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Mathison, George, Senior Past Grand Worthy Patriarch of the Grand Division of the Sons of Temperance of the Province of Quebec, was one of the most energetic and enthusiastic temperance advocates in that section of our country. Born in Edinburgh, Scotland, on the 1st May, 1801, he received his education there, and after leaving school was apprenticed to the baking business. Having faithfully served the prescribed term, he worked for a short period as a journeyman, and wishing to see the world, enlisted in His Majesty’s 70th regiment of foot, and soon attained the position of colour-sergeant. Seeing the evil effects of drink on his comrades, he soon became convinced that a life of total abstinence was the safest and best for him to secure success in his profession, and accordingly adopted the principle. At that time very few had abandoned the entire use of intoxicating liquors as a drink, and those who had were looked upon with suspicion by the “moderate drinkers,” but his example soon began to tell upon his comrades, and many of them were induced to abandon liquor-drinking. In due course of time, with the permission of his commanding officer, he established a total abstinence society in the regiment. He soon afterwards attained to the rank of quarter-master-sergeant, and still continued to use his influence to further the good work he had begun. In the year 1842, having served his country for twenty-one years in Gibraltar, Malta, West Indies and Canada—proving the practicability of the principles of total abstinence in all these varied climes—he was discharged with a pension, and at the same time received a situation in the Commissariat department as keeper of the government woodyard in Quebec. This gave him greater opportunities to work in the temperance cause, and shortly afterward he and several other citizens started the first total abstinence society in that city, and it proved a great blessing to many. In October, 1850, having heard of the order of the Sons of Temperance, which was then making rapid strides in enrolling men in the total abstinence ranks, he and other members of the society secured a charter from the National Division, and Gough Division, No. 3, of Canada East, was organized. This division continued to prosper, and the order to increase in the province, when in January, 1852, the Grand Division of Canada East (now Quebec) was organized, Mr. Mathison being one of the charter members, and in October, 1854, he was elected its Grand Worthy Patriarch. In February, 1852, St. Lawrence Division was organized under very favourable auspices, and in the following year he left Gough Division and joined St. Lawrence, in the hope of extending his usefulness among the military men who had joined in large numbers the younger division. In June, 1867, he was initiated into the National Division of North America, at the session held at Providence, Rhode Island, and continued to attend the meetings of that body as opportunity offered, the last time being at the session held in Halifax, N.S., in 1884. In 1859 he was removed to Halifax to fill another position in the Commissariat department, and later on to Prince Edward Island. In each place he was well known as an enthusiastic worker in the cause of temperance, and other good works. In the year 1866, after serving twenty-four years in Her Majesty’s service, he was superannuated, with another pension, and took up his residence in the city of Quebec, and again associated himself with St. Lawrence Division, and continued to work persistently in the cause he had so much at heart up to the last month of his life, not only in connection with the order of the Sons of Temperance, but in the formation of Cadets of Temperance, Bands of Hope, and other kindred societies. He was ever ready to help, and very few of the youth of the city of Quebec have failed in being influenced to a certain extent by his efforts. He was a consistent member of the Methodist church for over fifty years, and for several years superintendent of the Sabbath school. The class meetings and prayer meetings were always faithfully attended by him and highly appreciated. He passed away after a few days’ illness on the 30th October, 1886, in the eighty-sixth year of his age and the sixtieth of his temperance work, deeply regretted by all his co-laborers in the church, as well as in the cause of total abstinence. George Mathison earned the benediction: “Well done, good and faithful servant.”