A Cyclopaedia of Canadian Biography: Being Chiefly Men of the Time. Various

      Stratford, John H., Brantford, Ontario, is a native of New York state, having been born in Oswego, on the 30th May, 1840, came over with his parents and settled in Brantford in 1844, where he has since resided. Mr. Stratford’s father, who died in 1884, was born at Sheerness, Kent, England, and was a gentleman of the old school. He was educated at Eton and Trinity College, Dublin, and was highly respected by the citizens of Brantford, for his charity and the strict sense of honour he had practised from the day he first took up his residence among them to the day of his death. When he retired from business in 1875, he divided his large fortune among his three sons, retaining a life annuity. His mother, who died in 1875, was also greatly respected and beloved for her charitable deeds. She belonged to an Irish family, and was niece of the late Colonel George Hamilton, for many years manager of the Canada Company at Toronto. John H. Stratford’s grandfather, Dr. John Stratford, and his uncle, Dr. Samuel John Stratford, both members of the Royal College of Surgeons, London, England, were known as eminent physicians in Canada. The latter, who was assistant surgeon in the 72nd Highlanders, sold his commission, and with a number of other British officers, settled at Woodstock, Ontario, where they received grants of land from Sir John Colborne, the then military governor of Upper Canada. In this town he successfully practised his profession for many years, and subsequently left this country, having received the appointment of emigration agent for the British government in New Zealand, where he died. Another member of the family, Elizabeth Stratford, his sister, married in 1839 Mr. Davidson, a celebrated lawyer in New York, who was appointed chief justice of the Supreme Court of the United States, but died just before being sworn into office. Joseph and Charles, brothers of John H. Stratford, still reside in Brantford, Joseph being a wealthy merchant, and owner of “Stratford’s Opera House,” one of the handsomest in the province. John, the subject of this sketch, received his education in Brantford; and after leaving school, for a number of years up to 1871 he managed first the retail and afterwards the wholesale drug business of his father. In 1865, he formed with the late C. Gilbert a partnership, the object of which was the carrying on of a wholesale oil business; and this firm was the first to introduce on our Canadian railways the use of natural petroleum as a lubricant for car wheels. In 1868, Henry Yates was admitted into the partnership, and it then operated under the style of John H. Stratford & Co. The following year Mr. Gilbert withdrew, and since then the firm has been known as Yates & Stratford, wholesale oil and lumber merchants. In 1870, Mr. Stratford formed, with Donald Nicholson, since deceased, and Robert Chisholm, of Hamilton, a special partnership for the construction of that section of the Great Western Railway, from Glencoe to Simcoe, a distance of seventy-five miles. This piece of work, a very difficult one, owing to the Canada Southern Railway being in course of construction at the same time, almost parallel, was completed in 1872, to the entire satisfaction of the Great Western Railway authorities. In 1884, Mr. Stratford purchased seven acres of land, beautifully situated, overlooking and within the limits of the city of Brantford, on which he erected, under his own superintendence, an hospital capable of accommodating fifty patients and a regular staff of nurses, etc., at a cost of over $20,000. And on the 10th February, 1885, it was formally opened by His Honour, John Beverley Robinson, lieutenant-governor of Ontario, and Mrs. Robinson, in the presence of a large assembly of citizens, when Mr. Stratford handed it over as a free gift to the city of Brantford. Mrs. John H. Stratford and Mrs. Arthur S. Hardy also took a deep interest in the hospital, and through their united exertions, collected from friends $4,000, wherewith to equip it with suitable furniture, instruments, etc. It is called “The John H. Stratford Hospital,” and is without doubt—being perfect as to heating, light, ventilation, laundry, stables, and other modern improvements—one of the finest institutions of its kind in the Dominion. When of age Mr. Stratford joined the Masonic body, and has continued to keep up his connection with it ever since. He is a member of the St. James Club, Montreal. He married in 1868, Sara Juson Harris, fifth daughter of the late T. D. Harris, at one time a prominent wholesale hardware merchant in Toronto. Mr. Stratford is a member of the Episcopal church; a thorough business man of strict integrity, and has been eminently successful in all his undertakings.

Benson, Rev. Manly, Pastor of the Central Methodist Church, Bloor street, Toronto, was born in Prince Edward county, Ontario, in 1842. His parents, Matthew R. and Nancy Ruttan, were of U. E. loyalist stock, and were among the early founders of Canadian nationality on the beautiful shores of the Bay of Quinté. To this, doubtless, may be attributed the sturdy mental and moral, as well as physical fibre, which characterizes the so worthy a son of so worthy parents—the subject of our sketch. His parents removed to the town of Newburgh, and here Manly received a good education at the academy, and prepared himself for the work of a teacher. At the age of ten years he was converted to God at a special service held by the late Rev. Joseph Reynolds, the superintendent of the Demorestville circuit, and he grew up under the fostering influence of the Sunday-school and the class-meeting, both of which had a marked influence on his young life, and spared him from the many bad influences that are apt to surround young men. For a few years Mr. Benson applied himself as a teacher, at the same time continuing his studies with the principal of the Newburgh Academy. The piety and cultivated talent of the young teacher attracted the attention of the members of the Methodist church of the town in which he lived; and having undergone the preliminary training in Christian work as a local preacher, he was recommended by the official board of the Newburgh circuit for the ministry. He was received on trial in 1863, and made his first acquaintance with the activities of the work in the western extremity of the province. For four years he travelled successively as junior preacher on the Romney, Chatham, Windsor, and Sarnia circuits; and having given full proof of his ministry, passing with credit all the prescribed examinations, he was received into full connexion, and ordained at the Hamilton conference in 1867. He then travelled, as superintendent, the Ridgetown, Newbury, and Cooksville circuits. After one year on the latter circuit, he was invited to the Centenary Church, Hamilton, as colleague of the Rev. W. J. Hunter, D.D. At the end of his first year in this charge, which date also completed the full pastoral term of the superintendent of the circuit, he was invited by the official board to take Dr. Hunter’s place as superintendent of the church and circuit; but instead of accepting, suggested the name of the Rev. Hugh Johnston, M.A., who was appointed superintendent, and with whom he was associated for the balance of his pastoral term of two years. The closing year of his three years’ term in this city was signalized by the building of the elegant and commodious Zion Tabernacle. From Hamilton he went to Stratford and St. Thomas, and spent three years in each of these places. When closing his pastoral term at St. Thomas, in 1881, he was invited to the pastorate of the Central Methodist Church (Bloor Street), Toronto. No transfers were made that year, and, on this fact becoming known, he was immediately and unanimously invited to the Brant Avenue Church, Brantford. On the closing of his three years’ pastoral term in that city he was again invited by the same church in Toronto, and entered upon his duties in the Central Methodist Church, Toronto, in June, 1855. Since he took charge of the Central Church it has greatly prospered under his care, both spiritually and financially. Its membership has increased from two hundred and seventy to four hundred and fifteen, and the congregation has also doubled in attendance. By special collections taken on the first Sabbath of each of the three years of his pastorate, $6,000 was contributed, being $2,000 at each collection, and, with other moneys in hand, $7,000 has been paid off the church debt, and the regular Sunday collections and pew rents also show a very large increase. In recognition of Rev. Mr. Benson’s services as pastor, the official board raised his salary from $1,500 to $2,000, and in addition to this have furnished and provided him with a comfortable parsonage free. It is almost needless to say that Rev. Mr. Benson is not only a favourite with the people of his own church, but with others of the same denomination in the city, in proof of which he has been unanimously invited, at the close of his term in the Central Church, to take charge of the large congregation worshipping in Berkeley Street Methodist Church. Rev. Mr. Benson has largely enjoyed the advantages of travel, both throughout the Dominion of Canada and in foreign countries. In 1871, in company with the late illustrious Rev. Dr. Punshon, he crossed the