May Agnes Fleming

1840-1880

May Agnes (Early) Fleming (teacher and novelist) was born in Saint John, New Brunswick, 14 November 1840 and died in Brooklyn, New York, 26 March 1880. She also wrote under the name Cousin May Carleton. Fleming was educated in her early years at the Convent of the Sacred Heart, Saint John, where she began writing at the early age of thirteen. She became the first teacher at the Roman Catholic School in Saint John at the age of seventeen (in 1856) until her she gave up teaching to become a full-time novelist. She resided in Saint John until she moved to Brooklyn in 1875 to be closer to her publisher.  Fleming was the author of forty-seven novels and numerous short stories which appeared in the Pilot (Boston), New York Weekly, Saturday Night (Philadelphia), The Mercury, The Metropolitan Record, Western Record, The Weekly Herald, New Story Paper, Home Journal, Carleton Advertiser, and London Journal. Her works included A Mad Marriage (1875) and The Heir of Charlton (1878).

Predominant New Brunswick Residences:

Saint John