A Cyclopædia of Canadian Biography. Various
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Название: A Cyclopædia of Canadian Biography

Автор: Various

Издательство: Bookwire

Жанр: Языкознание

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isbn: 4064066200541

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СКАЧАТЬ and the Hon. Senator J. P. B. Casgrain. The subject of this sketch was born in the city of Quebec, on the 30th December, 1826. He is the son of Mr. C. E. C. Casgrain, who was at one time the Deputy Commissioner of Public Works. His mother’s maiden name was Miss Anne Baby, a daughter of the Hon. James Baby, Cabinet Minister. He had his earlier education at St. Anne’s College. In 1850 he was called to the Bar, and was given his K.C. in his thirty-third year, after being associated as a law-partner with the Hon. Mr. Cauveau, the Solicitor-General of his time. After this he was given a position as assistant in the Prothonotary’s Office, and was later on chosen Clerk of the Circuit Court. Subsequently he was elected a member of the House of Commons for the constituency of L’Islet, which he continued to represent from term to term for nearly twenty years. It was not until 1891 he was defeated by Mr. Georges Desjardins. During his parliamentary days he was ever diligent in assuming his share of committee work, having taken a prominent part in the Royal Commission appointed to investigate the administration of public affairs in the constituency of Rimouski. Two years after his defeat in L’Islet, he was given the presidency of a second Royal Commission to enquire into the affairs of the Montreal and Sorel Railway. During his long term of office in the Court House, he gained a prominence as a writer and investigator of the traditions that fringed the historical atmosphere of his native city. He was elected for a term of two years President of the Literary and Historical Society in 1898, and seven years afterwards he was chosen for the same position a second time. He also was a member of the Navy League, and took an active part in securing the Plains of Abraham as a federal asset, thus preparing the way for its becoming a permanent acquisition of the National Battlefields Parks Commission. In 1907 he was elected Vice-President of the Canadian Landmarks Association, and was later awarded a diploma from the Royal Society of Canada for his zeal in archæological research. The Transactions of the Royal Society and of the Literary and Historical Society bear testimony to his industry in preparing historical and antiquarian matter for publication, which otherwise might have been lost. For instance, he successfully located the site of the fountain from which the founder of the colony, Samuel de Champlain, had water drawn to supply his habitation, as well as the site of the house in which General Montcalm lived during his sojourn in Quebec, and the house in which he died; the site of the place of abode of Abraham Martin, whose name is perpetuated in the name of the historic battlefield; the site of Dumont’s Mill, near the baylet curvature of the St. Lawrence known as Wolfe’s Cove; the location of Claire Fontaine, that gave its name to the street which, as an elevated pathway on the brow of Perrault’s Hill, saw the marshalling of Montcalm’s troops in three divisions; besides the locations of many other historical landmarks in the Ancient Capital. Learned in the law, he was held in high respect as an official of the Palais de Justice. His long tenure of office in Parliament and out of it has always been characterized by integrity of purpose in dealing with public matters.