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Sojourning Sisters: The Lives and Letters of Jessie and Annie McQueen PDF

327 Pages·2003·17.7 MB·English
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SOJOURNING SISTERS The Lives and Letters of Jessie and Annie McQueen This page intentionally left blank SOJOURNING SISTERS The Lives and Letters of Jessie and Annie McQueen JEAN BARMAN UNIVERSITY OF TORONTO PRESS Toronto Buffalo London www.utppublishing.com © University of Toronto Press Incorporated 2003 Toronto Buffalo London Printed in Canada ISBN 0-8020-3697-X (cloth) Printed on acid-free paper Life and Letters Series National Library of Canada Cataloguing in Publication Barman, Jean, 1939- Sojourning sisters : the lives and letters of Jessie and Annie McQueen /Jean Barman. Includes bibliographical references and index. ISBN 0-8020-3697-X 1. McQueen, Jessie. 2. McQueen, Annie. 3. Women - British Columbia - Biography. I. McQueen, Jessie. II. McQueen, Annie. III. Title. FC3826.1.M33B372003 971.1'0082 C2002-902950-3 F1088.M23B37 2003 University of Toronto Press acknowledges the financial assistance to its publishing program of the Canada Council for the Arts and the Ontario Arts Council. This book has been published with the help of a grant from the Humanities and Social Sciences Federation of Canada, using funds provided by the Social Sciences and Humanities Research Council of Canada. University of Toronto Press acknowledges the financial support for its publishing activities of the Government of Canada through the Book Publishing Industry Development Program (BPIDP). Contents Acknowledgments vii 1 Sojourning Sisters 3 2 Pictou County Origins 11 3 Nova Scotia to British Columbia 35 4 Sisterhood's Bonds 50 5 Taking a Chance on Love 66 6 Domesticating Everyday Life 86 7 Daughterhood's Obligations 109 8 Enduring Bonds of Sisterhood 130 9 Annie on the Frontier 153 10 Jessie in Charge 180 11 Sisters Full Circle 208 vi Contents 12 Reflections 236 Chronology 247 Notes 251 Illustration Credits 293 Index 295 Maps follow page viii Illustrations follow page 150 Acknowledgments Many people have given assistance in telling Jessie and Annie Mc- Queen's stories. Family letters were gathered together by their grand- niece Relief Williams Mackay of Pictou County, Nova Scotia, who used them to write a family history, Simple Annals, and, with another family member, Margaret McCurrach of Victoria, British Columbia, deposited them in archives in the two provinces. The British Columbia Archives, Nicola Valley Archives, Rossland Archives, and Provincial Archives of Nova Scotia have each given encouragement toward publication. Access to the Nova Scotia portion of the correspondence was facilitated by the initiative taken by Alison Prentice to have it transcribed by Sandra Berry, and I am extraordinarily grateful to both of them. My understanding of McQueen family dynamics has been enormously enriched by ongoing contact with Annie McQueen's granddaughter Bridget Gordon Macken- zie of Dornoch, Sutherland, Scotland, and with the sisters' grand-nieces, Margaret McCurrach and the late Relief Mackay. Rev. Glen Macdonald of Sutherland River's Presbyterian Church generously took me, in the summer of 2001, through the church and McQueen family home. He introduced me to Marjorie Scott, Betty MacNeil, and George Mackenzie, all members of the extended McQueen family still living in Nova Scotia. Judith Priestman of the Bodleian Library at Oxford University, Cathleen Blackburn of Manches Solicitors in Oxford, and Douglas A. Anderson have facilitated my understanding of the relationship between Annie McQueen's younger son, E.V. Gordon, and J.R.R. Tolkien. Among oth- ers who have helped along the way are Edward Affleck, Bill Barlee, Anita Bonson, Randy Bouchard, George Brandak, Margaret Conrad, Ross viii Acknowledgments Douglas, Elizabeth Duckworth, Elizabeth (Phillipps) Gravelle, Frances Gundry, Chris Hanna, Lily Kuhn, Shirley Morrison, Patricia Roy, Lotus Fraser Ruckle, Bob Stewart, Bette Sulz, Lyn Tait, Edna Wallace, Bruce Watson, Derryll White, and Dana Whyte. Bridget Mackenzie, Margaret McCurrach, Roderick J. Barman, and two anonymous reviewers insight- fully critiqued the manuscript. Phil Buckner commented on the Nova Scotia sections, and Jeremy Mouat on Rossland. The Social Sciences and Humanities Research Council of Canada and the Humanities and Social Sciences Federation of Canada have both given important financial sup- port. I thank you all, and, most of all, I thank Jessie and Annie McQueen for writing in the first place. Central Nova Scotia

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