Canadian Heroines: Marie Marguerite Rose

by Terrie Todd

If you’ve ever held the notion that Canada’s history does not include slavery, it’s time to rethink that notion. Slavery was legal in Canada until 1834 when it was outlawed throughout the British Empire. While it’s true that many black slaves from the American south sought freedom in Canada in the years leading up to the Civil War, an estimated population of 1,375 Black slaves existed in Canada during the French Regime in the 1700s. Among them was Marie Marguerite Rose.

We don’t even know her original name. Captured by slave traders in Guinea at the age of 19, Marie was transported across the Atlantic to Louisbourg, Nova Scotia. Naval officer Jean Loppinot purchased her in 1736, selected her name, and had her baptized into the Catholic faith. It’s possible she was branded with a hot iron, in keeping with the custom.

Marie would have been expected to work every day except Sunday in the family home. She cooked all meals, washed clothes, and scrubbed floors. Since slave masters could use their slaves in any way they wished, it was not uncommon for the master to rape them, thereby siring more slaves. This may or may not have been the case for Marie. She gave birth to a son, Jean-Francois, who automatically became a slave in the household even though his paternity is unknown. Sadly, her son died at the age of 13.

Marie served as a slave for 19 years before her release. How this came about is not recorded. Perhaps she was purchased by the man who later married her—Jean Baptiste Laurent. This mixed marriage to Laurent, a Mi’kmaw, is part of what makes Marie’s story remarkable. Not only would the union have been nearly unheard of at the time, but the resulting business proved especially notable. Marie and Laurent rented a building where they lived and ran a tavern—right next door to her former owner. Most of their clientele lived in the Fortress of Louisbourg. 

Fortress of Louisbourg, Nova Scotia Tourism

Before her fortieth birthday and after only two years of freedom, Marie died. She never bore any other children. It was noted that she left behind a thriving vegetable garden.

From a plaque at Fortress of Louisbourg, Nova Scotia Tourism

Why did the Historic Sites and Monuments Board of Canada select Marie as a national historic person in 2008? Because, as an illiterate slave, she achieved three things that were next to impossible: she managed to secure her freedom, she married an Indigenous man, and she owned and operated a business. I can’t help thinking she must have possessed uncommon fortitude and intelligence.

If you ever visit the Fortress of Louisbourg, the largest reconstructed eighteenth-century French fortified town in North America, you’ll see the gravestone of Marie Marguerite Rose.

A plaque at Fortress of Louisbourg, Nova Scotia Tourism

 

Sources:

100 Canadian Heroines: Famous and Forgotten Faces, by Merna Forster, Dundurn Press, 2004

Wikipedia

The Canadian Encyclopedia

Bitter war might be raging overseas, but Rose Onishi is on track to fulfill her lifelong goal of becoming a dazzling concert pianist. When forced by her own government to leave her beloved home to work on a sugar beet farm, Rose’s dream fades to match the black soil working its way into her calloused hands.

When Rusty Thorne joins the Canadian Army, he never imagines becoming a Japanese prisoner of war. Only his rare letters from home sustain him—especially the brilliant notes from his mother’s charming helper, which the girl signs simply as “Rose.”

Rose Among Thornes received the 2022 Debra Fieguth Social Justice Award as well as Best Cover Award from The Word Guild.

Terrie Todd’s novels are set mostly in Manitoba, Canada where she lives with her husband, Jon, in Portage la Prairie. They have three adult children and five grandsons. Her next novel, Even If We Cry, releases in November, 2024.

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UNZIPPING HISTORY

 

By Mary Davis

National Zipper Day is April 29^th.

 

I don’t think about zippers on a daily basis even though I use them almost every day. They are so much a part of life, yet we hardly consider them even while zipping them up or down. Zippers are on everything from clothing, luggage, purses, camping gear, and a wide array of other items. I can’t imagine life without this marvelous modern device. Well, I can imagine it, but I don’t like it.

 

We have not one but three inventors to thank for the modern zipper.

 

It all started with Elias Howe, Jr., who invented the lockstitch sewing machine in 1846. A few years later, he invented the predecessor to the modern zipper, receiving a patent in 1851 for his “Automatic, Continuous Clothing Closure”. This device was a series of movable clasps connected with a drawstring. So, a zipper-ish. However, he didn’t pursue marketing it and doesn’t always get credit for inventing the “zipper.”

 

Elias Howe, Jr.

Forty-two years later, Whitcomb Judson developed the “clasp locker” similar to Howe’s description in his patent. Judson’s complicated hook-and-eye system debuted at the 1893 Chicago World’s Fair. He and businessman Colonel Lewis Walker formed the Universal Fastener Company to produce the device. However, it wasn’t a huge hit.

 

Whitcomb Judson

Swedish-born Gideon Sundbäck was hired by Judson and Walker’s Universal Fastener Company and added his stamp on the invention in 1913. He increased the number of teeth per inch from four to ten or eleven and received a patent for it in 1917. He also developed a machine to manufacture this new version of the separable fastener. Unfortunately, the clasp locker struggled to find favor in the clothing industry.

 

Gideon Sundbäck

So how did this modern marvel go from clasp locker or separable fastener to zipper? A name that perfectly fit it and so much easier to say. We have the B. F. Goodrich Company to thank for that in 1923. They used the device on a new style of rubber boots (a.k.a. galoshes). The fastener made a zip sound, so Goodrich called it a zipper. The name stuck. Even so, zippers still didn’t find success and were mainly relegated to boots and tobacco pouches.

 

In the 1930s, a campaign was launched to put zippers in children’s clothing to help them be independent and dress themselves. But it wasn’t until 1937 when a French fashion designer praised the zipper as perfect for men’s trousers and the “Battle of the Fly” that the zipper won out over buttons. Soon, these revolutionary fasteners zipped into clothing everywhere.

 

Now, thousands of miles of zippers are produced every day to meet our needs. Amen!

 

THE QUILTING CIRCLE SERIES Box Set

Historical Romance Series

By Mary Davis

THE WIDOW’S PLIGHT (Book1) – Will a secret clouding a single mother’s past cost Lily her loved ones?

THE DAUGHTER’S PREDICAMENT (Book2) *SELAH & WRMA Finalist* – As Isabelle’s romance prospects turn in her favor, a family scandal derails her dreams.

THE DAMSEL’S INTENT (Book3) *SELAH Winner* – Nicole heads down the mountain to fetch herself a husband. Can she learn to be enough of a lady to snag the handsome rancher?

THE DÉBUTANTE’S SECRET (Book4) – Complications arise when a fancy French lady steps off the train and into Deputy Montana’s arms.

https://www.amazon.com/dp/B0CNZPRRS2/ref=sr_1_7?crid=3NJNTQ5SD1WGB&keywords=the+quilting+circle+by+mary+davis&qid=1700957455&s=digital-text&sprefix=%2Cdigital-text%2C155&sr=1-7

 

MARY DAVIS, bestselling, award-winning novelist, has over thirty titles in both historical and contemporary themes. Her latest release is THE LADY’S MISSION. Her other novels include THE DÉBUTANTE'S SECRET (Quilting Circle Book 4) THE DAMSEL’S INTENT (The Quilting Circle Book 3) is a SELAH Award Winner. Some of her other recent titles include; THE WIDOW'S PLIGHT, THE DAUGHTER'S PREDICAMENT, “Zola’s Cross-Country Adventure” in The MISSAdventure Brides Collection, Prodigal Daughters Amish series, "Holly and Ivy" in A Bouquet of Brides Collection, and "Bygones" in Thimbles and Threads. She is a member of ACFW and active in critique groups.

Mary lives in the Pacific Northwest with her husband of thirty-seven years and one cat. She has three adult children and three incredibly adorable grandchildren. Find her online at: Books2Read Newsletter Blog FB FB Readers Group Amazon GoodReads BookBub

Sources

https://www.thoughtco.com/history-of-the-zipper-4066245

https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Zipper

https://www.backthenhistory.com/articles/the-history-of-zippers

https://www.threadsmagazine.com/2021/04/29/a-brief-history-of-the-zipper

https://historycooperative.org/who-invented-the-zipper/

https://www.thomasnet.com/articles/hardware/zipper-history/

https://blog.library.si.edu/blog/2010/05/03/the-up-an-down-history-of-the-zipper/

https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Elias_Howe

https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Whitcomb_L._Judson

https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Gideon_Sundback

https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Galoshes

 

The Fateful Voyage of the Exodus 1947

By Sherri Stewart

www.worldjewishcongress.com

The SS President Warfield, a US freight passenger ship, had seen better days. Having been launched in 1928, it originally sailed the Chesapeake Bay, but it was transferred to England, where it was deployed in the Normandy invasion (June 1944). The old ship was returned to US waters after World War II, but its greatest voyage was yet to occur.

www.postcardhistory.net

Hagana, an underground Jewish organization, covertly bought the SS President Warfield in order to transport Jews who sought to immigrate to Palestine. The plight of the ship’s passengers would capture the world’s attention at that time and later on through the film, Exodus.

In July 1947, the President Warfield left France for Palestine, which was under British mandate. The ship carried over 4,500 Jewish men, women, and children, all of whom were either displaced people or survivors of the Holocaust. Soon after it left France, the ship’s name was changed to Exodus 1947 for its similarity to the Jewish exodus from Egypt to the Promised Land thousands of years before.

www.theguardian.com

Even before the ship reached Palestine’s waters, British destroyers surrounded it. On July 18, British naval forces attacked the Exodus1947.A crew member and two passengers were killed. Dozens of passengers suffered bullet wounds and other injuries.

To make an example of the Exodus 1947, the British towed the ship to Haifa and transferred the passengers onto three navy transports which returned to Europe. The ships first landed at Port-de-Bouc, France, where the passengers were ordered by the British Navy to disembark, but the passengers, including many orphaned children, refused to disembark and declared a hunger strike which lasted 24 days. Mounting pressure from international media coverage pressured British authorities to find a solution.

www.dailymail.com.uk

The ships sat for three weeks in the sweltering summer heat, but the passengers refused to disembark, and the French authorities were unwilling to force them to leave. The British government then transported the passengers to Hamburg where the passengers were sent to displaced persons camps.

Displaced persons in camps all over Europe protested and staged hunger strikes when they heard the news. Large protests erupted on both sides of the Atlantic. The ensuing public embarrassment for Britain played a significant role in the diplomatic swing of sympathy toward the Jews, and played a factor in the establishment of the country of Israel in 1948, less than a year later. https://encyclopedia.ushmm.org/content/en/article/exodus-1947

www.farkash-gallery.com

Selah Award finalist Sherri Stewart loves a clean novel, sprinkled with romance and a strong message that challenges her faith. She spends her working hours with books—either editing others’ manuscripts or writing her own. Her passions are traveling to the settings of her books and sampling the food. She traveled to Paris for this book, and she works daily on her French and German although she doesn’t need to since everyone speaks English. A widow, Sherri lives in Orlando with her lazy dog, Lily. She shares recipes, tidbits of the book’s locations, and other authors' books in her newsletter.
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Secrets Dark and Deep

TV anchor, Maddie Caldecott, has a secret so deeply buried within that she doesn’t remember it. But the man called Absalom knows her secret, and his threats to exact his revenge are becoming more and more intrusive. As an investigative reporter, Maddie can dig out the truth of any story, but she can’t unearth the secret she’s blocked until it’s too late.

Police Detective, Brody Messner, is at his wits end. How can he protect Maddie if she resists his every suggestion? His need to protect her has become personal. From Orlando to Zürich, he follows her, trying to stay one step ahead of her assailant—all of his notes to her, and the song. https://bit.ly/49gE1wp