From Homestead to Community: A Women’s History of Western Manitoulin, Paula Mallea, Scrivener Press 2013
Western Manitoulin was the last part of Manitoulin Island to be settled by non-Aboriginal people. It is, by any measure, remote and isolated, and early settlers had to be made of stern stuff to survive the first years and establish their homesteads. The assistance of Aboriginal people was essential to their success. Pioneers survived cold, want, house fires, farm accidents, childbirth, and many other dangers, all of which were much more likely to produce disaster because help was so far away. Women were tough and tough-minded. They worked like pack horses from dawn to dusk, and still found time to organize charities, aid organizations, women’s institutes, and fund-raisers—all while raising a dozen or more children.
Using many of the settlers’ own words, and complementing the words with dozens of vintage photos, this history traces the development of Western Manitoulin from those early homesteading years through to the mid-20th century.