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who gave birth to a daughter, Agnes, in 1798, and baptized by Mr. Young. In 1814, Mary, the eldest daughter of Mr. Porteous, was married to Henry Griffin, notary public, and their son is J. C. Griffin, the notary public of to-day.

Mr. Porteous held many offices of trust in his time. He was president of the water works company, organized in 1818, which first laid down iron pipes for supplying the city. During the war of 1812-4, he undertook, at the request of the Government, the task of forwarding supplies to the troops throughout the country. He was president of the Agricultural Society of Montreal, in 1820. He was vice-president of the Savings' Bank the same year. He was also at that time a director of the Bank of Montreal, and of the Lachine Canal Company. He was elected a member of the Temporal Committee of the Church in 1819, and was re-elected the following year when he was made vice-president. He was ordained an elder in the St. Gabriel Street Church, March 21st, 1819, and continued to fill that office till his death, which occurred at his son-in-law's house, 63 St. Gabriel Street, on the 23rd February, 1830.

Nicholas or Nicol Fletcher, who was chosen a member of the Temporal Committee in 1800, and continued on it till 1803, was an innkeeper. He purchased pew 65, at an early period of Mr. Young's ministry. He died April 8th, 1807, aged 53 years.

John Mittleberger, a German, was an old settler in Montreal. He carried on the business of a tailor. He was married to Elizabeth Hogel by Rev. Mr. Delisle, 27th March, 1784. He attended the English services before the St. Gabriel Street Church was erected; but soon afterwards, we find him in possession of pew No. 25, which

he continued to hold. Mr. Somerville baptized a child of his in 1807. He subscribed two pounds to that gentleman's stipend.

Telfer and McIntosh, who occupied pew 72, were the masons who built the church. Mr. McIntosh died not long afterwards, but his widow made a contribution to the debt in 1800. Mr. Telfer upheld Mr. Young in 1800. He died on the 24th July, 1805, aged 55 years. His daughter married, in 1807, Andrew White, carpenter, afterwards one of the elders in the St. Gabriel Street Church. Mr. Telfer contributed to the debt in 1800.

Duncan Reid, the occupant of pew No. 77, before the year 1800, was a farmer in the parish of Lachine. He was married to Mary Kand in 1781 by Rev. D. C. Delisle. He died on the 22nd October, 1798; but his widow occupied the seat until 1809, when it was purchased by James Carswell.

James Henderson, who was one of the Temporal Committee from 1800 to 1803, was a sergeant of the 41st Regiment. He was married by Mr. Young in 1801.

Peter McFarlane's name does not appear among the list of subscribers to the church either in 1792 or 1800; yet he belonged to the congregation during this period. He was one of the sixteen members of the Temporal Committee appointed in 1791. He voted for the retention of Mr. Young in November of that year. He subscribed a guinea annually to Mr. Somerville's stipend. He was one of the oldest British residents in the city. He was married by Rev. D. C. Delisle, first, to Mary Goodburn, in 1769, and, after her death, to a widow named McNamara, in 1789. He was a tailor, and died in 1811, at the advanced age of 86 years. He occupied pew 82 jointly

with Mrs. Bland.

Among other subscribers to the building fund in 1800 was David Ross, attorney. His grandfather was a banker in Tain, Ross-shire, Scotland; and his father, John Ross, was a volunteer with the 78th Fraser Highlanders at the taking of Quebec, under Wolfe, 1759. Mr. Ross' brother, John, was prothonotary of the Court of King's Bench for the district of Quebec, and a prominent member of St. Andrew's Church, Quebec, of which his son, Hon. David A. Ross, Minister without a Portfolio in the present Mercier government, is a respected elder. David Ross married, in 1803, Jane, daughter of the Hon. Arthur Davidson, a native of Aberdeen, Scotland, one of the Justices of the Court of King's Bench for the Montreal district, whose wife was Jane Fraser, daughter of Major Malcolm Fraser, of the 78th Highlanders, a member of the Lovat family. Mr. Ross had a large family; but his only representative in the city to-day is the able physician, Dr. George Ross, Professor of Clinical Medicine in McGill University, son of David Ross' eldest son, Arthur. Mr. Ross was a prominent member of the Bar in the district of Montreal, and was acting Attorney-General in 1820. It was he who was entrusted with guarding the interests of the St. Gabriel Street Church, in the matter of securing the rights of the congregation to all the land conveyed by their deed, on the Champ de Mars side,—in succession to Robert Russell, in 1808. He was a warm supporter of Mr. Somerville, to whose stipend he contributed two pounds annually. He occupied pew No. 4, along with James Smith. His two sisters were married to the two ministers of St. Andrew's Church, Quebec,— one to Dr. Spark, and the other to his successor, Dr. Harkness. After the death of Dr. Harkness, his widow married Staff-Surgeon Montgomery of Quebec.

Another name belonging to this period, was that of

John McCord, senior, a native of Antrim, Ireland, Patentee of the undivided half of the Gaspé property, known as the "O'Hara and McCord Patent," who was born in 1711, and who died at "The Grange," Montreal, on the 14th October, 1793. On the 1st of January of that year, he purchased the large square pew, No. 14, in the St. Gabriel Street Church; and Hon. James Leslie, who was connected with the family by marriage, spoke of their attendance at the church in his time, which must have been after 1808, although Mr. W. Ireland had acquired pew 14 before that date. The McCord family seem to have been Presbyterians at this time, otherwise it is hard to account for their sitting in the St. Gabriel Street Church, when the first Christ Church (the Jesuits' chapel) was near by.

No family in the district has, perhaps, taken a more prominent part than Mr. McCord's in the affairs of the country. Of his two sons, John, the eldest, died at Quebec, without issue in 1822; but Thomas, his second son, who, owned a large portion of Griffintown, and represented the West Ward of the city in the Provincial Parliament, and was afterwards Police Magistrate of Montreal, an office which he held at the date of his death, in 1824, and after whom McCord Street is called, had two sons, both of whom rose to seats on the Bench, Hon. John S. McCord, and Hon. Wm. King McCord. Hon. Thomas McCord, son of the latter, also became a judge, while his daughter married the Hon. Justice Polette. The representative of the family in the city now is ex-Alderman David R. McCord, a prominent member of the Montreal Bar, son of the Hon. Justice John S. McCord, and of his wife, Anne Ross, daughter of David Ross, advocate.

CHAPTER X.

Rev. James Somerville's Birth, Education And Licensure—Comes To Canada—Chosen Successor To Mr. Young—His Literary And Scientific Tastes—His Marriage—Originates Natural History Society And Montreal General Hospital—His Benefactions And Death.

After the departure of the Rev. John Young, in August, 1802, the church was vacant for several months. The number of candidates in those days was smaller than that offering for such a position in our time, yet it was at least great enough to perplex the congregation. The following intimation was read from the pulpit on the 29th May, 1803:—

"The congregation will please to take noticee that they have had a trial of two ministers, namely, Mr. Somerville and Mr. Forrest. A number of the hearers of this church have requested that the votes of the people be taken, that their choice may be known. Accordingly, two gentlemen will be appointed early this week for that purpose, to wait upon every member of this church. So you will make up your minds on this important business, that you may be ready to give your votes."

This was scarcely the regular mode of procedure in Presbyterian congregations, where a call is formally moderated in under the authority of a Presbytery. But any church in a new country must do the best it can in exceptional circumstances. If there was not a call in due form tendered on this occasion, there was obtained at least an undoubted expression of the voice of the people. The

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