Maria Elise Turner Lauder
Who was Maria Elise Turner Lauder?
Canadian author, philanthropist, teacher (1833–1922)
Biographical data adapted from Wikipedia’s article on Maria Elise Turner Lauder (CC BY-SA 4.0).
Biography
Maria Elise Turner Lauder (20 February 1833 – 1 June 1922) was a Canadian teacher, linguist, author, and philanthropist born in Saint-Armand, Quebec. Writing under the pen name Toofie Lauder, and also known by the variants Maria Elise Turner de Touffe Lauder and Maria Elise T. T. Lauder, she became one of the more prolific Canadian travel writers of the nineteenth century, documenting her extensive journeys through Europe for a readership hungry for accounts of the Old World. She was educated at Oberlin College in Ohio, an institution notable for its early admission of women and Black students, which reflects the progressive milieu that shaped her outlook. She later married Abram William Lauder and eventually settled in Toronto, where she died in 1922 at the age of eighty-nine.
Before Fame
Maria Elise Turner was born on 20 February 1833 in Saint-Armand, in the Eastern Townships of what is now Quebec, Canada. The Eastern Townships in the early nineteenth century were a largely anglophone Protestant settlement, and Turner's upbringing in that community likely instilled in her the reformist values that would characterize her adult life. Her decision to attend Oberlin College in Ohio placed her among a forward-thinking generation of women who sought formal education at a time when few North American institutions offered it to them. This educational foundation, combined with her evident aptitude for languages, set her on a path toward both teaching and writing, and it was her travels through Europe that gave her the material for the works that would bring her public recognition.
Key Achievements
- Published six major travel and literary works between 1865 and 1894, documenting journeys through England, Europe, and the Harz Mountains of Germany.
- Wrote and published several song lyrics in the early twentieth century, contributing to Canadian patriotic and devotional verse.
- Was active in the temperance movement in Canada, connecting her literary career to broader social reform efforts.
- Educated at Oberlin College, establishing herself among a pioneering generation of formally educated North American women.
- Gained recognition as a linguist and travel writer at a time when such public roles were rarely occupied by Canadian women.
Did You Know?
- 01.She used the pen name 'Toofie Lauder,' a playful adaptation of one of her middle names, de Touffe, which also appeared in a book title: Evergreen Leaves: Or, 'Toofie' in Europe (1884).
- 02.Her 1885 book Legends and Tales of the Harz Mountains, North Germany focused on German folklore from a specific mountain range, demonstrating both her linguistic abilities and her interest in regional cultural traditions.
- 03.She attended Oberlin College in Ohio, which in 1837 became the first college in the United States to adopt a policy of admitting students regardless of race, making it a highly unusual choice for a Canadian woman of her era.
- 04.She wrote patriotic song lyrics well into her later years, including 'Britain, We Stand by You' in 1899, likely inspired by the Second Boer War, and 'Alone - The Queen's Lament' in 1908.
- 05.Her first published travel account, My First Visit to England, appeared in 1865, launching a writing career in travel literature that would span nearly three decades and include multiple return visits to Europe.