Born in Ontario, Mary Bourchier Sanford spent much of her life in the US, where she contributed fiction and non-fiction to many periodicals and published several works of historical fiction.
This author's life has been researched earlier for inclusion in the
Entry revised by Linnea McNally
Mary Bourchier Sanford was born in about 1848 in Barrie, ON, to Barrie pioneer Sidney Morehouse Sanford (1813-1885) and Sarah Ann Thompson (1820-1864). Mary received her education in Barrie.
The great-granddaughter of a United Empire Loyalist, and a loyal Canadian herself, Mary was one of the many Canadian women writers who nonetheless found better employment opportunities in the United States. She was likely the only woman staff columnist on the satirical weekly,
Mary had mixed success with her published work: her historical romances were well received, but not profitable enough to set her free from office work, partly because she did not negotiate favourable contracts with her publishers. Furthermore, in
After returning to Barrie in the 1920s, Mary migrated west to Washington state. She died in Seattle in 1935.
Sidney Morehouse Sanford was born on 13 December 1813 in Quebec, to Anna Rea (1789-1836) and Ephraim Sanford, Jr. (1775-1844). Sidney's loyalist grandfather—Ephraim Sanford, Sr.—had raised a company called the Queen's Rangers on behalf of the Royal Army and as a result later received a large tract of land near the St. Lawrence River.
In 1833, Sidney built a store in Barrie, ON, making him the town's first merchant (he had been one of the few residents to arrive before the town was surveyed that same year). In 1846, he married Sarah Ann Thompson (1820-1864), with whom he had eleven children, nine of whom survived infancy.
In the early 1880s, Sidney worked as Barrie's Inland Revenue inspector, and in 1884 was made Assistant Treasurer of Simcoe County. He died a year later in Barrie, ON, on 12 August 1885.
Sarah Ann Thompson was born on 11 May 1820 in Oneida, NY. She married Sidney Morehouse Sanford (1813-1885) in 1846 and had eleven children, nine of whom survived infancy. Sarah died in Barrie, ON, on 9 December 1864.
Charles drowned in "Remphufelt Bay" which perhaps now has another name.
Sidney began his career as a bank clerk in Barrie, ON, in the early 1880s. In the mid-1880s, he replaced his father as Treasurer of Barrie, and—marketing himself as an electrician and civil engineer—successfully patented a fire telegraphy invention, which could assist firemen in locating the source of a street-located fire-alarm. In addition to his role as treasurer, Sidney was manager of the Barrie Electric Light Company. He also financed and owned Barrie's Grand Opera House and dealt in real estate. His properties and expenditures were not few: in 1897, having misappropriated nearly $63,000 of public funds, he abandoned his wife and children and fled to South America, where he supposedly made a fortune in mining investments and paid off his debts. News of his disappearance reached papers in Minnesota, Indiana, Iowa, and Utah. With his second wife, he applied in 1916 for Naturalization from his residence in Los Angeles, CA, claiming he had immigrated to the US in 1910 from his position as "Imperator" in Bluefields, Nicaragua. The spelling of his name, from the mid-1880s, slowly transitioned to "Sydney James Sanford."
Journalist,
Private secretary to a civil engineer
Secretary and staff writer, Publication Committee, International Standard,
International Institute and Egyptological Society, Cleveland, OH
Mary is called "M. Bouchier Gordon" in teh article