy, and has a family of three sons, George, aged twenty years, Lorne Mackenzie, aged four years, and Norman, aged four months. Mr. Watson is one of Nature’s noblemen, and has through life manifested a thoroughly independent spirit, and one well worthy of imitation by any young man starting out in life. He has earned for himself a competency “for the glorious privilege of being independent.”
Crisp, Rev. Robert S., Pastor of the Methodist Church, Moncton, New Brunswick, is one of two brothers (Robert S. and James Crisp), who came to the Maritime provinces during the years 1871 and 1872, for the purpose of entering the Methodist ministry. Robert S., the elder of the two brothers and subject of this sketch, was born near Norwich, England, July 1st, 1848. He is the eldest son of James and Sarah Crisp, and is descended on his mother’s side from a junior branch of the Walpole family, some members of which occupied important positions in English politics during the reigns of George I. and George II. Many interesting traditions and relics, as well as valuable estates in Norfolk, still remain in this branch of the family. After receiving a general education in the public schools and in a private school of his native place, Mr. Crisp took theological studies under the direction of the Rev. Thomas G. Keeling, M.A., well known in certain divinity circles in the old country, purposing to offer himself for the Methodist ministry in connection with the English conference. A letter from the late Rev. Dr. Geo. Scott, urging him to go to America, decided him, however, in an early purpose he had formed of some time offering himself for the work under the control of the (then) Eastern British American conference, which he accordingly did in October, 1871, and on arriving in this country was appointed assistant to the Rev. F. W. Harrison, in a large country charge on the banks of the St. John river, in New Brunswick. Among other charges held by Mr. Crisp, have been Charlottetown, P.E.I., Chatham, Portland, and Moncton, N.B. Mr. Crisp’s especial aim has been to adapt himself as far as possible to the actual needs and tastes of the people among whom he has laboured in word and doctrine. As a result of this he has been successful in his work, and the church to which he belongs has been extended and consolidated in his various charges. He is also well known as a lecturer and enthusiastic temperance worker. In the latter capacity he has sometimes aroused much opposition. He was chosen to deliver an address of welcome at the annual meeting of the Sons of Temperance in Moncton in 1886, and as a result of remarks he made regarding the appointment of a man who was transacting business in liquor, to the office of justice of the peace in a town in which the Scott Act had been adopted, he was sued for libel with damages laid at $10,000. Rev. Mr. Crisp, however, kept on steadily in his course, and soon after the local government appointed a commission to enquire into the charges preferred. Mr. Crisp is still a young man (1887), and hopes to have very many years of labour before him in various departments of Christian work.
Harris, Joseph A., Barrister-at-law, Moncton, New Brunswick, is the fifth son of Michael S. Harris, and was born at Moncton, New Brunswick, on the 23rd of August, 1847. He received his educational training at the Mount Allison Academy, New Brunswick, and in the Liverpool Collegiate Institution, England. After leaving school he followed mercantile pursuits until 1872, when he began the study of law in the office of the late Albert J. Hickman, barrister, Dorchester, New Brunswick, and continued here until September of 1873, when he entered Harvard University, Massachusetts. In this university he remained for over two years. He then returned to his native province, and entered the office of the Hon. John J. Fraser, Q.C., J.S.C., at Fredericton, New Brunswick, as a student, and continuing there until October, 1876, when he was admitted to the bar of the Supreme Court of New Brunswick. In 1877 Mr. Harris became a member of the Suffolk bar in Massachusetts, and practised his profession in Boston until 1885, when he returned to Moncton, was re-sworn in a barrister, and is now in active practice in that town being counsel for several leading corporations. On the 29th of April, 1879, Mr. Harris was married at Warren, Rhode Island, U.S., to Isabel F. E. Brown, daughter of the late Hon. Charles Frederick Brown, of Rhode Island.
Hunt, Henry George, St. Catharines, Ontario, was born on the 16th of June, 1846, at Sheerness, Kent, England. He is the eldest son of Harvey Hunt, of Poole, Dorsetshire, England, and Sarah Tucker, of Horne, in the same county, daughter of W. Tucker, the Swedish and Danish consul at Poole. Henry George Hunt, the subject of this sketch, spent the first six years of his life in Sheerness, and in 1852, his father having
