Jessie Kerr Lawson (born Janet Kerr Coupar; May 19, 1838 – July 30, 1917[1] was a Scottish-Canadian writer and poet.[2][3]

Jessie Kerr Lawson
Jessie Kerr Lawson, c. 1878
Jessie Kerr Lawson, c. 1878
BornJanet Kerr Coupar
(1838-05-19)May 19, 1838
Fife
DiedJuly 30, 1917(1917-07-30) (aged 79)
Toronto, Canada
OccupationWriter
LanguageEnglish
NationalityScottish
Children10, including Andrew Lawson

Early life

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Lawson was born in St Monans, Fife in 1838.[2][4][5][6] She worked as a schoolteacher, and married William Lawson before moving to Canada in 1866.[6][7]

Writing

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She started writing verse when she was thirteen. The 1890 book One Hundred Modern Scottish Poets: With Biographical and Critical Notices referred to her work as "revealing much fertility of thought and vigour of expression. ... touched with the realism of the true artist." She used several pen-names.[6] She engaged in journalism in Toronto and Dundee, Scotland, and lived her last years in Toronto.[7]

Her work include the poems A Fisher Idyll, Are Oor Folk In, A Queer Auld Toon and The Birth Of Burns.[6] Other work include Dr Bruno's Wife (1893), The Harvest of Moloch (1908) and Lays and Lyrics (1913).[7]

References

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  1. ^ "Jessie Kerr Lawson". Canada's Early Women Writers. Canadian Writing Research Collaboratory. Retrieved March 13, 2020.
  2. ^ a b Stout, Tom (1921). "Montana, Its Story and Biography: A History of Aboriginal and Territorial Montana and Three Decades of Statehood, Under the Editorial Supervision of Tom Stout".
  3. ^ McMullen, Lorraine; Campbell, Sandra (January 1993). Aspiring Women: Short Stories by Canadian Women, 1880-1900. University of Ottawa Press. ISBN 9780776603674.
  4. ^ Wallace, William Stewart (1935). The Encyclopedia of Canada. University Associates of Canada, Ltd. p. 47.
  5. ^ Vaughan, Francis Edward (1970). Andrew C. Lawson: Scientist, Teacher, Philosopher. A. H. Clark. p. 25. ISBN 978-0-87062-097-3.
  6. ^ a b c d Edwards, David Herschell (1890). One Hundred Modern Scottish Poets: With Biographical and Critical Notices. Edwards. pp. 239–244. ISBN 9781371855147. Retrieved 15 March 2020.
  7. ^ a b c Rhodenizer, Vernon Blair (1975). Canadian literature in English. Ann Arbor, MI : Xerox University Microfilms. pp. 715, 863. Retrieved 15 March 2020.