their cars. He was a very industrious man, and in the evenings, after leaving his usual work, frequently spent hours in his own workshop in his house at his lathe and bench, making furniture for himself and his neighbours. James, the subject of this sketch, was educated by an old-fashioned schoolmaster in the rudiments of learning, and had to work for a living at a very early age. He was apprenticed to mechanical engineering in 1853, and until 1856 he worked at his trade, when, having met with an accident that injured his right arm, he had to give up the trade of a mechanical engineer. Mr. Wilson now shows with pride some fine machinist’s tools he made when he was an apprentice. On recovering from his injuries, a kind friend observing the talents and perseverance of the lad, sent him to the Model School, and from there to the McGill Normal School in Montreal, and in July, 1859, he graduated as a teacher. In 1859 he removed to Beauharnois, and taught the dissentient school in that town until 1862, when he moved west to Belleville, where he clerked until December of that year, when he moved to Toronto, and accepted the position of clerk in the office of a wholesale news company. In 1863 he went to New York, and from November of that year until January, 1867, he had the management of the publishing house of T. W. Strong, of that city, and through his perseverance and industry gained the highest rung of the ladder of fortune in Mr. Strong’s establishment. While Mr. Wilson resided in New York he was a great favourite among the Canadians visiting there, and helped many of them when they were in need. A deep-seated love for Canada, and a special inducement brought him again back to Montreal in January, 1867, and he at once assumed the position of cashier and bookkeeper in the office of Angus, Logan & Co., paper manufacturers (now the Canada Paper Co.) He remained with this firm until September, 1870, when he went into business on his own account. He began the manufacture of paper bags by machinery, and was the first in Canada to supply the grocers all over the Dominion with this very useful article. This proving, by energy and ability, a prosperous business, in 1880 he built a large paper mill at Lachute, province of Quebec, and in 1885 had to double its power so as to be able to make six tons of paper per day. In 1880 Mr. Wilson was elected an alderman for the city of Montreal, and was again returned by acclamation in 1883. For six years he represented St. Lawrence ward in the city council, and for four years was chairman of the light committee. He was president of the Fish and Game Protection Club of the province of Quebec for two years; president of the Irish Protestant Benevolent Society for two years; and has occupied the principal chairs in several other societies in Montreal. Mr. Wilson is a life governor and vice-president of the Montreal Dispensary; a governor of the Protestant Insane Asylums of the province of Quebec; one of the board of Protestant School Commissioners of Montreal; principal and head of the firm of J. C. Wilson & Co., paper and paper-bag makers, Montreal; and at the general elections held February 22, 1887, he was elected to represent the county of Argenteuil, province of Quebec, in the House of Commons at Ottawa. Mr. Wilson is an ardent fisherman, fond of lakes and brooks, and never hesitates to drive thirty or forty miles over a rough road to enjoy a few hours’ trout-fishing, and thoroughly enjoys camp life. In business he is active, pushing, hard-working, and far-seeing in his plans, and never puts off until to-morrow what can be done to-day. With his employees he is a favourite, and is looked upon by them as most generous and kind. Mr. Wilson has adopted as his motto, “It pays to think.” In politics he is a Liberal-Conservative, and in religion an adherent of the Presbyterian form of worship. On the 6th of November, 1865, he married Jeanie, third daughter of the late William Kilgour, of Beauharnois, province of Quebec, and has a family of five children—three sons and two daughters.
Wedderburn, Hon. William, Q.C., Hampton, Judge of the County Courts of Kings and Albert counties, New Brunswick, was born at St. John, October 12, 1834. He is a son of the late Alexander Wedderburn, of Aberdeen, Scotland. Imperial emigration agent at St. John, New Brunswick, and Jane Heaviside, of London, England. His father was the author of several pamphlets and letters on important public affairs. Judge Wedderburn was educated at the St. John Grammar School, and entered as a student for the profession of the law in the office of the Hon. John H. Gray, (now judge of the Supreme Court of British Columbia); was called to the bar in 1858, and created a Queen’s counsel in 1873. Until he entered political life he enjoyed a very large and leading law practice. For several years he was intimately connected with the press as a contributor and editor, and in both capacities, as well as on the platform, took a very prominent and pronounced stand in favour of the confederation of the provinces. At the general elections of 1870 he first presented himself for parliamentary honours, and was returned for the city of St. John to the New Brunswick legislature. In 1874 he was re-elected by a very large vote; and again in 1878 he was honoured by re-election. While in parliament he took a very prominent part in the discussions before the house, and was the author and promoter of a series of resolutions in favour of “better terms” for New Brunswick, and was afterwards delegated on several occasions to go to Ottawa on this subject. The result of the agitation was a very large increase to the income of the province, secured with other advantages when the delegates pressed the matter finally and with effect upon the settlement of the export duty question during the discussion of the Washington treaty. Mr. Wedderburn was also the author and mover of the famous resolutions—known and published throughout the election as the “Wedderburn resolutions”—on which the School bill contest in 1874 was conducted, re-affirming the principle of the School law, and protesting against any interference by the parliament of Canada on the subject. Very many laws were added to the Statute Book upon his motion. On February 18, 1876, he was elected speaker of the House of Assembly by acclamation, and while holding this office he was requested to report a code of laws for the government of the house during business and in committee. The rules at this time were very few and incomplete, and quite behind the age. At the following session he reported to the house. Taking the practice of the Imperial and Canadian Houses of Commons, and the rules of parliament, and of the different legislatures of the provinces—the report provided a full and complete course of procedure. After full discussion during that and the following session the whole of the rules were adopted with very little, if any, material amendment. The committee reported a grant of five hundred dollars to the speaker for his work—which had, of course, been prepared without charge. Mr. Wedderburn ranked high as a parliamentary authority, and is thought not to have been excelled in the chair. At the close of the term of the Assembly, the leader of the opposition, in a very complimentary speech, moved the thanks of the House to Mr. Speaker for his ability, etc., in the government of the house. The premier (now Judge King) seconded the motion, and highly eulogized the Speaker, and concluded by saying that “if he (Mr. Wedderburn) had not been so good a Speaker, he (Mr. King) would have been a better parliamentarian.” Immediately after this, Hon. Mr. Wedderburn was appointed to the office of provincial secretary, and this office he held until he accepted the position of judge of the County Courts of Kings and Albert. He twice refused a seat in the government of 1870, and the appointment of commissioner to consolidate the provincial statutes. He has been prominently identified with the temperance movement, and has filled various important positions in this army of moral reform, among others that of grand worthy patriarch of the Grand Division of the Sons of Temperance of New Brunswick. He was president of the Mechanics’ Institute of St. John for three years consecutively, 1869–72, as well as holding other offices in the institute. He was first president of the Provincial Board of Agriculture, created by a law passed by the government of which he was a member, and the address delivered by him at the inauguration of the board was greatly complimented, and published or largely quoted in English and French throughout Canada and in the United states. And it was largely through his means that the stock farm was undertaken by the government. Hon. Mr. Wedderburn has been speaker, orator, and lecturer on many important public and private occasions, commanding the close attention of his auditors at all times by his eloquent, powerful and ornate deliverances. Among his efforts in this direction may be mentioned his address at the memorial services held in the city of St. John for President Lincoln; his oration as provincial secretary at the memorial services of President Garfield; at the laying the corner stone of the Masonic Temple in St. John; at the ceremonial in celebration of the Centennial of the introduction of Freemasonry into New Brunswick; his great lecture on “Colin Campbell,” in the Mechanics’ Institute, on behalf of the volunteers during the Fenian troubles; and his brilliant oration, delivered by request of the city corporation of St. John, upon the Centennial celebration of the landing of the loyalists in New Brunswick. Many others might be mentioned. Judge Wedderburn has always been prominently identified with the fraternity of Free and Accepted
