| Main entry | Mowat, Grace Helen |
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| Birth place | Beech Hill Farm, near St. Andrews, Charlotte County, New Brunswick |
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| Birth date | 31 January 1875 |
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| Death place | St. Andrews, Charlotte County, New Brunswick |
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| Death date | 22 February 1964 |
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| Identifier | 0323 |
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| Birth name | Grace Helen Mowat |
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| Marital status | single |
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| Religious affiliation | Anglican |
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| Degree and date | LLD (honorary), UNB (1951) |
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| Paid work | teacher (art) |
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| Biography | Grace Helen Mowat (1875-1964) was born just outside St. Andrews Parish at Beech Hill Farm, a plot purchased by the Loyalist Mowat family upon their arrival from Penobscot, Maine in the late eighteenth century. Rarely addressed as "Grace" and instead known as "Nell" or "Nellie" to close friends, young Helen spent a great deal of time around her older relatives; reading old family letters provided information and the Mowat and Campbell legacy and gave her a taste for narrative. Following her education at Charlotte County Grammar School, she studied at Richmond School of Art and Music in London, England (1893-94). The experience led to Helen's first publication when her impressions of England appeared in the ST. ANDREWS BEACON. After completing her studies at the Women's Art School of Cooper (Cooper's) Union in New York City (1899), she briefly taught at St. Catherine's Hall in Augusta Maine, followed by four years of teaching art at the Halifax Ladies' College (1902-1906). Following a nervous breakdown in 1907, Helen returned home to St. Andrews. Although she had spent many years in cosmopolitan cities, she found a renewed interest in the conservative farm-life she had known as a child. Investing much of her time in the traditional crafts of local farm women, she founded, organized, and directed Charlotte County Cottage Craft from 1914 to 1945, successfully developing pottery and weaving into major local industries. With her help, New Brunswick's artisans showed their work at the 1924 British Empire Exhibition in Wembley, England. As founder of St. Andrews Music, Art, and Drama Society (MAD), Helen provided an opportunity to exhibit art, perform concerts, and produce plays. In addition to designing Christmas cards, she also directed her attention towards local history. Her writing tended to be light-hearted and personal, such as the verse in FUNNY FABLES OF FUNDY (1928), and local history as in THE DIVERTING HISTORY OF A LOYALIST TOWN (1932). Author of plays like "The Perfect Actor" and "The Unguarded Border," Helen's efforts in local theatre flourished in the 1920s-30s as her pageants became popular attractions for summer visitors. Through her many endeavours she met poet Bliss Carman and in 1951 was recognized with an honorary LLD from the University of New Brunswick. Upon her death in 1964, Helen was buried at her family's plot at St. Andrews Rural Cemetery, where a headstone commemorates her the "Founder of Charlotte County Cottage Craft." |
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| Other notes | For more on Mowat as entrepreneur, see GRACE HELEN MOWAT AND THE MAKING OF COTTAGE CRAFT (2009) by Diana Rees (with Ronald Rees). |
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| Residences | St. Andrews, New Brunswick; London, England (1893-94); New York City (1897-1900); Augusta, Maine; Halifax, Nova Scotia (1901-1905); St. Andrews (c1909-1964) |
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| Geographic regions | New Brunswick; Maritimes |
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| Primary genres | non-fiction (history); poetry; fiction; drama |
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| Books | FUNNY FABLES OF FUNDY (1928); THE DIVERTING HISTORY OF A LOYALIST TOWN (1932); BROKEN BARRIER . . . A ROMANCE OF STATEN ISLAND AND THE PROVINCE OF NEW BRUNSWICK (1951); THE HOUSE THAT HURRICANE JACK BUILT (1954); A STORY OF COTTAGE CRAFT (1958); THE TORIES' KING (1976) |
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| Periodicals | ATLANTIC ADVOCATE; DALHOUSIE REVIEW; ST. ANDREWS BEACON |
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| Organizations | Canadian Authors Association; Charlotte County Cottage Crafts, founder; Guild of New Brunswick Craftsmen, founding member; New Brunswick Art Association; St. Andrews Music Art and Drama club for women (MAD Club), founder |
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| Other arts | art (painting) |
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| Father's name | George Mowat |
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| Life dates of father | 22 February 1826, St. Andrews, New Brunswick - 1917 |
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| Father's note | farmer; grandson of Captain David Mowat, sailing master for William and Robert Pagan at Penobscot, Saint John, and St. Andrews; Loyalist ancestors involved in establishing British post at Penobscot |
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| Mother's name | M. Isabella Campbell |
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| Life dates of mother | 29 October 1831, New Brunswick - 1909, St. Andrews, New Brunswick |
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| Mother's note | Daughter of James Campbell, St. Andrews merchant and Deputy-Treasurer of Charlotte County |
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| Biographical references | Charlotte County Historical Society, "Introduction," Grace Helen Mowat Collection; "Grace Mowat," NEW BRUNSWICK LITERARY ENCYCLOPEDIA, St. Thomas University (Web, 2011); "Mowat, Grace Helen," CANADIAN WOMEN ARTISTS HISTORY INITIATIVE, Concordia (Web, 2007); 1881 Census of Canada; 1891 Census of Canada; 1901 Census of Canada |
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| Bibliographic references | Watters, CHECKLIST OF CANADIAN LITERATURE...1620-1960 (1970), pp. 146, 351, 716 |
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| Research references | complete |
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| Archival references | Grace Helen Mowat Collection, Provincial Archives of New Brunswick |
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| Image credits | Grace Helen Mowat, c1890. Image courtesy of the Charlotte County Archives, Saint Andrews, NB. |
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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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