| Main entry | Bedell, Laura |
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| Birth place | Colton, New York, USA |
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| Birth date | 15 April 1874 |
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| Death place | Kingston, Ontario |
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| Death date | 25 March 1971 |
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| Identifier | 0163 |
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| Birth name | Whitmarsh, Laura Amelia |
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| Married name | Bedell |
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| Marital status | married |
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| Religious affiliation | Anglican |
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| Paid work | journalist |
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| Biography | Born in the United States to Canadian-born George Augustus Whitmarsh (c1839-1915) and Annie Foster, Laura Amelia Whitmarsh (1874-1971) returned to Canada at the age of two, with her paternal grandparents, postmaster Eleazar (1810-) and Laura Amelia Whitmarsh (1813-1903), who assumed responsibility for her upbringing in Merrickville, Ontario. All Laura's books appeared after her 1907 marriage to Dr. Thomas Casey Dorland Bedell (1874-1946) and were published under her married name. Like her friend, Anne Merrill*, she combined journalism with a literary career, her primary commitment being to poetry. In addition to her four published volumes, she contributed to the CANADIAN BOOKMAN, CANADIAN POETRY MAGAZINE, CRUCIBLE and WRITERS' STUDIO. Characterized by a self-conscious poetic delivery, her verses pay tribute to beauty, the power of love, regeneration in nature, and the affirmation of religion. Laura died in 1971 and was buried in Glenwood Cemetery in Hallowell, Ontario. |
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| Other notes | Occasionally spelled "Whitemarsh," as in case of headstone. |
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| Residences | Colton, New York (1875-1877); Merrickville, Ontario (1891, 1901, 1907, 1911); Kingston, Ontario |
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| Geographic regions | Ontario |
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| Primary genres | poetry |
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| Books | SPUN LACE (1933); FROM DAWN TO DUSK (1944); BLUE HARBOUR (1947); ALWAYS THE TIDES (1964) |
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| Periodicals | CANADIAN BOOKMAN; CANADIAN POETRY MAGAZINE; CRUCIBLE; WRITERS' STUDIO |
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| Other publications | Anthologized in: Creighton and Ridley, NEW CANADIAN ANTHOLOGY (1938) |
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| Father's name | George Augustus Whitmarsh |
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| Life dates of father | c1839, Merrickville, Ontario - 17 July 1915, Smith Falls, Lanark, Ontario |
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| Father's note | Supervising Assistant Clerk in the Department of the Accountant-General of the Navy |
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| Mother's name | Annie Foster |
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| Life dates of mother | Ontario - before 1915 |
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| Spouse 1 | Dr. Thomas Casey Dorland Bedell |
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| Life dates of spouse 1 | 20 April 1874, Hillier, Ontario - 1946 |
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| Spouse 1 note | physician |
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| Marriage 1 date | 8 October 1907 |
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| Marriage 1 place | Merrickville, Ontario |
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| Children number | 3 |
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| Children's names and dates | George Hurlburt Dorland (5 August 1902 - ), m. to Marjorie Campbell Gamsby;
Beatrice Lillian (28 August 1906 - );
stillborn son (23 September 1910 - 23 September 1910) |
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| Biographical references | 1891 Census of Canada; 1901 Census of Canada; 1911 Census of Canada; 1920 United States Federal Census; Ontario, Canada Marriages, 1801-1928 |
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| Bibliographic references | Watters, CHECKLIST OF CANADIAN LITERATURE...1620-1960 (1970), p. 14 |
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| Research references | complete |
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| Image credits | Image from Alan Creighton and Hilda M. Ridley, eds., A NEW CANADIAN ANTHOLOGY (Toronto: Crucible, 1938). |
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| Copyright | This work is licensed under a Creative Commons Attribution-NonCommercial-ShareAlike 4.0 International License (CC BY-NC-SA 4.0) at http://creativecommons.org/licenses/by-nc-sa/4.0/. Please cite Canada's Early Women Writers. SFU Library Digital Collections. Simon Fraser University, Burnaby, BC, Canada. 1980-2014. |
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