A Cyclopaedia of Canadian Biography: Being Chiefly Men of the Time. Various
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the able rectorship of James Sime, one of the best scholars and most enthusiastic teachers of whom Scotland could then boast, and was, during his incumbency, several times reported as the best college of its kind in Great Britain. When Mr. Anderson finished his course at the Training College, he was selected as an assistant master in the public school in connection with it. He held this position for more than two years, and only resigned it to complete his studies at the university. At the University of Edinburgh, whose classes he attended for four years, his career was distinguished. In the classes of mathematics and natural philosophy he took the first place, and in both was bracketed with another for the Straton gold medals, at that time the highest mathematical honours conferred by the university. In the spring of 1862, the proposal was made, through the rector of the Training College, that he should take the second professorship in the Prince of Wales College. This appointment he accepted, and proceeded to Prince Edward Island in November of that year. In 1868 he was appointed principal, and on the amalgamation of the Prince of Wales College and Normal School, principal of the united institutions, and a member of the Board of Education. On the schools of Prince Edward Island, Mr. Anderson has made a marked and lasting impress, which is every year deepening. His remarkable accuracy of information, his thorough scholarship, and his enthusiastic devotion to the cause of education, have had a most astonishing effect in arousing an interest in the public schools throughout the province. In addition to this, his integrity of purpose, his high sense of honour, and his love of truth, have been instilled into the minds of his pupils, and made effective through that extraordinary force of character which has rendered all his teaching so impressive. He has a wonderful tact in finding out and developing talent in his pupils, and many a young man has been started by him in a career of usefulness and distinction, who might otherwise have remained unknown. Two of Mr. Anderson’s pupils won, successively, the Gilchrist scholarship. The highest honours in the Maritime provinces are generally gained by students from his classes. During the twenty-four years Mr. Anderson has been in the province, he may be said to have taken the leading part in every forward movement in the cause of education.
Reddin, James Henry, Barrister, Charlottetown, Prince Edward Island, was born at Kew, Surrey, England, on the 9th January, 1852. He is the eldest son of James Reddin, formerly a merchant in Charlottetown, but now holding the position of Government inspector of weights and measures for Prince Edward Island. His mother, Louisa Anna Matthews, was a daughter of John Matthews, a retired London merchant, and a freeman of that city, related through his marriage with the widow of Henry Monk, a scion of the family of Monk, of Albemarle, to the Kershaws, Millers, Chadwicks, and other well known commercial families of Liverpool and Manchester. James Reddin’s father, Dennis Reddin, was the son of a manufacturer in Carrick-on-Suir, Tipperary county, Ireland, by his marriage with Miss O’Meara, a daughter of an old established family in the south of Ireland. Dennis Reddin emigrated to Prince Edward Island during the latter portion of the eighteenth century, and having been possessed of a better education than most Irish settlers of his day, he taught school for some time on the island. He afterwards became engaged in mercantile pursuits, notably in the building of ships, in which he was very successful until the year 1847, when a great fall took place in this class of property, and he, like many other shipbuilders, became involved in the common ruin that ensued. The Reddin family have been for nearly a century the leading Irish Catholic family of Prince Edward Island, and one of the sons of the late Dennis Reddin has successively held the position of solicitor-general and attorney-general of the province, and is at present a county court judge—he being the first Roman Catholic in Prince Edward Island appointed to a judicial office. James Henry Reddin, the subject of this sketch, was educated at a private school, and then at the Prince of Wales and St. Dunstan’s Colleges. After leaving school he occupied for some time the position of clerk in his father’s office, and when that gentleman gave up business, he commenced the study of law with his uncle, Richard Reddin, and continued it in the office of the Hon. Neil McLeod. In July, 1885, he was admitted an attorney of the supreme court, and a barrister the following year. Mr. Reddin has been connected with several literary societies, has written on various occasions for the press, and delivered before the public lectures on literary and other subjects. Mr. Reddin’s father is a Roman Catholic, and he has followed in his footsteps; his mother, however, was a member of the Episcopal church. In politics he is a Liberal-Conservative. In conclusion, we may add that Mr. Reddin’s father for many years filled the position of president of the Benevolent Irish Society, established by Lieut.-Governor Ready in 1825, and on his retirement from office was elected patron of the society in the room of the deceased Hon. Daniel Brenan.
Galbraith, Rev. William, B.C.L., LL.B., Pastor of the Methodist church, Orillia, was born in the township of North Monaghan, three miles from Peterboro’, on 13th of July, 1842. His parents, William Galbraith and Mary MacGlennon, were both natives of Ireland. His mother is a woman of strong mind and great force of character, and her son has inherited from her those qualities which have made him a power in the church. The subject of this sketch was converted at the age of eleven years, and united himself with the Wesleyan Methodist church, and has continued connected with that body of Christians ever since. He received his education for the ministry at Victoria College, Cobourg, and when only seventeen years of age was licensed as a local preacher. In June, 1861, before he was nineteen years old, he entered the ministry, and was ordained in June, 1865. While doing the work of a heavy city appointment, he took up the law course in McGill College, Montreal, and in 1875 received the degree of B.C.L. In 1881 he received the degree of LL.B. from Victoria College. Rev. Mr. Galbraith has been delegate at four general conferences; chairman of a district for seven years; was the last president of the Montreal Conference of the Methodist church of Canada, and the first president of the Montreal Conference of the Methodist church after the union in 1884. Apart from his pulpit duties, the Rev. Mr. Galbraith has taken a deep interest in the educational work of the church, and has contributed liberally to the support of Victoria College, Stanstead Wesleyan College, and the Wesleyan Theological College, Montreal. He has been twice married. His first wife was Hettie Howell, the only child of Isaac Reid and Nancy Howell, of Jerseyville, Ontario. She died when only thirty years of age, leaving three children. His second wife is Kate Breden, daughter of John Breden, Kingston, Ontario.
Craig, James, B.A., Barrister, Renfrew, Ontario, was born at Inveraray, Scotland, on the 31st of July, 1851. He is son of George Craig, of Arnprior, Ontario. This gentleman was born at Ellon, Aberdeenshire, Scotland, and his wife, Annie Clark, was born at Daviot in the same county, and Mrs. Craig, sen., is sister of the Rev. Professor William Clark, of Trinity College, Toronto. Mr. Craig, sen., came to Canada in 1854, and after residing in Ottawa city for about three years, settled in Arnprior in 1857, where he has since resided. For many years he has been a prominent justice of the peace there. James Craig studied in McGill College, Montreal, and graduated in arts in 1874. In the same year he was articled to W. A. Ross, then barrister in Ottawa, and now county court judge for the county of Carleton, and was called to the bar and sworn in as solicitor in May 1878. In this year he began to practise his profession in Pembroke, but shortly afterwards moved to Renfrew, where he has since resided and practised with considerable success. Mr. Craig has always taken an active interest in public affairs, and was for over four years president of the Mechanics’ Institute, and occupied a similar position in the Curling Club. He is now master of Renfrew Masonic lodge. Mr. Craig is a Presbyterian, and in politics a Reformer, and is likely some day to sit in one of our legislative assemblies. He was married in New York city on the 22nd of May, 1879, to Lizzie Olivier, daughter of the late Judge E. S. Macpherson, and Elizabeth Balmer Penton, who was a daughter of William Penton, of Pentonville, England. Mr. Penton, the grandfather of Mrs. Craig, was a man owning considerable property in England, and occupied a good social position, but having taken a strange dislike to the monarchical form of government that the people of Great Britain are so proud of, he embarked in 1835 with all his family, servants, and effects to the United States of America. After residing there for some time he was induced by Lord Gosford, then governor-general of Canada, and an old friend of his, to come and settle in Her Majesty’s possessions. To this he consented, and took up his abode in Port Hope, on Lake Ontario; but feeling dissatisfied, he again returned to his favourite republic, and fixed his home at Utica, New York State, where he died. His descendants are very numerous, and during the late war many of them were found fighting on opposite sides. His grandson, a Federal officer, on one occasion chased his uncle, a Confederate colonel, with a view of taking