Catharine Parr Traill (born Strickland; January 9, 1802 – August 29, 1899) was an English-Canadian writer and naturalist who wrote about life in Canada, especially in what is now Ontario (then called Upper Canada). In the 1830s, Canada covered a much smaller area than it does today. At that time, most of Upper Canada had not been explored by European settlers.

Traill wrote books throughout her life to earn money to support her family. She wrote 24 books about topics such as her experiences as a settler in Ontario and the study of nature, especially plants. Traill is known as a pioneer in Canada’s study of natural history. Her writings shared the experiences of people living in Upper Canada and described the natural environment for English readers.

Traill is considered an amateur botanist because, during her lifetime, women could not hold professional, paid jobs in science.

Early years

Catharine Parr Strickland was born in 1802 in the area of Rotherhithe in Southwark (then part of Surrey, now part of Greater London). She was the fifth of eight children born to Thomas Strickland and Elizabeth Homer. Catharine had four older sisters—Elizabeth, Agnes, Sarah, and Jane Margaret—and one younger sister, Susanna, as well as two younger brothers, Samuel and Thomas.

After Catharine was born, her father stopped working as a manager of the Greenland Docks on the River Thames and moved the family to the countryside in Suffolk. Catharine grew up in East Anglia, first near Bungay and later in Southwold. She received her education at home. When her father died in 1818, Catharine and her sisters began working as writers and editors to support their family.

Career

Catharine Parr Traill was the first of her siblings to begin writing. She was the sister of fellow authors Agnes Strickland, Jane Margaret Strickland, Susanna Moodie, and Elisabeth Strickland. After her father's death in 1818, Traill started writing children's books. Her first book, The Tell-Tale: An Original Collection of Moral and Amusing Stories, was published anonymously in 1818 when she was 16 years old. Other early works, such as Disobedience, or Mind What Mama Says (1819) and "Happy Because Good," focused on the importance of obeying parents. Traill wrote many books, averaging one per year until her marriage in 1832. She married Lieutenant Thomas Traill, a retired officer from the Napoleonic Wars and a friend of her sister’s husband, John Moodie. Her family, except for her sister Susanna, opposed the marriage. After their wedding, the couple moved to Upper Canada, settling near Peterborough, where her brother Samuel worked as a surveyor. Her sister, Mrs. Susanna Moodie, later joined them.

Traill recorded details of her new life in letters and journals, which she later compiled into The Backwoods of Canada (1836). This book remains an important source of information about early Canada. It describes daily life in the community, relationships between Canadians, Americans, and Indigenous peoples, the climate, and local plants and animals.

Traill also included observations in her novel Canadian Crusoes (1851). She wrote The Female Emigrant's Guide (1854), later renamed The Canadian Settler's Guide, which provided advice for new settlers. Other works include "Pearls and Pebbles" and "Cot and Cradle Stories."

In 1837, Traill’s husband, Thomas, joined the militia to fight in the Upper Canada Rebellion. In 1840, the Traills and Moodies moved to Belleville, Ontario. While Susanna focused on differences between rural and urban life, Catharine spent her time in Belleville writing about the natural environment. She created sketches of Upper Canada’s plant life, publishing Canadian Wild Flowers (1868), Studies of Plant Life in Canada (1885), and "Rambles in the Canadian Forest."

In 1899, Traill received a grant from the Royal Bounty Fund, which was supported by a subscription from her friends in Canada, including Sir Sandford Fleming. She died on August 28, 1899, at her home, "Westove," in Lakefield, Ontario.

Her plant collections are preserved in the National Herbarium of Canada at the Canadian Museum of Nature. Trent University in Peterborough, Ontario, named its downtown campus "Catharine Parr Traill College," which is the university’s main graduate college.

On September 8, 2003, Canada Post released a commemorative stamp series titled "The Writers of Canada" to mark the 50th anniversary of the National Library of Canada. The series included two English-Canadian and two French-Canadian stamps. Traill and her sister Susanna Moodie appeared on one of the English-Canadian stamps. Three million stamps were issued.