Grace Avard Tomkinson
1890-1981
Grace Tomasin Avard was born on 15 September 1890 in Great Shemogue, New Brunswick. She attended the country school at Great Shemogue and the Provincial Normal School in Fredericton, New Brunswick. She taught elementary school in Sackville, New Brunswick between 1908 and 1912. She attended the Mount Allison Ladies’ College (1910-1911) and Mount Allison University (1912-1913). She contributed articles to Acadie, Canadian Bookman, Canadian Forum, Canadian Poetry Magazine, and the Dalhousie Review. Her published books included Her Own People (1945), Welcome Wilderness (1946) and The Cape and the River (1947). She was presented with an honorary degree (D. Litt.) by Mount Allison University in 1957. She was married on 25 June 1913 in Sackville, New Brunswick to the Rev. Harold Tomkinson (1885-1944) who was a student in theology at Mount Allison. Grace Tomkinson died in 1981. She is buried in the Bosque Bello Cemetery in Fernandina Beach, Florida.
Admin History/Bio. "Image of Grace Tomkinson being presented for her honorary degree." Mount Allison University Archives, Accession 2007.07, 14 May 1957. Accessed 17 July 2023.
Predominant New Brunswick Residences:
Moncton, Sackville, Saint John
Archival Material
There is some correspondence from Grace Tomkinson in University of New Brunswick Archives & Special Collections' Rufus Hathaway Collection (HATH) and some photos of Tomkinson receiving an honorary degree from Mount Allison University (Accession 2007.07).
-
Avard family fonds
⌄LocationMount Allison University ArchivesWebsite/Catalogue RecordRetrieval Number8119Date Range of Material1893-1955Extent
40 leaves of textual records
Scope and Content NoteFonds consists of student essays written by Clement Chandler Avard about the Avard family; typescript transcription of a memoir of Frances Avard, written by her husband; and a biography of Rev. Adam Clarke Avard who died in 1821 which was written by Rev. S. Busby and Rev. Albert Desbrisay.. The contents of the fonds document the history of various members of this family which has been long connected with Mount Allison University.
Grace Tomkinson
"Image of Grace Tomkinson being presented for her honorary degree." Courtesy of Mount Allison University Archives, Accession 2007.07, 14 May 1957. Accessed 17 July 2023.