Forgotten Advice:
Pearl Richmond
Hamilton (Mrs. E. W.) of The Canadian Thresherman
a Power-Point Presentation
by
Marilyn Baker, UM, Winnipeg
Ida Pearl Richmond was born into a relatively prosperous farmer's
family on May 19th,1875 in or near Bristow in northeastern
Iowa. Her parents were American-born Harriet and Irish-born
John Richmond. Her maternal grandfather was Daniel
Munn an early Iowa settler in what has been described
as a beautiful and bounteous region. There he prospered,
first in business and then through land ownership and
as a farmer working the soil. Ida Pearl's mother was
Harriet Ann Munn (b.abt. 1856/1855), Daniel's daughter.
She was born in Troy, New York before the family 's
relocation west. The Munn's traced their family origins
to early English colonists and proudly to Deacon Samuel
Chapin, a farmer and man of many talents who in the
early 1600s was a founder of Springfield, Mass.
Ida Pearl spent her early years on the family farm in Grundy
county near another farming center, Morrison, Iowa.
Her father John Francis (J.F.) Richmond (b.abt.1847/1848)
was of Scotch-Irish ancestry; he had come to the United
States in 1861 with his parents and numerous siblings.
His father was a pharmacist in Cavon, Ireland. The
Richmonds settled in Wisconsin but soon at least three
of the siblings had relocated to Madison, Wisconsin.
Pearl's father
despite his extreme youthfulness - and only three years
after the family's arrival - became a soldier in a
Wisconsin regiment on the northern side in the American
Civil War. He ended his tour of duty in Louisville,
Kentucky.
In the early 1890s Pearl left Iowa to further her education.
She enrolled at the Lansingburgh Academy in Troy, New
York where she prepared for and then passed the New
York state regent examinations. She taught school in
Howard, South Dakota sometime thereafter. In 1901,
however, she was living in Madison, Wisconsin and was
a student again at the Wisconsin Academy (a preparatory
school located on State Street in downtown Madison
where students seeking entrance into the University
of Wisconsin could make up deficiencies). This particular
school was run by her father's sisters, Charlotte and Susan Richmond.
Following graduation from the Wisconsin Academy, Pearl
Richmond enrolled in a special writing course or courses
at the University of Wisconsin. She did not graduate,
but during her sojourn in Madison she became close
to Elmer W. Hamilton (who was known as Hammie then),
a Wisconsin farmer's son.
In his 1901 entrance papers to the University of Wisconsin
Elmer W. lists his father Alexander Hamilton as being
of Scottish background and a farmer and his mother
as Dutch. Besides their matriculation from the Wisconsin
Academy then Pearl and Elmer W. had at least one other
obvious thing in common: they had both grown up on
a family farm , understood its rhythms and special
challenges. Following his graduation from the University
of Wisconsin Elmer W. moved to Canada. After their
marriage in 1905 Pearl followed her husband north.
At the time of their marriage Mr. Hamilton was 26 ,
Miss Richmond, Pearl (as she preferred to be called),
was thirty.
Soon after graduation E. W. Hamilton had accepted an offer
of employment from The Canadian Thresherman, a farm
implement magazine which had only recently begun publication
in Winnipeg, Manitoba. E. H. Heath, a former commercial
representative of farm implement companies and an
American most recently from Minneapolis, was the magazine's publisher. Heath's
partner was B. Boyd Clarke, a self made man who also
had close connections to various American farm machinery
companies. Clarke wrote a humor column as Uncle Silas
(which appeared regularly in both The American Thresherman and The
Canadian Thresherman) and was the publisher
of The American Thresherman in Madison,
Wisconsin (established in 1898) . F. H. Phippen,
a prominent Winnipeg solicitor in the prestigious
Winnipeg firm Tupper, Phippen and Tupper, became
their Canadian partner at least in the initial
stages of the magazine's operation.
The American Thresherman and its Canadian
cousin The
Canadian Thresherman were
magazines devoted primarily to serious talk
about the practical needs of the American farmer;
the magazines were supported by advertising revenues
derived from equipment makers and others wishing
to sell or promote their goods to farmers. Both
magazines were attractive publications which
featured colourful advertisements (at least during
their more prosperous years) from some of the
biggest Farm implement companies of North America.
The advertisements from J. I. Case Threshing
Machine Co. and Gaar-Scott & Co. (The Tiger Thresher
Line), Richmond, Indiana., the most impressive of the
lot, were primarily the work of artists employed through
the Chicago Engraving Co. Mr. Hamilton was listed variously
over the years on The Canadian Thresherman's
mast head as both editor and managing editor.
E. H. Heath listed himself as the publisher
but also editor as well.
In both The American Thresherman and The Canadian Thresherman -
as in mass circulation newspapers and periodicals of
the late 19th and early 20th century generally - there
was a women's section
to the magazine which dealt with what were perceived
to be women's department issues, cooking,
raising the children, and in the case of
the Canadian
Thresherman advice on how to lead exemplary
lives. At the outset the Women's Department devoted hardly more than a page
to such womanly concerns. Mrs. Heath, the publisher's
wife, launched the column, wrote segments of it and
selected text for the first thirteen months of its
existence. Writing under a pseudonym (Estelle Percy)
she set down the purposes of her column and what she
and the column were going to offer women readers. Her
model was adhered to with little modification over
the next twenty years. Mrs. Hamilton who contributed
to The Canadian Thresherman under a variety of names
was the column's fourth editor or "conductor" beginning
in 1906. As such she became the voice of advice and
a conduit of information about women's activities and
special interests for the next almost twenty years.
Under her tutelage the column expanded from one page
to many and she became a popular columnist and the
only named regular columnist besides Aunt Doris who
supervised the page devoted to Children and their interests.
There is no question that Mrs. Hamilton was a capable writer
and well read individual. She dealt effectively with
inspirational as well as practical matters such as,
for example, butter making (how to) and Curling (in
impressive detail) confirm. But she also was a fiction
writer who crafted moral lessons into the fabric of
her text. Her fictional writing also found a place
in The Canadian Thresherman in separate stand
alone pieces and as short stories within her column.
As she did in her advice columns she used the short
story format as a vehicle to encourage a higher morality
among readers of not only The Canadian Thresherman but
in a variety of other periodicals including The
Western Home Monthly in which her advice columns
and fictional work appeared with some regularity.
Despite her farm focus , she herself did not live on the farm.
She lived in Winnipeg where she was an active member
of the Winnipeg Branch of the Canadian Women's Press Club
(CWPC-WB) . Though she spoke quite softly about social
issues in her columns for The Canadian Thresherman she
did not ignore real problems on the farm and women's
special agonies. Indeed, she shared many of the CWPC-WB
members progressive views, including of course their
support for expanded civil rights for women. One of
her short stories was included in the CWPG-WB'sponsored
The Knapsack in December 1914 which was designed to
raise money for the war effort. Her article "The Mysterious
Bundle" showed
really just what an effective observer
of life she had become as it depended on keen observation
and understanding of family dynamics. In her story
she portrayed with sympathy but also good humour
a model married couple of simple values and impeccable
virtue. They were really a demonstration of the simple
and straightforward lifestyle she admired and recommended
in her Women's Department
columns for The Canadian Thresherman.
In this particular story she also managed to include
tips on cooking (another favorite feature within her
Woman's Department) or at least how to get reluctant
bread to rise under extremely difficult conditions.
Her concern for women's situation extended beyond her
writings to personal involvement with the less fortunate
whom she tutored and advised.
This paper is a reintroduction of Mrs. Hamilton to Manitobans
who used to know her name but have forgotten about
her and the important part she played in the early
history of women journalists in the province.
When Mrs. Hamilton announced her departure from Winnipeg the
women of the CWPC-WB presented her with a token of
their affection and respect, a copy of Canadian poet
and American icon Bliss Carman's
poems. She had made many good friends
during her years in Winnipeg while working nonstop
as a writer and simultaneously nurturing her expanding
family which included two daughters. Her friends
in the CWPG-WG paid tribute to both her practical side
as well as her softer virtues at a farewell gathering.
Note:
Acknowledgments: Special thanks to Mrs. Hamilton''s grandson who provided
additional information, useful insight and some correction to various details
of his family''s history.
Works Cited:
The Canadian Thresherman and Farmer. Winnipeg: E.H. Heath, 1902-1919. |