née Bethune. Born 1823. (sometimes
reported as October 1824) Died February 25, 1898.Mary
married a young lawyer John Joseph Caldwell Abbott (1821-1893) July 26,
1849. He was also a businessman, educator, politician who would become
the 3rd Prime Minister of Canada 1891-1893. They would have
eight children together. Raising four daughters and four sons no doubt kept
this young woman completely occupied. She had no love of politics but
supported her husband in his political career. No doubt Mary was satisfied that his term in office
was somewhat short lasting from June 1891 until November 1892. She is the
most obscure wife of any Prime Minister in Canadian history. She is a
relative of the famous Dr. Norman Bethune (1890-1939), the Canadian
physician who served in the Spanish Civil War and during the Chinese
revolution. (2020)
Mary Ann Casey Abbott
née Casey.
Born September 15, 1855. Died April 28, 1931, Toronto, Ontario. Not much is
known about Mary Ann. She is listed as from Toronto and she married in
Toronto to Dr. Anderson Ruffin Abbott (1837-1913) the 1st Black
licensed physician in Canada. The couple settled 1st in Chatham, Ontario,
The family grew to have three daughters and two sons. Mary Ann took her family relocating
wherever her husband worked, Toronto, Oakville, and back to Toronto.
They Moved to Chicago, Illinois, U.S.A. in 1894 where Anderson was surgeon in chief at
Provident Hospital and by 1897 they were once again in Toronto. Her story is
just one of the many untold stories of wives and mothers that are untold in
our history. Her husband’s story is well documented but only the name and
recorded dates of birth, marriage and death are written for Mary Ann.
Sources: find a grave website. (Accessed February
2015).(2020)
Frances Elaine Aboud
Professor
Born February 7, 1947, Toronto, Ontario.
She earned her BA at the University of Toronto and her M.A. and PhD at
McGill University in Quebec. She has been a professor at the Department of
Psychology at McGill University since 1975. She has also held positions at
the Centre for Cross-Cultural Research at Western Washington University and
has done research and teaching in Ethiopia as part of the McGill-Ethiopia
Community Health Project with various visits between 1988 through 1994. She
has written a book : Children and Prejudice (1988).
Bluma Levett Appel
Philanthropist
Born September 4, 1919 (sometimes reported as 1920), Montreal, Quebec. Died
July 15, 2007 Toronto, Ontario. Bluma arrived in Canada with her Russian
parents in the early 1900’s .Even as a youth growing up in Montreal, Bluma
recognized the value and the need for volunteering. She became a gifted
fundraiser and sat on boards of directors and donated to dozens of art
organizations including the Canadian Opera Company, Canadian Stage, National
Gallery of Canada, Necessary Angels Theatre Company, and the Royal Ontario
Museum. On July 11, 1940 she married a chartered accountant, Bram Appel, and
with his financial success Bluma was able to not only volunteer but support
philanthropic ventures. The couple had 2 sons. She was the personal
representative for Marc Lalande the Minister responsible for the Status of
Women in 1972. She got everybank in Canada to put a woman in their board of directors in 1975. In 1979
she was an unsuccessful Liberal Party candidate for the House of Commons in
the Nepean-Carleton Riding (Ottawa area). In March 1983 the St. Lawrence
Centre for the Arts in Toronto named the Bluma Appel Theatre in her honour.
In the late 1980’s Bluma became part of the Planning Committee for the
Canadian Foundation for Aids Research (CANFAR) and created a Board of
Advisors and a Junior Committee as well as serving as Chair of the Executive
Committee until her death. In 1988 she became a Member of the Order of
Canada and in 1998 she was awarded the Order of Ontario. In 2001 she was
elevated to Officer of the Order of Canada In June 2005 she was presented
with an honorary Dora Mavor Moore Award for her lifelong dedication to the
performing arts in Canada. In 2007 The Canadian Club named her Canadian of
the Year. Source:
Herstory; The Canadian Woman’s Calendar. 2010.
(2020)
Isabel/Isabelle Julia Askew
Ship-bride to British
Columbia
née
Curtis. Born 1850 London, England. Died October 12, 1905, Victoria, British
Columbia. Isabel came to British Columbia with her widowed mother, Frances
Curtis Boucherat (1817-1888) on the Bride-ship, Tynemouth in
September 1862. The Columbia Emigration Society working with the Anglican
Church had arranged for single women to come from London to British Columbia
with the object of the women becoming brides to the large number of male
population. Isabel married Thomas George Askew (1837-1880), a prospector,
and the couple settled in Chemaimus on Vancouver island. The couple would
have eight children. Thomas build a lumber mill and after his death on
October 1, 1880 Isabel ran the saw mill business for five years. In 1885
Isabel moved to a house at 852 Pemberton Rd., Victoria, British Columbia
where she continued to raise her family. A novel, Askew, by Martin Ainsley is based on the life of Thomas and Isabel.
Karen Diane Baldwin
Miss Universe
Born London, Ontario 1963. In 1981 she was
crowned Miss London in a city beauty pageant but she was destined for more.
July 26, 1982 she was crowned Miss Universe at the pageant held in Peru.
She
was the first Canadian to become Miss Universe. For awhile, back in Canada,
she hosed a Canadian fashion and lifestyle TV program called The New You.
She married and is mother of two children. The family have settled in Los
Angeles, California, U.S.A. (2020).
Bronislawa
'Betty' Barban
Music administrator
Born
September 3, 1913, Przemysl, Austria (now part of Poland) Died June 26,
2013, St John’s Newfoundland. Betty fled from the Nazis in Vienna just prior
to World War ll. In Shanghai, China, where she married Andreas Barban (…-1993) in
1939. Shanghai was the only place in the world at this time that did not
have any immigration restrictions. After the war, in 1947, the couple settled
in Newfoundland and opened a piano studio in their house. She looked after
the business side of the work while he took his music to the radio, worked
with Kiwanis Music Festival. The couple arranged community concerts and he
was the 1st conductor of the St John Symphony Orchestra.
Source: “She helped bring classical arts to St
John’s”. by Joan Sullivan, The Globe and Mail July 15, 2013.
Suggested by June Coxon, Ottawa, Ontario.
(2020)
Elsie Catherine Barclay
Hosteller
Born October 22, 1902, Joliet, Illinois, U.S.A. Died 1985, Calgary, Alberta.
In 1905 George and Elsie Barclay brought their three children to homestead in
Lacombe, Alberta. The children grew up loving the outdoor and exploring the
countryside. The family was not destined to earn a living by working the
land and by 1913 the bankrupt family relocated to Calgary, Alberta. The
children however never lost their love for the outdoors. Catherine and her
older sister Mary established the first youth Hostel at Bragg Creek,
Alberta. They wanted others to enjoy the outdoor life of their beautiful
province. The first hostel was a plain tent but it soon grew to a tent with a
wooden door and creates that served as shelves for storage. By 1939, only
six
years after pitching their first ten,t there were 16 hostels between Banff
and Calgary. Catherine attended the University of Alberta, studying English
and French. Before it was in vogue she was a champion of bilingualism. In
the summers she helped create and encourage student exchanges between Quebec
and Alberta. She even attended the famous Sorbonne in France to improve her
French. She would earn a masters from Columbia University in New York,
U.S.A. She had attended normal school (teacher’s college) and taught at the
Banff School of Fine arts becoming involved in drama and theatre. In 1973
Mary and Catherine were Citizens of the Year in Calgary. In 1975 the sisters
were presented the Richard Schirrman Medal in recognition of their work in
Canada by the American Hostelling Association. The University of Calgary
created the E. Catherine Barclay Scholarship supporting students wishing to
study in France.
Source: 100 more Canadian heroines by Merna Forster, Dundurn Press, 2011.
(2020)
Mary Belle Barclay
Hosteller
Born July 30, 1901, Joliet, Illinois, USA. Died 2000, Calgary, Alberta. In
1905 George and Elsie Barclay brought their three children to homestead in
Lacombe, Alberta. The children grew up loving the outdoor and exploring the
countryside. The family was not destined to earn a living by working the
land and by 1913 the bankrupt family relocated to Calgary, Alberta. The
children however never lost their love for the outdoors. May with her sister
Catherine established 6the first youth Hostel, a tent, in North America in
1933 at Bragg Creek, Alberta. Membership was $1.00 plus 25 cents a night.
The area would eventually be declared an Historic Site by Parks Canada in
2012. By 1939, only 6 years after pitching their first tent there were 16
hostels between Banff and Calgary. Off season Mary and Catherin attended
Normal School, (Teacher’s College) and began teaching in schools around the
countryside. Mary attended the University of Chicago but after a year
transferred to the University of Toronto and obtained her B.A. She returned
to Alberta and served as principal in several schools. The summers however
sere still used to build hostelling within the province and indeed across
the country. In 1973 Mary and Catherine were Citizens of the Year in
Calgary. In 1975 the sisters were presented the Richard Schirrman Medal in
recognition of their work in Canada by the American Hostelling Association.
In 1987 Mary was invested with the Order of Canada. In 1998 the Banff Hostel
built the Mary Belle Barclay Building. A far cry from the first tent was
Mary’s observation.
Source: 100 more Canadian heroines by Merna Foster, Dundurn Press. 2011 :
Mary Belle Barclay: founder of Canadian Hostelling by Evelyn Edgeller,
Detselig Enterprises Ltd., 1988 (2020)
Patricia Gwen Barlee
Environmentalist
Born March 29, 1963, Penticton, British Columbia. Died June
21, 2017, Victoria, British Columbia. As a youth along with her sister she enjoyed
expeditions to the province's interior, exploring forgotten mines and
abandoned ghost towns in the Cariboo in search of relics with her father.
The girls' grandfather had been a Klondike prospector and he taught them how
to pan for gold. Gwen would work as a model, a cocktail waitress, a
blackjack dealer, and studied painting at what is now Emily Carr University
of Art and Design in Vancouver. She earned a degree in political science at Langara College, Vancouver. She worked with the Wilderness Committee
producing a documentary film about endangered species. She was a tireless
champion of the environment. She showed the government that putting parking
meters in provincial parks would cost more in the long run than the meters
would make. She was an on site person talking to reporters on site
while working in the forest home of spotted owl in the winter. After contacting lime disease she was a dedicated advocate for all those who
suffered from the disease. In 2017 she was working on presenting a 40,000
signature at the provincial legislature asking for the creation of a
provincial endangered species law.
(2020)
Elizabeth Jane 'Eliza' Barns "The Witch of Plum Hallow"
Clairvoyant
Born Ireland 1800?. Died 1893. She ran away from home as a
young girl and was not long before she was married. She emigrated to Canada
and settled in Eastern Ontario in the area of Plum Hollow in 1843. Married a
second time to a David Barnes they would have 9 children. In her old age she
became known as Granny Barnes, the witch of Plum Hollow. She was described
as an amazing clairvoyant. She helped local farmers find missing livestock
and her physic powers helped solve a murder resulting in the execution of
Edgar Doxtater. Her fame spread when she began to tell
fortunes. The fame earned income to help the family and led to her becoming
a legend. Source: Legends Told in Canada By Edith
Fowke (1994) (2020)
Joan Barrington
Therapeutic Clown
Joan is also known as “Bunky” . She is a therapeutic Clown. In 1993 she
launched Ontario’s 1st therapeutic clown program at Toronto Sick Kids
Hospital. In 1999 she was a co-founder and director of the Therapeutic
Clowns Canada Foundation. It is a non-profit organization created to bring
therapeutic clowning to major Canadian pediatric facilities. In 2005 Joan
was a founding member of the Canadian Association of Therapeutic Clown /
l'Association Canadienne des clowns therapeudiques. In 2007 therapeutic
Clowns of Canada disbanded because its mandate to take the program national
has been met.Suggestion submitted by Fran Herman.
(2020)
Marie-Jeanne Bartleman
Political wife
née Rosillon. Born 1948, Luluabourg, Belgian Congo.
Marie-Jeanne moved
with her family to Belgium in 1958 where she studied at secondary school and
university. In Brussels she would meet and in 1985 marry Canadian diplomat
James Bartleman. The couple had three children. She has been a full partner to her husband in his position
as head of Canadian Missions to the European Economic Union, Australia and
Brussels, and his appointment as Lieutenant Governor of Ontario 2002-2007. She is the
Honorary President of the provincial chapter of the Independent Order of the
Daughters of the Empire (I.O.D.E), an honorary member of the University Women's
Club, Toronto, and was appointed an Officer in the Order of St John and an
Honorary Detective in the Toronto Police Service. She has received the Queen's
Golden Jubilee Medal in 2002.
(2020)
Jessie Tarbox Beals
Photo journalist
née Tarbox. Born 1870, Hamilton, Ontario. Died
May 30, 1942 New York City, New York, U.S.A. At 18 Jessie left Canada to
teach in Williamsburg, Massacheutts, U.S.A. where she settled for ten years.
in 1897 she married Alfred Beals and in 1902
the couple worked as itinerate
photographers with Jessie taking the photographs and Alfred processing the
photos in the dark room. When some of her photographs were published in a
Vermont newspaper she earned the title as 1st woman photo journalist in
North America. She is perhaps best known for her work at the 1904 World's
Fair in St Louis, Missouri, U.S.A. and as the official photographer of Greenwich
Village in New York City, U.S.A.. The couple settled in New York City in 1905. By
1917 they were divorced but Jessie carried on with her profession and
bringing up their daughter. She took photographs of the homes
and gardens of the wealthy which were published in garden
magazines. She struggled during the Great Depression and died in
poverty.
(2020)
Norma Marion Beechcroft
Composer
Born April 11, 1934, Oshawa, Ontario. Norma grew up in an musical
environment with her father a musician and her mother having been trained in
music and dance. As a youth she studied piano. In 1954 she worked as a
script assistant for CBC music programming. She earned a bursary with the
Royal Conservatory of Music in 1957-8 and continued her studies in
composition with a scholarship at the Berkshire Music Center. She studied in
Rome and in 1961 she received an Italian Ministry of Foreign Affairs
Scholarship. She also studied in Germany and England. Returning to Canada
she studied electronic music at the University of Toronto and at the
Columbia-Princeton Electronic Music Centre in New York, U.S.A. In 1963-4 she
also returned to work at various positions at the CBC. She resigned in 1969
to begin a freelance career as a producer and commentator on contemporary
music. In 1971 she co-founded New Music Concerts where she served as
president and general manager. In 1976 her documentary, The Computer in Music
won a Major Armstrong Award for excellence in FM broadcasting. From
1984-1987 she taught music at York University, Toronto. In 2002 she was
awarded an honorary membership in the Canadian Acoustic Community.
Source: Canadian Encyclopedia, Online.
(2020)
Jenny Belzberg
Philanthropist
Born January
7, 1928, Calgary, Alberta. Jenny married Hyman Belzberg and the couple had
three children. From 1987 through 1991 she was Chair of the Banff Centre for
the Arts. She served for 14 years with the Calgary Philharmonic Society. She
also volunteered with the Royal Conservatory of Music Foundation and the
National Council of Jewish Women. In 1997 she received the Queens Jubilee
Medal for her volunteer work. In 2000 she was inducted into the Alberta
Order of Excellence. And that year she served on the Board of Trustees,
National Arts Centre, Ottawa, Ontario. She has also received the Paul Harris
Fellow Medal from the Rotary Foundation. Source:
Alberta Order of Excellence, Online Accessed May 2013.
(2020)
Ellen Agnes Billbrough-Wallace
Home Child administrator
Born November 21, 1841, Leeds England. Died September 23, 1900, Belleville,
Ontario. In the 1860’s Ellen worked with philanthropist Annie Macpherson of
London England. Miss Macpherson was concerned with the “waifs” of London and
began to send children to Canada for a chance at a better life. Ellen
emigrated from England and set up Marchmont House, Belleville, Ontario,
Canada accepting the first immigrant children on May 13, 1870. The children
would arrive from England in groups often exceeding 100 at a time. From
Marchmount Ellen oversaw the distribution of the immigrant children to
either be adopted or contracted to work in homes and farms throughout the
province and even into the North-West Territories. The original Home was
destroyed by fire in 1872 and yet again a few years later. After the fires a
large brick building was constructed. In 1877 Annie Macpherson turned the
Marchmont Home entirely over to Ellen. In 1887 she married the Reverend
Robert Wallace and the couple continued to manage Marchmont. By the late
1880’s over 7000 children had passed through the Marchmont Distribution
Home. As a “Distribution” center Marchmont was used by various British child
welfare organizations including the Quarrier and Barnardo Homes who
eventually would establish their own distribution centres in Canada. While
many of the immigrant children would go on to lead health and productive
lives, research has shown than perhaps as many as half the children were
placed in unfortunate or abusive circumstances. One adopted child wrote to a
friend that she often saw Auntie and Uncle Wallace who brought gifts to her.
Other children were indentured out to work with monies being paid to the
Home until they reached 18. Although Ellen and Robert Wallace had people
sign contracts which required that the children be educated at least four
months of the year, with reports from teacher, and that they be required to
attend Sunday Services and be provided with clothing, many situations were
not followed up. The home would be closed in August 1925, 25 years after
Ellen’s death.
Sources: Various web sites on Marchmont Home including reports on
immigration in the Senate of Canada. (Accessed April 2014) (2020)
Vicki Bisaro
Local volunteer
Born May 6, 1917, Posso, Italy. Died October 2, 2017, Trail,
British Columbia. In 1924, along with her mother and brother, Vicki landed
at Pier 21 in Halifax and then took a train to British Columbia to join her
father who had settled in Trail three years previously. She left high school
after receiving her grade ten certificate. Her youthful skill of sewing
would server her well providing her with a lifetime career as a seamstress.
She made fancy dress special occasion gowns and wedding gowns for almost
every family in town. She practiced her profession well into her 90's. In
1937 she married Alessandro Bisaro (d 1980) and the couple raised four sons.
Vicki was a tireless volunteer for the Sisters of Columbo, the Catholic
Women's League and the Trail Hospital Board. In 2008 she was honoured by
being named Trail Citizen of the Year. Source: Lives Lived, The Globe and Mail March 20, 2018. (2020)
Emily Hilda Blake
Accused murderer
Born 1877, England. Died December 27,1899. She was sent to Manitoba by an
English benevolent society. She became a domestic servant to the Lane family
of Brandon and in 1899 shot Mrs. Lane with a pistol, claiming she was
jealous of the mother’s relationship with her children. Tried for murder,
she was convicted in five minutes and sentenced to be hanged.
Amelia Yeomans
began a movement for clemency, which insisted Blake was “morally degenerate”
and suffered from “moral insanity.” Blake was hanged on 27 December 1899,
the last woman executed in Manitoba.Her story is told in the book:
Walk Towards the Gallows: The Tragedy of Hilda Blake, Hanged 1899
by Reinhold Kramer and
Tom Mitchell,
University of Toronto Press, 2007. Source:
Dictionary of
Manitoba Biography by
J. M. Bumsted
University of Manitoba Press, 1999. Memorable Manitobans Online Accessed
December 2011) (2020)
Emma Bliss
Titanic survivor
née Junod. Born May 9, 1866, Rolle, Switzerland.
Died April 15, 1959, Toronto, Ontario. Emma immigrated to
England where she worked in 1891 as a lady's maid. She married
August 13 1892 to John Bliss (1861-1932). The couple had two
sons and a daughter. In the summer of 1911 John emigrated to
Canada and the boys joined him in February 1912. By April 15,
1912 Emma had worked as a stewardess on the hip Majestic and
then she worked on the Titanic. She was rescued from the Titanic
perhaps in lifeboat 15.She would be called as a witness to
testify at inquiries into the sinking of the great ship. It is
not clear that she ever worked on ships again. Emma joined
her husband in Canada after the Titanic disaster. By 1923 the
family had settled in Toronto. April 15, 1939 she joined other
survivors at a Titanic reunion at the Royal York Hotel, Toronto.
In 1959, while in hospital on March 11, she watched the movie A
Night to Remember. Source: Encyclopedia Titanica online
(accessed 2020)
Nathalie Bondil
Museum curator
Born February 19, 1967. A dual citizen in France and Canada
Natalie studied at the Ecole du Louvre, and graduated from the Ecole
nationale du Patrimoine de Paris in 1994 making her a Conservateur du
patrimoine d'Etat. In the late 1990's she worked at the Musée
des monuments Français. Natalie has worked for the
Montreal Museum of Fine Arts since 1999. In 2007 she became the
1st woman to become Director General and Chief Curator of the
Museum. In 2011 she oversaw the addition of the Claire and Marc
Bourgier Quebec and Canadian Art Pavilion having her team
restore and install 4,000 works of art from the collections. In
2012, she also led the expansion of the new educational
facilities for school groups and families–the Studios Art &
Education Michel de la Chenelière. She has worked with some 450
community organizations and schools to make sure the Museum is a
community centre. Her work has garnered her numerous awards
including: 2011 she became a Knight in the Ordre national
du Québec. The following year she received the Queen Elizabeth
ll Diamond Jubilee Medal and the Samuel de Champlain Award from
the Institut France-Canada. She was inducted as a Member of the
Order or Canada in 2015. In 2016 she received the Medal of the
Assemblée nationale du Québec. 2017 saw her receive the Prix
Femmes d'affaires du Quebec, the Prix Paul Gérin-Lajoie and was
designated Personnalité de l'année en culture by La Presse
newspaper. In 2018 she became a Knight of the Legion of Honour,
France, a Knight of the Ordre de Montreal and a Mentor with the
Pierre Elliott Trudeau Foundation. (2020)
Laura Bordon
Wife of a Prime Minister
née Bond. November 26, 1889, Halifax, Nova Scotia. Died September 8, 1940,
Ottawa, Ontario. On September 25, 1889 she married an up and coming young
lawyer, Robert Laird Borden (1854-1937). He would become the 8th
Prime Minister of Canada serving from 1911-1920. Robert Borden was knighted
in 1914 giving Laura the title of Lady Borden. The couple did not have any
children. She was well known for being a gracious host. The terms of
affability and graciousness have been used to describe the woman. Like her
husband
she was a proud Canadian and the Progressive Conservative Party of Canada
presented her with an automobile in gratitude for her contribution providing
other nations with a view of the Canadian identity while her husband was in
office. At the Paris Peace talks ending World War l Canada was represented
by Sir Robert and Canada was allowed to sign the treaty along with and as a
separate entity to Great Britain. (2020)
Harriet Louise Bowell
Wife
of a Prime Minister
née Moore.
Born May 11, 1828, Brockville, Ontario. Died April 2, 1884, Los Angeles,
California, U.S.A. . On December 23, 1847 , in Belleville, Upper
Canada, she married Mackenzie Bowell (1823?-1917) who at that time was a
partner with the newspaper, The Belleville Intelligencer, and who
would be Prime Minister of Canada 1894-1896. The couple has nine children,
four
sons and five daughters.
Sadly she died prior to her husband becoming
Prime Minister.
Sources: The DCB (Accessed July 2013) (2020)
Marjorie Bronfman
Philanthropist
Born Montreal
Quebec. Died February 24, 2012, Montreal, Quebec. Marjorie married Gerald Bronfman and the
couple had four children. Marjorie was the driving force behind the Gerald
and Marjorie Bronfman Foundation which is well known for its extensive
charitable donations. A patron of the arts as well she donated not only
works of art but large financial contributions to numerous galleries
including the National Gallery of Canada. Marjorie was equally a giving with
her volunteer time. She was an active member of numerous boards of directors
for such organizations as the Université d Montréal, the McCord Museum, the
National Council of women of Canada, the Arthritis Society, the Mount Sinai
Hospital Corporation, the Montreal Museum of Fine Arts and Ballets Jazz de
Montreal to name but a few. She established the Marjorie Bronfman chair for
Social Studies in Medicine at McGill in 2003 and little later a palliative
care centre at the Jewish General Hospital. Marjorie was a recipient of many
awards in recognition of her philanthropy including being inducted into the
Order of Canada in 2001.
Source: Obituary, The Gazette. February 25, 2012.
(2020)
Anne Brown
Political Wife
Mother of Confederation
Born 1827 or
1837?. Died May 6, 1906, Edinburgh, Scotland. Anne was the daughter of a
prominent publisher Thomas Nelson of Edinburgh. On November 27, 1862 she
married George Brown (1818-1880) a successful newspaper businessman of Upper
Canada. Historian Frank Underhill stressed that Brown, after his marriage,
became an accommodating politician. He was known for his outstanding
political views which were often in opposition to those of Sir John A.
Macdonald (1815-1891), the 1st Prime Minister of Canada. George
and Anne had three children. She was a prominent hostess during the
Canadian Confederation era of the 1860’s. After the death of her husband
who was shot by a disgruntled employee, Anne returned to Scotland with her
children.
(2020)
Elizabeth Bushell
Printer
Born
Boston (?) USA. She moved from Boston to Halifax with her father in the
1750’s. In 1751 he set up Canada’s 1st printing shop. Little is known
about Elizabeth’s life but there is some documentation that indicates that
she worked in the print shop from 1752 until the death of her father in
1761. On March 23, 1752 John Bushell, with the help of his daughter,
launched the Halifax Gazette. The press and Elizabeth were
responsible for printing of government documents as well as
print jobs for local businesses. She shares a place with her
father in our history as establishing the 1st printing office
and the 1st newspaper in Canada. She may have returned to the
United States after the death of her father. It is known that
her brother ran a printing business in Boston until his death in
1797. She may have worked with her brother
Ashley Callingbull-Burnham
Beauty contestant
Born October 21, 1989 Enoch Cree Nation, Alberta. As a youth of ten she was
winning local princess crowns. She studied drama at university in Edmonton,
Alberta. She was chosen Miss Canada and participated in the Miss Friendship
International Pageant, Hubei China and the Queen of the World Final held in
Germany that same year. In 2011 she was in Barbados participating in the
Miss Humanity International pageant. As an actress she has a role in the
series Blackstone, produced in Canada for APTN and Showcase
television. In 2013 she was the runner-up in the Miss Universe Canada
pageant. In 2015 she married Ryan Burnham.
In August 29, 2015 Ashley became the 1st Canadian and 1st
indigenous
woman to win the
Mrs. Universe
title.
In 2016 she participated with her step-father in the TV series The Amazing
Race Canada
Beverley 'Bev' Ann Busson
Commissioner of the Royal Canadian Mounted
Police
Born August 23, 1951 Halifax Nova Scotia. Bev joined the
Royal Canadian Mounted Police (RCMP) in the 1st class of women in1974 after
graduating Teacher's Certificate from Nova Scotia Teachers' College.
Later she would return to earn a law degree from the University of British
Columbia. She would become the 1st female commissioned officer and
the 1st female Criminal Operations Officer. She worked
in Salmon Arm, Vancouver, Ottawa before becoming the 1st female Assistant
Commissioner and then the 1st female Commanding Officer of a province as
Commanding Officer of the RCMP in Saskatchewan. For a year in
1999-2000 she took leave to head the British Columbia Organized Crime
Agency. From there she served as Deputy Commissioner for the RCMP Pacific
Region from 2000 to 2006. In 2004 she became a Commander of the Order of
Merit of the Police Forces and two years later she became a Member of the
Order of British Columbia. In 2006 she was named one of Canada's Most
Powerful Women by the Women's Executive Network. Bev is
the 1st woman to be appointed Commissioner of the
Royal Canadian Mounted Police December 16, 2006. She held the
position until July 16, 2007. After her retirement from the RCMP she served
as a member of the RCMP Reform Implementation Council and as an advisor to
the Government on National Security. As a Volunteer volunteered on a number
of endeavors including serving as a director of the Justice Institute of
British Columbia, and the Okanagan College Foundation, and participating in
the Women's Executive Network Mentorship Program. On September 24, 2018 she
was appointed to the Senate of Canada representing the province of British
Columbia.
Sonia Butt
SEE
- Sonia
‘Toni’ Esmée Florence d’Artois
Agnes Deans Cameron
Adventurer
Born December 20, 1863, Victoria, British Columbia. Died May 14, 1912.
(sometimes recorded death May 13, 1912)
A teacher, she was the first high school teacher and the first woman
principal in the Vancouver, British Columbia Area in 1994. This educator was
also a real life adventurer who would successfully write about her
explorations. In 1906 she was an elected school trustee in her home in
Victoria, British Columbia. She was dismissed from her teaching position
when she allowed a student to use a ruler in an art exam! In 1908 she made a
10,000 mile journey from Chicago to the Arctic Ocean including traveling
the famed Mackenzie River. In 1909 she published her record of her
experiences in "the New North" She would continue to write articles and
toured in a lecture circuit throughout North America with accounts of her
incredible northern journey. Read about her adventures: The New North: an
account of a woman’s 1908 journey through Canada and the arctic.
By Agnes Deans Cameron.
Source: The History of
Metropolitan Vancouver
(
Accessed June 2009)
Margaret Sophia Cameron
née Groves. Born December 14, 1832, Cornwall,
Upper Canada (now Ontario) . Died October 23, 1862, British
Columbia. In 1860 Sophia married John Angus 'Cariboo' Cameron
(1820-1888). In 1862, the couple and their daughter, Alice,
relocated to British Columbia drawn by the lure of the Cariboo
Gold field. John and his brothers had been to the California
gold rush in 1852 and had made a respectful amount of money.
Sadly baby Alice died when the family reached Victoria. Cariboo
Cameron struck a rich gold deposit near Williams Creek (worth 5
million in today's dollars). Sadly Sophia became ill of typhoid
fever and died. Her last wish was to be buried at home. Her
husband transported her body in an alcohol-filled coffin some
13,840 km (8,600 miles) on the sear route through the Isthmus of
Panama back to Cornwall, Ontario to be buried. John built a
large house in Cornwall but in 1886 Cariboo returned to the gold
fields of British Columbia where he died and is buried.
(2020)
Flora Ann Campbell
Policewoman
Born 1883. Died
1961. Flora worked as a probation officer and superintendent at
a women’s hostel in Ottawa. On December 31, 1913 she became the
1st woman to be hired to serve on the Ottawa police Force. She
never wore a badge or a uniform nor did she ever carry a weapon.
Her main role was to deal with women who were charged and had to
appear in court. Many offenders who were acquitted of charges
had Flora to help them find employment. (2018)
Mary Agnes Joe Capilano
Aboriginal Leader
Born Potlatch Creek, Howe Sound, British Columbia. 1836. Died December 15,
1940. She was also known by the name Lay Kho-Lote, or Lahuliett (pronounced
Lay-yulette). A Squamish elder with a family background back to the landing
of George Vancouver she was the daughter of chiefs and earned the title of
Indian Princess of Peace. A great orator in the Squamish language she also
had great knowledge of the genealogy or of the western coastal tribes. All
her life she traveled by dugout canoe over dangerous First Narrows from her
tribal home and Vancouver. Many foreign dignitaries made sure to include a
visit to this leader during visits to the area.
Source The History of Metropolitan Vancouver (accessed June 19, 2009)
Rosetta Ernestine Carr
Photographer
née Watson.
Born 1845 (sometimes reported as 1844) Drummond Township, Upper Canada. Died
July 6, 1907, Ottawa, Ontario. As an adult she studies photography in New
York City and in Ottawa under the famed Canadian photographer William Notman. In 1883 she moved to Winnipeg and purchases Sears Photography. Not
wanting to have a photography business in the name of a woman she called her
establishment American Art Gallery. She became well known for her portraits
many of which she hand coloured in watercolours and oils. She photographed
personalities of the day such as Premier John Norquay, Catholic Archbishop
Antonin Taché as well as hospital nursing classes and other students. In
1889 she was given exclusive rights to photograph at the Winnipeg Industrial
Exhibition. Her competitors boycotted the showing and she won every
photography category at the show! She employed the latest technology in the
shop as well as the latest marketing savvy with special charges for baby
photos, offering coupons and special holiday discounts. There is little
information on her private life other than she did marry. She sold her
business in 1899 and soon moved to Ottawa, where she died in 1907.
Source:
Dictionary of Canadian Biography. Biography by Virginia G. Berry. Accessed
online March 2012.
Aline Chrètien
Wife of a Prime Minister
née Châiné.
Born May 17, 1936, Saint-Boniface-de-Shawinigan, Quebec. September 13,
2020, Shawinigan, Quebec. As a teen she met a
young man on a local bus and the relationship grew and blossomed. On
September 10, 1957 she married a young up and coming lawyer Jean Chrètien
(1934 - ) who would serve as the 20th prime minister of Canada from
1993-2003.The couple have three children and an adopted child. Aline is
fluent in 4our languages and while in her 50’s she began to take lessons and
earn of love of the piano. She became an active advocate of the Royal
Conservatory of Music in Toronto. She is extremely bashful often described
as having a quiet elegance. She may have shunned the limelight during her
husband’s political career but he admits that she is his confidant and
advisor. He often made jokes to the press about having to ask his wife
first. She was thrust into the headlines when on November 15, 1995 at the
Prime Minister’s official residence at 24 Sussex Dr., Ottawa, she was
laying awake and while her husband slept she interrupted an armed intruder
by shutting the bedroom door in his face! She was appointed as the first
chancellor of the bilingual institution, Laurentian University, in 2010.She
presides over convocation ceremonies, confers degrees, advises the president
and help promote the University.
Sources: Ottawa Women; milestones and mentors Online Accessed July
2012 ; Biography of Aline Chrètien by Lawrence Martin. Canada.com
July 12, 2002. Accessed 2012.
Patricia Claxton
Translator
Born 1929,
Kingston, Ontario. Most of her early childhood was spent in India. When she
returned to Canada she settled in Montreal, Quebec and earned her B.A. from
McGill University. She continued her studies at Université de Montreal
earning a M.A. in translation. She remained at the Université for 8 years
after graduation as a teacher. She is the founder and President of the
Literary Translators Association of Canada. In 1987 she won the Governor’s
General Award for translation for her translation from French to English of
Gabrielle Roy’s La Detress et l’enchantment = Enchantment and
Sorrow. In 199 she won her second Award by translating the Biography of
Gabrielle Roy. She has translated additional well respected authors
including works by former Prime Minister, Pierre Elliot Trudeau.
Maria Lindsey Cobham
Pirate
née
Lindsay. Born England. Maria Marie Eric Cobden. In 1740 she was a pirate
with a hideout on the west coast of Newfoundland. She preyed mostly on
French ships in the Gulf of St Lawrence.. She would kill all witnesses and
scuttle the ships she attacked. The ships would be recorded as lost at sea.
Her husband Eric supposedly wrote a confessional autobiography in France on
his deathbed in 1780. The document has never been found. A book was
published on the stories of the pirate husband and wife but their distraught
children destroyed all copies of the publication. Philip Grosse in is 1924
publication The Pirates Who’s Who included the story of this pirate team
saying they met in the seaport of Plymouth, England. Nor record of a
marriage can be found but they were life partners. Their ship was a 65 foot
long sloop of shallow draft of 8 feet which allowed top speed and entry to
shallow waters to escape pursuing ships. David E. Jones wrote Warrior
Woman in 1997 describing a Pirate queen doing her own share of killing.
After two decades at sea the couple retire to France as wealthy landowners
and had three children. An alcoholic who was considered crazy she
disappeared one day and her body was found at the base of a sea cliff. In
2009 Dan Colin included the couple in his work Pirates of the Atlantic:
Robbery, Murder, and Mayhem of the Canadian East Coast.Source: Canada’s Pirate Queen. Canada’s History Online.
Mercy Anne Coles
Diarist
(Note Anne is sometimes reported as Ann)
Born February 1, 1838, Charlottetown, Prince Edward Island. Died February
11, 1921, Charlottetown, Prince Edward Island. Not much is known about
mercy. She was one of 12 children of George Coles (1810-1875) and Mercy (née
Haines) Coles of P.E. I. Mercy would accompany her parents in 1864 to the
events leading up to Canadian Confederation. They travelled to Quebec City,
Montreal, and on to Niagara Falls. It is known from comments in documents
from Sir John A. Macdonald Canada’s 1st Prime Minister and a
political power figure in the years building up to Confederation that the
Coles’ daughters were attractive, well educated, and well informed. On his
part, at this time he was a widower who was considered quite eligible to
unattached women. At 26 years of age in 1864 when the Quebec Conference to
consider Canadian Confederation took place, Mercy would have been one of the
older unattached women. She was an ardent diarist and her legacy is that she
has left behind the scene details which serve to enliven the rather dry
political happenings of the day. There were numerous soirees, balls and
other social events that were used to court the visiting politicians to join
Canada but were also used by the unattached ladies, such as Mercy, to entice
courting from the eligible single politicians. Details such as those of the
ball of October 14, 1864, hosted by Governor General Lord Monck in the
Parliament Buildings were recorded by Mercy with particular attention paid
to these unattached gentlemen. Alas Marcy did not gain a suitor for the
described events but remained single living out her life in Charlottetown.
Sources: Anne McDonald, Mercy Coles of PEI in Canada’s History
August-September 2014 ; Ancestry Canada Accessed June 2015)
Chloe Cooley
Slave
Very little is known about Chloe Cooley, but her importance to Black history
in Canada and to the abolitionist movement is great. On March 14, 1793,
Chloe's owner,
William Vrooman,
sold Chloe to another man who lived on the American side of the Niagara
River. Chloe did not want to be sold. She resisted the sale.
Peter Martin
and William Grisley saw Chloe being sold, and her struggle to stay in Upper
Canada. They reported this incident to the Executive Council of Upper
Canada. Lieutenant-Governor
John Graves Simcoe
(1752-1806) was angered by this sale. Simcoe did not support slavery. This
incident led Simcoe to have a new law passed on July 9, 1793, that prevented
anyone buying a slave and bringing them into Upper Canada. While the new law
did not abolish slavery, and settlers could still bring up slaves that they
already owned, this was the first legal effort to end slavery in Upper
Canada.
Source: Slavery in Canada. Online
Marie-Josephite Corriveau.
Legend
Born Saint-Vallier, Quebec May 14, 1733. Died on
the gallows April 18(?) 1763. She has become simply known as La Corriveau.
After two trials she was condemned to death for murdering her second husband
Louis Dodier in January 1763. She was, as the law provided, hung and her
body exposed in chains. Her body was exposed for about a month in an iron
cage, The cage would be found in a graveyard in 1850. Writings over the
years drew on the story as a base. These stories never quite separated
facts and fiction. Legends grew and are still recounted as fantastic tales.
Helen Mary Creighton
Folklorist
Born
September 5, 1899, Dartmouth, Nova Scotia. Died 1989. She studied music at
McGill University in Montreal in 1915 and attended the Halifax Ladies
College in 1916. During WW1 she worked as a military chauffeur. After the
war she worked as a journalist and a children’s radio show host in Halifax
and then took off on an adventure to teach in Mexico. In 1928 she became
interested in stories and songs of the early days. By 1940 she was working
in the National Museum in Ottawa as a recognized folklorist. During her
career she would collect and in many cases record the folktales, songs and
stories of the Canadian Maritimes leaving a legacy of some 4000 records. She
would publish several books of the stories and songs that she had located.
In 1976 she became a member of the Order of Canada.
Sonia ‘Toni’
Esmée Florence d’Artois
World War ll spy
née Butt.
Born May 14, 1924, East Church, Kent, England. Died December 21, 2014,
Pointe-Claire, Quebec. As a youngster her parents divorced and she spent 6
months a year with her mother in the south of France where she was a feisty
tomboy. In 1943 she joined the Women’s Auxiliary Air Force in Canada and
became part of Special Operations Executive (SOE). Women were sought to be
spies as they were less likely to be suspect. In April 1944 she married a
Canadian military officer, Gary d’Artois (d 1949) from the SOE. On May 28,
1944 she landed in France to work as a courier for undercover agents working
in LeMans. She would be withdrawn a few months later. Toni worked under the
name Suzanne Bonvie of a Parisian fashion company. Her code name was
‘Blanche’. On one occasion she bicycled several hundred kilometers through
dozens of German roadblocks attempting to obtain a radio of SOE
communications. After the fall of LeMans on August 8, 1944 to allies she and
her partner crisscrossed lines to scout German defenses. She was described
in reports as ‘utterly fearless’. By December 1944 she and her husband
sailed for Canada. He was posted several times across the country and
internationally with this Royal 22nd Regiment (The Van Doos). The
couple eventually settled in Montreal and Toni worked in retail fashions and
volunteered at the local veteran’s hospital. Toni was inducted into the
order of the British Empire for her war efforts. In 2000 she worked on a BBC
documentary on women in the SOE during the war and as a surprise was
reunited with her comrades with whom she had served.
Source:
David Stafford, Secret Agent Was ‘Utterly Fearless’. Globe and Mail January 10, 2015.
Suggestion submitted by June Coxon.
Marion Elizabeth de
Chastelain
World War ll
Intelligence Officer
Born May 24,1910, Freehold, New Jersey, U.S.A.
Died January 17, 2000, Calgary, Alberta. Marion was educated in
Switzerland and then at the Sorbonne in France, graduating at 21
with a degree in International Law. In the early 1930's she
married Alfred George de Chastelain
(1906-1974). The couple had two children. With
the break out of World War ll in 1939 she at first took her
children to live in England and then sent them to New York,
U.S.A. to live with her parents. She war recruited to work for
the Canadian government by Sir William Stevenson (1897-1989) the
famous intelligence officer. In 1943 she was transferred to
serve in the British Secret Intelligence Service (later MI 6).
She took her children back to England where she learned that
her husband was a prison of war in Romania. After the war the
entire family moved to Canada and then to Australia. After the
death of her husband she returned once again to Canada working
for Westburne International industries. Oil Division , Edmonton,
Alberta. She retied to live with her daughter in Canmore,
Alberta. Her story was written by Patrick Watson in the series
The Canadians: Biography of a Nation. A documentary TV show by
History Television was called Family Secrets: Marion de
Chastelain. (2020)
Lizzie Cyr?
Born 1888? ,Canada. She was described as a half-Breed. One legal form lists
her as a wife so she may have been married. Her alias was Waters.
Her recorded narrative begins on May 17, 1917.
She was broke, without a place to sleep and ended up spending a few nights
in the home of John James Ryan who subsequently, had her arrested and
charged with vagrancy. At her trial the next day her defense lawyer, John
McKinley Cameron (1879-1943), appealed her conviction on the grounds that
the female magistrate, Alice Jamieson, who made the ruling, did not have the
legal authority to act as a judge because, as a woman, she was not a person
under the British North America Act. The Alberta Court of Appeal struck down
the appeal in November 1917, a decision later overturned by the Supreme
Court of Canada. The Persons Case eventually came before the British Privy
Council, which asserted October 18, 1929, that women were in fact persons
under constitutional law.
Jennifer Hodge De Silva
Black Filmmaker
Born January 28, 1951, Montreal, Quebec. Died May
5, 1989, Montreal, Quebec. Jennifer studied for her Bachelor of
Arts in Fine Arts at York University, Toronto graduating in
1974. While still a student she worked on the film Fields of
Endless Day as an assistant director and associate producer.
She would become the first Black
filmmaker to work consistently with the National Film Board and
the CBC. In 1979 she worked on the CBC
documentary, Dieppe 1942. She would go on to cover stories about
lives and social issues of Chinese-Canadian immigrants and
Indigenous artists. In the 1980s she directed a number of films
covering the African Canadian culture. In 1983 she made the
documentary with the National Film Board entitled: Home Feeling:
A Struggle for Community which looked into relations between
police and the Black community. By 2017 the film was still being
used in classrooms. (2020)
Lisa De Wild
Born 1956 Winnipeg, Manitoba. When she was just ten her family relocated to
Montreal where she became fluent in both French and English.. She attended
McGill University for her Bachelor of arts degree and went on to McGill Law
School. She is a member of the Law Society of Upper Canada. She began her
career in legal services with the Canadian Radio and Television Commission (CRTC)
and went on to the private sector becoming President and CEO of Astral
Television Networks. In 2005 she was appointed CEO of TV Ontario. She has
served numerous charities including being on the Board of Directors for the
Toronto Film Festival. In 2009 she was Canada’s Most Powerful Women awarded
by the Women’s Executive. In 2012 she was awarded the Queen’s Diamond
Jubilee Medal. In 2015 she became a member of the Order of Canada.
Mary Henderson Flett Dickson
née Flett. Born May 11, 1857, Hamilton, Ontario.
Died October 18, 1940, Toronto, Ontario. . She was married in
1882 to George Dickson (1846-1910) the future Principal of Upper
Canada College and the couple moved to Toronto in 1885.
For 20 years she was president of the former St. Margaret's
College, a Presbyterian Ladies College, which she and her
husband founded. St Margaret's was formally opened November 12,
1897 by Lord and Lady Aberdeen. St. Margaret's proved popular in
Canada and also attracted students from the U.S.A. which led to
a short lived St Margaret's College being opened in New York,
U.S.A.In 1899 she became the first president of the
newly formed Toronto Women's Musical Club which was formed to
enhance the cultural life of Toronto by sponsoring an annual
recital series and provide performance opportunity and
scholarships for young Canadian Musicians. She served 12 years
as president. She was also a member of the Mendelssohn Club, The
Toronto Symphony Promenade, and president of the Toronto Council
of Women. She also worked with the Woman's Association of St.
Andrew's Presbyterian Church and the Woman's League of the
Presbyterian Church of Canada. Source:
Robin Elliott. Counterpoint to a City: A History of the
Women's Musical Club of Toronto (1997).
Edna May Diefenbaker
Wife of a Prime Minister
Born November
30, 1899* Wawanesa, Manitoba Died February 7, 1951. She was the daughter
of Chauncy and Mary Brower. She met her future husband while she was still in
school. June 29, 1929 she married John George
Diefenbaker (1895-1979) the future 13th Prime Minister of Canada.
The couple married in Toronto. When she married she gave up her teaching
career to devote herself to politics and support her husbands career. She
was a hard working campaigner for her husband, arriving at venues prior to
him to assure everything was set up. She was known to have worked on his
speeches and to have acted as his chauffeur. Once established in Ottawa when
John became an elected Member of Parliament she worked with the
Parliamentary press gallery to assure information was correct before it was
published. She was a frequent visitor to the Parliamentary public gallery.
She was considered instrumental in laying the foundation much of her
husbands early political success.
Sources: Memorable Manitobans Profile by Gordon Goldsborough. Online
(Accessed December 2011)
Suggested
reading: The Other Mrs. Diefenbaker by Simma Holt, 1982,
Doubleday Canada. ; More Than a Rose by Heather Robertson. (1991)
*
Some sources report her birth date as 1901.
Olive Evangeline Diefenbaker
Wife of a Prime Minister
née Freeman.
Born April 14,1902 Roland, Manitoba. Died December 22, 1976 Ottawa, Ontario.
As a youth she met a young John Diefenbaker. Her family moved a lot and
although he wrote to her the letter was delayed. She earned her BA from
Brandon College in 1923 and became a high school teacher. She married a
lawyer, Harry Palmer in 1933 and the couple had one daughter, Carolyn born
in 1934. When she became a widow she returned to teaching. When in Toronto
she was spotted by widower John Diefenbaker and the two were married two
weeks later on December 8,1953. John George Diefenbaker (1895-1979),a
Saskatchewan politician who became Prime Minister of Canada. Olive was an
ardent and active supporter of her husband’s political career. She often
entertained the press and even cooked a turkey dinner for them at one time.
In 1979 her remains were taken to Saskatoon to be reburied with her
husband. Olive Diefenbaker Drive in Price Albert, Saskatchewan was named in
her honour.
Source: “Both
Diefenbaker wives vital to husband’s career.”, Star-Phoenix, August
23, 1979 Copy provided by Archives, University of Saskatchewan.
Annette, Emilie, Yvonne, Cécile, and Marie Dionne
Quintuplets
Annette (1934- ),
Emilie (1934-1954), Yvonne
(1934-2001) , Cécile (1934- ), and Marie (1934-1970) Dionne
all share the same birthday May 28,
1934 in Corbeil,
Ontario.
They
were the only known-surviving quintuplets in the world at the time
of their birth. While
they were young they were wards of the provincial government of Ontario
and their life in their nursery had special viewing areas for the public who
flocked to see these little miracles.
Most of their youth they were exploited.
They were even taken to Hollywood
where they would do commercials for products. In 1965 the remaining
four sisters published their story in the book We Were Five. Three
of the sisters would marry but their marriages did not survive and
they returned to living with one another in Montreal.
Winnifred Blair Drummie
Miss Canada
née Blair. Born1903, Saint John, New Brunswick. Died May 23,
1983. She was working as a stenographer when she was encouraged to enter a
contest in Saint John searching for a representative young woman for a
proposed pageant at the Winter Carnival in Montreal. The
contestants skated before the judges and partied on the evening of the
event itself. On February 10, 1923 the first Miss Canada, Winnifred Blair, was
announced. The new Miss Canada followed a round of social
engagements at hospitals, schools, plays, teas and she did drop pucks at
hockey games. On March 8, 1923 she attended the opening of the New Brunswick
Legislature and became the first woman allowed to sit on the 'floor' of a
Canadian Parliament. She also tried a screen test for the movies in New York
City, but she decided that it was not for her. With little financial support
for attending special events she soon searched out a job as stenographer at
the Power Commission at the City of Saint John. She continued to work until
she married a young lawyer, Harold Drummie in 1930. She became a
housewife and soon mother of two sons.
(2020)
Jessica Donalda Bell Dunlap
Philanthropist & cattle
breeder
Born March 6, 1867. Died July 31, 1946, Toronto,
Ontario. Jessica married a young lawyer and mining entrepreneur
David Alexander Dunlap (1862-1924). After the death of her
husband she continued to run Don-Alda Farms where she developed
the best herds of Guernsey cattle in North America. Also after
the death of her husband she would donate funds to the
University or Toronto for land and building of an observatory to
be named in memory of her husband. The Observatory was opened in
the spring of 1935 with the world's second largest telescope at
this time. Jessica served as a director on the Board of the
Royal Winter Fair in Toronto. From 1940 until her death she was
the Honorary president of the Board. During World War ll she
served as chair of the War Services Committee of the Young
Women's Christian Association (YWCA). In 1963 she was inducted
into the Canadian Agricultural Hall of Fame.
(2020)
Lorrie Alfreda Dunnington-Grubb
Town Planner/Gardner
Born England 1877 Died January 17,1945. She could perhaps be
called a child of the British Empire as she grew up in India, South Africa
and Australia. She studied garden design at Swanley Horticultural College in
England and applied her trade throughout the Empire. After her marriage she and her husband emigrated to Canada in 1911. The two would work as
individuals and at times as partners designing public gardens, town planning
and suburban design in the Toronto area. She had a talent for encouraging
other artists, such as sculptors, to include their works in public areas.
She lectured at the University of Toronto on town planning and housing and
she was a prolific writer on the subject of garden design. She is considered
a true and extremely successful pioneer of the professional field of
landscape architecture.
Nicole Dunsdon
Last Miss Canada
Born 1971,
British Columbia. On October 28 1991 she was crowned Miss Canada and since
the pageant was cancelled a few months later she is considered the last Miss
Canada. She participated in the Miss Universe pageant in Bangkok, Thailand,
no doubt as part of her obligation to being Miss Canada. She then turned her
efforts to her education earning a B.A. at the University of Alberta in 1994
and followed this with a Masters Degree in journalism. She enjoys her
profession. She made the news headlines again in 2007 when she shaved her
head to raise funds for Kids Cancer Care Foundation of Alberta.
Marie-Marguerite Duplessis
Aboriginal Slave
Born 1718?. Marie-Marguerite was from the Pawnee
tribe who had become a slave in 1726 of Rene Bourassa. As a
slave she was offered to live wit Etienne Volant de Radisson in
Montreal. After the death of this family she was sold to the
merchant Louis Fornel and by 1740 she was owned by Marc-Antoine
Huart Dormicout. This owner found her to be a thief and decided
to deport her to the West Indies to be sold. Marie-Marguerite
while in prison awaiting to sail to the West Indies gained the
support of an advocate Jacques Nouette who present a petition
claiming she was the natural daughter of the first owner. Her
case, claiming she was born in New France and was Baptised in
the church which was cause for interpretation of French law,
would be taken to all levels of the colonial court system. The
intendant declared Marie Marguerite Duplessis as Huart
Dormicout's slave and rejected her case for freedom. After this
declaration she seems to disappear from history but perhaps once
the sailing season opened again she did leave New France
for the West Indies. She was the 1st slave to succeed in setting
in action the entire judicial levels in New France.
(2020)
Diane Dupuy
Famous People Players
Born 1948, Hamilton, Ontario. As a youth she herself was a
high schools drop out who has been labeled as a "slow learner" in 1974 she
founded the Famous People Players, a professional black light theatre
company that combines music with the size characters that pay tribute to the
music and artistry of Famous people. The actors are developmentally
challenged youth. The group was discovered by the famous entertainer Liberache who took them to Las Vegas to perform. They have been performing
around the world ever since. Diane's artistic and humanitarian works have
earned her numerous awards including several honorary degrees from
universities, the 1981 Woman of the Year from the B'Nai B'rith Women, the
Vanier Award and and appointment to the Order of Canada in 1982.Married and
a mother of two daughters she is also the first Canadian to receive the
Library of Congress Award. She has written to books, Throw your heart
over the fence and Dare to dream: the story of the Famous People
Players. (1988)
Jean Frances
Doll Collector
née Clark. Born May 16, 1915. Died October 26,
2011, Scarborough, Ontario (Toronto). After graduating from high
school Jean trained in Peterborough, Ontario to become a nurse.
In 1934 she married for the 1st time and became mother to eight
children. In 1964 she married John Frances. Jean opened the Jean
Frances Doll Hospital and the the Loves of Yesterday Museum in
their home. She would published five books on Canadian Doll
Collecting from 1978 through 1998 and was known as
Canada's Doll Lady. She was a member ad founder of several
doll organizations including the Toronto Trillium Doll Club. .
She maintained a membership with the International Doll Society
and the United Federation of Doll Clubs. A baby doll was made
from a six month old baby photograph of Jean by doll artist
Yvonne Richardson as a limited edition of 25 dolls.
(2020)
Madeleine Alberta Fritz
Paleontologist
Born November 3, 1896. Died August 20, 1990) was a Canadian paleontologist.
She was a professorat the University of Toronto where she taught vertebrate studies in the
Department of Geology. Her writing on the fossil Bryozoa and her research on
the stratigraphy of Toronto and the surrounding areas were major
contributions to the geological field. As one of the pioneering researchers
of the Paleozoic fossil Bryozoa, a type of sea creature that bond together
to build joint skeletons composed of tiny chambered, she later became known
a the Great-grandmother of Paleozoic Bryozoa. Madeleine worked at the Royal
Ontario Museum as an associate director from 1936 to 1955, and then she
became the Invertebrate Paleontology Curator from 1955to 1957.She retired
from the University or Toronto in 1967. She belonged to several professional
associations as well as the Canadian Confederation of University Women and
the International Federation of University Women.
Flora Eaton
Socialite
& philanthropist
née McCrea.
Born 1879 (sometimes noted as 1880) Omemee, Ontario. Died July 9, 1970. As a
young woman she moved to Toronto where she became a nurse at a private
hospital, Rotherham House. It was here that she met a young patient John
Craig Eaton (1876-1922) the son of entrepreneur Timothy Eaton (1834-1907)
The couple married and they had 4 sons, one daughter and an adopted
daughter. In 1915 she became Lady Eaton when her husband was knighted. She
would serve 21 years as a director on the Board at Eaton’s department stores
where she took varied interest in the business and retiring from the
position in 1943. In 1944 she turned her mansion in King Township, Eaton
Hall, to the Royal Canadian Navy to use as a convalescent home for 75
servicemen. . She was a life member of the Woman’s Hospital Aid Association,
Dame of Grace for the St John Ambulance, and served as Joint Master of the
Toronto and North York Hunt. She worked with the CNIB and the Canadian
National Committee for Mental Hygiene and was an active member of the
Timothy Eaton Memorial Church. She also was Vice-president of the Canadian
Red Cross and president of the United welfare Chest. The Eaton family were
responsible for constructing several prominent building in Omemee and at one
time proposed that the town be renamed Eatonville but the town fathers
refused. There is however a Lady Eaton Elementary School in the town. The
family was also generous to Trent University in Peterborough and Lady Eaton
College was named in her honour.
Source:
Rod McQueen. The Eaton’s: the Rise and Fall of Canada’s Royal Family.
(Toronto: Stoddart, 1998)
K. Beatrice Edgar
Beatrice lived with her parents when her father
Sir James Edgar (1841-1899) was elected to the House of Commons
in 1872. He served as Speaker of the House from 1896-1899. A
diary that Beatrice kept from January to June 1898 describes
numerous social events and informal activities of turn of the
century Ottawa. This diary has survived and in part of the
collections of the Archives of Ontario.
(2020)
Madge Edgar
Lady Lynn Bagnall
Born 1898, Sterling, Scotland. Died Victoria, British Columbia 1984. Her
family emigrated to Canada in 1913 and settled in Edmonton, Alberta. After
her schooling she worked as a secretary. By 1920 she had ventured to Chicago
and New York, expanding her career opportunities even trying modeling and
acting. When her mother died in 1923 she returned to Western Canada. Putting
her Chicago court experience to good use, she worked with a lawyer and
politician Newton Rowell. Her experiences included working for the
development of the United Church of Canada, the Protocol for the Pacific
settlement of International Disputes (Geneva Protocol), with the League of
Nations establishment of the Federal External Affairs Department, the great
distillery scandal of 1925 and the development of the Canadian Communication
Service, forerunner of the Canadian Broadcast Corporation (CBC). She also
worked with Rowell when he was working the famous Person’s Case. In 1930 she
married Major Alan “Mike” Turnbull who sadly died in 1933. In 1934 she
remarried John Bagnall (1888-1954) who called her Lynn. John was knighted
for services to his country in 1936. The couple lived and worked in
Singapore and then South Africa and by 1947 they were exploring businesses
in New Zealand, Australia. While living in Brazil she learned Spanish and
while in France she mastered French. After John’s death she returned to
Canada to be with her family.
Source: Lady Lynn Bagnall (Madge Edgar) by Margaret Edgar Benetz
Section15.ca accessed June 2009.
Sheila Leah Fischman
Translator
Born December 1, 1937 Moose Jaw , Saskatchewan. Her family relocated to
Ontario where she attended the University of Toronto where she earned a
Master’s degree. She has worked as an editor for the Montreal Star and a
columnist for the Toronto Globe and Mail and the Montreal Gazette. She is
also a broadcaster for CBC Radio. She is a founding member of the Literary
Translators’ Association of Canada and founding co-editor of Ellipse:
Oeuvres et traduction/writers in Translation. She has translated over 150
Quebec novels for the enjoyment of England language readers. Since 1987 she
has received 14 nominations for the Governor Generals Award for Translation,
receiving the Award in 1988. In 1974 and again in 1984 she won the Canada
Council Prize for Translation. In 1989 and again in 1990 she earned the
Felix-Antoine Savard Award from the Translation Center at Columbia
University, New York City, U.S.A. In 2000, she was invested into the
Order of Canada
and, in 2008, made a Knight of the
National Order of
Quebec. She won the 2008
Molson Prize
for the Arts. (2019)
Rose Fleury
Aboriginal Genealogist
née
Gariepy. Born November 26, 1926 MacDowall, Saskatchewan. She grew up on a
homestead just north of Duck Lake, Saskatchewan. She learned reading and
writing at school but considered of equal value the education received at
home. She listened to her grandmothers stories of the peoples and their
travels, she became fluent in Cree and Michif-French and learned to respect
the family history. She ran a trap line as a teenager before leaving home at
17. When she was 21 she married Ernest Fleury. A dedicated keeper of
journals of daily life she mourned the loss of her early journals in a fire
in 1960. In 1967 while confined to a wheel chair recovering from broken
bones she used her time to learn about and record the family genealogy. As
time passed she expanded her research to the other Métis families of the
area. In 2010 she was continuing in her full time position as a resource
person and Elder at the Batoche National Historic Site. She has been
inducted into the Silver Order of Gabriel Dumont and is proud to have been a
touch Bearer in Duck Lake for the 2010 Winter Olympic Games.
Source: Herstory: The Canadian Women’s Calendar 2012
Ethel Flora Fortune-Gordon
Titanic survivor
née Fortune. Born September 23, 1883, Winnipeg,
Manitoba. Died March 21, 1961, Toronto, Ontario. Ethel went on a
European tour with four of her siblings and her parents Mary and
Mark Fortune Mark (!847-1912). The family arrived in London,
England in April 1912 to board the S.S. Titanic on the final leg
of their voyage back to Canada. Ethel and, her mother Mary and
her two sisters, Alice Elizabeth Fortune and Mabel Helen
Fortune, were placed in lifeboat number 10 when the Titanic
collided with an iceberg in the north Atlantic . They were
picked up by the ship the Carpathia hours after the ship sank
with her father Mark and brother Charlie on board. The women
returned to their newly built home in Winnipeg. In 1913 Ethel
married Crawford Gordon (1883-1957) to whom she had been engaged
prior to leaving on the fatal family trip to Europe. Ethel and
her husband lived in Jamaica and then London, England where
Crawford was manager of the Canadian Bank of Commerce. The
couple raised two sons. They would eventually return to Canada
and settle in Toronto. Ethel was an active homefront worker with
the troops during World War ll. All her life she was haunted by
the Titanic disaster. (2020)
Norma Henrietta Carswell
Ford-Walker
Born September 3, 1893, St Thomas, Ontario. Died
August 9, 1968. In 1914 Norma graduated from the University of
Toronto with her Bachelor of Arts degree. She continued her
education receiving a PhD in Zoology. In the 1920's she taught
zoology and lectured to various women's groups including Girl
Guides. In 1937 she studied to determine if the famous Dionne
Quints were indeed 'identical'. In 1943 she married Edmond
Murton Walker (1877-1969) who had supervised her doctoral thesis
20 years prior. During her career she made many valuable
contributions to the study of Human genetics. Her papers are
maintained at the Archives of the University of Toronto.
(2020)
Mary Fortune
Titanic survivor
née McDougal. Born May 12, 1851, Chinguacousy
Township, Peel County, Canada West. Died March 8, 1929, Toronto,
Ontario. Shortly after mary was born the family relocated to
Portage L Prairie, Manitoba. Mary married real estate tycoon
Mark Fortune (1847-1912) . The couple settled in Winnipeg,
Manitoba and raised a family of 6 children. In 1991 Mark took
four of his children an a family tour of Europe. They arrived in
London, England in April 1912 to board the S.S. Titanic to
return home to Canada. Mark and his 19 year old son, Charlie,
would die in the sinking of the Titanic. Mary and her three
daughters Alice Elizabeth, Ethel Flora and Mabel Helen were
placed in lifeboat ten which was later picked up by the
Carpathia. Returning to the new family home in Winnipeg the
women lived quiet lives. In later years Mary relocated to
Toronto. In 2010 a plaque was unveiled at Winnipeg City Hall
dedicated to those who went down with the Titanic. The Fortune
Block in the business area of Winnipeg was saved from demolition
and restored by 2019.
Rose Fortune
Law Enforcement
Born Virginia, U.S.A. 1774 Died February 20, 1864. The
daughter of a loyalist slave family they all immigrated to Nova Scotia in
the 1780's. To ear money she worked as a baggage carrier, using a
wheelbarrow to move luggage from the docks. Soon she expanded her business
and covered the entire town and added a "wake Up' service so that clients
would not miss their next ship. Eventually she appointed herself as a police
officer in the town of Annapolis Royal. She imposed and enforced curfews and
kept the wharves under control. She was the first woman to be a police
officer in Canada. Today her descendants work in the trucking and hauling
business.
Verna Isabel Margaret Freeman
Music teacher
née
Carrathers. Born January 4 1923. Died March 2, 2002, Winnipeg Manitoba.
Verna attended Normal School (teacher’s college) in Gimili, Manitoba and
from 1944-1947 she attended United College (Now University of Winnipeg)
majoring in Music. A lifelong learner she would return to university to ear
her masters degree in Educational Psychology at the age of 65. She would
teach school, music and piano. On May 23, 1947 she married John Freeman and
they would have three children. She was an active leader in Marriage
Encounter dealing with health relationships between marriage partners. She
also was a clown and palliative care worker. Sources: Lois
M. Wilson, I want To Be in That Number: Cool Saints I Have Known
(Self published, 2014) ; Obituary, Winnipeg Free Press March 30,
2002.
Linda Gaboriau
Dramaturge
née
Johnson. Born Boston, Massacheutts, U.S.A. Linda relocated to Montreal,
Quebec in 1963 and studied for the B.A. and Master's at McGill University.
While still a student she married . The marriage did not last long but Linda
kept her married surname as her professional pen name. She worked as a
freelance journalist with the Canadian Broadcasting Corporation (CBC), Radio
Canada and the Montreal Gazette newspaper. Linda married a second
time to Nick Auf der Maur and the couple had one son. She has another son
with her life partner Yves de Fontenay. She took an interest in theatre and
began translating into English plays and novels originally presented in
French. She has earned three Floyd S. Chalmers Canadian Play Awards and in
1991 she won the Dora Moore Award Moore Award for Outstanding New Play. She
also holds two Governor General's Awards for French to English translations
in 1996 and again in 2010. In 2014 she earned the Lambda Literary Award for
Drama. In 2015 she became a Member of the Order of Canada. (2020)
Helen Gardiner
Philanthropist
née
McMinn. Born July 18, 1938 Kirkland Lake, Ontario. . Died July 22, 2008
Carleton East Ontario. She attended York University, Toronto as a mature
student. In 1979 she studied in London, England. Helen married a prominent
Toronto businessman, George R. Gardiner. Helen and George enjoyed a mutual
hobby of collecting distinct ceramic art from around the world. In 1981 the
Ontario government passes bill 183 to establish the George R. Gardiner
Museum of Ceramic Art as an independent , public Institution which was
opened in 1984 at the University of Toronto. In 2007 Helen was inducted into
the Order of Canada. (2017)
Rachel Goldbloom
Philanthropist
Born circa 1865, New York, U.S.A. Died April 1931. Rachel married William Goldbloom in 1882 and the young couple moved from New York to Fort Garry.
Nell, their daughter, was the first Jewish girl born in Winnipeg. In the
mid-1900s, they moved to Vancouver, British Columbia. Their home at 540
Burrard became the centre of Jewish community life, with almost every Jewish
organization of that time said to have started there. The Hadassah's second
Vancouver chapter was named in Rachel’s honour during her lifetime. Sources: Pioneers, Pedlars, and
Prayer Shawls by Cyril E. Leonoff.; Vancouver Hall of Fame online
accessed January 2013.
Anne Golden
Administrator
Born 1941 Toronto, Ontario. . BA University of Toronto in 1962.
MA Columbia University, New York City, U.S.A. and Ph.D. in
American History from the University of Toronto in 1970.S
married Ronald Golden and the couple have two children. In 1982
joined the Greater Toronto United Way Campaign and served as
President from 1987 to 2001. She chaired the Greater
Toronto Area Task force for Ontario in 1996 and in 1998 she was
appointed chair of the Toronto Homelessness Action Task Force.
Leaving her position she began working as President and CEO of
the Conference Board of Canada. April 2012 she became
Distinguished Visiting Scholar and Special Advisor at Ryerson
University, Toronto. She also has taught at Newark College of
Engineering, and York University in Toronto. In 2003 she was
made a Member of the Order of Canada. In 2013 she was made a
Member of the Order of Ontario.
Vera Good
Producer of TV programmes
Born November 13, 1915, Hawkesville, Ontario. Died March 20,
2018. Vera came from a Mennonite family that had to be convinced
to be more progressive and send their children to post high
school education. Vera worked at Kaufmann Rubber while she
completed private studies up to grade 12. She took grade 13 at
the Kitchener-Waterloo Collegiate for her grade 13. With a
$100.00 scholarship she attended Stratford Teachers' College.
Her first teaching job was in a one room school in Breslau,
Ontario. After teaching for a few years she signed up for the
Mennonite Central Committee and was sent to India where she
served as secretary at the Mennonite headquarters. She was able
to hear the great Indian
leader Mahatma Ghandi speak just a day before he was
assassinated on January 30, 1948. She would return to Canada
after a brief European tour. She earned her BA at Goshen
College, Indiana, U.S.A. and her Master's Degree at Northwestern
University, Illinois, U.S.A. Continuing her post graduate
studies she earned her Doctorate at Columbia Univeristy, New
York City, U.S.A. Back in Canada she taught school in Etobicoke,
Ontario where she became the 1st woman school principal in the
area. Prior to joining TVOntario she was a school inspector for
the Ontario Ministry of Education. Well into her 50's she
surprised her family when she married a former prisoner of war
who had been part of the Polish underground in World War ll,
Antoni Nowakowski. In the 1970's at TVO she was challenged to
design a pre-school children's program and the result was the
popular and long running Polka Dot Door. The show ran from 1971
through 1993. In 2010, the
Academy of Canadian
Cinema and Television gave Polka Dot Door a
Masterworks award, calling it a "groundbreaking children's
educational series" that "changed the nature of children's
television programming" and "impacted countless young Canadians
and raised the international profile of the Canadian television
industry."
In In 2010 while legally blind she memorized an
acceptance speech when she received an honourary doctorate.
Lucile Garner Grant
Stewardess
Born June 14,
1910 Qu’Appelle, Saskatchewan. Died March 4, 2013, Oakville, Ontario. She
studied nursing at the Royal Victoria Hospital, Montreal, Quebec ,
graduating in 1937 and moving to Vancouver, British Columbia. It was 1939
when she heard that Trans-Canada Airlines (later Air Canada) was hiring. She
applied and became the 1st woman hired to be a stewardess. The
requirements were strict: must be 21 to 26 years old, must be a registered
nurse; must not be married along with strict weight and height regulations.
Lucille was also asked to participate in the design of her new uniform. The
job required that she monitor weather, handle radio communications, and
establish a food plan for flights. In 1941 she established the stewardess
programme for Yukon Southern Air Transport (Later Canadian Pacific Airlines)
She married Norman Dennison a aeronautic engineer. The couple had two
children. Stationed in Addis Ababa, Ethiopia in 1951, with Norman working
for the United Nations, Lucile worked for the ministry of education teaching
at a commercial school. The family settled in Lachine, Quebec. After the
death of her husband she married a second time March 31, 1936 to Jack Grant
and raised a combined family of four children.
Source: “She
was Canada’s firs airline stewardess” by Nora Ryell The Globe and Mail,
March 29, 2013.
Suggestion submitted by June Coxon, Ottawa, Ontario.
Ibola Szalai Grossman
Holocaust Survivor
Born Hungary, December 10, 1916. Ibi is a self
described ordinary woman. She is also a survivor. She survived
attempts on her life. She survived the physical and mental
horrors of the Hungarian Holocaust, she survived to escape to
the “west”, she survived the obstacles of being a European
immigrant Jew and she survived the chant to a new and foreign
culture and way of life in Immigration to Canada. She did all of
this after her husband, her mother, her father and her sisters
died in the death camps. She survived to raise her son alone in
Canada. She survived to tell her story in the hopes that the
horrors will not happen again. Read her story in “Great Dames”
[Toronto, University of Toronto Press, 1997.
Violet Irene Guymer
Funeral Director
Born July 18, 1885. Died 1955. At the age of 33 with a
family of 5 children to support she took over the undertaking business
that had been started by her late husband in a small community in Manitoba.
In August 1919 she received her Diploma in studies as a Funeral Director and
Embalmer. January 16, 1922 she received her Manitoba Embalmers License and
became the first Canadian woman Funeral
Director. Sources: Family member Myrna Guymer.
Louise Guyon
Spy???
Born circa 1668, Ile Orleans. Orphaned as a youngster she never the
less acquired a good marriage at 16 to Charles Thibault. Unfortunately the
young mother was widowed at 17. She was soon married again in 1686 to
Mathieu Damours de Freneuse. The couple moved to his seigneury in Acadia and
had a family of five children during their ten year marriage. Unfortunately
he died of wounds received defending his family and home from an American
attack. Louise moved her family to Port Royal. Here she became involved in a
scandalous affaire and had a child with a certain married M. Bonaventure.
The affair ended when the legal wife came to Port Royal and Louise found she
and her family in Quebec. She was back in Port Royal , Visiting in few
years, when the area was under British rule. Suspicions of her being a spy
were never officially reported. Was she a spy? It is here that she becomes a
footnote to history perhaps moving to France where some of her children were
recorded as living in New Rochelle.
Suggested sources: Dictionary of Canadian Biography (Toronto: University of
Toronto Press) Vol. 1 p. 245 and Vol. 11 p 167.
May 'Billie' Alexandra Hallam
Born August 22, 1919 Toronto, Ontario. Died March
18, 2015, Oakville, Ontario. On July 18, 1937 Billis was chosen
in the 1st annual Police Games Miss Toronto from a group of over
300 contestants. She was encouraged to enter the competition by
her grandmother. Billie had always enjoyed sports including ice
skating, swimming, golf, volley ball and baseball. Billie was
the pitcher on a Toronto women's baseball team in 1937. After
being crowned Miss Toronto Billie went on to have a career as a
model appearing in such publications as Eaton's Catalogues. In
the 1950's she married becoming Mrs. Maeda.and the couple soon
began their family.
Dorothy Cann Hamilton
Educator and food aficionado
Born August 25, 1949 Manhattan, New York, U.S.A. Died September 2016 Cape
Breton, Nova Scotia. By the age of 17 she was already an accomplished cook.
She studied for her BA at the University of Newcastle, England. During her
university studies there were numerous trips to France where she learned
about cultured dinning. She spent three years with the Peace Corps in
Thailand teaching English. Returning to New York she worked at her father’s
trade school and studied for her Master’s in business administration at New
York University. Her marriage to Douglas Hamilton ended in divorce. The
couple had one daughter. In 1980 she went on tour as a board member of the
National Association of Trade and Technical Schools and visited a training
program for Chefs in Paris, France. By 1984 she had founded the Culinary
Centre in New York City, U.S.A. where she trained some 15,000 chefs One of
her specialty dishes was Forichu Lobster from Cape Breton, The International
Culinary Centre was founded in California and spared to Italy. Dorothy hosed
TV show Chef’s Story on the Public Broadcasting Station and the
Heritage Radio Network. In 2015 she was awarded the Legion of Honour from
France for her promotion of French cuisine in the U.S.A. She authored
several books including Love What You Do: Building a Career in the
Culinary Industry in 2009. She also maintained a blog called Love What
You Do.
Ruth Hammond
Public Relations
Born July 6, 1920, Toronto, Ontario. Died October 16, 2015)
Toronto, Ontario. Ruth graduated with her B.A. from the
University of Toronto and attended the Ontario College of
Education in 1944. She taught for a couple of years before
becoming a reporter and Women’s Editor at the Toronto Star
newspaper from 1946-1950. On October 7 1950 she married her 1st
husband David Wall Bunting (D. 1988) and the couple had 2
children. As a member of Canada’s first newspaper Guild at The
Toronto Star, Ruth was among the 1st women to speak out in the
interests of achieving significant gains in terms of employee
salaries, rights, and working conditions in the newsrooms of the
day. In 1951 she established Ruth Hammond Public Relations and
had a successful career in this field. Among her 1st clients was
Kate Aitken, then one of Canada’s foremost journalists. Ruth
took over the public relations program for the Women’s Division
of the Canadian National Exhibition. In 1956, Ruth Hammond
joined the Canadian Public Relations Society, one of the 1st
women public relations consultants to participate in Society
activities. She established, with colleagues, public relations
courses at Ryerson Polytechnical Institute (now Ryerson
University), York University, and the University of Toronto.
In 1968 she became the 1st woman accredited by the Canadian
Public Relations Society.
From 1966/67 she served as the President of the Canadian Women’s
Press Club in Toronto. She served as a director of the
Canadian Public Relations Society in Toronto from 1969-1974 and
was the force behind the professional accreditation for the
Society. In 1985 she received a Certificate of Achievement,
Public Relations and Education, Government of Ontario, and was
the YWCA Woman of Distinction for the Year. This was followed in
1986 by the Award of Excellence in Communications from Ontario
Community Colleges. In 1989 she became a Life Member of the
Canadian Public Relations Society and was inducted into the
Society College of Fellows in 2001.
Agnes Harrigan Park Guide
Born Port of Spain, Trinidad. Died 1988. The family moved to Salmon Arm,
British Columbia when Agnes and her sister Mona were toddlers. Growing up on
a farm the girls learned to love the outdoors. The girls were first offered
women’s work of cooking and cleaning at camps and so the girls began their
careers in Jasper Park, Alberta. They soon learned about the terrain, the
flora, fauna and the animals. In 1928 they stood firm with demands to work
out of the camps as guides. Figuring some women might prefer to travel with
women guides, Fred Brewster hired the two as the first women Guides in a
Canadian National Park. Since men trail help would not work with either of
the women they were forced to tend the animals and cook meals on the trail.
In 1929 Agnes married Mark Truxler. The couple raised two children. The pair
retired in 1970. The sisters’ stories were told by Cyndi Smith in her book Off the beaten track: women adventurers and mountaineers in Western
Canada. Coyote Lake Louise, 1993.
Source: Harrigan Sisters by Frances Rooney Section15.ca accessed
June 2009.
Mona Harrigan
Park Guide
Born Port of Spain, Trinidad Died 1983. In 1908 the family emigrated to a
farm in Salmon Arm, British Columbia where Mona and her sister Agnes grew up
with a love of the outdoors. Unable to secure jobs as guides in Jasper Park
they originally accepted “women’s work” of camps and did cooking and
cleaning. In 1928 Mona and Agnes stood firm and because of their acquired
knowledge of the area and the fact that Fred Brewster though women clients
might prefer a woman guide, the girls became the first women guides in
Canada National Parks working in Jasper Park, Alberta. Their trips soon
became in demand but they were still forced to tend animals and cook as no
men world work the trips with them! The girls worked successfully on
separate trails. On New Years Eve 1930 Mona married Charlie Matheson, a Park
Warden. The couple opened and operated an outfitters and riding stable in
Jasper in 1937. By 1940 they operated their own guest ranch until they
retired in 1952.The sisters’ stories were told by
Cyndi Smith in her book Off the beaten track: women adventurers and
mountaineers in Western Canada. Coyote Lake Louise, 1993.
Pearl Hart
Bad girl of the American West
née Taylor.
Born November 13, 1871(Sometimes
reported as 1876),
Lindsay Ontario. Died (Reportedly) December 28, 1955,(?) Globe, Arizona,
U.S.A. Pearl’s family was financially well off enough to send their daughter
to boarding school. While at school the teenager fell in love with a certain
Mr. Hart (reported by
various names such as Brett, Frank or William)
and the couple eloped. Pearl soon learned that she had married an abusive
individual and returned to be with her mother who was now living in Ohio, in
the United States. The couple would reunite several times and Pearl would
have two children who were reportedly raised by their grandmother. Pearl
supposedly became enamored with the western American life when she saw
Buffalo Bill’s Wild West Show in 1893. She headed west working a numerous
jobs such as she could earn some monies on which to live. Pearl would meet
Hart yet again in Arizona where, once her money ran out he took off to join
the Spanish American War. Pearl returned to working odd jobs. Needing money
to return home to her ill mother she cut her hair, donned men’s clothing
took a partner and robbed an Arizona stagecoach. It would be one of the last
few recorded stage robberies. Arrested she was acquitted but the Judge saw
to it that she was charged with a second crime of tampering with US mail. By
this time she was a popular subject for pulp fiction dime novels. She served
two years of her five year prison term, receiving a governor’s pardon in
1902. From this point her life is sketchy with a mixture of truth and myth.
She reportedly ended up running a Cigar Store in Kansas City. It was also
reported that she portrayed her story on stage and even worked in the
Buffalo Bill Wild West Show. In 1904 she was arrested again for receiving
stolen property and again acquitted of any crime. There is a report that she
married George Calvin Bywater and the couple lived in Arizona until they
died. The couple’s tombstone reports her death as December 28, 1955. An
early movie, a musical, songs and a book of historical fiction have all been
based on her life.
Clara Jennings Melville Hays
Titanic
survivor
née Gregg. Born October 13, 1859, St Louis,
Missouri, U.S.A. Died February 1, 1955, Montreal, Quebec.
October 13, 1881 Clara married Charles Melville Hays (1856-1912)
a railway man and for a time the family with their four
daughters lived in Saskatchewan where the town of Melville is
named for Charles. He became manager of the Grand Trunk Railway
in Saskatchewan and later the family moved to Montreal. Clara
and two daughters sailed with Charles on the ill fated Titanic.
Clara and her two daughters, Margaet Hayes and Mrs. Thorton
Davidson, were rescued by the Carpathia.
(2020)
Anna Maria Head
Political Wife
née
Yorke. Born 1808, England. Died August 25, 1890, Oak Lea, Guildford,
England. On November 27, 1838 she married Sir Edmond Walker Head
(1805-1868) who would serve as Lieutenant-Governor of
New Brunswick
(1847–1854) and serve simultaneously as
Governor General
of the
Province of Canada,
and
Lieutenant Governor
of both
Canada West
and
Canada East
(1854–1861). The couple had 3 children. a son accidentally drowned in
Quebec's
Saint-Maurice River
in September, 1859. One of their two daughters was born at
Fredericton,
New Brunswick on 6 February 1849. Anna Maria was an artist, who sketched a
picture of a view from
Major's Hill,
Ottawa,
Ontario which she subsequently presented to
Queen Victoria.
(1819-1901). A month or 2 later Her Majesty chose Ottawa as the seat of
Government of United Canada. Lady Anna Maria Head was known for volunteering
and distributing alms among the poor. A memorial of her Ladyship's visit to
the Upper Ottawa, in a bark canoe, in 1856, stands at
Portage-du-Fort,
Quebec. In the county of Renfrew, a township
Maria,
was named in her honour and the Renfrew county of Head was named
in honour of her husband.
Source:
Henry James Morgan, Types of Canadian women and of women who
have been connected with Canada. Vol. 1 (Toronto: William
Briggs, 1903) Online (Accessed January 2016)
Eva Marlene Heddle
"Canada's Loveliest Child"
Born 1933, Caledonia, Ontario. Died Hamilton, Ontario September 25, 2009. At
three years of age she would become Canada’s sweetheart. On July 4, 1936 her
grandmother sent an 8 X 10 photograph of her daughter into a contest.
Marlene was chosen out of almost 1200 entries to become an instant star as
“Canada’s Loveliest Child” in the contest held by the Toronto Star Weekly.
She won $250.00 and an official portrait by Joshua Smith and a trip to see
the famous Dionne Quintuplets. But her winning the contest provided more
when Marlene’s face appeared on billboards and corn syrup containers. She
had invitations to fashion shows, store openings and other special events.
The Town of Caledonia even named a Street Heddle Street, in her honour.
Attention dropped during World War ll. In 1954 her wedding to photographer
Patrick Sullivan was covered by the Toronto Star. The couple would
have one daughter. Her stardom was brief and because she was so young she
actually did not remember much of the fanfare. A shy person she never really
wanted to cash in on any of the fame but she never forgot and had
photographs of 1936 hung in her home. In 2005 Marlene returned to Caledonia
to attend a special welcome and a special day commemorating the event that
had put the town on the national map.
Source: Contest catapulted child to stardom by Raveena Aulakh Toronto Star October 15, 2009.
Martha Lou 'Louie' Henley
Philanthropist
For more than three decades Louie Henley has been an avid supporter of the
Vancouver Opera giving both financial and volunteer hours in support of this
organization. She has support in addition some 70 additional organizations
and the Mary Lou Henley Foundation helps women meet their full potential.
She has received the Ramon John Hnatyshyn Award for Voluntarism in the
Performing Arts. In 2011 she was inducted into the Order of Canada and in
2012 the Simon Fraser University President’s Distinguished Community
Leadership award was given to Martha Lou Henley.
Julia Wilmotte Henshaw.
Botanist
née Henderson. Born 1869 Durham England. Died November 18, 1937, Vancouver,
British Columbia. On June 15, 1887 she married Charles Grant Henshaw
(1869-1927) of Montreal and the couple had one child and settled in British
Columbia in 1890. She
used the nom de plume of Julian Durham and in 1889 wrote her 1st
novel, Hypnotized, which was called the Canadian Book of the Year.
Her second novel appeared in 1901. Julia mapped Vancouver Island's interior
during 1910–1911. The
Royal Geographical
Society made her a Fellow in 1911. She also wrote for two
newspapers in Vancouver. She was an outdoors woman and explored and even mapped Vancouver Island. She
loved the mountain wild flowers and in the early 1900’s she produced
botanical books about the Mountain Wild Flowers of North America.
In
1914, she and her husband were the 1st people to drive a car across the
Rocky Mountains. Although she was 45 years old when World War l began she
was ready to serve. Even though she had no medical trainings in
1915 served in the Royal Army Medical Corps as an ambulance driver as part
of the British Red Cross Society where she earned the rank of Captain. For
her bravery she was awarded the
Croix de Guerre
with a Gold Star for "evacuating and recuperating inhabitants under shell
fire and aerial bombarding. She was also awarded the British, Allied and
Canadian war medals and other honours. She served with the French Red Cross
until November 1918.
Source: Macmillan Dictionary of Canadian Biography, Toronto: 1978 Page 355.
Margaret 'Marmie' Perkins Hess
Specialist in Inuit
art and Aboriginal arts and crafts
Born May 3, 1916 Calgary, Alberta. Died September 2, 2016 Calgary, Alberta.
In 1934 Marmie began university studies at the University of Alberta and
graduated from the University of Toronto in 1938 with a BA. She had an
interest in indigenous peoples art and received the Inuit name Angauka Nu
Natsuit. Her interest would be lifelong. She completed graduate studies at
the University of Iowa in 1947. In 1970 she established Calgary Galleries
Ltd, and helped established the Arctic Institute of North America at the
University of Calgary. She was regarded as a world authority on Northern
Inuit and First Nations arts and crafts. She was a volunteer for the Calgary
Exhibition and Stampede for many years and the 1st woman to
receive the Calgary Stampede Western Legacy Award. She worked on the Board
of Calgary Rotary International, the Glenbow Museum and the Board of the
Canadian National Museum. In 1967 she was the recipient of the Canadian
Confederation Medal followed by the Queen Elizabeth Golden Jubilee Medal and
the Queen Elizabeth Diamond Jubilee Medal. In 1981 she became a member of
the Order of Canada which was upgraded to Officer of the Order of Canada in
1993. She also held the Alberta Order of Excellence and the Alberta
Centennial Medal. She also earned the Northern Territories Commissioner’s
Award and the Grant MacEwan Lifetime Achievement Award from City of Calgary.
In 1999 she was the YWCA Woman of Diction for Calgary.
Source: Obituary Globe and Mail September 9, 2016. Suggestion
submitted by June Coxon, Ottawa Ontario.
Madeline Hinchey
Researcher
née Tiennet. Born Toronto 1922 Died January 5, 2005.
She had a successful career the the government of Canada in the National
Research Council of Canada. She was the 1st woman to hold a number of
senior management positions in the council including chairing the selection
committee for Canada's first astronauts. She retired in 1984 as Secretary
General to the National Research Council.
Pat Holden- Collins
Photo journalist
Born August 28, 1924, Wallasey, England. Died November 26, 2011 Toronto,
Ontario. She came to Canada with her mother and brother in 1939 to escape
the aerial bombardment of war time Britain. Though her mother returned to
England to work for MI 5, the children settled in Winnipeg where Pat shortly
enlisted. She fudged her age and to hide the fact she told recruiters she
was born on the now Nazi occupied Isle of Guernsey. She took training in
photography, a profession with few women. Eventually posted overseas she was
the lone woman in photographer galleries. As a professional photographer he
presence surprised men like Dwight Eisenhower. After the war, working for
Reuters she was one of only 6 photographers allowed inside Westminster Abby
for the wedding of then Princess Elizabeth to Prince Philip in 1947. On
leave in Ottawa she met her future husband Flight Lieutenant Arthur Collins.
N novelty as a professional photographer she was the subject of a British
Pathé Films short documentary: Women Going Places. Back in Canada she was
the subject of an article in the Toronto Telegram that was seen by Arthur
Collins who sought her out. The couple married in 1948 and would have five
children. Her home was a welcome refuge for pregnant girls in need. Once her
family was grown she embarked on a successful Real estate career.
Sources: Groundbreaking wartime photographer was first woman to shoot
Eisenhower by Michael Posner. The Globe and Mail December 9, 2011; Chrystia Chudczak, Documentary photographer. Online (Accessed January 2012)
Suggestion submitted by June Coxon,
Ottawa.
Elizabeth Bessie Prichard Hall
Sea Captain
Born April 7, 1849, Granville Ferry, Nova Scotia. Died June 30, 1930, Nova
Scotia. At 17 she began to go to sea joining her seafaring father who was
the captain of large square rigged sailing vessels. With him she learned
celestial navigation. On March 4, 1870 the sailed from New Orleans, U.S.A.
on the Rothesay with a crew of 10. 4 days at sea off the coast of Florida,
U.S.A. the 1st mate fell ill with small pox followed shortly
after by the captain himself. Bessie had to take over sailing the ship and
after the crew met decided to sail to Liverpool, England arriving May 12,
1870. While some may have wished to celebrate Bessie’s accomplishment the
rush of making up for delays in New Orleans meant avoiding quarantine
regulations so no formal acknowledgement of the feat was made. Women were
not allowed to apply for Mates nor Captain’s papers so Bessie left
seafaring. At 21 she married James Hall. The couple had 4 children. Her home
in Granville Ferry serves as a Bed and breakfast known as the Seafaring
Maiden.
Source: Ryan Scrantan. The Seafaring Maiden of Granville, Annapolis Royal
Heritage. Online. Accessed January 2016.
Dora Ridout
Hood
Book Dealer
Born January 23,
1885, Toronto, Ontario. Died 1974. Dora was educated at private
schools in Canada and England. After graduating Havergal College
in 1905 she enjoyed extensive travel. She married Dr. Frederick
C. Hood December 2, 1918. In 2927, As a young widow with two
children, Dora supported herself by opening a small reading room
in her house on Spadina Avenue, Toronto. She was one of the
first book dealers in Toronto to specialize in 'out-of–print'
Canadian books. In 1929 she published a catalogue of Canadiana
and Americana. In 1951 she became a charter member of the
Canadian Retail Booksellers Association. The Dora Hood Book Room
received royal warrant from Buckingham Palace to acquire
Canadiana! After retiring from the Book Room in 1954, she
became an author herself producing two books. Her work The
Side Door,1958 provided her experiences as an antiquarian
bookseller. She was an active member of the Ontario Historical
Society, the Architectural Conservancy of Ontario, the Royal
Ontario Museum, and the Canadian Hearing Society.
(2020)
Doris Horwood
Lexicographer
Born 1911. Died 2003. Doris graduated from the
Banff School of Fine Arts. She worked for Associated Advertising
Ltd., Toronto as the only woman out of 6,000 Lithographers
Union. In 1964 she produced Canada's First People for used in
classrooms in the 1960's and 1970's. It had taken her 10 years
to research and draw the map. Prime Minister Lester B. Pearson
wrote her to thank her for her work. The 1967 version of the map
contained ta Centennial seal on it. Doris was married and she
had one daughter. Source: Sarnia
Journal April 25, 2016. (2020)
Mina Hubbard
Adventurer / Explorer
National Historic Person
née Benson. Born April 15,
1870, Bewdley, Ontario.
Died May 4, 1956, Coulsdon, England. Mina began her working career as a teacher but soon found
herself studying to be an nurse in New York State, U.S.A. It was while
caring for a young journalist that she found romance Leonidas Hubbard Jr.,
assistant editor of the U.S. magazine Outing, married his nurse in 1901. In
July 1903 Leonidas and a colleague became lost in the backwoods of what was
then part of Quebec and he died of starvation. Mina took over the idea of
her husbands exploration and on June 27, 1905 she set out in her husband's
footsteps. She would write about her two months exploit in her book: A Woman's
Way Through Unknown Labrador. Both her book and her diaries
provide a snap shot of the Naskapi and Montagnais Indians and of
the last great herds of caribou in Labrador. During her trip she recorded maps
which were accepted by the American Geographical Society and the
Geographical Society of Great Britain. Her mapping work provided details of
Labrador and gave insight into the massive Caribou migrations. During a
lecture tour of England she married Harold Ellis. The couple had three children.
After her divorce she returned to Canada in 1936 taking a canoe
trip down the Moose River in Northern Ontario. In 2018 Mina
Benson Hubbard Ellis was designated a National Historic Person.
(2020)
Annie May Jackson-Kelcher
Law Enforcement
née Jackson. Born 1878*, Ontario. Died October 30, 1959,
Edmonton, Alberta. Annie May relocated to Edmonton in 1910. She
worked with the Children's Aid Society and the Ruthenian House
for Girls. In February 1912 the areas of Edmonton and Strathcona
merged and an advertisement was issued by the newly joined
police department for the position of a police woman. The
position paid the same as a male police officer, $75.00 per
month. The job was to protect morals and manners of young women.
47 women applied and on October
1,1912 Annie May Jackson became the first woman police officer
in Canada. In April 1913 her photo and story
appeared in the London England Daily Mirror. She remained
in the position until 1918 when she left to marry William Henry
Kelcher (1874-1949). The couple had one son. In October 1976 the
neighbourhood of Jackson Heights in Edmonton was named in her
honour. There is also a Jackson Road and Jackson Park named in
her honour. In 2002 the Jackson Heights School was opened.
* her birth year is sometime reported as 1879.(2021)
Mary Irene Patricia Jolliffe
Theatrical Press Agent
Born November
11, 1923 Chengda, China. Died October 29, 2014, Toronto, Ontario. Mary was
the daughter of two Canadian foreign missionaries of the Methodist/United
Church of Canada. Her younger years were spent in China where she learned to
speak Chinese fluently and easily handle chopsticks. In 1945 she graduated
from the Canadian Missionary School in western China. She attended the
University of Toronto graduating with a B.A. in 1949. After graduation she
returned to China to teach with the United Church of Canada’s Overseas
Mission for 2 years. Mary then decided to teach high school in Welland,
Ontario. In 1954 she went to work at the newly established Stratford
Festival while it was still held in a tent. Here she honed her craft where
the opening event at Stratford made the cover of Life Magazine and had
detailed coverage from Time magazine. She stayed 7 years at Stratford
refining her Public relations skills. She would go on to be the 1st
notable theatrical press agent working at the Guthrie Theatre, Minneapolis,
Minnesota, U.S.A., The Metropolitan Opera touring company, New York, U.S.A.
and returning to Toronto in 1959 working at the O’Keefe Centre (now Sony
Center) as Communications Director. She also worked at Expo 67, Canada’s
Centennial fair in Montreal, the National Ballet, the National Arts Center,
the Canada Council and the Arts Center. Dedicated to her career she never
married. She liked to smoke, drink what she wanted and had a functional
street vocabulary. In 1985 she was inducted into the Order of Canada. In
1993 she was one of the founders of PAL, a Toronto living facility for
members of the performing arts.
Source: Obituaries; Mary Jolliffe, Arts Press Agent. Globe and Mail,
December 6, 2014. Suggestion submitted by June Coxon, Ottawa Ontario.
Sharon Johnston
Wife of a Governor General
Born 1943,
Sault Ste Marie, Ontario. Sharon graduated from the University of Toronto,
the University of Western Ontario in London and McGill University in
Montreal to become a physiotherapist. In 1965 she married her high school
sweetheart David Lloyd Johnston who would become the 28th
Governor General of Canada. The couple has 5 daughters. She worked at the
Crippled Children Center, Toronto (now called Holland Bloorview Kids
Rehabilitation Hospital). The family lived 20 years in Montreal moving in
1999 to Waterloo to accommodate David working at the University of Waterloo.
Sharon enjoyed reading historical fiction and she is taking courses at
Humber College to perhaps write her own novel. On September 5, 2010 Queen
Elizabeth ll conferred her with the Order of Canada. She was also appointed
as Dame of Justice of the Most Venerable Order of the Hospital of Saint John
of Jerusalem. She enjoys riding horses and even runs a shores training
center at the family’s Chatterbox Farm near Waterloo.
Source:
Governor General of Canada . Accessed January 2013.
Nicole Juteau
Law enforcement
Born
September 22, 1954, Laval, Quebec. She was the first woman to earn her
diploma in correctional studies at College Ahuntsic in 1975. Police
recruitment officers had no jobs to offer the graduate providing any excuse
they could think of to turn down her enquiries of work. Eventually La Sureté
du Québec (Quebec provincial police) and the police of the City of Sainte
Foy expressed and interest. It was on June 19,
1975,
the International Year of the Women, she began her internship
with La Sureté du Quebec à Parthenais working for the 1st few
months making photocopies in their office, mainly because they had no
uniform for a woman. She took a position with the police of Shawinigan
becoming the 1st policewoman in
Quebec.
Source:
Pionnières Québecoise accessed June 2013.
Violet Keene
Portrait Photographer
née
Keene. Born 1893, Bath, England. Died May 10, 1887,Oakville, Ontario. Violet
was the daughter of acclaimed pioneer photographer Minna Keene. Violet
learned her love of photography and her knowledge of the art from her
mother. As a youth the family had moved from Montreal to Toronto where
Violet would begin her career in portrait photography. He married Harold
Edgar Perincheief but retained her maiden name for her professional work.
She photographed many important artists and statesmen, inducing the Governor
General, Alduous Huxley, the author, and the playwright George Bernard Shaw.
She also worked as manager of the Eaton’s College Street Portrait Studio.
Her works were exhibited throughout North America and Europe. Some of her
works are owned by the National Gallery of Canada, the and the Art Gallery
of Ontario.
Source: Canadian Women Artists History Initiative Online Accessed August
2011.
Maryvonne Kendergi/Kendergian
Born August 15, 1915 Gaziatep, Turkey. Died September 27,
2011 Montreal, Quebec. Her family was forced to leave Turkey during World
War l. Maryvonne grew up in Syria and then France. She earned her teaching
certificate from Ecole Normale, Paris. She studied at the Sorbonne
graduating in 1942. In 1944 she earned her diplôme Superieur from the
Institute d'art et archéologie. In 1952 she immigrated to Canada living in
Gravelbourg, Saskatchewan. She worked as a host on CBC Radio-Canada and made
frequent appearances on CBC Television. In 1956 she was teaching music at
the University of Montreal and in 1966 she helped found the Quebec
Contemporary Music Society. She would also serve as President of the
Canadian Music Council. In 1980 she was the 1st Chair of the Association
pour l'avancement de la recherché en musique en Québec. That same year she
became a Member of the Order of Canada which later would be promoted to the
level of Officer in 1992. In 1983 she earned the Lynch-Staunton Award from
the Canadian Council for the Arts. In 1985 she was inducted as a Chevalier
in the Ordre National du Québec followed in 1988 with the induction into the
Ordre de Montréal. In 200 she earned Le Prix Opus hommage. In 2000 her
biography; Maryvonne Kendergi, la musique en partage was published.
(2019)
Dorothy Ruth Killam
Philanthropist
née
Brooks-Johnson. Born 1899 / 1900 St Louis, Missouri, U.S.A. Died July 26 /
27 1965, French Rivera. April 5, 1922 she married Izaak Walton Killam
(died August 5,1955) and the couple settled in Montreal, Quebec. After the
death of her husband Dorothy too over the family financial business, Royal
Securities and expanded it over the next ten years. In August 1960 and
article in the Ladies Home Journal featured Dorothy as ‘the Richest
Woman in the World’. She made anonymous donations to several institutions
such as Canada Council to advance the study of medicine, science and
engineering by Canadians, and to Dalhousie University, Halifax, Nova Scotia.
April 1960 she became a benefactress of the Metropolitan Opera Association
financing shows. Her will provided a substantial bequest to build a
children’s hospital in Halifax, Nova Scotia as a memorial to her husband.
The Izaak Walton Killam Hospital for Children opened in 1970. After visiting
Halifax she left Montreal and resettled in Halifax. The Killam Trust offers
awards through five Canadian Universities. As of 2015 more than 6,000
scholars and researchers had benefited from the Killam Trusts Awards.
Sandra Kobler
Philanthropist
Born June 7, 1934 White Plains, New York, U.S.A. Died September 12, 2001
Montreal, Quebec. She worked as a director of the CBC and of Cineplex Odeon
Corporation and was a trustee of the National Film Board of Canada. She was
also a founding vice-president of Canadian International Studios. As a
philanthropist she was a patron of the Montreal Symphony Orchestra, Montreal
Museum of Fine Arts, the Royal Ontario Museum, the Stratford Festival, and
the Canadian Centre for Architecture. For her support of the arts she was
inducted into the Order of Canada in 1993. As a volunteer she earned in 1994
the Raymon John Hnatyshyn Award for Volunteerism in the Performing Arts. She
was the 1st woman to sit on the board of the United Talmud Torah,
and was an active fundraiser for various Jewish charities including the
Jewish Rehabilitation Hospital where this is a pavilion named for her and
her husband Leo Kolber. The couple had two children. (2018)
Myrtle 'Molly' Kool
Sea Captain
Born February 23, 1916, Alma, New Brunswick. Died
February 25, 2009 Bangor, Maine, U.S.A. Molly would
learn and take to the ways of the sea from her sailor father. She learned quickly
and could repair an engine, run the winch, handle the lines, and set sails as
well as cook and sew canvas! She was a woman who became accomplished in a
man's profession with courage and tenacity. She received a telegram on April
19, 1939 from Navigation School...she passed. She was the 1st registered
woman sea captain in North America and second (to a woman in Russia) in the
world! She was the 1st Master Mariner in Canada.
She would sail as a Sea Captain for five years before she married
Ray Blaisdell in
1944.After Ray's death she married a second time to John Carney of Main,
U.S.A. While she enjoyed sailing for pleasure she never worked for pay at
sea again. Sadly she lost both her legs to a vascular disease. In 2003 a
sailing ship was named in her honour. A monument dedicated
to her accomplishment was erected near the wharf in Alma, New
Brunswick. Fundy National Park, New Brunswick has a Molly Kool
Memorial. The Canadian Coast Guard medium class icebreaker,
Captain Molly Kool, commissioned in 2018, was named in her
honour.
(2020)
Olga Alexandrova Kulikovsky
Russian Royalty
née Romanof.
Born June 14, 1882 St. Petersburg, Russia. Died November 24, 1960 Toronto,
Ontario. Olga was a Grand Duchess of Russia and sister to Czar Nicholas. As a
child she was raised by an English nanny. She 1st married in the simmer of
1901 to Duke Peter von Oldenbury but this marriage ended in an annulment.
She married a second time in November 1916 to Colonel Nikkolai
Alexandrovitch Kulikovsky (1881-1958) and the couple would have two
children. She was saved from being executed with the rest of the Russian
Royal family in during the Russian revolution in 1917 because she had
decided to become a nurse and was working with the wounded in Kiev. She and her
family narrowly escaped, 1st living in exile in Denmark, England
and finally in 1948 they immigrated to Canada. Here she was a farmer's wife
living near Guelph, Ontario, leading
a very ordinary life. The couple would retire to Cooksville, Ontario. In June
1959 she was invited for lunch with Queen Elizabeth ll and Prince Philip.
Olga lived simply wearing cheap clothes and doing her own shopping and
gardening. She enjoyed painting and actually had a showing in of her art works in Toronto,
in the 1950's. During her lifetime she painted over 2,000 art works to
provide extra income for her family. in 2001 her son exhibited selections of
her work at the residence of the Russian Ambassador in Washington, DC. and
in 2006 in Moscow.
Maryvonne Kwendergi / Kendergian
Musicologist
Born August 15, 1915 Aintab, Alepppo Vilayet, Ottoman Empire. Died
September 27, 2011 Montreal, Quebec. . She grew up in Syria and after moving
to France she attended the Sorbonne graduating in 1942. Maryvonne immigrated
to Canada in 1952 and became a Canadian Citizen in 1960. She hosed several
radio programmes on contemporary music for Radio-Canada and often appeared
on TV. She helped found the Quebec Contemporary Music Society in 1966 and
began teaching at the University of Montreal where she established Canadian
Music as a subject for the 1st time. . She also served as
President of the Canadian Music Council. A member of the Royal Society of
Canada she became in 1980 a Member of the Order of Canada which was raised
to Officer in 1992. In 1985 she became a Chevalier in the order of Quebec.
(2017)
Gisèle Lamoureux
Photographer, Botanist, & Ecologist
Born October 5, 1942Montreal, Quebec. Died June 23, 2018
Levis, Quebec. Gisèle
graduated from the Université de Montréal and the Université Laval. In the
1970's she was the founder of the Guides Fleurbec. In 1989 she was awarded
the Prix Georges-Prefontaine form the Association des biologistes du Québec.
In 1996 she was inducted as a Knight of the Order National du Québec.
The following year the Quebec Ministry of Environment presented her the
Mérite de la conservation de la flore. In 1999 she co published Cultiver des plantes sauvages sans leur nuire
and she was inducted as a Member of the Order of Canada for having
contributed to the protection of Canada's environment. In 2001 she co-authored
Flore printaiere. In 2015 she was honoured with the Prix
Georges- Emile-Lapalme from the Quebec government to her outstanding
contribution to the quality and diffusion of the French language. (2019)
Filumena 'Florence' Constanzo Lassandro
Booze runner & convicted
murderer
née Constanzo. Born 1900 Cadenza, Italy. Died May
2, 1923, Alberta. In 1909 she and her family immigrated to
Canada and settled in Fernie, British Columbia. A teacher
suggested that she change her name to Florence. She had an
arranged marriage on October 16, 1915 to Carlo Sanfidele. After
their marriage the couple settled in Pennsylvania, U.S.A. for a
few months but with no job prospects they to Canada living in
Blairmore, Alberta. They took the surname Lassandro and Carlo
worked for a hotel owner, During prohibition he was driving
bootleg booze runs to British Columbia. By 1917 Florence was
accompanying her husband on runs to the U.S.A. . It was felt
that a young couple would be less suspicious. They were
successful at evading the law for several years. In a police
chase in September 1922 the hotel owner's son was shot by Police
Florence and her husband went to see the police and in an
exchange of gun fire an officer was killed. The couple were
charged with murder and the pair were convicted. The Canadian
Supreme Court upheld the conviction and the death sentence.
Florence was the only woman to be hanged in Alberta. In 2003 the
opera Filumena debuted portraying her life and death.
(2020)
Zoe Laurier
Wife of a Prime Minister
née
Lafontaine. Born March 26, 1849, Montreal, Quebec. Died May 10, 1930,
Ottawa, Ontario. A child of a modest family she taught piano lessons to help
family finances. She met a young lawyer in Montreal but he felt himself too
poor and too ill at the time to be a suitor. When Wilfrid Laurier learned of
her impending engagement he immediately went to Montreal and on May 13, 1868
Zoe and Wilfrid Laurier (1841-1919)were married. The young couple lived in
Arthabaska (Victoriaville), Quebec until his role in politics forced a move
to Ottawa where he served as Prime Minister. Sadly they did not have any
children. While the couple remained married, it is known that Sir Wilfrid
did have a relationship with another woman, Emilie Lavigne. It seems both
Zoe and Emilie’s husband were both aware of the situation with their
spouses. Zoe kept herself busy and served as one of the Vice-Presidents on
the formation of the National Council of Women of Canada. The NCWC was
founded on October 27, 1893, at a public meeting in Toronto, chaired by Lady
Aberdeen, wife of the Governor-General of Canada and attended by 1500 women.
She
would join Sir Wilfrid and move to Ottawa in 1896.
By
1897 Sir Wilfrid cut off his relationship and he and Zoe became close once
again. Working with Lady Aberdeen (1857-1939) on February 10, 1897 Sir
Wilfrid Laurier offered the motion inaugurating the Victorian Order of
Nurses, (VON), honouring the 60th anniversary of Queen Victoria’s
assent to the throne of the British Empire. Lady Laurier served as honourary
Vice-President of the V.O.N. While the Lauriers maintained their home in
Arthabaska for holiday visits, the Liberal Party of Canada provided a fine
yellow brick home in Ottawa for the couple. A lounge in the famous Chateau
Laurier Hotel, Ottawa is named in her honour. The Home in Arthabaska
(Victoriaville) became a museum. Laurier House in Ottawa was used by Prime
Minister William Lyn Mackenzie King as his residence and bequeathed to the
Public Archives upon his death. The house is now a Museum dedicated mainly
to W.L.M. King but with a room dedicated to Sir Wilfrid and Lady Laurier.
Jeanne Brault Laurin
Mechanic
Born 1923,
Beauharnois, Quebec. Died September 11, 2012, Beauharnois, Quebec. Even at
the early age of 9 Jeanne was interested in all things about cars and
trucks. Her father was a mechanic and she spent many hours of you youth
helping him at the family garage. In 1943 she became the 1st
official woman mechanic in Canada. In 1945 Jeanne married Rolland Laurin (d.
2001) and the couple had three children. Her biography has been written
with the help of her oldest daughter Jocelyn: Ma Vie Pleine de Vie. (2012)
Source:
Elles du Nord online.
(Accessed August 2014) Suggestion
submitted by Jeannine Ouellette, Elles du Nord.
Marie Louise Emilie Lavergne
Socialite
née Barthe.
Born March 26, 1849. Died May 19, 1930, Montreal, Quebec. She was well
travelled as a young woman, having been to Paris and London. In 1876 she
arrived in Athabasca, Quebec (Victoriaville) where her charm and self
confidence soon made her the celebrated hostess in the town. She enjoyed
reading English Literature and soon caught the eye of Wilfrid Laurier
(1841-1919), an up and coming politician at that time. Emilie married Joseph
Lavergne, the law partner of Wilfrid Laurier. The couple would have two
children in whom Sir Wilfrid would take a life long interest. Letters
written by Emilie to Sir Wilfrid Laurier were returned to her by Sir Wilfrid
in 1897 and she later gave them to a family member. The letters reappeared
in the 1960’s and are in the collections of the National Archives. The
letters are written in the style of the Victorian Era and are proper and
polite in content leaving history to question the state of the connection
between Sir Wilfrid and Emilie. Sir Wilfrid cut off their connection when he
returned her letters. Her husband’s career took the family from Ottawa to
Montreal at this same time. Emilie kept up socialappearances but it is said that she was never the same after they moved to
Montreal.
Judith A. Lawrence
Puppeteer
Born Australia. Judith learned to make puppets when she was 12 years old
from instructions mailed to her from a popular radio show. She put on her
own shows from behind the family couch. After the television popularity of
the 1956 Melbourne, Australia Olympics she foresaw a place for TV puppet
shows. Judith moved to Canada at 22 and worked at 1st as a
kindergarten teacher. In the 1960’s she founded the Voice of Women
expressing her pacifist and feminist sides. She soon found herself working
at the CBC where she was asked to join the team of the popular children’s
programme with Ernie Coombs (1927-2001), Mr. Dressup which
began in 1967 and ran until 1996. She forged Casey and Finnegan and
performed the voices for the show’s 2 popular puppets as well as other
characters on the show. In the 1970 she served on the National Action
Committee for Women. She also wrote books for children the Young Canada
Reading Series and books on women and work for D.C. Health. She worked 23
years on the show retiring in 1989 and taking her puppets with her. In 1990
she and her partner Thea Jansen retired to Hornby Island, British Columbia
in 1990 where Judith became involved in community recycling and other
environmental projects. October 18 2001 she became a member of the Order of
Canada for her contributions to the performing arts. Her will provides that
her beloved puppet creations will find eternal rest at the CBC Archives.
Elizabeth Le Geyt
Birder
née Rothera. Born June 28, 1914, Bushey Heath (London),
England. Died October 5, 2017, Ottawa, Ontario. Educated in Great Britain she married an engineer in the Royal
Navy, Jack Le Geyt. Pronounced Le Jet) the couple had 5 sons and when Jack
was loaned to the Canadian Navy his family followed in 1952 to Halifax and
later to the Ottawa area. After the marriage dissolved in the late 1950’s
Elizabeth worked cleaning houses and as a waitress to support her family.
She retired at 65 as administrator at a local chiropractor’s office. But for
most of this time she used her love of learning about birds of all kinds to
begin a second career. She often called to report her bird sightings to Wilf
Bell at the Ottawa Citizen newspaper. When he became bored with the
topic he asked his phone buddy if she would take over. In March 1973 her 1st
column appeared and for the nest 39 years she shared her enthusiasm of
birding with Citizen readers. She was an active supporter of the
Wild Bird Care Centre in Ottawa. The center created the Elizabeth Le Geyt
Environmental Award that it presents annually in appreciation. When she
could afford to travel she headed out on birding trips around the world
elating her readers with her adventures. Source: Charles Enman, Elizabeth
Le Geyt: A lifetime of Birding. Ottawa Citizen, October 31, 2009.
'Flores' Florence Le Due
Rodeo Star
née Grace. Maude Bensell. Born Montevideo,
Minnesota 1883. Died 1951. Imagine following your dream and running away to
join the circus! She took the professional name of Flores La Due and never
looked back! She had grown up on ranches in Minnesota and South Dakota and
she knew how to ride horses. She joined a wild west show as a trick rider
and roper. In 1909 she married a handsome cowboy, Guy Weadick, and the young
couple performed and toured together throughout North America and Europe.
She became World Champion Trick and Fancy Roper ( three times actually) at
the first Calgary Stampede in 1912, which was produced by her husband. The
couple eventually became semi retired ranchers , performing the circuit for
part of the year and running their ranch in the Alberta foothills. She
performed for some 31 years in total. In 2001 she was inducted into the
National Cowgirl Museum and Hall of Fame in Fort Worth , Texas, the only
Canadian resident to date to receive this honour.
Marie-Charles-Joseph LeMoyne de Longueil
Baroness de Longueil
(Baronne de Longueil) Born March 21, 1756 Montréal, Québec. Died
February 17, 1756. Born a posthumous twin, her sister Marie-Catherine-Joseph
died when just a few months old leaving Marie-Charles the only surviving
daughter of the late 3rd Baron of Longueil. May 7, 1781 she
married David Alexander Grant (d. 1806) The couple had three sons, one of
whom Charles William became the 5th Baron de Longueil.
Marie-Charles owned and managed land in Lower Canada as well as ½ of Wolfe
Island in Lake Ontario, Upper Canada. It was she that had planner Joseph
Weilbrenner draw up plans for the town of Longueil. She was extremely
generous when it came providing the Catholic Church with lands. She
established and was president of the Orphelinal Catholique de Montréal. She
would be the last of the legal French descendants of the LeMoyne de
Longueil family.
Hollyanne Lewis
Supermodel
Born Gloucester (now Ottawa) Ontario. At 16, she did not make the cut for
the Gloucester High School fashion show. A scout persuaded her to take a
trip to New York City, U.S.A. to meet with some model agencies. She signed
with the famous Ford Agency even though she was not finished high school.
In July 1995 she was a finalist in Ford Canada’s Supermodel Contest in
Toronto, Ontario. She is in the line ups for fall and spring shows in New
York City, London, Milan, Italy and Paris France. She has been able to
complete her high school and has even learned Japanese. At 20 years of age
she appeared on the cover of Cosmopolitan magazine. She worked as a model
for the famous Channel company and Victoria Secret. (2018)
Isabella 'Belle' Clarke Lougheed.
Political Wife
née Hardisty.
Born 1859. Died 1936. Isabella was born into a Metis family, one of the
richest in the Canadian North west. After primary education she attended the
Wesleyan Female College, Hamilton, Ontario. On September 16 1884 she married
a young and upcoming lawyer, James Lougheed (1854-1923), who would go on to
serve as a Canadian Cabinet Minister and senator. The couple would have 4
sons and two daughters. In 1891 the Lougheeds moved into a large house on
the outskirts of Calgary which would become a cultural centerpiece of the
area where Belle was grand hostess to such notables as the Governor General
and the Prince of Wales. Belle as an active participant in the growing
community. In 1890 she was treasurer of the Women’s Hospital Aid Society and
in 1896 she was Vice-President of the Alberta District National Council of
Women. In 1916 James was knighted in recognition of war effort work on the
home front. Lady Bell was the 1st President of the Victorian Order of
Nurses, active with the Children’s Aid Society and the Imperial Order of the
Daughters of the Empire. In 1922 she helped to found and served as 1st
president of the Southern Alberta Pioneers and Old Timer’s Association.
Lougheed House, the family mansion is both a provincial and in 1992 became a
National Historic Site with restoration to the days when Lady Bell was
denizen of Calgary.
Mary/ Mae Isabel Lovejoy
Diamond Tooth Gertie
Born July 7, 1874, Pepperell, Massachusetts,
U.S.A. Died 1957, San Mateo, California, U. S. A. Mary came to
Dawson City during the famous Gold rush and it is said 'she
mined the miners" This dance hall woman had a diamond in
between her two front teeth providing her the name of 'Diamond
Tooth Gertie'. February 2, 1896 Mary married Fred Ellis.
She married Charles C. W. Tabor (1863-1917) in Portland, Oregon,
U.S.A. November 7, 1901.Charles had arrived as part of the
Klondike Gold Rush in 1898 serving as a solicitor for the Bank
of North America. The couple settled to a
conventional life in Dawson City, Yukon. Charles was an eminent
Lawyer in Dawson City. After Charles death she married Stephen
C. Hart of San Francisco, California, U.S.A. in May 1920. In
1928 she became a member of the Christian Science community. In
1971,Canada's first legalized Gambling Casino, located in Dawson
City, was named in her memory and is housed in a turn of the
century building that is a Designated Historical Building.
Historica fiction author Genevieve Graham included Gertie as a
character in her work At the Mountain's Edge.
Source: Michael and Kathy Gates, Diamond Tooth
Gertie from Dance Hall to Prayer hall, April 2014, Dawson City
web site.
Isabella Macdonald
Wife of a Prime Minister
née Clark. Born 1811.
Died December 28,1857. Isabella was the 1st cousin of Sir John A.
Macdonald. They met in Scotland in 1842 during one of Sir John’s trips to
the United Kingdom. Later in 1842 Isabella visited her sister in Kingston,
Upper Canada and met once again Sir John. On September 1, 1843 the couple
were married. After two years of marriage Isabella became ill. Although she
removed from this bout of ill health she became ill once again in 1844 and
this time she became an invalid and never really fully recovered her health.
The couple travelled in the United States in 1845 in the hopes of Isabella
regaining her strength. She would remain in the U.S.A. for the next few
years while Sir John travelled between her and his political offices in
Ottawa. In August 1847 a son, John Alexander Macdonald Junior was born.
Unfortunately tragedy struck when the 13 month old died suddenly. A second
son Hugh John Macdonald was born in March of 1850 (1850-1929). When Hugh was
just seven years old he mother succumbed to her illness and died.
Sources:
The Canadian encyclopedia online accessed July 2013 ; The
Invisible Lady by James McSherry (1989) accessed July 2013) ; Women of
Ottawa: mentors and milestones Online accessed July 2013
Mary Macdonald-Leech
Ship bride in British Columbia
née Macdonald. Born 1837 England. Died
April 28, 1892 Victoria, British Columbia. Mary came to
British Columbia on the Bride-ship, Tynemouth in September 1862. The
Columbia Emigration Society working with the Anglican Church had arranged
for single women to come from London to British Columbia with the object of
the women becoming brides to the large number of male population. She
survived the three month voyage suffering storms at sea and mutiny on
board ship. Mary was a gifted musician as was soon on demand as a sinter and
pianist at parties and weddings. She became organist at Bishop Cridge's
Reformed Episcopal Church. In 1873 she married Peter John Leech (1826-1899).
John had come to British Columbia with the Royal Engineers as a surveyor.
The short lived gold rush around Leech Creek/river and Leech Town were named
after him. He worked at numerous jobs as a surveyor with the Hudson Bay
company and the railways taking him away from home for long periods of
time. John eventually became city surveyor and an architect in Victoria. The
couple had one daughter, Fanny Helen Leech-Felker-Faucault (1875-1955), who
inherited her mother's musical talent and performed in towns on Vancouver
Island. See entry for Fanny under Entertainers - singers
Susan Agnes Macdonald
Wife of a Prime Minister
née Bernard. Baroness Macdonald of
Earnscliffe. Born Jamaica August 24,1836. Died September 5, 1920. Brought up
in Jamaica and England she came to Canada to live with her
brother. It was through her brother, Hewitt, that she met the Canadian
politician, Sir John A. Macdonald. They married February 16, 1867.
She was the 2nd wife for Sir John but as the wife of our 1st Prime
Minister she Canada's 1st "First Lady". She was intelligent and curious about life but she
had little patience for the social graces and duties of the wife of a
Canadian Prime Minister. In 1886, following the completion of the Canadian Pacific Railway the Macdonald's set of on a transcontinental rail trip.
Consumed by the beauty of the Canadian Rockies, the 50 year old woman raised
concerns from the crew when she enjoyed part of the trip wrapped in blankets
and perched atop a candle box on the locomotive's cow catcher! The diaries
she wrote, now preserved in Canada's National Archives, provide a
fascinating view of the early years of Canadian Confederation. She and Sir
John had one daughter Margaret Mary Theodora
Macdonald, who was born severely handicapped, both mentally and physically
(1869–1933).After her husband's death in 1891 she was raised to the peerage
in his honour as Baroness Macdonald of Earnscliffe, in the Province of
Ontario and Dominion of Canada. She eventually returned to England where she
died and is buried.
Gladys Cameron MacGregor Watt
Theater promoter
Born Galveston, Texas, U.S.A.. Died Ottawa, Ontario October 15,
1979. Her mother died in childbirth and Gladys was sent to Brooklyn to live
with an aunt and Uncle. She graduated from Brooklyn’s Adelphi College with
her B.A.. Shortly after she married a Canadian forestry engineer Roy
MacGregor Watt January 10, 1917. The young couple moved to Dauphin, Manitoba
where she was paramount in establishing a local library and a little
theatre. During the great depression she operated a billboard company to
make ends meet for the family. In 1937 the young family, now including two
sons, moved to Ottawa, Ontario. It did not take Gladys long to become
involved with her beloved theatre work. In 1958 she was Governor of the
Canadian Drama Festival and was presented with the Canadian Drama Award for
her efforts. In 1963 Lady Bird Johnson, first lady of the United States
presented Gladys with the Margo Jones Award for her impact on encouraging
live theatre. Gladys was instrumental in preserving Ottawa’s old Union
Station building in the heart of downtown Ottawa and campaigned vigorously
against the demolition of the Wet block of the Canadian Parliament
buildings. In 1964 the City of Ottawa honoured her for her dedication. In
1967 she was recipient of the Canadian Centennial Medal. When she retired
from the Ottawa Little Theatre, where she had advanced the One Act Play
contest to a national level, she was presented with an engraved silver tray
and a seat in the Theatre with her name on it.
Source: Gladys Cameron Watt by Valerie Knowles.
Jane Mackenzie
Wife of a Prime Minister
née
Sym. Born March 22, 1825 Perthshire, Scotland. Died March 30, 1893, Toronto,
Ontario. Married on June 17, 1853, Jane would become the second
wife of Alexander Mackenzie, second Prime Minister of Canada1873-1978. The
couple did not have any children but Jane was stepmother to a
daughter from her husband's 1st marriage. The Toronto
Globe newspaper described her as "the best-known woman of Canada...and one
of the most admired and respected." It was a role she did not really enjoy
but she supported her husband and entertained all of Ottawa's politicians. (2020)
Sheila Ann Martin
Wife of a Prime
Minister
née Cowan. Born 1943
Windsor, Ontario Was neighbor to Paul Martin and his family A Canada
Steamship Lines ship, Sheila Ann, is named in her honour. Before her
husband, Paul Martin, became the Prime Minister of Canada, Sheila Martin's
work in Ottawa included serving on a committee called Politics and the Pen,
and on this committee she helped give prizes and money to Canadian writers.
Patricia 'Pat' Mary McDonagh
Born March 17, 1934 Manchester, England. Died May 31, 2014 Toronto, Ontario.
Her mother was a seamstress and created for Pat the latest in fashion that
the youth showed her mother from a magazine. She attended Manchester
University where she was approached, much to the horror of her parents, to
become a model. In August 1960 she married David Main and the couple had 3
children. She opened a dress shop in Horwick, England which proved to be
popular and led to a second shop opening. In 1966 with her husband having a
job offer from the CBC the family immigrated to Toronto, Ontario. Pat found
the city void of fashion sence and opened a shop in Toronto providing up to
date fashion for the city. She soon recognized the need for Canadian modern
designing and in 1968 opened her 1st factory. Her designs have
been worn by such notables as Cher, Ella Fitzgerald, Diana Rigg, and our own
Canadian Governor General Michaelle Jean. She won the New York Times Award
for Design Excellence in 1992 followed in 2000 with the Best Shoe
acknowledgement from the Bata Shoe Museum. In 2003 she was presented with a
lifetime Achievement Award from the Fashion Design Council of Canada.
Source: Susan Ferrier MacKay, She brought Carnaby Street to Toronto, The
Globe and Mail, July 5, 2014.
Suggestion submitted by June Coxon, Ottawa, Ontario.
Sara Anne McLagan
Telegraph operator and
social activist
née Maclure. Born 1816?. Belfast, Ireland. Died
March 20, 1924, Vancouver, British Columbia. Sara immigrated
with her mother and siblings arriving in April 1859 to join
their father who had arrived in British Columbia the previous
year. Her father took a land grant in 1866 and had a
telegraph repeater station in her home. Sara was fascinated
becoming a good telegrapher . She was hired by Western Union
Telegraph when she was just 15. Soon promoted she was charged
with sending line maintenance men. December 11, 1874 she married
John Campbell McLagan and resigned her office manager position
with the Telegraph Company. Married women of the time did not
work out of the home. By 1888 the couple along with Sara's step
son and their four additional children settled in Vancouver.
Sara would often receive telegraph messages for her husband's
newspaper, the Vancouver Daily World. She became a founding
member of the Local Council of Women in 1894 where she served as
treasurer and later as president. After the death of the
husband in 1901 she took over the newspaper as publisher,
editor, writer, and reporter. She established a women's page and
covered health issues, children's nutrition as well as news of
women's clubs and politics. She was a founding member of
the Canadian Women's Press Club and a founding member of the
British Columbia Institute of Journalists. 1903-1907 she was
president of the British Columbia Council of Women working to
improve women's lives including advocating for the vote for
women. She worked to establish a training school for nurses and
established the local Victoria Order of Nurses (VON) where she
served on the executive from 1898 through 1907. She was also a
charter member of the Vancouver General Hospital Women's
Auxiliary. She would help to found the Art Historical and
Scientific Association serving as president in 1903. She worked
with both the Young Men's/Young Women's Christian Associations
and the local Independent Order of the Daughters of the Empire
(I O D E) In 1905 she sold her flourishing newspaper. In 1911
she joined the newly formed Vancouver Women's Association, the
Georgian Club. In 1908 she returned to her Fraser Valley home to
run the family far . Finances became short and she once again
hired out her telegraphic skills during World War l. After the
war she worked in France with the British Red Cross.
Source: DCB (2020)
Theresa Helen McNeil
First woman High Sherriff
néeMembourquette. Born 1928 Lower Ardoise, Nova Scotia. Died March 11, 2009.
Theresa married Burt and was the busy stay at home mom to the couple ‘s 17
children. When Burt died suddenly in 1973 there were still 7 children under
the age of 10 at home. Theresa was hired by Annapolis County, Nova Scotia,
as High Sherriff. She was the first woman in Canada to hold such a position.
She inspired all of the people around her including her children who would
in time become teachers, public Servants, police officers, small business
owners even a Nova Scotia Member of Parliament. She was also a tireless
volunteer who worked in and for her community until she became ill to
deliver Meals on wheels. In 1992 she received the Canada 125 Medal and the
Queen’s Jubilee Medal in 2002. In 2005 she was named to the Order of Nova
Scotia. Source: Protocol Office, Order of Nova Scotia http://gov.ns.ca/prot/2005
recipients (Accessed August 12, 2008. )
Judith "Judy" Winifred
Mappin
Book Dealer
née Taylor. Born October 3, 1928, Toronto, Ontario. Died February 14, 2014
Montreal, Quebec. She grew
up in a wealthy family in Toronto. She attended McGill University where she
earned a B.Sc. in 1950. This may have been where she met her husband of 50
years, John N. Mappin. After all the two had an insatiable love of books. In
later life, John turned in the family jewelry business to deal with
historical publications while she preferred current Canadian Literature. The
couple had five children. In the mid 1970’s she became a 3rd
partner in the Double Hook Book Store in Montreal. When her partners left
the business she took it on by herself. She sold currently published
Canadian books in the heart of Montreal where English language works were
often difficult to find. She welcomed and supported Canadian authors. In
1999 she served on the jury for the Giller Prize for Canadian Fiction. In
2000 and again in 2002 she founded scholarship programmers at McGill
University. In 2005 Judy decided to retire and close the Book Store. That
same year she was honoured with the President’s Award of Distinction from
the Association of Canadian Publishers for her 31 years of support of
Canadian literature. In 2006 she received an honourary doctorate from McGill
University and in 2008 she became a member of the Order of Canada.
Violet Madeline Mellinger Mann
Titanic
survivor
née Mellinger. Born Feb 22, 1899 Walthamstow,
England. Died May 27, 1976, Toronto, Ontario. Madeline grew up
in England. After her father became estranged from the family
she and some her siblings were sent to Children's Homes because
of the severe straights of the family with only a single parent.
In early 1912 her mother, Elizabeth, was offered a position as a
domestic in Bennington, Vermont, U.S.A. Madeline and her
mother boarded the Titanic on April 10, 1912 for passage to the
U.S.A. Madeline and her mother were placed in lifeboat 14 when
the ship began to sink. They were later transferred to lifeboat
12 and rescued by the ship Carpathia. The pair returned to
England after the disaster and emigrated to Canada about 1915
and settling in Toronto. October 1, 1921 Madeline married David
Daniel Man (1898- ) a banker, in London,
Ontario. The couple would have four sons. On April 15, 1939
Madeline and her mother, Elizabeth, attended a Titanic Reunion
at the Royal York Hotel in Toronto. She would also attend a
Titanic Historical Society convention in the 1970's. See also
Elizabeth Mellinger Source:
Encyclopedia Titanica Online (Accessed 2020)
Marie-Joseph-Angélique.
Slave
Born 1710 ? Baptized June
28, 1730. She was a black slave who had the misfortune to fall in love with
a white man, Claude Thibault. They fled from Canada to New England. To mask
their escape she set fire to her master's house. The fire burnt out of
control and 46 homes were destroyed along with the famous Hotel Dieu. She
was captured and sentenced to have her hand cut off and be burned alive. The
sentence was changed to handing before her body was burned. Her ashes were
scattered to the wind.
Alice Massey
Wife of a Governor General
née Parkin. Born 1880, Fredericton, New
Brunswick. Died July 29, 1950, Port Hope, Ontario. Alice was
educated in Canada, England and Switzerland. At the beginning of
World War l in 1914 she was head of the women's students hostel
at the University of Toronto. In 1915 she married future
High Commission for Canada in the United Kingdom l Vincent
Massey (1887-1967). The couple had two Children. During World
War ll while in England she assisted Canadian Service men and
women and cared for injured Canadians . She also served as a
member of the St. John Ambulance Brigade. Vincent Massey became
Governor General of Canada after his wife's death and his
daughter in law, Lilias Massey served as Chatelaine at Rideau
Hall, the Governor General's residence.
(2020)
Judith Maxwell
Economist
Born
July 21, 1943 Kingston, Ontario. Judith attended Dalhousie
University, Halifax, Nova Scotia earning her Bachelor of Commerce
Degree in 1963. She studied at the London School of Economics in
England from 1965-1966. On May 8 1970 she married Anthony Stirling
and the couple have 2 children. She worked as a researcher
with the Combines Investigation Branch of the Federal Department of
Consumer and Corporate Affairs until 1965. She worked as an economist
and writer for the Financial Times of Canada from 1966 through 1972
and then was Director of Policy Studies at the C.D. Howe Institute
until 1980. She worked with the Economic Council of Canada from
1985-1992 prior to becoming Associate Director of the School of
Policy Studies at Queen’s University, Kingston and Executive
Director of Queen’s-University of Ottawa Economic Projects in
1992-1994. She was a member of Ontario Premier’s Council from
1998-1990. She has authored several books the economics and social
role of government. In 1996 she was inducted into the Order of
Canada. She was a founding president of the Canadian Policy Research
Networks until she retired in 2005. She is a member of the Board of
Governors of the Community Foundation of Ottawa and is part of a
group of volunteers working to establish a Citizens Academy of
Ottawa.
(2020)
Jessie Isabel Meighen
Wife of a Prime Minister
née Cox.
Born April 18, 1883, Granby, Quebec. Died September 6, 1985, Toronto,
Ontario. Isabel left home to teach in Manitoba. It was while here that she
me a young man who had also been a teacher and then studied law. In June
1904 she married Arthur Meighen (1874-1960) who would become the 8th
Prime Minister of Canada. The couple had three children.
Sources:
Une Granbyenne, première dame du Canada by René Beaudoin in
Société
d”Histoire de la haute-Yamaska, Fév. 26, 2012. Online accessed July
2013.
Elizabeth Anne Mellinger
Titanic survivor
née Maidment. Born 1870, Pimlico, England. Died
January 4, 1962, Toronto. Elizabeth married Claude Leinard
Deschamps Mellinger on March 13, 1895. The couple had five
children. By 1901 Claude had become estranged from his family
and resettled in Australia. With her husbands departure
Elizabeth lived in dire circumstances with some of her children
being taken from her to live in Children's Homes. In 1912
Elizabeth was offered employment as a housekeeper in Bennington,
Vermont, U.S.A. April 10, 1912 she and her daughter Violet as
second class passengers on the Titanic. The mother and daughter
first boarded lifeboat 14 and later transferred to lifeboat 12
and were picked up by the ship Carpathia. The two
returned to England after the disaster and emigrated to Canada
around 1915 settling in Toronto. April 15, 1939 Elizabeth and
Violet Madeline attended a Titanic reunion at the Royal York
Hotel in Toronto. SEE also daughter Violet Mellinger
Mikak
Aboriginal woman
Born 1740 ?, Labrador. Died 1795, A
daughter of an Inuit Chief, Mikak lived with her husband and son in a small
British fishing station when the settlement was raided and her husband was
killed. The young widow learned to speak English from a British solder,
Francis Lucas. She and her son went to England with Lucas. Here she was
treated like the Inuit Princess that she was. She and her son had their
portrait painted by the famous artist John Russell. In London she met Jens
Haver, a Moravarian Missionary. She helped the missionary raise funds for a
mission and in the summer of 1768 she returned to Labrador with Francis
Lucas. When Jans Haven arrived in 1769 she helped establish the mission for
which she had helped to raise funds from the British. She remarried to an
Inuit hunter, Tugavina, and settled with her family in her homeland.
Eleanor Joan 'Dusty' Miller
Theatre Administrator
née
Faircloth. Born August 3, 1929. Died February 14, 2012. In 1949 she
married Thomas B. Miller ( - 1996) and the couple moved to England
returning to live in Thunder Bay, Ontario in 1954 where Dusty would become
Artistic Director of the Cambrian Players for nine years. She also taught
theatre and television arts in high schools and designed and co-directed the
Fine Arts Division at Lakehead University. She also taught in the
Confederation College Performing Arts Management Program. She became active
in politics and in 1974 was elected as a city councilor. In 1978-1980 she
was the first woman mayor of Thunder Bay,. She was elected again to city
council in 1985 and served through 1991. She was a member of the Board of
Directors of Lakehead University for 11 years and was a founding member of
Theater Ontario. Influential Women honoured her with the Northwestern
Ontario Business Award and was presented the Maggie Bassett Award from
Theatre Ontario for her outstanding contribution to theatre. She received
the Order of Ontario and was appointed a Fellow of Lakehead University.
Source: Obituary Globe and Mail March 10, 2012.
Suggestion submitted by June Coxon, Ottawa Ontario
Dorothea Mitchell
Teacher,
lumberjack, photographer, amateur film maker.
Born 1877, England. Died 1976, Victoria,
British Columbia. As a youth the Mitchell family lived in
Bombay, India (now Mumbai) where her father worked building
railroads. Dorothea and her sister Vera were educated not only
in the traditional skills for girls of the times but also were
introduced to carpentry, riding, and marksmanship. After the
death of her father the family returned to England where
Dorothea worked at various jobs to help support the family. In
1904 Dorothea emigrated to Canada working in Halifax, Nova
Scotia as a dance teacher. When her mother and sister also
immigrated they lived in Hamilton and Toronto, Ontario. In 1907
she was granted a homestead but one of only 79 acres, about half
what a man would be granted. She was the rist single woman in
Ontario to be granted a homestead. In 1909 she worked for a
mining engineering company in northwester Ontario in the town of
Silver Mountain and later worked for the Canadian National
Railway (C N R ) as a station master and also worked at the
general store. Later she purchased a lumber mill and was able to
hire workers earning the titl of Lady Lumberjack. Trading an old
cook stove for a camera she soon gained a solid reputation as a
photographer. By 1921 she had settled in Port Arthur, Ontario
(now Thunder Bay) and she soon her photos and stories began to
appear in local newspapers and theartre as she became interested
in film. In 1929 she was actor, production manager, editor,
casting director and writer for the film A race For Ties. She
followed this up with Sleep Inn Beauty. Her final film
and The Fatal Flower, in 1930 was left uncompleted due to
financial difficulties This silent film was completed by a group
of film historians in 2004. In 1930 she became the first
secretary-treasurer of the Port Arthur General Hospital. After
the death of her mother and sister she worked in real estate and
accounting. During World War ll she worked with the Red
Cross Society in the transportation corps. After the war she
continued working to help returning service men and British war
orphans. In 1941 she retired to Victoria, British Columbia once
again entering the foray of amateur film mating She would also
serve as secretary for the Victoria Branch of the Canadian
Authors Association. Her autobiography is called the Lady
Lumberjack. (2020)
Nancy Morton
Black Slave
Born 1762, Colony of Maryland (now U.S.A.) In the
mid 1780 a loyalist from Maryland, Caleb Jones, resettled in New
Brunswick near Fredericton on his 900 acre estate. Caleb Jones
brought his slaves with him to his new home. In 1786 Nancy
Morton (last name may be in question) escaped. She was described
as approximately 24 years of age and a reward of $6.00 was
offered for her return. It is not known who or how she was
returned but by 1800 there was a court case before the New
Brunswick Supreme Court to gain her freedom. Her case was taken
up by two prominent lawyers of Saint John Ward Chipman and
Samuel Denny Street. There were at this time no laws in the
colony about slavery. The Supreme Court came back with a split
vote and Nancy was retained as a slave. According to some
accounts she remained a slave for an additional 15 years.
Following the trial, one of the judges, Isaac Allen freed his
own slaves. It was not until 1834 that the British Government
was able to outlaw slavery in the British Empire. Nancy's trial
marked the unofficial decline of slavery in New Brunswick.
Source: New Brunswick Black History
Society Online (accessed 2020)
Milica "Mila" Mulroney
Wife of a Prime Minister
née
Pivnicki. Born July 13,1953 Sarajevo, Bosnia-Herzegovina .Her father was a
doctor and could not advance without being a member of the party politics.
He took a research fellowship in Montreal in 1956 and worked the next two
years through red tape necessary to bring his family to Canada. Mila was 5
when she arrived in Canada and had her first glimpse of snow. She registered
at Concordia University to study engineering and fine art but became
diverted in her studies. In 1972 She met an up and coming lawyer from Bae
Como and they married May 26, 1973. Brian Mulroney (1939 - ) would become
the 18th Prime Minister of Canada 1984-1993. Mila dropped her
university studies becoming a housewife, mother of 4 children and staunch
supporter of her husband’s political career. Both were involved with the
Progressive Conservatives in Westmount. Mila played a large role in Brian’s
first campaign for the Progressive Conservative Party leadership. Many PC
campaign buttons featured both Mulroney’s face and hers. She was known for
having a good handle on fashion but she could also work a crowd with her
friendly manner making people feel at ease. Her charity works included being
a director of the Canadian Cystic Fibrosis Foundation . After politics and
with her children grown and married she rekindled her interest in the arts.
She enjoys making necklaces that she gives to family and friends. She also
enjoys painting and abstract works of art.
Sources: “Mila Mulroney : Designing Woman” by Julia Smith.
Maclean’s
Magazine July 12, 2013. Online accessed July 2013. ; “Meet Mila
Mulroney’s greatest asset.” By Hubert Bauch. Montreal Gazette
September 3, 1983 Online accessed July 2013.
Letitia Munson
Slave/healer
Born North Carolina, U.S.A. ca 1820 Died Ca 1882. Born a
slave she was sent by her master to learn the art of healing to help other
slaves and protect the investment of the master. By 1861 she had gained her
freedom and was settled in Woodstock in Canada West. By 1870 she was a well
established herbalist and fortune teller and her home was the place that
many unwed women visited when they became pregnant. She became involved in a
scandalous legal case where she was accused but acquitted of performing
abortions. In her day orphanages did not accept illegitimate children and
many women felt their choice was limited to visiting her home.
Asayo Murakami
'Picture Bride'
née
Imamoto. Born 1898 Japan. Died December 21, 2002 Vancouver, British
Columbia. Asayo married in Japan into the Ishibashi family and had two
daughters before her marriage was dissolved. Her daughters were sent to live
with their paternal grandmother. On May 27, 1924 Asayo arrived in British
Columbia as a 'picture bride' for a Mr. Murakami. However, when she saw the
short unattractive man she changed her mind. She worked for three years
cleaning houses and working in a canning factory to pay back the spurned
fiancée for her travel to Canada. A matchmaker introduced her to Otokichimi
Murakami and the married couple settled in Stevenson, British Columbia.
Between the children from previous marriages and their family there were 12
children. In 1942 the government of Canada confiscated homes and businesses
and moved Japanese families to internment camps. The Murakami family were
moved to Letellier, Manitoba. Here they worked for fifty cents and
hour. In 1949 the couple joined the family of their oldest daughter in
Ranier, Alberta. They retired in 1967.
Sheila NaGiera
Legendary pioneer
(Magella
or MaGeila?) Is she real? Only the undiscovered foggy history of
Newfoundland knows for sure. As oral history tells it, she may have been an
O’Connor, the daughter of a claimant to the Irish Throne of Connaught. Oral
traditions abound in tales of Newfoundland’s early Irish Princess. She is
reputed to have come to Newfoundland in the early 1600’s and married one
Gilbert Pike. The couple became planters and small business people in nearby
Carbonnear Island in 1611. Were they indeed the first European couple to
settle Newfoundland’s shores??? Source: The Beaver, February /
March 2005 pages 44-45 at your Public Library.
Angelina Napolitano
Convicted murderer
Born near Naples, Italy 1883(?) Died after 1924.
In 1909, Angelina and her husband emigrated to Canada fro Ital via New York
City. The settled in Sault Ste Marie, Ontario. On April 16, 1911 she hugged
her children good bye and went to jail. She had waited for the police. She
had killed her abusive husband. In 1910 she had been disfigured when stabbed
by her abusive husband. She saw no other way out for the safety of her
children. He had tried to force her to prostitute herself to earn
money to build a family house. She was convicted and sentenced to hang after
the birth of the child she was expecting. A protest erupted following the
conviction. Organizations from across North America and Britain. Feminist
groups screamed 'self Defence'. On July 14, 1911 her sentence was commuted
to life in prison. December 30, 1924 she was granted parole. She had kept in
touch with her children but it is not known what happened after 1924.
Her case was the beginning of recognition of a major problem of western
civilization. Was she guilty. Yes, but in the modern millennium law and
society would have provided at least alternative solution to her situation.
Hanna Newcombe
Peace advocate
née
Hammerschlag. Born February 5, 1922, Prague, Poland. Died April 10, 2011,
Hamilton, Ontario. She was appointed to the Order of Canada in 2007. When
she was in her late teens the German Nazis marched into Prague and her
family emigrated to Canada in 1939. The family settled on a fruit farm near
Grimsby, Ontario. By 1945 Hanna had earned a Bachelor of Science degree from
McMaster University in Hamilton, Ontario and the family had moved to
Toronto. While she was studying at University she met her husband Alan
George Newcombe and the couple studied for they PhD's at the University of
Toronto. Graduating in 1950 she soon gave birth to a daughter and then a
son. In 1955 the young family relocated to Hamilton and a second son was
born. Hanna augmented the family income as an occasional instructor in
chemistry. The couple founded the Peace Research Institute in Dundas,
Ontario in the late 1970's and followed this with founding the Canadian
Peace Research and Education Association. They both published articles in
numerous scholarly journals. They established summer institutes on peace
research. Hanna was an active member in the World Federalist Movement, the
Canadian Voice of Women, and the Canadian Religious Society of Friends (
known as Quakers). In 1997 Hanna received the Pearson Peace Medal. The
family has endowed the Newcombe Prize in Peace Studies at McMaster
University, an annual support to an outstanding undergraduate in Peace
Studies.
Catherine Norton
Aboriginal women
Born ca 1797,
U.S.A. ?. Died January 16, 1827 Thamesville, Upper Canada (Now Ontario). Her
Aboriginal name was Karighwahcagh. In 1813 when she was approximately 16
years old she married the 50 year old Chief John Norton. John was the son of
a Cherokee father and a Scottish mother who was probably born in Scotland.
As a youth he had joined the British Army making his way to North America
where he eventually became adopted by the Mohawk Chief Joseph Brant
(1743-1807). After their marriage Catherine accompanied John during his
service in the War of 1812. She would have been exposed to the rough living
in army camps. After the War John took Catherine to Scotland where she
attended school in Dunfermaine. While in Scotland Catherine became
acquainted with the Duchess of Northumberland who had a portrait of
Catherine commissioned. In 1816 the couple returned to Upper Canada and
eventually settled on a large farm at Sims Locks overlooking the Grand
River. In 1823, believing Catherine to have been unfaithful to him, John
Norton became embroiled in duel. He was charged with murder and convicted of
manslaughter and paid a fine of 25 pounds. John settled a portion of his
British army pension on Catherine and left for the U.S.A. There is evidence
that he intended to return to Canada but there is no proof that he did
indeed return. Catherine settled in Thamesville in Upper Canada.
Sources: Carl F. Klinck, “NORTON, JOHN,” in
Dictionary of Canadian Biography, vol. 6, University of
Toronto/Université Laval, 2003–, accessed March 14, 2015,
http://www.biographi.ca/en/bio/norton_john_6E.html. : Women of Valour
, in Canadian History Aug-September 2013;
Gilberte Paquette
Hospital administrator
Born La Reine, Abitibi, Quebec. Died August 10, 2009 Ottawa,
Ontario. Within weeks of her birth her family relocated to Mace, Ontario, an
Indian reserve in the District of Cochrane in Northern Ontario. From Mace
the family moved to Frederick House, near the town of Cochrane, Ontario to
allow the children to attend school. Gilberte entered religious life with
the Sisters of Charity of Ottawa on January 15, 1942 and took her 1st vows
on January 3, 1944. After earning a teaching certificate at the Ottawa
Teacher's College Gilberte went on to earn her BA and then a degree in
Commercial Sciences in 1952. By 1966 she had also studied hospital
administration. She taught in various towns in Eastern Ontario and Quebec as
well as Ottawa. In 1959 she joined the staff at the Ottawa General Hospital
and in 1968 she was appointed as CEO a position she held until 1980. At that
time she transferred to the Elisabeth Bruyère site of the Ottawa General
Hospital leading it to become a palliative care Centre. In 1983 she
established the 1st regional palliative care centre in Ontario. May
16, 2002 the city of Ottawa dedicated Gilberte-Paquette Ave. in the city in
her honour. (2019)
Isabella Pain
Negotiator
née Ford.
Born 1968 Nain, Labrador. She left home to study at Memorial University in
St. John’s Newfoundland earning a degree in political science. She joined
the Labrador Inuit Association land claims negotiating team in 2001 was
named co-chief negotiator. In 2001 she was also appointed chief negotiator
on Inco’s Voisey’s Bay development. Agreement was reached in 2002 and the
project proceeded as planned in 2004. In 2004 she became Inuit Affairs
Officer with INCO. In 2004 she was named one of Canada’s Top forty under
forty. She is married and the couple have one daughter.
Source:
Herstory: The Canadian Women’s Calendar 2006. Saskatoon: Coteau Books,
2005
Maryon Elspeth Pearson
Wife of a Prime Minister
née Moody.
Born December 13,1901 Winnipeg, Manitoba. Died December 26,1968Toronto,
Ontario. While attending the University of Toronto in her 4th
year of studies she enrolled in tutorial classes given by Lester Bowles
Pearson (1897-1972) On August 22, 1925 the couple were married in Winnipeg.
He soon became involved in politics and would become the 14th
Prime Minister of Canada 1963-1968.They would have one son and one daughter.
She did not really care for wearing hats nor politics but she was a staunch
defender of her husband. She was known for speaking her mind and for off the
cuff “quips” with the pres. She was known to have said “Behind every great
man is a surprised woman.” Evidently the couple argued as a way of life but
still had a loving relationship. Reportedly at her request that the practice of curtseying to the Governor
General and his consort was discontinued (apparently because Maryon refused
to act deferentially toward her old friend Norah Michener, the wife of
Rolland Mitchner, the Governor General). It is interesting that while she
does not have an entry of her own in the Dictionary of Canadian Biography,
a paragraph in the biography of her husband is dedicated to her. Source:
“Lester Bowles Pearson”, Dictionary of Canadian Biography Online
(University of Toronto Press) Accessed July 2013.
Frances M. Phipps
née Coolin. Born Trois Rivières, Quebec. Died
July 2013, New Glasgow, Prince Edward Island. By 1946
Frances was settled in Ottawa where she met and married
Welland 'Weldy' Phipps (died 1996) a flight instructor. The
couple would have nine children. In 1962 the couple formed
Atlas Aviation in Resolute Bay Northwest Territories (now
Nunavut). At the time it was the most northerly air service
in Canada. April 5, 1971, the coupe was installing a radar beacon at the
North Pole. The Guinness Book of World Records lists
Frances as the first woman to
set foot on the North Pole. The couple
retired from flying in 1972 only to start a ten year sailing
adventure to Prince Edward Island, Bermuda and the
Caribbean. After the death of her husband Frances called
Cochrane , Alberta her home port as she toured throughout
North America in her motor home.
Source: Obituary Accessed (2020)
Sophia Pooley
Slave
née Burthen. Born Fishkill, New York, U.S.A. A slave by birth she was stolen
with her sister by the owner’s son in law when she was 7 years old. In
Genesee, New York, she was sold to Joseph Brant (1752-1807) a Mohawk leader
who sided with the British during the American Revolution.Sophia helped Brant hunt deer by scaring the deer towards Brant and his sons
to them.While Brant himself was not disposed to mistreating his slaves, evidently
his third wife was extremely brutal. he sold Sophia when she was twelve
years old to Samuel Hatt who lived in Ancaster. Eventually freed in 1813,
Sophia moved to Waterloo County where she married Robert Pooley. When 90
years old she and other former slaves were interviewed to collect their
stories and memories about their time as slaves. Source: Slavery in Canada. Online
WWW.canadachannel.ca/slavery/index (accessed February 2015)
Harriet Powel
Passenger on the Underground Railroad
Born 1815 ? Died February 5, 1860, Kingston, Canada West (Now Ontario).
Harriet was ¼ African heritage and was sold at auction in New Orleans when
she was 14 years old. She arrived in Syracuse, New York, on a trip with the
Davenports, a wealthy family from Mississippi, U.S.A. The group caused great
discussion when word got out that the beautiful young woman with the
Davenports was not a companion but rather a slave. While staying at the
Syracuse House Hotel with her owners, Harriet was approached by some of the
black staff of the hotel. Did she wish to escape from being a slave? They
could help her escape. She worked her way through several safe houses on the
famous Underground Railroad that helped escaped slaves find their way to
Canada and freedom. At one stop, the home of Gerrit and Ann Smith in
Peterboro, Madison County, New York, Harriet told her tearful story to a
young cousin visiting the Smith home. Elizabeth Cady Stanton would go on to
become a prominent feminist and she would remember the young slave woman’s
story. On October 29, 1839 Harriet left Cape Vincent, New York and landed on
Wolfe Island, Upper Canada and then made it safely to Kingston, Upper Canada
where she lived with Charles and Charlotte Hales There were rumors that the
Davenport family had hired men to kidnap and return the errant slave, so
life at first was tense. In April 1840 Harriet married Henry Kelly, a
respectable gentleman of colour who was a musician. The couple had 5
children who lived to be adults. A son Charles and his daughter Hattie were
professional musicians in Guelph, Ontario. A granddaughter, A granddaughter,
Katrina Coffin Kelly, was a missionary in Chile. Their son Edward was a
barber in Winnipeg who Canadian checkers champion.
Source: A brief account of Harriet
Powel’s Escape to Kingston by Joanne Stanbridge. A paper presented at
the Kingston Genealogical Society February 2009.
Suggestion submitted by June (Hales) Coxon, Ottawa, Ontario.
Anne Powell
Doyenne of Toronto
née Murray.
Born April 26, 1755, Wells, Norfolk, England. Died March 10, 1849, Toronto,
Canada West (Now Ontario). As a young woman she had been forced to learn the
profession as milliner which she felt was beneath her station in life. On
October 3, 1775 she eloped without permission of family with William Dummer
Powell (died 1834) and the couple set off for England. The couple would have
9 children. By 1780 she and her children joined William in Montreal. The
family moved numerous times to various locations in the U.S.A. and England
finally settling in Toronto in 1799. Here William served as a judge
providing Anne with a suitable station in the community where she became a
well known social arbiter. In April 1813, during the War of 1812, the
Americans attacked Toronto Anne fearlessly determined to remain In her house
while other families fled the town. She did not however survive the scandal
with her promiscuous daughter Anne who was involved with the married John
Beverly Robinson. The mother, at one time, sought to have her daughter
committed to an asylum. Young Anne died in a shipwreck in 1829. The mother
was brought to disgrace and withdrew from society. In 1826 the couple moved
to England for a few years but by 1829 there returned to Upper Canada. In
1840 a ‘wicked’ granddaughter was embroiled in a messy divorce, the first
divorce in Upper Canada. Much of Anne’s life is known through the some 700
detailed letters to family and friends which have survived. A portion of
Anne Powell’s voluminous correspondence has been published under the title
“Letters of Mrs. Wm. Dummer Powell, 1807–1821,” ed. By Janet Carnochan, in
the Niagara Historical Society, no.14 (1906): 1–40.
Sources: Edith G. Firth, “MURRAY, ANNE,” in
Dictionary of Canadian Biography, vol. 7, University of
Toronto/Université Laval, 2003–, accessed March 14, 2015, ;
Women of valour
, in Canadian History Aug-September 2013;
Gladys Powers
World War l veteran
Born 1899, England. Died August 14, 2008, Abbottsford, British Columbia. She
served in the British Women’s Army Auxiliary Corp in World War 1. She also
served in the British Royal Air Force when she worked as a barracks
waitress. After the war she came to Canada as a War Bride of a Canadian
Soldier, Ed Luxford. She proudly became a Canadian Citizen. The couple
settled at first in Calgary, Alberta but Gladys found it rather cold so the
couple walked the rails in 1925, 1000 kilometers to settle on the west
coast. Hollowing her divorce from Ed, Gladys married three more times, only
to outlive all three husbands. Upon her death she was believed to have been
the last woman World War One veteran. She was 109 years old.
Source: Heroines.ca. Online (Accessed February 2009)
Minnie Sophia Prat
Book Binder
Born 1868 Wolfeville, Nova
Scotia. Died Wolfeville, Nova Scotia September 4, 1901. Minnie and her
sisters, Annie and May were adventuresome spirits leading up to the turn of
the century. At one time Minnie was engaged to marry Goodridge Roberts,
brother of the poet Charles G. D. Roberts, but Goodridge dies of flu in
1892. In 1897 Minnie boldly moved to New York City to study the art of book
binding with Evelyn Nordhoff, the first independent woman bookbinder in
North America. Her sister May joined Minnie in New York t, learning about
leatherwork for binding. The women were all pioneers in this male
professional bastion. After Evelyn died, Minnie and May opened their own
Primrose Bindery in New York City in 1900. Minnie won a silver medal at the
1900 Paris Exhibition and a Bronze Medal for her work in Buffalo, New York
at the 1901 Pan-American Exposition. Minnie died in 1901 of typhoid
contracted during a visit home to Wolfeville. May kept the Primrose Bindery
working with the help of big sister Anne but was forced to close it down in
1904 when she returned home to marry.
Source: Nova Scotia Archives. The Prat
Sisters. Online
http://gov.ns.ca (accessed June 2011) ;
Herstory: the Canadian
Women’s Calendar 2007 Coteau Books, 2006 page 74.
Catherine Anne Prevost
Political Wife
née Phipps.
Born 1766. Died August 1, 1821 Belmont Bedhampton, Hampshire, England. On
May 19, 1789 she married Sir George James Marc Prevost (1767-1816). Sir
George held several political posts where the British government desired to
have a military competency. The family was in Dominica when he served as
Governor General. He was appointed as Lieutenant Governor of Nova Scotia
January 15, 1808 and Catherine followed arriving in Halifax in August of
1808 where she took up duties as official hostess. On October 21 1811 Sir
Charles was appointed Governor General of British North America and the
family relocated to Quebec. Catherine presided over formal occasions and
often represented her husband socially during absences leading forces in the
War of 1812. Upon the death of her husband in 1816 she declined offer of
peerage in honour of her husband as she did not consider herself or her
family to have sufficient means to support the dignity.
Source:
Women of Valour , in Canadian History Aug-September
2013;
Jane Elizabeth Proctor
Physiotherapist
Born December 25, 1949. Died July 25, 2014 Richmond Hill, Ontario. Jane
married Ronald Boss and the couple had one daughter. She was by profession a
physiotherapist and she ran her own clinic in Etobicoke, Ontario. She was
also physiotherapist for team Canada at such international events as the
Pan-American Games, the Commonwealth Games and both summer and winter
Olympics. At these games she served figure skaters and volleyball players
with compassion.
Source: Obituaries, The Globe and Mail, July 31, 2014.
Suggestion submitted by June Coxon, Ottawa, Ontario.
Monica Proiette
'Machine
Gun Molly'
Born February 25, 1940 Montreal, Quebec. Died September 19, 1967. Monica was
born to a poor family that had of tussles with the law. At 13 she was a
working prostitute. In 1956 at just 17 she married Anthony Smith, a
Scottish gangster who was almost twice her age. The couple had two children.
In 1962 Anthon was deported from Canada. Two years after her marriage a fire
in their home killed 4 of her brothers and sisters. After the loss of her
husband Monica became involved with a bank robber Viteur Tessier and this
couple had one child. Eventually Viteur Tessier was caught and was sent to
jail for 15 years leaving Monica on her own again to raise her three
children. She began her solo robbing career. Monica and her accomplices held
up more than 20 banks in the Montreal area stealing over $100,000.00
dollars. The media dubbed her Machine Gun Molly/Monica La Mitraille. She
used numerous disguises ranging from feminine outfits to masculine outfits.
On September 19, 1967 Monica died after crashing into a bus and being shot
twice by an undercover police officer following a high-speed chase through
the north-end of the city. Reportedly, this was to have been her last bank
robbery, intended to fund a new life in Florida. During her lifetime in
robbery she became known by the nick name Machine Gun Molly. A 2004 Quebec
film Monica la mitraille
(Machine Gun Molly in English) was loosely based on her life. The
film was adapted from the book Souvenirs de Monica by
Georges-Hébert
Germain.
Rose Marie Rauter
Forester
Marie was the
1st woman to graduate in forestry from the University of Toronto.
She went on to earn her Masters in forestry genetics. She began her career
with the Ministry of Natural Resources in Ontario. In the 1970’s she served
a Supervisor of the Tree and Seed and Forest Genetics Unit. In 1984,
Marie convinced the forest industries of the
Province of Ontario that they should actively participate in the tree
improvement program, which resulted in 1985, in the formation of the Ontario
Tree Improvement Council. chaired a working
group in the International Union of Forest Research
Organizations (IUFRO). She has presented papers throughout North
America and abroad and has been an invitational participant in events such
as the world forest policy forum in Indonesia. In 1992, she became the
President and CEO of the Ontario Forest Industries
Association, a position she held until 2000. Marie lead the
development of Ontario Industry Codes of Forest
Practice and been involved in many regional, provincial, national and
international discussions on behalf of Ontario forest industries. She is an
active member of several committees and associations including the board of
the Canadian Pulp and Paper Association, the
National Roundtable of the Economy and Environment, the Environment Forestry
Task Force to the Biodiversity Advisory Committee for
Environment Canada and External Affairs, and she was prominent in
developing Canada's position at the Rio Conference.
She served on numerous boards including the Advisory Committee of the
Faculty of Forestry at the University of British Columbia and the Ontario
Board of the Canadian Nature Conservancy.
Source: Jean
Bannerman, Leading Ladies of Canada (Belleville, Mika Publishing,
1977);
Myrtle Raivio
Outfitter &
guide
née Sands. July 21, 1914 Evarts, Alberta.
Died August 8, 1982, Alberta. The family would live in a
remote home northwest of Rocky Mountain House. Her father
was a trapper and a guide for hunters. This was Myrtle's
school. In the great outdoors she learned geography and
biology. The family being so remote from any town produced
their own food, clothing and even tack for the horses. In
fact she would become a skilled seamstress making her own
clothing, as well as outfits for others, as an adult. Myrtle
became a trapper with pelts being the family income. After
the death of her mother, her father remarried and Myrtle
helped bring up five more siblings. She would be the cook at
her father's camps for visitors. In 1932 she married Niilo
Raivio (died 1948) and the couple had two sons. By 1949 she
had earned her own Guide and Outfitters' license. This would
be her calling over the next half century. She became
interested in wild animal conservation. Attending
conventions she gained knowledge of world conservation
as well as new clients. When mother-in-law and
brother were confined to a long stay in hospital, she became
not only a welcome visitor but a regular hospital volunteer.
As a guide she earned many awards including the Rocky
Mountain Trophy for five years of bagging the largest animal
of each season. She made sure those for whom she was a
guide, tourists, hunters, and geologists alike, were well
fed and well entertained each day. Sometimes she was called
Shorty but a more fitting title for
Alberta's first woman guide and outfitter was Lady
Guide of the Foothills.
(2020)
Kate Reed
Interior designer
née Armour Born September 16, 1856 Cobourg, Ontario. Died September 18, 1928
London, England. On a trip to New York City, USA Kate met her 1st
husband, an American lawyer, Grosvenor Porter Lowery. The couple had two
children. After her husband’s death she returned with her children to Ottawa
where she shortly married a former fiancé Hayter Reed(1847-1936) on June 16,
1889. The couple had one child. While in served as an early governor of the
Victorian Order of Nurses. Kate was also a founding member of the Aberdeen
Association (Now the National Association of Women of Canada) By 1900 Kate,
with the family now living in Quebec City, began to help decorate the
Chateau Frontenac Hotel of which her husband was in control. A connoisseur
of antiques and paintings her efforts were noticed by the powers at be of
the Canadian Pacific hotels and by1905 when her husband was manager and Chief of the CP Hotel department Kate
was using her skills to do interior décor with the architects of the hotels
across the country becoming perhaps the 1st professional woman in
interior design. She
also encouraged the exhibiting of works of Canadian female artists. After
her husband retired from CP hotels she helped with hotels owned by Canadian
Steamship lines. Her personal papers including her journals are retained at
the McCord Museum in Montreal.
Miriam Alleyne Priscilla Renouf
Archeologist
Born August
8, 1953, St. John’s, Newfoundland. Died April 2014, St. John’s Newfoundland.
Priscilla loved to sew as a youngster and as a teen she won a Miss Singer
Sewing Contest. She attended Memorial University of Newfoundland earning
both her B.A. and her M.A. She earned her PhD at Cambridge University,
England. In 1981 she joined the faculty of Memorial University. She held the
Canada Research Chair of North Atlantic Archeology. In 1992 she earned the
President’s Award for Outstanding Research. She was a member of the 1st
Board of Trustees of the Canadian Museum of civilization and a member of the
Board of Directors for Historic Sites Association of Newfoundland and
Labrador. She was also on the governing body of Social Sciences and
Humanities Research council of Canada. She was co-founder of an
international research group called LINK, whose goal is to answer questions
relating to past societies and how they coped with climate changes. She
would also author several books in her field. In 1999 she married Roger
Pickavance.
Source: “Obituaries: Priscilla Renouf…a humanistic approach to archeology.”
By Joan Sullivan, the Globe and Mail, April 16, 2014. Suggestion
submitted by June Coxon.
Alma V. Ricard
Philanthropist
née Vézina
Born 1906, Montreal, Quebec. Died June 2, 2003, Sudbury, Ontario. Alma moved
to Sudbury in 1931. In 1940 she married Baxter Ricard. Baxter was a
successful pioneer in communications with radio and television. Upon his
death in 1993 Alma began investigating investing how best to help French
Canadians living where their language made them a minority group. In 1998
she established the Baxter and Alma Ricard Foundation to help students
living in linguistic minorities. She also made major financial contributions
to various hospitals and educational institutions. She received honourary
doctorates from Laurentian University, Sudbury, Ontario and the University
of Ottawa. In 2000 she was appointed to the Order of Canada. She was also
the recipient of the Ordre de la Pléiade.
Source:
Les Elles du nord Online (Accessed June 2015)
Kathleen 'Kate' Rice
Prospector
Born December
20, 1883, St. Mary’s Ontario. Died 1963 Minnedosa, Manitoba. Kate came from
a well to do family and was well educated having earned a degree in
mathematics at the University of Toronto in 1906. For a while she taught in
St. Catharines, Ontario and at Albert College, Bellville, Ontario before
heading to the Canadian west and teaching in 1908 in Tees, Alberta. By 1912
she had landed in Yorkton, Saskatchewan. She spent 2 years in The Pas where
she spent her summers as a prospector. She enjoyed prospecting and taught to
earn enough money to earn provisions for mining. In 1911 she set out for
Flin Flon. By 1914 she decided to take on a business partner, Dick Woosey.
She latterly split her cabin in half with a rope with each to their own
side, it was a business partnership! Kate wrote scientific papers on the
northern lights and dabbled in journalism writing for the Toronto Star.
She even designed a hydro electric project with which she hoped to power one
of her own mines. She knew well the Aboriginal population in the areas of
northern Manitoba, learning how to trap and live off the land as well as
learning to speak their language. They simply called her Mooniasquao,
meaning white woman. She isconsidered the
1st woman prospector and is responsible for the beginning of the gold
mining community in Manitoba.After Dick’s death in 1940 she
remained in the backwoods for 2 more decades. She eventually returned to
settled areas only to find herself in a mental institution. She was
eventually ejected for not being mentally ill but being just a tough old
miner. She died in an nursing home in Minnedosa. Although she is buried in
an unmarked grave, the owner of the Snow Lake Manitoba newspaper erected
tombstones for both miners. Kate’s tombstone reads “Extraordinary woman of
the wilds”. In 2014 Kate was inducted into the Canadian Miners Hall of Fame.
Sources: “Not Crazy, just a female prospector: Kate Rice honoured for mining
first” by Chris Purdy, Canadian Press, January 15, 2014 Online (Accessed
February 2014) ; Canadians All: Six portraits of our People by Terry
Angus et all. (Methuen, 1986)
Frederika Charlotte Louise Riedesel
née von Massow. Born July
11, 1746 Brandenberg, Germany. Died March 29, 1808 Berlin, Germany. She
married Friedrich Adolph Riedesel (died 1780) an officer in the Prussian
military. She would have 9 children. Her husband was in charge of a German
contingent hired by Britain to fight revolutionaries in the United States.
Charlotte decided to travel with her three young daughters, the youngest
just 10 weeks old, to join her husband in North America. She set sail from
England to Canada in April 1777. She joined her husband after Burgoyne
campaign. She was often in attendance helping with the war wounded. The
family moved to Boston and then New York City in 1779 and a daughter born in
New York, U.S.A. was named America in 1780. In 1781 they traveled to Quebec
and were assigned to the town of Sorel where that Christmas they errected,
according to their German tradition, a Christmas tree, the 1st in
Canada. Another daughter would be born, this time she was named Canada. In
1780 her husband became heir to his family title in Germany. Charlotte had
kept a journal of her life in North America. The journals were published
after the death of her husband.
Dorothy 'Dodi' Elizabeth Robb
Pioneer in TV
Born 1920?
Died February 17, 2012 Collingwood, Ontario. A pioneer worker with CBC
television in 1952 she went on to become the 1st head both
daytime and children’s programming for CBC TV. Dodi wrote and published five
musicals for children’s theatre and collaborated with Pat Patterson who
wrote music. Dodi created award winning shows for CBC, TVO and CFTO in
Toronto. She continued to work as an on air commentator for Vision
television after she had retired from the CBC in 1985. In 1994 she was
presented with the Governor General’s Award for the Persons case which
recognized her efforts to improve career opportunities for women.The Muppet “Dodi” an elderly female bush pilot who flies across Canada, who
was introduced for the Canadian version of Sesame Street in 1996 known as Sesame Park, was styled after Dodi Robb.Perhaps her greatest contribution to Canadian television culture was the
creation of the Kids of Degrassi Street which eventually became Degrassi Junior High and
Degrassi High. The Globe and Mail newspaper called Dodi Canada’s Queen of Children’s Television.
Source:
Obituary Globe and Mail February 25, 2012.
Patsy Rodgers-Henderson
Calgary Stampede Queen
Born July 25, 1925, Alberta. Died November
18, 2020, Red Deer, Alberta. As a child she rode her pony
three miles to and from school to her one room school. She
left her home on the family ranch at 15 to
attend
high school in Olds, Alberta. She and her dad always enjoyed
attending the Calgary Stampede. In 1946 she was chosen to
sell tickets for the stampede. Being the girl selling the
most tickets she was crowned the first Queen of the Calgary
Stampede. This was a new promotional idea for the Stampede.
For the next five months Patsy traveled US rodeo events as
Miss Rodeo Canada with six other rodeo Queens. They rode in
parades and performed in Texas, New York City and Boston.
She was even offered a chance to be a stunt rider in
Hollywood but he preferred to just return home to Alberta.
For the rest of her life she continued to be an ambassador
for the Calgary Stampede. In the 1960's she was a single
Mother with tow children. In 1971 she helped form the
Stamped Queen Alumnae Association. She rode in the
Stampede for the last time in 1996, the 50th anniversary of
her being the first Stampede Queen. After the death of her
second husband she moved to Red Deer, Alberta. In 2008 she
was made a life member of the Stampede and was the Grand
Marshall of the Parade. (2020)
Laura Rose
Agricultural lecturer
Born Ontario. Born and raised in Ontario she was a school
teacher who had experienced pioneer farm life while keeping house on her
brother's farm in North Dakota. She was an honours graduate and then
lecturer at the Farm Dairy School of the Ontario Agricultural School in
Guelph. She conducted a traveling dairy in Nova Scotia and participated as
judge of butter, bread, jam, fruit and fancy work at many rural fairs. She
wrote and edited articles for farm publications. Her 300 page book Farm
Dairying was used as a text in agricultural colleges. Shortly after the
formation of the first Women's Institute, the Ontario Department of
Agriculture engaged her as a lecturer and organizer of Women's Institutes.
It was under her guidance that the British Columbia Women's Institute began
with the formation of the first fifteen institutes from Gordon Head on
Vancouver Island to Cranbrook in the Kootenays in 1909. Her report to the
B.C. Farmers' Institutes in 1910 indicates that her duties for the
department had been to tour the province explaining to the women the aims
and benefits of Institute association and then to help them with initial
organization and election of officers. She returned to Ontario Department of
Agriculture and by 1913 had married F. W. Stephen.
Marie Marguerite Rose-Laurant
Born 1736. Died 1757, Louisbourg, Nova
Scotia. Marie was baptised in September 1736 and possibly
branded in Louisbourg (modern day cape Breton, Nova Scotia)
when she was about 19. She was a domestic slave working
around the home of Jen Chrysostome Loppinot and his 12
children. She became pregnant and had a son who was a slave
and died at 13. After the fall of Louisbourg in 1745 the
Loppinot family took Marie to Rochefort, France. By 1759 she
was back in Louisbourg. Freed in 1755 she married Jean
Pierre Laurent, A Mi'kmaw. The following year they lived in
a rented house. The couple opened a tavern near the local
barracks. She was in the second year of living a free life
when she died. In 2008 she was declared a Person of National
Historic Significance by the Canada Historic Sights and
Monuments Board followed in 2010 with an Parks Canada
Historic Plaque. (2021)
Elizabet 'Lizzie' von Rummel
Rancher & Lodge Owner
Born February 19, 1897, Munich, Germany. Died 1980 Canmore, Alberta. She was
educated at home and learned to speak 4 languages. The family often
vacationed in Canada and with the outbreak of World War l the family moved
to a ranch in Alberta. In 1919 Lizzie returned to Germany for a year when
her grandmother was ill but she preferred her Canadian life. The family
wealth was lost during the war and the family ranch became a working ranch
with Lizzie and her sisters learning to cook and clean without servants. The
family raised Clydesdale horses and the girls even learned to be farriers.
When tractors took the place of work horses the family ranch raised milk
cows. As a young woman she had a dream of operating a guest lodge in the
Rocky Mountains. In 1938 she began working as a chambermaid and soon became
a guide and hostess at Mount Assiniboine. By 1943 she became involved with
the Alpine club of Canada and began operating Skoki Lodge near Lake Louise.
By 1947 she was operating Temple Lodge and the Lake Louise Ski Lodge. She
became an ambassador for her beloved Rockies for the many world visitors.
From 1951 through 1970 she operated Sunburst Lodge in the Mount Assiniboine
area. April 16, 1980 received the Order of Canada. She also holds the
Canada Medal. The Elizabeth Rummel School in Canmore, Alberta is named in
her honour as are Rummel Lake, Rummel Pass and Rummel Creek in Kananaskis
Country. Her biography was written by Ruth Oltmann: Lizzie Rummel –
baroness of the Canadian Rockies.
(2019)
Jane Anne Saunders-Nesbitt
'Ship-Bride'
née Saunders.
Born 1844. Died June 17, 1897 British
Columbia. In September 1862 Jane in Britsh Columbia on the
'bride-ship' Tynemouth. The Columbia Emigration Society working with the
Anglican Church had arranged for single women from England to come to
British Columbia to marry members of the gold rush community. She
married Samuel Nesbitt (1829-1881) in April of 1863. Samuel had originally
followed the gold rush from California but soon learned that as a baker he
could also make gold. He settled on Vancouver Island in 1858 and opened
Victoria's 1st commercial bakery. He and Jane would hav 6 children. The
bakery obtained a contract with the navy to provide bread and biscuits and
the family gained financial security. They built their home, Erin Hall in
1874 but the local snobs called it Cracker Castle as the Nesbitts had come
from working stock. After her husbands death she and her oldest son took
over the biscuit business and ran the company for five year. Later in life
she could afford to travel extensively. The 'ship-bride' stories are told in
the book Voyages of Hope by Peter Wilton Johnson.
Mary Townsend Schaffer
SEE - MARY TOWNSEND SCHAFFER WARREN
Winifred Schantz
Patron of the Arts
née Fitch. Born 1923 London, England. During World War ll she was a typist
and she fell in love with her boss, Canadian Major Don McLean (died 1972).
She immigrated to Canada and the couple married in 1957. She continued
working as a secretary but found a love for ceramics. She insisted that
pottery making was a true art form and she was soon participating with a
team who were raising funds for a Kitchener-Waterloo Art Gallery in Ontario.
In 1966 she was an enthusiastic founding member of the K-W Potters Guild
and taught night classes sharing her love of this art. Widowed she married
Keith Schantz (died 1992) with whom she shared her love of the arts. In 1990
she partnered with Aggie Beynon from the Harbinger Gallery, a showcase of
contemporary Canadian artists of various media, to provide the Winifred
Schantz Summer Internships providing opportunities for University of
Waterloo Fine Arts Students to apprentice with established artists. As well
she supported students from the Nova Scotia College of Arts and Design for
international scholarships. She was also a contributing patron to performing
arts organizations such as the K-W Symphony, the Stratford Festival, the
Grand River Baroque Festival and the K-W Art Gallery. In 2002 she received a
lifetime achievement Award from the K-W Arts.. Suggestion submitted by June
Coxon, Ottawa, Ontario.
Clara 'Dolly' Scott
Side show persona
Born 1919,
Saskatoon, Saskatchewan. Died April 28, 1991, Gibsonton, Florida, U.S.A.
Clara was only 3 feet all when she was fully grown. She was afflicted by
alkalosis of her joints and only her right hand was functional. In 1941 at
23 years of age she began a sideshow career as the ‘half-baby – half woman’
or the Ossified girl ‘Jolly Dolly’ with Ripley’s Believe It Or Not. She was
married three times. In 1972 until her death she was a member of the Ward
Hall’s Freak Show.
Source:
Sideshow World. The Ossified Lady. Online (Accessed July
2012.)
Elizabeth Catherine Shalla
Diarist
née Etmanski.
Born November 19, 1890, Sherwood Township, Renfrew County, Ontario. Died May
29, 1978. Born close to Canada’s first polish settlement, Wilno, Ontario,
her parents were from Poland and she grew up speaking polish. Her father
hired Canadian men to work in his lumber business. The young workers were
boarded in the family home and the whole family leaned to speak English.
Elizabeth would keep a journal all her life in which she described life in
her community leaving a record of a way of life that has vanished. By June
1906 she had graduated high school and began attending classes at the
Convent of Mary Immaculate in Pembroke, Ontario. Excelling in French she
completed the 3 year program in just two years winning the Gold Medal for
her efforts. She then went on to study to become a teacher and taught first
at the Killaloe separate school in Renfrew County where she also taught
Catechism to the children on Sundays. Her next school was in Wilno. In 1915
she married Alex Shalla and their 1st child arrived in May 1916
followed by seven more children. Her husband died in 1937 leaving her to
raise their eight children. After World War ll she was asked to teach Polish to
the children of the area. She continued these language lessons even after
1955 when she became a regular staff member at the school. She retired in
1967. While as a teacher she no doubt touched the lives of the Polish
descendants of Barry’s Bay she also left a legacy through her journals which
detailed earl settlers lives in Canada’s 1st Polish settlement.
Source: Brenda Lee-Whiting, ‘Along the Opopogo Trail: Memories of Canada’s
First Polish Settlement’ in The Beaver, February/March. 1992.
(2020)
Norma Shepard
Physiotherapist & historian
Her
profession is that of a psychotherapist but her avocation is that of hats.
She is cofounder of North Shore Wordsmith’s writers group. In 1985 she
earned the Canadian Achiever’s Award for entrepreneurship. In 1999 she set
up a mobile hat museum. She has also written several books on fashion
accessories through the decades. She is recognized as an authority on
vintage clothing and women’s hats.
Katherine 'Katerina' Sherbrooke
Political Wife
née Pyndar.
Born November 22, 1782, Barrow Hill Staffordshire, England. On August 24,
1811 Katherine married Sir John Coape Sherbrooke (1764-1830). In October
1811 she and her sister accompanied Sir John to Halifax, Nova Scotia where
Sir John took up the position of Lieutenant Governor of Nova Scotia.
Katherine, as first lady of the territory, took on the duty of entertaining
and hosting visitors on a daily basis. Some of her gatherings hosted some
200 guests at a time. Sir John served well during the War of 1812 and in
June of 1816 the couple relocated to Quebec where Sir John took up his new
position as Governor-in-chief or Governor General of British North America.
Here once again Katherine became the hostess to events in the capital
region. Sir John resigned his position in 1818 due to ill health and he
retired to Nottinghamshire in England. Various settlements in Nova Scotia
and Quebec are named for this Governor General and perhaps Katherine Street
in Quebec City can trace its origin to the name of the wife of a Governor
General.
Source:
Women of Valour , in Canadian History August-September
2013;
Ch'óonehte' Ma Stóow Angela Sidney
Born January 4, 1902 Carcross, Yukon. Died July 17, 1991
Carcross, Yukon. Angela was given the Tagish name Ch'óonehte' Ma and the
Tlingit name Stóow as well as Angela by her Godfather. The names
showed respect for both the peoples of her parents. Her mother Maria was ill
and could not participate in regular activities of her daughter so times
shared usually meant the telling of stories of the Tagish peoples. Angela
married when she was just 14 to George Sidney (1888-1971) a future chief at
Carcross. The couple would have seven children, three of who survived to be
adults. Angela felt strongly about preserving the traditions and stories of
her people and she was soon sharing her knowledge with her own family
members but also with other school children. Angela also assisted linguists
and anthropologists with research on the Tagish language and traditions. In
1980 she published Place-names of the Tagish Region, Southern
Yukon and followed with Tagish Stories in 1982 and Our Family
History in 1983. In 1984 Angela travelled to Toronto to be part of the
storytelling festival. In 1985 she became a member of the Order of Canada, a
national recognition of her efforts to preserve her people's language,
stories and traditions. In 1988 she was the inspiration for the
establishment of the Yukon International Storytelling Festival. She said
"Well, I have no money for my Grandchildren. My stories are my wealth."
(Julie Cruickshank, The Social Life of Stories Narrative and
Knowledge in the Yukon. UBC Press, 2000)
Jeanne St Laurant
Wife of a Prime Minister
née Renault.
Borne October 22, 1886, Beauceville, Quebec. Died November 14, 1966, Quebec
City, Quebec. She was the daughter of a prosperous merchant. She would meet
a young law clerk at a party in 1906. On May 19, 1908 she married Louis
Stephen St Laurent (1882-1973) who would serve as 12th Prime
Minister of Canada 1948-1957. The couple had 5 children. In 1913 their
family home was built in Quebec City. The 15 room house on Grand Allée has
been declared a heritage building.
Besha 'Bessie' Starkman/Stark Tobin.
Mob Boss
née Starkman. Born April 14, 1889, Poland.
Died August 13, 1930, Hamilton, Ontario. By 1900 the
Starkman family had settled in Toronto, were history has it
that Bessie worked as a seamstress. December 15, 1907 she
married Harry Tobsen/Tobin. The couple had two daughters. By
1913 Bessie left her husband for the family's Italian
boarder, Rocco Perri. They lived in St Catharines and later
in Hamilton where the couple ran a grocery store. It was the
era of bootleggers and prohibition and soon Bessie w3as
leading an organized crime gang selling illegal alcohol.
Bessie made orders, laundered money, and handled the gang's
banking. In 1924 Rocco was called King of the Bootleggers.
In 1927 she appeared before a federal Royal Commission on
customs and excise investigating liquor smuggling. Naturally
she denied any illegal connections. The couple was charged
with perjury. Rocco plead guilty and charges against Bessie
were dropped. Rocco spent six months in a reformatory. The
1927 Liquor Control Act killed the bootleg business. In 1929
Bessie was swept up in a frug distribution situation that
could not be legally proven and was set free. August 13,
1930 she was killed by a shot gun perhaps in a gang related
murder. After her death the Perri Gang went downhill and
never regained its former superiority.
Source: DCB (2020)
Hilda Mary Slayter
Titanic survivor
Born April 5,
1882 , Halifax, Nova Scotia. Died April2, 1965, Norris Castle, England.
She left home in 1902 to pursue training in voice in Italy and England.
However a performing career was not to be her calling. She changed her life
direction when she met Harry Reginald Dunbar Lacon of British Columbia, and
the couple decided to marry. In order to return to Canada with her wedding
gown and trousseau (valued at some $7000.00 at the time), Hilda booked
passage on the Titanic in April 1912 as a second class passenger. Originally
when the Titanic struck an iceberg, she was told to go back to bed as there
was no danger. A half hour later the order to don lifejackets was raised.
She was pushed down the corridor to the ship side where she was placed in
lifeboat number 13. One of the last life boats to be lowered. She later
provided touching eyewitness accounts as husbands and wives were separated
and of children being handed over to the life boats by parents who stayed on
board the sinking ship. In lifeboat 13 there were 8 women, a husband and
wife and 10 month old baby and more than 40 men stokers, men who had manned
the furnaces in the bowels of the ship. In total 63 people huddled in the
life boat on the becalmed sea watching the mighty ship sink. The life boat
was eventually saved by the ship, Carpathia, and Titanic survivors
were taken to New York. Hilda continued her trip to British Columbia where
she was married in June 1912. The couple had one son who served with
distinction in the Royal Canadian Navy. Hilda is buried in her family plot
in Nova Scotia. Rosalee Peppard, a maritime Canadian musical Oral Historian
is commemorating the 100th anniversary with a new show – Living
Titanic – the musical memoir of Nova Scotia Survivor Hilda Mary Slayter
Sources: Brave musicians of ship meet fate trying to drown cries…Worcester
Evening Gazette, April 20, 1912. Online (Accessed March 2012) : Titanic Remembered: The unsinkable ship and Halifax by Alan Ruffman. Titanic, the Canadian Story. By Alan Hustak, Vehicule Press, 1999. ;
Rosalee.ca/titanic (Accessed March 2012)
Wendy Sloboda
Paleontologist
Born 1968. Wendy was always fascinated by dinosaurs but unlike other young
children she did not grow out of this interest. She worked at summer jobs
looking for dinosaur bones. She actually found dinosaur egg shell chips in a
place where they had never been found before. She worked with a museum crew
finding shells with tiny unborn duckbilled dinosaurs. She became a
paleontology star! Wendy attended the University of Lethbridge, Alberta to
earn her BA in 2001. She had continued with searching for elusive dinosaur
findings and even has a dinosaur named after her, the Wendyicertiops. It is
a 6 meter long, two-ton beast with a prominent upright horn atop its nose.
It lived 79 million years ago during the Cretaceous period.
Source:
Canadian girls who rocked the world by Tanya Lloyd Kyi,
Walrus Books, 2001
Sandy Smith
Sandy earned her Bachelor of Science at the University of Guelph in 1978 and
went on to study for her Master’s at Guelph in 1981. She obtained he PhD
from The University of Toronto in forestry and entomology. After graduating
from 1985-1987 she worked for Forestry Canada in Sault Ste. Marie, Ontario.
She also worked at European Laboratories in France and Switzerland. In 1988
she became an assistant professor of the University of Toronto, the
beginning of a full career at the university. In 2010 – 2-12 she became the
1st woman appointed as Dean to the Faculty of Forestry. She has
written numerous scholarly papers and published with a variety of
professional journals. In 2012 she became a Minjiang Scholar at the Fujian
Agricultural and Forestry University in China. The Sandy Smith Research
Laboratories at the University of Toronto accommodates graduate students and
post doctorate Fellows. She has served as President of both the
Entomological Societies of Ontario and Canada. She has also served as
Examiner for the Ontario Professional Foresters Association. Sandy married
Graham Rempe and the couple has three sons.
Madeline Spence
Madeline
survived being forced to attend the Indian Residential School system. She
also overcame having had tuberculosis (TB). She has served as an elder on
numerous councils, including the Wuskwatim-NCN dam project. Madeleine and
her life partner Wellington raised a large family and adopted many children
from their community. For some 30 years, these respected elders presented
culture workshops in western Canada and United States and were esteemed
members of the Elders Council of University College of the North. In 2010
she was honoured at the Keeping the Fires Burning Aboriginal Awards
celebrating female leaders for preserving First Nations culture and serving
as role models for younger generations.
Source; Matt
Preprost, “Gala recognizes accomplishments”. Winnipeg Free Press
June 18, 2010 Page A13.
Dorothy Summerset
Theater
Director
Born June 9, 1900, Perth, Australia. Died August 11, 1991, Vancouver,
British Columbia. She studied at Radcliffe College and earned her BA. She
moved to Vancouver in 1921. She has been and actor and director Vancouver
Little Theatre as well as direction with the University Players' Club in
1934-38. In 1937, she joined the University of British Columbia's extension
department and the following year founded its Summer School of Theatre. In
1946 she taught UBC's first theatre credit courses. In 1952 she received
Canadian Drama Award. In 1958 she helped found UBC's drama department. The
Dorothy Somerset Scholarship Fund was set up in 1965. In June 1991, she won
a Jessie Award for "humanity, integrity and encouragement of young talent in
the theatre." Source: The Vancouver Hall of Fame online. Accessed November 2012)
Felicitas Svejda
Born November 8, 1920, Austria. Died January 19, 2016 Ottawa, Ontario.
Felicitas earned her PhD in engineering and agricultural sciences from
Hochschule fur Boden Kultur, Vienna and worked at the school from 1947-1951.
Relocating to Sweden she worked at the Swedish Seed Association and in 1953
she immigrated to Canada. She worked at the Central Experimental Farm in
Ottawa, Ontario for 33 years where she created roses named after well-known
explorers of North America that are grown around the world today. The 25
explorer roses with names like John Cabot, Martin Frobisher, Jens Monc and
Champlain are considered Canada’s greatest contribution to the world of
roses. Felicitas began working with roses in 1961 to develop plants that
would survive in the harsh Canadian climate. In 1968 she launched a 20 year
program and 1st ever national trial of ornament shrubs in Canada.
The Henry Hudson rose is so hardy it can survive in Zone 2 which includes
northern locations as Kapuskasing, Ontario and Fort McMurry, Alberta. She
also developed the ornamental plants named after dances such as the Minuet
and Tango as well as Northern Gold Forsythia. She authored numerous papers
for various professional journals. Her hardy plants are grown in Finland,
Russia as well and her native Austria. In 1985 she received a Certificate of
Merit from the Royal National Rose Society in Britain for the rose, John
Cabot.
Source: Dean Peters, Obituaries, Globe and Mail November 19, 2016.
Anna Haining Swan
Tallest Woman
Born August 7, 1846, Mill Brook, Nova Scotia. Died August 5, 1888, Seville,
Ohio, U.S.A. Anna was 1 of 13 children who were born all normal sized
babies. However by the time she was 5 years old she was already 4’8” tall!
As an adult she stood 7’6” tall (advertised as 8’) and weighed 350 pounds.
At 16 the famous circus entrepreneur P.T. Barnum brought Anna and her mother
to New York City where she earned $1,000.00 a month at the American Museum
on Broadway. She was partnered with Commodore George Washington Morrison who
was 29” tall and weighed 24 pounds! She was almost killed in a fire at the
museum on July 13, 1865 when unable to escape down the burning stairs she
was too large to escape through a window. It took and block and tackle with
18 men to help her escape! While traveling to Europe she met Martin Van
Buren Bates (1837-1919)who stood 7’ 22” (that is the description!) and weighed 470
pounds. The two were married June 17, 1871 in London, England. After a tour
of Europe billed as the World’s largest married couple, they settled in Ohio
where they built a house with 14’ ceilings and furniture to suit their size.
Anne would have two children who where born very large babies and
unfortunately did not live past a few days. Some of her clothes and other
personal articles are displayed at a museum in Tatamgouche, Nova Scotia,
near the town where she was born.
Source: Phyllis R. Blakeley, “SWAN, ANNA HAINING,” in
Dictionary of Canadian Biography, vol. 11, University of
Toronto/Université Laval, 2003–, Online (Accessed August 2014) ;
Anne A. Taylor
Born August 4, 1946, Sherbrooke, Quebec. Died June 28, 2014, Ottawa,
Ontario. She graduated Bishops University in 1967 and then spent a year
studying at the University of Sussex in England. She married Mark Stiles and
the couple had two children. After university she taught 1st in
Montreal and then at the Dene First Nations at Haybay, Alberta. In 1975 she
accepted a position with the National Film Board in Ottawa where she was the
founder and co-director of the Media Awareness Network now known as MediaSmarts. She retired in 2005. She enjoyed combining two of her passions,
music and children by working with Ottawa’s Leading Note Foundation and
Orkidstra music program. She was presented the Queen’s Golden Jubilee Award
for her outstanding contribution to healthy development of children and
youth.
Source: Obituaries, Ottawa Citizen, July 2, 2014.
Suggestion submitted by June Coxon, Ottawa, Ontario.
Annie Emma Affleck Thompson
Wife of a Prime
Minister
née Affleck. Born June 26, 1845, Halifax, Nova Scotia. Died April 10, 1913,
Toronto, Ontario. Annie was raised a Catholic so when she married John
Sparrow David Thompson (1845 -1894) a Protestant at the Bishop’s Palace in
Portland, Main on July 5, 1870 it was with special permission. The couple
would have 8 children, 5 of whom lived past infancy. Sir John Thompson was
lawyer, judge, politician, and
university professor, who served as the fourth Prime Minister of Canada
December 5, 1892. In 1888 the family moved to Ottawa for John to take a
government office. She became Lady Thompson when her husband was knighted by
Queen Victoria. Annie was a strong personality who was a major supporter of
her rather shy, timid husband. She was a sincere and busy host to Ottawa
members of parliament. When the family could no longer afford a staff cook
prior to him becoming Prime Minister, Annie prepared meals for dinner
parties hosting some 250 people in 1892. On December 12, 1994 Sir John died
of a heart attack while in England. Lady Thompson moved to Toronto were her
small income was bolstered by a small supplement from the Canadian
Parliament. Both Sir John and Lady Thompson were lifelong voracious letter
writers. When the family moved to Toronto their baggage included some 30
trunks of saved correspondence now preserved in the Library and Archives
Canada. Annie worked with Lady Aberdeen on the newly formed National Council
of Women of Canada.
Sources: “Obituary”, The Toronto Evening Telegram, April 11, 1913. ;
“Annie Emma Affleck”, Dictionary of Canadian Biography 1911-1920, vol.
XIV Online Accessed April 2013.
Tookoolito
Inuit
guide & translator
Born 1838, Cumberland Sound Baffin Island.
Died December 31, 1876. She was recorded in history with several names:
Hannah, Taqulittuq, Tackritow. She made contact with some arctic
explorers/adventurers and became a teacher and interpreter both of Inuit
languages and of a way of life and survival. She became
fluent in the
English language and could also read and write in English. She embraced
Christianity adding it to the guidance of her Inuit beliefs and teachings.
She and her husband Ipirvik, also known as Joe, would sail to England on a
whaler and there, be presented to Queen Victoria. They would live for
several months on a couple of occasions in the U S A where they would help
raise funds with the explorer/adventurer, Charles Hall to continue his
explorations in search of the lost Franklin expedition and the North Pole.
In October 15, 1872 she, her husband, adopted daughter Punny and sixteen
others fro the Polaris Expedition became separated from their ship. They
would spend 6 1/2 months on a large ice floe surviving a 1,500 mile journey
in Arctic waters until rescued on April 30, 1873 near the coast of Labrador.
In 1981, Canada's Historic Sites and Monuments Board, designated Tookoolito
and Ipirvik, National Historic Persons.
Louisa Townsend-Mallandaine
née Townsend.
Born September 24, 1862 London, England. Died September 28, 1925, Victoria,
British Columbia. Louisa was raised in a middleclass family having French
language lessons and music lessons. In 1862 she and her sister Charlotte
arrived in British Columbia September 17, 1862 on the Bride ship Tynemouth.
The voyage had taken three months and Louisa have survived severe sea
sickness, mutinies and storms to arrive safely in British Columbia. The
Columbia Emigration Society working with the Anglican Church had arranged
for single women from England to travel to British Columbia to become brides
of the gold runs mining population. Louisa was not in love with this new
country when she arrived in the muddy town of New Westminster.
Host/employers had been arranged for the women but Louisa found herself
doing chores she had never known about in her life. In additions the living
condition was a kin to being cloistered as the women were not allowed out on
their own. Louise soon found employment as a governess in Victoria where she
could play cricket and join a choir. Louisa had brought with her from
England her piano and her sewing machine and these were said to have been
the 1st in Victoria. September 1, 1866 she married Edward
Mallandaine (1827-1905). Edward had come to British Columbia with the gold
rush and would attempt to seek success in various careers including
surveying and being an architect. The couple would have five children. In
1880 the couple wanted to build a new house and Louisa raffled a diamond
necklace to help pay for the construction.
Stories of the Bride Ship women was told in the book Voyages of Hope: The
Saga of the Bride Ships by Peter Johnson in 2002.
Margaret Joan Trudeau
Wife of a Prime Minister
née Sinclair. Born September 10,1948 Vancouver, British Columbia.
She studied
English literature at Simon Fraser University. At 18, while vacationing in
Tahiti she met the then Justice Minister of Canada, Pierre Elliott Trudeau
( -2000). She barley took notice of the encounter but Pierre had noticed.
Much to the surprise of the entire nation the couple were married in a
private ceremony on March 4, 1971. He was serving at this time as the 15th
Prime Minister of Canada (1968-1979 & 1980-1984). Margaret declared “I want
to be more than a rose in my husband’s lapel” The couple would live in a
tightly scrutinized bubble. They had three children together but there were
problems on the home front. In 1977 the couple separated and Margaret with
her jet setting ways became an embarrassment and a liability. She gave many
"tell-all" interviews to Canadian and American magazines and appeared in two
motion pictures. She was reported to have had affairs with celebrities and
danced in a New York City club the night her husband lost an election. In
1984 the couple divorced with Pierre retaining custody of their three sons.
Shortly after the divorce Margaret married Fried Kempler in 1984 and the
couple had two children. While she lived a quiet life she did become
Honorary president of WaterCan, an Ottawa-based organization dedicated to
helping the poorest communities in developing countries build sustainable
water supply and sanitation services. In November 1998 Michael Trudeau, the
youngest of the Trudeau boys died in an avalanche near Kokanee Lake, British
Columbia. The following year her second marriage had failed and she became
divorced. In 2000 she was at Pierre’s side when he died. Even though they
were divorced the love had remained. The shock of these last events close to
one another caused a breakdown for Margaret. In 2006, she announced that she
had been suffering from bipolar disorder. Since then, she has advocated for
reduced stigma of mental illness — bipolar disorder in particular — with
speaking engagements across North America. She wrote Changing My Mind,
a book about her personal experience having bipolar disorder, published by
HarperCollins Canada in 2010.
Frances Amelia Tupper
Wife of a Prime Minister
née Morse. Born March 14,
1826, Amherst, Nova Scotia. Died May 10, 1912, Nova Scotia.On October 8 1846
she married Charles Tupper 1821-1915) a young Nova Scotia physician and a
future Prime Minister of Canada, 1896. When Sir Charles was knighted by
Queen Victoria for his contributions to his country and the Empire, his wife
became Lady Frances Tupper. Sir Charles was only to serve in the tip office
as Prime Minister for a period of ten weeks, the shortest term of any prime
minister to 2013. Frances may not have had time to leave he imprint as 1st
lady but she was hostess for all of her husband’s various political offices
in Ottawa. The couple were married for 66 years. The couple had 6 children,
3 boys and 3 girls, two of whom died in infancy. Two of their sons followed
their father into political careers.
Eugenie Lee 'Frankie' Turner
RCAF Women's Division WW ll
née
Francoeur. Born November 30, 1922 Lachine, Quebec. Her friends and her
brother all signed up to serve in World War ll. She could not enlist until
the Canadian government allowed women to join the forces in 1942 and she
enlisted on October 12, 1942 in the Royal Canadian Air Force Women’s
Division. Her mother objected going right to the recruiting office but
finally her family let her go. She took basic training at Rockcliffe base in
Ottawa and took courses in teletype. Most English speaking Canadians in her
group could not pronounce her French Canadian name correctly so she became
‘Frankie’. Her 1st posting was to Gander , Newfoundland and in
1943 back to Montreal. When she turned 21 she qualified to serve overseas
and was posted to no. 6 Group, Bomber Command in Linton-on-Ouse, Yorkshire,
England where she worked as a teletype operator. It was here she met Hall
Turner, another Canadian in the service who hailed from Winnipeg. The
married on March 25, 1945 in York , England where she was working. On May 8,
1945 they sailed by to Canada. The couple raised 5 children 1st
in Winnipeg, then Montreal before relocating to California. Two of their
sons volunteered to fight in Vietnam. Eugenie retuned to Canada to live in
Kelowna, British Columbia after the death of her husband in 1983.
Source: Elinor
Florence, RCAF Airwoman ‘wouldn’t have missed it for the world’.
Elinor Florence’s Blog Online (Accessed July 2015)
Geills MacCrae Turner
Wife of a Prime Minister
née Kilgour.
Born December 23,1937 Winnipeg, Manitoba. She attended Harvard Business
School in the U.S.A. and was employed at IBM. She was a campaign worked for
the 1962 federal election and brought computers into John Turner’s campaign
offices. In 1963 married John Napier Turner (1929- ) who would become the
17th Prime Minister of Canada June through September 1984. The
couple have 4 children. She did not care for the members of the Canadian
press and the way she was portrayed. Basically she tried to stay out of the
way of the press.
Source: Ottawa Women; milestones and mentors Online accessed July 2013.
(her name is pronounced Jill)
Evelyn "Lynn" Beatrice Tyrrell
Fashion designer
née Marvin.
Born March 2, 1920, London England. Died May 25, 2013, Toronto, Ontario. She
did not like her stepfather and left home taking schooling at a private
Pitman’s school. She worked for the British Armed forces as a stenographer
during World War ll. She earned extra money working evenings as a cocktail
waitress and ended up married to bartender Ronald Emil Tyrell about 1944.
She opened a consignment shop to sell clothes of wealthy clients and found
success. With her money she bought a house in London for her family which
had now expanded to include 2 children. In 1947 the family sailed for
Jamaica purchasing the White River Hotel and Club. Their clients included
notables such as the playwright Noel Coward. By 1950 her restless husband
had the family immigrate to Toronto where their 4th child was
born. Ron became Mr. Mom, well before it was fashionable, and Lynn
apprenticed with dressmaker Rudy Lishka. Shortly after she opened her own
fashion ship call The Baroness. She fashioned gowns for the Miss Canada
Pageant participants and promotional outfits for Rothman’s cigarettes as
well as hostess uniforms for Trans Canada Airlines. She only closed her shop
in the 1980’s when the work was too much for her. She mentored students at
Seneca College and remained involved with Fashion Group International until
the last years of her life.
Source: “Obituaries. Designer Brought Chic to Dreary Toronto ‘50’s.” by
Susan Ferrier MacKay. The Globe and Mail, June 18, 2013. Suggestion
submitted by June Coxon, Ottawa, Ontario.
Polly Verner
Citizen of Toronto
née Fleming. Born 1837, Dromore County Tyrone, Ireland. Died 1918, Toronto,
Ontario. At 9 she sailed from Ireland with her family. Her little brother
and sister and a 9 month old baby died on the voyage across the sea. Her 11
year old sister died at the quarantine station at Grosse Isle, Quebec
shortly after they landed. The family spent 3 years in Montreal and in 1850
settled in Toronto. In 1854 at 17 she married John Verner. The couple ran a
grocery store that supported their community especially when times were
tough. While they had no children of their own there house was often crowded
with tots in need of love and care who had lost parents. At times they
became the surrogate parents for families stricken by the death of either
one or both parents. This couple were always there for their community.
Source: Cabbagetown People: the Social History of a Canadian Inner City
Neighbourhood. Online (Accessed March 2014)
Larissa Vingilis-Jarenko
Born 1982. Larissa had parents who could answer her science oriented
questions. 1922when she was just 9 she heard colleagues saying that science was just for
boys. She created the Canadian Association for Girls in Science – CAGIS that
encourages girls to follow their interests in Science by promoting science,
technology, engineering and mathematics – STEM. CAGIS has now provincial
chapters. In 2004, for her work with CAGIS she received the National Science
and Engineering Council’s Michael Smith Award for Science Promotion. In 2006
she was named one of Canada’s most powerful women by the Toronto Globe and
Mail newspaper. That same year she received the TD scholarship for
outstanding community leadership and the Toronto YWCA awarded her the Young
Woman of Distinction Award. Larissa holds a Bachelor of Science from the
University of Toronto and a PhD from McMaster University. In 2017 she held a
post-doctoral position at York University , Toronto, Ontario. Larissa is
also the author of several books targeted to girls in which the young heroes
solve mysteries using their science backgrounds.
Source: Tanya Lloyd Kyi, Canadian Girls Who Rocked The World. Walrus
Books, 2001.
Katherine Wall
Volunteer
née Bryanton. Born Spring Valley, Prince Edward Island November 23,
1944. After high School she married Edwin Wall and the couple settled to
raise a family of 5 children who would grow up in the P.E.I. countryside. As
if raising five children were not time consuming enough, Katherine became
totally involved with the volunteer life of her community. From 1963- 2003
she was a member and served several terms as branch president of the Women’s
Institute of P.E.I. From 1966 – 2000 she volunteered for the Red Cross in
the Water Safety Programme. 1975- 2000 she was a community School
Volunteer. In 1977 she was awarded the Queen’s Silver Jubilee Medal. In 1997
she was the Outstanding Volunteer of the Year for Kensington and Area
Recreation Association. In 1999 she received a Certificate of Celebration
for her 30 years of 4-H Club leadership which included Atlantic and National
levels for several years. In 2001 she was inducted into the Order of Prince
Edward Island.
Source: Canadian Who’s Who 2005. (Toronto: University of Toronto Press,
2005).
Mary Townsend Schaffer Warren
née Sharples
(sometime recorded as Sharpless). Born October 4, 1861, West Chester,
Pennsylvania, U.S.A. Died January 23, 1939 Banff, Alberta. Mary 1st
came to the Canadian Rockies in 1888/1889 with a group, the Philadelphia
Academy of Natural Sciences. She fell in love with the land and returned
each year. In 1989 she returned with her new husband Dr. Charles Schaffer
who was also an amateur botanist. After Charles death in 1903 Mary published
a book of his botanical work. Since few guides would take women she
explored with another woman, Mary Vaux (1860-1940) a fellow American Quaker.
Eventually a William Warren agreed to guide these lady explorers and they
explored the Yoyo Valley and Moraine Lake area. Mary is considered Jasper
National Park’s 1st tourist as she was the 1st white
woman to travel through the area. She was also an accomplished artist,
photographer and writer. In 1903 she traveled as far north as the Columbia
ice fields. In 1911 she published the book, Old Indian Trails of the
Canadian Rockies. That same year at the request of the Canadian Parks
Department she returned to the area to provide more detailed information. By
1912 she had decided to relocate permanently and purchased a home in Banff,
Alberta. In 1915 she married her former Guide William Warren. Mount
Schaffer, located between Lake O’Hara and Lake McArthur in Yo Yo National
Park was named in her honour in 1909. Some of her personal papers are
preserved in the Alberta Provincial Archives.
Sources: Kay Saunderson, 200 Remarkable Alberta Women, (Famous Five Foundation, 1999);
Mary
Schaffer Warren, Find a Grave, online (Accessed September 2015).
Books: Cindi Smith, Off the Beaten Track (Lake Louise; Coyote Books,
1989); Janice Sanford, No Ordinary Woman (Rocky Mountain Books,
2001).
Agnes Watts
Philanthropist
Born 1899, Bunzlau, Germany. Died October 30, 1989, Vancouver, British
Columbia. At 19, came to Victoria, British Columbia to work as a nanny. She
married a logger, and moved to Powell River. Later she became divorced and
moved to Vancouver where she met and married Isaac Watts in 1944. She was
the 1st female employee of Scott Paper's New Westminster mill, "rolling
toilet paper" for 22 years. She was known to be very frugal and she became
a millionaire from stocks and real estate investments. She became a patron
of the Variety Club of B.C., donating over $500,000 to children's projects.
She received the Variety Club Humanitarian Award from Prince Philip in
London, England, in 1987.
Source: The Vancouver Hall of Fame Online (Accessed December 2012)
Alice Hollingsworth Webster
née Hollingsworth. Born October 2, 1879,
Muskoka, Ontario. Died 1954, Creemore, Ontario. Alice was a
traveling lecturer with the Department of Agriculture. The
Women's Institutes which would bring rural women together
for commraderie and education was founded in 1887. Alice
would organize 18 local branches of the Women's Institutes
between the founding and her retirement in 1902. December 2,
1902 Alice married Frances 'Frank' Ernest Webster
(1868-1947) and the couple settled to a new house in
Websterville near Creemore. The couple had two children. In
1906 Alice joined the Huron Institute which was an
educational association deeply interested in local history.
She would record and collect artifacts located during local
archeological digs. (2020)
Ann Marie Weems
Escaped Slave
Born 1841 Montgomery County, Maryland, U.S.A. A slave of the Prince
family Ann Marie watched as her mother and siblings were sold off to other
slave owners. At 15 she managed to escape captivity and began to travel the
famous Underground railroad to freedom. With the help of a white doctor, and
she cut her hair and disguised herself as a valet. The dangerous journey got
her to Philadelphia. She continued her journey to Buffalo, still dressed as
a boy. In Buffalo a Rev. William kink helped her to cross the boarder to the
settlement of Buxton in Canada. Adopted by a kindly family she would
eventually marry and have children. Her story is told in a book for young
readers. Steeling Freedom by Elisa Carbone (1998) .
Her name is
spelled various ways in sources: Anne Marie; Annemarie ; Anna Maria etc.
Daria Werbowy
International Model
Born November 19, 1983 Krakow, Poland. In 1986 she and her family emigrated
from their home in the Ukraine. She reached 5’ 11” as a teen and was
encouraged to enter modeling by a friend’s mother. She entered the Susan J.
Model and Talent Management in Toronto. At 14 she won a national modeling
contest and soon switched to Elite Models. At first she was actually
uncomfortable as a model and looked at the profession as a way of financing
studies in art. Within a short time she had gained a foothold on the
international runways. She became the world’s model and holds the record for
opening and closing the most shows in a single season. She has worked for
the world’s top firms such as Lancôme, Prada, Dior, Yves Saint Laurent,
Gucci, Valentino and many others. In 2008 she was inducted into Canada’s
Walk of Fame in Toronto.
Ada Ellen Kelly Whitney
née Kelly.
Born Windsor, Ontario. Died 1972 New York City, U.S.A. Ada
became the Ist Black teacher hired by the Windsor Board of Education and the
1st Black woman to teach in an Ontario Public School Board. Ada Married
Joseph R.B. Whitney, editor of the Canadian
Observer. The couple had four children. Relocating to the Queens area of New
York city Ada worked as a caseworker with the Department of Social Services
from 1947 through 1969. She was the 1st Black Vice-President of the United
Parents Association. She also formed a religious study group of the Lutheran
Church of the Incarnation in Jamaica, Queens. At Rush Temple A.M.Z. Zion
Church where she trained Sunday school teachers at she served as
Sunday School superintendent of St. Mark's United Methodist Church in
Manhattan.
Yvonne Valleau Wildman
née
Valleau. Born August 1, 1923, Portland, Oregon, U.S.A. Her family lived in
Portland 7 years before returning home to Kindersley, Saskatchewan when
Yvonne was 4 years old. Seeking to provide for his family of 8 children her
father searched for work in British Columbia and in September 1937 his wife
and family joined him on the west coast. Yvonne helped out working on a
chicken farm. She also cleaned house for a piano teacher in exchange for
lessons for herself. At 19 she and her girlfriend headed for Victoria to
join the Royal Canadian Air Force. Basic training took place in Ottawa,
Ontario. She was assigned to photography and had her 1st trip in
an aeroplane during aerial photography part of her course. After training
she was posted to Service Flight Training Schools Number 19, Vulcan, Alberta
where she was nicknamed ‘Val’. Of this time in her life she remembers the
close camaraderie best but there was also hard work developing training
pictures. She returned to Duncan, British Columbia after the war. On July
17, 1946 she married Clarence Wildman and the couple raised 7 children in
Kindersley, Saskatchewan.
Source: Elinor Florence, RCAF photographer Yvonne Valleau. Blog: Wartime
Wednesdays. Online. Accessed September 2015.
Lorraine Mary Williams
Born December 8, 1932, Died July 4, 2014, Markham, Ontario. In 1957 she
married John Reesor Williams and the couple raised five children. She earned
her BA and went on to study for her Masters degree in social work. She
worked as a senior social worker in the correctional, forensic psychiatry
fields. She also founded a private psychotherapy and marriage counseling
practice in Toronto. She was an active volunteer including being a member on
the Visiting Homemakers Association, Chair of the Social Action Committee of
the YWCA of Metro Toronto, executive secretary of the Indian-Eskimo
Association of Canada, Board member of the Marguerite Bourgeoys Family
Center, founding Board Member of the Human Life Research Institute, Chair of
the North York Public Library Board, Member of the Metro Toronto Reference
Library Board of Trustees, President of the Ontario and later the Canadian
Library Trustee Associations, member of the founding committee for St.
Timothy’s Willowdale Parish and Parish Council, President of St. Timothy’s
Catholic League, and an active leader in Discovery Theatre, a forum for
adult inquiry. She was also an active journalist writer and author. She was
a contributing editor to The Catholic Register and editor of the
pro-life magazine, The Uncertified Human. She published 2 books
about the relationship between Library Trustees and Library CEO’s as well as
publication of the Ontario Library Trustees Handbook. Her last completed
book was Memories of the Beach: Reflections on a Toronto Childhood,
Dundurn Press.
Source: Williams Lorraine Mary, Obituaries.
Globe and Mail. July 7
2014.
Suggestion submitted by June Coxon, Ottawa, Ontario.
Katherine MacLean Wood. Air Traffic Controller
Born Dumbarton, Scotland
1911. Died December 27, 2004. She emigrated to Canada with her family in
1930. She would become Canada's 1st female Air Traffic Controller.
(2020)
Charlotte Susan Wood
née Fullman. Born September 27, 1861,
Chatham, England. Died October 11, 1939, Winnipeg, Manitoba.
Charlotte married Frederick Louis Wood (born 1856) . By 1911
the entire family immigrated to Canada. Charlotte was mother
and stepmother to 11 sons. seven of her sons or stepsons
served during World War 1 1914-1918. The boys either served
in the Canadian Army or the British Army. Two of the
boys died in service. In 1936
Charlotte became the first "Silver Cross Mother' In Canada.
The mother's of those who have died in service are
represented each year since 1936 by a Silver Cross Mother at
the National Remembrance Day service in Ottawa. Charlotte
also represented mothers of those who had lost children in
military served at the unveiling of the Canadian Vimy Ridge
War Memorial, July 26, 1936. Her son Peter Percy died at the
battle of Vimy Ridge in 1917.