Music administrator

Hosteller

Hosteller

Clairvoyant

Therapeutic Clown

Political wife

Composer

Philanthropist

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)  
 

Accused murderer

Mother of Confederation

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.
 

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.
 

Aboriginal Leader

Photographer

Wife of a Prime Minister

née Châiné. Born  May 17, 1936 Saint-Boniface-de-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.}
 

Pirate

Diarist

World War ll spy

Wife of a Prime Minister

Wife of a Prime Minister

Miss Canada

Last Miss Canada

Socialite and philanthropist

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.}
 

Genealogist

Music teacher

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.}
 

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.
 

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.
 

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 1^st 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 1^st 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.

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}.
 

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.

née Yorke. Born 1808, England. Died August 25, 1890,t Oak Lea, Shere, 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)
 

"Canada's Loveliest Child"

Philanthropist

Botanist

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 1^st 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.
 

Photo journalist

Adventurer / Explorer

Theatrical Press Agent

Law enforcement

Portrait Photographer

Philanthropist

Sea Captain

Wife of a Prime Minister

Socialite

Baroness de Longeuil

(Baronne de Longueuil) 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 3^rd Baron of Longueuil. May 7, 1781 she married David Alexander Grant (d. 1806) The couple had three sons, one of whom Charles William became the 5^th Baron de Longueuil. 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 Longueuil. 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 Longueuil family.
 

Political Wife

Wife of a Prime Minister

Wife of a Prime Minister

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.}

First woman High Sherriff

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 3^rd 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.
 

Born circa 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.      
 

Theatre Administrator

Wife of a Prime Minister

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.
 

Convicted murderer

Aboriginal women

Slave

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.
 

Doyenne of Toronto

World War l veteran

Book Binder

Born Wolfeville, Nova Scotia 1868. 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.}
 

Machine Gun Molly

Forester

Archeologist

Philanthropist

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 1^st 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.
 

Agricultural lecturer

Political Wife

Paleontologist

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)}

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) ;
 

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.} 
 

Inuit guide & translator

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).
 

Fashion designer

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) 
 

Philanthropist

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.
 

International Model

Social Worker