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

327 Pages·2003·17.7 MB·English

by  Jean Barman

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