
Lucy Maud Montgomery
'Lucy Maud Montgomery', (always called "Maud" by family and friends) and publicly known as
'L. M. Montgomery', (
November 30,
1874–
April 24,
1942) was a
Canadian author, best known for a series of novels beginning with ''
Anne of Green Gables''.
Biography
Lucy Maud Montgomery was born in
Clifton (now
New London),
Prince Edward Island on
November 30,
1874. Her mother, Clara Woolner Macneill Montgomery, died of tuberculosis when Lucy was a mere 21 months old. Her father, Hugh John Montgomery, left the province after his wife’s death and eventually settled in the western territories of Canada. She went to live with her maternal grandparents, Alexander Marquis Macneill and Lucy Woolner Macneill, in the nearby community of
Cavendish and was raised by them in a strict and unforgiving manner. In 1890, Montgomery was sent to live in
Prince Albert,
Saskatchewan with her father and stepmother, however after one year she returned to Prince Edward Island and the home of her grandparents.

Birth place of Lucy Maud Montgomery
In 1893, following the completion of her grade school education in
Cavendish, she attended
Prince of Wales College in
Charlottetown. Completing a two year program in one year, she obtained her teaching certificate. In 1895 and 1896 she studied literature at
Dalhousie University in
Halifax,
Nova Scotia.
After working as a teacher in various island schools, in 1898 Montgomery moved back to Cavendish to live with her widowed grandmother. For a short time in 1901 and 1902 she worked in Halifax for the newspapers ''Chronicle'' and ''Echo''. She returned to live with and care for her grandmother in 1902. Montgomery was inspired to write her first books during this time on Prince Edward Island. In 1908, she published her first book, ''Anne of Green Gables''. Three years later, shortly after her grandmother's death, she married Ewan Macdonald (1870 - 1943), a
Presbyterian Minister, and moved to
Ontario where he had taken the position of minister of
St. Paul's Presbyterian Church, Leaskdale in present-day
Uxbridge Township, also affiliated with the congregation in nearby
Zephyr.
The couple had three sons, Chester Cameron Macdonald (1912-1964), (Ewan) Stuart Macdonald (1915-1982) and Hugh Alexander, who died at birth in 1914, perhaps inspiring the death of
Anne Shirley's first child Joyce in her novel
Anne's House of Dreams.
Montgomery wrote her next eleven books from the Leaskdale
manse. The structure was subsequently sold by the congregation and is now the Lucy Maud Montgomery Leaskdale Manse Museum. In 1926, the family moved in to the
Norval Presbyterian Charge, in present-day
Halton Hills, Ontario, where today the Lucy Maud Montgomery Memorial Garden can be seen from
Highway 7.
Montgomery died in
Toronto in 1942. She was buried at the
Cavendish Community Cemetery in Cavendish following her
wake in the
Green Gables farmhouse and funeral in the local Presbyterian church.
Her major collections are archived at the
University of Guelph, while the
L.M. Montgomery Institute at the
University of Prince Edward Island coordinates most of the research and conferences surrounding her work. Beginning in the 1980s her complete journals, edited by Mary Rubio and Elizabeth Waterston, were published by the
Oxford University Press. From 1988-95, editor
Rea Wilmshurst collected and published numerous short stories by Montgomery.
Montgomery was born on the same day as British prime minister
Sir Winston Churchill..
Novels
★
1908 - ''
Anne of Green Gables''
★
1909 - ''
Anne of Avonlea'' (sequel to ''Anne of Green Gables'')
★
1910 - ''
Kilmeny of the Orchard''
★
1911 - ''
The Story Girl''
★
1913 - ''
The Golden Road'' (sequel to ''The Story Girl'')
★
1915 - ''
Anne of the Island'' (sequel to ''Anne of Avonlea'')
★
1917 - ''
Anne's House of Dreams'' (sequel to ''Anne of Windy Poplars'')
★
1919 - ''
Rainbow Valley'' (sequel to ''Anne of Ingleside'')
★
1921 - ''
Rilla of Ingleside'' (sequel to ''Rainbow Valley'')
★
1923 - ''
Emily of New Moon''
★
1925 - ''
Emily Climbs'' (sequel to ''Emily of New Moon'')
★
1926 - ''
The Blue Castle''
★
1927 - ''
Emily's Quest'' (sequel to ''Emily Climbs'')
★
1929 - ''
Magic for Marigold''
★
1931 - ''
A Tangled Web''
★
1932 - ''
Pat of Silver Bush''
★
1935 - ''
Mistress Pat'' (sequel to ''Pat of Silver Bush'')
★
1936 - ''
Anne of Windy Poplars'' (sequel to ''Anne of the Island'')
★
1937 - ''
Jane of Lantern Hill''
★
1939 - ''
Anne of Ingleside'' (sequel to ''Anne's House of Dreams'')
Short story collections
★
1912 - ''
Chronicles of Avonlea''
★
1920 - ''
Further Chronicles of Avonlea''
★
1974 - ''The Road to Yesterday''
★
1979 - ''The Doctor's Sweetheart''
★
1988 - ''Akin to Anne: Tales of Other Orphans''
★
1989 - ''Along the Shore: Tales by the Sea''
★
1990 - ''Among the Shadows: Tales from the Darker Side''
★
1991 - ''After Many Days: Tales of Time Passed''
★
1993 - ''Against the Odds: Tales of Achievement''
★
1994 - ''At the Altar: Matrimonial Tales''
★
1995 - ''Across the Miles: Tales of Correspondence''
★
1995 - ''Christmas with Anne and Other Holiday Stories''
Poetry
★
1916 - ''The Watchman & Other Poems''
★
1887 - ''The Poetry of Lucy Maud Montgomery''
Non-fiction
★
1934 - ''Courageous Women'' (with Marian Keith and Mabel Burns McKinley)
Autobiography
★
1917 - ''The Alpine Path: The Story of My Career''
★ 1889 - 1942 -
The Selected Journals of L.M. Montgomery, Vol. I - V
External links
★
★
L M Montgomery in spanish
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Picturing A Canadian Life: L.M. Montgomery's Personal Scrapbooks and Book Covers
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L.M. Montgomery Institute
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An L.M. Montgomery Resource Page is an excellent collection.
★
Little More Montgomery has information on the author's life in Ontario
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Anne in Japan FAQ 1.0 provides basic information as to Montgomery's popularity in Japan.
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Representative Poetry Online
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Famous Canadians
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Anne3.com Home of the Sullivan Anne of Green Gables trilogy with info on the movies and the
Avonlea Message Boards
★
Lucy Maud Montgomery Leaskdale Manse Museum Website
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Ontario Historical Site Marker at Leasksdale
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L.M. Montgomery Collection at the University of Guelph Library, Archival and Special Collections, contains her personal journals, scrapbooks, and more than 800 items
★
CBC Digital Archives - Beyond Green Gables: The Life of Lucy Maud Montgomery
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Avonlea Treasures - fansite
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The Golden Road to Avonlea - fansite
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L.M. Montgomery Research Group