The Life and Letters of Annie Leake Tuttle: Working for the Best

168 Pages·1999·10.87 MB·English

by  Marilyn Färdig Whiteley

Life Writing Series / 7
Life Writing Series
In the Life Writing Series, Wilfrid Laurier University Press publishes life
writing and new life-writing criticism in order to promote autobiographical
accounts, diaries, letters and testimonials written and/or told by women and
men whose political, literary or philosophical purposes are central to their
lives. Life Writing features the accounts of ordinary people, written in
English, or translated into English from French or the languages of the First
Nations or from any of the languages of immigration to Canada. Life Writ-
ing will also publish original theoretical investigations about life writing, as
long as they are not limited to one author or text.
Priority is given to manuscripts that provide access to those voices that have
not traditionally had access to the publication process.
Manuscripts of social, cultural and historical interest that are considered for
the series, but are not published, are maintained in the Life Writing Archive
of Wilfrid Laurier University Library.
Series Editor
Marlene Kadar
Humanities Division, York University
The Life and Letters
of
Annie Leake Tuttle
Working for the Best
Marilyn Fardig Whiteley
editor
Wilfrid Laurier University Press
We acknowledge the support of the Canada Council for the Arts for our publish-
ing program.
We acknowledge the financial support of the Government of Canada through the
Book Publishing Industry Development Program for our publishing activities.
CanadS
Canadian Cataloguing in Publication Data
Turtle, Annie Leake, 1839-1934
The life and letters of Annie Leake Tuttle : working for the best
(Life writing ; v. 7)
ISBN 0-88920-330-X
1. Tuttle, Annie Leake, 1839-1934 - Diaries. 2. Tuttle, Annie Leake,
1839-1934 - Correspondence. 3. Women - Nova Scotia - Biography.
4. Teachers-Nova Scotia-Biography. 5. Women missionaries-British
Columbia - Biography 6. Methodists - Nova Scotia - Biography.
I. Whiteley, Marilyn Fardig, 1936- . n. Title. HI. Series.
HQ1455.T87A3 1999 305.42'092 C99-930633-2
© 1999 Wilfrid Laurier University Press
Waterloo, Ontario N2L 3C5
Cover design by Leslie Macredie, using a photograph of Annie Leake circa 1859
The pamphlet Our Chinese Work is reproduced with the permission of the
Maritime Conference Archives of the United Church of Canada.
Printed in Canada
The Life and Letters of Annie Leake Tuttle: Working for the Best has been
produced from camera-ready copy supplied by the author.
All rights reserved. No part of this work covered by the copyrights hereon may be repro-
duced or used in any form or by any means—graphic, electronic or mechanical—without
the prior written permission of the publisher. Any request for photocopying, recording, tap-
ing or reproducing in information storage and retrieval systems of any part of this book
shall be directed in writing to the Canadian Reprography Collective, 214 King Street West,
Suite 312, Toronto, Ontario M5H 3S6.
Contents
Foreword vii
Illustrations xi
Introduction 1
1 The Simple Life, 1839-1849 10
2 Two Homes, 1849-1856 16
3 Turning Points, 1856-1858 26
4 Serious Undertakings, 1858-1866 36
5 Above My Highest Dreams, 1866-1887 54
6 Remarkable Years, 1887-1895 66
7 A New Position, 1895-1902 92
8 Waiting on the Lord, 1902-1907 100
9 A Place to Call Home, 1907-1917 109
10 Time Enough, 1917-1934 120
Epilogue, 1934 137
Children of Thomas Leake and Olevia Lockhart 139
Annie Leake Tuttle—Chronology 140
Sources 142
V
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Foreword
I first learned about Annie Leake as I did research on the Chinese Rescue
Home in Victoria, British Columbia. In 1887, the Woman's Missionary
Society of the Methodist Church agreed to open this mission, and Annie
Leake was the matron during its first, pioneering five years. Thus it was with
delight that I discovered that she had written the story of her life, which
began in Nova Scotia in 1839. The portion of those memoirs that describes
her years at the rescue home was included in Canadian Women on the Move
1867-1920, edited by Beth Light and Joy Parr. My delight turned to
amazement when I learned that the original manuscript was held by a friend.
Annie had entrusted her autobiography to her favourite niece, Edna Leake
Nix, who had also saved letters from her aunt. The manuscript was now in
the possession of Reverend J. Ernest Nix, Edna's son and my former
colleague at the United Church Archives in Toronto.
I read Annie's story as I wrote about the rescue home, but as I pored
over her writings, my interest quickly moved beyond Annie Leake, the
missionary, to Annie Leake Tuttle, the woman. I continued to use the
material to which Ernie Nix had generously given me access, and I studied
Annie's teaching career, and the empowerment afforded by her religious
experience. Ernie circulated my papers among Annie's relatives; a few of
them replied with their own reminiscences, and others passed on more
material produced or collected by Annie. They also graciously agreed to let
me prepare Annie's writing for publication.
In the course of my research I have been aided by a great many
people. I received expert and cheerful assistance from the staff at the United
Church/Victoria University Archives in Toronto and from archivists at three
Conference Archives of the United Church: the Maritime Conference
Archives, formerly in Halifax and now in Sackville; the Newfoundland and
Labrador Conference Archives in St. John's; and the British Columbia
Conference Archives in Vancouver. Other archivists helped in my search for
Vll
viii THE LIFE AND LETTERS OF ANNIE LEAKE TUTTLE
explanations and connections: staff members at the Provincial Archives of
British Columbia; the Colchester County Archives in Truro, Nova Scotia; the
Cumberland County Museum, Amherst, Nova Scotia; and especially the
Public Archives of Nova Scotia. Two Nova Scotians whom I have never met
went out of their way to be helpful; they are Carl Demings of Springhill and
Susan Hill of Amherst. I am also indebted to many individuals whom I met
on research trips in 1989 and 1992: Joyce Wills, of the North Cumberland
Historical Society, in Pugwash; Conrad Byers, Parrsboro photographer and
historian; Fraser Smith of the Parrsboro United Church; Shirley Lane of
Victoria Hall (formerly the Old Ladies' Home), Halifax; and Margaret
Whitelaw, Halifax historian who shared with me Victoria Hall records and
her own extensive knowledge. I particularly cherish the memory of one
glorious afternoon early in October of 1989, when the owner of what has
become the Sunshine Inn just north of Parrsboro permitted me to explore
the property that was once the Leake family farm.
Especially I would thank my friends and family. Marguerite Van Die
and Ruth Compton Brouwer first encouraged me to undertake the project.
Laurel Boone, Margaret Conrad, Susan Cullis, Hannah Lane, Alison
Prentice, Ruth Tatham, and two anonymous readers greatly assisted by their
comments on one version or another of the entire manuscript, and the faith
and encouragement of Sandra Woolfrey and the staff at Wilfrid Laurier
University Press renewed my energy as I prepared the manuscript for
publication. Among others giving suggestions or helping to fill gaps in my
knowledge are Bill Hamilton, Eldon Hay, Linda Huebert Hecht, Margaret
Hundleby, Cora Kormmenhoek, Nathan Mair, and John Shearman. My sons
Paul and David not only accepted their mother's absorption in this project,
but even managed to appear interested. Paul also helped me check my
transcription against the original as did another friend, Joy Boggs. And my
husband, Hugh, encouraged and supported me in more ways than I could
ever describe.
Finally, I must express my gratitude to the relatives of Annie Leake
Turtle, most especially to Ernie Nix for his generosity, his enthusiasm, and
his patience as I juggled projects, and to his wife Margaret, who graciously
accommodated this preoccupation. I am also grateful for the help of the late
Gladys Smith McCamus for her expertise as a family historian; of Audrey
McKim who wanted to communicate the affection her mother Nellie felt for
her stepmother Annie; and of others who searched their memories and their
attics to share their resources. The latter are people I have not met, and shall
not attempt to name lest I omit some. I only hope that I can in part repay all
FOREWORD ix
these by returning to them, in enriched form, the heritage of their remark-
able Aunt Annie. When she began recording her family history, she wrote,
"Dedicated to my Nieces and Nephews this 3rd day of Aug. 1897." More
than a century later, I am certain that Annie would want this volume
dedicated to Ernie, her niece Edna's son. To her dedication, I add my
heartfelt thanks.
Style Notes:
Annie's mind was well furnished with verses of scripture and hymns,
and with quotations from other sources as well. Some of these remain
familiar, while others have faded into obscurity, victims of changing tastes
and the erosion of a shared culture. I have identified as many as possible, to
indicate the measure of her cultural world.
Although Annie claimed that she was a poor speller as a girl, her adult
writings show that she later, developed a fair competence. In editing her
work, I have standardized her few remaining individualistic spellings on the
advice of readers of an early version of my transcription. In manuscripts of
this period, it is often difficult to determine when a writer intended to
capitalize a word; some letters were produced in a whole continuum of sizes,
from clearly lower case to definitely upper case, with no consistent pattern
of use. When this was true of Annie's writing, I have leaned in the direction
of modern usage, as I have when there were ambiguities in punctuation. She
made scant use of paragraph indentations, and I have added divisions for the
sake of the reader. Fortunately for the transcriber of her writings, Annie
generally wrote in a clear hand as, of course, befitted one who was for so
many years a schoolteacher.