The Life Writings of Mary Baker McQuesten: Victorian Matriarch

Personal letters tell the story of this Victorian matriarch who was left impoverished after the death of her husband to raise and educate six young children. An illuminating view of a southern Ontario family as well as social attitudes from the nineteenth and twentieth centuries. In her uninhibited style, in letters mostly to her children, Mary Baker McQuesten chronicles her financial struggles and her expectations. The letters reveal her forthright options on a broad range of topics: politics, literature, social science, and even local gossip. Mary Baker McQuesten was also president of the Women’s Missionary Society. The appearance, manner, and eloquence of various ministers and politicians all come under her forthright scrutiny, providing lively insights into the Victorian moral and social motivations of both men and women as well as about the gender conflicts that occurred both at home and abroad.