EMILY HSUEH
PONTIAC March 11, 2021
Four notable women from the Pontiac were honoured in a virtual presentation on March 11, presented by the Fairbairn House, a historic house in Wakefield serving as a heritage centre.
The presentation was a part of a larger exhibit called Notable Women of the Outaouais and the Gatineau Valley that recognized 18 women who lived between 1816 and 2018 who . . .
“altered the physical and social landscape of the Gatineau Valley, Aylmer and the Pontiac in ways that continue to shape our lives.”
The four women from the Pontiac were Abbie Pritchard, Adelaide Devine, Elsie Gibbons and Rosaleen Dickson. The presentation went into detail about each of their lives, presented by researcher Tina Therrien.
“The women from the Pontiac, they were movers and shakers and they delivered mail by moose. They taught children to dance on horseback … and oh so many more other things,” Therrien began. “They were politicians and midwives, just really amazing women.”
First was Abbie Stewart Pritchard, who was noted for establishing a branch of the Women’s Institute in the Pontiac, the first in the region. The institute was instrumental in providing education to women and children, implementing music and agriculture into curriculums, and pushing for legislative changes that made roads safer. The institute is still active to this day. She was named honorary vice president of the institute shortly before her death in 1960.
“She really committed her life to this institution and believed in it fully,” said Therrien.
Adelaide Devine lived in Thorne and was a mother to 11 children. She would put in many hours and walk long distances to cash in the cheques her husband earned or to provide for her family. She had valuable skills which included sewing — many people would ask her to put her skills to use by making wedding dresses or lunch boxes — and midwifery, sacrificing time with her family to care for new mothers and babies.
“She certainly stands out as a remarkable rural homesteader and I was pleased to learn of her story,” Therrien said.
Portage du Fort native Elsie Gibbons was the first female mayor in the province, serving in the role for 20 total years. She managed to build a water distribution system in the village, a feat most thought impossible. She was also the first female warden in the Pontiac. Additionally, she was a seamstress, a baker, a business owner, and the organist for a local church for 60 years.
The final woman was Rosleen Dickson. She was the editor and owner of THE EQUITY for over three decades, managed a hockey team, was the first woman to sit on Shawville’s town council, was a chair for children for the Ottawa Hospital Committee, and much more. She was dedicated to her husband David and their six children, and won a Queen Elizabeth II Diamond Jubilee award in 1982. In her retirement, she earned her Master’s degree in journalism from Carleton and taught writing at Ryerson University.
“I don’t know how she managed to cram all she did in her life,” said Therrien. “We looked at her list of achievements and her hobbies and she must have been amazing … she was an ambitious and thoughtful, creative force to be reckoned with.”
The whole online Notable Women exhibit can be found at http://www.fairbairn.ca/
