| Main entry | Davies, Blodwen |
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| Birth place | Montreal, Quebec |
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| Birth date | 18 May 1897 |
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| Death place | Cedar Grove, Markham Township, Ontario |
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| Death date | 10 September 1966 |
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| Identifier | 0017 |
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| Birth name | Blodwen Davies |
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| Alternate names | Brook Abbott |
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| Marital status | single |
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| Religious affiliation | Presbyterian |
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| Paid work | journalist; editor, THE DISK: A MAGAZINE FOR EXPERIMENTAL IDEAS |
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| Biography | Born into a Protestant family in Montreal but raised in the nearby village of Longueuil and educated at a convent school, Blodwen Davies (1897-1966) acquired considerable interest in the culture and history of French Canada. After graduation she became a reporter in Fort William, Ontario. In 1921 she moved to Toronto, where she became an advocate of the artistic innovations of the Group of Seven, and later the biographer of Tom Thomson. At the same time, in the early 1930s she met and fell in love with Frederick Banting, whom she knew through the functions given by the Arts and Letters Club in Toronto. He was married, and she was heartbroken when his marriage ended in 1932and he still refused to marry her. Throughout this period, Davies travelled at least twice to England (1925 and 1934). Always ready to cross a new frontier, Davies type-set and printed by hand the first edition of 500 copies of her book PADDLE AND PALETTE (1930). She earned a living as a freelance writer and historical researcher, producing a number of educational books for children as well as one novel, RUFFLES AND RAPIERS (1930). During the 1930s her many books of travel and history raised the cultural profile of picturesque locations in Quebec and Ontario. Her work with the Canadian Youth Commission led to three books on current Canadian social issues, bringing her total output to nearly 20 titles. In the wake of World War II and the ferment of new ideas for the future world order, Blodwen Davies became an advocate of scientific humanism and worked with Dr. O.L. Reiser of Pittsburgh University to publicize the field. She spent many years of her career living in the United States, but returned to Canada shortly after the war and built a house in rural Ontario. Davies spent the last fifteen years of her life in Markham, a time during which she focused on learning the folk history and lore of Canadian Mennonites. |
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| Travel | England, 1925, 1934 |
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| Other notes | Spelling variants: Blodinèn. Some biographies suggest Blodwen was born in Longueuil and raised in Montreal. Another "Blodwen Davies" was a Welsh writer of children's stories in the mid-twentieth century. |
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| Residences | Montreal or Longueuil, Quebec (1897-); Toronto, Ontario (1921-); USA; Markham, Ontario (1946-1966) |
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| Geographic regions | Ontario; USA |
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| Primary genres | non-fiction; fiction |
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| Books | THE STORIED STREETS OF QUEBEC (1929); OLD FATHER FOREST (c1930); THE STORY OF AGRICULTURE (c1930); DANIEL DU LHUT (c1930); PADDLE AND PALETTE: THE STORY OF TOM THOMSON (c1930); SAGUENAY, "SAGINAWA", THE RIVER OF DEEP WATERS (c1930); RUFFLES AND RAPIERS: BEING THE HALF-FORGOTTEN ROMANCES OF THE GALLANT WOMEN AND THE DOUGHTY MEN IN THE DAYS OF COLONIAL ADVENTURE (c1930); MOTHER MARIE OF THE INCARNATION (c1930); STORIED YORK: TORONTO OLD AND NEW (c1931); THE STORY OF HYDRO: WHITE THUNDER (c1931); THE CHARM OF OTTAWA (c1932); ROMANTIC QUEBEC (1932); MARGARET HALL DISCOVERS UPPER CANADA (1934); A STUDY OF TOM THOMSON: THE STORY OF A MAN WHO LOOKED FOR BEAUTY AND FOR TRUTH IN THE WILDERNESS (1935); PLANETARY DEMOCRACY: AN INTRODUCTION TO SCIENTIFIC HUMANISM AND APPLIED SEMANTICS (1944) with Oliver L. Reiser; COUCHICHING VIEWS WORLD PROBLEMS (1946); YOUTH SPEAKS ITS MIND (1948); GASPE, LAND OF HISTORY AND ROMANCE (c1949); THE REESOR FAMILY IN CANADA: GENEALOGICAL AND HISTORICAL RECORDS (1950); QUEBEC: PORTRAIT OF A PROVINCE (1951); NESTLES THE SEED PERFECTION (1951); OTTAWA: PORTRAIT OF A CAPITAL (c1954); PAYEPOT AND HIS PEOPLE (1959); TOM THOMSON: THE STORY OF A MAN WHO LOOKED FOR BEAUTY AND TRUTH IN THE WILDERNESS (c1967); A STRING OF AMBER: THE HERITAGE OF THE MENNONITES (1973) |
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| Periodicals | CANADIAN FORUM; CANADIAN MAGAZINE; CANADIAN PASSING SHOW; CHATELAINE; HOMES AND GARDENS; MACLEAN'S; MENNONITE LIFE: AN ILLUSTRATED QUARTERLY; NEW OUTLOOK; SATURDAY NIGHT; STAR WEEKLY; WESTERN HOME JOURNAL |
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| Organizations | Canadian Authors Association |
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| Father's name | David Williams Davies |
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| Life dates of father | 24 June 1865, Aberdare, Wales - after 1923 |
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| Father's note | coal miner; boiler engineer (?) |
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| Mother's name | Edith McQueston |
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| Life dates of mother | 5 November 1872, Malta - after 1925 |
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| Mother's note | housewife |
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| Biographical references | MacMillan Dictionary of Canadian Biography; 1901 Census of Canada; Canadian Passenger Lists, 1865-1935; New York Passenger Lists, 1820-1957 |
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| Bibliographic references | Watters, CHECKLIST OF CANADIAN LITERATURE...1620-1960 (1970), pp. 270, 489, 609, 669, 915, 957; National Library of Canada |
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| Research references | complete |
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| Archival references | Correspondence, McMichael Collection of Canadian Art; letters in Lorne and Edith Pierce collection, Queen's University; correspondence, Deacon papers, Fisher Library, University of Toronto; papers and correspondence in National Archives of Canada; textual records and other records in Trent University Archives |
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| Image credits | Line drawing by Una Vernelli (Vancouver, British Columbia). |
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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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