A Cyclopaedia of Canadian Biography: Being Chiefly Men of the Time. Various
own way, than to grant the concession demanded, which meant the complete revolutionizing of the Wesleyan economy. Rev. Mr. Wilson was married on the 7th of February, 1856, to Mary Anne Lane, daughter of William Ford, Prince Edward Island, formerly of Ring’s Ash, Devonshire, England. The fruit of this marriage is five daughters and one son. The latter, Albert Edward, is an officer in the postal service at Fredericton, New Brunswick. We may add that the Rev. Mr. Wilson was elected president of the New Brunswick and Prince Edward Island Conference in June, 1887.
Wallis, Herbert, Montreal, Mechanical Superintendent of the Grand Trunk Railway of Canada, was born at Derby, England, on March 10th, 1844, and comes of a family long resident in Derby, whose head was for several generations engaged in the business of stage-coaching. His father, William Wallace Wallis, abandoned the business on the advent of railways, and became one of the carriers or cartage agents of the Midland Railway, from which he retired, in favour of one of his sons, some years prior to his death. Herbert Wallis was educated at the Commercial College, near Halifax, England, and here he was specially trained in that branch of the engineering profession which he now follows. On the completion of his education he entered the service of the Midland Railway Company as a pupil of Matthew Kirtley, then locomotive superintendent, and was engaged in the drawing office and workshops of that railway at Derby till August, 1866, at which date he was appointed foreman of the locomotive and carriage departments at Bradford, Yorkshire. In March, 1871, he accepted the position offered to him by Mr. Richard Potter (the then president), of assistant mechanical superintendent of the Grand Trunk Railway Company, and sailed for Montreal on May 4th of that year; and in January, 1873, he was appointed chief mechanical superintendent. Mr. Wallis is a member of the Institution of Civil Engineers, and of the Institution of Mechanical Engineers of England, and one of the council of the Canadian Society of Civil Engineers. He is a staunch supporter of the Church of England. He married Mary Ellen, eldest daughter of the late Thomas Walklate, formerly goods manager of the Midland Railway Company, in August, 1870.
Long, Thomas, Merchant, Collingwood, county of Simcoe, Ontario, was born in the county of Limerick, Ireland, on the 7th of April, 1836, and is the son of Thomas and Margaret Long. After procuring such education as he was able at the national school of his native village, he emigrated to this country when he was fourteen years old, arriving in the year 1850, and apprenticed himself to the general mercantile business with P. O’Shea, of Mono Centre, for a term of three years, during which he acquired such further educational advantages as could be obtained from time to time by attendance at the public school and by private study. On the expiration of his engagement with Mr. O’Shea, in the spring of 1853, Mr. Long came to Nottawasaga, and worked on the Northern Railway, then under construction, for about twelve months, after which he obtained another situation in a general store, which he held up to the 1st of December, 1858, when he embarked on his own account as a general merchant and buyer of grain and produce. In 1865 he was joined by his brother, John Joseph Long, and the firm thus formed traded under the style of T. Long & Brother. In 1868 a branch store was opened at Stayner, Simcoe county, and the business was carried on in this place under the name of Long Brothers & Gartlan, and in 1870 another branch was opened at Thornbury, Grey county. This enterprising firm, of which Thomas Long is now the senior partner, soon developed a wholesale trade, and they became large direct importers, which has since necessitated frequent visits of Mr. Long and his partners to the markets of Europe. In 1871 they erected fine new premises at Collingwood, which were unfortunately destroyed by fire in September, 1881, only, however, to be replaced by more commodious premises, in which the firm now carries on its principal business. In 1874 the firm erected, in connection with their business operations at Stayner, a flour mill, which proved a successful venture. Mr. Long has always taken the lead in all local enterprises carried on with the view of developing the business of the town and port of Collingwood. He was associated as stockholder and director with the late F. W. Cumberland, W. E. Sandford, and others in the establishment of the Lake Superior Navigation Company, which built the first steamer—The Cumberland—which traded with the Lake Superior ports. He was also one of the leading promoters of the Georgian Bay Transportation Company, and has otherwise greatly helped to promote the lake trade of his adopted country. Mr. Long served seven years in the town council, and eight years as a member of the Ontario legislature, in the Conservative interest, and is at present president of the North Simcoe Conservative Association. In addition to his business connection with the firm of T. Long & Bro., he has also the honours and responsibilities of the following public offices: vice-president and managing director of the Merritton Cotton Mill Company, Merritton; director of the Bank of London in Canada; secretary-treasurer of the Great Northern Transit Company; president of the Farmers’ North-West Land and Colonization Company; and president of the Great Northern Exhibition Company. Mr. Long is a member of the Roman Catholic church. He was married on the 13th of May, 1861, to Ann Patton, daughter of the late Charles Patton, builder, of Collingwood, by whom he has had fourteen children, of whom six are now living—three sons and three daughters.
Hall, Francis Alexander, Barrister, Perth, Ontario, was born in the town of Perth, county of Lanark, Ontario, on 9th August, 1843. His father, Francis Hall, was a native of Clackmannanshire, Scotland, who came to Canada in 1831, and settled in Lanark. His mother, Mary McDonnell, was also a native of Scotland, having been born in Greenock. Francis Alexander Hall received his education at the Perth Public and Grammar schools. After leaving school he spent about a year and a-half as a clerk with a general merchant, but disliking the business he resolved to make law his profession, and with this object in view entered, in 1860, the law office of the late W. M. Shaw, of Perth. Here he prosecuted his studies, and in August, 1866, was admitted as an attorney, and in May, 1868, was called to the bar. In November, 1867, he entered into partnership with Mr. Shaw, but this gentleman having died in December 30, 1868, Mr. Hall continued the business. In October, 1875, he formed a partnership with Edward Elliott, under the name of Hall and Elliott; but this arrangement only continued until October, 1878, when Mr. Elliott retired. In April, 1885, he took J. W. Berryman into partnership, but this partner dying in November, 1885, he once more conducts the business on his own account. Mr. Hall was made a Mason in True Britains’ lodge, No. 12, A. F. and A. M., in April, 1872. He is one of the charter members of Perth lodge, No. 190, A.O.U.W., and was elected master this year (1887). Mr. Hall has taken a deep interest in educational matters, and was elected a High School trustee in 1870. He has been a member of the Board of Education of Perth since 1870, and is now chairman of that board. He has also taken an interest in municipal matters, and occupied a seat in the town council in 1873, 1874, 1875 and 1876, and was mayor of Perth in 1881 and 1882. Mr. Hall has always been a Conservative in politics; and in religion he belongs to the Episcopal denomination. He is married to Harriet Frances, daughter of Lewis Dunham, a descendant of a U. E. loyalist who settled near Maitland.
Wild, Rev. Joseph, M.A., D.D., Pastor of Bond street Congregational Church, Toronto, was born at Summit, Littleborough, Lancashire, England, on the 16th of November, 1834. He was the youngest of five children. His father, Joseph Wild, was one of the best of men—a thorough practical Christian, who was respected by all classes of the community in which he lived. It was a notable fact that no one passed from time to eternity without the prayers of Joseph Wild first being sought, and no funeral was considered complete without his being present at the ceremony. He dressed plainly, following the style of Bourne and Clowes, and other noted founders of the Primitive Methodist church. In manner he was simple, easily approached, kind, sympathetic, generous, and affectionate. His greatest concern seemed to be for children and aged people, and on all occasions he had a kind word to say to them as he passed through the streets or from his home to the chapel. As a preacher he was plain and conversational, his object seeming to be to show the best and nearest way to Heaven without the interposition of too many stiles. When he died his funeral was the largest ever seen in the village, and to this day his memory is revered. Rev. Dr. Wild’s mother was a kind and quiet woman, and lived to do her duty to God and her household, set her children a good example, and died in the favour and affection of her neighbours and kinsfolk. Coming from such a stock, we need not wonder that the doctor should now possess such a power in the pulpit and among the people. At an early age he began to earn a livelihood, and was apprenticed to the business of iron moulder and machinist. It is perhaps in consequence of the knowledge acquired in the workshop that he is now enabled to give occasionally such plain and practical illustrations, as the following