A Suggestion for your Next Trip to Ontario

Many of us are travelling in Canada these years. With thenews coverage of trials and tribulations in places we may wish to visit, alongwith the concerns about air travel, the attractions of our own country which wemay not have yet visited become far more attractive!

Two such sites are the Adelaide Hunter Hoodless Homestead at St. George, and the Erland Lee Home and Museum at Stoney Creek, both in Ontario. Both are related to the founding of the Women's Institute movement in Canada. Since that time, in 1897, the organization has spread around the world.

Adelaide Hunter Hoodless was the driving force behind theidea, and Erland Lee arranged for her exposure to women who were not onlyinterested, but ready to join!

Since that time, local Federated Ontario Women' Institutemembers have been active in acquiring and refurbishing the Erland Lee MuseumHome.; and the Federated Women's Institutes of Canada have done the same withthe Adelaide Hunter Hoodless Homestead. Members from across Canada haveassisted, monetarily, and sometimes with donations of suitable historic items,to the maintenance and restoration of “The Willows” the home where Mrs.Hoodless was raised. The homes are both furnished with items from the era whenMrs. Hoodless and Mr. Lee lived there.

While I have not had  the pleasure of visiting the Erland Lee Home, I have toured the Adelaide Hoodless Homestead and it is well worth the effort to travel there and take a step back in time to when Mrs. Hoodless was active.

Mrs. Hoodless was held in high regard in educational circles:she was the founder of the Ontario School of Domestic Arts, and he obtained themeans which which Macdonald Institute at Guelph was erected. She was appointedby the International Congress of Women to the post of Chairman of the TechnicalEducation Committee; for several years she was acted in an advisory capacity tothe Department of Education of Ontario.

In the meantime, Mr. Lee was not idle. He first trained as ateacher, then in 1885 he obtained a certificate in Agriculture from theAgriculture and Arts Association of Ontario. He was a Charter member of theFarmer's Institute, and secretary for nineteen years.

Erland Lee was a prominent, public-spirited, broadmindedfarmer and followed his ancestors in mixed farming with purebred Jersey cattle,fancy dairy butter, maple syrup and fruit. His wife, Janet, was also a teacherand was chosen by the city of Hamilton to take a special course in Toronto,then to return to Hamilton to help set up a kindergarten system.

So, when these three activists joined forces in 1897, theworld soon  had the first Women'sInstitute in  the world! The spread ofthis idea has been phenominal! Women's Institutes, and a host of other women'sorganizations with a similar focus, now abound on six continents, and theirefforts in women-to-women self-help projects has changed the lives of millionsof families in al corners of the globe.

So, if you are looking for a Canadian success story, and moreinformation about the people behind it, try touring the Erland Lee Museum andHome as well as the Adelaide Hunter Hoodless Homestead in Ontario!

Ruth Fenner, Provincial Historian, British Columbia Women'sInstitute.