"Susanna Moodie and Catharine Parr Traill are two of Canada's most important 19th-century writers. Born in England only 23 months apart, the two sisters became professional writers before they married. In 1832 they emigrated with their Scottish husbands to Canada, settling in the backwoods of what is now Ontario, near present-day Lakefield. They recorded and interpreted their experiences as pioneers in books for which they remain famous to this day."
Susanna Moodie and Catherine Parr Traill, Library and Archives Canada, 2012, http://www.collectionscanada.gc.ca/moodie-traill/index-e.html
Catherine Parr Traill and Susanna Moodie
Black smoke hangs over Québec in 1832 as terrified citizens burn smudge pots to combat cholera. Painting by Joseph Légaré. (Courtesy National Gallery of Canada).
"An intestinal disorder, cholera is associated with unsanitary living conditions. It results when human waste contaminates food and water supplies. At the time, no cure existed, and no one knew how it was transmitted. Most people believed that foul air caused diseases. During the cholera epidemic of 1832, some cities burned barrels of tar in the streets in the belief that it would cleanse the atmosphere."
Douglas Baldwin, Rebellion and Union in the Canadas (Calgary:weigl, 2003)13
Email: vlc@ucdsb.on.ca
