100 More Canadian Heroines

by Merna Forster

  From the day she was born, Emma (who later changed her last name)was a disappointment to her father, Isaac Edmondson. A tyrannical Scot, he wanted sturdy sons to help on his farm near Magaguadavic Lake, New Brunswick. In December 1841, he was enraged when his Irish wife, Betsy, gave birth to their fifth daughter. Emma became proficient at milking cows, planting potatoes, chopping wood, firing a shotgun, hunting, fishing, and riding even the wildest horses. She took classes at a one-room school and attended an Anglican church with her family.

  When Emma was fifteen, her father insisted she accept a marriage proposal from an older man. But, with her mother’s help, the teenager ran away, renamed herself Sarah Emma Edmonds, and learned how to make hats. She met the Perrigo family, who believed in educating all their children well, not just the boys. Emma and Henriette Perrigo became partners in a millinery shop in Moncton, New Brunswick.

  Around 1858, Emma faced a crisis of some sort and disappeared. She disguised herself as a young man named Franklin Thompson, and reappeared in Saint John as a Bible salesman with short, curly auburn hair. The new arrival was saving money to move to the United States to train for missionary service. Franklin was such a successful salesman that the publisher told the young man they’d never had anyone who could sell Bibles so well. Franklin earned a good income, dressed in fine clothes, and drove a handsome horse and buggy.

  In the fall of 1860, Emma (as Franklin) travelled west to Flint, Michigan. She continued to work as a salesman. One friend noted that Franklin was “glib of tongue, thoroughly businesslike, and had an open, honest, persuasive manner that was particularly attractive.”[2] Franklin became friends with William R. Morse, captain of the Flint Union Greys. She joined the Greys and quickly demonstrated skill as a marksman. When the Civil War broke out that year, a wave of patriotic fever swept through Flint. Emma, now comfortable masquerading as a man and enjoying her freedom, felt a sense of loyalty toward her adopted country and decided to join the Union Army as a male nurse.

  Franklin was initially rejected for being too short, at five-foot-six. Then, in the spring of 1861, Captain Morse came to sign up more recruits; he allowed Franklin to enlist for a period of three years. Franklin joined Company F, Second Michigan Volunteer Infantry, as a male nurse with the rank of private. With the many skills she’d learned on the farm, Franklin performed well in basic training. She also found it easy to stand guard, build roads and fortifications, and take her turn at police duty.

  Private Thompson was soon heading for the front, facing enemy fire in the First Bull Run in July 1861. Emma later wrote about the appalling sight of the battlefield: “Men tossing their arms wildly calling for help; there they lie bleeding, torn and mangled; legs, arms and bodies are crushed and broken as if smitten by thunderbolts; the ground is crimson with blood.”[3]

  Franklin saw combat at Williamsburg and Fair Oaks. In the Seven Days Battles, she carried messages by horseback through the fighting because she was such an adept rider. Always under fire, the daring soldier rode “with a fearlessness that attracted the attention and secured the commendation of field and general officers.”[4]

  In addition to serving as an army nurse, Franklin worked as the regiment’s postmaster and later the Second Michigan’s mail carrier. For the dangerous job, she travelled fifty or sixty miles by horseback with up to three bushels of mail. Emma spent many nights sleeping by the roadside, always on the lookout for the bushwackers who had murdered other carriers. Whatever the challenge, Emma faced the hazards of the Civil War. Her fellow soldiers admired the skillful and determined fellow who was a “whole-souled, enthusiastic youngster, frank and fearless.”[5]

  During the Battle of Fair Oaks, Emma’s arm was severely mangled when her horse suddenly kicked her and bit her arm. Despite serious injuries, she bandaged herself up and returned to caring for the wounded while fighting chills, fever, and pain.

  Later, Private Franklin Thompson served in the Federal Secret Service as a spy, working for General George B. McClellan. On her first mission she disguised herself as a black boy, painting her skin and wearing a curly black wig; she slipped into rebel territory at Yorktown. Armed with a revolver and a southern drawl, she soon worked with a pick and shovel on rebel fortifications. With blistered hands, Emma sketched the fortifications and recorded detailed information about the guns, concealing the report under the sole of her shoe. She gleaned more useful details about the rebels from gossip and even managed to see Confederate General Robert E. Lee.

  The physical and emotional challenges of serving in the Civil War eventually wore down the adventurous heroine. Near the beginning of the war, she’d fallen in love with a young assistant surgeon named Jerome John Robbins. When she later revealed that she wasn’t really a man, he confessed that he was already betrothed. She later fell for Assistant Adjutant General James Reid, who probably shared her feelings but was married. Heartbroken and injured, she was also suffering from malaria and requested a leave of absence. The request was denied and, in April 1863, she deserted.

  Sarah Emma Edmonds dressed as Franklin Thompson.

  Emma was cared for by a doctor in Oberlin, Ohio. About a month later, she reclaimed her true identity and wrote a book about her Civil War adventures, Unsexed; or The Female Soldier. It was published in 1864 by the publishing house for which she had sold Bibles, though it didn’t reveal that the author had disguised herself. The book was a bestseller, with 175,000 copies sold by 1882. Emma donated the proceeds to an organization that assisted the soldiers with whom she had served, while she worked as a nurse and enrolled in Oberlin College.

  In 1867, Emma married Linus Seely (later changed to Seelye), a carpenter from New Brunswick. She gave birth to three children, but all three died, so the couple adopted two sons.

  Emma later decided to apply for a much-needed pension. She contacted some former comrades, revealing that she was actually Franklin Thompson. Once they got over their shock, each veteran she approached provided an affidavit on her behalf. In 1884, Congress, recognizing that Franklin Thompson and Sarah Emma Edmonds Seelye were one and the same, granted her a pension of $12 per month. She is the only woman from the Civil War to receive a federal veteran’s pension. Congress eventually removed the charge of desertion from her record and, in 1889, she was granted an honourable discharge plus back pay and bounty.

  When she died, Sarah Emma Edmonds Seelye was buried beside fellow veterans with full military honours at Washington Cemetery in Houston. She was the most widely known female Civil War soldier, having left the only verifiable written records of her military experiences.[6] Near the site of her childhood home in New Brunswick, a plaque recognizes the heroic Canadian.

  Quote:

  “I could only thank God that I was free and could go forward and work, and I was not obliged to stay at home and weep.” [7]

  — On enlisting for the Civil War.

  Dr. Farrell.

  Photo by Randolph Marshall/ Courtesy of Sanofi Pasteur Archives

  Fighting Polio

  Leone Norwood Farrell

  1904–1986

  With limitless energy and a passionate devotion to her research, she helped save millions from a terrifying disease.

  Boys and girls were suddenly unable to walk, and some died within days of being stricken. Polio was one of the most dreaded diseases of the twentieth century, with widespread epidemics sweeping many countries. In 1953, at least 9,000 Canadian children were infected with the virus, as were many of their caregivers. Some of the survivors ended up in iron lungs, others were crippled for the rest of their lives.

  Though American scientist Dr. Jonas E. Salk had discovered a potential polio vaccine in 1952, it was still untested; there was no method to develop enough of the vaccine to conduct large-scale tests to determine its efficacy and safety. Connaught Medical Research Laboratories at the University of Toronto received funds to support its polio research from the National Foundation for Infantile Paralysis in the United States. A senior researcher at the lab, Dr. Leon
e Farrell, developed the “Toronto technique,” which enabled mass production of the vaccine.

  Dr. Farrell was an experienced researcher by the time the polio field trials started. In 1934, she had joined the staff at Connaught, which was a leader in the production of vaccines, penicillin, and insulin. The team had developed a synthetic medium, Medium 199, which had proven suitable for rapid multiplication of the polio virus. Farrell was charged with discovering a way to produce the vaccine in bulk, and the pressure was on.

  Dr. Farrell developed a technique, using a machine she designed, which produced large enough quantities of the polio virus to conduct large-scale trials. When Dr. Farrell’s process proved successful, Connaught received the contract to produce almost all of the 3,000 litres of virus fluids needed for the testing.

  Dr. Farrell planned the building of the labs and incubators, and trained staff. She supervised the entire production process at the Connaught facility on Spadina Avenue during the winter of 1953–54. Dr. Farrell and her team were “working round-the-clock to produce large volumes of the live virus … they were so dedicated.”[1]

  Every Thursday, a station wagon would pull up to the door to collect the priceless cargo, carefully packed in ice in milk pails, and transport it to pharmaceutical companies in Detroit and Indianapolis. The virus was inactivated and transformed into polio vaccine. Dr. Salk praised the staff at Connaught for pulling off the Herculean task of supplying the virus.

  Thanks to Dr. Farrell and her team, in spring 1954, about two million children participated in successful field trials of Salk’s polio vaccine. Surplus vaccine was sent to Canada, enabling additional testing in Manitoba, Alberta, and Nova Scotia. Connaught received the contract to provide vaccine for the Canadian vaccination program. Mass immunization swept across North America.

  Dr. Salk and his fellow scientists continue to be lauded by the Journal of the American Medical Association for their role in “one of the greatest achievements of the 20th century.”[2] Yet, Dr. Farrell’s role in eradicating polio has not been widely recognized. Few have ever heard of Dr. Leone Farrell, who author Paul Engleman called “Polio’s unsung hero.”[3]

  Little is known about Leone Farrell’s personal life. She was born in 1904 in a farming community near Ottawa and raised in Toronto. She received her Ph.D. in biochemistry from the University of Toronto in 1933 before being hired by Connaught Labs, where she worked for more than thirty-five years. During her distinguished career, she conducted research on fungi, antibiotics, whooping cough, cholera, and diptheria.

  Dr. Farrell in laboratory.

  Courtesy of Sanofi Pasteur Archives

  Colleagues remembered her as a disciplined scientist devoted to her work, as well as being a well-dressed, elegant lady who favoured silk blouses, business suits, and high heels.

  Farrell’s employment files summarized her career as follows: “The breadth of these accomplishments bears testimony to the knowledge and mental fertility enjoyed by Dr. Farrell. Never was she lacking in basic ideas of how to accomplish her scientific goals.”[4] While her important role in the eradication of polio has been acknowledged on science.ca and promoted in Harry Black’s book Canadian Scientists and Inventors,[5] her achievements have gone largely unrecognized; she worked in “relative obscurity.”[6]

  Dr. Leone Farrell died on September 24, 1986. She was buried in Toronto’s Park Lawn Cemetery in an unmarked grave in Lot 707. After Daly’s 2005 newspaper article appeared, relatives engraved Dr. Farrell’s name on a family headstone and erected a slab outlining her accomplishments.

  Quote:

  “You will want to know why and when and where, and whether pigs have wings.… You must let your imagination take flight, while you keep your feet on the ground.”[7]

  — Advising women on the qualities required to become a good medical researcher, 1959.

  Faith Fenton in her mid-thirties.

  J. Fraser Bryce/Library and Archives Canada/PA-212241

  The Secret Life of Alice Freeman

  Faith Fenton

  1857–1936

  She dared to be a journalist, inspiring her female readers to follow new paths.

  Students knew her as Miss Freeman, a plain, spinster schoolteacher in Toronto. But to thousands of Canadians — from housewives to prime ministers — she was investigative journalist Faith Fenton.

  Alice Matilda Freeman was born in Bowmanville, Ontario, in 1857. At the age of ten, the daughter of struggling British immigrants was suddenly sent to live with Reverend Thomas Reikie and his wife, Margaret. She spent four years with the childless couple. Alice thrived under the love and attention of her devoted foster mother (who secretly wrote poetry), and received an excellent education. After Margaret’s death, Alice continued her studies and trained for one of the few occupations open to respectable young ladies: teaching.

  At eighteen, Alice became a teacher for the Toronto School Board, earning less than $300 a year (about half what male teachers earned). She taught for the next nineteen years. Praised as an inspirational teacher, Miss Freeman endured the restrictive environment of the school system and the close scrutiny that female teachers were subjected to. She pursued her secret passion by night, transforming herself into a journalist under the pseudonym Faith Fenton.

  Alice — as Faith — led a double life to protect her position in society (and at the school board) and create a professional journalistic identity. She was one of the first women journalists in Canada and one of the most celebrated. Her articles were published in Barrie’s Northern Advance and Toronto’s prominent Empire. She finally gave up teaching in 1894 and devoted herself exclusively to journalism, working as editor at the Canadian Home Journal for two years.

  While working for the Empire, Faith wrote a popular weekly column called “Woman’s Empire.” Newspapers wanted to expand their markets by including content that appealed to female readers. She provided just that, writing everything from travel pieces that nurtured national pride[1] to features on politics, child abuse, wages, suffrage, sensational murder trials, fashion, and the theatre. Faith prowled Toronto’s seediest streets; she slept in a homeless shelter one night for an article. Urging readers to help the disadvantaged, she wrote, “There is a way of escape for every woman, a door into the larger life, of which she alone holds the key.”[2]

  Faith was a feminist before the term was coined. She openly expressed her views, even when her editor disagreed. Her columns touched a chord with women, with insights into new places, people, and issues; she interviewed American suffragist Susan Anthony, opera diva Emma Albani, and poet Pauline Johnson. Faith played an active role in the National Council of Women, and, in 1893, she covered the International Council of Women at the Chicago World’s Fair. Dubbed the head of lady journalists,[3] Faith was well-respected, and attracted a large readership in Canada, as well as abroad. She even socialized with John A. Macdonald, Wilfrid Laurier, and Lady Aberdeen, the liberal-leaning reformer who was the governor general’s wife.

  Faith set out on her greatest adventure after gold was discovered in the Klondike. She joined the Yukon Field Force bound for the goldfields as the Toronto Globe’s correspondent. She scandalized the expedition commander by wearing a long skirt without bloomers, revealing shapely calves. Faith agreed to conceal the offending body parts, sewing a piece of black satinette around the hemline.

  Faith Fenton ready for the Klondike, 1898.

  Library and Archives Canada/C-8066

  Faith entertained a legion of devoted readers and new fans with her tales of the trail, as she trekked into the wilderness. She wasn’t the first woman reporter in the goldfields, but new arrivals such as Laura Berton remembered that Faith’s were the only good reports on what to expect. Welcomed in Dawson City as a brilliant and famous writer, Faith fell in love in the land of the midnight sun and stayed for five years.

  On New Year’s Day 1900, Miss Alice Freeman married Dr. John Brown, a young doctor from Toronto. Dr. Brown worked as the Yukon Medical Officer of Health and
Territorial Secretary, while Alice devoted herself to being “the wife of her husband.”[4] When the couple moved back to Toronto in 1904, she gave up her career.

  Faith continued writing freelance occasionally, but mainly focused on married life. She died in 1936, a few days after she and her husband John celebrated their thirty-sixth wedding anniversary. John soon horrified many in the family by marrying Faith’s pretty niece Olive Freeman, a woman twenty-eight years his junior.

  Faith was a determined pioneer journalist who helped shape a generation of women. Her great-niece Phyllis MacKay devoted herself to preserving Faith’s memorabilia, with author Jill Downie’s help. Concerned that Faith Fenton’s story had “all but completely disappeared from the history of her country,”[5] Downie published her biography in 1996.

  Quote:

  “Stories in this world tell themselves by halves. There is always a silent side, and none may know the life of another.”[6]

  Joan Bamford Fletcher, circa1940.

  Heroine in Sumatra

  Joan Bamford Fletcher

  1918–1979

  She commanded a force of machine-gun-toting Japanese soldiers in the jungles of Sumatra on a perilous rescue.

  “One Woman Ordered — The Enemy Obeyed — 2000 Were Saved.”[1] News reports hailed Canadian lieutenant Joan Bamford Fletcher for her courage during the daring rescue of prisoners in Sumatra after the Second World War.