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of the village of Elora, in the county of
Wellington, Ontario, judge of the County Court of Wellington, local judge
for the High Court of Justice for Ontario, chairman of the General
Sessions of the Peace, and judge for the Surrogate Court for the County of
Wellington, was born on the 28th February, 1827, near the village of
Williamstown, County of Glengarry, Ontario. He is a son of John Drew and
Margaret, nee McKay, and is a great grandson of a United Empire loyalist,
who was a Highland Scotchman. Our subject received his education at the
grammar schools in Williamstown and Cornwall. He first married on the 6th
May, 1856, Elizabeth Mary, eldest daughter of the late John Jacob, of
Porte de Grave, Newfoundland. She died, and he married again on the 6th
July, 1865, Maria Louise, second daughter of the said John Jacob. By the
last marriage there are three children, one son, John Jacob Drew, and two
daughters, Elizabeth Mary Drew and Hannah Bennet Garland Drew. There were
no children by the first marriage. To look back now for a period, it may
be stated that our subject having completed his education, resolved to
adopt the legal profession, and therefore began the study of law under the
late Hon. John Sandfield Macdonald, at the town of Cornwall. He was called
to the bar of Ontario in 1854, and in June of 1855 settled in the said
village of Elora, where he always continued to reside and practice his
profession. It soon became apparent that the young barrister was possessed
of much more than ordinary legal attainments; his business grew apace, and
he soon acquired lucrative employment. On the 18th December, 1872, he was
appointed Queen's Counsel. He had not long practised his profession before
he began to take interest in public questions, and when in 1867 he came
before his riding for election there were few men better informed than he
upon the questions of the day, and it hardly needs to be said that there
were few who could discuss these questions with more vigour and readiness.
He was elected for the North Riding of Wellington, and was re-elected for
the same constituency in 1878. Throughout his public career our subject
has been a steadfast Liberal Conservative, always gave a hearty support to
Sir John Macdonald and his government. He was an ardent supporter of the
national policy, and warmly advocated the early completion of the Canadian
Pacific Railway. He retired from politics on the dissolution of Parliament
in 1882, and was on the 23rd day of May, 1882, appointed Judge of the
County of Wellington, and on the 27th day of June, 1882, was appointed
local Judge of the High Court of Justice. |
