OBITUARIES, CANADIAN. 



725 



of Vaudreuil, and sat for that constituency nntil 

 1860 when he was returned to the Legislative 

 Council for the division of Rigaud. He was 

 lieut.-colonel of the 1st battalion Vaudreuil 

 militia, but some months prior to his death, 

 he threw up his commission with disgust at 

 the policy pursued by the Canadian admin- 

 istration in conducting militia affairs. His 

 death occurred in the beginning of April, 

 1863. He is buried in Mount Royal Cem- 

 etery, Montreal. 



April 12. FEANCHERE, GABRIEL. The last 

 survivor of the founders of the colony of As- 

 toria. Mr. Franchere was born at Montreal, 

 in 1786. He joined the Astoria expedition 

 under the guidance of John Jacob Astor. 

 "Washington Irving's charming book entitled 

 Astoria, written at the request of the father of 

 the expedition, contains a faithful and elegant 

 history of the expedition and its results. Mr. 

 Irving quotes copiously and in flattering terms 

 from Mr. Frdhchere's work on the same sub- 

 ject. The American war of 1812 having 

 forced Mr. Astor to give up sending recruits to 

 his settlement, its abandonment was decided 

 on ; and Mr. Franchere on his way to Canada, 

 in 1814, crossed the Rocky Mountains. In 

 1842 he was admitted as a partner in the Amer- 

 ican Fur Company ; he subsequently joined 

 the firm of Messrs. P. Chouteau & Fils, and at 

 the time of his decease he was the senior part- 

 ner of the house of G. Franchere & Cie, of 

 Montreal. In 1858 there were but three sur- 

 vivors of the Astoria expedition, viz. : Alfred 

 Seaton, vice-president of the " Sun " Mutual 

 Insurance Co., Ramsay Crooks, a merchant, 

 and Mr. Franchere. The two former died in 

 1859. Mr. Franchere's ancestor had come to 

 Canada as assistant in a French ship. He was 

 the uncle of Hon. Mr. Justice Laberge, of 

 Lower Canada. His death took place at the 

 residence of his son-in-law, Hon. John S. 

 Prince, St. Paul, Minnesota, 12th April, 1863. 



April. . BELANGER, SOLOMOJT, a Cana- 

 dian by birth, and an old travelling companion 

 of Sir John Franklin, the arctic explorer. Be- 

 langer had rendered Sir John a most signal ser- 

 vice, having, as appears by the journal of that 

 officer, succeeded on one occasion in saving 

 his life. He died in the parish of St. Jacques de 

 1'Archigan, C. E., toward the end of April, 1863. 

 May 18. WALKER, Hon. WILLIAM, D. 0. L., 

 a life member of the Legislative Council of 

 Canada. Mr. Walker was born in Scotland, 

 and came to Canada in the year 1815. He oc- 

 Vupied a distinguished position as a Canadian 

 merchant. He was a partner in the firm of 

 Forsyth, Richardson & Co., of Montreal, and 

 of Forsyth, Walker & Co., of Quebec. He 

 was part owner and one of the building 

 committee of the sea-going steamer Royal 

 William, constructed at Quebec, which was 

 the first steam vessel that crossed the Atlantic 

 Ocean. In 1848 he retired from business, but 

 previous to this, in 1839, he had been appointed 

 a member of the Special Council. In 1842 he 



was called to the Legislative Council by royal 

 mandamus. He had been presented by the 

 Earl of Durham with a commission as major 

 in the militia for having raised and commanded 

 the Quebec Volunteer Rifle Corps. He was the 

 first chancellor of the University of Bishop's 

 College, Lennoxville, C. E., which conferred 

 upon him the honorary degree of D. C. L., first 

 president of the Quebec and Riviere du Loup 

 Railway Company, before its amalgamation 

 with the Grand Trunk ; president of the Quebec 

 Board of Trade, and of the Bank of Montreal ; 

 and Deputy Master of the Trinity House. He 

 married Margaret, the eldest daughter of the 

 late Hon. Matthew Bell, of Three Rivers. Died 

 at Quebec 18th May, 1863. 



June 30. BROWN, PETER, was born about 

 1784. In his earlier years he was a merchant 

 in Edinburgh, Scotland, and an active politician 

 on the liberal side during the time of the bor- 

 ough-reform agitation. In 1838 he emigrated 

 with his family, and resided five years at New- 

 York. While there he was for a time on the 

 editorial staff" of the "Albion," and subsequently 

 became editor of the "British Chronicle." He 

 also published a work called the "Fame and 

 Glory of England Vindicated," intended as a re- 

 ply to a publication of Mr. C. E. Lester, styled 

 " The Shame and Glory of England." In 1843, ' 

 at the request of the prominent clergymen and 

 members of the Presbyterian Church of Cana- 

 da, Mr. Brown removed to Toronto, where he es- 

 tablished the Toronto " Banner " as an independ- 

 ent organ of liberal Presbyterian views. This 

 journal was edited for many years with great 

 vigor and ability. From 1844 to 1849 Mr. 

 Brown also contributed largely to the editorial 

 columns of the " Globe." For a year previous to 

 his death, he had been in feeble health, which 

 ended in an attack of congestion of the lungs. 

 The day previous to his death was the 79th an- 

 niversary of his birth, and the 50th of his mar- 

 riage. Mr. Brown was a man of superior at- 

 tainments, as a writer clear and logical, and in 

 private lite displaying qualities which gained 

 him the esteem of a large circle of friends. He 

 was the father of the Hon. George Brown, the 

 Canadian publicist and statesman, and propri- 

 etor of the Toronto " Globe." His death oc- 

 curred on Tuesday 30th June, 1863. 



July 29. JEFFREY, Hon. ANDREW, a mem- 

 ber of the Legislative Council of Canada, born 

 at Foulden, in Scotland, on the 17th February, 

 1800. Having emigrated to Canada in 1819, 

 he settled in Cobourg, C. W., the following 

 year, and there resided till his death. By in- 

 dustry and perseverance he established a hard- 

 ware business, which gradually became large 

 and prosperous. In 1860, he obtained a seat in 

 the Legislative Council, at the first popular 

 election for the division of Newcastle. He 

 was a man of considerable information, calm 

 judgment, and strict integrity. He died at Co- 

 bourg 29th July, 1863. 



August 1. GOURLKT, ROBERT, born in 

 Scotland in 1778. He came to Canada in the 



