Jessie I. Lawson

1879-1961

Jessie Isabel Lawson (“Jane Lane,” pseudonym) was a novelist, editor, writer, poet, and English and history teacher. She was born 29 September 1879 in Saint John, New Brunswick. She completed her education in Saint John, graduating with honours from Victoria High School in 1895 and graduated from the Provincial Normal School in Fredericton as a teacher in 1899. Lawson taught English and history classes at Saint John High School from 1899–1913. She then opened the Witanstede Private School for Girls (day school) in Saint John in 1913 and operated it until it closed in 1922. Lawson became the Provincial Director of the Junior Red Cross in 1924, a position she held until 1931. She was editor of their monthly bulletin, Our Newsletter.  She was an assistant editor of Champlain and the St. John: 1604–1954 and with Eileen Cushing, wrote Glimpses of Saint John (1956). Lawson became the owner and editor of The Educational Review and beginning in 1932, she contributed several articles to this monthly journal. She maintained this position for ten years until the New Brunswick Teachers' Association took it over in 1942.  She resumed teaching at Saint John High School in 1942 until she retired in 1946. In 1946, the University of New Brunswick awarded Lawson an honorary Doctor of Laws (LLD) degree for her contributions to education in the province. She wrote two textbooks with Jean MacCallum Sweet: Our New Brunswick Story (1948) and This Is New Brunswick (1951). She also wrote several articles on New Brunswick history and education for The Telegraph-Journal (Saint John), The Maritime Farmer and Cooperative Dairyman (Sussex), and The Family Herald and Weekly Star (Montreal). She was president of the Saint John High School Alumnae, honorary life member of The New Brunswick Historical Society, and president of the New Brunswick Branch of the Canadian Women’s Press Club. She also served as president of the Saint John Business and Professional Women’s Club, the Canadian Consumers' Association (NB Branch), and the Canadian Authors’ Association (NB Branch). As chairman of the editorial board of The New Brunswick Historical Society in 1959, she edited Bulletin No. 15 of Collections of the New Brunswick Historical Society. Lawson passed away on 17 September 1961 at the Saint John General Hospital.

Predominant New Brunswick Residences:

Saint John

Archival Material

• Lawson, Jessie I. (1879-1961) fonds
  ⌄
  Location

  New Brunswick Museum Archives

  Retrieval Number

  S 108A

  Date Range of Material

  1879-1961

  Extent

  66 cm

  Scope and Content Note

  The fonds consists of correspondence, reports, minutes, notebooks, scrapbooks, newsletters concerning Jessie Lawson's career; and correspondence and other documents of her brother Charles military career and other family members' documents. The contains 7 series: Publications; Witanstede; Scrapbooks and Notebooks; Societies; Charles Lawson; Professional Documents; and Personal Documents.