Capt. Soloman Sylvester

Captain Soloman Sylvester is a thorough marine man. having been connected with the great lakes all his life. He was born in the Township of Scarboro, York, Ontario, on June 16, 1837, his father being at that time the well-known farmer Samuel Sylvester. His mother before her marriage was Miss Janet Taylor, sister of Captain James Taylor, ex-Deputy Harbor Master of Toronto Port. Captain Sylvester's parents were among the pioneers of Ontario, or Upper Canada, as it was then called, and their farm was situated about nine miles from Toronto, at that time called York.

Mr. Samuel Sylvester died when Captain Soloman, who was the third eldest of the family, was only eight years of age, or about the year 1845. Captain Soloman has two brothers and two sisters, there being five children in the family. All of them were educated at the public schools, Captain Soloman Sylvester proving an apt pupil. His one wish from childhood was to go sailing, and when he attained the age of thirteen he went aboard a small coasting schooner on Lake Ontario. On different crafts, he worked his way up, until, in 1857, he became a master, and took command of the schooner Atlantic

He owned and sailed different vessels until 1869, at which time he came off the water and inaugurated a general wharfinging, vessel-owning and storage business in partnership with his brother David and Mr. James H. Hickman. This firm traded under the name of Sylvester Brothers & Hickman, on the Esplanade, at the foot of Church street, until 1879, when Mr. Hickman died. Then the firm's name was changed to Sylvester Brothers, as it yet remains. Some of the vessels which they own are the steamer Shickluna, recently wrecked, the steamer Eurydice, and the schooners J. G. Worts [wrecked] and St. Louis.

When the Trent excitement occurred. Captain Soloman enlisted in the Naval Brigade, under Captain W. F. McMaster, and was stationed at Toronto. He held the office of Master Mate, the highest that could be obtained in the service.

Notwithstanding his many secular duties Captain Sylvester finds time to devote to church and lodge matters. He has held high positions in the Independent Order of Oddfellows, and in Sons of Temperance, having been High Recording Scribe in the latter order for several years. He is a Presbyterian, and is manager and an elder in West Presbyterian Church, Toronto. In politics he is a Liberal, and is a strong advocate of liberal measures in the best sense of the term. Captain Soloman is also an active member of the Canadian Marine Association, in which he holds office, and looks carefully after inland marine interests. He has two sons, who are energetically following in the footsteps of their father, and two daughters, who are prototypes of their amiable mother. Mrs. Sylvester was Janet Paterson, widow of the late Robert Paterson, of Kingston, Ontario, and she married Captain Soloman in 1867.

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