2. Contributors
  3. Tomkinson, Grace A.

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.

Source

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). 

  • Location
    Mount Allison University Archives
    View Archival Record
    Retrieval Number
    8119
    Date Range of Material
    1893-1955
    Extent

    40 leaves of textual records

    Scope and Content Note

    Fonds 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.

Headshot of Grace Avard Tomkinson wearing mortar board

Grace Tomkinson

Credit

"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.

Bibliography Items

Displaying 1 - 3 of 3
Tomkinson, Grace A. "A half-deserted village of New Brunswick." Dalhousie Review, vol. 15, 1936, 219-229. [ journal article ]
Collection(s): NB Authors' Archival Papers project

Tomkinson, Grace A. Her own people. New York, NY: Ives Washburn, 1945, 249 pp.. [ book ]
Collection(s): NB Authors' Archival Papers project

Tomkinson, Grace A. Welcome wilderness : a novel. New York, NY: Washburn, Inc., 1946, 289 pp.. [ book ]
Collection(s): NB Authors' Archival Papers project