Catharine Parr Traill facts for kids
Quick facts for kids
Catharine Parr Traill
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Catharine Parr Traill, Canadian settler and author
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| Born | 9 January 1802 Southwark, England |
| Died | 29 August 1899 (aged 97) Lakefield, Ontario, Canada |
| Occupation | Author, naturalist |
| Genre | Children's and Settler Literature |
Catharine Parr Traill (born Strickland; 1802–1899) was an amazing writer and nature lover from England who moved to Canada. She wrote many books about what life was like in early Canada, especially in a place called Upper Canada (which is now Ontario). Back in the 1830s, Canada was much smaller, and many parts of Upper Canada were still wild and unexplored by European settlers.
Catharine wrote books throughout her life to help support her family. She wrote 24 books! These books covered everything from her experiences as a settler in Ontario to detailed descriptions of nature, especially plants. People see Catharine Parr Traill as a pioneer in writing about Canada's natural history. Her books helped English readers understand what it was like to live in the new colony and described the beautiful natural world of Upper Canada.
Even though she was very knowledgeable about plants, Catharine was called an "amateur botanist." This was because, in her time, women usually couldn't have paid jobs as professional scientists.
Contents
Catharine's Early Life
Catharine Parr Strickland was born in 1802 in a place called Rotherhithe, which is now part of London, England. She was the fifth daughter of Thomas Strickland and Elizabeth Homer. Catharine grew up in East Anglia and was taught at home.
When her father, Thomas Strickland, passed away in 1818, Catharine and her sisters started writing and editing. This became the main way their family earned money.
Her Writing Career and Life in Canada
Catharine had several sisters who were also famous writers, including Agnes Strickland and Susanna Moodie. Catharine was actually the first of her sisters to start writing books. She began writing books for children in 1818, right after her father died.
Her very first book, The tell tale: an original collection of moral and amusing stories, came out in 1818 when she was only 16 years old! Her early books, like Disobedience, or Mind What Mama Says (1819), were for kids. They often taught lessons about being good and listening to your parents. She was a very busy writer, publishing about one book every year before she got married.
In 1832, Catharine married Lieutenant Thomas Traill. He was a retired army officer and a friend of her sister's husband. Soon after they got married, Catharine and Thomas moved to Upper Canada. They settled near Peterborough, where her brother Samuel was working as a surveyor. Her sister, Susanna Moodie, also moved to Canada shortly after.
Catharine wrote many letters and kept journals about her new life in Canada. She later put these together into a book called The Backwoods of Canada (1836). This book is still read today because it gives us important information about early Canada. In it, she described daily life in the community, how Canadians, Americans, and Indigenous peoples interacted, the weather, and the local plants and animals.
She shared even more observations in a storybook called Canadian Crusoes (1851). Catharine also gathered helpful tips for new settlers in a book called The Female Emigrant's Guide (1854). This book was later renamed The Canadian Settler's Guide. She also wrote other books like "Pearls and Pebbles" and "Cot and Cradle Stories."
After a difficult time in 1836, her husband Thomas joined the local army in 1837. Around 1840, the Traills and the Moodies decided to move from the "backwoods" to the city of Belleville. While her sister Susanna focused on the differences between country and city life, Catharine spent her time in Belleville writing about the natural world around her. She often drew pictures of the plants in Upper Canada. She published books like Canadian Wild Flowers (1865), Studies of Plant Life in Canada (1885), and "Rambles in the Canadian Forest."
Near the end of her life, around 1899, she received some money from a special fund and from her friends in Canada. Catharine Parr Traill passed away at her home in Lakefield, Ontario on August 28, 1899.
Many of her collections of pressed plants are kept at the National Herbarium of Canada, which is part of the Canadian Museum of Nature.
How Catharine Parr Traill is Remembered
Trent University, located in Peterborough, Ontario, named their downtown campus after her. Catharine Parr Traill College is the main college at the university for students studying for advanced degrees.
Special Postage Stamp
On September 8, 2003, Canada Post released a special series of stamps to celebrate Canadian writers. This was also to mark the 50th anniversary of the National Library of Canada. Three million stamps were printed. Catharine Parr Traill and her sister Susanna Moodie were featured together on one of these special stamps.
See also
In Spanish: Catharine Parr Traill para niños
