JANET CARNOCHAN

By

Lorne Pierce in The New Outlook

[The Welland Tribune and Telegraph, 20 April 1926]

Those who knew Janet Carnochan (and who did not?) will wish to remember her surrounded with her jealousy guarded treasures in the Niagara Historical Museum, Niagara-on-the-Lake.

When we called, the museum was cloaked in the shadows of an autumn evening. The building was deserted, save for two people. One pored silently over some musty tome in the gallery; the other, a little white-haired woman, sorting piles of miscellaneous old historical pamphlets at a big table at the far end of the room, was none other than Miss Carnochan herself. Above her hung E. Wyly Grier’s portrait of herself in oils, a gift of friends to the museum. General Ryerson introduced us, and when he remarked that we, too, were collectors of Canadiana, her hand sought the pile of rare papers and moved them unconsciously a little way off as if warned by some instinctive fear that we might wish to collect these, too.

The Niagara Historical Society was her very next of kin and the museum her dearest godchild. The money with which the building was purchased and equipped, she raised, very largely, through her own efforts, and the wealth of material filling shelves and cases, and overflowing onto the floor, some ten thousand items in all, was, for the most part of her own harvesting. Many precious treasures are there, among them Brock’s cocked hat and general’s uniform; also the kettle in which Laura Secord hid the family savings when the invaders came. Her grey eyes sparked, and her pale, deeply-furrowed face grew proudly flushed and almost youthful, as she handled, with something like reverence, these rare and precious books, documents and historical mementoes. The greatest honor she could possible bestow was to allow us to take in our own covetous hands the rarest book in her locked treasury case.

Janet Carnochan was born of Covenanting stock in Stamford, Ontario, November 14, 1839. She taught school in Brantford, Kingston and Peterborough and for thirty-nine years instructed the youth of Niagara-on-the-Lake in both the public and high schools.

Along with William Kirby, F.R.S.C. author of The Golden Dog, she was one of the leading spirits in the local library board and in the Niagara Historical Society for upwards of a third of a century. Our own membership and interest in the work of the Society was due chiefly to her personal solicitation, and many another can say the same. The Historical Museum was, as we have seen, very largely her own inspiration, although she had staunch assistance from William Kirby, Mrs. Thompson and others.

Untiring in collecting historical material, she was also indefatigable in tracing and recording the less-known incidents in the history of Niagara Peninsula, from the earliest days to the present. The Niagara Historical Publications are rare and valuable brochures, and are mostly due to her enterprise. Her own books, pamphlets, broadsheets and poems, all historical and patriotic, are an important collection in themselves, and the library or collector who possesses them is indeed fortunate. Miss Carnochan’s chief contribution is not so much that of historian as the inspirer of students of history. More than one writer of history and biography on Canadian themes has been enriched by her knowledge and inspiration. Constantly alert for data, she recorded her findings in the form of interesting, chatty memoranda, and as her interests knew no bounds these multitudinous notes lacked, as was inevitable, the cohesiveness and specialization of historical research. They were rather the materials out of which history may be written. Proud she was of the honor the women teachers of Toronto paid her when they gave her name to their chapter of the Daughters of the Empire. Prouder still was she when Canadians caught the spirit of her love for the adored past of the Dominion.

We will remember on one occasion her criticism of William Kirby’s “Annals of Niagara,” and with what apparent delight she pointed out his errors of fact and judgment. Her own “History of Niagara,” likewise contains not a few mistakes, several of which were pointed out to her. But these she would not admit. While never claiming infallibility, she invariably insisted that she was right. This led to many tilts with her townsman, William Kirby, who also had a will and a way of his own. A friend recalls a certain summer afternoon in Niagara-on-the-Lake when he came upon the two old friends, seated on a bench in the park, engrossed in discussing something or other. Mr. Kirby, as usual, was dignified, sparing of words and conclusive. Miss Carnochan was characteristically quick-spoken, rather voluble and emphatic. When she had finished, the aged Dean of Canadian Letters turned to her, and with a pat on the little stooped shoulders, said with an air of benevolent finality, “Now Janet! Now Janet!”

[Related TALE: TRIBUTE TO MISS JANET CARNOCHAN]

[Related TALE: THE PASSING ON OF A FINE AGED GENTLEWOMAN]