Dictionary of Canadian Biography

A woman with white/gray hair wearing a black dress and a looped necklace of pearls.

A white woman with dark hair pulled up and back, wearing a scoop-neck dress and a multi-strand pearl choker necklace. The also has pearl-type bead embellishments on the shoulder we can see.

#WomensHistoryMonth Marguerite Lamothe (Thibaudeau) (1853–1939), social reformer and philanthropist, saw opportunities for service as a way of living out a Catholic faith that built bridges across linguistic, religious, and political divides. www.biographi.ca/en/bio/lamot...

A white man wearing a suit and tie. He has a high forehead.

#NewBio! Merchant, politician, and militia and army officer. Assigned to support positions during #WWI due to injury, he was mentioned in dispatches. After his return he was an exec with the Robert Simpson Company. www.biographi.ca/en/bio/snell...

Typo alert! Obviously that's an image credit to @museemccordstewart.bsky.social

A white woman with her hair pulled back, wearing small glasses and a dress with an enormous lace-trimmed collar.

Pencil sketch of a side view of a woman with her hair down, wearing glasses.

#WomensHistoryMonth Greta Submit Ogden (1875–1939), artist, professor, and pioneer occupational therapist.
She studied the therapeutic benefits of handicrafts in rehabilitating #WWI veterans and helped others to create beautiful and useful things.
www.biographi.ca/en/bio/ogden...

A woman in a light-coloured outfit and a cap on her light curly hair sits, hands folded. She has a dark cloak or coat over her shoulders.

#WomensHistoryMonth Nora Livingston (1848–1927) was a hospital and nursing school administrator. A leading member of her profession, she worked to see that her school had an enviable reputation across Canada.
www.biographi.ca/en/bio/livin...
📷 @museemccordstewart

A portrait of a balding white man in academic robes holding a statue of a discus thrower. A bust of Plato is in the corner. The portrait is by James Edward Hervey MacDonald, Mauricius Hutton, 1925, oil on board. 152.4 x 121.28 cm. University College Collection UC302, commissioned from the artist, 1924. Courtesy Art Museum at the University of Toronto.

A white man with a mustache wearing a suit and a flat-top academic hat rests his head on one hand and looks toward the camera. From: University of Toronto Archives, University of Toronto Archives & Records Management Services.

#NewBio! Maurice Hutton (1856–1940), scholar and educator.
A self-effacing man with immense personal magnetism, Hutton inspired generations of students who became the leaders of a growing country. www.biographi.ca/en/bio/hutto...
🎨 Art Museum U of Toronto 📷 U of Toronto Archives

The story of his untimely death is emblematic of the deplorable conditions endured by so many young Indigenous people, which they found so traumatizing that many risked their lives to try to escape them.
www.biographi.ca/en/bio/willi...

A dirt road leads to a large building with rectangular windows. This is Lejac Indian Residential School, front view, Fraser Lake, August 1941. From Library and Archives Canada.

National Day for Truth and Reconciliation: Allen Patrick Willie (1928–37), schoolboy, was one of more than 150,000 Indigenous children enrolled in Canada’s residential school program between the late 1880s and 1996. www.biographi.ca/en/bio/willi...

A smiling woman with dark curly hair looks up and off camera to the viewer's left. She is wearing a patterned top and large dangling earrings.

#NewBio! Mary Travers, known as La Bolduc (Bolduc), (1894–1941) musician, self-taught singer-songwriter, and actor.
La Bolduc is considered the first singer-songwriter of the chanson québécoise. Her success stemmed from her authenticity. www.biographi.ca/en/bio/trave...

A Black man in a suit and tie.

In 1923 James F. Jenkins founded a newspaper, the Dawn of Tomorrow, and used it to educate a multiracial audience about the experiences of Blacks in North America and around the world. www.biographi.ca/en/bio/jenki...
Cheers to @crkn-rcdr.bsky.social who digitized it!! n2t.net/ark:/69429/s...

A white man wearing a suit holds a pen as if he is writing on the paper in front of him. He stares directly into the camera. He has a piercing stare.

For writer George Bowering, John George Diefenbaker (1895–1979) was the wittiest of all the country’s prime ministers, "and he was the most amazing campaigner anyone would ever see or hear." Diefenbaker was born #OTD 1895. www.biographi.ca/en/bio/diefe...

Closely-framed photo of a white man in a dark suit, he has a high forehead and his blond hair is swept up to the side.

An older white man wearing a three-piece suit and patterned tie. He has thick white hair, swept up and to the side, and darker bushy eyebrows.

Read the bios of the Stanfield brothers here:
-https://www.biographi.ca/en/bio/stanfield_john_16E.html
-https://www.biographi.ca/en/bio/stanfield_frank_16E.html

A white man wearing a dark suit and hat. He looks well put together, and has a small but bushy light-coloured moustache.

#NewBio! John Penman (1845/46–1931), textile and clothing manufacturer and philanthropist.
He set out to dominate the woollen industry in Canada. The company was best known for its combinations – all-in-one winter underwear for men, women, and children. www.biographi.ca/en/bio/penma...

Text from "The Refugee, or, The narratives of fugitive slaves in Canada" by Benjamin Drew. Boston : J.P. Jewett; Cleveland : Jewett, Proctor and Worthington, 1856. Source: https://archive.org/details/cihm_49469/page/n93/mode/2up

#NewBio! A free Black man who was kidnapped into slavery as a child in the United States, John W. Lindsay eventually fled to Upper Canada, where he made a successful career. In escaping bondage, however, he found he had not escaped prejudice. www.biographi.ca/en/bio/linds...

A white woman in a black dress with her hair pulled back stands next to a chair and a draped curtain.

A white woman wearing a dark dress with a lighter collar sits smiling by a potted plant. The name 'Francoise' is signed across the bottom right-hand corner of the photo.

No #NewBio this week. Today we highlight the stories of Félicité Angers (1845–1924), novelist, biographer, journalist, and playwright, and Robertine Barry (1863–1910), journalist, writer, lecturer, feminist, and office holder. www.biographi.ca/en/bio/anger... / www.biographi.ca/en/bio/barry...

Read our bio of Emma Albani here: www.biographi.ca/en/bio/lajeu...
Read our bio of Béatrice La Palme here: www.biographi.ca/en/bio/la_pa...

Emma Albani. A white woman with curly hair wearing a very fussy top/dress and a fancy feathered (?) hair decoration. A veil can be seen behind her head and neck.

A white woman with big dark eyes wears a lace patterned dress/top and a pearl necklace.

No #NewBio this week. Today we highlight the stories of Emma Lajeunesse, known as Emma Albani (1847–1930), singer, pianist, harpist, and teacher, and Béatrice La Palme (1878–1921), violinist, soprano, and teacher.

An Asian man wearing a high-collared shirt or robe.

No #NewBio this week. Today we highlight two Chinese-born businessmen in #BritishColumbia: Chang Toy, labourer and businessman, and Chu Lai, merchant.
www.biographi.ca/en/bio/chang... / www.biographi.ca/en/bio/chu_l...

A woman in a dark outfit wearing a multi-stranded necklace.

Two women in Inuk clothing.

No #NewBio this week. Today we highlight the stories of Phoebe Johnston, a Tuscarora woman and labourer, and Uttaktuak, a Copper Inuit (Inuinnait) seamstress and artist. www.biographi.ca/en/bio/johns... / www.biographi.ca/en/bio/uttak...

A Black woman wearing a dark dress with a light collar/ruff looks off camera. Her hair is pulled up into a high bun. The caption is "Mrs. Whitsel. An Ice Merchant."

A white woman with curly hair wears a dress with a ruffled black top and a vertically striped skirt. She leans on a pillow with long fringe, and looks off camera. She is wearing a large ornate cross on a chain around her neck.

No #NewBio this week. Today we highlight Georgina Mingo Whetsel, Black entrepreneur, and Louise Caroline Alberta, sculptor, personal secretary to Queen Victoria, viceregal consort, and painter.
www.biographi.ca/en/bio/mingo... / www.biographi.ca/en/bio/louis...

A man holds a ship's wheel with both hands. He is quite tall.

No #NewBio this week – today we highlight the story of Jean-Baptiste Canadien, called Big John Canadien (Raientonni, Aiontonnis, meaning “he works with wood”) (1840–1919), Mohawk raftsman, pilot, voyageur, and lacrosse player. www.biographi.ca/en/bio/canad...
📷 @banq-officiel.bsky.social

COOLEY, CHLOE – Dictionary of Canadian Biography One of the hundreds of Black people who were enslaved in Upper Canada, Chloe Cooley (fl. 1793) came to public attention in March 1793 after her enslaver, Adam Vrooman, forcibly transported her across the Niagara River to sell her on the American side. Two witnesses reported the incident and her desperate resistance, which directly influenced the subsequent passage of the Act to Limit Slavery in Upper Canada. In 2022 the Canadian government designated Cooley a person of national historic significance.

No #NewBio this week. Today we highlight the stories of:
📖Chloe Cooley (fl. 1793), an enslaved Black woman biographi.ca/en/bio/coole...
and
📖An enslaved Black woman (fl. 1802–3) whose name is unrecorded: biographi.ca/en/bio/name_...
Learn more: biographi.ca/en/topics/to...

Program for 1912 Calgary Exhibition and Stampede, front cover. Each corner features a portrait: P. Burns, Geo. Lane, A.E. Cross, and A.J. McLean. In the center is a picture of a man riding a bucking horse on a field of grass with mountains in the background.

The Calgary Stampede begins today! Check out our bios of the “Big Four”:
🐴George Lane: www.biographi.ca/en/bio/lane_...
🐂Patrick Burns: www.biographi.ca/en/bio/burns...
🤠Archibald James McLean: www.biographi.ca/.../mclean_a...
-Our biography of Alfred Ernest Cross is forthcoming.

BOCHART (Bochard), THÉODORE (Bochart du Plessis, Du Plessis-Bochard, Du Plessis-Bochart, Plessis-Bochart) – Dictionary of Canadian Biography In 1632 Théodore Bochart (1607–53) arrived in New France as Commandant Émery de Caën’s lieutenant. The following year Samuel de Champlain offered him a commission from Cardinal de Richelieu: command o...

#NewBio! Théodore Bochart's (1607–53) activities in New France during the 1630s provide useful supplemental information about the circumstances of the founding of Trois-Rivières, long vaguely attributed to Laviolette alone. www.biographi.ca/en/bio/du_pl...

A fascinating bio. Some time ago, I went through LAC's (small) Yeigh fonds, documenting his friendship with Tekahionwake E. Pauline Johnson. The papers include 2 unpublished TEPJ poems, as well as an unsigned verse, "Pauline Johnson's Grave" - maybe Yeigh's own work? #cdnhist #cdnlit #bookhistory

YEIGH, FRANK – Dictionary of Canadian Biography YEIGH, FRANK, printer, publisher, writer, lecturer, publicist, and civil servant, b. 21 July 1860 in Burford Township, Upper Canada, son of Edmund Lossing Yeigh and Adaliza (Ada) Whitehead; m. first 2...

#NewBio! Frank Yeigh (1860–1935), printer, publisher, writer, lecturer, publicist, and civil servant.
Establishing the Save the Children Fund in Canada is his most enduring legacy. www.biographi.ca/en/bio/yeigh...

Sepia-toned photo of a white man wearing a suit and tie. His hair looks gray/silver and his eyebrows are darker.

#NewBio! Abraham Lincoln McCrimmon (1865–1935), educator and author.
He was a faculty member at @mcmasteruniversity.bsky.social. The Toronto Daily Star welcomed him as “one of the foremost of Canada’s educationists.” www.biographi.ca/en/bio/mccri...

WASHINGTON, THOMAS C. – Dictionary of Canadian Biography Born in the United States, Thomas C. Washington (d. 1897) settled in Saint John, where he became an accomplished entrepreneur, a leader in the Black community, and a contributor to the musical life of...

#NewBio! Born in the United States, Thomas C. Washington (d. 1897) settled in Saint John, where he became an accomplished entrepreneur, a leader in the Black community, and a contributor to the musical life of his adopted home. www.biographi.ca/en/bio/washi...

A collage of portraits.

Weekend reading! Are you all caught up with our new bios from April?
📖 Lelia Clare Gass
📖 William Francis Tye
📖 Délia Tétreault, known as Marie du Saint-Esprit
📖 John Bourinot
📖 Walter George Brown
www.biographi.ca/en/new_biogr... #NewBios

Sepia-toned photograph of a white man wearing glasses. He has a very high forehead/hairline. He is wearing a dark-coloured suit. Text at the bottom reads 'John MacNeill'.

#NewBio! John James MacNeill (1874–1937), Baptist clergyman, educator, and author.
MacNeill’s ecumenical spirit and emphasis on social justice placed him at odds with fundamentalist Baptists. www.biographi.ca/en/bio/macne...