Margaret Marshall Saunders was born May 13, 1861 in Milton, Nova Scotia. Milton is in the beautiful Annapolis Valley. Her parents were Edward Manning Saunders and Maria Kisborough Freeman.
Margaret was educated in Europe as was common at the time for families with strong connections to Europe. She taught for several years before being encouraged to write by her younger sister Rida.
She is best known for her book, Beautiful Joe, which was published in 1893. She wrote more than 20 other stories. Her books provided social commentary on child labour, slum clearances, improvement of playgrounds and animal cruelty. Likewise her newspaper articles were about supervised playgrounds and other social issues in Halifax.
Beautiful Joe was submitted to and won a contest run by the American Humane Education Society. It is said to be the first Canadian novel to sell over one million copies worldwide.
In 1934 Margaret was recognized as a Commander of the Order of the British Empire. She lectured many times and belonged to numerous organizations and humane societies. With Lucy Maud Montgomery she started the Maritime chapter of the Women's Press Club.
Margaret died on February 15, 1947 in Toronto, Ontario. In 1994 the Beautiful Joe Heritage Society celebrated her life and achievements.
There is a park dedicated to Beautiful Joe in Meaford, Ontario.The park is situated along the Bighead River. This 8.5 acre park celebrates canine friends, helpers and heroes and includes memorials to service dogs, K9 and family pets.
https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Margaret_Marshall_Saunders
https://archive.org/stream/atsignofhandpenn00rhoduoft#page/n22/mode/1up
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Bibliography
• My Spanish Sailor (1889)
• Beautiful Joe (1893)
• Charles and His Lamb (1895)
• For the Other Boy's Sake, and Other Stories (1896)
• The House of Armour (1897)
• The King of the Park (1897)
• Deficient Saints (1899)
• For His Country (1900)
• Her Sailor (1900)
• Tilda Jane, An Orphan In Search of a Home (1901)
• Beautiful Joe's Paradise (1902)
• Nita, the Story of an Irish Setter (1904)
• The Story of Gravelys (1904)
• Princess Sukey; The Story of a Pigeon and Her Human Friends (1905)
• The Story of an Eskimo Dog (1906)
• My Pets (1908)
• Tilda Jane's Orphans (1909)
• The Girl from Vermont (1910)
• Pussy Black-Face (1913)
• Boy, the Wandering Dog (1916)
• Golden Dicky (1919)
• Bonnie Prince Fetlar (1920)
• Jimmy Gold-Coast (1924)
• Esther de Warren (1927)
