Mary Williams Trout

Mary’s 26 diaries cover 53 years. She begins in 1867 as a school teacher, a profession she gives up upon marrying James Trout in 1869.  The couple farm for six years then move to Meaford where James enters the insurance, real estate and financing business.  Mary raises two children, teaches piano and Sunday school, quilts, gardens, attends picnics and prayer meetings, and helps in her husband’s business. When he dies in 1906, she takes over some of his business dealings and gradually retires.