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Fogo, Hon. James, Pictou, Nova Scotia, Judge of Probate for the county of Pictou, was born in Glasgow, Scotland, on the 30th June, 1811. His father, James Fogo, senior, came to Pictou in 1817, and died there in 1868, aged eighty-one years. His mother was Elizabeth McClure, who was born in Edinburgh, Scotland, and died in Pictou, in 1879, aged eighty-nine years. Judge Fogo received his education at the Pictou Academy, under the tuition of that celebrated teacher and educator, the Rev. Thomas McCulloch, D.D., and was the classmate of Governor Archibald, Sir William Ritchie, now chief justice of the Dominion of Canada, and other gentlemen who have attained celebrity in different walks of life. He studied law in the office of Jotham Blanchard, then one of the most eminent practitioners at the bar in eastern Nova Scotia, and was admitted as an attorney of the Supreme Court in May, 1837, along with Charles Young, now the Hon. Dr. Young, LL.D., judge of the Surrogate Court for the province of Prince Edward Island, both of whom obtained optimes on their examinations. This, therefore, is the year of Judge Fogo’s professional jubilee. In 1838, according to the practice then existing, he was admitted as a barrister of the Supreme Court. Judge Fogo obtained the judicial appointment which he now holds on the 30th December, 1850, and has ever since, with the exception of a short interregnum which took place on a change of government in 1864, discharged the duties of his office with marked ability and satisfaction to the public. He is well read in the learning of his profession, and his judgments have almost invariably been sustained by the Supreme Court in cases of appeals from his decisions. In 1851 he was offered the solicitor-generalship of an adjoining colony, but an indisposition to sever his connection with Nova Scotia induced him to decline the acceptance of the offer. In his early years, before accepting his judicial position, Judge Fogo was an active politician in the Liberal interests, and on several occasions was urged by his friends to accept a nomination as a candidate for the representative branch of the legislature, but a regard to his personal interests prompted otherwise, as he preferred the active duties of his profession to the turmoil and uncertainty of political life. He was at one time connected with the provincial militia, and on the 23rd July, 1864, obtained the commission of major, having previously held the commission of first and second lieutenants in the service. He was created a Queen’s counsel by the Local government in 1878, his commission giving him precedence as such in all courts of the province over all other Queen’s counsels appointed after 23rd October, 1833. He was also, on the 27th July, 1879, appointed a master in Chancery, now called a master in the Supreme Court. On the 11th October, 1880, he obtained the appointment of Queen’s counsel from the Dominion government, when such appointments were ruled ultra vires of the Provincial government, and since the date of his commission he has been appointed by the presiding judge to conduct the criminal business at each and every sitting of the Supreme Court at Pictou. Judge Fogo was first married in December, 1846, to Jane, daughter of the late Rev. John McKinlay, A.M., of Prince Street Presbyterian Church, Pictou, who died in 1848, leaving one daughter, Charlotte Jane, who, on the 27th of April, 1870, was united in marriage to the Hon. John F. Stairs, then of Dartmouth, now of Halifax, and ex-M.P. of the House of Commons, and who, to the great grief of her family and friends, died of that dreadful malady, diphtheria, on the 28th May, 1886, leaving five children, her son Walter, of the age of two and a half years, or thereabouts, having, two days previously, fallen a victim to the same disease. This dispensation of Providence naturally inflicted much mental suffering to the subject of our sketch, as his daughter was an only child, gifted with superior abilities, of a joyous and happy disposition, and consequently a great favourite in the social circle wherever she moved, and though the healing salve of time may cicatrize the wound occasioned by her early and unexpected death, the scar will still remain. The judge was married the second time to Elizabeth Ives, daughter of the late James Ives, of the city of Halifax, architect. The judge has the comforts of life in a liberal measure, and the mind and heart to enjoy them. He is said by his friends to be a pleasant and effective speaker. His mode of address is full of life and animation, and being gifted with a luxuriant imagination and playful fancy, his public exhibitions afford gratification to his auditors. He is a member of the Presbyterian church. Though advanced in life, his age rests lightly upon him, and none, to look at him and mark his quick and agile step, would dream that he is now in the seventy-sixth year of his age. He has a delightful residence at Belleville, opposite the railway station on the Pictou side of the harbour, and which is thus described in “Meacham’s Illustrated and Historical Atlas of the County of Pictou”:—“The building represented to our view is a classical villa, after the Tuscan manner, and was built by its proprietor in 1854. It is very beautifully situated, and affords a most commanding view of the surrounding country. The scene which is presented to the spectator on a summer day, when shipping in the harbour is brisk, and vessels of all descriptions are plying to and fro upon its waters, is one of an exceedingly pleasing and animated character, and presents a panorama which is rarely equalled, and difficult to surpass. The property is noted for the valuable free stone in which it abounds, and which is now commanding an extensive sale beyond the limits of the county, many thousands of tons having been disposed of to rebuild the bridges on the Intercolonial Railway, by a gentleman to whom the owner sold a few acres some years ago, leaving untouched, however, extensive areas of superior stone for building purposes, which brisker times would soon call into requisition.”