Women of Old Strathcona Worth Remembering, Says Local Historian

Women of Old Strathcona Worth Remembering, Says Local Historian

Where would we be without the hard work of the women of the past, asks local historian Tom Monto. The author of the book Old Strathcona - Edmonton's Southside Roots says that many tough women appeared in Strathcona history through the years.

Prior to the invention of "labour-saving devices" on the farms and workshops, couples had many children to help out around the place. Mothers cooked large meals on wood or coal stoves to feed the numerous children who seemed to be always hungry.

Edmonton's Southside Roots gives the example of Margaret Martin. She and her husband settled on a rough pioneer farm near today's Mount Pleasant Cemetery in 1899. Only two years later her husband died and Margaret was left to cope alone wit the farm and to care for their 11 children. She coped so well that eight years later she had the money to pay for the construction of a substantial brick house "in town." This house still stands at the corner of 84 Avenue and 106 Street. A daughter, Grace Martin, taught in area schools for many years and now has a school named after her.

Tom Monto also included the stories of many women who had heroic accomplishments after the pioneer era had passed.

Emily Murphy, living on the southside near the University in the 1920s, is one of the people he was happy to include in his book. A best-selling author, Murphy was a leader in the movement to get women appointed to the Senate. It was on the front porch of her home on 88 Avenue that Alberta's "Famous Five" met in 1927 to launch a legal appeal to achieve that measure of equality. Two years later they achieved their goal.

Margaret Crang grew up on Strathcona's Main Street, now known as 104 Street. In 1933, at the age of 23, she was elected to he Edmonton city council. Two years later she was the most popular candidate in the city when she won re-election. In 1937, she and other Labour candidates were ignored at the polls. Her political career was over - at the age of 27.

Old Strathcona - Edmonton's Southside Roots uses more than 100 historic photos and 500 pages of detailed story-telling to tell the stories of these and many other daring women of the city's early days.

"I was still discovering amazing life adventures of Edmonton women almost even as the book went to the printers," enthused Monto. He said he was particularly surprised by his discovery of the story of Sarah Lendrum, a southside farm girl who trekked into the North in 1896 with a husband she had met for the first time less than a month earlier.

Copies of Edmonton's Southside Roots are available at Alhambra Books, 10115 - 81 Avenue.