A Cyclopaedia of Canadian Biography: Being Chiefly Men of the Time. Various
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which religious education might also be imparted at the expense of parents. Religious bitterness was introduced, the Protestants became alarmed, the people decided largely according to their creeds, and the “payment by results” candidates were defeated in all except Roman Catholic constituencies. Believing that almost any settlement of this vexed question was better than a prolonged political-religious agitation, he accepted the situation. In 1874, Mr. Ferguson was appointed secretary of the Board of Railway Appraisers, which office he held until 1876. In 1878, he was invited by the leading electors of the Cardigan district, in Kings county, to offer himself for parliamentary honours; he consented and was returned by acclamation. In March, 1879, on the meeting of the legislature, the government, under the leadership of the Hon. L. H. Davis, was defeated, and the Hon. W. W. Sullivan, who had been entrusted with the formation of a new administration, offered Mr. Ferguson a seat in his cabinet, with the portfolio of public works, which office he accepted. A dissolution of the house having immediately followed, Mr. Ferguson was returned by acclamation. In 1880, he resigned his position as head of the Public Works department, and became provincial secretary and commissioner of Crown Lands, and this position he occupies to-day. In 1882, Mr. Ferguson was elected to represent Fort Augustus, and again in 1886, he had the same honour conferred upon him. Hon. Mr. Ferguson is a member of the Board of Commissioners for the management of the Government Poor-House; a commissioner for the management of the Government Stock Farm, and a trustee for the Hospital for the Insane, at Falconwood. He was a delegate to Ottawa, on the Wharf and Pier question in 1883, in conjunction with the Hon. Messrs. Sullivan and Prowse, and also a delegate to England, with Hon. Mr. Sullivan, on the question of the communication between the island and the mainland. Mr. Ferguson is an enthusiastic agriculturist, and has a farm in a high state of cultivation, four miles from Charlottetown. Besides having published several useful official reports, Mr. Ferguson gave to his fellow-citizens in 1884, an excellent paper on “Agricultural Education,” and another in 1885, on “Love of Country.” He has been a lifelong total abstainer, and became connected with the Good Templars in 1863, and held the office of grand secretary for two years, 1863–5, and that of grand worthy chief templar the following two years, 1865–7. He is a Conservative in politics, and in religion a member of the Baptist denomination. In 1873, he was married to Elizabeth Jane, daughter of John Scott, Charlottetown, and has a family consisting of three sons and two daughters.
Ross, James Duncan, M.D., Moncton, New Brunswick, was born at Pictou, Nova Scotia, in October, 1839, and is a son of the Rev. James Ross, D.D., principal of Dalhousie College, and grandson of the late Rev. Duncan Ross, one of the first Presbyterian ministers who came to Nova Scotia from Scotland. His mother was Isabella Matheson, a daughter of William Matheson, who through industry and perseverance accumulated a fortune at farming, lumbering, and trading, sufficient to enable him to leave the handsome sum of $35,000 to the institutions of the church in the province, and $35,000 to the British and Foreign Bible Society. James Duncan Ross received his elementary training in the public schools in his native town, and then took the arts course in the West River Seminary. He then spent three years in the office of the late Dr. Muir, of Truro, N.S., and afterwards studied medicine and surgery in Philadelphia and Harvard, graduating from Harvard University in 1861, when he moved to Londonderry, in Nova Scotia, and began the practice of his profession, and continued here until 1865; then he went over to Britain and took a course of medicine and surgery in the University and in the College of Physicians and Surgeons in Edinburgh, and while in that city he was for a time a student in the office of Sir J. Y. Simpson. He then went to London, and became for a time a dresser in St. Bartholomew’s Hospital; and afterwards, returning to Nova Scotia, he resumed his practice. Dr. Ross occupied the position for some time of assistant surgeon to the 2nd battalion of the Colchester Militia, and also surgeon of the Caledonian (Highland) Society of Nova Scotia. He has been since 1863 a coroner for the county of Westmoreland. He took a deep interest in the establishment of the Medical School in Halifax, and was demonstrator of anatomy in it for the first two years of its existence. The doctor has now practised medicine and surgery continuously for twenty-five years, the first eleven years of his medical career having been spent in Nova Scotia, and the remaining fourteen in Moncton, N.B. His work has been continuous and laborious, and very varied, and he stands high in the profession, especially for surgery. In him the poor always find a kind and sympathizing friend, who dispenses medicine to them gratuitously as well as his best skill. In religion the doctor holds all the doctrines of the second reformation, and believes the Presbyterian form of church government scriptural. He has experienced no change in his views since his youth, except a deeper conviction of the duty which nations owe to Christ, and a more scriptural constitution for nations. He married, in 1870, Ruth, daughter of the late R. N. B. McLellan, merchant, of Londonderry, N.S. The McLellan family are north of Ireland Scotch, and have been closely connected with the political and mercantile interests of Nova Scotia and New Brunswick for many years. Issue, one son, who died in infancy.
McLeod, Rev. Joseph, D.D., Fredericton, was born in St. John, New Brunswick, June 27, 1844. His father, the Rev. Ezekiel McLeod—born in Sussex, New Brunswick, Sept. 17, 1815, died in Fredericton, New Brunswick, March 17th, 1867—was the leading minister in the Free Baptist denomination of Canada, and the founder and, till his death, the editor of The Religious Intelligencer. He was an earnest and influential advocate of the confederation of the British American provinces; a strong advocate of prohibition; and widely known and highly regarded both for intellectual qualities and godly character. His mother was Amelia Emery, born in Boston, Massachusetts, and survived her husband till June, 1887. Joseph McLeod was educated in the public schools, and in the Baptist Institution in Fredericton, New Brunswick, and in July, 1868, was ordained to the ministry. In the same month he was called to the pastorate of the Free Baptist Church in Fredericton, which he has held ever since. In 1875 the Rev. Mr. McLeod was chosen chaplain to the New Brunswick legislature, and still holds the office. He is a very active worker in the temperance army, and has held the office of grand worthy chief of the British Templars; president of the National lodge of the United Temperance Association of Canada, and is now, and has for several years been president of the New Brunswick Prohibitory Alliance. He is an ardent advocate of the prohibition of the liquor traffic, and has for years been a leader in this cause in New Brunswick, and has had much to do with introducing the Canada Temperance Act into New Brunswick. In addition to his strong advocacy of temperance measures, he has been an earnest advocate of the establishment of the free, unsectarian school system in his native province. In the Free Baptist denomination he also stands high as a leader in all progressive movements. He is an advocate of the union of the Baptist denominations in Canada, and by voice and pen has done much to promote the union feeling. He is a member and vice-chairman of the joint committee of the Baptist and Free Baptist bodies which now (1887) have the question of union under consideration, and are authorized to arrange a basis of union. He was secretary and a director of the Free Baptist Education Society for many years, till, in 1883, the Baptist and Free Baptist Education Societies were united by act of the legislature; since then he has been a director of the united Education Society. He has also been corresponding secretary of the Free Baptist Foreign Mission Society of New Brunswick for fifteen years; was for three years president of the American Foreign Mission Society, which includes representatives of all the free communion Baptist bodies in the United States and Canada, and is now a member of the managing board of the society. Has been moderator of the New Brunswick Free Baptist Conference twice within ten years. Since 1867 Dr. McLeod has owned and edited the Religious Intelligencer. In May, 1886, Acadia College conferred the well-earned degree of D.D. on Mr. McLeod. He is active in all matters pertaining to the welfare of the public, and is frequently called upon to do pulpit and platform service outside his own charge. He has not found time for a European tour, but has made two trips to the western states; spent the winter of 1882–3 in Florida for the benefit of his health; and in the summer of 1886 made the trip across the continent via the Canada Pacific Railway, spending several weeks in British Columbia, the North-West, and in Manitoba. Dr. McLeod’s parents were Free Baptists, and in this faith he was brought up. He at a very early age became a communicant in that church, and is now one of the most respected of its clergy. In December, 1868, he was married to Jane Fulton Squires, and is blessed with a family of five children.
Chesley, John Alexander, Manufacturer, Portland, New Brunswick, was born in Portland, N.B., in May, 1839. He is the eldest son of William Ambrose and Mary Ann Chesley, of U. E. loyalist descent.