Lucy Maud Montgomery

Lucy Maud Montgomery was born to Hugh John Montgomery and Clara Woolner MacNeill on November 30, 1874. Her birthplace was Clifton Cornor, Prince Edward Island.

At just 21 months, Maud, as referred to by her family and friends, went to live with her grandparents, Alexander and Lucy MacNeill. Her mother died and her father moved away so Maud was raised by her grandparents on their farm in Cavendish.

Here she grew up with mostly herself for company. She was a shy and imaginative child. To her, the woods and fields were some of her best companions.

When she was 15, she went to visit her father in Prince Albert, Saskatchewan, and his new wife. After a year, she returned to her beloved island.

Her grandfather, the postmaster, gave Maud the oppertunity to carry out her dream. Blank paper was not very plentiful at the farmhouse but the yellow brown post office forms of the Dominion Government were. This is what she scribbled on. Her rejections were her secret since no one ever saw them but her.

In 1893, she attended Prince of Wales Collage. The next year, with her teacher's licence, she taught at Bideford. The following year, she took a course in English literature at Dalhousie Collage, Halifax, N.S.

In 1898, her grandfather died so she returned to her grandmother. In 1901, she worked for the "Daily Echo" in Halifax. She did a column called "Around the Tea Table". Because her Grandmother needed her, she returned to P.E.I. for the next 9 years.

During these years, Maud wrote "Anne of Green Gables in 1904. In 1911, Maud's grandmother died. July 5th of the same year, she married Rev. Evan MacDonald. For the next 24 years, she was a wife and mother of two sons. And she continued her writing.

In 1935, Rev. MacDonald retired and they moved to Toronto, visiting P.E.I. often.

Lucy Maud Montgomery died April 24th,1942. She was buried in Cavendish. Her husband died the following year.

Chester Cameron, their son is a lawyer in Fort William, and Stuart, a medical doctor in Toronto.

The house now known as Green Gables, was the house of Maud's friend, Mrs. Ernest Webb. It is located only a short walk from the farmhouse Maud grew up in. Visitors to the island can visit both places as well as Maud's resting place, marked by a white marker. The Green Gables House is now a torist attraction and while the farmhouse she grew up in is no longer standing, tourists can visit the site and area.

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