Читать книгу A Cyclopædia of Canadian Biography - Various - Страница 131

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Kennedy, George, M.A., LL.D., Barrister, Toronto, was born on 1st March, 1838, at Bytown, now the city of Ottawa, Ontario. His father, Donald Kennedy, was born near Blairathol, in Scotland, and came with his father to Canada in 1818, the family settling in the township of Beckwith. About the time of the building of the Rideau canal the father of the subject of this sketch removed to Bytown, engaged in business as a contractor and builder, was employed for some time as surveyor for the district of Dalhousie, now the county of Carleton, and for many years carried on, in partnership with John Blyth, an extensive cabinet-making business. An ancestor of his took part in the battle of Culloden, on the side of Bonny Prince Charlie, by some called the “Pretender,” and the dirk he used on the occasion is still in the possession of the family. Dr. Kennedy’s mother, Janet Buckham, was born in 1807, in Dunblane, Scotland, and came, with her father, to this country in 1828. This family settled in the township of Torbolton, and Mr. Buckham went into farming on a large scale at the head of Sand Bay, where he planted one of the finest orchards in that part of the country. The Buckhams were descended from an old Border family that have resided in Jedburgh from the time of Queen Mary, of Scotland. Mrs. Kennedy died in 1856; but Mr. Kennedy is still alive, and resides about three miles from Ottawa city, on a picturesque spot overlooking the Rideau river. George received his education at the Carleton county Grammar School (now the Ottawa Collegiate Institute), and at University College, Toronto, where he matriculated in 1853, taking the first-class scholarship in classics, and in his subsequent course held first-class honors also in mathematics, metaphysics and ethics, natural sciences, modern languages, logic, rhetoric and history. In 1857 he graduated B.A. with gold medal in metaphysics and ethics; took M.A. in 1860; LL.B. in 1864, and LL.D., in 1877. In 1859 Dr. Kennedy occupied the position of master of the Grammar School of Prescott; and during the years 1860-1 he was second master in the Ottawa Grammar School, and had charge of the branch Meteorological Observatory at Ottawa. In 1862 he began the study of the law in the offices of Crooks, Kingsmill and Cattanach, Toronto, and was admitted as an attorney and solicitor, and was called to the bar of Ontario in Hilary term, 1865. He then began the practice of his profession in Ottawa, and for six years carried on his business in his native place. In February, 1872, he received the appointment of law clerk to the Crown Lands Department of Ontario, and moved to Toronto, where he has ever since resided. During the years 1878-9-80 the doctor was examiner in law at the University of Toronto. He was one of the founders of the Ottawa Literary and Scientific Society, formed by the amalgamation of the Mechanics’ Institute and Natural History Society, and was secretary for some years, and as a recognition of his labours in connection therewith was made a life member. He was also one of the original members of the University College Literary and Scientific Society, and is a member of the Canadian Institute, of which he was for three years a vice-president, and is now editor of “The Proceedings.” For some time he has been secretary to the Toronto St. Andrew’s Society, and as such prepared a history of the Society as a memorial for its jubilee year, 1886. Dr. Kennedy is an omnivorous reader, and as a consequence has a large and well-selected library—indeed he considers a library the most important part of any home—and few men are better posted in book-lore than he. He, too, has seen a good deal of Canada and the United States, and is familiar with the principal places in North America, ranging from the Southern states, the Western states, the Maritime provinces, the Muskoka district, and the regions beyond Ottawa. As might be expected, Dr. Kennedy was brought up a Presbyterian, but when quite young he began to entertain doubts as to the correctness of the Calvinistic faith of his church. For several years he was greatly troubled about this matter, and finding he could no longer stifle his convictions, he broke away from the church, and became almost an Agnostic. After a while, however, he joined the Unitarian church, and no one has now a firmer faith than he in the Divine Fatherhood, and the infinite possibilities of human progress. On the 6th June, 1883, he married Sarah, daughter of the late Henry Jackson, a well-known jeweller, and once resident of Toronto.