100 More Canadian Heroines

by Merna Forster

  Following a successful debut in Berlin in 1907, Kathleen began touring Europe as a virtuoso. She received high praise for the 375 concerts she performed between 1908 and 1915. The violinist also made a number of appearances in Norway before King Haakon and Queen Maud, who presented Kathleen with a diamond necklace. In Oslo she met the wealthy Einar Bjornson, who became a patron as well as a close friend. He gave her the remarkable violin, an instrument made in 1735 by Guarnerius del Gesù, that became her most treasured possession.

  Kathleen Parlow, 1913.

  Library and Archives Canada/c151479

  After Kathleen had studied and performed in Europe for five years, she took an important career step by touring in North America. Billed as one of the top-ranking violinists in the world, Kathleen gave concerts in Boston, Philadelphia, and New York. The very favourable reviews from critics included one following her performance with the New York Symphony Orchestra in 1911: “The gifts of this young girl are extraordinary.… In her performances she has not been judged as a woman but as an artist … the men in the profession have declared that she is today one of the phenomena of the musical world.”[4]

  Kathleen, accompanied by her mother as always, also toured Canada. The Parlows were especially pleased by the warm reception they received in Alberta. They were greeted by the premier and hosted by Senator James Lougheed and his wife, Isabella, for whom Kathleen’s father had been a witness at their wedding. Calgarians were proud of the tall, slender young woman who had returned to her home town as an international celebrity. Kathleen noted in her diary that she was finally “[at] home.”[5]

  From 1912 to 1925 the Parlows lived in a house near Cambridge, England, which served as a base for touring Holland and Scandinavia, the United States, and Asia. Kathleen was thrilled with her adventures in the Far East, particularly the tour in China. “I had always longed to see China and when I finally arrived I almost held my breath in fear lest the reality should not come up to my anticipation.”[6] She was not disappointed — and the tour was a big success.

  After suffering from a breakdown in 1927 and weary of low financial returns from touring, Kathleen focused on teaching and playing in a quartet. She lived in San Francisco and New York — teaching at the prestigious Julliard School of Music — before the Parlows decided they belonged back in Canada. Kathleen accepted an offer to teach at The Conservatory of Music in Toronto in 1941. She was soon performing with the Toronto Symphony Orchestra, giving concerts with the Canadian Trio, and then the Parlow String Quartet. In 1959, she was named head of the London, Ontario, College of Music.

  Kathleen died in 1963 after a lifetime of devotion to music. Despite close relationships with a number of suitors, she never wed. Some relatives speculated that her domineering mother may have kept the men away. Kathleen earned international acclaim during her impressive career and helped students develop their skills. By willing her estate — primarily her famous violin — to the University of Toronto, she funded the Kathleen Parlow Scholarships to assist aspiring string players.

  Quote:

  “Music begins where love leaves off.”[7]

  Marie Anne Payzant during the siege of Quebec.

  Illustration © Gary Alphonso www.i2iart.com

  Prisoner of War

  Marie Anne Payzant

  circa 1711–1796

  Her fight for freedom is a Canadian epic.

  Marie Anne Payzant’s life reads like legend, though the suggestion that she was General Montcalm’s secret sister is a myth. The scarcity of historical facts about her has inspired wonderful fictional accounts of her life, and led her descendant Linda G. Layton to piece together the true story.[1]

  It was May 8, 1756, near the fortified town of Lunenburg, Nova Scotia. The dogs began barking at midnight on the small island in Mahone Bay. Louis Payzant rushed to the door of his family’s log cabin and fired his musket. As his wife Marie Anne ran to his side, he fell to the ground in a pool of blood, dead. Ten whooping warriors brandishing tomahawks bolted into the cabin. The terrified Marie Anne and her four young children watched in horror as one attacker ripped the scalp from Louis’s head, attaching it to his belt as a trophy.

  The Maliseet raiding party grabbed the dry goods that the murdered merchant was planning to sell, herded the remaining Payzants into canoes, and torched the buildings. The attackers killed the family’s servant and her son, the young boy who had guided them to Payzant Island to begin with. While it is not clear why the Maliseet spared Marie Anne and her children, they may have been surprised to hear them speaking French like the men who’d hired them and hoped their captives would fetch a good ransom.

  Marie Anne must have rued the day the Payzants left their peaceful sanctuary in Jersey three years earlier. Both Marie Anne and her husband were middle-class Huguenots from Normandy, who fled France to escape religious persecution. Louis Payzant was a prosperous merchant when he escaped to the British-held island of Jersey, where the couple married in 1740.

  The couple soon established themselves in their refuge. Marie Anne gave birth to seven children, though only four survived. When Louis learned that the British government was looking for several hundred Huguenots to settle in Nova Scotia, he was enticed by the opportunity for adventure and profit. The Payzants sailed into Halifax in the summer of 1753, settling initially in Lunenburg before moving onto their own island in 1756. They had only been there a few months when their dream of peace and prosperity was shattered by the raid.

  The family had been caught in the war that Britain had just declared on France: the Seven Years’ War would last from 1756 to 1763. The Marquis de Vaudreuil in Quebec had ordered attacks in Nova Scotia, and Father Charles Germain and Captain Deschamps de Boishebert incited their Native allies, the Maliseet, to attack the English colony. The Maliseet were encouraged to bring back prisoners and scalps in return for rewards like guns, brandy, and tobacco.

  For at least four days, Marie Anne and her children endured a frightening trek from Payzant Island to Saint Anne’s Mission in French territory. Ordered to lie flat in the canoes, the captives huddled together. The youngest son, Lewis, would later recall being treated cruelly. The captives ate berries, bread, or nothing. On arrival in Saint Anne’s, they watched the Maliseet warriors celebrate their successful raids by dancing and drumming around their campfires.

  The prisoners of war soon discovered their fate. The Maliseets adopted the four Payzant children and gave them new names. They were to be raised as Catholics. Marie Anne, fearful she would never set eyes on her children again, was sent to Quebec City, the capital of New France.

  Marie Anne, who was about a month pregnant, was handed over to French authorities after surviving a gruelling nine-day journey to Quebec. It is not certain where she stayed during her four years of captivity in Quebec, but her biographer suggests the Ursuline Convent as one possibility. While authorities were probably surprised that the prisoners of war included a bourgeoisie woman from France who could write her name, they were displeased to discover she was a Huguenot.

  When Marie Anne pleaded with Bishop Pontbriand to be reunited with her children, he demanded that she convert to Catholicism. With no other options, she reluctantly signed the necessary papers on December 8, 1756. Just after Christmas, at forty-five, she gave birth to her last child: Louise Catherine Payzant. The baby was baptized in the Roman Catholic cathedral.

  Marie Anne was reunited with her four older children in Quebec the following summer. At Bishop Pontbriand’s suggestion, the adoptive parents were threatened with the refusal of absolution if they didn’t give up the children. While it is not known if Marie Anne was able to live with all of her children in Quebec, at least she had the comfort of knowing they were nearby and safe. John attended the seminary and Jesuit college, and the other boys may have, too.

  Marie Anne and the children were excited when they spotted British ships arriving in June 1759, and John actually witnessed the Battle of the Plains of Abraham. After the British defeated Montcalm, t
he Payzants suffered through chaos and food shortages following the war. They weren’t able to sail away from Quebec until the ice broke up in the spring of 1760.

  At fifty-one, Marie Anne was finally free again — free to live her life where and how she wanted, and practise her religion without fear of prosecution. She returned to Nova Scotia with her family and eventually settled in a new Protestant community in Falmouth where she obtained a 500-acre farm as well as other land grants. Forever haunted by their memories of murder and captivity, the children began the new challenge of learning English and living in an unfamiliar culture.

  Unable to manage a farm with her children, Marie Anne married an Irishman named Malachi Caigin. The marriage was not successful, and she was separated from the tavern owner by the time he was murdered in a barroom brawl in 1776. When Marie Anne died two decades later, she had enjoyed many years of living on the farm at Falmouth with her son, Lewis, and his large family.

  Quote:

  “Our curate of Quebec, undersigned, received the abjuration of the Religion Prétendice-Reformée and the profession of the Catholic, Apostolic and Roman Religion given by Dlle [Demoiselle] Anne Noget … and given to her absolution of the blame incurred by the heretical profession ...”[2]

  Lady Pellatt, first commissioner of the Girl Guides of Canada.

  Library and Archives Canada

  Guiding Light

  Lady Mary Pellatt

  1858–1924

  The first chief commissioner of the Girl Guides of Canada, she was a pioneer in the development of the Guiding movement.

  In 1922, Lady Pellatt received the Silver Fish. As any Girl Guide knows, this honour is the highest award in Guiding. Lady Mary Pellatt was so dedicated to the movement that she was buried in her Girl Guide uniform — with local Girl Guides forming a Guide of Honour at her funeral.

  Mary Dodgson was born in Toronto in 1858 and attended Bishop Strachan School. She married a Kingston financier and soldier named Henry Pellatt, who was knighted for his service to the Queen’s Own Rifles of Canada. Major-General Pellatt, who made a fortune through railway and hydro investments, spent $3.5 million building a castle for his family: Casa Loma. The medieval-style castle was the largest private residence in Canada and the first to have an elevator.[1] This was built to transport Mary’s wheelchair, to which she was often confined due to complications from diabetes and arthritis.

  Lady Mary was shy but led an active social life. She was always immaculately dressed, in long flowing dresses and large hats adorned with flowers. The Pellatts enjoyed entertaining in their fantasy castle, which had ninety-eight rooms adorned with the country’s largest private art collection.[2] Mary was fond of hosting tea parties in the conservatory, which featured exotic plants from around the globe.

  Lady Pellatt was a professional volunteer who organized the Queen’s Own Chapter, Imperial Order Daughter of the Empire, and served as first regent. She belonged to the War Memorial Club, the Toronto Women’s Musical Club, the Women’s Art Association, the Women’s Canadian Club in Boston, and the St. James’ Cathedral Women’s Club. Lady Pellatt was also a life patron of the National Council of Women.

  On July 24, 1912, Agnes Baden-Powell, the creator of the Girl Guide movement, named Lady Pellatt chief commissioner of the Canadian Girl Guides. She toured the country promoting the movement. With 250 companies of guides already formed, she began working with a group of prominent women to create a headquarters for them in Canada. Despite some opposition to what some perceived as an Amazon Cadet Corps, the Girl Guide movement spread. Lady Pellatt opened the headquarters in Toronto in December 1912, and the following spring began hosting guiding rallies and other events at Casa Loma.

  About 250 Girl Guides attended the first rally in 1913. The girls roamed throughout the castle, exploring the conservatories, climbing to the top turret, and sipping tea in the Palm Room. There was dancing and marching outside on the lawn, with refreshments served in large tents, as well as educational activities like first aid training. Lady Pellatt also arranged skating parties for the Girl Guides in the winter.

  In 1913, Lady Pellatt began working with the Canadian National Exhibition so the Girl Guides could participate in the Women’s Day Activities at the fair. After the outbreak of war in 1914, she encouraged the Guides to send clothing, toys, and books to children in Belgium. The Girl Guides contributed to worthy causes throughout the First World War, sending 16,700 pairs of boots to France in 1918.

  Lady Pellatt presenting the Silver Fish at a gathering of Girl Guides, Casa Loma, 1915

  Girl Guides of Canada

  By the time the Canadian Girl Guides Association was incorporated by an Act of Parliament in 1917, the Guiding movement was well established. In May 1919, Lady Pellatt welcomed scouting and guiding leaders Lord and Lady Baden-Powell and organized a special Guide rally at Casa Loma for the empire’s chief guide. When His Royal Highness, the Prince of Wales visited the Parliament Buildings in Toronto that August, Lady Pellatt gave the welcome address on behalf of the Girl Guides of Canada.

  In 1921, Lady Pellatt helped create the Rangers for Senior Guides. She also made her last public appearance as chief commissioner at the Brownie Revel in High Park. That year the Guiding movement included 17,500 Guides and 1,000 Brownies across the country. Lady Pellatt died in 1924, distraught at being forced out of Casa Loma after the Pellatt fortune disappeared.

  Quote:

  “The girls will be mothers of our citizens by-and-by. We must train them for womanhood and citizenship. That is the purpose of the Movement. Who said it meant unsexing? It is not an imitation of the Boy Scout Movement; for there is no militarism in it. It is purely a women’s scheme.”[3]

  Nellie Yip Quong and her husband, Charles Yip Quong.

  Henry Yip

  Granny Yip

  Nellie Yip Quong

  1882–1949

  Bold and outspoken, she fought for Chinese immigrants struggling to survive racial hostility.

  Nellie Yip Quong could cuss and scold in any of five Chinese dialects. Or skillfully deliver a baby in Vancouver’s Chinatown while offering comforting words in Chinese to the new mother. And in perfect English she fearlessly challenged the injustices immigrants faced, as when she convinced the Vancouver General Hospital to stop keeping all non-Caucasian patients in the basement. A white woman from New Brunswick, Nellie earned the respect and admiration of Vancouver’s Chinese community.[1]

  Nellie Towers was born in Saint John. She received a private education in the United States and taught English in New York City. There she fell in love with Charles Yip, a Chinese jeweller from Vancouver. Their 1900 wedding tore apart her family and severed her connection to the Roman Catholic Church. Neither would accept what was deemed a scandalous union, at a time when interracial marriages were rare.

  After brief stints in New York and Vancouver’s Chinatown, the couple moved to China for a few years. Nellie, an amazing linguist, became fluent in Cantonese. She also learned four regional dialects and some Mandarin. When the pair returned to Vancouver in 1904, the young woman continued studying at a Chinese school operated by her husband’s uncle, Yip Sang. Despite racial prejudice, Charles and Nellie were happy. As a merchant, he was among the Chinese elite, but also looked after the household cooking and gardening.

  For more than thirty years, Nellie Yip Quong provided her adopted community with health and social services that were not available in a society that was openly hostile toward the Chinese. Her impressive language skills enabled her to communicate with the diverse Chinese populations. Nellie was a competent and trusted midwife, delivering babies for about 500 Chinese-Canadian women. The Chinese Benevolent Association of Vancouver hired her as the first public health nurse for the Chinese population. Granny Yip, as she was fondly known, also arranged care for the elderly, brokered adoptions, and served as a foster mother for many children. Unable to have children, Nellie and her husband adopted a daughter, Eleanor.

  Nellie’s understanding of Euro-Canadi
an society enabled her to serve as a bridge between it and the Chinese community. She served as an interpreter and helped people in disputes with landlords, immigration officials, and employers. Nellie also translated during court cases. She became an outspoken advocate of Chinese rights, never shying away from using her quick wit and acid tongue. She worked with many organizations, including the Anglican Good Shepherd Mission, the Chinese Benevolent Association, and the United Church in Chinatown.

  Always ready to challenge racism, she once demanded that the owner of the White Lunch restaurant remove a sign that said, NO INDIANS, CHINESE OR DOGS ALLOWED.[2] He did.

  Nellie used her position as a professional Caucasian woman with a respected Chinese husband to improve the Chinese community’s living conditions. In 2008, the Historic Sites and Monuments Board of Canada designated Nellie Yip Quong a national historic person, recognized for providing health and social services to Chinese immigrants in their own language and advocating for her adopted community. She is still remembered in some community folklore and literature.

  Quote:

  “I have given up a whole lot to know my husband’s people and it took a long time to win their confidence.… Oh I tell you it was often distressing.”[3]