Sojourning Sisters : The Lives and Letters of Jessie and Annie McQueen

Drawing on family correspondence, Jean Barman offers a new interpretation of early settlement across Canada in the stories of two young sisters from Pictou County, Nova Scotia, who took the train west to British Columbia in 1886.

Shortly after the completion of the transcontinental railroad in 1886, two young sisters from Pictou County, Nova Scotia, took the train west to British Columbia. Jessie and Annie McQueen each intended to teach there for three years and then return home. In fact they remained sojourners between British Columbia, Nova Scotia, and Ontario for much of their lives.

Drawing on family correspondence and supported by extensive engagement with current scholarship, Jean Barman tells the sisters' stories and, in doing so, offers a new interpretation of early settlement across Canada. As did many other women of these years, Jessie and Annie McQueen remained bound by daughterhood's obligations and sisterhood's bonds even as they got involved in their new communities. Barman takes seriously women as sojourners and uses Jessie and Annie McQueen's letters home to evoke the boundless energy and enthusiasm shown by the thousands of women who helped to form Canada's frontiers.

Like other sojourners, the McQueen sisters did not come to their new home empty handed. They brought with them a distinctly Scottish Presbyterian way of life, consistent with ideas of the nation being promoted in the public realm by fellow Nova Scotians such as George Monro Grant. Confident in their assumptions, including the central role of religion in the formation of a grand national vision, women like these sisters were critical in uniting Canada from coast to coast. Broad in its critical approach and nuanced in its interpretations, Sojourning Sisters is a major contribution to the field of life writing and to the political, gender, and social history of Canada.

"Shortly after the completion of the transcontinental railroad in 1886, two young sisters from Pictou County, Nova Scotia, took the train west to British Columbia. Jessie and Annie McQueen each intended to teach there for three years and then return home. In fact they remained sojourners between British Columbia, Nova Scotia, and Ontario for much of their lives." "Drawing on family correspondence and supported by extensive engagement with current scholarship, Jean Barman tells the sisters' stories and, in doing so, offers a new interpretation of early settlement across Canada. Like many other women of these years, Jessie and Annie McQueen were affected by daughterhood's obligations and sisterhood's bonds even as they got involved in their new communities. Barman takes seriously women as sojourners and uses Jessie and Annie McQueen's letters home to evoke the boundless energy and enthusiasm shown by the thousands of women who helped to form Canada's frontiers." "Like other sojourners, the McQueen sisters did not come to their new home empty handed. They brought with them a distinctly Scottish Presbyterian way of life, consistent with ideas of the nation being promoted in the public realm by fellow Nova Scotians such as George Monro Grant. Confident in their assumptions, including the central role of religion in the formation of a grand national vision, women like these sisters were critical in uniting Canada from coast to coast. Broad in its critical approach and nuanced in its interpretations, Sojourning Sisters is a major contribution to the field of life writing and to the political, gender and social history of Canada."--Jacket Contents 5 Acknowledgments 7 Chapter One. Sojourning Sisters 11 Chapter Two. Pictou County Origins 21 Chapter Three. Nova Scotia to British Columbia 45 Chapter Four. Sisterhood's Bonds 60 Chapter Five. Taking a Chance on Love 76 Chapter Six. Domesticating Everyday Life 96 Chapter Seven. Daughterhood's Obligations 119 Chapter Eight. Enduring Bonds of Sisterhood 140 Chapter Nine. Annie on the Frontier 163 Chapter Ten. Jessie in Charge 190 Chapter Eleven. Sisters Full Circle 218 Chapter Twelve. Reflections 246 Chronology 257 Notes 261 Illustration Credits 303 Index 305