Catharine Parr Traill

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CPT , sister of the writers Elizabeth and Agnes Strickland and Susanna Moodie , is best known for her naturalist writing about nineteenth-century Upper Canada. She was a letter-writer widely respected and eventually rewarded for her skills in botany. Commenting on CPT 's outpouring of practical advice to female settlers, contemporary critic Clara Thomas dubs her the Mrs Beeton of nineteenth century Canada.
qtd. in
New, William H., editor. Dictionary of Literary Biography 99. Gale Research, 1990.
335
Traill also published a number of stories for children; the best of these incorporate her scientific observations. Characteristically, she wrote: Nothing that exists in the animal, vegetable or mineral world is unworthy of our attention.
qtd. in
New, William H., editor. Dictionary of Literary Biography 99. Gale Research, 1990.
332
  • BirthName: Catharine Parr Strickland
  • Married: Traill
Black and white photograph of Catharine Parr Traill, wearing a white cap tied under her chin. Her strong features are clearly visible, but detail around the image is blurry and fades to nothing. Her signature is reproduced below.

Milestones

9 January 1802

Catharine Parr Strickland, later CPT , was born in Rotherhithe, near London, into a large family, shortly before they all moved to Suffolk.
Gray, Charlotte. Sisters in the Wilderness: The Lives of Susanna Moodie and Catharine Parr Traill. Viking, 1999.
5
Encyclopædia Britannica Online. http://www.britannica.com/.

January 1836

Charles Knight published a volume of CPT 's letters as The Backwoods of Canada: Being Letters from the Wife of an Emigrant Officer, Illustrative of the Domestic Economy of British America.
Gray, Charlotte. Sisters in the Wilderness: The Lives of Susanna Moodie and Catharine Parr Traill. Viking, 1999.
115

Late August 1899

CPT died peacefully at a cottage on Stony Lake, Ontario.
New, William H., editor. Dictionary of Literary Biography 99. Gale Research, 1990.
330
Gray, Charlotte. Sisters in the Wilderness: The Lives of Susanna Moodie and Catharine Parr Traill. Viking, 1999.
347

Biography

Birth and Family

9 January 1802

Catharine Parr Strickland, later CPT , was born in Rotherhithe, near London, into a large family, shortly before they all moved to Suffolk.
Gray, Charlotte. Sisters in the Wilderness: The Lives of Susanna Moodie and Catharine Parr Traill. Viking, 1999.
5
Encyclopædia Britannica Online. http://www.britannica.com/.

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