NEGOTIATING RACE AND GENDER IN THE DIARIES OF ELIZA JONES, BRITISH WIFE OF AN OJIBWA MISSIONARY IN UPPER CANADA, 1823-1883 JENNIFER LUND A DISSERTATION SUBMITTED TO THE FACULTY OF GRADUATE STUDIES IN PARTIAL FULFILMENT OF THE REQUIREMENTS FOR THE DEGREE OF DOCTOR OF PHILOSOPHY GRADUATE PROGRAM IN WOMEN'S STUDIES YORK UNIVERSITY, TORONTO, ONTARIO APRIL 2010 Library and Archives Bibliotheque et 1*1 Canada Archives Canada Published Heritage Direction du Branch Patrimoine de I'edition 395 Wellington Street 395, rue Wellington Ottawa ON K1A 0N4 Ottawa ON K1A 0N4 Canada Canada Your file Votre reference ISBN: 978-0-494-64968-8 Our file Notre reference ISBN: 978-0-494-64968-8 NOTICE: AVIS: The author has granted a non­ L'auteur a accorde une licence non exclusive exclusive license allowing Library and permettant a la Bibliotheque et Archives Archives Canada to reproduce, Canada de reproduire, publier, archiver, publish, archive, preserve, conserve, sauvegarder, conserver, transmettre au public communicate to the public by par telecommunication ou par I'Internet, prefer, telecommunication or on the Internet, distribuer et vendre des theses partout dans le loan, distribute and sell theses monde, a des fins commerciales ou autres, sur worldwide, for commercial or non­ support microforme, papier, electronique et/ou commercial purposes, in microform, autres formats. paper, electronic and/or any other formats. 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While these forms may be included Bien que ces formulaires aient inclus dans in the document page count, their la pagination, il n'y aura aucun contenu removal does not represent any loss manquant. of content from the thesis. 1+1 Canada NEGOTIATING RACE AND GENDER IN THE DIARIES OF ELIZA JONES, BRITISH WIFE OF AN OJIBWA MISSIONARY IN UPPER CANADA, 1823-1883 By JENNIFER LUND Examination Committee members: 1. Jane Couchman, Phd 2. Bettina Bradbury, Phd 3. Rusty Shteir, Phd 4. Katherine McKenna, Phd 5. Celia Haig-Brown, Phd 6. Myra Rutherdale, Phd IV Abstract On September 8 , 1833, Eliza Field a white middle-class British woman married Peter Jones, a prominent Mississauga Methodist Missionary and Chief, and went to live with him in Upper Canada. While much has been written about Peter Jones, little attention has been paid to Eliza Jones. Her many diaries written from 1823 to 1883 remain unpublished but are available for study in the archives of E.J. Pratt library, Victoria University, Toronto. These diaries recount her desire to become a missionary, and her work as a missionary wife, and reflect the evangelical Christian values of modesty, deference and good works. Her diaries also detail her resistance to the constraints she faced as a white woman of her class, notably to her father's resistance to her marriage, to dominant constructions of the superiority of middle-class women's domesticity, and to prejudicial understandings of Indigenous cultures and peoples. Much remained at stake in their marriage surviving because it contravened class, race and gender boundaries - all tenets of Eurocentric understandings of civilization and order. Kinship, reciprocity and complementarity were the means by which Eliza was able to physically and emotionally survive these challenging years and to create lasting bonds. These were also the prisms through which Eliza learned to record in her diary that which she observed, understood and admired in Mississauga and Mohawk women. I draw on feminist life writing theory to demonstrate how diarists' narrative strategies create particular selves and promote new forms of understanding. I read Eliza's life narrative as one of an aspiring missionary, a partner with Peter in that work, and as a reflection and reminiscence on a life of service, hardship and exceptional determination. Eliza wrote privately in her diary but envisioned, I argue, a larger audience. This informed her development and aspirations as a diarist and published writer. My work focuses on the story of her life as developed through the diary Dedication Blake Walden Lund 1965-2000 Carl John Lund 1935-1984 VI Acknowledgments I would like to thank my co-supervisors, Dr. Jane Couchman and Dr. Bettina Bradbury and my committee member Dr. Rusty Shteir. Their support of my work has been exceptional and for this I am very grateful. I would also like to thank the members of my defense committee Dr. Celia Haig- Brown, Dr. Myra Rutherdale and most especially my external examiner Dr. Katherine McKenna whose response to my work has been extremely thought- provoking. I also owe Dr. Donald B. Smith many thanks for his on-going support of my work on Eliza Jones. There are many people who have steadfastly supported my work over the years. I especially want to thank Anna De Aguayo, Dr. Mary Jensen, Anne Menon, Dr. Patrick Phillips, Dr. Marlene Kadar, Michele Verheul, Dr. Carol Wilson, and Dr. Enid Weiner. I would also like to thank all my fellow volunteers at the Toronto Zoo, North York Obedience Society and SEOR Newfoundland Dog Club of Canada. In the later stages of the dissertation Dr. Donna Young provided me with a place to work as well as invaluable intellectual engagement. I would like to thank my mother, Dr. Carolynn Lund-Mead for her emotional and financial support. My mother took her first community college course when I was a child and completed her Ph.D. when were both graduate students at the University of Toronto. My husband is to be commended for his problem solving skills. He resolved many of my practical crises, provided invaluable computer expertise and, most importantly, always believed in my work. Neil has loved Eliza as much as I. I also want to thank the non-human members of our extended and immediate family. I am indebted to the financial support of the Social Science and Humanities Research Council of Canada. Any errors in quoting Eliza's diaries are entirely my responsibility. Table of Contents Abstract . iv Timeline . viii Introduction . 1 1. Eliza's Diaries - Reading Ordinary Women's Diaries .40 2. Notebooks and Diaries: "This Friend of My Choice My Love", 1823-1833 .63 3. Diaries of Transition: Missionary Work, 1833-1835 .110 4. "Would That All Who Marry White Men Possessed in Them the Same Lovely Christian Graces That Rendered My Home With My Noble Indian such an Abode of Peace and Love", 1833-1834 .154 5. Kinship and Status of Women: "I Bless God Who Has Given Me Favor in The Eyes of This People", 1834-1841 . 177 6. The Culminating Personae: "Married 50 Years Ago Today" .219 Conclusion .247 Works Cited .255 VIII Timeline 1804 Eliza is born, first child of Elizabeth and Charles Field, Factory Owner, in Lambeth, England. 1805-12 Elizabeth Field gives birth to Mary, 1805; Charles, 1807; Sarah, 1809; Samuel, 1810; Anne; 1812 and Emma, 1820 1820 Elizabeth Field dies in childbirth with Emma. 1822 Father Charles is remarried to Mary Kingsford. Mary gives birth to John Kingsford, 1823; Louisa, 1824; Frederick, 1826; Arthur, 1828; Katherine Brown, 1830 and Edmund, 1832. 1823 Eliza is converted to Evangelical Christianity; she begins her first diary. 1831 Eliza meets Peter Jones, Mississauga chief and Methodist missionary, at the home of mutual friends, the Hills. 1832 Peter proposes to Eliza on February 14th. Eliza's father and brother-in-law oppose the marriage. Eliza keeps a detailed diary while she waits for her father's permission. 1833 After a year and a half of opposition, Eliza's father relents. Eliza travels with Egerton Ryerson, Methodist missionary, to the Credit Mission, Upper Canada. Peter and Eliza marry in New York to overwhelming disapproval in the press. 1833-36 Eliza keeps a diary of her first two years at the Mississauga Credit Mission. Within her first three months at the mission, her sister-in- law Christiana Brant and her baby die. Eliza records her two miscarriages and two stillbirths, her work in the community and two accounts of missionary tours. Many of Peter's family members, as well as extended kin, die of cholera. Eliza develops as a writer. 1838 Eliza and Peter return to England to visit Eliza's family and to raise funds for the Credit Mission. While they are in England, their niece IX Elizabeth drowns. Eliza publishes the Memoir of Elizabeth Jones, a Little Indian Girl, Who Lived at River Credit Mission, Upper Canada. 1839 Eliza and Peter return to the Credit mission. Eliza is pregnant and gives birth on April 25th to Charles Augustus, Wahweyakuhmegoo "he who encircles the world", in Ojibwa. 1841 -43 With one exception, Eliza does not keep a diary for the 1840s. On March 29th Eliza gives birth to Frederick, Wahbegwuna "a white lily or flower". Peter is posted to the Munceytown Mission near London where Peter Edmund is born on October 30th, 1843. He is given his father's name, Kahkewaquonaby, or "Sacred feathers". Eliza's sister Sarah joins her at Munceytown. 1845 Peter, Eliza and their three boys travel to Scotland to raise funds. Peter is increasingly successful as a platform speaker. Eliza keeps her only diary of this decade. 1847 George Dunlop is born June 30th, Wuhyahsakung "the shining one".