Edith Maud “Sui Sin Far” Eaton (1865-1914)

Writer. Edith Maud Eaton was born 1865 in Macclesfield, England and died on April 7,1914 in Montreal, Quebec, Canada. She was buried at Protestant Cemetery, in Montreal, Quebec, Canada. Special headstone on her tomb inscribed with the characters “Yi bu wang hua” which means “The righteous one does not forget China.”She was the oldest daughter and 2 child of 14 surviving children. Her mother, Grace Trefusis, was a Chinese woman adopted by an English couple and raised in England. Her father Edward Eaton was an Englishman and landscape painter. Her sister Winnifred Eaton (Onoto Watanna) wrote Me, the autobiography about their family life. Their mother read them Tennyson’s Idylls of the Kings and the children would act out the characters. Edith and her sister began publishing poems, stories, and articles for the local newspapers. They were the first Asian American writers of fiction. Edith never married and she used all her energy to work on supporting her younger siblings. Her primary literary works include “Leaves from the Mental Portfolio of an Eurasian” published by the Independent magazine in January 21, 1909, “The Persecution and Oppression of Me” also published by Independent magazine in August 24, 1911, and “Mrs. Spring Fragrance” published in 1912.

Bio by: Genet