Fonds F605 - L.M. Montgomery fonds

Canadian author Lucy Maud Montgomery (1874-1942), perhaps best known for her 1908 book Anne of Green Gables, was, in her own words, “born – praise to the gods! – in Prince Edward Island, the colourful little land of ruby and emerald sapphire.” (Ontario Library Review, February 1929). The daughter of Hugh John Montgomery (1841-1900) and Clara Woolner Macneill (1853-1876), Montgomery – known as Maud by her family and friends – was born in Clifton (now New London), PEI. She was raised in Cavendish, PEI by her material grandparents, Alexander Marquis Macneill (1820-1898) and Lucy Ann Woolner (1824-1911), after her mother died of tuberculosis and her father moved to Prince Albert, Saskatchewan.

In 1894, Montgomery obtained a teaching certificate from Prince of Wales College in Charlottetown and taught for a year before taking English literature courses at Dalhousie University in Halifax. During this time, she began publishing essays, short stories, and poetry in various North American periodicals and newspapers. In 1898, after teaching school for two more years, Montgomery’s grandfather died, and she returned to Cavendish to care for her widowed grandmother.

Montgomery continued to write while in Cavendish, and in 1905 she completed her first and most famous novel, Anne of Green Gables. Her manuscript was rejected by several publishers before it was finally accepted for publication by the Page Company of Boston, Massachusetts in 1908. An immediate best-seller, Anne of Green Gables marked the beginning of Montgomery's successful career as a writer. Montgomery went on to write twenty-three additional books, including Anne of Avonlea (1909), Kilmeny of the Orchard (1910), The Story Girl (1911), Chronicles of Avonlea (1912), The Golden Road (1913), Anne of the Island (1915), Anne's House of Dreams (1917), Rainbow Valley (1919), Further Chronicles of Avonlea (1920), Rilla of Ingleside (1921), Emily of New Moon (1923), Emily Climbs (1925), The Blue Castle (1926), Emily's Quest (1927), Magic for Marigold (1929), A Tangled Web (1931), Pat of Silver Bush (1933), Mistress Pat (1935), Anne of Windy Poplars (1936), Jane of Lantern Hill (1937), and Anne of Ingleside (1939). A number of short stories, poems, and novels written by Montgomery were published after her death, including The Blythes Are Quoted (2009).

In 1911, shortly after her grandmother’s death, Montgomery married Rev. Ewen Macdonald (1870-1943), a Presbyterian minister. After honeymooning in England and Scotland, Maud and Ewen moved to Leaskdale, Ontario, where Ewen ministered. They had three children: Chester Cameron Macdonald (1912-1963), Hugh Alexander Macdonald (stillborn, 1914), and Dr. Ewan Stuart Macdonald (1915-1982). Besides being a mother and acting as a minister’s wife, Montgomery continued to write profusely, including as a diarist. In 1923, Montgomery became the first Canadian woman to join the Royal Society of Arts. The family moved to Norval (now Halton Hills), Ontario in 1926. When Ewan retired in 1935, Maud and Ewan moved to Toronto. That same year, Montgomery became a member of the Literary and Artistic Institute of France and was appointed an Officer of the Order of the British Empire.

Montgomery died on April 24, 1942, in Toronto. She is buried in Cavendish, PEI.