Lilla Nease (1858-1948)
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Lilla Stewart Dunlap Nease wrote journalism, poetry, and fiction throughout a long life that took her to various residences in Ontario and Western Canada.
3 October 1858, Boston, MA
19 July 1948, Toronto, ON
Name at birth:
Lilla Stewart Dunlap
Note
This author's life has been researched earlier for inclusion in the
Canada's Early Women Writers project at Simon Fraser University. Information in this entry therefore may not be comprehensive, but has been verified.
Entry revised by Linnea McNally
Lilla Nease (1858-1948)
Lilla Stewart Dunlap was born in 1858 in Boston, MA, to tailor James M. Dunlap (c1834-1893) and Catherine Haslam (b. 1835). Lilla grew up in the rural Ontario town of Picton, where she attended and later taught at the local high school. Long after she moved away, she continued to contribute a column,
Jottings from My Notebook, to the Picton Times. After attending Normal School in Toronto, she taught for a time and in 1888 married George Stephen Nease (1858-1925), with whom she had three children.
After living for a period in Hillier, ON, Lilla and her family moved to Calgary, AB, where she wrote for the
Calgary Herald and became an early member of the Calgary Branch of the Canadian Women's Press Club, of which she became Vice President in 1916. In the later 1920s, she worked as a freelance writer in Vancouver, BC. She moved to Toronto in the early 1930s, where she continued writing poetry. Lilla died at Belmont House, Toronto, in 1948, and was buried at Christ Church Cemetery in Hillier, ON.
Published Texts
Fiction
In Music's Thrall (Toronto: Briggs, 1903)
Poetry
At The End of the Road (Boston, MA: Badger, 1929)
Pastures New (Picton, ON: Times, 1935)—with Henry Roche
Unverified titles
Memories (1933)
Periodical Contributions
Calgary Daily Herald
Picton Gazette
Sherbrooke Telegram
Picton Times
Family and Relationships
Father: James M. Dunlap (c1834 – 9 September 1893)
James M. Dunlap, the son of John Dunlop, was born in about 1834 in Ireland. James married Catherine Haslam (b. 1835) in 1856 in Boston, MA. The couple had three children together before Catherine's death, which took place some time after 1871. James, a merchant tailor in Picton, ON, appears to have then married Fannie Louisa Price (b. 1855), and had another six children. He died in Prince Edward, ON, in 1893.
Mother: Catherine Haslam (1835 – after 1871)
Catherine Haslam was born in 1835 in Taunton, Bristol, MA, to William Haslam (1790-1866) and Margaret Stewart (1795-1856). Catherine married James M. Dunlap (c1834-1893) in 1856, and had three daughters before her death, which took place some time between 1871 and 1883.
Siblings
Anna Dunlap (c1857 – after 1871)
Catherine "Kate" Dunlap (c1866 – after 1871)
Fanny Louisa Dunlap (half-sister) (b. 1883)
Alice Christine Dunlap (half-sister) (b. 1884)
Florence Marian Dunlap (half-sister) (b. 1887)
Henry J. Dunlap (half-brother) (b. 1889)
Arthur Montgomery Dunlap (half-brother) (b. 1891)
John Dunlap (half-brother) (b. 1893)
Spouse: George Stephen Nease (5 April 1857 – 1925)
Marriage:
1 October 1888, Niles' Corner, Hillier, ON
George Stephen Nease was born in 1857 in Hallowell, ON, to German immigrants, George Nease (1821-1905) and Gertrude Sophia Josepha Kircher (1820-1910). George was a farmer, as well as Township Clerk of Hillier. He married Lilla Stewart Dunlap (1858-1948) in 1888, and the couple had three children. George died in 1925 and was buried at Burnsland Cemetery in Calgary, AB.
Children
Mary Frederica "Freda" Nease (daughter) (14 August 1890 – after 1921): m. William Richard Wood
Frederick George Nease (son) (14 October 1892 – after 1916)
Frederick was a bank clerk. He served with the Canadian Over-seas Expeditionary Force in the First World War.
J. Ronald Stewart Nease (son) (8 June 1896 – 2 February 1956): m. Margaret
Ronald, who went by "Mike," was an accountant in Vancouver, BC.
Religion
Anglican
Residences
Boston, MA (1858-c1870)
Picton, ON (1870-1871)
Hillier, ON (1881-1911)
Calgary, AB (1912-1924)
Vancouver, BC (1926-1929)
Toronto, ON (1934-1948)
Education
Picton High School
Normal School, Toronto, ON
Awards
Employment and Volunteer Activities
Employment
Journalist
School teacher, Hillier, ON (1881)
School teacher, Niles Corner School House, Picton, ON (seven years)
Unpaid and volunteer work
Vice President, Canadian Women's Press Club (1916)
Memberships
Canadian Authors Association
Canadian Women's Press Club
Archival Holdings
Published Resources
1871 Census of Canada.
1881 Census of Canada.
1891 Census of Canada.
1901 Census of Canada.
1911 Census of Canada.
1916 Canada Census of Manitoba, Saskatchewan, and Alberta.
George Stephen Nease. Find A Grave. Web.
Massachusetts, Marriage Records, 1840-1915.
Massachusetts, Town and Vital Records, 1620-1988.
Merrill, Anne. Chats about the Poets. The Sherbrooke Telegram (1 February 1934).
Nease, Lilla Stewart. Who Was Who Among North American Authors 1921-39 (Detroit, MI: Gale, 1976).
Obituary for Lilla Nease. Toronto Daily Star (20 July 1948): 22.
Ontario, Canada, Deaths, 1869-1938 and Deaths Overseas, 1939-1947.
Ontario, Canada Marriages, 1801-1928.
Watters, R.E.. Checklist of Canadian Literature and Background Materials 1628-1960. 1959 (Toronto: U of Toronto P, 1972): 149, 352.
National Union Catalogue