Fought for the preservation of Toronto’s first Chinatown. Read more about her in this short story on Wattpad.
Jean at her fruit store, age 17 “Jean herself had been working full time since she was twelve to help her family out, and at only seventeen, had moved to Toronto, to The Ward, to start her first business, Wong Brothers fruit store.” (A JEAN LUMB STORY 4)Jean in Delegation to Ottawa, 1957 “Mr. Diefenbaker sat at the head of the table, between Jean and labour activist Wong Foon
Sien of British Columbia, who read from the brief they’d prepared. After a short time,
Prime Minister Diefenbaker leaned over to Jean and explained he was hard of hearing in one ear, the one next to Foon Sien. Jean had read the brief so many times her copy was
near worn through, and she knew the words by heart, whispering them to herself as they
were read aloud to the room. So when Mr. Diefenbaker asked what was said, she
explained it all to him.” (A JEAN LUMB STORY 7)Jean in front of Chow Chop Suey House, 1967 “Jean walked the same road, up Elizabeth Street towards Kwong Chow Chop Suey House, a restaurant she and her husband had started, that had since hosted many celebrities and politicians, including the Prime Minister himself.” (A JEAN LUMB STORY 6)Jean Lumb family portrait, 1939 “Seeing so many families kept apart was hard for Jean, having come from a large and close family herself—born the middle of twelve children in Nanaimo, on Vancouver Island, British Columbia, her given name, Wong Toy Jin.There was never a dull moment around her house, always someone to play with, work to be done.” (A JEAN LUMB STORY 3)
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ELIZABETH NUEFELD
Young Jewish social worker who fought for social justice. Read more about her in this short story on Wattpad.
Elizabeth Neufeld, first CNH Head Worker, 1910 “The eight of us women who worked and volunteered at CNH were headed out, dressed in our Sunday bests to canvass the surrounding communities for donations. Elizabeth Neufeld, the newly hired Headworker of CNH, led our march past the last of The Ward’s busy streets to the rich surrounding neighbourhoods.” (KNOWING ELIZABETH NEUFELD 4)Central Neighbourhood House on 84 Gerrard St West “Though we’d spend most of our waking hours over at Central Neighbourhood House, us women workers couldn’t stay there because the top floor was occupied by two gentlemen and most people felt it wasn’t proper for unwed ladies to live is the same residence as men.” (KNOWING ELIZABETH NEUFELD 5)McCaul Street in 1913 “Thankfully the organization rented us a house. Myself and Elizabeth, along with Alice Chown, Misses Gertrude, C.M. Sanborn, Miss E. Kenny, Miss E.B. Orford, and the visiting Victorian Order nurse— who’s name I’d forgotten to ask, and after spending the morning canvassing together, I was too embarrassed to—were to live at 193 McCaul St., a few blocks away from CNH.” (KNOWING ELIZABETH NEUFELD 5)
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CECELIA REYNOLDS
Escaped enslavement through the Underground Railroad. Read more about her in this short story on Wattpad.
A letter from Fanny Ballard to Cecelia Reynolds ““Hm.” She nods. “Words are powerful, child. They can stir people to anger and action, or evoke tears and a broken heart. String the right words together and you can topple an empire. Move heaven and earth. And that’s exactly what I did.” “A letter . . .” I say again, this time a little more assuredly. “Can you write?” I nod. “And read.” Miss Lucie’s brows wing up in surprise as well as admiration. “Well then, I’ll bring you some paper and a pen. And let’s see what you can make of them.”” (BLOOD FOR INK 5)Fanny Thruston was nearly 14 when she was given Cecelia, 9, as a lady’s maid. “It had been my responsibility to tend to the Thruston’s only child, Fanny; to clean up her toys, and put away her clothes. Clear crumbs off her table and brush her hair. We both were children, near the same age, and yet she owned me. Like a puppy or a shoe. But in the way of children sometimes we’d laugh and tell jokes or make up silly stories. We’d play with her dolls— mostly when her Pa wasn’t around, and sometimes Miss Fanny would sneak me a sweet or two from the candy dish.” (BLOOD FOR INK 5)Niagara Falls, the Shore & Islands, 1842 “I ran in the middle of the night, sneaking through the dark hotel to escape in a rowboat across the moonlit waters of Niagara Falls. I ran towards the beacon of freedom of the Canadian border knowing this was my chance—my only chance—and left them both behind.” (BLOOD FOR INK 3)
The Cataract House Cecilia escaped to in 1847 “But for the first time since I walked through her front door, guided by the young man who’d picked me up after I leapt out of the rowboat to bring me all the way into Toronto—the Ward, as he called it, I’m seeing Miss Lucie more clearly.” (BLOOD FOR INK 4)
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ANNIE WHELAN
Widowed Irish woman, mother, and bootlegger. Read more about her in this historical short story on Wattpad.
The Ward, 1925 “Annie stepped out into dirt roads thick with traffic and flowing bodies going about their day. Not far off, a team of men with horses tilled an open stretch of muddy ground, preparing for a new build of storefronts after stripping down the ruins of a row of ramshackle cottages that had burnt down over the winter.” (WOMEN OF THE WARD 3)The Ward was designated a slum in 1850 “Rent in the Ward was steep. Despite the conditions being often just as deplorable indoors, as they were without, demand remained so high that landlords never cared enough to bother with upkeep when some poor soul was desperate enough for a roof over their head, even if it was slightly collapsed. Or leaking.” (WOMEN OF THE WARD 4)
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