Memorable Manitobans: Miriam Green Ellis (1879-1964)

Journalist.

Born at Richville, New York in 1879, only daughter of Mary Davies and Aaron Green, the family moved to Canada in 1885 and settled near Athens, Ontario. Following high school, she studied music at Bishop Strachan School and later the Toronto Conservatory. She returned to Athens and taught music for a few yaers. In 1904, she and her parents moved to Edmonton, North West Territories [now Alberta] and later to Prince Albert, Saskatchewan where in 1912 she managed a girl's hockey team. It was one of the first female hockey teams in western Canada.

A career in journalism spanned more than 40 years, beginning with the Prince Albert Herald, moving to the Regina Post and later the Edmonton Bulletin. She covered a range of topics, including politics, religion, sports, and agriculture. She then freelanced on agricultural events for daily, weekly, and livestock journals and the agricultural press. In 1927, she joined the Family Herald and Weekly Star as a staff correspondent in the West, a position that she held until retirement in 1952. She served several times as Vice-President of the Canadian Women's Press Club.

She died at Winnipeg on 19 November 1964 and was buried in the St. John's Cathedral Cemetery. Her estate included major bequests to the University of Manitoba and University of Saskatchewan to support bursaries for graduate students in crop and animal science. Most of her files went to the Canadian Women's Press Club Archives in Toronto, Ontario.

See also:

Travels and Tales of Miriam Green Ellis, Pioneer Journalist of the Canadian West edited by Patricia Demers, University of Alberta Press, 2013

Sources:

Obituary, Winnipeg Free Press, 21 November 1964, page 38.

“Journalist leaves $125,830,” Winnipeg Free Press, 30 December 1964.

“Final payment received from Ellis bequest,” Winnipeg Free Press, 5 October 1968.

Obituaries and burial transcriptions, Manitoba Genealogical Society.

This page was prepared by Gordon Goldsborough.

Page revised: 13 August 2023

Memorable Manitobans

Memorable Manitobans

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