====== Robertson, Farquhar ====== (14 April 1850-7 Aug. 1929), businessman. (date of death 8 Aug. also found) Born on the North Branch, near Martintown, GC. Parents: Hugh A. Robertson and his wife Flora McLennan, the daughter of Farquhar McLennan. He grew up on a farm, and attended school locally, and was himself a farmer from 1870 to 1875. In 1875 he went to Montreal, where after four years in the lumber business he established in 1879 the firm of Farquhar Robertson, Ltd., coal merchants. He headed this firm until he retired in 1922. Also, he served as a director of the Canada Cement Co., the Prudential Trust Co., the Merchants’ Bank of Canada, the Montreal Transportation Co., and the Glengarry and Stormont Railway Co., and was associated at one stage also with Alex. McArthur & Co., manufacturers of paper and paper products. He was described at his death as “one of Montreal’s most prominent businessmen.” (obituaries) He was vice-president of the Montreal Board of Trade, 1908, and president of same, 1909. On the Montreal City Council he represented St. Antoine Ward. From 1913 to 1922 he was a member of the Montreal Harbour Commission. (W. L. McDougald was chairman of this commission, 1921-1930) Likewise, Robertson held many public service positions. He was president of the Montreal General Hospital from 1917 to 1921, life governor of the Montreal General Hospital and of the Verdun and Western Hospitals, honorary vice-president of the Greater Montreal branch of the Victorian Order of Nurses, and president of the Mount Royal Cemetery and the Crematorium. In 1914 and 1915 he was president of the St. Andrew’s Society of Montreal. He described his recreations in a query c. 1924 as farming and travel. He was married on 18 June 1890 to Flora Craig, daughter of James Craig, who was MLA for GC from Confederation till his death in 1874. This marriage brought him into connection with the distinguished Bryson lumber family. (two children) Mrs Robertson died in 1915. (her obituary //Cornwall Freeholder// 11 Feb. 1915 ) Farquhar Robertson died at Ste-Agathe, Que., at the summer home of his daughter Mrs J.J. Todd. The funeral was in Montreal, and he was cremated (cremation was most unusual for Glengarrians at that time). He was a Presbyterian and a Presbyterian elder. He was survived by a sister at Apple Hill and by six brothers, two of whom were still living “on the old Robertson homestead, near Martintown, Ont.” (obituary) His many friends included Dr Francis John Shepherd the well known surgeon of the Montreal General Hospital and Sir William Van Horne of the CPR (Howell p. 192). Besides Mrs Todd, Farquhar Robertson had a daughter Helen M. Robertson who was married to (1) Sydney Johnson. Their child was christened in Henry VII’s chapel in Westminster Abbey. (//Cornwall Freeholder// 30 Dec. 1915) At the time of the christening Sydney Johnson was a lieutenant in the 3rd Border Regiment. Sydney Johnson was killed in action in WWI, in Jan. 1917, and his son, Sydney Frederick Farquhar Johnson of the RAF, was killed in the Battle of Britain on 26 Feb. 1941, and (2) Leonard Hancock. In 1939, a letter from Mrs Hancock describing conditions in London, Eng., as the war began was published in the Montreal //Star// and //Glengarry News//. (//GN// 22 Sept. 1939) In the issue of 5 Feb. 1910 //Toronto Saturday Night//, in an article written on the occasion of Farquhar Robertson’s retirement from the presidency of the Montreal Board of Trade, said that he was “honest–though his life has been spent in the coal trade” and that he “was born on a farm in Glengarry county–whence come all the big Scotchmen who don’t come from Nova Scotia. He owns a farm there now and has owned one all these years.” Besides owning and operating a farm, Farquhar Robertson owned the building at Williamstown now known as the Bethune-Thompson house, which he inherited from his uncle Murdoch McLennan in 1897. (Farquhar Robertson’s brother Col. D.M. Robertson owned Williamstown’s other historic house, the Manor House, also inherited from Murdoch McLennan in 1897.) Mr and Mrs Farquhar Robertson used the Manor House as a weekend and summer residence, and are remembered to have “entertained lavishly.” (leaflet) In 1906 they had as guests at Williamstown two of the children of Sir Roderick Cameron when word arrived of the death in New York of another of the Cameron children (Isabelle, who is buried at Williamstown). At the centenary celebrations of St. Andrew’s Church in 1912, Farquhar and Mrs Robertson entertained some of the participants to lunch at the Bethune-Thompson House (called at that time the White House), and the printed report of the celebrations has a curious description of the well-preserved “quaint old building” as it appeared at that time. Besides Col. Robertson already mentioned, he was the brother of Kenneth Robertson. Another brother, Duncan Robertson, was also associated with Farquhar in the coal business, and died in Montreal in 1944 in his 94th year. (obituary //Standard Freeholder// 12 July 1944) William H. Robertson, another brother, spent four years in Manitoba, then worked in the coal business in Montreal before returning in 1890 to a farm in GC, and died aged 84 a year after Duncan. (obituary //SFH// 14 July 1945) ---- Obituary from //Montreal Gazette// and report on funeral from Montreal //Star//, undated photocopies in present author’s files; obituary //Cornwall Freeholder// 14 Aug. 1929 (virtually unaltered reprint of the //Montreal Gazette// article with essentially same material as the //Star// article); //Glengarry News// 16 Aug. 1929; interesting are the names of eminent and well connected people, Glengarrians and others, who attended the funeral * Morgan (1912) 950 * [Can.] //Who’s Who and Why// 1921 p. 602 (portrait) * //Prominent People of the Province of Quebec 1923-24// (1924?, unpaginated) * //Campbell (1990)//, 684, 699-704 * //Old Boys 1906// [170] (advert.) * //Centenary 1912// 46 * William Boyman Howell, //Francis John Shepherd// (1934) * “Secret of Success,” Montreal //Daily Telegraph// article about Farquhar Robertson, repr. //Cornwall Freeholder// 1 Aug. 1913 * leaflet, //Bethune-Thompson House// (n.d.) * Sue Harrington, “Bethune-Thompson House to Be Renovated by Foundation,” //GN// 20 May 1987 * Sydney Frederick Farquhar Johnson: Kenneth G. Wynn, //Men of the Battle of Britain// (1989) 217 & his //Men of the Battle of Britain: Supplementary Volume// (1992) 103 * Isabelle Cameron: //CF //20 July 1906 cited in //CF //22 July 1926; Fraser, //Gravestones//, I, 111 [<6>]