Finding Mississauga in the Maritimes – Chapter 3
/
Lucy Maud Montgomery
Our recent trip to Maritimes found me wondering about possible connections back home to Mississauga wherever we wandered. A visit to the ruins of St. Raphael’s in Glengarry on our journey back home to Ontario were memorable, as was a lunch stop in a gorgeous former mill in nearby Alexandria (where our waitress, while born in Georgetown, spent time in her youth in Streetsville – yes, I like to chat with people about the history of their communities when opportunity arises, much to my family’s occasional annoyance). There were other small connections – a visit to Springhill, Nova Scotia found a park interpreter wearing a University of Toronto Mississauga baseball hat, and the hosts of one of our Airbnb stays in Elgin, New Brunswick had family connections to Lorne Park, while our host at another stop had relocated to New Brunswick from nearby Milton only four years ago. It was an enjoyable exploration in conversation with the people we met along the way.
But it was another “must see” stop along our journey that had me pondering if there might be a connection to home.
While staying in Cavendish, Prince Edward Island, we visited and explored Green Gables Heritage Place. We took lovely walks through the so-named “Lover’s Lane” and “Haunted Woods”, as well as Green Gables itself. The interpretive centre on the site was dedicated to the life and work of famed Canadian author Lucy Maud Montgomery (1874-1942). I must admit, while I knew about her work, and have enjoyed some more modern interpretations of the story of Anne of Green Gables, I knew little of the author herself. I have read more about her life and times over the past few weeks and am pleased to see my daughter reading the Anne of Green Gables series now.
Mazo de la Roche
Lucy Maud Montgomery had some local connections here in Ontario – she lived for parts of her life in nearby Norval and then in Toronto. Montgomery’s first novel, Anne of Green Gables, was published in 1908. She would, in total, write 22 novels. 11 of these were written in Leaskdale, near Uxbridge, where she moved with her husband, Reverend Ewan Macdonald, in 1911. She lived in the Leaskdale Manse from 1911 until 1926, during what was arguably the height of her fame. After Leaskdale, the family resided in Norval from 1926 until 1935, and then in Toronto.
Since its initial publication in 1908 Anne of Green Gables has been translated into 37 languages and has sold more than 50 million copies worldwide. A visit to Prince Edward Island immediately shows you the importance of Anne, Green Gables and Avonlea to the story and tourism industry of PEI. There is so much more that can be explored on the life, times and work of Lucy Maud Montgomery, but in terms of the focus for this article and making connections to Mississauga, thinking about Montgomery’s work had me looking at parallels with another famed author. The only other female Canadian author at the time that saw comparable success was Mazo de la Roche (1879-1961). Mazo lived seasonally and wrote in the Clarkson area of Mississauga during the 1920s, and many of her inspirations for the Whiteoaks family and the Jalna house are believed to be drawn from the Harris family of Benares, with whom she was a neighbour and friend.
Lucy Maud Montgomery Plaque, Green Gables, Cavendish
Similarly, to Lucy Maud, Mazo’s Jalna series explored themes of Canadiana, and was rooted in small-town and rural Canadian landscapes. There was a romanticism in both of their works. Between 1927 and 1960 Mazo produced 28 novels, 16 of which explored the life and times of her fictional Whiteoaks family of Jalna. The Jalna series has sold over 11 million copies and has been translated into dozens of languages, making Lucy Maud and Mazo two of the most prominent, popular and prolific female authors who were key to elevating Canadian literature onto the world stage.
While it is not known if Lucy Maud and Mazo ever connected in person, or corresponded, one wonders if the earlier successes of Lucy Maud with Anne of Green Gables might have lent encouragement to Mazo. Also, it is perhaps interesting to think that when Mazo’s Jalna book was published in 1927, she was living in Clarkson, while Lucy Maud was living a relatively short distance away in Norval, near Georgetown, Ontario.
Both Lucy Maud Montgomery and Mazo de la Roche are recognized as persons of National Historic Significance. Lucy Maud is honoured with a plaque at Green Gables Heritage Place in Cavendish, Prince Edward Island, while Mazo de la Roche is recognized at Benares Historic House here in Mississauga. It does make me wonder if Lucy Maud, in part, trailblazed a path for Mazo, and in their own ways each of them helped to bring attention to early Canadian literature.
Mazo de la Roche Plaque, Benares
