Agnes Moodie Fitzgibbon Chamberlin Daryn Wright Canada's Early Women Writers Canadian Writing Research Collaboratory Born digital English Born digital Life writing Biography Bibliography Agnes Moodie Fitzgibbon Chamberlin (1833-1913)
"Mrs. Brown Chamberlin" (Agnes Fitzgibbon), from from Henry James Morgan, ed. Types of Canadian Women, and of Women Who Are or Have Been Connected With Canada (Toronto: Briggs, 1903).

Agnes Chamberlin, a daughter of Susanna Moodie, issued the landmark volume, Canadian Wild Flowers, in 1868.

 9 June 1833, Coburg, ON 1 May 1913, York, ON Name at birth: Agnes Dunbar Moodie Alternate names: Agnes Dunbar Moodie Fitzgibbon Mrs. Fitzgibbon Mrs. Brown Chamberlin Mrs. Chamberlin Agnes D. Chamberlin Note

Writing was a very minor aspect of this woman's life.

Entry written by Daryn Wright

 Agnes Chamberlin (1833-1913)

Agnes Dunbar Moodie was the daughter of celebrated Canadian writer Susanna Moodie (1803-1885), author of Roughing it in the Bush (1852). At the age of seventeen, Agnes married her first husband, Charles Thomas Fitzgibbon (1805-1865), with whom she had eight children.

In 1863, Agnes began to paint studies of wild flowers, ecnouraged by her aunt, author Catherine Parr Traill (1802-1899), with whom she collaborated on Canadian Wild Flowers (1868), a collection of paintings by Agnes with botanical descriptions by her aunt. After Agnes's husband died in 1865, she began working on her botanical watercolours in earnest as a means of supporting herself and her children. Her only published work, Canadian Wild Flowers, was initially published in 1868; two subsequent editions appeared in 1869 and 1895. The work is a landmark in Canadian printing, as for the first edition, Agnes prepared the drawings herself, using a lithographic stone and hand-colouring the illustrations with the help of friends. It was the first colour-illustrated book to be entirely printed and published in Canada. Agnes's work also appeared in Traill's Studies of Plant Life in Canada in 1885.

In 1870, Agnes married Brown Chamberlin (1827-1897); the couple had one child together. Agnes died in 1913.

 Published Texts Non-fiction Canadian Wild Flowers (Montreal, QC: J. Lovell, 1868)—with descriptions by C.P. Traill Periodical Contributions Transactions of the Women's Canadian Historical Society of Toronto Other Artistic Productions Visual arts

Wild flower watercolours

Fungi original watercolours, for a report on edible fungi published by the Geological Survey of Canada

Illustrations for <XREF URL="http://chamberlin.library.utoronto.ca/digobjectbook.cfm?Idno=Chamberlin_a_0001" RESP="DJW">Studies of Plant Life in Canada; or, Gleanings from Forest, Lake and Plain</XREF>, by C.P. Traill (Ottawa, ON: Woodburn, 1885)—as Mrs. Chamberlin

 Family and Relationships Father: John Wedderburn Dunbar Moodie (7 October 1797 – 22 October 1869) Mother: Susanna Strickland (6 December 1803 – 8 April 1885) Siblings Catherine Mary Moodie (1832 – 24 December 1904): m. John Vickers John Alexander Dunbar Moodie (20 August 1834 – 1927) Donald Moodie (1836 – 25 December 1893): m. Julia Anne Russell John Strickland Moodie (1838 – 1844) George Arthur Moodie (17 July 1840 – 8 August 1840) Robert Baldwin Moodie (1843 – 3 February 1889): m. Sarah Ellen Russell Spouse: Charles Thomas Fitzgibbon (1805 – 22 February 1865) Marriage: 23 August 1850, Belleville, ON Children Mary Agnes Fitzgibbon (daughter) (1851 – 17 May 1851)

Like her grandmother, Catherine Parr Traill, and great-aunt, Susanna Moodie, Mary Agnes was a published journalist and author.

 James Gerald Fitzgibbon (son) (1853 – 24 January 1913) Geraldine Fitzgibbon (daughter) (31 October 1854 – 4 October 1945): m. John D. Moodie (1848-1947) Eliza Dunbar Fitzgibbon (daughter) (24 February 1856 – 14 July 1856) Charlotte Alice Fitzgibbon (daughter) (1857 – 1937) Katie Fitzgibbon (daughter) (February 1859 – 8 August 1859) John Wedderbum Dunbar Fitzgibbon (son) (1860 – 1865) William Winder Fitzgibbon (son) (1862 – 1866) Spouse: Brown Chamberlin (1827 – 1897) Marriage: 1870, York, ON Children Agnes Gertrude Mary Chamberlin (daughter) (7 April 1871 – 2 September 1945): m. Charleton Wentworth Badgley (1864-1941) Awards Tangential Information

This author is not to be confused with Mary Agnes Fitzgibbon, journalist for the Toronto Globe, who went by "Lally Bernard."

 Archival Holdings The Agnes Chamberlin Digital Collection, University of Toronto Library, Toronto, ON Agnes Chamberlin Papers, Thomas Fisher Rare Book Library, University of Toronto, Toronto, ON Published Resources 1861 Census of Canada. 1871 Census of Canada. 1881 Census of Canada. 1891 Census of Canada. Alberta, Index to Cemeteries, 1823-2013. Geraldine Moodie. Find a Grave. Web. 8 November 2016. Maj. John D. Moodie. Find a Grave. Web. 8 November 2016. Morgan, Henry James, ed. <XREF URL="https://archive.org/details/canadianmenwomen00morguoft/page/n23" RESP="KME">Canadian Men and Women of the Time</XREF>, 2nd ed. (Toronto: Briggs, 1912). Morgan, Henry James, ed. Types of Canadian Women, and of Women Who Are or Have Been Connected With Canada, 2nd ed. (Toronto: Briggs, 1903). Stephen, Leslie. <XREF URL="https://archive.org/details/dictionarynatio44stepgoog/page/n322" RESP="KME">Moodie, Mrs. Susannah [sic] (1803-1895)</XREF>. Dictionary of National Biography. Ed. Sidney Lee. Vol. 37 (New York: Macmillan; London: Smith Elder, 1894). Ontario, Canada Census Index, 1871. Ontario, Canada, Deaths, 1869-1938, 1943-1944, and Deaths Overseas, 1939-1947. Quebec, Canada, Vital and Church Records (Drouin Collection), 1621-1968.