Widows Along the Road : Orford Township in the Mid-Nineteenth Century

Type of resource
Author/collaborator
Title
Widows Along the Road : Orford Township in the Mid-Nineteenth Century
Abstract
The author recounts the pioneer lives of two Irish-born widows who chose to farm in Orford Township in the Eastern Townships. As the author points out, in nineteenth-century Quebec, "the death of their husbands endowed widows with the legal autonomy enjoyed by men. Their right to make their own choices was in stark contrast to the legal dependency of married women." The Irish widows Nancy Smith (b.1786) and Margaret Conlon (1811-1880) took up farming along the "Montreal Road," constructed by the British American Land Company to link Sherbrooke to Montreal via Waterloo. Mary Smith farmed near Lake Bowker (Long Lake) from the 1840s until 1860, and Margaret Conlon farmed with her two sons near Lake Stukely from 1849 to 1880.
Publication
Quebec Heritage News
Volume
Vol. 16
Issue
no. 2
Date
Spring 2022
Pages
16-17
Language
en
Citation
Jensen, Jane. “Widows Along the Road : Orford Township in the Mid-Nineteenth Century.” Quebec Heritage News, Spring 2022.
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