A Cyclopaedia of Canadian Biography: Being Chiefly Men of the Time. VariousЧитать онлайн книгу.
occasions to go to Ottawa on this subject. The result of the agitation was a very large increase to the income of the province, secured with other advantages when the delegates pressed the matter finally and with effect upon the settlement of the export duty question during the discussion of the Washington treaty. Mr. Wedderburn was also the author and mover of the famous resolutions—known and published throughout the election as the “Wedderburn resolutions”—on which the School bill contest in 1874 was conducted, re-affirming the principle of the School law, and protesting against any interference by the parliament of Canada on the subject. Very many laws were added to the Statute Book upon his motion. On February 18, 1876, he was elected speaker of the House of Assembly by acclamation, and while holding this office he was requested to report a code of laws for the government of the house during business and in committee. The rules at this time were very few and incomplete, and quite behind the age. At the following session he reported to the house. Taking the practice of the Imperial and Canadian Houses of Commons, and the rules of parliament, and of the different legislatures of the provinces—the report provided a full and complete course of procedure. After full discussion during that and the following session the whole of the rules were adopted with very little, if any, material amendment. The committee reported a grant of five hundred dollars to the speaker for his work—which had, of course, been prepared without charge. Mr. Wedderburn ranked high as a parliamentary authority, and is thought not to have been excelled in the chair. At the close of the term of the Assembly, the leader of the opposition, in a very complimentary speech, moved the thanks of the House to Mr. Speaker for his ability, etc., in the government of the house. The premier (now Judge King) seconded the motion, and highly eulogized the Speaker, and concluded by saying that “if he (Mr. Wedderburn) had not been so good a Speaker, he (Mr. King) would have been a better parliamentarian.” Immediately after this, Hon. Mr. Wedderburn was appointed to the office of provincial secretary, and this office he held until he accepted the position of judge of the County Courts of Kings and Albert. He twice refused a seat in the government of 1870, and the appointment of commissioner to consolidate the provincial statutes. He has been prominently identified with the temperance movement, and has filled various important positions in this army of moral reform, among others that of grand worthy patriarch of the Grand Division of the Sons of Temperance of New Brunswick. He was president of the Mechanics’ Institute of St. John for three years consecutively, 1869–72, as well as holding other offices in the institute. He was first president of the Provincial Board of Agriculture, created by a law passed by the government of which he was a member, and the address delivered by him at the inauguration of the board was greatly complimented, and published or largely quoted in English and French throughout Canada and in the United states. And it was largely through his means that the stock farm was undertaken by the government. Hon. Mr. Wedderburn has been speaker, orator, and lecturer on many important public and private occasions, commanding the close attention of his auditors at all times by his eloquent, powerful and ornate deliverances. Among his efforts in this direction may be mentioned his address at the memorial services held in the city of St. John for President Lincoln; his oration as provincial secretary at the memorial services of President Garfield; at the laying the corner stone of the Masonic Temple in St. John; at the ceremonial in celebration of the Centennial of the introduction of Freemasonry into New Brunswick; his great lecture on “Colin Campbell,” in the Mechanics’ Institute, on behalf of the volunteers during the Fenian troubles; and his brilliant oration, delivered by request of the city corporation of St. John, upon the Centennial celebration of the landing of the loyalists in New Brunswick. Many others might be mentioned. Judge Wedderburn has always been prominently identified with the fraternity of Free and Accepted Masons. He was initiated in St. John’s lodge, of St. John, June 19, 1857, and was senior warden in 1860, and worshipful master in 1862 and 1863. The capitular degrees were received in the New Brunswick Royal Arch Chapter. He was the first of, and the most prominent among, those who advocated the erection of an independent Grand Lodge in and for New Brunswick; promoting the movement by his voice and pen, particularly by the latter in the columns of the Masonic Mirror, the organ of the order, and of which he was the editor. At the formation of the Grand Lodge, October, 1867, he was unanimously elected deputy grand master, in which position he continued up to 1870, when he was elected grand master, and occupied the latter office for two years. Although the removal of his residence to his villa at Hampton, Kings county, and the prosecution of his judicial functions have drawn him away from active participation in the work of the craft, nevertheless he continues to retain his membership in the lodge, and to preserve a warm interest in the prosperity of the brotherhood. The editor of the Parliamentary Practice thus refers to him when he was provincial secretary:—“Upon the floor of the House he was a leading spirit; eloquent and argumentative, a keen debater, and a master of sarcasm.” Judge Wedderburn is married to Jeannie, daughter of the late C. C. Vaughan, of St. John, New Brunswick.
Steeves, James Thomas, M.D., Superintendent of the Provincial Lunatic Asylum, St. John, New Brunswick, was born at Hillsborough, Albert county, N.B., on the 25th of January, 1828. He is a brother of the late Hon. W. H. Steeves, senator, and one of the delegates or founders of Canadian confederation; and is of German ancestry. His great-grandfather was born in Osnaburgh, Germany, whence he removed to Philadelphia, and his grandfather, the Rev. Henry Steeves, removed thence to Albert county, N.B., about the beginning of the present century. Dr. Steeves is a Baptist in religion, as all his fathers were; in fact “his fathers” were the pioneers in disseminating Baptist doctrines over a large portion of the province. His literary education was obtained at the Grammar School at Hillsborough, at Sackville Academy, and finally at the Baptist Seminary, Fredericton, under the late Dr. Spurden. After the completion of his literary course, he entered upon the study of medicine at the Pennsylvania Medical College—attracted by the famous surgeon, Valentine Mott—the following year he matriculated at the University of New York, and graduated in the class of 1853. From the medical faculty of the university he received a certificate of honour for proficiency and for having pursued a more extended course of instruction than that required by the college curriculum. In June, 1854, the doctor established himself in Portland, St. John, N.B., and entered upon the practice of his profession. After the lapse of a few weeks Asiatic cholera made its appearance there in all its terribleness, spreading dismay and death on every hand. During the prevalence of this fearful scourge, extending over a period upwards of four months, Dr. Steeves, by his unswerving fidelity to his professional duties under every circumstance, and his good measure of success, fairly placed himself among the leading physicians of New Brunswick. In 1864 he removed to the city of St. John and erected the fine block of four brick and stone buildings situated on the corner of Wellington Row and Union street, which escaped the great fire of 1877, and still stand as a monument to his success and enterprise, and where he resided until 1875. On the opening of the General Public Hospital in 1864, the doctor was appointed upon the staff of visiting surgeons, and was the last of the original staff retiring. When the late Dr. J. Waddell was about retiring from the superintendency of the Provincial Lunatic Asylum, Dr. Steeves was recommended by his professional brethren almost as a body, as a suitable successor for the position. Under the management of Dr. Waddell the asylum for the insane had attained a high position for successful work; and since under the present administration it has not lost a whit, but has kept fully abreast with the various modern improvements incident to asylum treatment everywhere. Dr. Steeves is a strong advocate for segregation, pavilion accommodation, and employment for the insane. By means of his advocacy with pen and voice, he has induced the government of New Brunswick to purchase a large farm, and to erect thereon a group of pavilions for the care and employment of a suitable number and class of the most healthy, indigent and pauper insane. The establishment is in full working condition, and is regarded as a complete success, in that it is far better than the old hospital system for this class of patients, giving them more freedom and out-door work, and that it is far more economical both in buildings and maintenance. Dr. Steeves was elected a member of the first medical council of New Brunswick on the introduction of the English Medical Registration Act in 1860. He has occupied the position of vice-president of the Canada Medical Association; he is an honorary member of the American Medical Association; he was elected unanimously first president of the New Brunswick Medical Society under the New Brunswick Medical Act of 1880; and is past president of the New Brunswick Medical Council. The Dr. was married to M. A. McMann, daughter of the late Captain L. McMann, of the city of St. John, in May, 1856; by whom he had born nine children. The eldest