A Cyclopædia of Canadian Biography. Various
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Chamberlain, Theodore F., M.D., only son of Asher A. and Eliza Ann Chamberlain. Born at Harlem, County of South Leeds, Ontario, July 6, 1838. His family came from Birmingham, England, and were in politics, Cobdenites. The family crest bears the motto “Sapiens et Fidus.” His father was born in Vermont, U.S., Feb. 12, 1810, and came to Upper Canada in 1815, locating in the County of South Leeds. After attending school at Potsdam, N.Y., he entered the Medical College at Fairfield, N.Y., after which he returned to Harlem, South Leeds, and began the practice of medicine, which profession he followed with more than common success, until his death at Athens, on February 20, 1883. He was Past Master of Harmony Masonic Lodge, Leeds, one of the oldest, if not the oldest, Masonic lodge in Upper Canada. He was Major in the Eighth Battalion, Leeds Militia, was a staunch temperance man, a member of the Methodist Church, and always took an active part in politics, from the troublous times of the Rebellion of 1836–7 down to the time of his death. At the time of the Beverly Election Riots in South Leeds, he nearly lost his life at the hands of the Tory Party under the leadership of Ogle R. Gowan’s Orangemen. He was one of the deputation from Upper Canada who went to the rescue of Lord Elgin at the time of the burning of the Parliament Buildings in Montreal in 1849. His connection with the Masonic lodge has already been noticed; this lodge he resuscitated at Farmersville, in 1859, under the name of “Rising Sun Lodge,” and was for several years its Master; was a Justice of the Peace, Postmaster at Harlem, and held other positions of trust. Dr. Chamberlain’s mother was Eliza Ann Toffey, and was born at Quaker Hill, N.Y., Oct. 15, 1803, and died at Athens, formerly Farmersville, on March 20, 1894. The grandparents on both sides lived to very advanced years. The doctor has one sister, born at Harlem, August 2, 1836, and now living (1913) in Toronto. She is the widow of the late J. C. Miller, ex-M.P.P. for Parry Sound and Muskoka District, and owner of the Parry Sound Lumber Co. The early education of the subject of this sketch was gained from parental instruction at night around the old home fireside, and at the Township School. He attended the Grammar School at Perth for some months in 1851, and then served some two years as clerk in the general mercantile establishment of Henry Laishley, at Elgin, where he gained the business training and experience that stood him so well in later life. In 1851 he served as Lieutenant, under Capt. Wm. J. Smith, and Col. Young, in the 8th Battalion of Leeds Militia. Later he took up the study of dentistry in the office of F. D. Laughlin, Ottawa. After practising his profession for some time, he went, in the fall of 1857, to New York City, but later, yielding to solicitations of his father, he returned to his home in Athens, to take up medicine. He matriculated at Queen’s College, Kingston, in 1859, and passed the final examination in March, 1862, receiving the degree of Doctor of Medicine and Surgery, and his license to practice in Canada, from the hands of Governor-General Monk. On the 13th of April following, Dr. Chamberlain located at Morrisburg, County of Dundas, on the St. Lawrence River, and during the succeeding years built up a large and lucrative practice. In 1859 he was requested by the government of Sir Oliver Mowat to take the Inspectorship of Public Institutions of Ontario. The history of the doctor during these years is the history of a busy life. Besides following his profession, he served as Reeve of his municipality, member of the Counties’ Council, and Warden of the United Counties of Stormont, Dundas and Glengarry, Justice of the Peace, Health Officer, member of the High and Public Board of Education, Director of the Agricultural Association, and Director of the Parry Sound Lumber Company. Inspector of schools for County of Dundas. At the time of the Fenian Raid, he was member of a strong company of volunteers under Captain I. N. Rose, Superintendent of the Williamsburg Canals, and with other members of the company was out night and day on guard at the locks, and in the village, as an attack was daily expected to be made by General O’Neal. On the 1st of July, the General with 1,600 men appeared on the bank of the river opposite Morrisburg. The Government of Sir John A. Macdonald, realizing the seriousness of the situation, and desirous of keeping informed of O’Neal’s movements, appointed a man to keep in touch with O’Neal’s forces, but this man failing to accept, Dr. Chamberlain, a strong personal, but not a political, friend of Sir John’s, was detailed for this duty. He accepted the appointment, and taking his horses and buggy, and accompanied by a young man named Leslie Weaver, set out to follow the Fenian force, and to report as fully as possible their movements and designs. Crossing the river to Waddington, N.Y., on Capt. Murphy’s Ferry, on July 9, he found that the Fenians had moved, and he followed them to Malone, about 50 miles distant, over-taking them about dark. Staying over night and having obtained all information possible, he left the next morning for Plattsburgh, which place he made that evening. After a wearisome and anxious night, he left Plattsburgh for Whitehall, at the foot of Lake Champlain, arriving there the next morning, and at Saratoga in the evening. He continued the journey to Troy and Albany, and returned thence to Ogdensburg, Prescott, and home to Morrisburg. The result of this close espionage, and prompt reports by the scouts, and the careful guarding of the river, was that the invaders were compelled to abandon their design of crossing the river, and to turn their faces to the west. The doctor’s services on this occasion were most effective and valuable, yet he never applied for nor received land grant, or medal, nor refund of his expenditure. In 1879, the doctor, as Warden, was appointed by the Counties’ Council, then in session, to go as their representative to the eastern boundary of the province, to meet their Excellencies, the Governor-General, the Marquis of Lorne, and the Princess Louise, and welcome them to Ontario. Later in the year he presented to their Excellencies at Government House, Ottawa, an address on behalf of the inhabitants of the United Counties of Stormont, Dundas and Glengarry. The doctor has always been an ardent politician, an indefatigable worker, and a vigorous but generous opponent. He was the candidate of the Reform Party for the Legislative Assembly for the county in 1879, and was defeated by 81 votes. In 1882, he was again the party candidate, this time for the House of Commons, and again defeated by 79 votes. Nothing discouraged, he again came before the Electors, in 1886, for the Assembly, and was elected by 25 majority. He was defeated next election by 28 votes, and again in 1904, was defeated for the Commons. In conjunction with his brother-in-law, Mr. W. G. Parish, of Athens, he established in the seventies, the first three cheese factories in Eastern Ontario. He carried on an extensive drug business in Morrisburg, from 1886 to 1873, when he sold it to Messrs. Carman and Brown. In 1871, he received the degree of L.R.C.P.S. from Queen’s College, Kingston, as well as that of F.B.S. During his practice in Morrisburg he had as students, Messrs. Hart, McLean, Howes, Musgrove, Lane, Shibbley, Beckstead and McKay, all of whom became successful practitioners. He was always a strong advocate of temperance, and a member of the Methodist Church. He became a member, under dispensation of the Grand Master, of Rising Sun Masonic Lodge, Athens, in 1857, and joined Excelsior Lodge, Morrisburg, No. 142, G.R.C., in 1862, and is yet an honorary life member, having filled every office in the gift of the lodge, and having received various decorations and gold medals. In 1867 he became a member of the Grenville Royal Arch Chapter, No. 23, at Prescott. In 1869–70 he was elected by the Grand Lodge, District-Deputy Grand Master for St. Lawrence District. In 1885 he received the 95 degrees in the Supreme Rite of Memphis, known as the Sovereign Sanctuary Degrees. In 1873 the doctor explored the country east and north of Lake Superior to the height of land, examining for timber and minerals. In 1878 he explored the country along the shores of Georgian Bay, the “Soo,” and to the head of Lake Nipissing. In 1883 he visited part of the southern, middle and western States, including California, Colorado, Nevada, Utah, New Mexico and Mexico. In 1889, leaving Montreal, he travelled through the North-Western Territories, and Victoria, Vancouver, Puget Sound, and Washington Territory. From 1889 to 1904, he acted as one of the Provincial Inspectors of Asylums, Prisons, Gaols and Hospitals, serving in that capacity until 1904, when he resigned, owing to ill health. In 1906 he was appointed by the Dominion Government, under the Public Health Department, Inspector of all the doctors employed on Public Works, from the Red River to the Pacific Ocean. In pursuance of the duties of this position, he had to travel distances of from 1,000 to 1,500 miles at a trip, ford rivers, make his own trail over prairies, sleep in a tent wherever night overtook him, in that great lone land. In the winter of 1907, he sent in his resignation, and in the spring of 1908, inspected and estimated the timber on the Dokis Indian Reserve, Lake Nipissing. The pine timber on this Reserve was sold by the Government at Ottawa in June, and the doctor bought one of the limits, and in the fall had buildings, appliances, and materials complete for lumbering operations. During the winter he took out, and in the spring sent, 2,300 pieces of board timber, for the English market, by way of Lake Nipissing to Callender, thence by rail to Kingston, and rafting