Montreal from 1535 to 1914. Vol. 3. Biographical

ISAIE PREFONTAINE.

Isaie Prefontaine, no less highly esteemed for his business capacity and enterprise than for his public-spirited citizenship, has contributed along various lines to the welfare and progress of the city in which he makes his home. A native of Beloeil, he was born in 1861 and in the pursuit of his education attended Montreal College, from which he was graduated with honors. From the outset of his career he has made his labors count as factors in general progress and improvement. He has been a close student of conditions and problems of the time and along practical lines has worked for betterment.

He has taken a warm interest in the commercial development of the city and has been prominently identified with various bodies working toward that end. He was president of the Chamber of Commerce of Montreal for the year 1908-9 and for six years was president of the School of High Commercial Studies. In 1909 he became president of the Federation of Chambers of Commerce for the province of Quebec and was continued in that high and important office for three years. He has also been a member of the Board of Trade and has been a cordial cooperator in the movement for providing facilities for specialized instruction and training of those engaged in manufacturing and other industrial pursuits.

His wide research and investigation enable him to speak with authority upon many questions bearing upon the business condition of the city and its possibilities for progress along industrial and commercial lines. He is an idealist, whose methods are practical, and is a man of action rather than of theory.

In 1883 he married Miss Eliza Pigeon, a daughter of Olivier Pigeon, of Vercheres, Quebec. He belongs to both the Club St. Denis and the Canadian Club and in the city has a wide and favorable acquaintance. The Montreal Herald has termed him “a man of capacity and high character.”

FRANCIS WAYLAND CAMPBELL, M. D.

Dr. Francis Wayland Campbell, practitioner, educator and editor of medical journals, winning distinction along each line, was born in Montreal on the 5th of November, 1837, a son of the late Rollo Campbell, at one time publisher of the Montreal Daily Pilot and a native of Perthshire, Scotland. Dr. Campbell’s more specifically literary education was obtained at Dutton Academy and the Baptist College, and in preparation for a professional career he studied medicine in McGill University, from which he was graduated with the M. D. degree in 1860. He at once located for practice in his native city, where he continued until his death. After the completion of his course at McGill he spent some time in study abroad, investigating the methods and watching the clinics of eminent physicians and surgeons of London, Dublin, Edinburgh and Glasgow. In 1861 he passed with high rank an examination before the Royal College of Physicians of London.

In October, 1861, Dr. Campbell married Miss Agnes Stuart Rodger, of Greenock, Scotland, and in November returned with his bride to Canada, opening an office for practice in Montreal. Success came to him almost immediately because his equipment was good and because of his recognition of and marked devotion to the duties of the profession. He was offered the editorship of the hospital report department of the British-American Journal, accepted it and continued to serve in that connection until 1864, when the publication of the paper ceased. The Canada Medical Journal was soon afterward started and Dr. Campbell joined Dr. Fenwick in its editorial management, being thus associated from 1864 until 1872. In the meantime he had joined the medical faculty of Bishop’s College, whereupon Dr. Fenwick declined to associate with him any longer in the publication of the Canada Medical Journal. The result was the discontinuance of that paper. Dr. Campbell decided to contest the field with Dr. Fenwick, who began issuing the paper independently, the Campbell publication being known as the Canada Medical Record, of which he remained editor and proprietor until his demise. In 1872 Dr. Campbell joined Drs. David, Smallwood, Hingston and Trenholme in organizing the medical faculty of Bishop’s College, after which he was appointed professor of physiology and was elected by the faculty as their registrar. His writings were considered a valuable contribution to the literature of the profession and his publications were liberally patronized by those holding to the highest professional standards.

Dr. Campbell was a member of the volunteer militia from 1854 and in 1860 was appointed assistant surgeon of the First Battalion, Volunteer Rifles of Canada, now the First Battalion. He served with his regiment on the eastern frontier, being at Hemingford and at Durham during the Fenian raid in 1866. In the fall of that year he was promoted to the rank of surgeon of the regiment and again during the brief Fenian raid of 1871 was with his command at Pigeon Hill, at St. Armands and St. Johns. After being for a great many years surgeon of the Prince of Wales Rifles he was appointed, on the formation of the Regular Canadian Militia, to the office of surgeon of the Infantry School Corps at St. Johns, Province of Quebec, and held the position for nineteen years, being then retired at the age limit with the rank of surgeon lieutenant colonel. At that time the regiments were known and still are as the Royal Regiments Canadian Infantry. In 1894 he established the V. R. I. Magazine and became its first editor. Lennoxville conferred upon him the honorary degree of D. C. L. in 1895. Two years later his son, Dr. Rollo Campbell, was appointed demonstrator of anatomy in Bishop’s College. Another matter of interest and importance in the life record of Dr. Campbell was that he held for forty-three years the position of chief medical examiner for the New York Life Insurance Company at Montreal and his son, Dr. Rollo Campbell, was his assistant. He was honorary president of the Military Institute for several years and was one of the founders of the Western Hospital of Montreal. He was called the father of that institution and two years ago the hospital placed a very handsome bronze tablet to his memory in the institution. At the time of his death he was dean of the medical faculty of Bishop’s College at Montreal. His degrees were M. A., M. D. and L. R. C. P. of London. Honor and distinction came to him in many ways, and at all times he bore his honors with becoming modesty.

Dr. Campbell was a liberal conservative in politics. He belonged to the Montreal Military Institute and was a past master of the Victoria Lodge of Masons. Of scholarly attainments, finding keen pleasure in scientific research and actuated, too, by a broad humanitarian spirit, his professional service as practitioner, educator and writer was of marked value to the public and constituted a notable contribution to the world’s work in the field of medical and surgical progress.

CLEOPHAS EDWARD LECLERC.

Cleophas Edward Leclerc, who for fifteen years was a member of the board of notaries of Quebec, his home being in Montreal, his native city, was born September 26, 1844. Almost his entire life was passed in Montreal, where he supplemented his early education by a classical course in the College of Ste. Therese de Blainville in the district of Terrebonne. Having determined to become a notary public, he entered upon his professional studies under the direction of Mr. F. Des Bastien, registrar of the county of Vaudreuil, and was admitted to practice on the 15th of October, 1866. For fifteen years he was a member of the Quebec board of notaries and for three years was its vice president. He stood high in his profession, and the clientage afforded him came in recognition of his superior ability.

On the 16th of November, 1875, Mr. Leclerc was married to Miss Caroline Eliza Archambault of St. Hyacinthe, and they became the parents of six children: Robertine; Rene, who is managing director of the Credit-Canada, Limited; Achille; Alice, the wife of Arthur Hubour, who is engaged in the drug business at the corner of Demontigny and St. Denis Streets; Ovide; and Rita. Death came to Mr. Leclerc at his home at No. 655 St. Hubert Street on the 23d of November, 1912, when he was sixty-eight years of age. He was a man of fine personal appearance, his broad forehead indicating strong native intelligence. He was of dignified appearance and mien and looked at life from the standpoint of one who recognized its obligations and duties as well as its privileges and opportunities. He had an extensive circle of friends so that his death was deeply regretted by many outside his own household.

GEORGE CAVERHILL.

Prominent on the roll of leading business men of Montreal stands the name of George Caverhill, a merchant who for an extended period has been connected with commercial life and figures prominently in connection with corporate interests having to do with the business enterprise and consequent prosperous development of the city. He was born October 18, 1858, at Beauharnois, P. Q., and is of Scotch descent. His parents were Thomas and Elizabeth Spiers (Buchanan) Caverhill, the latter a representative of the Buchanan family of Lenny, while the former was a member of the border family of Caverhills, residents of Scotland from 1200.

In the attainment of his education George Caverhill attended successively the Montreal high school, the Galt Collegiate Institute and McGill University. From the outset of his business career he has been connected with mercantile interests. In 1877 he entered the employ of Crathern & Caverhill, of Montreal, and, later ambitious to engage in business on his own account, utilized the opportunities of becoming a partner in a wholesale hardware firm, his partners being his brother, the late Frank Caverhill, J. B. Learmont and T. H. Newman. The four organized the firm of Caverhill, Learmont & Company, wholesale hardware merchants of both Montreal and Winnipeg. This by no means indicates the scope of his investments and his activities. That he is today one of the most important business men of the province is indicated in the fact that he is vice president of the Montreal Loan & Mortgage Company, a director of the Dominion Iron & Steel Company, Canadian Cottons, Ltd., Montreal Trust Company, Montreal Light, Heat & Power Company, and is identified with a number of organizations to promote trade and business relations. In 1904 he was chosen president of the Montreal Metal & Hardware Association, was made first vice president of the Montreal Board of Trade in 1906 and its president in 1907.

In 1887 Mr. Caverhill was married to Miss Emily Margaret, daughter of John Caverhill. She takes active interest in philanthropical and charitable work and is a member of the general committee of the Victorian Order of Nurses. Together with her husband, she is a life governor of the Protestant Hospital for the Insane. Both Mr. and Mrs. Caverhill were presented to the late King Edward at Windsor Castle in June, 1905.