Author of Anne of Green Gables

Born: 30 November 1874 in Clifton, Prince Edward Island
Died: 24 April 1942 in Toronto, Ontario

Lucy Maud Montgomery grew up on Prince Edward Island. Her mother died of tuberculosis when Maud was two, her father left the island for western Canada shortly after, and Montgomery was sent to live with her grandparents in Cavendish. To deal with her loneliness, she created imaginary friends and named and talked to the trees and plants on the farm. She also began keeping a journal, a habit she would continue for the rest of her life.

Montgomery wrote her first poem at age nine and sent it off to a newspaper and a magazine. It was rejected by both. In 1890, she moved to Saskatchewan to be with her father. While she was there, she sent another poem to The Charlottetown Patriot and, much to her delight, it was published.

Maud returned to PEI in 1891 to attend teachers' college. She continued to write and, in 1906, she started working on what would become her most famous book, Anne of Green Gables. It was published in 1908 and became an instant success, selling more than 19,000 copies in 5 months.

On 5 July 1911, she married Ewan MacDonald, a Presbyterian minister, and moved to Leaskdale, Ontario. In 1926, she moved to Norval and, in 1935, she moved to Toronto. Montgomery purchased a house at 210 Riverside Drive in Toronto which she called "Journey's End". After years of battling depression, both hers and her husband's, Montgomery committed suicide in 1942 and her body was returned to Prince Edward Island for burial in Cavendish cemetery. She left behind 20 novels, 450 poems, 500 short stories, and her journal, which had more than 5,000 pages by that time. She was, and is, one of Canada's and the world's most loved authors.

Additional trivia:

Montgomery had three sons: Chester Cameron, born 7 July 1912, Hugh Alexander, born 13 August 1914 (died at birth), and Ewan Stuart, born 7 October 1915. All three were born while she was living in Leaskdale, Ontario.

More information:

Books by Montgomery
LM Montgomery Institute
LMM in Ontario

Connections:

By Name · M
By Province · P.E.I.
By Claim to Fame · Literature
Group(s) · Women